The Wobbly Toy

By Fred
I admit I was skeptical of the idea when Cheryl first mentioned it. Coach, a Southeastern guide  dog puppy, had become more and more reluctant to get into the car. Last weekend he had two episodes of car sickness, poor guy, so his attitude is understandable.

Cheryl's idea was to put food into his wobbly toy and let him play with it in the car, to keep him busy and keep his mind off of car-sickness. As a human being, I have some rigid ideas about nausea. If I feel like vomiting, for example, I am not tempted to run into the kitchen, find a snack, and then roll around on the floor and play with it. Yes, I was skeptical.

Cheryl gave it a try on the way to work, and the wobbly toy kept Couch busy the entire way. He ate his breakfast on the move, had fun, and no car sickness.

A picture of the wobbly toy in the car,
tempting Coach to come in.

So on Thursday I gave it a try for his breakfast. He got into the car pretty much on his own. Then we drove around the neighborhood for a few minutes. Amazing.

A picture of Coach struggling with a dilemma:
should he get into the car on his own?

And, if so, would I get the wrong idea?

At lunch we took a trip to the grocery store. Again the wobbly toy worked, though Coach wanted me to know that he doesn't particularly like being manipulated in this way.

Coach sitting at my feet at the checkout stand of the grocery story. He was perfect.

In the store he was perfect, prancing up and down the aisles and flirting. And back in the parking lot I waited as he climbed into the car on his own.

Yes, the wobbly toy was a great idea, even though I doubted it. Sometimes this happens.

Pose Like a Champion

Today we went to the Berkeley Buccaneers football photo shoot.  This event was quite entertaining as I got to see the real Coach Ciao in his element and it was fun! Did you know that it takes almost all day to get football photos?  Yes.  It does.  First you have the coaches photos, then you have the team photos, then the group photos, then the individual photos.  And the seniors get photos with their parents.  It is all very regimented too: seniors first, etc.

Coach is sitting by Fred outside of the Straz Family Field House.  Coach is wearing his Big Boy Coat.

 The day started out with a big change: Coach was wearing his Big Boy Coat.  Yes, our 5-month old baby is into the big boy coat.  Fred got tired of him showing so much booty in the baby coat and doctored up the big boy coat for the photo shoot.  It just hung over his tail a tiny half inch.  But Coach didn’t seem to mind.  After all, he was with the Varsity Team.  He couldn’t let on he wasn’t worthy!

Coach is lying down next to a Berkeley football helmet. 

First there was the a problem though.  There was lightning.  Evidently when there is lightning within 8 miles of the school, all children must come inside.  That meant that all the photos that were planned for outside on the field had to be broken down and moved inside.  This move created another unforeseen problem.  Seems that Coach Ciao had a bad experience with taking team photos in the gym and he doesn't ever want to repeat it.  Therefore, we had to find an alternative. 

Coach is lying down next to a Berkeley football helmet with the Berkeley Buccaneer in the background.

 Fortunately, when Coach Ciao wants something, everyone puts their thinking caps on and eventually someone comes up with a solution to a seemingly impossible situation.  What they came up with was brilliant.

Here is a photo of the Berkeley Buccaneer coaching staff.  Coach Ciao is holding the football in the middle of the front row.

Here is the football coaching staff.  I don’t have a shot of Coach with them.  It is coming soon.  Alan, the photographer, got him to perk his ears and look super cute though!!!

In the entrance of the Straz Family Field House, the benches have been laid out and the seal is down in front.

Here is the solution that they came up with: the entrance to the Straz Family Field House which is gorgeous and also features an amazing Berkeley seal in the foreground. Perfect.  All they needed were benches, which they found and trucked in from the football field and some boxes to stand on.  Teamwork.  It is amazing.

Here Alan is positioning the boys and Coach Ciao. 

Soon the benches were filling up and the final people were being placed.  All that remained was the placement of the coaches and the front row.  The front row had a tough job as it was a really awkward and uncomfortable position for the boys to stay in.  Most of them have very tight hamstrings and did not like sitting like that, which is why number 55 is resting before sitting up tall for the official shot.  They took several team shots before calling for Coach (the dog) and when Alan called for him, a cheer went up with the team.  It was quite cool.

Coach is lying down in front with the rest of the Berkeley Buccaneer 2012/2013 Football Team and Coaching Staff behind him.

I walked Coach out to Chris (#7). And Coach sat next to him.  Alan told the team that he was going to be making barking noises and not to laugh.  Then the barking started. Coach put up with it for the first shot, but then he gave Alan a startled look and got up and ran in my general direction.

There were smiles, but  no laughter. Although, I think there might have been a snicker or two.

Secret Photos

My Dad likes to send me random photos of things that he likes: pretty flowers, javelinas that are in walking by his office window, new haircuts my mom gets and any service dog that he sees when he is out and about.   I love getting these photos as they are usually accompanied by some funny remark.

The service dog photos are a little different though.  Those I think he takes on the sly without letting the dog's owner know that he is capturing their puppy for posterity. I never thought about it until yesterday when I was stopped at Nature's Food Patch, our neighborhood grocery store and go to dinner spot for a quick salad.  I had put Jam into a down stay by the cold drinks and was taking a photo while I waited for Fred to get his salad from the amazing salad bar.  I was approached by one of the store managers.

Guide dog puppy in training Jam lying down.

"Hi!" He said as he strode up to me.  He was a little out of breath as if he thought he might have missed us and hurried out from behind a counter to talk to us. "You know I have a photo of him on my phone."

I looked at him.  "You do?" I smiled.  We go to Nature's Food Patch a lot. We like salads and even more, not cooking during the week. 

