Story of a Guide Dog
by Anne Royle
Journal of Days
This story is submitted by Anne, of her stay at the training facility in the UK, where she and Velma, her new German Shepherd companion were to do their final training and graduate. You will read of Watson, who was to be Anne's companion, when it was discovered he was terminally ill.
Anne's story of that experience.
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| Velma |
This is the beginning of my tale with Velma;
it is now Saturday 6th September and it is 11.52am, I have been around the
centre, and looked for Watson's plaque in the memorial gardens, which sadly
is not there yet, so I will chase that up first thing on Monday when the admin staff
arrive.
I am in one of the rooms with an end suite bathroom and shower. They are all
single rooms, so we only have to share with our dogs.
My instructor Eddie has been to see me, and I have been given my harness and
lead along with brush, comb, Sam brown, arm band, collar, bells, saddle soap and
chamois leather for grooming.
I have been told that as we speak Velma is having her bath. This is done to
all the dogs ready for the students, and to get them clean to come into the house from
kennels.
In the rooms are a telly, radio cassette, phone (with large print buttons), alarm
clock (which is either talking or Braille depending on what you want), tea making
facilities, dresser, arm chair, wardrobe, bedside cabinet and of course the
bed. Along with a dog bed, fleece for the bed, a bench lead just in case you
need it and a water bowl for the dog.
It is now 1.25pm I have completed a short handle walk with my instructor.
This went very well indeed. We have also had lunch, this was a choice
of mushroom bake or spaghetti bolognaise or jacket potato or salad.
Jackets and salad are on for every meal so just take that as the norm. I am
now waiting in my room with great anticipation for Velma to arrive. It is a windy
day but not raining.
Strangely enough Diana has just reached Luton as I came into my room. It
is a shame such a sad event has to cloud such a wonderful day for me.
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| Velma & Mom, Anne |
1.47pm and Eddie has just come in to get
Velmas lead, this means he is going to kennels to get her, you just can't imagine
how excited and choked up I am at this very moment. More later when the lady
arrives.
Right after sitting there listening for ages for the lead to rattle so I knew she
was coming, she finally arrived. Eddie brought her in and the first thing she
did was come up to me and sit very tight in close with her head on my lap.
After a few
minutes to allow her to get used to the room we did some in house obedience, stairs
and doors. We then went for a in harness walk. Eddie drove to the
outskirts of the town and we walked around quiet streets and then into busier
streets, she stopped at a fish and chip shop, obviously somewhere where Eddie went
with her. We managed to deal with children playing on the path and with a car
parked on the path that was moving off. She took me around a number of
lampposts and other such objects without me brushing against one of them.
Eddie said that the pair of us had done very well, he was pleased with my
consistency.
We have now come in and Velma has just had her dinner and a big drink. She has
had a game with her kong and rugger. She has just settled down with a big
sigh. I am so happy that we are to be a partnership. Next for a talk in the
students lounge, but sadly I have to leave her in my room because some of the other
students don't yet have their dogs. More after the talk.
The talks have not yet taken place, but I had to fill you in. Firstly I went
to tea, and on my return Velma had peed in the room. Whilst I went off to get
someone she managed to get on the bed a pee on that too. It was so much that
it soaked thorough the quilt the sheet and into the mattress. Right now off to the
lecture, fill you in later.
We have had a talk on which side of the corridor to walk, and a reminder that we
must knock on all doors before we got through them so that if another blindy is
coming though they know you are there.
Our talk was concerning the house rules and general things to make our stay more
comfortable. Velma left me a couple of presents in the room. She is so
sensitive that the minute you walk in the room she gets so excited that she wees on
the
floor.
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| Velma |
Well we all went into the bar
in the evening just to be sociable of course!. Most of the
students went in the bar along with the trainers and the house staff, and the duty
kennel person. There is always house staff and kennel staff on duty because
they don't ask you to clear up behind your dog, or if you need anything they will
get it for you. I got up at around 3am to find Velma had peed on the floor
again. So I ceased that up and cleared back to sleep, and rose at about 5am and
putVelma in the run, got dressed and went and had a coffee with the security man,
Tony. We have
24 hour security because obviously with lots
of blind people here we would make very easy targets.
