Halloween!
We started the morning off with feeding and watering our dogs on our own this time and then going out to the break areas by ourselves. Boomer did well, though he is testing to see if he can get by some doors without having to stop for them. So we've made a couple of abouts and re-working them. We did this as we headed out to the break area this m morning and he again surprised me, quickly doing his business.
Upon going inside, we went down to the dining room and in mood of Halloween, Chef Kevin came out to tell us the menu for the day- consisting of grits, bacon, eggs and ham. For lunch would be chicken noodle soup (cant remember what he called them) and gooey brains on bread (ham and cheese sandwich),and for dinner: wrapped children's fingers ( Pigs in blanket), Something and worms (fish and chips),
Barb continued throughout the day with some quite hilarious and comical impersonations of witch voices and ghoulish sayings as we worked through the day. :) Love having her as my trainer as she is so friendly and fun but so capable and understanding to teach the right way to learn how to effectively handle your guide dog.
After finishing breakfast, we were gathered into the leather lobby and the group was split in half, all of Jody's students working on the stairs, elevators, and then obedience. The other half, all of Barb's students worked on getting on and off the bus and vans with the dogs, and walking around the block outside, and then lastly obedience as well.
Barb came and got me when it was my turn and said to meet her in the gathering area. We met up there and went out the doors and worked our way outside then around the building, along the sidewalks to the back area and "block" that is there for practices. We worked around the block doing the right and left turns and then moving turns too. We worked on the abouts and halts too. I'm finding the footwork to be getting easier and easier as I go and keep doing it, occasionally I'll get turned around on it and totally flub it up but for the most part have been doing pretty good with it.
We finished with the outdoor walk and then made our way back up towards the front of the building and then worked on getting in and out of the van/bus. First was onto the bus and off the bus, having Boomer follow me on and off with a regular leash, walking beside me. For the van, they had a new rear facing seat in the back of the van, so had a set of steps to navigate up and down. I was fine until coming down and I heard Barb say "STAY!" so I turned a bit and caught my foot, thus losing my balance coming down. Not sure I want to sit in the back of the van. LOL! Then I got in and out of the back seat of the van from the side door, where we tell the dog to sit and stay, then make a long leash and we climb in, then call the dog in with us.
Then Barb sight guided me out towards the middle of the drive and we worked some obedience, doing a sit and stay, down and stay, up-sit, and then the recall. Boomer does really well with the down & stay, but going to have to work with him on the sit & stay. He sits instantly when I tell him to sit, but likes to pop back up quickly, which I believe is because he is so anxious to work, that he anticipates moving and trys to pop up to be ready to go. So we are working on that with various obedience sessions. Once done here, It was time to water and break the dogs before lunch and head to the dining room.
I went back to the room and watered the big boy. We then work out to the break area and he quickly does both right away so we head back inside and I ditch the coat in my room and head down to the dining room where we have the ham and cheese sandwiches and chicken noodle soup. Lunch was good and before we knew it, it was time to head to the gathering room again for the afternoon session, in which the two groups were to switch in what we were doing.
Barb grabbed me first and we went to the stairs where she showed me how she trained Boomer on step refusal- that he was to not go forward until my left foot is entirely on the first step down and I say the forward command. If I swing out my right foot or step down with the right foot, he should not move forward. However, she did say that we will need to practice this on a regular basis in order to keep the skill sharp. Plus, with Boomer, he wants to work so badly he anticipates things and will rush it if I let him.
Barb explained that she has also taught the dogs to stop at the last step in a set of stairs, so that we can know when the last step is there. We worked up and down the two flights of stairs twice, as the first time was her explaining stuff to me and then the second time I was able to direct him most of the way. The step refusal is only for the going down steps, not upward steps.
Once we finished with the stairs, we then moved to the elevators and worked through these. I was surprised to see that Barb has taught her dogs to find the elevators and then has taught them separately to find the buttons too. :) So we worked our way downstairs and back up on the elevator. After finishing th elevators, I hung out in the leather lobby until Barb was ready to do group obedience with all of us. All of us in our group gather up and she has each student go out into the middle of the rug and go through the motions, switching them up from the order we'd done in the morning. We each have our turn of working with the dogs in a sit & stay, the down & stay, up-sit, and recall.
Both groups finished pretty quickly, so the decision was made with the Communications manager, Bill Krohl, to have the Media lecture at 4pm there in the leather lobby. Before this lecture, I was in my room and Barb came and knocked on the door with a mini - CD that had duct tape rolled in a roll on the back of it. she grabbed a few pieces of kibble and said that they had worked on him alerting her by touching this disk forcefully. She said she needed me to practice this with him a few times before they started the next step with me.
We then came back and met up in the Gathering room and as Bill spoke, the dogs were so well behaved, still, and laying down by each of the handlers. He gave his talk about the media policies and speaking opportunities that we as graduates can sign up to be a part of if the bond with the dog and length of time that the team has been together allows for it.
Dinner quickly came up with Fish & chips and pigs in a blanket as the "children's fingers" for laughs and giggles. The dogs do so well, even in close proximity of each other. Boomer is the only one that is ready to play and popping up occasionally.
After dinner, we had our straight line and approved toys lecture. Trainer Maria explained how the dogs are trained to walk down the imaginary center line of the sidewalks and are to deviate to the left if possible when something obstructs this line. She explained that they start out by stopping and moving the dogs in the appropriate directions and after several months of this training they start "stepping back" and gradually letting the dogs take the lead on what to do and praising them huge when the do things correctly, but correcting when they do it incorrectly. This reinforces the appropriate behaviour that is desired.
Then we took the dogs back to our rooms and put them on tie down to go downstairs and have the playtime/toy lecture. Maria showed the class the Kong, nylabones, and sterilized bones. She explained that with the dogs, we have to be cautious of not giving anything that they can destroy easily, as most labs do chew most dog toys up very easily. The goldens can sometimes be easier on their toys, but it depends by dog. Rawhide bones/chews/etc are absolutely out as they swell in the dog's stomach and when soaked, become stretchy and dangerous. They also are often bleached to "clean" them and treated with chemicals that are often not safe for dogs as well as since they smell like leather, they promote chewing of leather and this can carry over to your leather shoes, the leather leash/, the leather harness, or anything else that smells like leather.
We then had our last break time at 8:30 and once again the big boy did his business quickly. :)
Friday, November 1, 2013
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Day 3: Dog Day!!!! Oct. 30th
Dog Day.... the moment of truth in all this. :D
We started off the morning with the RA, Donna having to key in and wake me up as I was soooo zonked from last night. I'm still feeling quite sleepy this morning. I got up and dressed and went to the dining room for breakfast. Kevin had prepared for us some mixed fruits, hot oatmeal (which I declined) and this amazing French toast casserole with a strip of bacon. Everyone is starting to settle in now and talking to each other more as we are getting to know each other.
After Breakfast, Bab and Jody gathered us all up in the leather lobby area and said that this morning they were going to finish up walks with us to make sure we had the footwork down and work on some leash guiding with the first time handlers to get it in before we get our dogs after lunch. They then gave us the names and breeds of our dogs! :)
I will be getting, a male golden retreiver named Boomer! :) There will be 2 golden retreivers, 4 labs, and the apprentice that is in blindfold this week will be working with a smooth coated collie.
They released us to do as we wanted at this point and would come get us to do more walks with us about the grounds and then do the bus/van trainings. Jody soon came to get me and we walked out and around the building and then saw that the local puppy raising group was here at the grounds having a meeting and several of the dogs were dressed up in costumes. They were sooo cute! There was a jockey on the dogs back, a pumpkin, one with bat wings, another dressed in a baseball jersey, one dressed as a horse with a mop for a mane. :) The group was quite large and split in two, as one half of the group was working on obedience and sit/stays, and the other group was doing musical chairs with their dogs- walking around the chairs and then sitting on the chair in front of them. There were several shepherds, lots of labs and a few goldens too. All very adorable! We walked right through the midst of them in practicing my footwork and commands.
We then worked our way around back to the front of the building and Jody was in love with the Jockey costume, in which I then told her that I'd brought the similar version of this costume, but that it was the headless horseman instead. She was so excited and said Boomer may not wear it tomorrow, but will make sure we get to see it on him before I go home. :) We then did he bus boarding training of how and where the dog was to be when getting on the bus, which has changed a bit since the last time I was here.
Once done with this, Jody released me to do as I wanted and have hung out in the room for a while before lunch. The excitement continues to build as lunch approaches and giving us our dogs comes at 1pm!
I went to lunch and we had a really good bowl of chicken noodle soup and a half of a ham & cheese sandwich. CEO Wells Jones came down during lunch and introduced himself to all of us and sat at my table and chatted with us throughout lunch.
After lunch, everyone scurried to their rooms, only for Barb to say in this really ornery voice that there had been a delay in bringing the dogs over and to "try" to relax, that it'd be closer to 1:30 before they started to bring them to us. Jody then shortly came to my room and put the bucket of dogfood under the bathroom sink so I'd have food for my boy.
Then things started to get noisy in the hallway as you could hear the trainers walking dogs down the hallway and knocking on the doors to their new handlers. I heard the knock on my door and said "come in!" Barb came in and Boomer bounded up to me to say hello and immediately sat on my feet as I stroked his long broad back. Olivia the apprentice snapped several pictures of Barb, Boomer and I together and then they took off to give Boomer and I some time togther. Boomer looked often at the door and would perk his head up and even whined a few times if I stopped stroking his soft coat, as he strained to listen for Barb going up and down the hallway.
After a good while, he started to relax a little and planted himself by me and didnt go too far. He was fine if I continued to touch him in some way- whether stroking his head, shoulder, chest, or down his back. If I didn't though, he'd pace at the end of the leash and whine a bit. Barb came back after bit to work us to the gathering room, and he was really ramped up with a good strong pull. Before we headed out the door, I asked Barb about how to hold my hand on the leash for leash guiding and she stopped me. I want you to know something, what happened with you and Favor was not your fault, and you couldnt do anything about it and she said she wanted me to realize this is a completely different dog, different personality, and try to not correct myself and worry about what I had done in the past with Favor, the things I'd done with Favor and doing them with Boomer
I quickly teared up but was nodding ny head in aggreement, and knowing thi sin my heart, but finding it hard to let go and she was like just take it one day at a time, I'll be here every step of the way with you and we'll work through everything with THIS dog and how he is.
So we slowly made our way out the door, making sure his long tail was clear of the door closing behind us (after the hard learned lesson with Favor's tail in the door right across the hall from us, last April). We made our way down the hallway and came to a halt. I then did a left turn and had Boomer take me to a chair by the door. He nailed it right on and it took a few minutes to get him settled under the the chair though. The traniners sat and talked to us a little about the dogs, that they were wound up because they hadn't been worked in a week, and that they still didn't know who the heck we all were and were thinking the trainers were big traitors, putting someone else on the end of their leashes! Then then told us how much each of our dogs gets to eat and we talked a little bit about the food, Natural Balance Synergy, that the dogs were all on. The dogs did settle down quite a bit and before long, all were snoozing under their handlers chairs. It was nearly 4:30, which is feeding and break time, so the trainers then began to work each of us individually back to our rooms. They then showed us and watched us feed our dogs and had us interact with our dogs quietly until they got all the dogs fed and came back to take us out to the break area.
