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!

Ever Wonder What Character Your Dog Would Be On Your Favorite Show?

Well, one of our favorite shows is Glee. The other day, Christina and I were Gleeking out and I was talking about what a mean girl HRH was being to Willow. We had to have some corrections as HRH likes to push her around and flaunt her youth and shiny coat.



This generally occurs at the back door. HRH will wait by the door and angle her head so she can see Willow out of the corner of her eye. "I'm not actually looking AT you, but I am giving you fair warning that should you come through the door, I will run into you. I will." Then the door opens.

Willow hangs back. HRH glides through the door and waits on the other side. Backward glance. "I see you. I see you. I see you. I am Queen of all things here!"

This is usually where I step in with a firm correction and take the little monarch down a peg or two and let Willow out the door.

Which brings me back to Glee. (I do manage to come back to my point, eventually.) There is a character named Santana on Glee who is a bit of a cypher. She's on the Cheerios, but she secretly likes Glee. She spies for Sue, but she's Brittany's best friend. She's mean, but there is a warm chocolate center there, I just know it.

That's our HRH Berkeley: Santana. Cool, calm perfection for when the cameras are on her, but demanding and mouthy when they aren't. Sweet and gentle for obedience class (circle of acceptance, you bet!) but walk with Willow, hell to the no!

And I'm almost certain that I've seen her eyeing slushies. It's a good thing she doesn't have thumbs. Maybe we shouldn't let her watch Glee. That Santana may be giving her ideas...

And now, for your moment of Zen

Her Royal Highness (HRH) Berkeley has had a problem recently with barking and not letting me get more than 5 feet away from her without barking for me to come back and attend her. This past week we did some training, with a little success. Fred and I would give her a down-stay command and then would leave her presence for 30 seconds to a minute and then come back to praise her for staying (if she did!) or get her to redo it (if she didn't).

As the line in Monty Python and the Holy Grail goes, "(She) got better."

I taught several classes last week and some of them went smoothly with HRH sitting quietly. Others, had HRH jumping up and harrassing me verbally to the amusement of all the students.

Wednesday, though, was a good day. I caught her in a rare moment of calm and tranquility and she decided that sitting more than five feet away from me was OK. Watch for the frequent glances back to me for verification that I am still in my same spot and haven't moved. Otherwise, not a peep from her.

A Cultural Perspective

By Fred
Yesterday I took Berkeley with me to see a client in Tampa. She was such a magnet of good will at our last meeting that I was eager to take her again.

We arrived early, so I had a few minutes to wait in the lobby with the receptionist, which normally is awkward for me, but soon we were talking about guide dogs and the SEGD facility in Palmetto. She told me that her daughter learned about SEGD at school and that they planned to visit there soon, which of course I encouraged her to do.

"Yes," the woman said. "Since we cannot have dogs at home, I thought this would be a nice thing for her."

Well, I don't mind prying into people's private lives if they leave the door open a bit. "Why can't you have dogs?" I asked, with a look of shock on my face.

She explained that she just never had dogs in her house. Her husband felt the same way: "It's just not part of our culture," she said.

Normally I would not care to speculate about a person's nationality, but for the purpose of this narrative I would guess, based on her slight accent, that the receptionist was born in China. Whether people in China are more or less likely to keep dogs in the house, I have no idea. So I will keep my remarks to my home state, Arkansas, a place that comes through in my own accent now and then.

Many people in Arkansas have dogs, but as you get out into the country--if you get way out there in the sticks--you will find that many people believe all animals belong outside. Raising dogs indoors, and keeping them indoors for most of their lives, is not as common as in, for example, New York.

Anyway, I attempted to convince the receptionist that she should get a dog, and this tickled her and caused her to come up with her concerns: that the dog would pee on the floor, etc. I asked her, "Do you let your daughter pee on the floor?" She let me know that this also was not culturally permitted.

We talked about discipline and training, about how these dogs are so faithful and obedient and smart, and I could see a spark in her eyes. And these particular dogs, I told her, like to work, they like to have a purpose and a real job. The idea was growing on her.

My meetings went well. Berkeley was very patient and good. At the end, several people escorted us back to the lobby to say goodbye, inching closer and closer, hoping that they could finally touch her. But I noticed the receptionist watching us from behind her desk. "Sorry," I said to the group,"we're still working."

Problem Child

Her Royal Highness (HRH) Berkeley has a small problem that we are working on: she doesn't like for me or Fred to leave her side when we are out. For me, that is a HUGE problem because I teach research classes so I get up to point things out on the screen. This enormous length of perhaps 5 to 6 feet is apparently so annoying that it has HRH popping up and barking for me "Come back right now!"

You can imagine how that goes over. Usually, it involves a lot of me doing sit, down stays over and over while continuing to lecture with students trying not to laugh at HRH or me. It is quite comical. However at Honors Chemistry class, something different happened. I think it was all because of Simon.

