Today marked day 11 of training. Jim and I went to Berkeley, worked around the UC Berkeley campus, and went on a very long route in Downtown San Rafael. I think that today was his best day yet; I noticed a lot of improvement in his sniffing and distraction level. He responded to corrections well, and did not need his gentle leader at all today. When we were on campus he did a great job of finding his line and working through paths.
In the afternoon, he worked through a Wholefoods, and a Petco with a lot of success. He followed my instructor beautifuly in the petstore, and did very well in the grocery store when he was surrounded by a great deal of bread and bagles. Again, I was proud of him! We walked all the way back from the east end of San Rafael, under the 101, and worked our way back to the Downtown Lounge, which is on fourth street between F and E. I got him a toy in the petstore, it's a bone with a rope on the end, and he seems to love playing with it. It was his first present from me, and I feel like he deserves it because he's been working very hard for me over the past two weeks. I will have to work him to the petstore at home, to keep his distraction skills up to date.
When we got back, I hung out with some friends, went to an Applebees for dinner, and took it easy for the rest of the evening. I can't believe that I graduate on Saturday afternoon. Just, how'd that happen? It seemed like such a long time, and now my three weeks is winding down. It will be nice to get home, but as I've said before I will miss the Bay Area a great deal, and am already trying to figure out when I might be able to get back here to visit friends.
Well, I think that's about all I've got. Tomorrow we go to the airport and see how that works before we fly home, not sure what's going on for the rest of the day.
I hope everyone's doing well! Thanks for reading, as always!
Showing posts with label San Francisco. Show all posts
Showing posts with label San Francisco. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Monday, June 14, 2010
Training, day 10
I can't believe I've been here for two weeks, and that this marks day ten of training. Today, we went into San Francisco and worked around the Embarcadero neighborhood. Jim did great when we rode the BART from Montgomery street to Embarcadero and he seemed to like the escalators. We also practiced revolving doors in a large office building on California street, and for some reason, this got my boy really excited. He was galoping in harness and it was very funny, but I had to take a second in the lobby to calm him down before we worked out to the next set of revolving doors where he did better. We also got "fun facts" about our dogs when they were puppies today. Apparently, Jim lived with a cat, which is awesome because it means he should be good with cats. He slept in a crate in the bedroom, and enjoyed going to visit his raisers mother at a retirement community. His raiser said that he has a lot of enthusiasm and energy, and that sometimes he needs a little help with his excitement level, but that he is quickly able to get himself back under control once you calm him down. She is absolutely correct! He is such a great dog, and his silly side is part of what makes him so much fun, though he, does, indeed, need a bit of help calming down at times.
After we went to the city we had meetings with our instructors about going home. We talked about introducing Jim to my parents dogs, as well as friends and family. Basically, as long as he's off harness and under control, you can pet him.
I also found out today, that my official first day of work is next Wednesday, the day before the iPhone launch. Nothing like baptism by fire, right? I am so excited to start my job, it's what I'm looking forward to most when I get home.
We ended our day with a night route. Jim did well on this route where we went from the buss to the downtown lounge. He seems to love night work and he got very excited in harness again, so I used the gentle leader which calmed him down a great deal. I might use this at first while I'm at work; it just mellows him out and makes him easier to control when he sees dogs and children, two of his major distractions.
That, in a nutshell, was my day. Tomorrow we go to Berkeley, where we'll do some more city work as well as some work on a college campus, I think. Not sure what else is on the cards for tomorrow, but I'd better go get some sleep, so I'm ready for it!
After we went to the city we had meetings with our instructors about going home. We talked about introducing Jim to my parents dogs, as well as friends and family. Basically, as long as he's off harness and under control, you can pet him.
I also found out today, that my official first day of work is next Wednesday, the day before the iPhone launch. Nothing like baptism by fire, right? I am so excited to start my job, it's what I'm looking forward to most when I get home.
We ended our day with a night route. Jim did well on this route where we went from the buss to the downtown lounge. He seems to love night work and he got very excited in harness again, so I used the gentle leader which calmed him down a great deal. I might use this at first while I'm at work; it just mellows him out and makes him easier to control when he sees dogs and children, two of his major distractions.
That, in a nutshell, was my day. Tomorrow we go to Berkeley, where we'll do some more city work as well as some work on a college campus, I think. Not sure what else is on the cards for tomorrow, but I'd better go get some sleep, so I'm ready for it!
Friday, June 11, 2010
Hello from Union Square!
