Day 24, Qualification Day!

What a surprise it was when after we got back from St Albans today to be told that I was being qualified!

It was a normal route there and back with both trainer Mike and Kelly accompanying me. Odene reacted well to another dog which potentially could have gone very badly. We came back home though, I offered tea which I started making but then Mike distracted me by saying, 'Kelly has some good news for you' to which Kelly said 'yep, you're now qualified!'.

I signed the Guide Dog Ownership Agreement, handed over 50 pence as per the agreement at which point Odene became a qualified Guide Dog and I became a qualified owner! Yipee! I will be celebrating tonight but not sure in what way yet!

Kelly and Mike were really complimentary about Odene and I, saying that we didn't look like a partnership that had only been together a few weeks but instead were a partnership that had been together a lot longer. I must admit, I feel so comfortable with Odene now, I'm far less conscious of what I should be doing next and instead it is coming naturally. I've got to thank Kelly and Mike for all their superb training and of course Odene, she has been brilliant and it's thanks to her trainers, borders, puppy walkers and everyone else involved that she has turned out to be such an excellent Guide Dog.

Of course it's not all over, I'm seeing Kelly tomorrow to do our first meet with my parents dog Inca followed by visiting the vets on Friday to get her flea treatment done. It just means that in the meantime if I want to go out, nothing is stopping us!

Planning on taking it gradually and I certainly will be sensible but boy am I excited!!!

My official qualifying Guide Dog Ownership photo card and badge!

Day 23 of GDT

London! We made it there and back in one piece!

Odene as usual performed brilliantly and she didn't mind the trains at all. It was certainly my longest journey for a coffee that's for sure! Instead of sitting at every right or left turn we did turns on the move in London. It made sense being that it's a lot busier with more chance of Odene getting trodden on. It did however mean quick travelling which was quite cool.

One thing that was a really big surprise was the need to get the escalators turn off. On part of my route the only way to get to different platforms are going up or down escalators which is a big no no for Guide Dogs. We had to ask rail staff if it could be turned off before we could go on them, made me feel very important! It makes me realise though just how many steps there are to take on the underground... at least I'll become fit with Odene!

If I were to take to the trains on my own I think I'll phone ahead to tell them of my journey to warn them that I will need escalators turned off so that they can look out for me. Else there may be a lot of waiting around looking for rail staff.

Once at Moorfields Eye Hospital we met up with a lady called Barbara along with her Guide Dog who works at Moorfields. I've actually met her before on one of my previous eye sight appointments but it was nice to get to know her a bit better and is someone I can hopefully see again next time I'm up there. We took both our dogs to the spending pen which Moorfields have created specially for Guide Dogs. I'm not sure if I'm mentioned this or not in previous posts but spending equals going to the loo. At home and at both work places, I spend Odene on grass or woodchip. The spending pen at Moorfields is made out of concrete with drains incorporated. Odene went second and I wasn't too sure that she would go or not but after a bit of sniffing she went on command, 'busy busy'.

It was a shorter day for me but it certainly was tiring, Odene is once again sprawled out on the floor. Kelly shot a pic of us on the train coming home so do take a look at her in her body piece! The metal harness bar is detached on journeys by bus, train or even just if I'm going to be lying her down for a few minutes as it can get in the way of her curling up and it can get quite uncomfortable just resting on her back.

Odene on the train!

Day 22 of GDT

A brilliant day, Odene is doing so very well.

We did another Watford route to work and back followed by St Albans route this afternoon. We even fitted time in to get a coffee at Costa whilst we were in St Albans which was joined by a cheeky chocolate brownie brought from the shop next door. We also managed to miss the down pour of rain this afternoon, it was as if Odene realised it was going to rain and sped up!

I have nothing bad to say about Odene, it looks like the main thing I need to be watchful of is allowing her to move across me when avoiding something. It seems that it's the only time my remaining vision is a bit of a hindrance as I'm great at following her going left but not so good at following her right. I think I'm getting there tho! This is my last week of full time training so it can't be long till we are qualified!

Odene is zonked out right now, happily sleeping on our cold wooden floor cooling down after all her exertions of the day. Kelly commented on how happy she seems here, as if she knows that this is her permanent home now. Whenever we go out on our harness walks and we return home I say 'find home' to which she suddenly perks up and almost drags me to the front door in her excitement! Tis very cute!

Off to London tomorrow to do a trip to Moorfields Eye Hospital which is one of my regular appointment places. Trainer Mike is joining Kelly and we are meeting a lady who works there who has a Guide Dog already to break up the route a bit with a cuppa before making our way back again. I think London may be tough so wish us luck!

A zonked out Odene! This pic makes her look like she is a giant size dog!

Day 19 of GDT

What a day! It been a busy one that's for sure. Odene is wiped out!

We started with our very early journey on the bus to my St Albans office. We stayed about an hour before making a return journey by bus. We had a couple of hours back at home before doing the bus routes to my Watford office and back.

