I am very blessed to have friends in my life who have been puppy raisers. One of them attends my church; and many of her puppies have been golden retrievers. When I began attending church at Park Place, several people asked me if my dog was one of Mary’s dogs.
This post began as a post to my church’s Facebook group. I first decided that it was too long for Facebook and thought about sending it to be published in the newsletter. Upon further reflection, I realized that many of my friends and acquaintances would be curious about some of the things I talked about and that with a little background information about Mary the post would be a fine blog post.
Mary and I have often talked about finding a place to do a presentation together explaining the life cycle of a puppy and the transition into working dog. I did not ask her permission to talk about her in this post. I hope she won’t mind…
I will be leaving on June 24 to train with my fifth dog guide. One of the most common questions I am asked when people find out is about the dog’s name: whether it has one, whether I get to name it, or whether I know the name. Those are really three questions, and they are bound up with other questions that may or may not be asked depending on how comfortable people feel with talking and asking questions. Sometimes people are surprised that I am going away for a lengthy stay–many people think I will just go to pick up a dog and bring it home and start working where the previous dog left off. There are many reasons why this is not a great idea; but that is another post all by itself.
The process that I and this dog are going through is the culmination of the process that begins with someone like Mary. Mary works with a school in Michigan, so I don’t have a chance of getting one of her wonderful puppies; but the process is very similar at other schools. The puppies finish their time with a person like Mary and then go away to school to have their professional training–all the techie stuff about how to guide. I often tell people that it is like “guide dog college.” There are even tests–very important ones with the instructors wearing blindfolds.
Just when Dog has gotten used to that new trainer person working with her, the unthinkable happens. Trainer pronounces her worthy to guide, and trainer takes her into a room and gives her over to Blind Person. Blind Person acts very excited to see her and hugs on her. What a weird Blind Person! Hasn’t she figured out that Dog would rather run around the room than get hugged on? And what is this all about? Where did Trainer go?
Dog eventually warms up to Blind Person. It can take hours or a few days depending on the dog and the person.
Dog does, in fact have a name–she had it in the very beginning when Raiser Person took her everywhere. I do not know the name yet, and I said on Facebook the other day that I would be meeting Mystery. During the first couple of days of training, the instructor will do some things with me before giving me the dog to ensure that the choice of dog for me is best. Sometimes instructors change their minds about which dog to give to a person based on lifestyle factors or the person’s pace or how hard they want the dog to pull. For this reason, it is good for a person to not know much about the dog ahead of time.
It is possible, of course, to change your dog’s name after bringing it home. I have never done so. I always go in hoping that my dog does not have a hideous name. So far all four of my dogs have had very nice names.
I have tried to keep a journal during some of my prior trainings. This time, I am in touch with a much more diverse group of my friends, and I want not only to keep the journal but also to write it for you who are reading in the hope of helping you to understand more of what you want to know about the experience of training and working with dogs. To that end, please do ask questions, leave comments, etc.
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- Traveling without a Guide Dog: Experience with Cane and Walker - October 14, 2022
- Disability and Church, Intersection - June 11, 2022
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