Breakfast was a continental, or toast or cereal. We have had a talk about the
contract and we have had to sign them. The doctor is due to come around any minute now,
she just makes sure you are alright and asks if you will be needing any repeat
prescriptions or such like.
I know that Eddie has a walk in mind for me today, but we will have to see. Closing
off at 11.20am .
We went for another walk today and I must say things went so much better. Her
response to the forward command was more or less immediate. Her straight line was
much better, she even coped with a stray dog distraction which pleased me greatly.
We came back to the centre in the car, and Eddie pointed out how pleased he
was, with the only thing he could think of pulling me up on was that I let her out
too far in front when on the lead. So all in all a brilliant day so far.
We had lunch, roast turkey, potatoes, stuffing, Yorkshire pud and veggies. For
pudding it was rice pudding and jam. Yum, wonderful!..
I have the early part of the afternoon off, so I have used it to catch up with the
journal and to have a shower because it is very hot in the building. Now
I shall be off to groom Velma ready for our next walk. which is due at 3pm.
We did a walk near to the town centre today, and it went very well apart from some stupid
person who kicked a bottle towards Velma and made it so she had to jump over it.
This obviously upset her work a little, but the good thing is that
itdid not take long for her to get back into stride.
I have just had tea, and have fed Velma, who is beginning to refuse her food, I am
not unduly worried at the moment, because I actually expected this to happen.
Many of the dogs that go onto class refuse food for a while. She is doing very well,
and I am still extremely pleased.
Nothing is planned for this evening, so I intend to put my feet up, they are killing
me.
Well I was awoken at 4.30am with a ragger stuck in my face, Velma obviously decided
that it was time to play. Breakfast was mushrooms, bacon, beans and fried egg.
Toast and butter with cereal. I have a lecture at 8..25 so I will get off
now, and add more later.
I actually went out on the 9am walk. This was in a urban area just to test and
see how she would react to distractions, we did very well indeed. Also did the
obstacle course on the way back and completed that with no problems. I am very
happy with the way the thing went. I think I am now free until lunch time.
Lunch was steak or veggie curry, or the standard bits. After lunch we did some
obedience in the big garage things like sit, down, stay, wait etc etc. I
notice the heel exercise has changed somewhat this time. Then we went for a
walk into town and her crowd work was brilliant, we went into a supermarket to show
the follow technique. Again considering the trolleys, children and
people just looking at the shelves, I did not touch a thing. It was a really
hot sunny day for me, so I wasreally knackered by the time I got back. The
afternoon from 4pm was free until tea time. Nikki came up from Kennels and had a
chat, she is more of a personal friend. Tea time was, taggletalli, or venison
steak with mushroom sauce. Pudding was chocolate sponge with custard.
I practised some obedience in a meeting room after tea and fed Velma. She is
off her food, even with the standard oxo cube enticement. I shall be talking
to Eddie today, and see what else we can sort out. Of course I know that they
don't like changing foods in the middle of a training course, but the pour soul
has to eat something or she will have no energy to work.
Breakfast was fried slice, with beans. Please forgive me if I don't remember
what the meal is very day because for breakfast I have toast and for lunch I have
jacket potato, and if I like the tea I will have it if not I have salad. So I
hope you will forgive me.
I am now waiting for Eddie to come along and tell me what we are doing today. It is
now Tuesday, I will have to keep a note of the days as here they all seem the same.
Right we did another town centre walk with both indoor and out door precinct. We
also did a cafe, to see if she would settle in a public cafe. I also took her
into tea yesterday and she was the prefect angel, she went under the table and we
forgot she was there.
Last night was a night off, thank god. She has turned down her breakfast again
today that is five meals she has refused. How on earth they expect her to work
when she is not eating is beyond me.
Okay breakfast was over and done with, Velma was given some tinned meat biscuit,
which she ate I am pleased to say. We did a free run and some very light work
around the block. Things went very well indeed. Nothing to complain
about at all. Except I have some pretty nasty blisters, my own fault for being
so lazy before I came here - see thats what I get for sitting and chatting to my pals. I
think we are going out on the bus this afternoon but I will let you all know later.
This afternoon I was on the second walk, and did not actually go in the van with the
rest of them. We went into town and through an indoor precinct into Marks and
Sparks and then into Woollies; specifically into these because they have close
isles. I felt the walk went well, apart from pidgeon distraction. This is
obviously a distraction and can be corrected and all went well from there on. I do
know that some of the others on class are having problems with their left turns.
