Day Seven

Today is day seven.

It has been a while since I have written about my adventures with Mr. Jeter German Shepherd dog.  I will start off with what happened on day seven so that you will be able to understand the rest of the events the transpired.  Day seven was (taken at a hole) a day from hades; Jeter was not a fun dog to be walking with.

Pete and I decided that he and I would teach Jeter a new rout around the community.  This rout is in the shape of a very large horse shoe .  The rout started off about a block past my apartment, it crosses over Grand pavilion Way (a street that crosses in-front of my apartment building).  The sidewalk crosses two driveways and hangs a left behind the building directly across from my apartment.  There is a park and additional parking as well.  Finally, the sidewalk comes out to the far left; if one kept going strait, you would walk out to North Kings Highway.  When one reaches North Kings Highway, one can either go back to my apartment complex or go to the metro rail station. So… Pete walked me through this route to show me how to walk it; with the intention that I would be doing an independent rout later in the day.  Let me clarify, I knew that Pete was there, but Jeter did not. 

Morning session:

Pete and I set off walking the above described rout.  We crossed over Grand Pavilion way Jeter walking slowly but surely, crossed the next two driveways and then past the park.  Jeter picked up his pace  when he reached the park and I was satisfied with him.  The reason why Jeter had picked up his pace was that he needed to go number two.  I have come to realize that with this dog, if he starts walking faster, (a harder  drive), this is because he is either distracted by a dog in-front of us or he needs to drop a present.  When Pete saw Jeter step up, he thought it was because he had seen another dog in-front of us.  When I reached a handicapped parking spot, I decided that I would try and relieve Jeter; I was right, he did need to go.  The rest of the trip was uneventful (slow but sure).

In the afternoon:

Pete had asked me if I would like him to stay and watch to make sure nothing went wrong.  I had asked Pete what he meant by wrong and he had told me that he would step in if there was a life threatening situation or if Jeter totally gave up and stopped working.  So… we crossed over Grand Pavilion Way and Jeter stopped working.  He refused to work, as in he stopped all forward motion and would not move another step forward.  With prior guide dog training, I had been told never to correct the dog forward because of a possible safety situation.  In this case, I had no traffic so I gave Jeter a flick with the leash to hop up (of course I had given him the verbal command to hop up beforehand).  With the flick of the leash, nothing.  So I upped the ante, gave Jeter a correction to move forward.  He went, but it was not a pretty crossing.  He decided that he would go down the middle of the street and did not go to the up-curb.  I had a battle with getting him to go to the curb.  He refused and I had to give him a fairly stiff correction forward to get him on to the next sidewalk.  The next two driveways were the same, failing to complete the crossing and receiving a correction because of it.  Once we made it on the portion of the sidewalk where it was open, he picked up his pace.  I thought I was done with Mr. stubborn.  Nope, the fun was just starting.  At the next crossing, he decided that he was going to cross the street his way; the crossing was snappy and he crossed over the cross street fine except that he did not reach the up curb.  Jeter stepped out and walked with a purpose.  The only problem was that he absolutely refused to go to the up curb.  I gave him a stiff correction to get to the curb.  When I noticed that I was in the middle of the street, I asked Jeter to turn right.  He readily turned, but refused to approach the up-curb.  I had asked Pete later why Jeter failed to go to the correct up-curb and he replied that Jeter was being difficult about it and did not want to do it.  When Pete saw that Jeter was not going to reach the up curb unless he helped, he gave Jeter a traffic check to get him up on the curb.  When Jeter saw the van coming at him, he backed up and then finally got up on the curb after Pete herded him towards the sidewalk with the van.  These trainers must be great drivers to be able to know how much is needed to get a dog to cooperate.  My respect for Pete and Fidelco went up because of this experience.  I knew that I had a fantastic trainer, but after this I now know. There was one more crossing after this (a lighted intersection) and I was very concerned that Jeter was going to stall in the middle of the  street like he had been doing earlier.  Well, when we got to this crossing, Jeter gave me a picture perfect stop at the curb for North Kings Highway, I turned left to go to the street that was between my apartment complex and were I was standing.  We crossed,  Jeter cut in to the street a little ways anticipating that I was going to go that way.  The rest of the way home was picture perfect , crossings and all.  I was very rattled and nervous, but I persevered through all of the issues and made it home. 