I always have certain students who particularly care for the dogs I raise and Simon loves Berkeley. So he was really happy that we had research day on a Berkeley day and he watched HRH behaving badly with a calm demeanor (Simon is always calm).

"Perhaps Berkeley would be better without her coat on?" He said. I did recognize the longing to pet her behind the request and when I looked up and noticed the stillness of the rest of the class as they realized that I might actually go for it. I thought, I have tried all day everything else, why not try free range puppy?

"OK, Simon." Then I told them they had to be really focused, pay attention to what I was saying, not call her, only pet her when she walked by and she could be visible for the period.

Then I took the coat off. And class continued the same as always.

But every now and then a black dog walked by someone and they reached out and loved her and she slowed down for them. And she did find her way over to Simon, her biggest fan. Here are the Honors Chem boys and HRH.

She's Not Bad, She's Just Drawn That Way

She looks sweet doesn't she?

She looks like she wouldn't ever do anything wrong. Sweet, innocent, all adjectives you would think might apply to a delicate flower of a 50 pound, tiny black lab, 9 month old puppy in training.

You would be wrong. Unless you ate with the pre-k teachers. For the last several weeks I have been eating on the deck with the pre-k teachers and they are delightful. When I was out sick for a couple of days, they sang me the welcome back song. We went to pre-k to do the wrap-in for the holidays, so I have an idea of the environment they work in. But you really don't understand it until you have a bad day and plunk yourself down at the table next to two of the most optimistic ladies in the universe.

"How is Berkeley today?"

"Oh, Berkeley is being a very BAD girl!" Then, just as I was getting wound up for an extended rant, Janey put a calming hand on my arm.

"Berkeley isn't bad. Her actions are bad." Julie nodded. They both smiled at me. You might think this was patronizing, but they are pre-k teachers. All they know is genuine and sweet. And they love Berkeley.

So I have learned now that when I start to say what a bad girl I have, I amend it to what bad choices she has made. Which kind of falls in line with what Jennifer, our trainer at obedience, was saying about having a slack leash. Let the dog make the choice to do the command or not. It's all about free will.

Drawing from He Who Cannot Be Named's Blog

Berkeley isn't bad, she just has free will.

The Queen Hears Queen and We Avoid a Huge Peesaster

On Friday, Fred, Her Royal Highness (HRH) Berkeley and I joined our friend and fellow puppy raiser Stephanie and her friend Nancy for dinner and a concert. We met up at Red Mesa Cantina in Downtown St. Pete.

I've mentioned the Cantina before, it is my favorite restaurant downtown and they had a wonderful early bird special dinner: drink, salad, entree and dessert for $14! It was quite a deal. I made the mistake of ordering the seafood mofongo. It was odd. But everyone else got something amazing. HRH was chilling under the table and nancy quite forgot she was there.

It was such a lovely night and Mahaffey was fairly close so we decided to walk over. It would give Madame Pees-alot a chance to relieve her bladder. As we approached a possible pee station, Fred took off her coat and coaxed her onto it. Nancy and Stephanie started to laugh.

"I don't think she likes it."

"I know. It's not grass." I shook my head. HRH was tip-toe-ing on the barking and rolling her eyes as if to say "Really? This is the best you can do?" By the time we did get to some grass she was so disgusted with us that she was to annoyed to pee.

We walked up to the counter to get out tickets accompanied by murmers of "Oh, look at the puppy in training. She's so cute." That always makes me smile.



Here we are before the concert looking lovely. I was a bit concerned that HRH might haul off and let loose a bark or two. She had to be removed from convocation that morning for barking during a piano recital. Very disappointing!

We proceeded into the Mahaffey. I took her with me into the ladies room where she was very good and she ended up surprising a couple of ladies, but not too badly. 8-) Then we headed out to our seats. That's when Fred heard it.

"What's that? It's not a guide dog is it?"

"No, it's a puppy in training."

"You know these people are really pushing the limits of what they should be doing!"

Fortunately Fred didn't tell me this until we were seated.

"They said WHAT?"



HRH took it without a peep. Here she is curled up under Fred's chair like a good girl. The concert was the Florida Orchestra performing selections from Queen, which having HRH watch Queen was quite ironic I thought. 8-) I was wondering what she would do when the music started and it wasn't much.

ROCK MUSIC: HRH sleeping.

She could have howled and no one would have heard it. At the intermission we went out and HRH started to pull a little on the leash, and Fred said,

"Peesaster on the way! Exit, Exit!"

So we hurridly made for the exit and then for the green, lush grass of the Mahaffey Center lawn overlooked by about 20 concert goers. Lit softly by the bare winter trees, HRH sighed and peed.

This was more like it.