My opinion is that their orientation is not up to a turnaround.
Now waiting for tea. Velma has her
supper for this evening, I am hoping she will eat something early, and then I will
free run her later. Velma ate her dinner and I took her for a free run about
9pm. We did some in house obedience. That was it for the day.
Now Thursday. Had breakfast and had a chat with Watson’s trainer.
She was very pleasant, and is off to Australia on 6th October. I am out on
second class this morning, that is about 10.50am
This morning we went into town and did a bus ride. We also did a turnstile in
a supermarket.
This afternoon we went out on the bus with the others, this was okay but nothing
exciting. There is a social drink down the local pub tonight, but I will be
opting out as I want to free run Velma. Now awaiting tea.
Had tea and took Velma for a free run. It was good to see her let off steam,
obviously the working can be so frustrating.
Now we have had breakfast, and had both the group and individual photos taken.
I am pleased this is over and done with-- some of the others are not so
orientated and it just drives me mad.
I am waiting for Eddie to come back from a qualifying visit. When he does get
back we will no doubt go for a walk. If he is not back by lunch I
assume it will be after lunch.
We did eventually take a walk in the afternoon, this was through the shopping
centre. I took Velma for a free run beforehand to wear her out. this was
okay but I trapped my finger in the bars, so I am working her with only three
fingers and a thumb, luckily its only the harness handle hand. Came back for
tea, and then did another free run.
Now awaiting breakfast, and I think I am on the second run today, I know we are
going to do more off kerb obstacles so I hope you are keeping your fingers crossed.
Okay we did do off kerb obstacles, and they went very well, I also went through a
market which will be good practice for when I have to go to Bletchley.
On this afternoon's walk we did a countryside walk with another free run, and had a
chat about the whole week. Eddie is very pleased and happy with both of
us. What more can we ask for.
Now awaiting tea, and then I am going for a drink with one of the kennel staff who has
just recently lost a pet dog to rainbow bridge.
Had tea then went down the pub with the kennel staff, had a good chat and when I got
back Velma was on my bed as usual. Got up slightly earlier this morning, to
make sure all was well for Alyson's visit. We did traffic work this morning
and
indented kerbs.
Alyson came to visit, and Barnie is the sweetest thing you have ever met , what a
character. We had a play in the car park and Barnie pushed me on to my bum so I just
sat there and played, what a wonderful dog he is.
Right Monday morning was traffic work, they drove a car and a van at us from
both ways on both near and far traffic, quite hard not too pull the dog back
to help it, but we had to stay with the dog and trust it and the drivers. Not
that easy really. Eddie got a bit of a shock. He was driving his car at me and
there was this bloke either on scaffolding or up a ladder and he shouted down at Eddie,
"hey you ***ing idiot, can't you see there is a blind person with a guide dog
there?" Obviously Eddie is used to this sort of thing. Remind me to tell you
the story of the umbrella later.
Velma has been put on to some medication because they think she has cystitis, they
are talking crap really, but we shall wait and prove them wrong.I am now awaiting
lunch and I will be out on the first walk this afternoon,
Monday afternoon was spent at the beach, just to see what her reaction to water would be.
Tuesday we will be out on the first class, not too sure what will be happening as we
have a lady joining us because she has come in for retraining.
The morning was spent in town, with a trip to boots to pick up a film that I took
there earlier in the week. The afternoon was spent with more traffic work, not
so bad this afternoon, as I am sure Eddie would not have run me over.
The lady that had joined us was called Christine, and she had a problem with her back so
they were just sorting out verbal commands for the dog and not including a chain
check.
We have now had three dry days from Velma and she is starting to eat very well indeed.
I must say this is somewhat of a relief for me.
Wednesday just before breakfast, and lets see what the day will bring.
Wednesday morning we did another walk through town, and had coffee in a cafe.
On our return Eddie told Christine that as far as he was concerned she could go home
and that they would come and assess her in a months time, of course Christine went
home. In the afternoon we went through another park to get some distraction
experience in, this did happen as Velma wanted to get in the pond with the ducks, good
experience though. Went off to tea, and then went for a drink with some friends of
mine at the local pub.
Now for Thursday.