Encouraged, he continued, "Yes.  He or she?"

"He."

"He has a bag of treats in his mouth and is sitting." He smiled at me.  "He's so beautiful."

Now at this point, I could quiz him on the bag of treats he says are in Jam's mouth (Seriously! What?!! Fred says it never happened.), but I decide that quizzing this clearly besotted man is not the right thing to do, so instead I start talking about Jam's impending IFT date and how smart he is.  Jam is calmly lying down and being good and not lunging for crumbs under the drink holder. (Thank you!) 

Fred comes over to take Jam and the manager walks away with his secret photo of Jam.  

At school, during one of the all school convos, I happened to sit next to one of the girls who was taking photos of Jam with her phone.  She showed the photo to her friend.  I caught just a glimpse of it.  

"Oh, can I see?" I asked.

"Sure." She showed me.  It was a great shot of Jam.  I told her so.  She said she had a photo of Jam as her phone background.  I asked her to send me the shots she took of Jam.

It made me think of all the people who take secret photos of our puppies and think happy thoughts of them or dream big dreams for them.  They are so excited to get to know one of our puppies.  I know my student was thinking Jam would make it.  And the store manager will always ask about Jam.

Guide dog puppy in training Jam at the check out counter.

At the checkout line Jam was ogled by three checkout girls.  They commented on how pretty he was, how good he was and how calm he was.  We gave them our hopes for his bright future as a guide dog once he goes in for training and they nodded and looked down on him with optimistic gazes.  Yes, they believe in Jam.

We believe in Jam.

Good Bye Photo

Tuesday was our last official day in the library, so we took our annual last photo with our guide dog puppy.  We thought it would be a breeze as HRH and Bingo hadn't put up much of a fuss.

Jan, Christina and I are posing facing the camera as Jam has turned his back to look at Jan.

Jam, however, proved obstreperous.

Jam is still looking at Jan and now Jan is talking with Jam and not posing for the camera.

Every time we tried to take a photo with the timer, he would wait and watch Jan instead of looking at the camera.

Jam is bored and licking himself, I'm trying to stop this activity and Jan and Christina are posing.

 Then he got bored and started looking for other things to do, like lick himself, which always makes for a great photo.

Jam has a cute thoughtful expression on his face and I am thinking and looking off to the side.

Jan snapped a shot of me thinking about what we should do, but I was at a loss.

Everyone is smiling, looking at the camera and Jam is front and center looking handsome.

Finally, we gave up.  It just wasn't going to work.  Then Christina remembered that Jyl in the Business Office is a photographer and actually knows what she is doing.  So here we are on the final day of the 2011-2012 school year with our handsome boy Jam!

Thank Jyl!  We couldn't have done it without you.

Joseph A. Merluzzi (JAM) has left the building.

Anatomy of an Interview

On Tuesday, I got an email request from a very polite 5th grader for an interview. There were three of them and they wanted to interview me about Her Royal Highness Berkeley. Would I be available on Wednesday?

I said, Of course. I mentioned to Christina who was coming to interview me and she said, "You are going to love them. They are so cute and vivacious!" She said the little girl who had been coordinating the interviews and who seemed to be in charge was especially delightful and was a real charmer. "You'll really like her."

They showed up promptly at 2 pm in the library and I brought them over to say hello to Christina who gave them all hugs before I brought them into my office. I shut the door and had the girls all take a seat. Then I took HRH's coat off.

"Oh, we weren't going to pet with the coat on!" They seemed a bit shocked that I had taken it off. "We knew not to pet her."

"I knew that. I just figured you might like to have some fun with her since you came for an interview." HRH started to walk around under the table, knocking them about with her tail.

"Her tail just hit me!" One of the girls said and laughed. The other girl just held her hands under the table and waited for HRH to walk by her. It didn't take long for them all to start laughing. They were a pretty cheerful bunch.

Then they started in on their questions:

"Why did you start raising guide dogs?"
(We wanted to do something together and we knew it had to be something we both loved and we both love dogs.)

"What is the hardest thing to teach her?"
(Right now, stay and no noise.)

"Has she learned more commands than Bingo?"
(Short answer, YES.)

"Does she go everywhere with you?" Which led to "Do you take her to the bathroom with you?"
(Yes. I then told them about how HRH loves toilet paper, especially as you are pulling it off the roll. So, it can be a little embarrassing to be in a public toilet and all of a sudden you hear someone yelling, "NO! NO!" They thought that was pretty funny.)

"When she goes to a blind person, what will she be able to do for them?"
(I told them about the find the elevator command, about the concept of intelligent disobedience where they would stop a blind person from crossing a street if there was a car coming even if the blind person said to cross and how they were trained to look up and protect their person from getting hit in the head.)

Then there were some off topic questions about blind people that I did my best to field such as,

"How does the blind person get the dog food in the bowl and not spill it on the floor?" and its follow-up, "And if they do, would Berkeley just eat the food up off the floor?"
(I talked about how blind people live on their own and eat meals just like we do. That they learn special tricks for pouring things into bowls and glasses so they don't spill. But, I said, if something were to fall on the floor, HRH would probably eat it up.)

"How does the blind person know when the dog has to go to the bathroom?"
(I told them that HRH has a very strict schedule about when she gets fed and when she goes out to the bathroom. That helps prevent accidents.)

Then before they left, I asked them if they wanted their photo with her Highness. They said yes.

Here HRH is giving the leader a very special kiss instead of sitting down like she is supposed to do.

And then they all got really silly, including HRH and started laughing.

Finally, I had to get a cookie and hold it in my mouth to get HRH to pay attention. She was having too much fun with the papparazzi. She's such a sucker for the press. But then, they love her!