Barb came back and we worked out to the break area, which for those who have been here and know the layout of this area- the big "T", I am at the far end of one of the ends of the top of the "T". Boomer amazed me in that he almost immediately went out and did a number 2. This was a first for me, as all my other dogs have held out with both at least until the evening/if not the next morning, and then held out on the number 2 business from 2 1/2 to 3 whole days! So I was very pleasantly surprised. Then he acted like he wanted to do a number 1, but was a little more interested in watching stuff around us for a bit, so I kept encouraging him and he eventually did it. :)
We worked back inside and I put him on the tie down and went on down to dinner. Kevin outdid himself tonight with dinner, as he fixed these amazing, amazing flank steaks and baked potatoes & green beans as the side. I was wanting more, but was good and just ate what I had on my plate, as I'd had him give me a half of a smaller potatoe and small portion of the steak and double portion of the green beans. :) This meal was pretty quiet as I think between everyone being tired from the long days and the adrenaline rush having worn off from getting the dogs, everyone was rather quiet.
After dinner, we went back to our rooms and spent time with our dogs until the trainers came and got us to go out to the leather lobby for the first time as a group. It took a bit to get everyone settled and the dogs wanted to play with each other at first as they were in such close proximity of each other. Boomer was a bi of a booger as he was up and down quite a bit, but we kept working it and kept him settled. He's reminding me a lot of Rei already in this regards and is sooo loveable, so I'm really feeling good about him.
After the lecture, we made our way back to our rooms and then the trainers worked us all out to the break area for the last time of the night and Boomer again did a #1 right off the bat. So I think he's doing really, really well there. We came back in and before I placed him on the tie down, I did take him into the bathroom to see if I could figure out about how tall he was and he is about 5 1/2 tiles tall. with these being 4 inch tiles, that puts him somewhere about 23 to 24 inches tall at the shoulder. Favor was 26 inches, and Rei was 19. So he's a little shorter than Favor, but he is pretty solid and stocky. :)
After this I put him on tie down and answered some buzzes from friends on FB and promptly fell asleep with the laptop on my lap! LOL!
We started off the morning with the RA, Donna having to key in and wake me up as I was soooo zonked from last night. I'm still feeling quite sleepy this morning. I got up and dressed and went to the dining room for breakfast. Kevin had prepared for us some mixed fruits, hot oatmeal (which I declined) and this amazing French toast casserole with a strip of bacon. Everyone is starting to settle in now and talking to each other more as we are getting to know each other.
After Breakfast, Bab and Jody gathered us all up in the leather lobby area and said that this morning they were going to finish up walks with us to make sure we had the footwork down and work on some leash guiding with the first time handlers to get it in before we get our dogs after lunch. They then gave us the names and breeds of our dogs! :)
I will be getting, a male golden retreiver named Boomer! :) There will be 2 golden retreivers, 4 labs, and the apprentice that is in blindfold this week will be working with a smooth coated collie.
They released us to do as we wanted at this point and would come get us to do more walks with us about the grounds and then do the bus/van trainings. Jody soon came to get me and we walked out and around the building and then saw that the local puppy raising group was here at the grounds having a meeting and several of the dogs were dressed up in costumes. They were sooo cute! There was a jockey on the dogs back, a pumpkin, one with bat wings, another dressed in a baseball jersey, one dressed as a horse with a mop for a mane. :) The group was quite large and split in two, as one half of the group was working on obedience and sit/stays, and the other group was doing musical chairs with their dogs- walking around the chairs and then sitting on the chair in front of them. There were several shepherds, lots of labs and a few goldens too. All very adorable! We walked right through the midst of them in practicing my footwork and commands.
We then worked our way around back to the front of the building and Jody was in love with the Jockey costume, in which I then told her that I'd brought the similar version of this costume, but that it was the headless horseman instead. She was so excited and said Boomer may not wear it tomorrow, but will make sure we get to see it on him before I go home. :) We then did he bus boarding training of how and where the dog was to be when getting on the bus, which has changed a bit since the last time I was here.
Once done with this, Jody released me to do as I wanted and have hung out in the room for a while before lunch. The excitement continues to build as lunch approaches and giving us our dogs comes at 1pm!
I went to lunch and we had a really good bowl of chicken noodle soup and a half of a ham & cheese sandwich. CEO Wells Jones came down during lunch and introduced himself to all of us and sat at my table and chatted with us throughout lunch.
After lunch, everyone scurried to their rooms, only for Barb to say in this really ornery voice that there had been a delay in bringing the dogs over and to "try" to relax, that it'd be closer to 1:30 before they started to bring them to us. Jody then shortly came to my room and put the bucket of dogfood under the bathroom sink so I'd have food for my boy.
Then things started to get noisy in the hallway as you could hear the trainers walking dogs down the hallway and knocking on the doors to their new handlers. I heard the knock on my door and said "come in!" Barb came in and Boomer bounded up to me to say hello and immediately sat on my feet as I stroked his long broad back. Olivia the apprentice snapped several pictures of Barb, Boomer and I together and then they took off to give Boomer and I some time togther. Boomer looked often at the door and would perk his head up and even whined a few times if I stopped stroking his soft coat, as he strained to listen for Barb going up and down the hallway.
After a good while, he started to relax a little and planted himself by me and didnt go too far. He was fine if I continued to touch him in some way- whether stroking his head, shoulder, chest, or down his back. If I didn't though, he'd pace at the end of the leash and whine a bit. Barb came back after bit to work us to the gathering room, and he was really ramped up with a good strong pull. Before we headed out the door, I asked Barb about how to hold my hand on the leash for leash guiding and she stopped me. I want you to know something, what happened with you and Favor was not your fault, and you couldnt do anything about it and she said she wanted me to realize this is a completely different dog, different personality, and try to not correct myself and worry about what I had done in the past with Favor, the things I'd done with Favor and doing them with Boomer
I quickly teared up but was nodding ny head in aggreement, and knowing thi sin my heart, but finding it hard to let go and she was like just take it one day at a time, I'll be here every step of the way with you and we'll work through everything with THIS dog and how he is.
So we slowly made our way out the door, making sure his long tail was clear of the door closing behind us (after the hard learned lesson with Favor's tail in the door right across the hall from us, last April). We made our way down the hallway and came to a halt. I then did a left turn and had Boomer take me to a chair by the door. He nailed it right on and it took a few minutes to get him settled under the the chair though. The traniners sat and talked to us a little about the dogs, that they were wound up because they hadn't been worked in a week, and that they still didn't know who the heck we all were and were thinking the trainers were big traitors, putting someone else on the end of their leashes! Then then told us how much each of our dogs gets to eat and we talked a little bit about the food, Natural Balance Synergy, that the dogs were all on. The dogs did settle down quite a bit and before long, all were snoozing under their handlers chairs. It was nearly 4:30, which is feeding and break time, so the trainers then began to work each of us individually back to our rooms. They then showed us and watched us feed our dogs and had us interact with our dogs quietly until they got all the dogs fed and came back to take us out to the break area.
Barb came back and we worked out to the break area, which for those who have been here and know the layout of this area- the big "T", I am at the far end of one of the ends of the top of the "T". Boomer amazed me in that he almost immediately went out and did a number 2. This was a first for me, as all my other dogs have held out with both at least until the evening/if not the next morning, and then held out on the number 2 business from 2 1/2 to 3 whole days! So I was very pleasantly surprised. Then he acted like he wanted to do a number 1, but was a little more interested in watching stuff around us for a bit, so I kept encouraging him and he eventually did it. :)
We worked back inside and I put him on the tie down and went on down to dinner. Kevin outdid himself tonight with dinner, as he fixed these amazing, amazing flank steaks and baked potatoes & green beans as the side. I was wanting more, but was good and just ate what I had on my plate, as I'd had him give me a half of a smaller potatoe and small portion of the steak and double portion of the green beans. :) This meal was pretty quiet as I think between everyone being tired from the long days and the adrenaline rush having worn off from getting the dogs, everyone was rather quiet.
After dinner, we went back to our rooms and spent time with our dogs until the trainers came and got us to go out to the leather lobby for the first time as a group. It took a bit to get everyone settled and the dogs wanted to play with each other at first as they were in such close proximity of each other. Boomer was a bi of a booger as he was up and down quite a bit, but we kept working it and kept him settled. He's reminding me a lot of Rei already in this regards and is sooo loveable, so I'm really feeling good about him.
After the lecture, we made our way back to our rooms and then the trainers worked us all out to the break area for the last time of the night and Boomer again did a #1 right off the bat. So I think he's doing really, really well there. We came back in and before I placed him on the tie down, I did take him into the bathroom to see if I could figure out about how tall he was and he is about 5 1/2 tiles tall. with these being 4 inch tiles, that puts him somewhere about 23 to 24 inches tall at the shoulder. Favor was 26 inches, and Rei was 19. So he's a little shorter than Favor, but he is pretty solid and stocky. :)
After this I put him on tie down and answered some buzzes from friends on FB and promptly fell asleep with the laptop on my lap! LOL!
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Day 2- Tues. Oct. 29th
Today was very much a hurry up and wait type of day. The RA came and knocked on the door at 6am so I got up and took a shower, making sure to close the bathroom door since I guess it is well known that if you do not, the fire alarms WILL go off and the Smithtown Fire Dept has not been happy with GDF when this happens. ;) After getting myself all ready, I headed to the dining room for breakfast.
Breakfast was a bowl of mixed fresh fruits and my half sized portions of scrambled eggs and a slice of bacon with a biscuit. Once we were finished with breakfast, the entire group met up in the lobby lounge and Barb and Jody went over the plans for the day. First things on the agenda was that we would all be sent to our rooms and they'd set off the fire alarm for a fire drill, in which all the fire doors would close. They wanted to do this where the doors closed since this tends to disorient people with the doors being closed. We were then going to do our short handle walks with both trainers while several of the other apprentices was going to go through and finish up with orientations for the rest of the students.
I went back to the room and grabbed my laptop and took up the opportunity to go to the snack lounge and work on some paperwork stuff I'd brought with me. I hung out here until Barb came and got me to do the short handle walk with her. This went like this:
I went out to do my Juno walk/short handle walk, and as we were walking outside to do so, Barb asked a good handful of questions- Was this a good pace, Yes, do you think you can handle a strong dog? Yes, Are you willing to work through some silliness, knowing that with time it'll subside, Yes.
We go through several laps around the campus and then she tells me to follow her over to an ...open area. Says to me to give her a few corrections- when it wiggles and she says DOG! To give her a good hard correction. So we do a few times and she says OK, come with me.
Then she asks, are you OK with whatever we have for you? Yes. Is there anything you specifically want in a dog- I say I want a dog with a lot of intuition, to make a decision and go with it with little instruction from me and as long as the dog is good with kids.
Then she asks if I have any questions or thoughts and upon saying No, she says that she thinks she has the perfect dog for me, but just needed to make sure I could handle him.