Going to Watford by bus was our first time at it and unfortunately there was a foreign market on the high street. It meant that my normal quiet walk to work was instead incredibly busy. Odene coped very well however. There are shared streets in Watford Town Centre which are streets without curbs. Obviously Odene has been trained to stop at curbs which means I don't just get taken into the road. With there being no curbs to stop at however it is up to me to say 'sit' at the right time, not hard in the daylight hours but it will be harder in the dark. Hopefully Odene will learn in time but it can't be relied on. I'm defs not a fan of shared streets thats for sure!

We then had a bit of fun and gave Odene a free run where we met up with Maz and Bella, Maz and Gab's Japanese Spitz. It went fairly well but Odene and Bella weren't automatically best friends. We're going to have another free run next week to see if they get on better next time. The meet was going much better towards the end but due to the heat we thought it best to take Odene back home as she was starting to pant a bit too excessively.

It's a break for the weekend and we start back up on Monday morning!

Day 18 of GDT

It's been a really good couple of days. Yesterday we did my St Albans route to work and back again using the bus with a nice 1/2 hour break at work. Odene performed brilliantly although it was incredibly hot and I think she was suffering from black dog syndrome with the heat getting to her. We certainly moved a lot slower than normal and it can't be put down to Odene's limp as that has completely disappeared now, woot!

Today we decided to make a trip to my Watford office. As it was another hot day so it seemed like a good idea to not make another lengthy trip to St Albans in the heat of the day. Instead we took Odene in the car along with her 3rd bed to Watford. Kelly and I went in first without Odene to check out the space that had been created in my absence. We set up the bed and filled up her water bowl and just generally warned everyone that we were bringing Odene up and to continue working as normal.

Odene we've decided is the perfect office dog. She happily sat down in her bed, took a drink and we did the trip up and down the stairs several times to get her used to where to go with her heading straight for her bed every time. She seemed to need no encouragement, instead it seems that getting to the office to have a relaxing lie down seemed encouragement enough! The only problem with the heat meant that she didn't constantly want to lie in the bed, it was too hot for her so instead laid down under the desk. Luckily I'm next to windows which we can open up with blinds to stop the heat of the sun coming in.

Tomorrow is going to be my first full on day. We're going to head to my St Albans office for my normal working hours, meaning Kelly is getting here for 7.15am! Then temperature permitting for the afternoon we're going to the Watford office again. With us ending with a well deserved free run with my best friend Maz joining us part way through with her dog Bella!

Day 16 of GDT

Today we took Odene on the journey to my St Albans office working in harness. As we had been cleared to work by the vets we were watchful of her limping but knowing that to harden her paw pads we should get her out and about. We saw a dog up in front and that seemed to make her forget about her poorly foot completely!

She remembered the route from when we last did it and went straight to the traffic light signal box when asked and the same for the bus stop. Here I experienced a truly silly question, 'How do Guide Dog's read the bus numbers?'. I'll start at the beginning, we arrived at the bus stop, yay lots of praise. We then took her to sit within the shelter but before quite managing to do this a fellow (who turned out to be the bus driver) tried to start making a fuss of her. This is where I had to be quite firm as Odene shouldn't react to people fussing her, unfortunately she turned towards him so I said 'no' and corrected her. Once ignoring the fellow I gave her lots of praise again, it's all about balancing the bad girl with the good girl you see. I thought my 'no' was enough to scare off the guy from speaking to me again but instead as soon as I sat Odene down he started coming towards us to give her a stroke again! Kelly acted as a human shield and was like 'seriously, you can't pet a working Guide Dog'. He still didn't really get it so Kelly started answering all his questions, to which he asked 'How do Guide Dog's read bus numbers?'. I was looking at him disbelievingly but he was adamant that they could. He had seen Guide Dogs either waiting at the bus stop, letting a bus go past if it wasn't the right one and other Guide Dogs trotting right up to the bus when it's the right one. Kelly explained rather tactfully that, no, Guide Dogs can't read numbers and that either the passenger with the Guide Dog has some remaining vision and can see the numbers, or another person waiting at the stop would have told them. I think the driver saw sense in the end and at least we came away knowing we had educated someone about Guide Dogs. I'm tempted if asked by someone again to just say 'I get her to read the timetable every night to practice'. Mike said that someone had actually said that to a reporter once and it got printed in the local newspaper... I don't really understand how anyone could've believed it but there you go!

It made me think though that it's a real shame that so many people aren't aware of what that do's and don't are with Guide Dogs and businesses aren't making more efforts in making employees aware of the Equality Act. I actually ended up writing to my local bus company late this afternoon to ask them about their views on the 'talking buses campaign' but also to ask if they gave all their drivers training on the Equality Act and what to do if a Guide Dog owner came aboard. We'll see if I get a response!

Once at work I took the harness off and got Odene settled again. Kelly and Mike left me for 15 minutes to see how she would be. I acted as I would normally in the office, got on the phone, checked some emails and opened filing cabinets. I didn't even get a lift of the head from her! Liz my St Albans work colleague was amazed at how well she behaved and to be honest so was I!

Mike returned for me as Kelly was fetching the car and I put the harness back on and we went back downstairs. Going outside towards the car I made my first boo boo of the day. I was saying 'find the car', which she did but then didn't stop at a curb. Kinda both our faults I guess but seeing as she had done so well we just let her get into the back of the car. Kelly and Mike brought me back home with news that I'd be doing it all again tomorrow but this time would be having a return journey by bus as well!

