Street Fair Exposure

Saturday we went to downtown Dunedin for lunch and then the plan was to go over to the concert in the park and see if we could find Coastie.  But we got distracted by the street fair that was going on in Dunedin and ended up spending our afternoon in Dunedin.

Coach and Fred getting reading to start walking down the Pinellas Trail to Dunedin.

The nice thing about Dunedin is that it is so dog friendly.  The bad thing about Dunedin is that it is so dog friendly.  This visit was going to be an exposure heavily laden with dog distractions.  However, since we were on the trail, our first distraction proved to be bicycles:

You can see two cyclists off in the distance on the the trail.

As we were standing there putting on Coach's coat, the cyclists came up from behind, called out that they were coming up from behind and on the left and then passed us.  Coach calmly looked around at them.  No problem.

A lady in a wheelchair is being wheeled down the cobblestone walk.

Not only were there bikes, but there were canes, walkers and wheelchairs, too.  Coach was indifferent to them all.

Photo of a chocolate standard poodle walking toward us.  The poodle is being held closely to the owner.

He was moderately indifferent to all the dogs.  What has happened with other puppies (Bingo and Jam) is that we would get lunging and jumping.  We got none of that with Coach.

Here is a chocolate lab being held closely to the owner and walking toward us.  

 Coach doesn't lunge or jump.  He does a mean stare though.

Coach staring at a small Westie.  Fred has him on a high collar. 

Unfortunately, at street fairs, it isn't just Coach's behavior that you have to be aware of.  You also have to be aware of all the dogs around you.  Not only in front of you, but coming up behind you.

A backend view of the doberman who sniffed Coach's butt.

The owner of the doberman in the photo above was not paying attention to him and just let him wander all over the place. Of course this big, scary dog was going up to every dog he could and sniffing them.  He managed to get up to Coach's butt and goose him.  I had been watching out in front, but moved over to the other side of Fred to be on Coach's left and keep the doberman away after the initial goose.

Honestly.  If people would just pay attention to what they are doing!!

Coach walking in a nice loose leash on the cobblestones.

There is a yellow dog project (see the photo of their poster above for more details) that seeks to highlight dogs who really do need more space by placing a yellow ribbon on their leash.  If you see that ribbon, you should give them space, NO MATTER WHAT.  In our case, our dogs are working.  They shouldn't be distracted by your dogs sniffing them or wanting to introduce themselves or by saying hello.  They have a job to do and learning to ignore you and other dogs is part of it.  

Coach did really well.  I am also going to be on the lookout for a yellow ribbon too.  It looks so pretty with blue!

Wrestling and Whistles and OMG I Met Someone I Had to Just Walk Away From

On Friday I went to see some of the wrestling tournament that was held in the Straz Family Field House on Campus.  Unfortunately, I didn't have a program and it was a bit confusing, so I didn't know when our boys were going to wrestle.  Evidently there were over 300 wrestlers at the tournament, so it was a really big deal.

It was also a great puppy exposure.  Wrestling involves lots of whistles.  And flailing around.  I guess if you are a wrestler you would argue with me on the flailing part...perhaps I should say a lot of hand holds and Greco-Roman things going on. Add in some grunts and hollers and coaches and fans shouting and clapping and you have yourself a fine exposure for a puppy.

Oh, and there was this, oh how shall I put this?  Idiot seems to harsh a word.  Willfully disobedient might be a better way to put it.  I needed him to be wearing a training collar so I could have given him a good correction!

Anyway, Coach and I had just walked into the wrestling area and were standing there taking it all in.  It is rather like a two-ringed circus.  There are at least two circles of wrestling going on and there are tons of schools who have decamped to different areas of the bleachers.  I don't see our wrestlers anywhere and only see Berkeley shirts on the officials at the table and I don't want to bother them.  We have made a bit of a spectacle of ourselves just be walking in.  A lot of eyes are upon us.  To my right is a group from a school that will remain nameless and on the bottom row of the bleachers is a family who has come to watch their son or daughter (yes, there were girls who were wrestling!) wrestle.  They started to talk about Coach.

"Look at that gorgeous dog!"

"Would ya look at the head on him.  He's huge." Then, it began.  The moment when I needed every bit of my smiling and my public relations training to come out. "Hey, what's he being trained for?"

I turned and looked at the group.  There looked to be a grandparent set and a mom and dad perhaps with an older sister.  The grandpa was asking me the question. "He's a guide dog in training.  We are hoping he will be a guide dog for the blind one day."

"What's his name?"

I hesitated.  Why did I hesitate? A couple of years ago, I read the blog of a visually impaired person who said she never gave out the true name of her guide dog because inevitably, the people who had asked for it would then start calling her dog and distracting him.  So, she lied.  "My dog was named Tim and I would say his name is Delany.  They would say "Here Delaney" over and over and then be so amazed by his lack of interest."

Suddenly, it all made sense.  Why give out his name?  Why do it? But I had hesitated long enough and I wasn't good at lying.  I'm the worst liar ever.  "Coach.  His name is Coach Dominick Ciao after our football coach."  I smiled.

Then I looked away willing nothing to happen.  

"Hey Coach!" Grandpa called.  I turned and looked at grandpa.  

"He's supposed to ignore you."  That was my super nice way of saying, You are a butthead, quit calling my guide dog by his name!!!

"He's doing a great job!" He laughed.  He called out again:  "Hey Coach!"

I could take Coach's collar and put it on grandpa and give him a correction or I could walk away.

A photo of the back of Coach's head looking at the wrestlers in the wrestling ring.

I walked away.  

Grandpa lived to see another wrestling match.  Coach got to experience the whistles.  It was all good.  Now I need to think up a fake name that someone won't want to shout out over the stadium.

What about Booger?

At the Car Wash!!