This honestly just absolutely makes my heart soar. :)
After this walk, I went back inside to the computer and continued working there until Barb came in a little while later to do the interview with me. We discussed the breeds they had and she asked if there was any i wouldn't work with, which I said I'll take whatever you give me, though some are lower on the list than others- such as a poodle. While poodles are good dogs, just not a dog that I care for that much personally. I'll leave them to the people that need them for allergies! :)
We also talked about the activities of our lifestyle and things we do. Things at our mega church, at our school, what types of transportation I use, do I use a subway, the trains, country walks (roads without sidewalks), and so forth. After going through all of this, Barb said she could tell that I was very apprehensive, that she could tell from the moment of picking me up at the airport. I told her I am very excited, but yes, very apprehensive too. She went on to say that she can't make promises, but that she really believes that with some work, that this dog will be a really, really good dog for me. :)
After the interview, it was very close to time for lunch, so made my way there and we had a really good bowl of barley soup and a turkey sandwich. As always, Chef Kevin's food is just sooooo good. I was good and passed on desserts, going back to the snack room to continue working on my paperwork. Before too long, Barb and Jody gathered us all up again in the lobby lounge to let us know that they were doing second short handle walks in the afternoon and that two long time volunteers would be taking the others of us on tours of the grounds and of the training kennels.
Jody came and found me pretty quickly and we went out together and worked on the forward, halt, about, right turn, and left turn commands and footwork. I was very rusty on these as I'm finding that while I'd been shown them on my first class with Honey, no one had reviewed these since, thus I'd quite forgotten the proper techniques of them. Barb also had explained the reasoning behind these techniques too, thus changing a lot of my perspective of some of the routes I've engaged for a long time. I'll be re-thinking some of these for sure.
We met up with Barb and the other student she was working with and then swapped "dogs" aka trainers for a few minutes and I worked with Barb in that she wanted to see me do the harness correction now that I was more familiar with the grounds and such. We swapped back and then Jody took me on inside back to the snack room where I had left my stuff.
One of the two volunt
eers came soon to take me on the tour of the Kennels and as we talked, he remembered me from when I was here in April, upon telling him about Favor. He gave me the tour about the grounds and we went on over to the Kennels where I got to see a buddy of mine. :) Erin, Rei's puppy raiser had raised a smooth coated collie named David. She had David in the last year that I had Rei and we had met up with her and met him when we made the trip to TN for a family reunion, then again when I retired Rei this past March, in which she and David stayed at our house overnight before going back to TN.
Here is the big man in the kennels! He's looking very good and at first he looked at me and once I approached him he started wiggling and was happy to see me, mouthing my fingers a bit and then turning to have his rump scratched.
Thus I came back upstairs with a massive headache and some seriously puffy, red, and swollen eyes. Kait, the apprentice instructor that gave the equipment lecture was waiting for me to go over how to properly put on the collar and make sure I knew how to make a short and long leash. She was quite impressed as I whipped right through those and put the collar on the big stuffed snoopy dog they have for this purpose. :) We wrapped it up there and she handed me my bowl of stuff for the dog and I came back here to the room to skype with Mike and the kids before the kids went to bed. I now wrap up this post since then and we will continue with Day 3- Dog Day tomorrow! :)
Breakfast was a bowl of mixed fresh fruits and my half sized portions of scrambled eggs and a slice of bacon with a biscuit. Once we were finished with breakfast, the entire group met up in the lobby lounge and Barb and Jody went over the plans for the day. First things on the agenda was that we would all be sent to our rooms and they'd set off the fire alarm for a fire drill, in which all the fire doors would close. They wanted to do this where the doors closed since this tends to disorient people with the doors being closed. We were then going to do our short handle walks with both trainers while several of the other apprentices was going to go through and finish up with orientations for the rest of the students.
I went back to the room and grabbed my laptop and took up the opportunity to go to the snack lounge and work on some paperwork stuff I'd brought with me. I hung out here until Barb came and got me to do the short handle walk with her. This went like this:
I went out to do my Juno walk/short handle walk, and as we were walking outside to do so, Barb asked a good handful of questions- Was this a good pace, Yes, do you think you can handle a strong dog? Yes, Are you willing to work through some silliness, knowing that with time it'll subside, Yes.
We go through several laps around the campus and then she tells me to follow her over to an ...open area. Says to me to give her a few corrections- when it wiggles and she says DOG! To give her a good hard correction. So we do a few times and she says OK, come with me.
Then she asks, are you OK with whatever we have for you? Yes. Is there anything you specifically want in a dog- I say I want a dog with a lot of intuition, to make a decision and go with it with little instruction from me and as long as the dog is good with kids.
Then she asks if I have any questions or thoughts and upon saying No, she says that she thinks she has the perfect dog for me, but just needed to make sure I could handle him.
This honestly just absolutely makes my heart soar. :)
After this walk, I went back inside to the computer and continued working there until Barb came in a little while later to do the interview with me. We discussed the breeds they had and she asked if there was any i wouldn't work with, which I said I'll take whatever you give me, though some are lower on the list than others- such as a poodle. While poodles are good dogs, just not a dog that I care for that much personally. I'll leave them to the people that need them for allergies! :)
We also talked about the activities of our lifestyle and things we do. Things at our mega church, at our school, what types of transportation I use, do I use a subway, the trains, country walks (roads without sidewalks), and so forth. After going through all of this, Barb said she could tell that I was very apprehensive, that she could tell from the moment of picking me up at the airport. I told her I am very excited, but yes, very apprehensive too. She went on to say that she can't make promises, but that she really believes that with some work, that this dog will be a really, really good dog for me. :)
After the interview, it was very close to time for lunch, so made my way there and we had a really good bowl of barley soup and a turkey sandwich. As always, Chef Kevin's food is just sooooo good. I was good and passed on desserts, going back to the snack room to continue working on my paperwork. Before too long, Barb and Jody gathered us all up again in the lobby lounge to let us know that they were doing second short handle walks in the afternoon and that two long time volunteers would be taking the others of us on tours of the grounds and of the training kennels.
Jody came and found me pretty quickly and we went out together and worked on the forward, halt, about, right turn, and left turn commands and footwork. I was very rusty on these as I'm finding that while I'd been shown them on my first class with Honey, no one had reviewed these since, thus I'd quite forgotten the proper techniques of them. Barb also had explained the reasoning behind these techniques too, thus changing a lot of my perspective of some of the routes I've engaged for a long time. I'll be re-thinking some of these for sure.
We met up with Barb and the other student she was working with and then swapped "dogs" aka trainers for a few minutes and I worked with Barb in that she wanted to see me do the harness correction now that I was more familiar with the grounds and such. We swapped back and then Jody took me on inside back to the snack room where I had left my stuff.
One of the two volunt
eers came soon to take me on the tour of the Kennels and as we talked, he remembered me from when I was here in April, upon telling him about Favor. He gave me the tour about the grounds and we went on over to the Kennels where I got to see a buddy of mine. :) Erin, Rei's puppy raiser had raised a smooth coated collie named David. She had David in the last year that I had Rei and we had met up with her and met him when we made the trip to TN for a family reunion, then again when I retired Rei this past March, in which she and David stayed at our house overnight before going back to TN.
Here is the big man in the kennels! He's looking very good and at first he looked at me and once I approached him he started wiggling and was happy to see me, mouthing my fingers a bit and then turning to have his rump scratched.
I finished up with my kennels tour and then went back to the Residence building. I grabbed my laptop and stuff and headed back to the room, since my stuff had been camped out there nearly all day. Just as I set the computer down, Jody came over the intercom, calling all of us down to the lobby lounge. Jody and Barb explained that tomorrow we will have our 6am wake up call, 7:30 breakfast, and then from there do van and bus trainings. Then from there, there will be one or two more interviews to finish up and then Barb and Jody will make their "Final, Final decisions" of which will be the best dog to give to each student and by that point they are thinking it'll be lunch time.
So we will go to lunch and after lunch they will send us all to our rooms at 1pm and will bring our dogs to each of us individually and have an apprentice with them to take pictures of giving each of us our dogs. After we receive our dogs, we will be given a couple of hours of quiet time to interact and bond with the dog as much as possible and then will be assisted in going with our dogs to the gathering room and then outside to the break area. After this we'll bring the dogs back inside and put them on tie down in our rooms for during dinner and then after dinner we will bring our dogs with us to the lobby lounge for the evening lecture and then one last time out to the break area for the night.
Barb and Jody then signed off for the day, turning things over to several other trainers for the evening and a couple of other students who are amazingly good at music, one got out his guitar and the other his harmonica set and sang/played together w/o ever having practices together before. Both are totally blind with no light perception and they were just amazing to watch in their abilities to create such a joyful noise! The rest of us and several GDF staff members were drawn to the music and came and watched as they played several songs together until it was dinner time at 5:30pm.
Dinner was no different in that it was deliciously good. Kevin's famous 2 1/2 inch thick porchops and sauce just melted in your mouth with asparagus and a super small helping of stuffing for me. :) I did splurge and have a small slice of chocolate cake as well.
The evening lecture was the traditional split lecture, where the first time handlers stay up in the lobby area and learn how to make a long and short leash, how to properly put a training collar on the dog, and are given a bowl, nylabone, dog brush, and a recall whistle for their dogs. The re-trains are sent to the lower level TV room in which the transition lecture takes place. This lecture is good for reminding those of us that are receiving successor dogs, that we need to be patient, that it's OK and normal to feel guilt, shame, failure, and the grieving process that comes with the loss of a dog, either through retirement, death, or returning the dog back to the school.
While this lecture has always been one of the more beneficial ones for me, it is entirely the one that I dread the most, as I knew I'd be a blubbering mess when it came to this with Favor. Tonight it took everyone else talking as I sniffled, cried, and tried to hold myself together as the others talked about their situations and different things about their dogs. I finally let it out and shared my feelings of guilt, apprehension, and somewhat fear of what is to come with the new dog. I am very excited and ready to start a new chapter with this new dog, but I am very apprehensive of how can I protect my new dog and the new relationship I have with the dog, given the conditions and factors of the environments I have around me and that we will encounter, yet I cannot control. I continue to pray for my new "forever" dog and at this point I have to entirely turn it over to God that he knows what he's doing and do my best to put the work in to start this bond off in the right direction and with the help of all the staff here at GDF, who has been there for me, hugged me when I needed it, and been the listening ear through all this. :)
Thus I came back upstairs with a massive headache and some seriously puffy, red, and swollen eyes. Kait, the apprentice instructor that gave the equipment lecture was waiting for me to go over how to properly put on the collar and make sure I knew how to make a short and long leash. She was quite impressed as I whipped right through those and put the collar on the big stuffed snoopy dog they have for this purpose. :) We wrapped it up there and she handed me my bowl of stuff for the dog and I came back here to the room to skype with Mike and the kids before the kids went to bed. I now wrap up this post since then and we will continue with Day 3- Dog Day tomorrow! :)
Stay tuned for lots of info tomorrow!
Kacie & ***Male dog- What's my name?***
Monday, October 28, 2013
Day one at GDF- Fall 2013
Well, Day 1 at GDF is coming to a close. Was a good day overall. :)
Got up this morning with Katie to spend some time with the kids before they all went to school, knowing that I wouldn't be home when they got home. I was struggling when Alex and Meaghan left though, as both of them held me tight and Alex didn't want to let go, close to tears, and says with his head down- "I don't want you to leave." Yeah, tore at the heart strings majorly there.
I then finished off filing the paperwork I had to be filed and by this point it was time to head to the airport. Went over the last minute things with Mike on where I'd put things and we made the drive to the airport. It was a gorgeous crisp fall day out and clear as far as the eye could see. This still didnt keep the nervousness away that was building in my stomach like butterflies fluttering around.