During my independent rout, I made several critical discoveries.  First of all, some days Jeter will just have a bad day and I will have to muddle through the best I can; while other days will be good ones where dog and handler team will be working beautifully together.  The next discovery was that I was able to constructively dissipate my frustration with myself and Jeter’s inability to work effectively together.  While I was walking home, I was very upset and incredibly rattled from the multiple bad crossings and the traffic check; Pete had spoken to me letting me know that he was there during the traffic checks.  When I was upset with Jeter, I concentrated on keeping my voice even and calm, body posture text book correct and placing each foot down with care.  Would you believe , it worked.  By the time I got home, I still felt frazzled, but did not feel any anger toward Jeter.  Pete and I discussed the day’s experiences and he helped me understand that Jeter was testing me to see what I would do when he stopped in the middle of the street and when he failed to cross at all.  He had also told me that some people would have turned around and gone back home because it was two hard.  To me, this solution is not a good one because it is quitting .  I never quit unless there is a very good reason for quitting.  This attitude helped me get through college while being totally blind.  After Pete left, I through Cuz for a while with Jeter taking out the last bit of frustration out on each throw of Cuz.  Jeter loves this toy!  I will describe that on day eight

day six

Today is day six.  Hmmm, did I say day six?  I just cannot believe that it is day six already!  Time flies when you are having fun in the sun!  It has been very nice days  every day except for yesterday when it was rainy all day.  So, as usual, I will start off with Jeter eating; yep Jeter ate  all of his food with treats.  Pete had suggested that I place treat meat in his food to entice him to eat.  He ate all of it and was looking for more.  This morning, I fed Jeter with treat meet mixed  in.  That silly guy ate first did not want to eat a bite because I think he thought it was going to be the same boring stuff as before.  Well, I put more of the treat it all.  He was not all that enthused about it, but he ate.  Once he got going, I think he realized that the goodies in the food tasted pretty good.  Man, when I prepped the food, it smelled good; it smelled just like sausage.  I need to keep my dad away from this stuff, he just might think it is something for him to eat.  So anyways, After he ate, we went outside.  Jeter went number one (this is the first time he has done one since I have had him in the morning. 

Today was an off day for Jeter.  I noticed it this morning when I was getting him ready.  He was lethargic and just did not want to do much of anything.  He was not all bouncy an raren  to go.  He placidly got up, came out of his crate, stretched, jumped up on my lap like he thought he was a lapdog and then calmly walked away.  I thought for sure that he would be racing around the house like a cat with its tail on fire (if this offended any cat lovers out there, I apologize).  I fed him and he basically said okay, if you really want me to, I guess I will do it. 

Working Jeter (it is no longer training Jeter):

Yesterday when I had walked with him around the block, he was lazy ( had no drive whatever).  Pete had suggested that he was trying to see if I would turn around and go back home.  Well, I did not do so.  This morning, when I worked him to the Metro, he was the same way, no energy and just did not care.  I thought for sure that he would start picking it up once he figured out where he was going, nope.  Our mission today was to go to Petco and purchase some additional dog toys and an airtight container that would keep the dog food smell out of the room and keep the freshens in.  Jeter plodded along; I had to keep prompting him to hop up.  Well we got to the metro and boarded the train.  This I learned today are to board the train as soon as the doors open, no matter how busy it is.  This is so that the dog will know to force his way on to the train.  When we got to Petco, I learned a must safer way to go then the way I was going before.  To head street to the corner, hand a left, go over a drive and turn left in to the shopping center.  I like that way much better because it keeps me out of the parking lot.  I am liking this home training more and more.  Pete is a good person and is passionate about what he does.  He has no problems with pointing out handler mistake’s as well as dog mistakes. He has helped and continues to help me understand techniques to keep the soft dog I have ( a dog that does not need much or hard corrections to motivate).  Pete had said that if this this slowness persists that I will have to start performing obedience exercise’s.  Up to now, Jeter has performed nicely without adding additional stress by adding additional obedience tasks; by working Jeter, we are already stressing him by asking him to obey my commands.  I think this is also a time for Jeter to test me to see if I really mean what I say I want him to do.  Jeter is a good dog and I do not want to mess him up.  I do remember this slowness during my last training.  We practiced follow and sighted guide in Petco and all went well.  He is still hanging to the right and Pete had suggested that I need to bang (sharply lift the harness handle) to give Jeter a the idea that hitting things on the left is not a good thing.  I think this is going to be something that I am going to have to keep an eye on.  He is still approaching and stopping short on  down and up curbs.  I hope this will go away as soon as he gets used to me working with him.  Pete gave me a complement today, he had stated that the training is going much faster then he had expected.  Both Jeter and I are well matched and that we are working through our differences.  Pete had also said because I am on the subway, I am able to get to more areas and because of this, we are able to encounter many different areas in challenges.

This is a short one today and I hope you find it interesting.  I cannot believe that this is day six.

day five

Today is day five.

BIG announcement!  Today we had our first solo flight!  As with all solo flights, this one was a bit rocky.  Jeter was Mr. poky; I can except this seeing that he had a big morning and it was not the most pleasant day because of the amount of work we had asked of him (riding the metro , going in the mall, walking around in the store and coming back home).  It is damp it has just finished raining.  I went around the block to see how Jeter would be.  Pete had asked me to do a solo job today since he wants to get Jeter doing two guide walks every day now since he will be require to guide on an on-going bases. 