Hi Everyone,
I'm sitting outside in the sun on public wireless in Union Square in San Francisco writing this entry on my macbook. Jim and I just finished a route downtown and he did great. His major issue was sniffing, and I think that's something we're going to have to work on as a team, but over all, I was really impressed with his work. We worked on a BART platform, and he did everything I asked of him. He was good at sticking close to the center and never went near the edge, despite my prompts for him to do so. He was praised and given kible for doing so well!
We also did some practice inside stores and he was great at working through the aisles. Again, I was very proud of him.
I know I've said this before, but I just love San Francisco so much! It's a very vibrant place, with a lot going on, but it's also got this calm quality to it that you just don't see on the east coast. People are friendly, people don't yell every time you fail to "Stand right, walk left" on an escalator, and they don't act like you holding them up for an extra 30 seconds is the end of the world. At the same time, there's plenty of culture here, and it's just an all around great place to be! My lungs love this climate, as well. I haven't had a single asthma twitch since I've been here, which is truly amazing! I don't remember how long it's been since I went ten days with out an inhailer or nebulizer untilnow. Jim loves it here, too, once he gets into the city he trots and prances, and it's so cute!
It was funny today, because he ran me into a person, I corrected him, and asked the guy, "Do you mind if I rework my dog?" He was all like, "Sure, of course go right ahead," so he stood there and I worked Jim back around him and Jim was a lot less distracted. The guy laughed and asked my instructor and I how things worked, so we explained and he was impressed. It was a nice incounter, and we all enjoyed it. My instructor and I both excercised amazing self control, we love Lush and we managed to walk by the one in Union Square with out going inside! We were so proud of ourselves! :)
Well, I must go, my classmates are back, and I think we're almost ready to load up. I hope everyone's doing well, and thanks for reading!
I'm sitting outside in the sun on public wireless in Union Square in San Francisco writing this entry on my macbook. Jim and I just finished a route downtown and he did great. His major issue was sniffing, and I think that's something we're going to have to work on as a team, but over all, I was really impressed with his work. We worked on a BART platform, and he did everything I asked of him. He was good at sticking close to the center and never went near the edge, despite my prompts for him to do so. He was praised and given kible for doing so well!
We also did some practice inside stores and he was great at working through the aisles. Again, I was very proud of him.
I know I've said this before, but I just love San Francisco so much! It's a very vibrant place, with a lot going on, but it's also got this calm quality to it that you just don't see on the east coast. People are friendly, people don't yell every time you fail to "Stand right, walk left" on an escalator, and they don't act like you holding them up for an extra 30 seconds is the end of the world. At the same time, there's plenty of culture here, and it's just an all around great place to be! My lungs love this climate, as well. I haven't had a single asthma twitch since I've been here, which is truly amazing! I don't remember how long it's been since I went ten days with out an inhailer or nebulizer untilnow. Jim loves it here, too, once he gets into the city he trots and prances, and it's so cute!
It was funny today, because he ran me into a person, I corrected him, and asked the guy, "Do you mind if I rework my dog?" He was all like, "Sure, of course go right ahead," so he stood there and I worked Jim back around him and Jim was a lot less distracted. The guy laughed and asked my instructor and I how things worked, so we explained and he was impressed. It was a nice incounter, and we all enjoyed it. My instructor and I both excercised amazing self control, we love Lush and we managed to walk by the one in Union Square with out going inside! We were so proud of ourselves! :)
Well, I must go, my classmates are back, and I think we're almost ready to load up. I hope everyone's doing well, and thanks for reading!
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Training,day eight
I can't believe that Jim and I are already on day eight of our training, and a little more than half way through class. This time in ten days, we will be home together, I think we will be ready to take on the world as a team, and I am excited, though I will miss this place, and the friendships I have made here.