We arrived at the Indianapolis International Airport and went and made our way to the check out desk. Mike teased me as my suitcase was 53lbs and I retorted back that I expected it to be overweight, with packing for a full month and keeping it to one suitcase. He was given a companion pass and we then made our way to the Security checkpoint. The TSA agent asked the person in front of us if he had any metal knee or hip implants, as if so, he'd need to go through a different line. Mike was taking care of talking to the agent and completely spaced the CI on my head.
So as we stripped our stuff off- belts, shoes, emptied the laptop and CI bag into the trays, I bring this up and we go back and tell the agent about the CI. He tells us to go ahead and they'll send someone over to scan me. With the next agent that was working the scanner, since it would set off the metal detector said I'd either have to be patted down or I could do the x-ray machine thing. I opt for the x-ray and have to step in and place my feet on the yellow foot prints and place my hands over my head as the machine goes in this full circle around me in one quick swoop. We were quickly done and able to move on, as all the agents were very friendly and helpful through all of this.
Now that we were through security, we go and grab us a bite to eat for lunch and then make our way to the gate. I check in with the ticket agent and confirm the gate assistance once landing in La Guardia. It was nice to sit and talk with Mike for while before leaving too. Before I knew it, it was time to board on the plane, which amazingly was really empty. The flight was really good and without any issues, as well as arriving in NY about 15 minutes early.
An agent at the gate helps me down to baggage claims and trainer, Barb, met me there. Since there were so few people on the plane, the baggage came off at record speed and we had my suitcase in no time. Trainer, Jody E., had met up with her person and we all made our way out to the GDF van, in which a third student was there and waiting for us. Barb then takes the three of us and we head back to the GDF campus.
The traffic was really good on the highway, without any hang ups/slow downs and we made pretty good time getting bac to the campus, whih is normally about an hour away. I quickly found myself right at home, being right across the hall from the room I was in last April while here. At the suggestion of a friend, when we made our way back to the room, I asked if I could push the bed against the wall instead of sticking out in to the middle of the floor, centered along the long wall of the room. I am blessed in that I have one of the few rooms with a full bed, vs the twin bed. So we moved things around and got the room situated. Barb said she needed to get a couple of things done and would be back to do irentation with me.
I unpacked my suitcase and stuff and am settled in for the long haul. Shortly, Barb came and got me to do some orientation about the building to make sure safety things had been covered and so forth. We also bumped into Kevin, GDF's AMAZING Chef, and I made it a point to go ahead and ask for the half portions now, before my pants don't fit me like last time. :)
Kevin and I talked for a good while, catching up on the things of the summer and I headed back to my room. I take a look at the clock, which says 1:00pm. Not even thinking that we'd just unplugged the clock about an hour earlier, I'm thinking I have about 3-4 hrs that I can take a nap, so I lay down. I'd just really gone into a deep sleep when I shot out of bed at the hard knocking on my door and it's Jody saying it's 5:30 and dinner time. :)
I am in such a hurry to get down to the dining room and not hold people up, that I promptly rushed out the door without my room key and the door locked. Oye! Dinner however was amazing, with breaded baked chicken and steamed mixed veggies of green beans, broccoli, and some other stuff too with a bit of mashed potatoes too. Here at dinner we got to meet most of the other members of class that we'd heard, but not seen before.
Everyone downs their dinners and our first lecture is at 7pm in the lobby/leather lounge. We all gather up and all the nitty gritty stuff of rules, policies, and tentative schedules are discussed with all of us. They explain that through the day tomorrow, we'll be doing Juno walks- where a double ended handle is used and the trainers are the "dogs" and lead us. We are to tell them where we are comfortable and such as they will make a final decision of which dog will be the final choice to match to each of us students.
All of us there at GDF right now are also blessed with the presence of an apprentice that is training by participating within our class for an entire week- but blindfolded. She is staying here on campus with us and the blindfold is to stay on until next Monday afternoon. Barb made us promise though to be nice to her this week and no pranks/moving furniture around on her, as she is using a cane right now and will use a guide dog the later part of the week to get a feel for what blindness is like.
After the lecture, I came back to my room to settle in for the night and gave Mike a buzz, in which they were heading home from MD's gymnastics Halloween party. Once they got home, Mike and the kids jumped onto the computer and signed in to Skype, and we got to chat for a few minutes and was able to do the back camera on the Ipad Mini to show them what my room looks like.
Thus it's time to sign off and say Good Night, as the 6am wake up call will definitely come early and we begin a new day tomorrow with Juno walks and time here about the building.
Kacie and *What will my name be???*
Got up this morning with Katie to spend some time with the kids before they all went to school, knowing that I wouldn't be home when they got home. I was struggling when Alex and Meaghan left though, as both of them held me tight and Alex didn't want to let go, close to tears, and says with his head down- "I don't want you to leave." Yeah, tore at the heart strings majorly there.
I then finished off filing the paperwork I had to be filed and by this point it was time to head to the airport. Went over the last minute things with Mike on where I'd put things and we made the drive to the airport. It was a gorgeous crisp fall day out and clear as far as the eye could see. This still didnt keep the nervousness away that was building in my stomach like butterflies fluttering around.
We arrived at the Indianapolis International Airport and went and made our way to the check out desk. Mike teased me as my suitcase was 53lbs and I retorted back that I expected it to be overweight, with packing for a full month and keeping it to one suitcase. He was given a companion pass and we then made our way to the Security checkpoint. The TSA agent asked the person in front of us if he had any metal knee or hip implants, as if so, he'd need to go through a different line. Mike was taking care of talking to the agent and completely spaced the CI on my head.
So as we stripped our stuff off- belts, shoes, emptied the laptop and CI bag into the trays, I bring this up and we go back and tell the agent about the CI. He tells us to go ahead and they'll send someone over to scan me. With the next agent that was working the scanner, since it would set off the metal detector said I'd either have to be patted down or I could do the x-ray machine thing. I opt for the x-ray and have to step in and place my feet on the yellow foot prints and place my hands over my head as the machine goes in this full circle around me in one quick swoop. We were quickly done and able to move on, as all the agents were very friendly and helpful through all of this.
Now that we were through security, we go and grab us a bite to eat for lunch and then make our way to the gate. I check in with the ticket agent and confirm the gate assistance once landing in La Guardia. It was nice to sit and talk with Mike for while before leaving too. Before I knew it, it was time to board on the plane, which amazingly was really empty. The flight was really good and without any issues, as well as arriving in NY about 15 minutes early.
An agent at the gate helps me down to baggage claims and trainer, Barb, met me there. Since there were so few people on the plane, the baggage came off at record speed and we had my suitcase in no time. Trainer, Jody E., had met up with her person and we all made our way out to the GDF van, in which a third student was there and waiting for us. Barb then takes the three of us and we head back to the GDF campus.
The traffic was really good on the highway, without any hang ups/slow downs and we made pretty good time getting bac to the campus, whih is normally about an hour away. I quickly found myself right at home, being right across the hall from the room I was in last April while here. At the suggestion of a friend, when we made our way back to the room, I asked if I could push the bed against the wall instead of sticking out in to the middle of the floor, centered along the long wall of the room. I am blessed in that I have one of the few rooms with a full bed, vs the twin bed. So we moved things around and got the room situated. Barb said she needed to get a couple of things done and would be back to do irentation with me.
I unpacked my suitcase and stuff and am settled in for the long haul. Shortly, Barb came and got me to do some orientation about the building to make sure safety things had been covered and so forth. We also bumped into Kevin, GDF's AMAZING Chef, and I made it a point to go ahead and ask for the half portions now, before my pants don't fit me like last time. :)
Kevin and I talked for a good while, catching up on the things of the summer and I headed back to my room. I take a look at the clock, which says 1:00pm. Not even thinking that we'd just unplugged the clock about an hour earlier, I'm thinking I have about 3-4 hrs that I can take a nap, so I lay down. I'd just really gone into a deep sleep when I shot out of bed at the hard knocking on my door and it's Jody saying it's 5:30 and dinner time. :)
I am in such a hurry to get down to the dining room and not hold people up, that I promptly rushed out the door without my room key and the door locked. Oye! Dinner however was amazing, with breaded baked chicken and steamed mixed veggies of green beans, broccoli, and some other stuff too with a bit of mashed potatoes too. Here at dinner we got to meet most of the other members of class that we'd heard, but not seen before.
Everyone downs their dinners and our first lecture is at 7pm in the lobby/leather lounge. We all gather up and all the nitty gritty stuff of rules, policies, and tentative schedules are discussed with all of us. They explain that through the day tomorrow, we'll be doing Juno walks- where a double ended handle is used and the trainers are the "dogs" and lead us. We are to tell them where we are comfortable and such as they will make a final decision of which dog will be the final choice to match to each of us students.
All of us there at GDF right now are also blessed with the presence of an apprentice that is training by participating within our class for an entire week- but blindfolded. She is staying here on campus with us and the blindfold is to stay on until next Monday afternoon. Barb made us promise though to be nice to her this week and no pranks/moving furniture around on her, as she is using a cane right now and will use a guide dog the later part of the week to get a feel for what blindness is like.
After the lecture, I came back to my room to settle in for the night and gave Mike a buzz, in which they were heading home from MD's gymnastics Halloween party. Once they got home, Mike and the kids jumped onto the computer and signed in to Skype, and we got to chat for a few minutes and was able to do the back camera on the Ipad Mini to show them what my room looks like.
Thus it's time to sign off and say Good Night, as the 6am wake up call will definitely come early and we begin a new day tomorrow with Juno walks and time here about the building.
Kacie and *What will my name be???*
Being Dogless- Again and other things
While the week of favor's leaving was very painful, there was an amazing high point to that week too, MD asked to be baptized at church camp! :)
We were very proud of her and it was even more awesome that she called the night before and asked her Daddy to be the one to baptize her. :)
We left from Camp and headed back to the Indy area and headed straight to Camp Belzer and spent the afternoon with AC and his den there at camp. The kids had fun, doing some archery, shooting, and various other games that day. We had a few storms roll through for a bit, but they passed quickly and the fun continuted.
Mike about to dip MD under in the Camp Allendale pool to be baptized.
We were very proud of her and it was even more awesome that she called the night before and asked her Daddy to be the one to baptize her. :)
We left from Camp and headed back to the Indy area and headed straight to Camp Belzer and spent the afternoon with AC and his den there at camp. The kids had fun, doing some archery, shooting, and various other games that day. We had a few storms roll through for a bit, but they passed quickly and the fun continuted.
AC with arrow drawn and aiming for the target at Camp Belzer Cub Scout Day Camp.
So I didn't have a whole lot of time to think about Favor being gone this week, but I finally got the nerve to write back to GDF and inquire about what needed to be done for the process of starting the process for another dog. I was told my application was in, that they'd just have to check that all the forms were in and up to date, which they should be with having put in the application for Favor.
Then came the hard part of sending Favor back. All the questions from various people who had seen and oohhh'd and ahhhh'd over Favor and her striking appearance. Right and left, people asked me "Where is your dog???" And with a straight face, I'd reply that she didn't work out and had become too protective of my family and I and with the amount of children I am around, that it wasn't going to work. I honestly had hopes that she would go back to GDF and possibly be placed with someone that lived in the city and had almost no interactions with children. While I knew it was essentially a shot in the dark, I was hoping.