It's becoming real now, I'm not getting as many instructions from Kelly or Mike with them now just following behind me and only giving the occasional point to improve on.

Day 15 of GDT

We took Odene outside today to see if her limp had gone over the weekend, unfortunately she was still limping on the tarmac. She has been fine in the house all weekend so it must just be that her pad is sensitive on the tougher surfaces. We decided that due to her continued limping despite the rest of the weekend we shouldn't work her so instead to still make use of the day in training we took her in the car to my St Albans office.

It went brilliantly! Kelly and I went in first to set up her bed and bowl in the office and to give everyone the heads up that we were coming in. We then went back for Odene and heeled her up to the office. We had filled her bowl with a bit of her evening feed so she went 'wow, this place is amazing!' and once she was a little bit more settled we shut the door to the office and took her off the lead to have a bit of an explore around.

Once she had ensured that she had sniffed everything she could we got her settled into her bed and got her settled. Kelly and I stayed for a tea so we could give her time to get used to being in a new place. As I say she couldn't have behaved more perfectly and she truly made Kelly and I proud!

Odene had quite a few of my colleagues admiring eyes on her but it didn't seem to worry her at all and she also seemed quite happy when I left the room. Take a look of the picture below of her in her St Albans office! I'm thinking of asking for an NHS name tag for her to attach to her harness, it would be appropriate don't you think? After all, every worker has to have one and she is a working dog...!

Odene having a snooze at the office

Once we were finished at the office Kelly took me to the pet store again to get a few more bits. I wanted to supply her with a kong or nylabone in the quiet times of work to ensure she doesn't get bored just sitting next to me all day or if I have to leave her on her own in the office for any length of time. As a Guide Dog I'm only allowed to leave her on her own for 4 hours at a time just as a bit of extra knowledge. I'm hopeful that I won't often need to leave her this long mind!

We then took her to the vets again for another examination and we were cleared to work her again. Yay! We are still to keep an eye on her and if she were to start limping on every step instead of the random limp that it currently seems to be, we're to then take her back again. Obviously every day that goes by without her able to work is a day lost in getting qualified!

Tomorrow I believe it's another trip to the St Albans office but instead of being driven there we'll be working Odene there. Trainer Mike is joining us and depending on how Odene is doing limp wise we'll assess whether a drive back is in order or a harness walk back will be okay.

Day 13 of GDT

Wow, the last day of our time at the hotel went so fast! Granted we left just after breakfast but still the last 2 weeks have zoomed by. Hubby Mike stayed over for his birthday and so we all had breakfast together short of Nikki and Rita who had to leave early. I was looking forward to getting home but sad to say goodbye to Paul who has been tremendous company but we will hopefully keep in touch to find out how each us is getting on! I know he'll remember me as 'Emma whom is not the same without her pudding!' :-)

Once breakfast was eaten and my 2 weeks worth of stuff had been packed away into Mike's car to take home for me, I jumped into Kelly's car with Odene so we could do a harness walk to my local vets and take Odene on the free run she never managed to get yesterday. Unfortunately Odene started limping on the tarmac again so we decided that it would be best to forgo the freerun and harness work and just get her registered at the vets in case the limping persists come Monday. Once this was done I was left once again with Odene back at home and currently there are no signs of limping which reassures me at least that there is only pain when she goes on harder surfaces that might have grit that pushes in on the small split on one of her pads.

If all goes well come Monday we'll perhaps do a trip to the St Albans office to introduce her to her spot next to my desk. Fingers and paws are crossed!

I managed to get hubby Mike to take a photo of us all on our last day so do take a peek below!

From left to right: Odene, me, Kelly, Mike, Paul and Zeus

Day 12 of GDT

First of all, Happy Birthday to my dearest hubby Mike! Sorry I couldn't spend the day with you!

This morning Odene and I started our obstacle walk but we stopped the harness work half way round due to Odene starting to limp. We took a look at all the paws and carried on a little in case it was just a bit of grit but unfortunately she kept on limping with the troubling paw appearing to be her front left. So I put the harness down and just heeled her back to the car. Kelly called the vets and we got ourselves an appointment that afternoon.

Some agonising hours later we got to the vets and typically Odene stopped limping! She had a good check over however and the vet noticed that she had a very small split on one of her pads. She was cleared to carry on working however and I breathed a sigh of relief, not because I was worried about her not being able to work but that she was okay. I'm definitely very attached to my pup!

We decided it was best to give her a rest for the rest of the day so Kelly took me to a pet store where I brought tons of toys and treats, I think I was feeling sorry for her! I'm just going to keep an even closer eye on her and her paw for anymore problems. I'm being a very concerned Mum that's for sure!

Off for the last dinner now at the hotel before heading home tomorrow!

Day 11 of GDT

Tired, so very tired today! What a week, I can't believe that I've only got 2 nights left at the hotel!