Let us start with last night shall we?  Last night was a very interesting one.  First off, Jeter decided that he would be Mr. I am just going to do everything my way and you can just go take a flying leap.  It was not that bad, but he is most definitely pushing things now.  He wants to see how far he can push and still be okay.  Being on the far right of sidewalks is going to be very old very quickly.  I cannot count how many times I have twisted my right ankle.  Street crossings; Jeter is now consistently stopping short on both up-curb and down curb.  I have not asked Pete why Jeter is doing this, but my guess is that he is still trying to understand my needs. 

Okay, things I need to work on.  First of all, I need to work on giving Jeter clear and concise directions not come on or some such.  I am also needing to give gentle corrections since this dog is soft and we do not want to damage Jeter’s sensibilities.  He is doing a good job now; I just need to keep my hands out of it…  Listening to Jeter, knowing what he is trying to tell me.  I do believe that he is getting better, but it is all part of the same theme of being consistent.  There was a pizza place on our rout today and I wanted to check it out.  I let Jeter just walk up to the doors.  By doing this, I gave Jeter unclear directions.  When we walked up to the doors, Jeter thought that we were going to be going in the doors.  What I should have done was at the up curb, told Jeter to go forward and then to go forward again.  As previously mentioned, Jeter has having issues with on things being on the right being two close.  I need to keep a better eye on how I am correcting Jeter on these issues.

New activities we did today.  We went to the mall and went to apple.  I purchased the new Apple 4s and I really like the phone.  I worked with the agent with the phone and kept an eye on Jeter.  He was very good and was quiet.  He went under the table and that was that.  After I worked with the Apple rep, we worked our way out of the store.  He did a very good job; seeing that I was new at this and Jeter was new at it as well.  It was great walking around in the mall.  After we walked around three floors of the mall, we went to the grocery store.  I picked up a couple of things and Jeter got more practice walking around.  I had Jeter follow Pete (that was cool as well because of the dog following someone).  I told Jeter forward and then follow.  I think as  this dog gets used to someone, I could use the command follow Jack for example.  I did notice that Jeter was pretty good at it, but did at times get sidetracked.  As we went through the store, I kept a very close eye on items on the right and if items we were passing got to close to my right side, I gave the harness handle a tap upwards like to say watch our right side.  After the store we went on to the metro; actually, we took metro both ways to and from the mall.  Jeter is an old hand at this metro stuff, it did not even faze him one little bit.  This is so nice that he does not care about all that noise and travels so well.  I am very glad that both trips went so well today with Jeter.  I think this dog is getting the hang of what he is doing.  I always like to think about how I feel about having a guide dog again.  I am still feeling pretty ambivalent towards the guide work.  There is so much that is going through my head these days.  First of all, I often think about Juan; could I have made the match work?  Did it have to end as it did with retiring him?  These questions go through my head as the bond strengthens  between Jeter and I.  Jeter is a very good dog and I am starting to like him more and more.  When I think back on Juan, there are several critical things that run through my mind.  First of all, Juan never understood what overhangs were and how to avoid them.  Secondly, Juan and I never seemed to really click.  Oh, don’t get me wrong, we were a good working team, it was just that Juan never really showed a great deal of loyalty; he really liked my mom.  I keep thinking about what went wrong and what is going right with this match.  First of all and I think the most important aspect of this is that Jeter is starting to follow me around.  I had him off tie down a couple of hours today while in the apartment.  He would walk away, go smell and then I think he would forget where I was.  Because I would hear him start to pant and start to pace.  Then he would ketch sight of me and he would come bounding over to me.  We played fetch (he came up with the idea were he would hold the bone in his mouth and want me to chase him.  I got tired of chasing him and wanted to see what would happen if I gently tossed the bone.  Dog went after the bone and went tearing around the loop I had described to you yesterday.  Today he decided to include the bathroom and bedroom in the loop.  So I would toss the bone down the hall, he would go tearing after it, run through the kitchen, bedroom, bathroom and come tearing back in to the living room.  I need to get some more toys for him, like a squeaky toy.  I will see when Pete would like to go to Pepco and get a brush and some toys for said dog.  I do feel that I made the correct decision by going with Fidelco.  They are taking all of my concerns to heart.  Pete is helping me understand Jeter and what needs to happen in order to grow the bond.  I like his approach!  All and all, things are improving much faster than I had expected.   Thought I would be still walking around on the streets; but, Jeter and I are going to the mall, stores and making lots of mistakes.  I think it is a good time to talk to Pete about my concerns about Juan and Jeter so that I do not make the same mistakes that were made last time.    In terms of the sleeping issues, yep!  I definitely thing they have installed alarm clocks in these new guide dogs.  The only issue is that it is not possible to reset the darn thing!  3:00 AM is still when Jeter is getting up.  At least now, he is going back to sleep.  I do think that Fidelco is a good school and I am  starting to believe more and more in this school.  Let’s give one big hurrah for Fidelco.