Today was very good over all. This morning, we went into San Francisco, and worked on Chestnut street. We crossed a large street, went to an Apple store, and took a city bus. Jim did great until we encountered a pet dog on a leash in the Apple store. He got completely dog distracted, and I had to do some obedience to get him back under control. Apparently, we let pets into our stores, I didn't know this, but I asked someone who said that as long as they are well behaved, they can be in the store. If they cause a problem for anyone, including my guide dog, we ask them to leave. So, that should be interesting when we get home. I will need to work with him on his dog distractions, but his trainer says he responds well to the gentle leader, and it should be easily fixed. We also discusssed keeping him in a crate in the office sometimes, so thathe has somewhere to take a breather if things get crazy. I will have to figure out all of the logistics when I get home, but I feel that it's all workable, and not a huge cause for concern. I just hope that we don't see to many pets, and that Jim doesn't missbehave when I'm with a customer. For a moment, I had horrible images of me saying something like, "let me tell you about our macbooks," my dog seeing a dog, and me having to completely stop in my tracks and get him back under control, but I don't hink it will happen to much, and if it does, I hope people will understand that we're just fresh out of training and still bonding and learning. I kind of wish we didn't just let pets walk in off the street, but there's not muc I can do about that, and I know that my rteam will give me a heads-up that a dog is around and if I know in advance, I can get things under control. Apart from that, he did really well in the city. Once the dog was out of the way, he seemed to like the Apple store and did a great job at navigating through the crowded aisles and displays. I'm not to worried, I think he should take well to his new environment.
When we were finished at the Apple store, we took a bus which he had no issues with. We ended up at a coffee shop and I had a latte with some classmates and relaxed for a bit.
After lunch, we did our first real indipendent route, called a bus to lounge. Basically, the instructors drop us off a few blocks away from the lounge we work out of when we're in downtown San Rafael, tell us how to get back to it, and designate someone to be the time keeper to make sure that people are spaced out every three minutes. People leave the spot every three minutes and begin working their way back to the lounge indipendently. There are instructors on street corners who step in if something goes really wrong, but the idea is to work the route by yourself. I was the time keeper, so I had my iPhone and made sure that people left every three minutes. I gave everyone a one minute warning, and made sure that people left when they were supposed to. I left last, and so was the last to make it to the lounge, but Jim and I nailed the route! Instructors didn't have to step in once with me. I made nice use of my iPhone's GPS features to check that I was going in the correct direction, and my instructors said that I'd made good use of the resources available to me. My classmates joked around with me and said I was cheating because I'd used a GPS system, they asked me where they could get one and I said, "well, for 199 dollars you can GPS it, too." One asked how he could swipe his credit card, I joked that I'd left the machine at home, and everyone laughed.
After that, we headed back to campus. I took Jim to run in a fenced in grassy area which he loved, talked to my friend, Rebecca on the phone until dinner, and after dinner went to a tribute for retrains run by our class training specialist. The tribute gave us all an opportunity to remember our previus guides, and many funny stories were told. Everyone cried at one point or another, for me, I cried when I talked about my Stoney, how he died, and how much we still miss him. I told the story about how he got the Apple pie of my Mom's counter, and about this time when he tried to bring a couch to show my Mom and her friend when my Mom came to get him.
The best story came from my friend Garry, I asked him, and he said it's OK to share it here. Garry had his first guide, a male yellow lab named Langer, and he was considering dating a woman, though he wasn't really sure about her. The two of them were hanging out at his apartment in Baltimore one day, and Langer was in front of them. Apparently, Langer didn't like the woman much, and he showed his displeasure by peang right in front of her feet, even though Garry had taken him out a few minutes before. Obviously, that relationship didn't last, and Garry decided he didn't like her anyways. Apparently, Langer aproved of Garry's wife, because he lickd her toes under the table the first time they met. That was a light moment in a pretty solumn hour long tribute session, but I'm really glad that we all got the chance to honor our previous guides. Both of mine really deserve it!
After the tribute, I hung out with my classmates Garry and Rebecca and we shared some laughs in the computer room. Rebecca was frustrated that she couldn't get the computers to load her gmail correctly, I tried to help, but had no success (I was reminded why I only use macs when I went through the frustration of trying to get a windows screen reader to do what I needed it to) so Rebecca is going to have her first macbook lesson tmorrow night, because she really neeeds to write an email and can't sign into her account on these computers. I hope I'm able to teach her a little, it will be a challenge with only one laptop, but I'm sure we'll figure it out.
Today, I also found out that Jim was raised in Palo Alto, which is pretty cool because I have friends there. I don't know anything else about his puppy raisers, but I guess I will find out more in the coming week. I was amazed how far away some of the puppy raisers are, one dog in our class comes from Washington State, I think Jim was one of the closest ones to the school in Palo Alto, the rest come from around Sacramento and the central Valley of California, I think. It's really great that there are so many dedicated volunteers who are willing to take these puppies in for a year, they have so much to do with shaping these creatures into the wonderful dogs they are, and I am just so greatful to all of my puppy raisers for the dedication and love they've shown to my guides! Thank you, guys!