This morning took us on a walk to Radlett. Kelly drove Nicky and I along with the dogs and walked Nicky and Rita to Cafe Nero and then came back for me. The walk whilst with no crashes didn't go quite as well as normal due to either Odene being tired or due to just being cheeky. I tried positive encouragement, followed by a more firm 'get on' and even tried taking the lead and trotting alongside briefly to get Odene to go faster. Instead we just plodded along! When we finally got to the cafe, Nicky and I swapped places and Odene had a rest. I was hopeful that this may be the energy saver that we needed but alas it was also a slow return especially as it included a stretch that she had already walked along to get to the cafe, I could almost hear her thinking 'boring...'

We did have one very annoying man who came up behind us, asked Kelly if Odene was a Guide Dog (well yeah, can't you tell?) to which he then came up to stand right in front of us just as we about to set off on a 'forward' to stare down at Odene. Like, come on, don't interrupt a Guide Dog working! Kelly politely but firmly told him we were in training and to please move out of the way. It was my first real experience of how annoying some people can be. Advice, please look from a distance at a Guide Dog and admire from there and don't ever touch one without asking. After all if you are a sensible person, you wouldn't walk up to a dog and just start stroking it, you would ask if it was okay to and then hopefully you'll get told that he or she wouldn't bite!

After lunch we did some more obedience, I was pleased by this as I know Odene is brilliant at it. Except a surprise was in store, Nicky and I were asked to swap dogs! So there I was with Rita who is a much harder dog to work. She needs a much firmer handler and the 'no' needs to be rough and mean so that you only need to say it once. I found this incredibly difficult, I'm obviously no good at all at being mean! Rita also kept looking round for her Mum and obviously thinking 'who are you to tell me what to do?'. I was exhausted by the time we arrived back with Nicky. I'm so pleased I've got Odene who is a real softy in comparison and whom I don't need to be so firm with. It did at least mean that I practiced my fierce, firm voice which I think did improve slightly at least! It goes to show though that Rita has formed a real bond with Nicky and behaves much better for her and the same holds true for Odene and I.

After lunch we spent the afternoon obstacle avoiding. Trainer Mike joined Kelly and they put out lots of cones across paths to teach us how to get the dog to go into the road briefly to get round the obstacle. In real life this could be a car on the path, roadworks, a group of people, the list goes on! It was quite interesting how much the dog has to do in these situations and how much we too have to do to help out with the decision of what comes next. There is a lot of 'find the way' and 'in, in' once you've passed the obstacle. There is also a difference for when you pass an obstacle on one side of the street to the other which is to do with positioning.

Tomorrow is our last full day at the hotel and I believe we are going to try working the dogs round obstacles again. I'm now definitely looking forward to work on my usual routes and also looking forward to getting home!

Day 10 of GDT

This morning went just as well as yesterday morning with the traffic exercise. We had a lady called Helen visiting us from Hearing Dogs who wanted to check out how Guide Dogs do things. Odene again performed brilliantly but I defs don't ever want to experience her fail safe in real life!

As we're training so close to my home we went back to my house and took Odene to the front door and did the 2 trips to both of the bus stops I use. Kelly left some treats for me to give her at each of the stops to encourage her to always 'find the bus stop' when I ask her to. There is a bit of a fiddly straight line which leads to a traffic crossing which Kelly put some treats on the signal box so Odene knows to lead me straight to it for me to press the button. Lots of praise given at each destination and we got a few tail wags when she got the treats! We're going to practice this a few times so that she gets really confident on these routes as they are going to be the most common.

This all took up most of the day, it feels a bit shorter after yesterday where I did the night walk. I must admit though that I'm having another tired day so will probs be getting an early night!

Day 9 of GDT

This morning brought traffic today which actually doesn't mean a traffic load of people or heavy car traffic. In fact it was about how the dog should behave when being asked to cross a road when there is a car coming. I'll begin with explaining that we had a good discussion about why the dogs are trained to disobey your 'forward' command in these circumstances. It's a common question 'How do dogs know when to cross the roads?' when in fact they don't, it's down to you to sound out whether it's safe to cross but, and this is a biggish but, Guide Dogs are trained to have a fail safe. If you do say 'forward' and yet a car is coming the dog should disobey and remain sitting - this is for near traffic where the car is travelling on the side of the road closest to you. If you are doing far traffic you would say 'forward' and the dog would perhaps start setting off but then should stop and sit if it meets a car driving up on the other side of the road. It's up to us at that point to praise the dog for doing the right thing and to wave the driver on before setting off again.

For Odene, who is a bit of a softy this was quite hard work for her but did what she was meant to do. We had an extra set of hands helping as we needed 2 trainers watching us and looking out for traffic and a trainer who volunteered to do the driving, the driver was another trainer called Kelly. To explain about the process my trainer Kelly would signal for driver Kelly to drive towards me and at the same time tap my shoulder to queue in the 'forward' command. At which point the dog should disobey you. It was very interesting and we are doing the same again tomorrow morning to have another practice at it. Once at home we shall need to practice near traffic for which we'll get more info on during our 2 weeks at home.