Well, that about does it for today’s installment of Jeter and Reinhard.  Do not hesitate to ask how things are going.  I may have forgotten to give an update on something.  Oh, like I just did.  Eating.  This dog is still not eating breakfast and last night did not finish all of his dinner (adding water helped).  Pete gave me a treat log for him.  I am to add this to his feed tonight (just a couple of pieces so that he gets the taste.  For breakfast, Pete wants me to give him about five or six pieces of it.  This is raw meet that can be used to entice dogs to eat.  Let’s see if Mr. funky eater will decide to eat.  I told Pete that I bet this dog will only eat with the treats in the food.  Oh well, if Jeter does not want to eat his food, it is not my falt that he starves.  Pete and I often joke that if Jeter starves himself, it is all his fault and not ours since we tried to feed him and that I need another guide dog since this one starved himself.

I hope all of you will have a good day and I am looking forward to seeing what comments I get from you on this one.  BTW, Jeter is storing up for tonight’s alarm clock wake time.

Day four

Today is day four.

Did you ever think that guide dogs sleep during the night?  Well, I really suggest you really need to think that idea through again, like give it a lot of thought .  Oh wait a minute, maybe guide dogs are given to handlers with an automatic alarm feature set for 3 in the AM; I know that Jeter has one.  Jeter gets up at 3 in the AM and bumps his way around.  Well anyhow, I think I will start with how last night went.  He ate dinner, most of it.  I think I am seeing the picky shepherd showing up.  I am just thankful that he is Relieving.  I know that sometimes shepherds can stop that as well.  So, about the tub; since Jeter has stopped drinking that much, he has also stopped going in the tub.  A friend had suggested that the reason why he wants to go in the tub is to get water is a good guess.  We watched another Star Wars movie last night and no barking.  I think that one night he might have seen someone outside my place.  I made dinner, ate and spent some time with Jeter, petting and talking to him.  I have had the door open ever since Jeter has come.  The weather has been very nice and I sure my electric bill will be much nicer this month because of it.  Whining?  I knew shepherds can be vocal, but I think this one has done very well.  He only does it when he has not seen me for a little while.  I will let him whine and once he gives up on it, I will walk around the counter so he can see me.  I am still having odor concerns.  Once I am able to go on independent routs (when we are finished with training), I will see what I can do about the odor issue.

Today’s training.  Today we went to town on Metro.  This was a very different experience because of how Fidelco trains their dogs how to ride the Metro.  Yesterday when Pete and I went down on to the platform, I worked Jeter up and down the platform allowing Jeter a chance to get used to walking on the platform and the escalator.  Fidelco trains there guides to always walk on the left side; the dog will place himself between the platform edge and the handler.  So… Pete came in this morning and we chatted about life and Jeter.  Pete wants Jeter to know that when he comes that it is not at all exciting seeing him.  Every day Pete had come, we have sat down and talked to allow Jeter to calm down.  Jeter did not eat breakfast again, silly dog, and did not relieve until Pete came.  Tomorrow, I am going to feed him directly out of the crate (like today) and then I will relieve him shortly before Pete arrives.  He did not relieve until Pete came; I think it is because he is used to Pete being here.  How do I feel about Jeter?  He is growing on me.  He is such a smart dog, intelligent and willing.  I have had moments of bliss (when we are working well)and getting around obstacles that are in my way.  I think this just might be faster, getting around with a guide dog.  It is also nice to see that Jeter is starting to bond.  For example, I took him off of tie down this morning and chased him around the house.  He grabbed his bone and took off round and round he went through the kitchen, in to the dining room, around the back side of the kitchen and in to the living room.  By this point he is leaping and jumping whirling around and around.  What fun that was!

Training activities:

Today we went on to the metro itself, took the train to work, showed him where I work and then went over to where I have lunch many times.  After we went to the café, I showed him Jeter’s at work relieve area and allowed him to use it.  Then we went around the block found McDonalds and the post office and went back to the Metro.  I think we left here around 9:30 AM and got back here around 11:30 AM.  This was the only trip today because of the newness of the metro.  Every day we are doing things that are more and more challenging.