Thursday morning as spent going through the qualifying pack, with basic information,
feeding information, and info on the puppywalker and the D S U Persons details. In
the afternoon we did open steps, and Velma did very well she was not put off at all.
Thursday evening was spent in the bar.
Friday morning we were all awoken by the fire alarm at 7am, luckily I was already
up. It was a member of staff cooking toast in their lounge. I completed my
qualifying walk in the morning and am now waiting to see the training manager Dave
Rankin. I was told it would be some time after 11am so lets just wait and see what
he has to say.
Okay after the walk I was left to stew until after lunch. Dave Rankin finally
came to see me at abut 2.30pm and had a chat. he was obviously quite pleased
with the way things had gone.
So by 3.10pm Friday I had been qualified. We did a walk around the park to
celebrate. That's it now, apart from my trip home and the domiciliary.
Any questions then just fire away. Thanks for taking the time to read this and
for showing an interest.
Anne & Velma "my four legged glasses.
We went to the bank today, well the trip there went very well, we even did an off kerb obstacle with no problems at all (not sure what the obstacle was though), and we entered the bank, stopping at the up steps etc. Well we got into the banking hall and Velma went straight to the front of the queue - the people in the queue laughed and said for her cheek we could go next! That must have saved us about half an hour of queuing.
Then we went to the bakers, this was fine until some old dear offered her a cream cake, as luck would have it Velma does not like cream (I did not know this until today) well she sniffed it and snorted out again through her nose and blew the cream all over the place. The bakers have now put a sign up telling people not to feed guide dogs!
Then onto the pelican crossing, which was fairly crowded, Velma took me straight to the post with the button on and promptly stuck her head between two people who were standing on the pavement - obviously she was noticed because they both apologised to me and moved out of the way. Honestly I did not say a word, but at least I got to the front again :-)
She is definitely realising what a cold nose in the leg or a pair of big ears can do!
Today Velma and I did a walk to the Butchers on our own, no instructor around and it was wonderful.
The freedom is so good I just can't put it into words, I don't eat any more bushes and that`s for sure a good thing for me - I could have become a vegetarian with the amount of bushes charlie (my white stick) helped me to eat.
Anyway from my gate we turn left which is fine ,coming out of the gate at the next kerb (down kerb) we have to stop and do a left turn, this entails the dog sitting at the kerb,me stepping back and telling Velma "left" at which point she will step across in front of me and walk around me until effecively we have turned left. Well , this dear man stopped me in mid turn and told me Velma was going to do a circle around me and that I should be careful! Bless him he was only trying to help. I did manage to explain that this is the way we are supposed to do it.
We carried on our way with no problems at all, we went around a group of people chatting and I know we went past a phone box (because I have walked into it so often , I know it`s there), she found the pelican crossing the first time and again went straight for the post with the button on (no grovelling around for me). We crossed the road and did an on the move left which does not entail turning a near circle. As it happens the butchers shop is next door to the bakers and I must admit she went and sat at the bakers shop door - bless her she obviously thought I wanted to go in there again today. So I asked her to move on to the next door, she did and the butchers made such a fuss of her. She loved it.
Well for her trip she got a breast of lamb and a beef shin bone, which she has been chewing on for the last 5 hours or so and every now and again she will pop in the house to see where I am give me a lick and dive back out into the garden to carry on with her bone.
I think she did very well considering I was carrying the meat in a carrier bag in my right hand and she had to concentrate on my left hand, needless to say she got a big fuss and cuddle when she found the gate at home. Thats it for today, we are going to the Chiltern Downs to give her a free run now.
Here is yet another update on our trip today. As it happens , it was a short trip back to the chemist to collect the film I had put in for developing.
Well Velma had a lazy morning because I was working. Then in the early afternoon we attempted to go to the chemist. I say attempted because we did not actually get there!
We were walking along and this lorry drove past us, as it came past the driver blasted his horn, frightened the life out of Velma who went to my right, I thought it was an object in the way and followed, right over someones` garden wall and into their flower bed.
Needless to say Velma was so upset that she had made a mistake that she would not pull herself back together for ages. I had to play with her on the path and make lots of fuss of her so she knew I was not angry with her. However then falling over the wall I hurt my knee, so when I finally got her going again I could not walk that far. So what was meant to be a 20 minute walk turned into two and a half hours!