This afternoon was a shorter walk than normal due to wanting to conserve our energies for the night walk. The rain started at this point and I got to use my waterproofs, I now know that Odene does not like rain! Karen came along who is Kelly and Mike's boss and is ever so nice. I actually met her before as she came along for a work meeting about the upcoming arrival of a Guide Dog and was incredibly helpful with answering their questions. So for me this was a pleasant catch up. So Kelly, Karen, Nikki and myself headed out with Odene and Rita to St Albans with the heading being Morrison's in Fleetville to sit in the cafe there. Kelly took Nikki and Rita first along with Karen where Karen and Nikki sat and had a tea with Kelly coming back for Odene and I. Once I arrived at the cafe we then swapped places with Nikki so I could grab a cuppa. It was a nice afternoon where Karen was very tea'd up and Kelly not at all! The rain had stopped by my walk as well so I was quite cheered up!

After dinner we got to do the night walk, I must admit I was a little bit nervous to begin with but by the end had relaxed into it. Kelly said that Odene was a little more distracted during the walk and that it was probably due to me being not quite so quick to tell her what to do. It could also be that it was also her first time in harness in the dark and it must have felt very different for her! It did feel quite different but actually very comfortable and apparently my positioning improved a lot tonight. What trainers look for is a partnership that is safe and effective which apparently is how we look along with being a 'tidy' partnership, I like to think that's code for looking like the most amazing partnership she has ever seen ;-) It was lovely knowing that I was trusting Odene for real and I realised just how difficult it was to tell the difference of edging into a driveway for a quick sniff and edging round an obstacle. It makes it very hard to know when to praise and when to say 'no'. One of the many lovely things about this walk is that I really got to tell just how amazing she is going to be for me once we're qualified. I would never have walked in the dark like I did tonight without her and with this being our very first night walk there are bound to be improvements as I start to learn how to feel for her mannerisms.

Day 8 of GDT

What a lovely weekend I ended up having! Day 7, Sunday, was so nice and relaxing! The only drawbacks came with the clocks changing meaning we lost an hour so my planned lie in turned out to be just at a normal wakeup time with there being a different clock time. Then for lunch for the first time since I've been here I fancied nothing on the menu so Paul and I had sandwiches. Things were made up to us though by giving us the option of a roast for dinner which we both thoroughly enjoyed.

The visit for coffee went very well with Maz and Gab. All parties behaved which includes both Odene and people! Paul was great company throughout the day and we shared lots of stories of things that the dogs had been up to already. Paul and Zeus look really good together, I'm hoping it's the same for me and Odene! Nikki came back after spending the weekend at home and met up with Rita again. It's her birthday today so we headed down the pup for a drink once training was finished.

For the training today I went out first for a harness walk around North Watford's main street. We got to stop off at a cafe where Kelly went through my PDP, Personal Development Plan. It was good to hear lots of positive things where objectives have been met along with some new ones to complete by the end of this week. Odene was well behaved as usual both in harness and at the cafe. We started again to get Odene to show me an incorrect right shoulder work but it was as if Odene knew we were testing her and she always led me away from all the things that she should. Even Kelly used herself as a human shield for us to bump into but Odene got wise to that and steered me round!

Straight after lunch we did some obedience with everyone taking part, I'm going to try not to gloat here but Odene was a real star! All the dogs did really well though and for us only after 1 week with the dogs to have to exercise the level of control that we did was actually very impressive.

This afternoon went brilliantly with Kelly taking me on my first bus trip with Odene. It was very exciting and we went on my usual bus that takes me to my St Albans office so we're already getting Odene started on my familiar routes. The weather held out although it's due to change soon! I experienced for the first time a stranger asking the normal questions of 'How old is she?' lucky that Kelly was with me as I could hardly hear the guy on the bus! So for all of you who feel the need to know - she is currently 19 months old! ;-)

I then this evening had my rents over for dinner for their first official visit and like with Maz and Gab's visit it too went very well! We chose to eat away from the hotel for the first time and went to the pub nearby leaving Odene back in the hotel room with us returning for a 2nd coffee after.

It's been a truly lovely day, Kelly and trainer Mike are making training so much fun and I feel like I'm progressing really well now - I've obviously still have got tons to learn of course and I can't wait! Tomorrow evening I get to do a night walk and I honestly never thought I'd say this but, roll on the darkness!

Day 6 of GDT

I've got Odene playing with a ball with one smallish hole right now slowly letting out some of her evening food everytime she rolls it correctly. She could be kept entertained for hours!

It was a shorter day for us today. We did our free run which Odene enjoyed big time and I must admit that I must have had a big grin just watching her! She wears a different collar for her free run that has 2 loud bells on which means I can hear where she is even if I can't always see her! The bells are loud enough that even though I'm hearing impaired I can still hear them.

We started with obedience by the park which was incredibly hard for Odene knowing that she had the park right next to her and was about to be let off the lead. I made her aware that I had some treats on me with a recall exercise whilst she was still on the lead. She did well though and eventually we did let her off. I'm not meant to recall her early into the actual walk as she was such a bundle of energy that she probably wouldn't come back to me. So about 5 minutes in I did my first recall, I was a bit of fingers and thumbs to be honest. You have to have your whistle out, lead and collar and some treats ready to give her on her return. Odene had no problems though, she returned promptly for the treats, allowed herself to be put on lead again and I heeled her for a little while before letting her off. Then I can let her off again with the recall exercise happening every now and then.