Issues we have had.  Yesterday Jeter had started hanging right (pushing me), at times, off of the sidewalk where I twisted my ankle.  This happened again today; it was not my fault.  This has happened in the past because I was out of position.  Today, I was in correct positioning (harness handle over the dog’s back).  I am also getting back in to remembering how it feels to walk with a harness handle in my hand.  Jeter is very good when he is on and is a knotty boy when he is off.  So, we walked to the Metro station the long way round so that Jeter would get more exercised .  I have found even a longer way to walk to give him more exercise.  This goes around the back of the apartment buildings.  There are several places where I could stop to relieve Jeter if necessary.  When we arrived at the metro, we worked Jeter to the turn stiles and (good boy) found the one I wanted on first try.  Fidelco dogs are trained to find the right most escalator when one approaches them.  Jeter will not do this, he will find the one in the middle.  Pete wants Jeter to always find the one on the far right.  When we got on to the platform we walked down the left.  Let me say, Jeter is supposed to walk down the left side of the platform; Pete wants Jeter to say on this side.  Jeter, on the other hand, wants to do it his way; he goes down the middle.  I would prefer Jeter to stay on the left as well.  I just have one concern, when the escalators are behind me and I need to turn around to get to them putting me on the side of the platform.  All and all, I think Jeter did a good job.  Jeter is very excited to ride the train.  Whenever a train is at the station, he finds the open door, pauses, and then we will enter.  I will need to practice finding a train that has just pulled in; this is because I stop to early and I may miss the train.  I want to make sure I made the train.  Again, all and all, seeing that this was the first time I had ridden the metro with Jeter, it went well.  Most of the mistakes that were made today were newbie ones, stopping short of the curb, running curbs and just plain messing up.  I think my favorite mess up on my part was  miss reading Jeter.  I am unsure what Jeter is trying to tell me when he stopped.  Many times, he will stop because we (Pete and I) have been helping Jeter understand clearance’s such as how far something is from me or if a tree will get me in the head or not.  Pete is very good with keeping me safe.  He will touch me if we get close to something that he thinks Jeter will miss.  Jeter is doing well.  Today is the first day that I can look back at the entire trip and have positive thoughts about it.  I am getting better at reading Jeter and Jeter is getting better at reading me.  So… I think we will now start getting in to the time where Jeter starts pushing the limits.  He has started bonding to me and he is realizing that is home.  Today is the first day I have let him have a few minutes of free of-tie down time.  Once I have gotten a bell for him, I will give him additional time off tie down.  I think it is still a little early.  Oh, I almost forgot to tell you about coming in to the office.  I found a good spot for him to lie under the desk.  He will be out of the way and will have his own spot.  This at home training is sure different.  They mix it all up, we do subway early and then go back to residential streets.  I like How Pete is doing this, he is very good.  One more thing, Jeter gets up every time I say the word okay on the phone or if I make movements like I am going to get up, even if I do not get up.  I remember both of my last two dogs doing this; it will pass once they get used to my movements and when I am really going to get up.  Let’s hope that Jeter eats tonight since he is still on antibiotics for an infection in his back left foot. 

Well, I think this is all I have for you for now.  Stay tuned in for an update on tomorrows adventure to the mall; it is supposed to be rainy tomorrow.

Day three

Today is day three.

Did you ever think that guide dogs sleep during the night?  Well, I really suggest you think that idea through again.  This guy had only one thing in mind, turn and turn again, flop oneself down, grown, get up and tap the gate with one’s claw , scrape one’s claw along the bottom of the crate, repeat as necessary until morning.  By the way, all these antics start around 3; that is 3 in the am.  I never knew there was a 3 am until I was introduced to one supposed guide dog named Jeter.  I think it would be fair to start off with last night.  I played Star Trek, Wrath of Con (one of my favorite movies by the way), to see if I could get another huge woof out of him.  Well, I  guess he liked Captain Kurk better than Luke.  Last night, he started wining while I was getting dinner ready; I ignored it.  It got louder, louder and still louder until there was a little yep in it.  When I heard the yep, I said in a firm voice no.  That stopped.  When he stopped all the noise, I walked calmly over to him and praised him for being quiet.  I went back to prepping dinner again.  When he started in again, I ignored him including the little yep.  When I did nothing about it, he stopped, walked around in a circle and laid down. 

Dinner for Jeter was adventurous.  He has been leaving a bit in the bowl these last few nights and last night he got it all.  After dinner was finished, I took him outside.  He did nothing; as in, he just wanted to stand around and look.  I gave up on him and went back inside.  Shortly before bed, I gave him another opportunity to go and again he did not want to relieve. 

This morning, he did not relieve as in not a  thing out of that guy directly out of the crate.  So, I went in, fed him and took him out again.  He gave me a hard dropping, but no number one.  Well, guess who did not want breakfast this morning?  Jeter.  He only had a few mouthfuls and called it quits.  No more, not interested.  So, I picked up the food and put it up; He will have it again tonight.  He was dry heaving when Pete came to the door this morning.  Pete thinks he was doing this because he did not have anything in his little tummy; I wonder how that little tummy feels now?

How do I feel about Jeter?  When I am working with him and things are going great, it is fantastic   working with a guide.  This dog is so much better then all of the others.  I do not know if it is because of the approach of the trainer that is making the difference, the dog or both.  First of all drive; Jeter does not have a hard drive (I know, I know it seems as if he is a computer at times, but what I am trying to say here is that he does not have a hard pull on harness or leash).  Most of the previous dogs I have had have had drive.  He will go at a nice speed.  I noticed that he had drive this morning and I am beginning to think that Jeter needs to go if he has a hard pull while in harness.  Jeter went number two in harness  again (which is a BIG no no).  A dog with TO MUCH drive is not A good THING.  After number two, he was back to his sensitive self marking over hangs and all.  I am still feeling doubts and I am still nervous when I pick up the harness handle; I think much of this is coming from the fact that I do not totally trust the dog yet and the dog does not trust me.

