Day two of guide work

Hi Everyone!
Today was another amazing day here in San Rafael, and I know that I'm in the midst of one of those transformative, life-changing experiences that you never forget. I just hope that I am appreciating everything that's going on here and getting all that I can out of these three weeks.
I'll start with the guide work portion of this day. Today, Jim and I did two routs in downtown San Rafael. He did very well both times, though he tended to veer off to the left, so we worked on correcting that this afternoon. Basically, we walked a few blocks at a time with an instructor and learned what we were doing correctly and where we were making errors. Over all, Jim and I are doing great; I have to work on reading his signals, and he has to work on approaching things like curbs and not hesitating a step before he needs to stop and indicate them to me. All of these skills will come with time, and practice on both of our parts, and I feel great about the way things are going for us as a working team.
After our morning rout, and before lunch, I had a wonderful surprise, I learned that Angie, who trained Yahzee and I for Fidelco is now working here at GDB as an instructor. She came to see me while I was on the floor with Jim just petting and rubbing him. She and I talked about so much, about how we thought that GDB was a better environment for me to learn in, about how the lab was a great choice for my nees, and about how Yahzee was doing with my parents. She told me that she loved the in-home community training Fidelco provides, but that she felt that shepherds just weren't the right dogs for some people, and i was one of the people who would do really well with a mellow, yet inteligent lab like Jim, who is serious about his work, but can also play. He's got an off-switch, but when he plays he plays hard. Angie and I spoke about Yahzee's dog encounter with Ivor back in 2006, and both agreed that was probably the beginning of the end in terms of her leash behavior around other dogs, because after those episodes with Ivor and his handler, I was tense when dealing with Yahzee around other dogs because I didn't know how she would react. We don't know if this was the full cause of her leash behavior, but it certainly didn't help things. Sorry, I know most of you don't have a clue what this is referencing, but if you ask me when I get home and am not content but exhausted, I will explain; it's a long story, and I don't have the time or energy to write it here. I also spoke to Angie about Yahzee's irritable bowel issues, and we both agreed that I did the right thing by retiring her.
After Angie's visit, it was time to go downtown for our afternoon rout. Jim worked well when we had to cross a series of parking lots which required him to find his line and not veer to the left, like he had done in the morning. He did much better this afternoon, and I did a better job of being able to read him. My instructor said that we did well and looked like a great team together. I just felt so happy when she said that, it affirms my belief that this bond between Jim and I is becoming more solid with every day, and that we will be a great working team when we get home.
When we got back to school, we were given three toys to use when we played with our dogs. We got a tug toy, a plastic bone, and a kong, which is a sort of round rubber thing that dogs love to fetch. Jim loves all three of his toys, even the plastic bone, which no other dog of mine has ever liked. I let him off leash in my room to play with his kong and he enjoyed bringing it back to me. We played several great games of tug and he talked to me during these, which was so cute! I haven't heard any kind of vocalization from him before, so I didn't know what his voice sounded like. I have never heard him bark, though several dogs in our class have barked at various times. It was great to see him play. he wagged his tail and rolled around and was generally adorable as only a lab can be.
When we were finished playing, we fed and relieved our dogs, and went to dinner ourselves.
After dinner, I listened to tomorrow's lecture on CD with a classmate, and after that, several classmates, one of the training specialists, and I went out by the graduation stage on the grass and just sat and talked. Jim and I sprawled out on the grass and I put my head on him like a pillow. He loved every minute of it, and so did I. This was something Yahzee would never have enjoyed, but this big guy couldn't get enough of it. We had some really great conversation tonight about why we all had guide dogs, and I really benefited from just listening to my classmates experiences. I'm the only one here who has been blind since birth; all of the other people in this class have had pretty serious medical conditions, I won't go into detail here to respect privacy, but listening to them made me realize how lucky I am in many areas of my life even including my health. It was just a really valuable experience for me, and made me think about how great my life truly is. Even when I had some rough spots, I knew that my friends and family would support me and that things would come together for me in theend. Now, they finally are, and as we all share our life experiences with one another and go on this guide dog adventure together, I know that I will continue to enjoy and learn from my interactions with both classmates and staff here.
