Showing posts with label training. Show all posts
Showing posts with label training. Show all posts

Monday, August 2, 2010

Life since returning home

Things are going amazingly for Jim and me! I can't believe we've been home almost two months, or that we've both been gainfully employed for just as long!
Every day we get up and go to work at the Aple Store in Georgetown, where we sell macs, phones, and iPads to customers. Jim continues to do excellent work, and he's become a kind of store mascot. My coworkers love him, and he seems to really enjoy being with me on the sails floor and interacting with customers.
Since coming home we've taken subways, taxis, busses, and done plenty of walking. We've survived a 12 hour day during the iPhone four product launch, had great times with family and friends, and bonded in ways that I didn't think possible until I got Jim. He is my constant companion, my closest friend, and is always with me. We've only been apart for a few minutes at a time since coming home, I know I need to get him used to being alone for longer periods of time, but I just love having him with me and truly believe that he is on his way to becoming the best guide dog I've had!
I can't thank my wonderful puppy raisers, or GDB enough, for all of the work that you have put into training him. I will do my best to get some pictures of Jim at work in his Apple shirt, yes, he's an Apple employee :) he has a blue shirt just like the rest of us :) I need to get a coworker to take a good picture. As soon as I can get one, I'll figure out how to post it here!
I hope everyone is doing well. Thanks for reading, and I'll do my best to keep you jupdated on our adventures!

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Training, day 12

Today was a good day for Jim and me. We went to the airport in the morning, and worked on some practice with clicker training in the afternoon. We also had a night route where we worked from the downtown lounge in San Rafael to this icecream store called 31 flavors. Jim did really well on the route, until we saw these girls who my instructor told me were stoned or drunk. They started yelling at me about my guide dog, and I was at a tricky point in the route with a really flat curb. It was also an area that I hadn't been to before, so that posed a bit of a challenge, but after an instructor helped get me back on the right track we were fine and finished the route with absolutely no problems. I was very pleased to see how well Jim did in that situation, even though we were both a bit discombobulated we were able to work through things and figure them out.
When I got back, I talked to one of Jim's puppy raisers. He was raised by two families, one who had him for most of the time, and another who took him at the end to help him with his distraction issues greeting people. Both of them are such great people, and I am so excited to meet them all! I am really greatful for all that they've done, and for the fact that they have both worked so hard to turn him into the wonderful boy that heis today! If it weren't for all their love and dedication he wouldn't be going home on Saturday to join me in my crazy and hectic life working at Apple. LOL, both of his puppy rasing families are loyal mac users so we joked that he was just meant to be an Apple dog. :)
Well, I think that's aboutit. Tomorrow, we head into San Francisco one more time, and do something in San Rafael in the afternoon. I can't believe that we only have two more days of training left. This time has just flown, and going home will be really exciting, but there will also be a bit of sadness. I've enjoyed this experience so much, loved my instructors, made some good friends, and most importantly, gotten a wonderful dog! I am very excited to take on the world with Jim at my side, and I know that we will work well together for many years to come!