Tomorrow, we go into San Francisco again. I am not sure what else is on the schedule, but what ever it is, I need to go to bed so that I can wake up feeling rested and ready to take it on!
As always, thanks for reading!
Today was very good over all. This morning, we went into San Francisco, and worked on Chestnut street. We crossed a large street, went to an Apple store, and took a city bus. Jim did great until we encountered a pet dog on a leash in the Apple store. He got completely dog distracted, and I had to do some obedience to get him back under control. Apparently, we let pets into our stores, I didn't know this, but I asked someone who said that as long as they are well behaved, they can be in the store. If they cause a problem for anyone, including my guide dog, we ask them to leave. So, that should be interesting when we get home. I will need to work with him on his dog distractions, but his trainer says he responds well to the gentle leader, and it should be easily fixed. We also discusssed keeping him in a crate in the office sometimes, so thathe has somewhere to take a breather if things get crazy. I will have to figure out all of the logistics when I get home, but I feel that it's all workable, and not a huge cause for concern. I just hope that we don't see to many pets, and that Jim doesn't missbehave when I'm with a customer. For a moment, I had horrible images of me saying something like, "let me tell you about our macbooks," my dog seeing a dog, and me having to completely stop in my tracks and get him back under control, but I don't hink it will happen to much, and if it does, I hope people will understand that we're just fresh out of training and still bonding and learning. I kind of wish we didn't just let pets walk in off the street, but there's not muc I can do about that, and I know that my rteam will give me a heads-up that a dog is around and if I know in advance, I can get things under control. Apart from that, he did really well in the city. Once the dog was out of the way, he seemed to like the Apple store and did a great job at navigating through the crowded aisles and displays. I'm not to worried, I think he should take well to his new environment.
When we were finished at the Apple store, we took a bus which he had no issues with. We ended up at a coffee shop and I had a latte with some classmates and relaxed for a bit.
After lunch, we did our first real indipendent route, called a bus to lounge. Basically, the instructors drop us off a few blocks away from the lounge we work out of when we're in downtown San Rafael, tell us how to get back to it, and designate someone to be the time keeper to make sure that people are spaced out every three minutes. People leave the spot every three minutes and begin working their way back to the lounge indipendently. There are instructors on street corners who step in if something goes really wrong, but the idea is to work the route by yourself. I was the time keeper, so I had my iPhone and made sure that people left every three minutes. I gave everyone a one minute warning, and made sure that people left when they were supposed to. I left last, and so was the last to make it to the lounge, but Jim and I nailed the route! Instructors didn't have to step in once with me. I made nice use of my iPhone's GPS features to check that I was going in the correct direction, and my instructors said that I'd made good use of the resources available to me. My classmates joked around with me and said I was cheating because I'd used a GPS system, they asked me where they could get one and I said, "well, for 199 dollars you can GPS it, too." One asked how he could swipe his credit card, I joked that I'd left the machine at home, and everyone laughed.
After that, we headed back to campus. I took Jim to run in a fenced in grassy area which he loved, talked to my friend, Rebecca on the phone until dinner, and after dinner went to a tribute for retrains run by our class training specialist. The tribute gave us all an opportunity to remember our previus guides, and many funny stories were told. Everyone cried at one point or another, for me, I cried when I talked about my Stoney, how he died, and how much we still miss him. I told the story about how he got the Apple pie of my Mom's counter, and about this time when he tried to bring a couch to show my Mom and her friend when my Mom came to get him.
The best story came from my friend Garry, I asked him, and he said it's OK to share it here. Garry had his first guide, a male yellow lab named Langer, and he was considering dating a woman, though he wasn't really sure about her. The two of them were hanging out at his apartment in Baltimore one day, and Langer was in front of them. Apparently, Langer didn't like the woman much, and he showed his displeasure by peang right in front of her feet, even though Garry had taken him out a few minutes before. Obviously, that relationship didn't last, and Garry decided he didn't like her anyways. Apparently, Langer aproved of Garry's wife, because he lickd her toes under the table the first time they met. That was a light moment in a pretty solumn hour long tribute session, but I'm really glad that we all got the chance to honor our previous guides. Both of mine really deserve it!
After the tribute, I hung out with my classmates Garry and Rebecca and we shared some laughs in the computer room. Rebecca was frustrated that she couldn't get the computers to load her gmail correctly, I tried to help, but had no success (I was reminded why I only use macs when I went through the frustration of trying to get a windows screen reader to do what I needed it to) so Rebecca is going to have her first macbook lesson tmorrow night, because she really neeeds to write an email and can't sign into her account on these computers. I hope I'm able to teach her a little, it will be a challenge with only one laptop, but I'm sure we'll figure it out.