Practicing recall is good for obedience but also stops the fear of meaning that when she comes back to me we go home. The lead get's put on each time she gets recalled and it keeps her guessing when might be the last run.

Tons of fun and I'm looking forward to the time that I'm allowed to introduce her to Inca my parents dog and Bella my best friend's dog. It's so different to a normal walk in some ways and the same in others but it will be interesting for both Bella and Inca to see what Odene has to do!

After we came back we had a talk to an experienced Guide Dog owner, Jean with Bundle a black labrador cross golden retriever. She had some helpful hints and actually suggested that it may be an idea to learn braille which might be a good idea bearing in mind my eyesight condition will end up with blindness. Perhaps I'll look into it after I've finished my evening college class.

A wait till dinner now for which I will be joining just Paul as Nikki has gone home for the weekend as she had some work commitments that couldn't be avoided. After that Mike is coming to stay over and will join Paul and I for breakfast. Kelly and trainer Mike get Sunday's off for a well deserved break!

Prob's won't post tomorrow as there is no training but start back up again on Monday! I'll get a bit of a sleep in as breakfast is at 9am instead of 8am. After lunch best friend Maz and her hubby Gab will be visiting for a coffee and for their first meet of Odene!

Day 5 of GDT

I can't quite believe it's Friday already, the week is going so fast! I've been so lucky with the weather with all the walks only needing me to wear short sleeve tops. Might all change next week and I do have some waterproof trousers and jacket with me just in case. The only downside with all this sun is the glare of it. RP causes you to go blind with glare just as badly as being in the dark does, can't win can I really?! But it has meant that I've been experiencing the harness walks with very low vision which means I've been able to concentrate more on how Odene moves which is what I should be learning for the times I do actually need her to guide me in the dark/dim and glare'y times.

Kelly's trick with the use of some of Odene's feed worked like a treat (pun intended) when putting the harness on this morning. I allowed a bit more time just in case but then was early meeting Kelly for our morning walk. It went brilliantly today, I'm getting firmer when I need to be and apparently now becoming more balanced with my praise and commands. Kelly has changed the metal harness for a slightly longer one which has made a really nice difference. I'm not feeling like I need to catch up with Odene and I can just walk comfortably next to her side.

I was told ahead of time that tomorrow we get to do our first 'free run', this is where we can let the dog off lead in an enclosed area and let them release all their steam. There are lot's of recalls to be done throughout but I think we'll be given a talk about the do's and don't of that particular exercise. We are also being visited by a lady called Jean who is a very experienced Guide Dog owner so I'm trying to think of some questions to ask ready for it... any ideas?

Feeling more awake today, Odene woke me up early with lots of licking but I actually feel nice and refreshed so it must have been a better night's sleep, although seeing Mike last night might have helped too of course :-)

A 'right shoulder work' talk was given after our harness walk ready for the afternoon's one. We were taken to a busier place than where we've been previously to experience the right shoulder work in action. This translates to Odene's outer perimetre of what she will avoid hitting when out walking. Ideally as a Guide Dog she is meant to not only leave enough room just for herself to fit through a gap but a big enough room for me on the right of her to fit through too. As you can imagine, this is skilled work and the dogs are trained to scan the area ahead for things to avoid that are on the right shoulder of the person. This could be bollards, lamp posts, bins (imagine how hard this is on bin day) and of course moving objects like people who are incredibly unpredictable. Some people will jump out of the way as soon as they see a Guide Dog, others who are looking down texting on their phone might just keep on walking straight towards you. Guide Dogs are so very clever to have to avoid and deal with all this! Of course they won't get it right all the time and we may get the occasional brush on the shoulder.

So this afternoon's walk was another great walk, I think and Kelly agrees, that it's been a very long week and the dogs are a bit tired. She did however do very well, I didn't need to once correct her for not doing right shoulder work. She reacted well to posts, bins and even a young child running past. Even though she is a bit body sensitive, she isn't afraid to pull me to one side to avoid something that could hit either one of us which is something that couldn't be improved on no matter how experienced she gets. Towards the end of the walk she never stopped working but just slowed down a little and started to not follow the 'straight line principal' at curbs. Instead she would be a bit cheeky and just try to take me straight round the corner. I just give a short firm 'No' followed by a 'Straight to the curb' to which she then quickly takes me to the curb looking a bit sheepish.

For now I look forward to tomorrow where there will be no actual harness work for Odene and instead will get to enjoy a free run. It will still be work for me as it will be my first, I'm not altogether too sure on how confident I am at how much she'll want to come back when recalled after being let loose in a park!

Day 4 of Guide Dog Training

For our first harness walk today we went to the same area as yesterday and for one of the road crossings a van was parked on the corner completely on the pavement (which I've learnt is actually illegal) and Odene navigated round it like a pro. Apparently this is level 3 Guide Dog work so I was very proud and she got tons of fussing afterwards. She had to go into the actual road to navigate round and normally she would be told off for going so far into the road but in cases like cars being in the way Odene is allowed to go into the road briefly if she feels that it's safe to do so. I was well impressed!