Training issues:

Walking on the right.  Jeter is consistently pushing me far over to the right side of the sidewalk.  I had asked Pete why Jeter is doing this; he is not to sure.  Jeter stops way before the down curb.  Pete had stated that Jeter is getting used to how I walk and how much time I may need to identify the curb.  Pete had stated to give the harness a sharp jerk up to say get up there.  My guide is still wanting to drift in to on-coming traffic when we approach the up curb.  To help Jeter understand that I want him to go strait, I need to face my upper body in the direction I want to go and keep it there.  Make Jeter push a little; this will help Jeter stay strait.  Missed the down curb.  Yep you got it, after all of that trying to get Jeter to get to the down curb, he blows right past it.  I don’t know what I am going to do with that shepherd of mine.  Slipped off the far right of the sidewalk.  While walking home, Jeter was to close to the curb.  I had asked Pete if my form was good, he had stated that it was pretty good  and it was  Jeter’s fault that I slipped off the curb. 

Things that went right today.  I had a beautiful traffic check.  I   heard a nice loud truck running facing me; it started driving towards me and I thought I had the right of way.  so I told Jeter forward.  Would you believe that that truck was turning left in front of me? That UPS truck (according to Pete) turned in front of me!  Jeter say that bad UPS truck and stopped with lots of room to clear that truck.  Pete had asked the primary trainer if she had given Jeter extra traffic training, she had stated no.  The primary trainer thinks because Jeter is so sensitive about things that he takes his guide work very seriously and always did traffic very well.  Jeter did a superb job with stopping for that truck.  Because of this, I feel very glad and honestly was very presently surprised to feel how fast Jeter stopped.  It was not slow down, it was a full stop all at once; it was like Jeter slammed on the brakes.  Since I was in correct position, I was able to stop.  Times like this is when I am glad that I have a guide dog.  I could have very easily stepped in front of that truck.

In the afternoon, We went to the Metro today (second walk).  That was very interesting because I learned how Fidelco dogs do stairs.  They are trained not to go until the handler steps down that first step.  If you tell them forward (if I am not on the first step), they are to intelligently disobey the command.  The purpose of this is so that a blind person does not fall down the stairs thinking that they are on a curb.  Jeter does escalators just fine and has no issues.  Once on the platform, they are trained to stay to the left side of the platform when one walks.  This is so that the dog is between the platform edge and the handler.  If one is standing at the platform edge, and you tell the dog forward, the dog is to turn left or right to avoid stepping off the platform.  When the dog locates the escalator, the dog will show the handrail.  At this point, one walks on to the escalator.  When I came to the top and it was time to exit the station, there are stairs.  Jeter is to stop it the bottom of the stairs and wait until I say forward.  Well, Jeter decided that he wanted to just go up them.

All and all, I feel good about today and think this will work.  I feel a little down right now.  I think this is because of missing Juan, my previous dog.  I was thinking that if I would know what I know now, I could have saved that dog; on the other hand, maybe not.  I can tell already that this dog is a much better match for my working environment.  By the way, the dog who has an alarm clock set for 3 in the very early AM, is sacked out on the floor.  I think if a bomb went off he would not move.  All and all, this is going well and I think I made the correct decision.  By the way, Jeter is currently off  leash and is lying by the door (which is closed).  Please stay tuned in to find out how things go tomorrow.  We are going to take the subway to work and introduce him to the working environment.  Pete wants to help Jeter get used to my work place since there is where he will be spending a lot of time.  Pete also would like to see me start spending some time at work because he wants to see if there are any issues and to help me work through these issues.  Jeter is also going to have to learn how to stay quiet for long stretches of time. 

Well, I hope this helps you understand a bit better what it is like for someone to have in-home training with a guide dog. 

Day 2

Did you ever think that guide dogs sleep during the night?  Well, think again.  This guy had only one thing in mind, turn and turn again, flop oneself down, get up and tap the gate with one’s claw , scrape one’s claw along the bottom of the crate, repeat as necessary until morning.  I decided that I was going to go to bed at 10:30 PM last night because I was tired from not sleeping very well the night before; well, that was a mistake because Jeter wanted to get out of said  crate.  While I was watching Star Wars last night, during the battle between Luke and his father, Jeter let out this gigantic woof at full volume and then growled.  That growl was vicious and you should have seen me jump, like some had touched me with  live wire.

Oh, did I mention to you that he smells?  Well he does; he smells gamey.  Today I groomed him and this helped, but the Smell is coming from around his neck area and from his mouth.  I do not think he has an ear infection .  If anyone has ideas on how I can keep the small down I would appreciate it.  It is pretty strong.  I want to see if I can get rid of it before I get used to and do not think of it anymore.