Then came the onslaught of suggestions and well meaning advice from various people. I learned very quickly that the people that I thought would be the most empathetic and compassionate, were the quickest to tell me what I'd done wrong and what I needed to do next time with a dog. I honestly was hurt, emotionally raw, and even depressed. I had suggestions of not letting anyone pet the new dog to not going anywhere with the new dog for several months. I felt questioned, chastized, and called out as a handler that the decisions I'd made with my dogs were inappropriate and caused the early retirements I've faced now for the the third dog in a row. The first due to fear of loud noises and in particular thunderstorms, the second being because of a medical condition, and then the third because of aggression.
Then as we traveled for several family reunions and as the family had to learn to slow down again and Mike had to learn to sight guide me all over again, instead of walking away and leaving me standing there searching with my cane in unfamiliar territory, I was acutely aware of the loss of independence, the looks of pity on people's faces as they saw me tapping my cane from side to side. I wanted to scream, break my white cane into a million pieces, even throw it across the room. However I realize that this impersonal and inanimate object is the closest thing I have to maintaining at least a little bit of independence right now, so I'm stuck with it. Yes I've cried myself to sleep many nights in prayer to God to watch over me and my family, to bring the right match forward in his time, and to be with the kids as we've lost all the pets in our house in the past 8 months. All three gerbils had crossed over the rainbow bridge as well.
I struggled too, as the weeks started going by and not hearing anything from GDF, though this is the normal process since it all boils down to the right dog coming in for formal training and successfully making it through the training program Unfortunately, this is not a quick process much to my dislike. I still have not received a class date yet, but there will be a VERY big change this time around. In the past, I've done what GDF calls a combo training, which means I am there at GDF for 10-14 days and then come home and the trainer comes to my home area and works each day with me for a week here in my home setting. For the next dog, GDF wants me to come to the school for the full class. That means 4 weeks all together and away from my family and home. I'm honestly quite nervous at the prospect, not so much that Mike and our support isn't able to handle things without me, but moreso for MD and some of the issues she has had come up this summer, causing her to be irritable and at times quite difficult to be around.
I was pleasantly blessed though that with some adjustments to her medications, we were able to get her functioning well again with school.
I was pleasantly blessed though that with some adjustments to her medications, we were able to get her functioning well again with school.
September however brought us to the sadness of Mike's mom, Elizabeth Weldy- going home to be with the Lord after a 10 year battle with Alzheimer's disease. While we grieve for her, it's almost a relief that she's gone on to Heaven and the knowing that we shall get to see her "whole" again, brings us the most comfort through this difficult time.
Upon returning home from her funeral, I received the phone call from GDF trainers, Barb & Jody E that they felt that they have a dog that will work for me. The however did want to ask if I was hard set on my preference of a female dog, as they thought they had either a male black lab or a male golden retriever that would work for me. I was more than fine with a male dog, and was excited at the prospect of being done with being dog-less!
Upon returning home from her funeral, I received the phone call from GDF trainers, Barb & Jody E that they felt that they have a dog that will work for me. The however did want to ask if I was hard set on my preference of a female dog, as they thought they had either a male black lab or a male golden retriever that would work for me. I was more than fine with a male dog, and was excited at the prospect of being done with being dog-less!
Class dates were scheduled for Oct. 28th through Nov. 22nd and ready to get this ball rolling!
Saturday, August 3, 2013
Two Months post arrival Home and the end of a very short partnership. :(.- warning, super LONG post. ;)
Note: It has taken me a good while to finish this post. The pain and heartbreak of a partnership not working out has kept this post at bay and will follow up with a second post after this with some thoughts and other things too.
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It's was a pretty insane couple of months since our arrival home.
We got home on Friday, April 12th and spent the weekend working on putting a new carpet remnent down in the playroom. Tuesday the 16th, Mike was in an accident at work. :( He tripped and fell going up the stairs and literally did a face plant over the landing of stairs and with doing so, fractured his nose and left eye socket.
Favor did an amazing job guiding me through the emergency room and to his room and was so very good laying down and out of the way in the small room. She wanted to jump up and make sure Mike was ok at first, but telling her down, she quickly laid quietly by the side of his bed as she could.
Mike wound up having to have surgery in which the nasal bones were put back into place and an insert was placed along the bottom of the eye socket to repair the damage that was causing him double vision. Thankfully after a month off work he is mostly back to his normal self and doing things again. :) He does still have a bit of a black eye still but that will take a while to go away.
In the midst of all this we had home training too. Greg came and worked with us for almost a week and yeah we ran all over the place! :)
Tuesday- Home Training:
We walked around the neighborhood, dropped some stuff at the school and said hello to the office staff. We then went to the library and walked through the childen's area, went to Menards which was a first for Greg, and then went to El Toros for lunch. We then came by home and checked on Mike to make sure he was doing OK.
For the afternoon we went up to the church, then back down to Chuck E Cheese and walked through all the crazy lights and noises to make sure Favor was OK with these. She was a little antsy at first, but once she saw what they were, she was fine. We then went across the street to Hobby Lobby and while she was doing pretty good, she was still pretty focused on trying to find Greg. We wandered through here for a good while and then called it a day as it began to pour down rain.
Wednesday- home training:
The agenda was to go Downtown Indy with the worlds largest FDIC convention in town, but Favor was still not eating well and having the runs along with refusing to take the meds that we'd been given for her. She'd had an accident in the house in which there was bright red blood with the stool and so we had her seen and was given meds for GI upset. Since she was refusing to take the meds, which I was warned was very bitter tasting and still had very loose stools, I made an appt with made with the vet to get her seen for a second time. We saw Dr. F and he gave us a pill form that I could get into her.
In the afternoon since it wasn't raining, we took off for the Zoo. It was pretty funny, as I guess this was Greg's first time going to a zoo with a dog- since it's not something they commonly train for and not all people take their dogs. He said it's a touchy subject whether or not to do this, since some zoo's have had issues and the handler has to be able to maintain control of their dog. But he did say this was a pretty cool experience with seeing the animals.
So we did it and Favor got up close and personal with a lot of the critters that were out: The dog sharks (?) in the shark petting area, the Polar bear came up to the edge of his barrier, the penguins, then she wasn't so sure about the tortoise that came up to the glass to check her out as well as all the Meerkats that all gathered at the glass. It was a GREAT day to go and there was like no one there- seriously I think we saw 2 groups of teenagers with field trips and 4-5 families in the whole place. I've never been there with it so empty before.
The plains got interesting as the Cheetahs saw her from across the zebra/wildebeest exhibit and were pacing before even we got close to them. Then as we approached the Lions, the lioness was laying on the rock and looking our way and as soon as she saw favor, came down and paced back and forth and followed us around to the other viewing areas, the male lion even getting up for a look too.
Then we got to the cheetahs and they followed us to the glass and wanted to see her but she wasn't having much part of getting too close as Rei used to do. We quickly had a fan club following us around from exhibit to exhibit as usual. ;)
Then we headed to the forests and the brown bear saw her and boy was he interested in her. Paced the glass and even was jumping around at the barrier for his enclosure too.
Lastly was the tigers and they both got up and were moving back and forth and following our every move.
Naturally it was the one time I *didn't* take the camera! Greg sent me some of his pics. :) We came back and went to Starbucks. Yes, Greg has got me to drinking some coffee stuff... it was good. :) We chilled there and then headed back to the house for him to drop me off before the evening plans.
Tonight we went to KT's basketball practice as Favor seemed to like kids and she likes to play! So we got there and as the girls did their warm up runs, she was up and down a couple of times but once she saw that it wasn't time for her to play and the basketballs bouncing all over the place weren't for her, she settled down and watched everything intently, even as we walked out and through the girls in line waiting their turn to go next. Several of the girls came running up and asking to pet her, but since she is such a different dog, I've been really proactive in asking people not to pet her. She's just so incredibly smart, I can tell she's got it- as she has with so many other things- may need a gentle reminder to behave, but I know I won't have to get after her again now that she's seen it before. :)
So we headed back home and dropped me off and we'll meet back up in the morning to hopefully go over to the school for just a little bit before I come home and we head to the hospital with Mike.
I know I'm pooped! It was definitely a workout with Favor at the Zoo- she was ramped up pretty good. LOL!
Thursday:
Mike had his surgery today, so we road to the hospital with our good friend Karen M. She drove us to the hospital and we got checked in. They took him back and got him changed and all suited up to go back. I had brought the laptop, something to drink, and once they took him back they told me it'd be a couple of hours before they'd be calling me to tell me how surgery went. So I got myself set up and Karen ran home to take care of something and grab some lunch. Before I knew it, the little pager I had was buzzing at me only 50 minutes later. I scrambled to gather all my stuff up and go back to see the dr. Favor did an amazing job of guiding me through the crowded waiting room back to the room where the Dr met me and said that Mike had done very well and was in recovery. It took a couple more hours for Mike to be well enough to head home, but we got there and got him settled pretty quickly.
Friday- Last day of Home Training:
Greg came by and Mike was doing much better already so we went over to the school and visited MD's and AC's classrooms to see how Favor would do at the school. She was very intent on the kids as she picked MD and AC out right away. In AC's room, we talked to the kids a bit and she pretty much just laid her head down and went to sleep pretty quickly. We then headed back home and went out to the back yard and let her run for a bit and finished up the last of paperwork stuff we needed to do. It was hard to see Greg say goodbye to her before he took off for the next team he had to work with in Chicago.
May 1st:
Did lots of running to pick up new scripts and return various things to Walgreen, Pets mart, and the vets office and take care of large shopping trip at Costco and the bread store. Favor did great working all through Costco and completely ignored the yappy poodle that was outside of entrance and bouncing all over the place. She just kept on going about her way on business! :)
May 4th:
Good day but really long. Worked on AC's cub scout cake for the Blue and Gold Banquet tonight last night and in between things today. Went to AC's last basketball game of this league's season and came home and finished his cake and then we went to the Blue and Gold banquet. Kids had lots of fun and AC has advanced from being a Tiger Cub to Wolf! WTG AC!
Favor did great today with both places,though by tonight she was done with all the kids even though I repeatedly ask them to leave her alone and not to pet. She wasn't keen of the noise so had to move her for a while to a different area and get her down and out of sight from the kids as they kept coming up and trying to get in her face. I made it clear that she needed to be left alone and that she was showing that she wasn't comfortable with this in her body language, so it was time to intervene for her. She's a good girl and came home and is zonked on her bed after eating dinner.
May 7-9th- Deaf & Hard of Hearing Services Deaf Blind Workshop- Turkey Run State Park
I presented with good friend Donald A. last year at the workshop and we were invited back. I presented as the keynote speaker and gave several other presentations too in which Favor and I were well received and it was a great time to make new friends and see some old ones again.