I'm more tired today, not sure if it's a combination of lack of sleep or just so much mental energy being used up trying to remember everything. I've got hubby Mike coming over this evening which will be nice. Normally visitors are not allowed to come and see you till the Sunday but as Odene has already met Mike the trainers suggested that he could come and visit a bit sooner. I was given lots of do's and don'ts for visitors with firm instructions on what Odene should do, what I should do and what visitors should do. So if you are one of the few visiting me - be warned! :-)

The second harness walk went well as well, a different area with more distractions. We passed a park and I noticed the difference in behavior almost immediately! So many dogs running free with so many smells! Apparently there has been improvement in my firm 'no' but it's still not quite growly enough! The thought is that if you say one short firm 'no' and the bad behavior stops it's tons better than having to say it loads of times with you being unable to move forward for longer. Saves on repetition and the dog tuning out.

Had my first problem today with putting the harness on this afternoon. As previously mentioned she is very body sensitive and doesn't really like the harness going on. Even the treats weren't getting us anywhere which for a labrador is really quite amazing. I was patient however and eventually she let me put it on for which she got tons of praise. As soon as she realised we were off walkies she promptly forgot about the harness, tis so funny! As a result of the extra time it took to put the harness on however I was a little bit late meeting Kelly and Nicky. Kelly though was really pleased that I didn't rush the process and would rather me be late than make putting on the harness a bad experience.

After the walk Kelly came back to my room and I showed her what Odene was like earlier, luckily in some ways she performed the same way, walking away, looking back, sniffing the food but backing off when the harness was a bit too close. Kelly had some pretty good suggestions and we've come to the conclusion that the treats maybe aren't a tasty enough encouragement for her. The treats are one's that Odene has never had previously so it may well be the case that the treat just isn't tempting enough. Kelly tried the process again with some of Odene's evening feed which she definitely prefers and suddenly we had no problems. We're to try that next time but if that starts not working we may try something else as we don't want it to become that Odene is just being cheeky and realising that the worse she is at the process the better the treat becomes!

The veterinary talk went well and answered a few questions on who I should get in touch with in the event of any concerns or emergencies. We also today had a talk on the 'straight line principal' which is a case of basically being that we are the navigator as humans and the dog is the pilot. We keep a plot of where we need to head and give the commands, left, right etc and the dog will just keep going straight unless told otherwise, stop at curbs and avoid obstacles.

Hope you enjoy the new tweets from Odene, thought it would make a nice addition! Thinking straight to bed once Mike goes back home this evening, feeling knackered, didn't even ask what the plan was tomorrow!

Day 3 of Guide Dog Training

It was all about harness work today. I've done a walk in harness twice today, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. Odene again was excellent, I must just point out how lucky I'm being to have such a fantastic partnership so early into training. Improvements must be made by me of course, I'm apparently too nice and need to get a little bit more firmer with my 'No's!'. Again it's all to do with the intonation of my voice, it's apparently really common for women to need to be more harsh and men will need to soften their voice during praising.

Before taking out Odene I've been doing the harness walk with just Kelly. She holds the harness as if she is the dog (no she doesn't get down on all fours!) and will lead me as if she was Odene. I've been doing this from my very first visit from Guide Dogs. Lynn was first who told me all about the process of getting a Guide Dog and part of the decision of whether I was going to be interested in having a dog is taken by how well I can be lead around. There are probably more reasons for the number of 'walks without a dog' but I'm no trainer! Lynn also was great in showing me how to use the long cane with a ball on the end which I was able to use for the couple of months before I met Julie, a Guide Dog trainer who again took me out and it was with her that the decision was made for me to be put on the waiting list!

On the matching visit I then met Odene, Kelly and Mike who took me on another harness walk first of all without Odene and then one with. The biggest surprise after doing so many harness walks without the dog was the jiggle. Dogs jiggle as they walk and this movement carries all the way up the harness and no human could accurately convey this. It made it a little bit harder noticing which way Odene was pulling me but on the whole it went well or at least I believe it did as Kelly and Mike were both really complimentary which I must say made me feel really rather 'oh yeah!'.

There actually is tons more to the story of the process of being put on the waiting list but as I'm already out on training I'll return back to that story once I'm qualified and I'm doing the same things regularly.

Today was the 2nd time in harness with Odene so it was a lot of putting theory into practice and on the whole I think it went really well. Not too many distractions were to be had luckily and the movement felt really natural. Mike joined us for the 2nd harness walk today to watch and again the advice was the same, I've gotta be a bit meaner with my 'No's' but on the whole it appears to be going really well.

