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.