She did an AMAZING job of being so good throughout the long days of workshops. She was entertaining a few times though- but everyone was willing to work with us knowing we were a new team- (she decided to pull the chair I had her tied to over to the window and play in the curtains a bit as I was presenting.... LOL)
But otherwise she did an amazing job getting me up and down all the different steps (this building was an older building and really NOT DB friendly. She also stepped up to the plate and we did trail #7- with LOTS of mud, water, and logs to climb over and around as we went down into and back up a canyon with rock steps and stairs. We got our workout for sure and she did her best to take me around and alert me to as much as she could and she had a blast with it all too. :)
She also got some playing time in one night and even with a couple of the interpreters to blow of some steam after the long day in harness. :) She seemed to enjoy the loving and playing she got too by the other adults here at the workshop and it was a good time to interact and they got to learn the wide range of what Deaf Blindness entails.
Then she rocked it through the presentations and throughout the building as we packed up and ready to head home. Boy she was glad to be home though- immediately went out back and wanted to play with her Jolly Ball. Thankfully some of the others posted some pics of us through the weekend as I had a camera but had to focus on where I was going too much on the hike and was in the presentations or reading CART to be taking pics. ;)
Favor guiding Kacie on the trail as she talks to another hiker and explains what she can and cannot see and hear.
The end of the school year brought field trips and Track and Field days with the kiddos!
May 16th
We spent the whole day at BEMS with the 3rd grade and 1st grade classes taking pictures of the track and field day. Had to come home and cool off and grab something to eat before I got moving and headed back to spend the afternoon with the 1st grade classes.
We made it home and survived a full day at the Track and field day. :) The kids all had a blast. :) 1100 pictures later.... Favor was VERY good and did well with all the kids running around too and have to say the kids were also very good in not petting her too! :) There were two small girls that came running up up and without asking, they got on both sides of her, she started backing up and showing she wasn't comfortable, so I was able to re-direct them pretty quickly saying it was time to give her a break. I will say though that I was pretty sun burnt the next morning!
Cochlear Implant Update - Late May:
Looking back on the past 3 1/2 months since my CI Surgery on January 9th and activation on February 6th....
I had 8% speech in the right ear, 10% speech in the left ear. My last appt was March 27th and was doing good then and I've come a long way even since then.
At activation I was just a little disappointed, but not much, I knew it was a possibility, I had hoped to be able to understand some speech then. It was about a week for me to pick up high pitched voices only- as in I could hear the kids, but not Mike. This was so, sooo odd for me because all my life I've always been able to hear the low tones but not high.
So at first I was only able to hear robotic/alvinized voices for the first month and I was hearing 14% speech with the CI only and 72% with the CI and my right hearing aid. I went at the end of March for my 2 mos appt and I was just starting to finally hear higher pitched voices in a normal way and I was hearing 52% speech with the CI and 93% with both CI and hearing aid. . My audie explained to me that my brain has never heard many of these sounds before so it's tuning in to those sounds now- so I'm hearing them first.
I was curious to see what my appt on Wednesday brought as I know I'm hearing voices in songs now on the radio and TV programs, which I've never been able to distinguish separate from the background noise before. Upon turning up the hearing aid- it'd turn up the background noise too. Last night I turned off the Hearing aid Mike and I watched the first episode of Hatfields and McCoys series, which was amazing to understand very well!!! I am also starting to turn on music and listen to songs and actually understand words now. Listening to my first audio book ever! Heaven is For Real! :)
May 21st:
A very fun day at Eagle Creek Park with the 3rd graders today! :) Favor did real well with the group of girls we were with. Since she seemed to be ok with being petted on the shoulder and if not cornered/confined to a tight area, I'd begun some short interactions with very small groups of kids and only petting her shoulder. I did have a kid ask me if I was a police officer since Favor looks like a police dog. She didn't show signs of being uncomfortable around the kids and seemed good when they pet her shoulder.
We did come back to the school though and as soon as we walked in the door and into the class room, the announcement came over the loud speaker to go into ...a hard lock down. I have to say I was very impressed and proud of MD's class as the kids all got into their instructed location and one kid helped the teacher close the blinds and they were immediately silent. They did very well and stayed quiet, even when the school officer was working at the lock and keyed into the room to check in the room. The teacher had immediately grabbed a book and came and sat by the kids and read to them and kept them calm and talked to them when a couple were a little worried. It turned out to just be a drill that the teachers didn't know about since we'd been gone on the field trip, but it was awesome to see the action go into place exactly as it should without questions asked.
I was pooped and ready to take a nap until the kiddos come home!
May 24th:
This was our second trip to Eagle Creek Park this week, this time we spent the day with the 1st graders and mostly with a group of boys since we were with AC. Actually this trip was completely different than what we saw on Tuesday when there with the 3rd graders. :) Favor did surprise me though as we were on the bus, and a little boy in front of us laid down in the seat in front of us and stuck his head around the seat in Favor's face. Upon doing so, she began to growl, thus I quickly told the boy to sit up in his seat and pulled her back and under my legs to make sure I knew where her head was. She quit upon his sitting up and was fine all through the field trip itself, but upon the return to the school, another little boy sitting across from us put his head down to pet her and she growled again. I was surprised and again positioned her to keep all safe. She had been completely fine with my kids and our bible study group kids, so was surprised to see this reaction out of her towards other children.
Today we were blessed by on of Dad's neighbors and was given a free wooden play set for the kids. Mike was asked to serve on Indy West Awakening Boys team for music, and we went to Bub's Burgers for dinner and got to love on my Rei Rei. She was ecstatic to see us! :)
May 29th:
Awesome evening with the ladies tonight at Boulder Creek! :D Food was good, and was even better that Favor slept at my feet without moving the whole time and I was able to understand 95% of the conversation even with the "entertainment" music behind me and the table full of drinking women next to us too! ♥ my dog and CI! :)
June 2nd:
And tomorrow, on my birthday, starts *MY* favorite part of summer break- getting to sleep in and not fighting kids to get out of bed to go to school! :D
***Ready for Summer Break!***
June 5th:
We are off to a great start to the summer! :) MD and AC have BOTH learned to ride their bikes without training wheels! MD is starting guitar lessons, KT is going to the Fever game this weekend, and AC is thrilled to go to the Connection Pointe Church FX all this week with our groupies! Kind of a crazy week this week but we'll get through it!
June 6th:
Miss Favor now has a new obsession.... a rubber ducky. LOL! Perfect toy for her- big enough she cant swallow, she doesn't shred it, and no squeaker for her to tear out! :D
Oh My Word!!! Favor is cracking me up this morning. She's playing with her rubber ducky and if it goes under the couch or entertainment center. She lets out one loud bark and sits there looking at me until I come get it out for her. LOL!
June 7th:
FX at church- final day. We had a too time and I stood in line for a good while for a caricature of Favor and I. Little did I realize this was about to one of our last outings together and that this would be the last picture I have of the two of us together.
We were sitting at a picnic table and Favor was laying down at my left side, both of us at the end of the table. A friend/mom came to talk to me and was back far enough to keep from making Favor feel like she would be stepped on. Her 5 yr old daughter was playing around and so was her 10 yr old son, who was walking about in almost a circle around us. I had realized Favor was watching him, but didn't realize that he was intently staring back at her. As the mom and I talked, the next thing we knew, he let out a high pitched scream of terror and we seriously all jumped and Favor upon his scream, lunged forward with a growl and trying to protect me and my kids sitting beside me at the table. I had a good hold of her so she wasn't able to go anywhere and the son said he thought she was going to get him. I immediately corrected her and re-focused her attention back to me and back to a down stay. I was pretty shake at her reaction, but wasn't sure what to make of it.
June 8th:
Operation play set has officially begun. :) The kids spent the weekend with our friend Mr. and Mrs. J.X. and after some serious garage sales in the morning, Mike and I got the play set completely disassembled. Hoping we will be able to start and get a lot of the sanding of the boards done this week to get it ready to be primed. After being primed, we'll assemble it and going to turn all of our small group kiddos lose with a paint brush and the multitude of exterior paints we have to paint it however they want. :) It can be their creation.
June 10th:
It has been a good day in our household. Family game of Harry Potter clue, baked some cookies, and the kids got to experience hands on training and go old school with washing dishes! Our dishwasher is on it's last legs and figured what better way to teach them how. LOL!
June 11th:
Operation Play set is underway as we got all but 2 of the 4x4 upright posts of the play set sanded down today. Will continue working on finishing tomorrow and start on the huge pile of cross boards.
Loving my pup more and more as she's so good about hanging out with us even though she's not tied down and staying close by. She's so loving to my kids and family. We've been working in the garage the last few days and she whines to come out and be with us if someone isn't inside with her. She came out with one of the kids and immediately came running to me wanting to make sure I was OK and laid down at my feet, like I'm staying here. LOL! Let her hang out for a bit while I was taking a break and watching her close and she stayed with us. Her personality is really starting to bloom too with the family and she's so super smart it's jut crazy.
June 14th: Camp Out to Stamp Out Homelessness- our church hosted an overnight camp out on the church grounds in which all the fees went to the cause of helping the homeless in the Indianapolis area. We arrived in the later afternoon and worked to set up the two tents we had. We got there early enough, there weren't too many people milling around, however, after setting up the tents, more and more kids started running around and playing, as kids do outside. Favor very quickly made it clear that she was not happy with the kids playing with AC and MD. She started out with barking and running to the end of her tie down we had her staked to and not in a friendly bark, but a menacing bark that after the other instances of protectiveness and aggression that was cropping up, I was really starting to become concerned. Throughout most of this, I'd been in contact with my trainer, who was giving me guidance on how to handle the different situations and other than the FX night, she seemed to be doing really well around kids.
However as the evening wore on, the more and more agitated she seemed to become and the intensity of this agitation became more and more, to the point that I did not feel safe leaving her on the tie down anymore and kept her very close on leash where I could keep close tabs of what she was doing. She began to growl at nearly all kids that were by themselves that approached within 5-10 feet of our tent area. I opted to stay at our tent where there were less people than to go over to the campfires just to be safe, fully intending to contact my trainer upon getting home. She slept fine with me in the tent and was fine the next morning while in harness. However as we tried to tear down camp, she began to growl more and more at kids that weren't accompanied by adults that got anywhere near the two of us. I knew we were really in trouble at this point. As we left the church, sent messages to the trainer and to GDF of the problems we were having.
June 16th: Basketball tournament for KT on the Indy southside. KT's AAU Gymrats team went and played in a basketball tournament and we all went for the day. It was a long day in the stands but the girls all played hard and well together.
However, with this meant a lot of little kids in the stands too, younger siblings of the players. After Favor's behavior the two days before, I positioned myself at the top of the stands and her underneath my feet/legs so I'd know if she moved or was being reactive to something.
June 17th: I got up and as much as I really, really, really did not want to contact GDF, I knew it was the right thing to do. I left a message with the GDF staff explaining everything that had been going on and that I was not comfortable with having her around young children at this point. I didn't feel we were a safe team. Within a few hours, I received a phone call from my trainer and he really felt that it would be best if he came to pick her up and that I not work her around children. :(
I felt horrible and like I'd absolutely ruined a great dog. Her guiding work was nearly as good as Rei and I honestly did not feel that could be possible in a successor dog, let alone this quickly after becoming a team. I was torn, heartbroken, and frustrated that I'd done everything I could to keep myself from being without a dog and here I was facing another retirement of a dog and yet another "failure" as a handler. Frankly, I was crushed with the idea of giving her up. To the point of denial and honestly didn't even think about it until the day Greg came to pick her up, in order to keep the tears and emotions at bay.