On to today’s training.  When Pete came, he had parking issues.  In this area parking is limited and where there is parking, it is by permit only.  Yesterday he had parked behind the buildings (one row of building beyond where I live).  I was able to find parking back there for Pete.  Today, we could not; he parked in the metro lot since it is free on Sundays.  I need to ask him if that lot is free also on Saturdays.  Pete came in and Jeter was happy to see him, but was not overly excited like some dogs are.  I think Jeter is a cool customer who where’s his “I just do not care” attitude on his shoulder.  Pete asked me how Jeter was eating this morning and I had noticed that Jeter would not eat all of his food.  I tricked him in to it by putting more water in the bowl. I was waiting for him to complete the task of eating; Pete had mentioned that I should not do this because Jeter needs to learn how to eat without someone there with him.  Even then, Jeter was not all that excited about his food.  Last night, he ate like he was starving and had never eaten since he left CT. 

The Work

We worked out of the building and on the way out there was a Pug belonging to one of my neighbors.  Jeter wanted to say hi; I corrected him for it.  Pete had said that at this point he wants to keep the corrections down until Jeter gets used to me.  After they greeted, I walked to the relieving area.  Our task was to walk to a Walgreens located about a good 20 or 30 minute walk from me.  Guess what!  That Walgreens was no more.  When we walked down to where that Walgreens was; it was an empty store front.  There also is an empty grocery store in the same complex.  You should have seen how disappointed Pete was that the Walgreens was gone; I was two.  When Pete had mentioned to me that there was a Walgreens down there, I was very excited.  When I first moved in to my currently place, my mother had walked down there helping me know what was walking distance from me.  When we had walked there before, that Walgreens was not there; I knew that there was no Walgreens, but I thought that there may have been new store that just moved in.  Guess who had to go number two along the route?  Jeter.  That guy refused to defecate for me this morning and he wanted to do so on rout.  Pete had noticed that Jeter was starting to lift his tail and arching his back a little.  He said to me stop  I think Jeter needs to do some business.  We stopped, took of the harness and walked to the curb.  Would you believe that guy (Jeter) just wanted a sniff?  We waited for about five or six minutes.  After Jeter realized that I really did mean for him to do his business , he went.  Boy did he go I am glad I had a bag with me.  I always carry a couple of bags with me now just in case said dog needs to go.  After our little side tour of the local fauna and streets, we got under way again.  Today was the first day that I worked Jeter without Pete having his leash attached as well.  The first of many issues this morning was crossing streets.  First was getting to the down curb.  At first, he wanted to just keep on going and did not want to get to the down curb.  Wince I was able to get him to the down curb, all was well.  He crossed the street successfully, but when we got to the other side, he wanted to go in to traffic (did not want to find the up curb.  Pete and I talked about this and he thinks it is because I did not keep the line of travel.  I need to go with Jeter, but keep my upper body faced in the direction I am wanting to go in.  Once I had made this decision, Jeter started finding up and down curbs better.  He is still not perfect, but is better.  All and all, the trip went well.  Pete had suggested that I keep the water intake down for now until Jeter becomes used to my place.  Jeter only had one walk today; Pete wants Jeter to relax.  By only working once today, Jeter will have more time to get used to the place.  Pete had also mentioned that working a dog two much at the beginning could retard development.  If people are wondering how Jeter's defecation is, it is well formed and is a little soft; Pete is not concerned.

Feelings towards Jeter

Today, Jeter was happy to get out of the crate and was excited to go outside.  He went right away number one, but refused to give me number two.  He is distracted by cards, dogs and people going by.  I Shure hope he gets over the distraction issue during relieving.  He is much quieter today, only groaning here and there; I think he will grow in to this.  When he met Pete today, he was glad to see him but was not overly excited.  Pete had stated that he is spending as little time with him as possible because he wants Jeter to bond quicker with me.  Currently Jeter is all stretched out on the floor with head facing me.  This morning when I ate breakfast, he was wining.  As soon as I head this I said no and it stopped.  Pete had said that Jeter is sensitive and takes everything personally; so, I will need to be careful not to over correct him. 

Well, that about does it for today’s installment of a day with Jeter.

Day one with Jeter

I will start this off by saying that Jeter is one BIG dog; Pete had him wade and he was 75 pounds on the 13^th of October.  This is also when he had all of his shots. 