One other thing I got to learn today is how to groom her. Now I've groomed dogs before of course but it's not a lot like what I've done before. There are 3 items to use, a 'zoom groom', a comb and a shammy (the leather cloth you would use to buff your car after a wash'. Mike (hubby Mike) asked a joking question when I told him about the shammy, 'Have you got to use wax as well?!' and I must say that there really is a lot too the grooming malarkey but no wax luckily! I've got to check her all over first, starting with the eyes, ears, mouth then body, legs and paws. Then it's running fingers backwards through her fur followed by the zoom groom. I couldn't believe how much dead fur came off onto the floor but I guess it has been quite a few days since she's been with me now without a groom and it's meant to be done once a day. Then it's the comb which takes of the last of the dead hair, with the last thing being the slightly damp shammy. This is great, you get to start with the face as you can't groom that with any of the brushes and then take it down the rest of her body. As she is a black lab this made her super shiny. She loved the whole process and was positively crooning with all the fuss!

Next today is another talk, we get quite a few of these dotted throughout the day but they have all been really useful and both Kelly and Mike explain everything ever so clearly with examples to back instructions up. Tomorrow I get to meet Morven who is the Guide Dog's Care and Welfare Advisor who will go into a lot more detail about veterinary bits.

Having tons of fun but boy it's not a holiday for all those thinking it's a great break for me!

Odene enjoying her 'Nylabone'

Day 2 of Guide Dog Training

A slower day today although my head is still buzzing with information and commands to remember. It's funny as it's not just commands really, it's remembering the intonation of your voice, timings, footwork and even arm work! All this to remember and it's only for heelwork, the harness work with Odene hasn't been introduced to me yet and with that I get even more commands to learn. For which I believe work with the harness starts tomorrow.

I'm now allowed to wonder the corridors by myself with Odene which is pretty cool. The trainers are busier with Nicky and Paul today as they got to meet their dogs for the second time today. I briefly saw Paul with Zeus and he is a gorgeous long haired german shepherd. I at first thought he was a bit skinny but then realised I'm comparing him to Inca my parents long haired german shepherd who is defs more on the larger size bordering on fat at the mo! I have the odd half hour with Kelly and we've done more heelwork outside the hotel along with some obedience. Things like getting Odene to stay put whilst I walk away or around her.

As everything is going so very well I've been warned that it may well be a case of being a honeymoon period. Odene may start getting cheeky and seeing what she can get away with doing or I may get complacent. As with training for all types of dogs it's repetition and consistency so I can't get too relaxed and start falling into bad habits. Fingers crossed however that it is just a case of us being a match made in heaven!

I've been shown today how to put the actual guiding harness on Odene. She is really body sensitive which is unusual in Guide Dogs as they all have to be used to wearing a harness, in Odene's case she doesn't really like it and I need to make extra time to get her into it. Normally treats wouldn't be used apart from for the 'recall' command but in Odene's case I'm to encourage her to put her head through the harness with treats being the reward. Once it's on she looks a little unhappy bless her so to get her tail wagging again I give her another treat and tons of praise to get her to forget that she is wearing it. Once on for a while she does forget all about it with no more problems.

Gotta say that the food here is delish, I kinda thought I'd get to loose some weight with all the walking but instead it's probably a case of putting it on! I really must compliment the hotel on it's choice of foods and quality especially with the deserts, my biggest weakness... Good choice Guide Dogs choosing this as a location for training!

Day 1 of Guide Dog Training

It's been too long since my last post but I won't dwell on that as I've got far too much to talk about!

Since my last post I was put onto a Guide Dog waiting list and within 2 weeks of being put onto the waiting list (I'm incredibly lucky to wait only this length of time) I received a call about meeting Odene, a beautiful black labrador bitch. Our matching visit went really well and we did a short handled walk with the harness to which went better than even the trainers expected.

Once the decision had been made for me to be matched with Odene I had 3 weeks to make arrangements with work to have 4 weeks off! 2 weeks located at a training hotel and 2 weeks at home doing familiar routes. Had a bit of trouble arranging the time off as working for the NHS meant that policies had to be drawn up and staff had to be made aware of the new doggy member of staff joining us in case anyone had any allergies.

Today though is the first day of training at the hotel. I'm at the Hunton Park De Vere Hotel very close to where I live luckily. Normally I would only get to meet Odene for the second time tomorrow but due to Odene's borders being away this weekend it was offered to me that I have her over the weekend prior to training. I of course was delighted to have her so I met her again once before the weekend to run through the house rules and lead work.

The weekend was a real success, Odene settled in really well and gave us a chance to bond before official training started. The only hiccups were regarding Jammy and Jinx, our cats. Didn't really see much of them this weekend as they spent most of their time on top of one of our cupboards!

So I'm now at the hotel, as I say I've got Odene with me now even though normally I would have to wait till Day 2. We've already done some heel work, which I must just say she performed brilliantly well at, the only problems were with me forgetting what commands to say or saying the wrong ones! Kelly, my truly awesome trainer, has been brilliant along with Mike, another trainer who is also training me and the other 2 recipients of Guide Dogs. The 2 other people training with dogs during my time here are Nikki with Rita, a black labrador cross golden retriever and Paul with Zeus, a german shepherd. They both seem like really nice people although their eyesight is currently a lot worse than mine. Nicky seems fiercely independent and has had Guide Dogs before. Paul has only recently gone blind and like me is getting a Guide Dog for the first time.

There are loads more updates to give but I'll leave them for other posts! For now take a look at the picture of Odene!

Cute or what?!