Gone to the dogs!

Thursday April 27th – We got to observe guide dog training today! Yipee! Sue and I were assigned to follow GD trainer, Lauren today, much to our delight. Lauren has the 7 dogs who are ready for the next class which begins in 2 weeks. In the morning we went to the local mall and observed her working dogs through the mall and practicing targeting lifts (elevators). The afternoon was spent in downtown Kew. Her dogs were all very nicely trained and it was fun for us to see the soft manageable type of dogs that GDV has working. We really enjoyed talking with Lauren about training in general and the three of us talked non stop about our different experiences and techniques. At GDV a person can be an instructor or a guide dog trainer. Instructors go through a 3 year ‘cadet’ program and learn to train dogs as well as work with clients, much like the apprentice program at GDB. Guide dog trainers go through a 1 year program and only learn the dog side, they do not teach classes or work with clients. Lauren has been a GD trainer for about 2 years and is hoping to become an instructor as well. We thoroughly enjoyed our time with her, she was approachable, engaging, and really enjoys her work.

We spent this evening with Grant as he had a late commitment at work and stayed overnight in the dorm. Sue was asked to substitute on the basketball team again so Grant and I went and watched the game. Grant and I both had played basketball many years ago and we enjoyed watching and doing some ‘sideline coaching’. Thanks goodness it was a better day for me, and no birds pooped on my head today!