Today, I also found out that Jim was raised in Palo Alto, which is pretty cool because I have friends there. I don't know anything else about his puppy raisers, but I guess I will find out more in the coming week. I was amazed how far away some of the puppy raisers are, one dog in our class comes from Washington State, I think Jim was one of the closest ones to the school in Palo Alto, the rest come from around Sacramento and the central Valley of California, I think. It's really great that there are so many dedicated volunteers who are willing to take these puppies in for a year, they have so much to do with shaping these creatures into the wonderful dogs they are, and I am just so greatful to all of my puppy raisers for the dedication and love they've shown to my guides! Thank you, guys!
Tomorrow, we go into San Francisco again. I am not sure what else is on the schedule, but what ever it is, I need to go to bed so that I can wake up feeling rested and ready to take it on!
As always, thanks for reading!
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Training, Day 7
Today was a pretty good day for Jim and me. He is at the point in class where he is testing me to see what I will let him get away with. This happens when a dog ralizes that it is no longer with it's instructors, and that it now has a new handler who might cut it some slack and let it get away with things like sniffing or running curbs. Jim certainly tried to sniff a lot this morning when we were on our way to a coffee shop downtown, but he quickly got the messae that I wasn't going to let him get away with being sniffy or distracted by things like dogs. Every time he stopped to sniff a bush I put him in a sit, corrected, and we went on our way. At one point, I had to put Jim on a gentle leader, a sort of contraption which goes over the dog's nose, so that they can't sniff, this fixed Jim's sniffing issues, mostly, ad we got through the rest of the route pretty well. My instructor said that I should consider this a posative route, because even though Jim was distracted, I was able to get him back under control and stop him from sniffing.
This afternoon, we walked over to a mall accross the street from campus, and practiced work on stairs, escalators, and elivators. This was a much beetter route, and Jim didn't sniff at all. I really think that he got the message this morning. He did well dealing with the escalators and I was proud of him. I was also very glad that ie didn't seem to mind the escalators, because he'll be dealing with them on a daily basis when we get home and I go to work on the subway.
When I got back to campus, I relaxed for a while, and had a very enjoyable dinner out with a friend. We went to an Applebees near campus, and it was just great to get out into the real world, have a drink and some dinner, and spend time with my friend. We were able to take a tun of pictures, so when we figure out which ones came out well, I can try to post them here, or send them to those who would like them via email.
Tomorrow, we go into San Francisco. I am very excited to see Jim work in the city. I'm also looking forward to a quick trip to the Apple Store on Chestnut Street, just to give Jim a quick glimps of the conditions he'll deal with every day when he gets home. I can't spend much time, because the instructors need to work with everyone, but it will just be great to walk inside and work him a little through the displays, people, etc. I'm sure he'll do great! I'll probably take the iPad along, because we'll have to spend a lot of time in a coffee shop, and it will be nice to have it with me.
Well, I think that's about all of note for today. I'm having an early night because I want to be ready for San Francisco tomorrow morning! Goodnight, everyone!
This afternoon, we walked over to a mall accross the street from campus, and practiced work on stairs, escalators, and elivators. This was a much beetter route, and Jim didn't sniff at all. I really think that he got the message this morning. He did well dealing with the escalators and I was proud of him. I was also very glad that ie didn't seem to mind the escalators, because he'll be dealing with them on a daily basis when we get home and I go to work on the subway.
When I got back to campus, I relaxed for a while, and had a very enjoyable dinner out with a friend. We went to an Applebees near campus, and it was just great to get out into the real world, have a drink and some dinner, and spend time with my friend. We were able to take a tun of pictures, so when we figure out which ones came out well, I can try to post them here, or send them to those who would like them via email.
Tomorrow, we go into San Francisco. I am very excited to see Jim work in the city. I'm also looking forward to a quick trip to the Apple Store on Chestnut Street, just to give Jim a quick glimps of the conditions he'll deal with every day when he gets home. I can't spend much time, because the instructors need to work with everyone, but it will just be great to walk inside and work him a little through the displays, people, etc. I'm sure he'll do great! I'll probably take the iPad along, because we'll have to spend a lot of time in a coffee shop, and it will be nice to have it with me.
Well, I think that's about all of note for today. I'm having an early night because I want to be ready for San Francisco tomorrow morning! Goodnight, everyone!
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