The kids were even more torn with giving up Favor. AC and MD struggled and MD cried and threw a fit that she wasn't going to let anyone take Favor, stomping her feet on the floor. I was in a daze, honestly still am and trying to get by, one day at a time with the frustration of the lost of independence and honestly with a loss of identity- the lady with the guide dog, as I'm known as around here and at all the schools.
So.... a week later- as the girls were both at church camp and AC was at boy scout camp, Greg came and picked Favor up, taking her back to his house to begin the evaluation of what she was doing.
So here are some final pictures of Favor with Alex, the morning she was picked up:
He graciously kept in touch with me and let me know when he took her back up to NY and the decision was made to career change her completely as the chance couldn't be taken that she might actually bite someone. :(
And with that, she was gone. I had thought I'd done everything I was supposed to. I kept people from petting her and tried hard to pay attention to her body language. Unfortunately, as the trainer said, he thought with the different instance we had right off the bat- with kids getting in her face and her personality as more of a one person/family dog, she had become leary of kids and then when the kid screamed, it just solidified in her mind that kids were not safe or to be trusted. Thus from that point forward, she was doing what it took to keep me safe in her mind, since it was what she was bred, raised, and trained to do- to keep me out of harm's way. :(
More to come in the next post- Being without a dog... Again.
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It's was a pretty insane couple of months since our arrival home.
We got home on Friday, April 12th and spent the weekend working on putting a new carpet remnent down in the playroom. Tuesday the 16th, Mike was in an accident at work. :( He tripped and fell going up the stairs and literally did a face plant over the landing of stairs and with doing so, fractured his nose and left eye socket.
Favor did an amazing job guiding me through the emergency room and to his room and was so very good laying down and out of the way in the small room. She wanted to jump up and make sure Mike was ok at first, but telling her down, she quickly laid quietly by the side of his bed as she could.
Mike wound up having to have surgery in which the nasal bones were put back into place and an insert was placed along the bottom of the eye socket to repair the damage that was causing him double vision. Thankfully after a month off work he is mostly back to his normal self and doing things again. :) He does still have a bit of a black eye still but that will take a while to go away.
In the midst of all this we had home training too. Greg came and worked with us for almost a week and yeah we ran all over the place! :)
Tuesday- Home Training:
We walked around the neighborhood, dropped some stuff at the school and said hello to the office staff. We then went to the library and walked through the childen's area, went to Menards which was a first for Greg, and then went to El Toros for lunch. We then came by home and checked on Mike to make sure he was doing OK.
For the afternoon we went up to the church, then back down to Chuck E Cheese and walked through all the crazy lights and noises to make sure Favor was OK with these. She was a little antsy at first, but once she saw what they were, she was fine. We then went across the street to Hobby Lobby and while she was doing pretty good, she was still pretty focused on trying to find Greg. We wandered through here for a good while and then called it a day as it began to pour down rain.
Wednesday- home training:
The agenda was to go Downtown Indy with the worlds largest FDIC convention in town, but Favor was still not eating well and having the runs along with refusing to take the meds that we'd been given for her. She'd had an accident in the house in which there was bright red blood with the stool and so we had her seen and was given meds for GI upset. Since she was refusing to take the meds, which I was warned was very bitter tasting and still had very loose stools, I made an appt with made with the vet to get her seen for a second time. We saw Dr. F and he gave us a pill form that I could get into her.
In the afternoon since it wasn't raining, we took off for the Zoo. It was pretty funny, as I guess this was Greg's first time going to a zoo with a dog- since it's not something they commonly train for and not all people take their dogs. He said it's a touchy subject whether or not to do this, since some zoo's have had issues and the handler has to be able to maintain control of their dog. But he did say this was a pretty cool experience with seeing the animals.
So we did it and Favor got up close and personal with a lot of the critters that were out: The dog sharks (?) in the shark petting area, the Polar bear came up to the edge of his barrier, the penguins, then she wasn't so sure about the tortoise that came up to the glass to check her out as well as all the Meerkats that all gathered at the glass. It was a GREAT day to go and there was like no one there- seriously I think we saw 2 groups of teenagers with field trips and 4-5 families in the whole place. I've never been there with it so empty before.
The plains got interesting as the Cheetahs saw her from across the zebra/wildebeest exhibit and were pacing before even we got close to them. Then as we approached the Lions, the lioness was laying on the rock and looking our way and as soon as she saw favor, came down and paced back and forth and followed us around to the other viewing areas, the male lion even getting up for a look too.
Then we got to the cheetahs and they followed us to the glass and wanted to see her but she wasn't having much part of getting too close as Rei used to do. We quickly had a fan club following us around from exhibit to exhibit as usual. ;)
Then we headed to the forests and the brown bear saw her and boy was he interested in her. Paced the glass and even was jumping around at the barrier for his enclosure too.
Lastly was the tigers and they both got up and were moving back and forth and following our every move.
Naturally it was the one time I *didn't* take the camera! Greg sent me some of his pics. :) We came back and went to Starbucks. Yes, Greg has got me to drinking some coffee stuff... it was good. :) We chilled there and then headed back to the house for him to drop me off before the evening plans.
Tonight we went to KT's basketball practice as Favor seemed to like kids and she likes to play! So we got there and as the girls did their warm up runs, she was up and down a couple of times but once she saw that it wasn't time for her to play and the basketballs bouncing all over the place weren't for her, she settled down and watched everything intently, even as we walked out and through the girls in line waiting their turn to go next. Several of the girls came running up and asking to pet her, but since she is such a different dog, I've been really proactive in asking people not to pet her. She's just so incredibly smart, I can tell she's got it- as she has with so many other things- may need a gentle reminder to behave, but I know I won't have to get after her again now that she's seen it before. :)
So we headed back home and dropped me off and we'll meet back up in the morning to hopefully go over to the school for just a little bit before I come home and we head to the hospital with Mike.
I know I'm pooped! It was definitely a workout with Favor at the Zoo- she was ramped up pretty good. LOL!
Thursday:
Mike had his surgery today, so we road to the hospital with our good friend Karen M. She drove us to the hospital and we got checked in. They took him back and got him changed and all suited up to go back. I had brought the laptop, something to drink, and once they took him back they told me it'd be a couple of hours before they'd be calling me to tell me how surgery went. So I got myself set up and Karen ran home to take care of something and grab some lunch. Before I knew it, the little pager I had was buzzing at me only 50 minutes later. I scrambled to gather all my stuff up and go back to see the dr. Favor did an amazing job of guiding me through the crowded waiting room back to the room where the Dr met me and said that Mike had done very well and was in recovery. It took a couple more hours for Mike to be well enough to head home, but we got there and got him settled pretty quickly.
Friday- Last day of Home Training:
Greg came by and Mike was doing much better already so we went over to the school and visited MD's and AC's classrooms to see how Favor would do at the school. She was very intent on the kids as she picked MD and AC out right away. In AC's room, we talked to the kids a bit and she pretty much just laid her head down and went to sleep pretty quickly. We then headed back home and went out to the back yard and let her run for a bit and finished up the last of paperwork stuff we needed to do. It was hard to see Greg say goodbye to her before he took off for the next team he had to work with in Chicago.
May 1st:
Did lots of running to pick up new scripts and return various things to Walgreen, Pets mart, and the vets office and take care of large shopping trip at Costco and the bread store. Favor did great working all through Costco and completely ignored the yappy poodle that was outside of entrance and bouncing all over the place. She just kept on going about her way on business! :)
May 4th:
Good day but really long. Worked on AC's cub scout cake for the Blue and Gold Banquet tonight last night and in between things today. Went to AC's last basketball game of this league's season and came home and finished his cake and then we went to the Blue and Gold banquet. Kids had lots of fun and AC has advanced from being a Tiger Cub to Wolf! WTG AC!
Favor did great today with both places,though by tonight she was done with all the kids even though I repeatedly ask them to leave her alone and not to pet. She wasn't keen of the noise so had to move her for a while to a different area and get her down and out of sight from the kids as they kept coming up and trying to get in her face. I made it clear that she needed to be left alone and that she was showing that she wasn't comfortable with this in her body language, so it was time to intervene for her. She's a good girl and came home and is zonked on her bed after eating dinner.
May 7-9th- Deaf & Hard of Hearing Services Deaf Blind Workshop- Turkey Run State Park
I presented with good friend Donald A. last year at the workshop and we were invited back. I presented as the keynote speaker and gave several other presentations too in which Favor and I were well received and it was a great time to make new friends and see some old ones again.
She did an AMAZING job of being so good throughout the long days of workshops. She was entertaining a few times though- but everyone was willing to work with us knowing we were a new team- (she decided to pull the chair I had her tied to over to the window and play in the curtains a bit as I was presenting.... LOL)
But otherwise she did an amazing job getting me up and down all the different steps (this building was an older building and really NOT DB friendly. She also stepped up to the plate and we did trail #7- with LOTS of mud, water, and logs to climb over and around as we went down into and back up a canyon with rock steps and stairs. We got our workout for sure and she did her best to take me around and alert me to as much as she could and she had a blast with it all too. :)
She also got some playing time in one night and even with a couple of the interpreters to blow of some steam after the long day in harness. :) She seemed to enjoy the loving and playing she got too by the other adults here at the workshop and it was a good time to interact and they got to learn the wide range of what Deaf Blindness entails.
Then she rocked it through the presentations and throughout the building as we packed up and ready to head home. Boy she was glad to be home though- immediately went out back and wanted to play with her Jolly Ball. Thankfully some of the others posted some pics of us through the weekend as I had a camera but had to focus on where I was going too much on the hike and was in the presentations or reading CART to be taking pics. ;)
Favor laying against the bed on the floor out of harness and enjoying some downtime.
Kacie and Favor navigating some wooden stairs upward on the Turkey Run Trail Hike
Close up of Favor's head and shoulders with ears perked up and attentive.
Favor guiding Kacie on the trail as she talks to another hiker and explains what she can and cannot see and hear.
The end of the school year brought field trips and Track and Field days with the kiddos!
May 16th
We spent the whole day at BEMS with the 3rd grade and 1st grade classes taking pictures of the track and field day. Had to come home and cool off and grab something to eat before I got moving and headed back to spend the afternoon with the 1st grade classes.
We made it home and survived a full day at the Track and field day. :) The kids all had a blast. :) 1100 pictures later.... Favor was VERY good and did well with all the kids running around too and have to say the kids were also very good in not petting her too! :) There were two small girls that came running up up and without asking, they got on both sides of her, she started backing up and showing she wasn't comfortable, so I was able to re-direct them pretty quickly saying it was time to give her a break. I will say though that I was pretty sun burnt the next morning!
Cochlear Implant Update - Late May:
Looking back on the past 3 1/2 months since my CI Surgery on January 9th and activation on February 6th....
I had 8% speech in the right ear, 10% speech in the left ear. My last appt was March 27th and was doing good then and I've come a long way even since then.
At activation I was just a little disappointed, but not much, I knew it was a possibility, I had hoped to be able to understand some speech then. It was about a week for me to pick up high pitched voices only- as in I could hear the kids, but not Mike. This was so, sooo odd for me because all my life I've always been able to hear the low tones but not high.
