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!