 What we did today:

1)      Pete came to my house around 9:30.  When he showed up, we met with Jeter outside of my house.  He was sort of happy, but not extremely so.  I could tell that he was very excited because of a new area and new environment.  We brought Jeter in to my apartment and let him settle down for a while since he had been in the crate all night.  While we waited for Jeter to settle down, we reviewed all of the documentation that came with Jeter.  After we reviewed the documentation, we took him outside for his first walk for the day.  Well actually, I went for a walk with the harness with no dog.  This is known as a Juno walk; Jeter went back in to the van.  I went for a Juno walk where I took the harness handle and Pete held the harness.  We went up to the light and came back.  When we returned, Pete got Jeter out of the van and we went over the harness.  He explained  how the harness fit together and all of the pieces of the harness.  First, he showed me how the harness handle attached to the harness body.  This was very different because all of the harness equipment I have seen the handle attached directly to the harness body itself with all mettle attachments.  With the harness Fidelco uses, the handle attaches with leather straps to the harness.  So… When I put the harness handle in my hand for the first time, it was very odd.  There were so many different things that went through my mind.  I was very nervous and also I really did not know what was going to happen when I said forward for the very first time.  This is what happened.  When I told Jeter forward, Jeter did just that, he went forward.  There was a touch of hesitancy, but all and all we were grand.  He took off with little issues and he was a very willing dog.  Pete the instructor had the leash and I had the harness handle.  I did not have the leash during this first walk.  The feeling was very different, it was like holding on to a rocking bumping cart that guided.  So… we started off with no issues and we were doing nice and good.  We came to our first stop at a driveway.  Jeter came to a stop and I followed nicely.  Things to remember during the first walk were to keep the harness handle over the back of the dog.  To do this, keep my elbow out and wrist in.  With other dogs, I never did this because of the firmer connection between the harness and the handle itself.  Having the handle connected with leather was very different and I am starting to like the idea.  So… anyway we crossed the driveway and Jeter stopped on the other side for the up curb.  I tell you this dog knows what he is doing and I am trying to learn from him.  I am sure he is wondering what the heck I am doing this silly guy who cannot understand how to walk.  I keep tripping over him, my own feet and tripping for the heck of it.  I bet he was wondering what is going on here.  We proceeded to walk and we had our first obstacle, a flag.  This flag was hanging over the sidewalk flapping away.  He did not even bat an eye at it.  He slowed down slightly and went right around the thing.  I was very surprised and pleased.  This is one of the reasons why I had decided to get a guide dog.  After this we had a bush or two that came out in to the sidewalk and again he took me in to the grass to get around it.  I was very pleased with this as well.  We walked up to the corner to the first street.  Of course this dog walked right up to the crossing and stopped like a good guide dog should do.  Now turning, this is where I had some issues with unlearning bad habits such as pulling on the harness to get the dog to turn.  So, I step back, at the same time telling Jeter to stay, and then asked him to turn right after I had stopped moving.  He turned right and we proceeded to continue on.  Now, the first street crossing.  This was a lighted intersection and Jeter was to cross and then go straight for a couple of feet and then stop.  We crossed with no issues and all went well.  During all of this walking, I had to keep reminding myself to keep my elbow out, wrist in, harness handle down and not to over step or over walk the dog.  Also remembering to keep up with the dog, don’t hurry to ketch up with the dog, remember to keep the elbow out, wrist in …  You get the point.  It is a lot to keep in mind.  We then turned right and walked down to the metro (opposite side) and finally back to the house.  We came back to the house, Pete came in with me and Jeter and I settled down for lunch.  Pete had left for lunch to give us some time adjusting to one another

2)      Pete came back after lunch and we did the same rout again.  It was better than the morning because Jeter was not as full of energy and he had time to settle down.  Jeter will have dog and people distractions.  He will also have some adjustments to make because he will be having to push around a much bigger person then he has in the past.  This walk went well also.  Pete gave me the leash for the afternoon walk.  He continued to walk with his leash attached as well.  Pete stated that he wanted to make sure that Jeter had a positive experience with me so that he (Jeter) does not become concerned about what happens; Jeter is having to adjust to a new handler.  Before the walk, I gave Jeter water and relieved him.  I tell you, this dog relieves on command.  He went right away (Pete was there for the first relieving session).  This was a good session because Jeter went right away and I am very excited about it.  I know, I know seeing a dog relieving is no big deal, but I think it is nice that he does not wait.  I am sure he will be slow with me for a while until he gets used to me.

Jeter is now lying on the floor next to my desk being quiet .  This was not the case when I first got him.  He was crying wining and carrying on because Pete was not here.  Pete had said that Jeter is a go get em dog and he wants me to be calm with him to keep him settled.  Jeter has an infection on his back left foot and the vet has him on some antibiotic’s to take care of it.  He is also a little under wait because of being in the kennel. 

 If you are wondering How do I feel now about having him?  I am a little anxious, but I also feel good.  I am also a little concerned about the match.  Time to time he will come to me and stick his nose in my side and ask for petting.  Pete had made an interesting suggestion today, do I want to keep Jeter here today or should Pete take him back with him.  He had said that first time dog  people would not know how to deal with him.  Of course I wanted to keep Jeter here, silly question.  It seems as if he is a bit anxious and has not really settled down that well.  He also keeps wining time to time.  Well, this is how Jeter is today and this is how I am feeling about Jeter today.