So at first I was only able to hear robotic/alvinized voices for the first month and I was hearing 14% speech with the CI only and 72% with the CI and my right hearing aid. I went at the end of March for my 2 mos appt and I was just starting to finally hear higher pitched voices in a normal way and I was hearing 52% speech with the CI and 93% with both CI and hearing aid. . My audie explained to me that my brain has never heard many of these sounds before so it's tuning in to those sounds now- so I'm hearing them first.
I was curious to see what my appt on Wednesday brought as I know I'm hearing voices in songs now on the radio and TV programs, which I've never been able to distinguish separate from the background noise before. Upon turning up the hearing aid- it'd turn up the background noise too. Last night I turned off the Hearing aid Mike and I watched the first episode of Hatfields and McCoys series, which was amazing to understand very well!!! I am also starting to turn on music and listen to songs and actually understand words now. Listening to my first audio book ever! Heaven is For Real! :)
May 21st:
A very fun day at Eagle Creek Park with the 3rd graders today! :) Favor did real well with the group of girls we were with. Since she seemed to be ok with being petted on the shoulder and if not cornered/confined to a tight area, I'd begun some short interactions with very small groups of kids and only petting her shoulder. I did have a kid ask me if I was a police officer since Favor looks like a police dog. She didn't show signs of being uncomfortable around the kids and seemed good when they pet her shoulder.
We did come back to the school though and as soon as we walked in the door and into the class room, the announcement came over the loud speaker to go into ...a hard lock down. I have to say I was very impressed and proud of MD's class as the kids all got into their instructed location and one kid helped the teacher close the blinds and they were immediately silent. They did very well and stayed quiet, even when the school officer was working at the lock and keyed into the room to check in the room. The teacher had immediately grabbed a book and came and sat by the kids and read to them and kept them calm and talked to them when a couple were a little worried. It turned out to just be a drill that the teachers didn't know about since we'd been gone on the field trip, but it was awesome to see the action go into place exactly as it should without questions asked.
I was pooped and ready to take a nap until the kiddos come home!
May 24th:
This was our second trip to Eagle Creek Park this week, this time we spent the day with the 1st graders and mostly with a group of boys since we were with AC. Actually this trip was completely different than what we saw on Tuesday when there with the 3rd graders. :) Favor did surprise me though as we were on the bus, and a little boy in front of us laid down in the seat in front of us and stuck his head around the seat in Favor's face. Upon doing so, she began to growl, thus I quickly told the boy to sit up in his seat and pulled her back and under my legs to make sure I knew where her head was. She quit upon his sitting up and was fine all through the field trip itself, but upon the return to the school, another little boy sitting across from us put his head down to pet her and she growled again. I was surprised and again positioned her to keep all safe. She had been completely fine with my kids and our bible study group kids, so was surprised to see this reaction out of her towards other children.
May 27th:
This was an awesome ending to the weekend. We watched the race (the Indy 500) as a family last night. 
Alex and Favor laying together on the floor watching the Indy 500.
Today we were blessed by on of Dad's neighbors and was given a free wooden play set for the kids. Mike was asked to serve on Indy West Awakening Boys team for music, and we went to Bub's Burgers for dinner and got to love on my Rei Rei. She was ecstatic to see us! :)
Rei laying on the grass and Favor in front of me looking over her back
Favor to Kacie's right, Kacie with arms around Rei who is between Kacie and AC. Rei with her head up trying to give kisses to both Kacie and AC.
May 29th:
Awesome evening with the ladies tonight at Boulder Creek! :D Food was good, and was even better that Favor slept at my feet without moving the whole time and I was able to understand 95% of the conversation even with the "entertainment" music behind me and the table full of drinking women next to us too! ♥ my dog and CI! :)
June 2nd:
And tomorrow, on my birthday, starts *MY* favorite part of summer break- getting to sleep in and not fighting kids to get out of bed to go to school! :D
***Ready for Summer Break!***
June 5th:
We are off to a great start to the summer! :) MD and AC have BOTH learned to ride their bikes without training wheels! MD is starting guitar lessons, KT is going to the Fever game this weekend, and AC is thrilled to go to the Connection Pointe Church FX all this week with our groupies! Kind of a crazy week this week but we'll get through it!
Favor lying at my feet quietly in all the music during worship at FX.
Favor watching the kids in the huge sand box.
Various people playing cornhole on the church parking lot
The boys- AC and Mr. N doing gladiator jousting in the inflatable ring.
Favor intently watching the kids on the huge inflatable slide
MD and AC about to come down the slide
Kids and people enjoying the outdoor fun at CPCC Family Xperience!
Favor sitting pretty and looking over her shoulder, in front of some tall grasses and in harness.
June 6th:
Miss Favor now has a new obsession.... a rubber ducky. LOL! Perfect toy for her- big enough she cant swallow, she doesn't shred it, and no squeaker for her to tear out! :D
Oh My Word!!! Favor is cracking me up this morning. She's playing with her rubber ducky and if it goes under the couch or entertainment center. She lets out one loud bark and sits there looking at me until I come get it out for her. LOL!
FX at church- final day. We had a too time and I stood in line for a good while for a caricature of Favor and I. Little did I realize this was about to one of our last outings together and that this would be the last picture I have of the two of us together.
We were sitting at a picnic table and Favor was laying down at my left side, both of us at the end of the table. A friend/mom came to talk to me and was back far enough to keep from making Favor feel like she would be stepped on. Her 5 yr old daughter was playing around and so was her 10 yr old son, who was walking about in almost a circle around us. I had realized Favor was watching him, but didn't realize that he was intently staring back at her. As the mom and I talked, the next thing we knew, he let out a high pitched scream of terror and we seriously all jumped and Favor upon his scream, lunged forward with a growl and trying to protect me and my kids sitting beside me at the table. I had a good hold of her so she wasn't able to go anywhere and the son said he thought she was going to get him. I immediately corrected her and re-focused her attention back to me and back to a down stay. I was pretty shake at her reaction, but wasn't sure what to make of it.
June 8th:
Operation play set has officially begun. :) The kids spent the weekend with our friend Mr. and Mrs. J.X. and after some serious garage sales in the morning, Mike and I got the play set completely disassembled. Hoping we will be able to start and get a lot of the sanding of the boards done this week to get it ready to be primed. After being primed, we'll assemble it and going to turn all of our small group kiddos lose with a paint brush and the multitude of exterior paints we have to paint it however they want. :) It can be their creation.
June 10th:
It has been a good day in our household. Family game of Harry Potter clue, baked some cookies, and the kids got to experience hands on training and go old school with washing dishes! Our dishwasher is on it's last legs and figured what better way to teach them how. LOL!
June 11th:
Operation Play set is underway as we got all but 2 of the 4x4 upright posts of the play set sanded down today. Will continue working on finishing tomorrow and start on the huge pile of cross boards.
Loving my pup more and more as she's so good about hanging out with us even though she's not tied down and staying close by. She's so loving to my kids and family. We've been working in the garage the last few days and she whines to come out and be with us if someone isn't inside with her. She came out with one of the kids and immediately came running to me wanting to make sure I was OK and laid down at my feet, like I'm staying here. LOL! Let her hang out for a bit while I was taking a break and watching her close and she stayed with us. Her personality is really starting to bloom too with the family and she's so super smart it's jut crazy.
June 14th: Camp Out to Stamp Out Homelessness- our church hosted an overnight camp out on the church grounds in which all the fees went to the cause of helping the homeless in the Indianapolis area. We arrived in the later afternoon and worked to set up the two tents we had. We got there early enough, there weren't too many people milling around, however, after setting up the tents, more and more kids started running around and playing, as kids do outside. Favor very quickly made it clear that she was not happy with the kids playing with AC and MD. She started out with barking and running to the end of her tie down we had her staked to and not in a friendly bark, but a menacing bark that after the other instances of protectiveness and aggression that was cropping up, I was really starting to become concerned. Throughout most of this, I'd been in contact with my trainer, who was giving me guidance on how to handle the different situations and other than the FX night, she seemed to be doing really well around kids.
However as the evening wore on, the more and more agitated she seemed to become and the intensity of this agitation became more and more, to the point that I did not feel safe leaving her on the tie down anymore and kept her very close on leash where I could keep close tabs of what she was doing. She began to growl at nearly all kids that were by themselves that approached within 5-10 feet of our tent area. I opted to stay at our tent where there were less people than to go over to the campfires just to be safe, fully intending to contact my trainer upon getting home. She slept fine with me in the tent and was fine the next morning while in harness. However as we tried to tear down camp, she began to growl more and more at kids that weren't accompanied by adults that got anywhere near the two of us. I knew we were really in trouble at this point. As we left the church, sent messages to the trainer and to GDF of the problems we were having.
June 16th: Basketball tournament for KT on the Indy southside. KT's AAU Gymrats team went and played in a basketball tournament and we all went for the day. It was a long day in the stands but the girls all played hard and well together.
However, with this meant a lot of little kids in the stands too, younger siblings of the players. After Favor's behavior the two days before, I positioned myself at the top of the stands and her underneath my feet/legs so I'd know if she moved or was being reactive to something.
Favor laying on the bleachers curled up and being good.
Little ones playing in the bleachers during game time, including AC and MD.
KT getting the ball and bringing it down the court in a red uniform.
Thus as the games went on for the day, we started out with whenever a kid would walk past Favor on the bleacher below her, she would lift her head and curl her lip back to growl. A curt NO! and Leave it alone, she would settle back down and thankfully by the time the day was over, she was mostly ignoring the kids going past.
I felt horrible and like I'd absolutely ruined a great dog. Her guiding work was nearly as good as Rei and I honestly did not feel that could be possible in a successor dog, let alone this quickly after becoming a team. I was torn, heartbroken, and frustrated that I'd done everything I could to keep myself from being without a dog and here I was facing another retirement of a dog and yet another "failure" as a handler. Frankly, I was crushed with the idea of giving her up. To the point of denial and honestly didn't even think about it until the day Greg came to pick her up, in order to keep the tears and emotions at bay.
The kids were even more torn with giving up Favor. AC and MD struggled and MD cried and threw a fit that she wasn't going to let anyone take Favor, stomping her feet on the floor. I was in a daze, honestly still am and trying to get by, one day at a time with the frustration of the lost of independence and honestly with a loss of identity- the lady with the guide dog, as I'm known as around here and at all the schools.
So.... a week later- as the girls were both at church camp and AC was at boy scout camp, Greg came and picked Favor up, taking her back to his house to begin the evaluation of what she was doing.
So here are some final pictures of Favor with Alex, the morning she was picked up:
Alex in his cub scout hat and shirt, sitting in a chair talking to favor. She is sitting in front of him, ears up and attentive, listening to what he's saying to her.
Alex on the left and Favor beside him looking at the camera.
He graciously kept in touch with me and let me know when he took her back up to NY and the decision was made to career change her completely as the chance couldn't be taken that she might actually bite someone. :(
And with that, she was gone. I had thought I'd done everything I was supposed to. I kept people from petting her and tried hard to pay attention to her body language. Unfortunately, as the trainer said, he thought with the different instance we had right off the bat- with kids getting in her face and her personality as more of a one person/family dog, she had become leary of kids and then when the kid screamed, it just solidified in her mind that kids were not safe or to be trusted. Thus from that point forward, she was doing what it took to keep me safe in her mind, since it was what she was bred, raised, and trained to do- to keep me out of harm's way. :(
More to come in the next post- Being without a dog... Again.
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