I am finally home and I thought that I would give an update for the last few days of training. Thursday we went to do more sidewalkless as on the previous days. Joel did very well on this route. We next went to the airport to practice going through security. The dog's harnesses and leash set off the detector and they have to be patted down. Apparently there are these new machines that blow puffs of air at you to search your body and they told us that no matter what they don't have to make the dog go through one of those. Luckily they didn't seem to have one. The airport workers lead me and Joel through the security line and they did pretty well. Things are hectic and sometimes I wasn't sure what way to go. To go through security I have to go through backwards and have Joel sit on the other side. When my body has gone through I call him to me and he sets off the detector as the leash metal goes through. I hold the leash at all times just extending my arm as I pass through. This way it is clear that the leash/Joel set off the detector and not me. The patdown went quickly and smoothly and we were taken to our belongings. Thursday evening(or maybe Friday I don't remember) we practiced sitting in airplane seats. The dogs can fit under the seat in front of the handler with their front half sticking out and their back portion under the seat. The handler has their feet on either side of the dog for control. I was able to use food to get Joel into the isle seat. I could not for the life of me get Joel under the window seat. He really tried he is just too long to turn into that tiny space. He kept getting stuck on the bar between the two seats in front of us.
That night we did a night route after final relieving. It went very well, Joel did exactly what he was supposed to. Some dogs think shadows are obstacles and such but Joel treats a night route just as a day route.
Friday we went to a local mall to get anything we needed. I went and picked up some in ear headphones for the flight home. The only interesting thing that happened was that a little kid ran up and grabbed Joel when we got off of the elevator. He didn't even stop or anything which was great. The instructors had that afternoon off so we were free to do whatever we wanted the rest of the day.
Saturday was graduation day! We woke up and did our usual routine then had nothing until lunch. After lunch which was an amazing grilled cheese we got to meet our puppy raisers. They were the family who raised the puppies before they came to training. They train the dog in basic house manners and they are able to take them around to different places so that when guiding they are used to being in restaurants, doctor's offices, etc. My family was from Washington and they had four children. They had three boys and an adopted daughter from China. They got the daughter after Joel so she spent a lot of time with him when she first came to the states. This is great for Joel and it is probably the reason that he is not as distracted by young children. Joel Recognized the puppy raisers right away and he was really happy to see them. They were a very nice family, they brought me some of Joel's favorite toys to take home and they also brought a new Nilabone. We sat around for a while before graduation and got to know each other. This was also a time where Joel could spend time with his family. I feel very lucky that he lived with the family that he did since he is used to being around small children and small dogs. They also did an excellent job in exposing him to different situations and I feel that their thorough socialization of him has made him a better guide.
After we hung around for a bit I left Joel with the puppy raisers and I went to the graduation room. The puppy raisers are the ones to present the dog if they are there and they talk about the dog and the new handler. They said that they were glad that he seemed to be bonding to me since he would check in with me periodically when playing with the family and they said that he watched intently when I left to go to the graduation room. The GDB CEO gave a speech at the beginning of the graduation. I don't think I have talked about him on here yet but he is a really cool guy. He is a guide dog user and he would hang out with us at dinner lunch, etc. His dog also knows some really cool tricks like putting its harness on while he holds it. A local Auto Group had raised 14000 dollars for them with a cruise in so they presented GDB with the check for this money. After this we started graduating. The children of the puppy raisers presented the dog and they all spoke about him, even the little girl and they did a great job. Before this I had a chance to speak so I talked about what a great dog Joel is and I thanked the puppy raisers and my instructors. After we had all been presented our dogs a local girl scout troop gave GDB some training platforms that they had built for them.
After graduation was finished we mingled for a bit then went outside to eat. Again my puppy raisers are such nice people they brought an extra sandwich for me. They have been making a DVD of pictures of Joel so they took some shots of the kids and parents with Joel to add a graduation section to the DVD. We exchanged contact info since they planned to send me a copy of the DVD and I wanted to get them something from Marshall.
After they headed home I just hung around the dorm for the rest of the day. We had dinner and that evening I went over to my friend's room so that our dogs could play. Joel was so much bigger than her dog that at one point he had her dog's head almost all the way in his mouth. After we let them play for a bit I went to pack since I waited until the last minute to do so.
I will write about my big adventure on the flight home and what has happened this first week home and try to have it posted before the weekend is out.
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