When we were a bit chilly, we all came back inside, and I had an opportunity to talk at great length with Stacy, our training class specialist, who is also blind, and who has been since birth like me. She is on her fourth guide dog, and it was just wonderful to have an opportunity to talk with someone about Yahzee's retirement who understood and who has been there like I have. We discussed my feelings of guilt about retiring Yahzee, how I had done the right thing, and how I shouldn't fel bad about focusing all my time and energy in bonding with Jim because I realized today that I don't miss Yahzee as much as I thought I would. I think a lot of this has to do with the fact that I know how incredibly happy and wonderfully looked after she is by my parents, and a lot has to do with the fact that I have really clicked with Jim in these few days in a way that I didn't with my previous two guides. When I first got Stoney, I was young and inexperienced and didn't really know very much. When I got Yahzee, I loved her very much, still do, but she had a lot of dog issues and I was worried about how things would work out. Looking back, I think those issues had an impact on my confidence, which in turn impacted her confidence in me. We worked through them, mostly, and she turned into a wonderful and smart worker, but I'm not sure she really ever loved it like this guy does. My instructor said to me today, "Jim loves to work. He's so focused on working that he ignores dog distractions and veers to avoid temptations. He's born to do this job and is just a great match for you." I can see that focus in him as wel. When he's on his harness he's all business and ignores things like children and dogs, but when he's off he's always up for saying hi. An important note to those of you at home who will meet him! Please DO NOT pet him when he is in harness. I know I was lax about this with Yahzee, but this time around, I'm going to inforce this rule pretty strictly, because I want him to keep his focus and not be distracted by people asking for his attention when the harness is on and he's on duty. Also, please DO NOT feed him or give him treats. GDB has a strict food reward system, which I will explain in more detail at a later date, but it's important that I stick to this system and that I am the only one to offer him food and rewards while we are bonding. I need him to count on me for everything to make our bond stronger. Also, when he's off harness, please wait until I say it's OK for you to pet him. He needs to be calm and listening to me before you can interact with him. This will help reduce some of the excitable behaviors Yahzee exhibited, and it's very important that I abide by these rules. My instructor told me that if we all follow these rules, we should avoid some of Yahzee's jumping patterns, etc.
I'll write a list of rules that I'd like you to follow when I get closer to coming home, but I just wanted to write this now, even though I totally wasn't intending to. I'm not setting these rules to be mean, I want you to interact with and get to know my dog, but it needs to be on my terms in order for us to be the best team we can possibly be! Thank you so much in advance for your understanding and cooperation!
Well, my day has come to an end, and I'm sitting outside on my patio with Jim writing this post. I think that so much of the calm I'm finding here comes from the beauty and peace of this place. It's so quiet out here, no traffic, no one talking, lots of grassy areas, and a patio right outside my door where I can come to groom my dog, or just sit and relax with a glass of lemonaid at the end of the day, like I'm doing now. I also think that this wonderful setting and environment really is contributing to my bonding with Jim. I know that after three schools, I've truly found the right place for me, and I'll certainly be coming back here for my next guide in about eight years or so. The staff are amazing, my classmates are great, and all of this freedom to be outside any time is awesome. It's interesting that not a lot of people use their patios as much as I do. I'm out hre a lot of the time on my laptop or iPhone, or playing with my dog. I think we both love it out here, though we should probably go in soon and head to bed.
I talked to Mom tonight, though I didn't get to skype with her which I missed, but hopefully we'll get to do that tomorrow evening.
Sorry for the lengthy post! I hope everyone is doing well! Tomorrow, we learn how to work in buildings, so I'll let you all know how that goes and what other experiences tomorrow holds!