I do know that I will have to be careful, because after that
incident she will obviously be worried about large lorries coming her way. Nothing that we
can't work through though, and imagine what it must have looked like with me going over
someones wall
Now for the bit that really embarassed me! Firstly , in our house, our front door is at the bottom of the stairs and our bathroom is at the top of the stairs, so when you open the front door people at the door can see straight into our bathroom. Well when I arrived home, I went to the bathroom and pushed the door slightly and took my jeans off to see if I had cut myself in my fall. Just as I took my jeans off, Velma pushed the door of the bathroom open to see where I was and Chris (my husband) came home from work and opened the front door - the bit that made me embarassed was he had brought a friend home with him!!!!
What can you say, Chris said his friend were more embarassed
than me
Me again. I have to tell you about our trip to town today. Started the day off by going into town, this was good, we navigated a cross roads that had traffic lights but no beepered crossing. Velma then managed to find the bus stop first time, she has never been there before and taking this into account she did very well to find it. We then got on the bus which was great , everyone was asking questions about her and lots of people wanted to fuss her, so I took the harness off and happily let her have all the attention she wanted.
Well half way to town, we passed through an Asian area and a lady got on the bus with a couple of children, the children started to scream - poor Velma just laid on the floor wondering what all the noise was about. The lady told the bus driver that he should send me off the bus because I had a dog and the dog was dirty. I am sure you can imagine the reaction of the bus driver and the people already on the bus - needless to say this lady and her children got off the bus and had to wait for the next one.
Well we arrived in town, got off the bus and turned right to a side road, crossed over that with no problems and turned left on the up kerb. I know from past experience with Charlie that we passed a number of bollards in the pavement and a letter box and a bin. We then crossed another side road and turned right at the next road. In this road are three bus stops and Velma stopped at each and every one of them just in case, and yes , she went to the front of the queue for each bus stop!
After that we went to the bank in the town centre, this was good, the steps up to the second floor in the bank had a bit of tape across them to stop people going up them because they were washing them so Velma automatically went for the lift (remember she has never been in this branch before). The lift was next to the stairs so I guess she spotted it. When we got out of the lift at the top, there was a security man who apologised to me because no staff were at the bottom to help me, but of course this was not a problem because Velma had sorted it out.
From the bank we went into an indoor shopping area, and to a clothes shop because I wanted a blouse to go with my suit. Anyway I went into the shop and the assistants were really taken with Velma, all four of them were sitting on the floor making a big fuss of her - aren't people wonderful sometimes!
I got my blouse, and we came home on a different bus route with a longer walk home. Velma managed to find our gate again with no problems - she is so good at something that I thought might be a problem - bless her furry paws.
I have not long finished the hoovering and to my great amusement Velma likes to follow the hoover and when the air blows are from the front of the hoover she jumps on it. It is so funny, I just have to laugh at her - it is just like the puppy bit is coming out of her.
I just had to tell, today we went and did the route to my other office. Well Velma was shown the office and the doorway and then we went off back through the market and to the local park to give her a free run. Well to get back to the car we had to go past the office door, and bless her little brown feet, she headed straight for the office door and sat there expecting to be let in.
I can tell you if she remembers routes that well, I will be able to walk around in my sleep :-)
She also coped famously with the market, all the boxes and foods bits laying around as well as a couple of stray dogs to put her off, she did very well indeed and I am so proud of her I am just bursting.
Velma and I went to the post office and butchers this
morning. Things were going fine, Velma worked very well, did all the things she was
supposed to. She found the post office okay, then we zoomed off to the butchers
(always her favorite place).
We walked into the butchers shop and Nick (the butcher) said she looks very sad today -
strange thought me cos she has been okay so far. Well this bloke from behind pipes
up 'she isn't sad she has just dumped on the floor'.
Yep you guessed it she walked into the butchers shop and pooed on the floor without even
squatting.
Vellie Takes 2nd Place ~ Sept. 6, 98
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Just another little brag, we went to another guide dog open
day today for the southern region and Velma came away with 2nd for the best working guide
dog.
She also met up with her puppywalker, her Dog Supply Unit trainer and her main trainer,
they were all pleased to see her and commented on how well she behaved in the crowds and
with all the distractions of other dogs.
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