While Coach was away at puppy camp, he got to go on a very new exposure: a car wash.  Let's just say, I live with the dirt on my car.  So, he's never experienced a car wash before and you can tell from the photos that at first, it was a little disconcerting.

Coach sitting in the wheel well of the car and looking a bit nervously at the water on the window.

However, he is a very good boy and gets accustomed to things quite easily.  So he by the end he was looking around curiously.

Now, he isn't hunched down, but is sitting normally and looking out.

He has turned and is looking out the window.

Great exposure and one that we WILL try again.

The Honeymoon Is Over!

The reason you do a puppy camp for two weeks instead of one is because for the first week the puppy is on his best behavior.  Why, well, new house, new people.  The puppy is getting a feel for what the rules are, what he can do and can't do.

The second week, the puppy sort of unbuttons his pants and as Fred's mom used to say, "Gets loose."

Coach, almost an exact week to the day, unbuttoned his figurative pants and got loose in the bathroom of the Kriseman's house on Saturday.  Kerry sent me the photo below with the caption, "The one week honeymoon has passed." 

Shot of a bathroom with lots of toilet paper pieces strewn about the floor.

Coach loves his paper.  He also loves going in the trash and getting paper out of the trash: used kleenix, receipts, anything.  He steals napkins off laps. Fortunately, now that they see the behavior, the Kriseman's can try to work on correcting it.  We have been working on it, but puppy camp is all about having a different approach from a different family.  It may be that their approach is more effective and they can pass those techniques on to us to incorporate into our raising.

Coach is sitting on beige carpet with a very big wet spot beside him.  What is the wet spot?  Read on....

The other thing that Coach does when finished with dinner, is that he will pick up his dinner bowl and bring it to you.  I'm not sure if this means "I want some more" or "This is empty: Fill it back up!" or "Put this away now."  Since we have a HUGE water bowl that is big enough for 40 dogs, there is no way that he can do this with the water dish.....unless the water dish is small.  Do you see where I am going with this?

So, at work, where I have a small water dish, when he is done with the water dish, he will pick it up and dump it.  And if there is water in it, it goes everywhere!  Fortunately, in the photo above, that is not an "accident", but rather a water dish spill. Now when I am at work, I usually give him water and watch him drink and then pull up the water dish when I see him stop, but I forgot to mention that to Kerry.  He's done this behavior from day one and we haven't figured out how to get him to stop.  So any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.  This behavior would not be acceptable to have with a visually impaired person and it is something that we need focus on.

All in all, we are very grateful to our puppy campers!  They are working on issues and giving Coach exposures he hasn't had before.

Tomorrow: All about a new exposure for Coach!!

First All School Convocation

Last Wed. was our first all school convocation.  Our school likes to start the year with a big gathering to welcome everybody back.  We also have a tradition of having the seniors escort a kindergartner into the gym accompanied by a balloon.  In the past, the little ones held the balloons, but they soon grew tired of this onerous task and then at various points in the convocation a balloon would softly and slowly drift upwards to the very high ceiling of the gym as seniors looked a bit panic stricken and kindergartners giggled.  

Serious seniors would try to admonish their kids to keep a firm hold on the balloon, but usually, temptation was too much.  Off it would float and whoever was speaking would hear some giggles and look over to the right and watch silently as the balloon made its slow journey up to the top.

The year more than 20 balloons were set free, faculty knew that the end of the balloons had come.  Their demise was predicted.  But no, more sagacious minds were at work and they came up with the ingenious balloon bracelet.  Now, there is no temptation.  No giggling, no interruptions.  No serious seniors (only happy ones). After all, who wants to give up their fabulous balloon bracelet? 

The all school convocation is joyous and filled with balloons.  Balloons attached to strings which are attached to tiny braceleted wrists.

Photo of the back of Coach's head as he looks out onto the gym floor and the crowd filing in.

Over 1300 people were crowded into the old gym because the weather wouldn't allow us all to walk the distance to the new gym.  The little kids just couldn't make the walk in all that rain.  So, we will have to inaugurate the Straz Family Field House with a different All School Convo.

Coach is lying at my feet with his Southeastern Guide dog coat on.  Can you see the rain sprinkles on it?

This time we sat over on the opposite side from the kids and had a good view of the seniors with their little escorts.

Pairs of seniors walk in with one kindergartner in between them.

It's a great tradition.  It's surprising how many lifers (lifers are students who came in pre-k or k and stayed until senior year) remember who their senior was and who was their little kindergartner.

You can see how intently Coach is staring at something (probably a cheerleader!) as he is surrounded on all sides by students.

Coach got his first exposure to over 1300 people clapping, shouting, and singing in unison. He was a bit disturbed by it at first.  He vocalized a little bit.  Well, a little loudly.  He made a really weird sound that had all the seniors and little ones in our area turning their heads and staring at him.  But gradually, he got used to the noise.  The cheerleaders were another thing.  He watched them and was interested. 

Every time he wanted to bolt forward, there lots of people around and I had to pull him back.  Eventually, he just settled in for the ride.  It didn't last too long. About 20 minutes.

Photo of one of our head student library proctors (a senior) talking with her kindergartner.

But it was something everyone enjoyed.  At the end, Coach even enjoyed it.

Bring on the bagpipers!

Coach Goes to Yoga

By Fred
Yesterday Cheryl brought Coach down to the yoga class and introduced him to Martha, our instructor who has a soft spot for dogs.

My original plan--years ago, before I knew better--was to take our sweet, well-behaved, quiet and Zen-like Southeastern Guide dog puppies to yoga class once or twice a week. I actually believed this would be possible. I believed these puppies would magically sit still in a room full of strangers while we all twisted and turned and otherwise acted silly. And so far I've given each of the dogs a chance. One chance each.

A picture of our tiny, smiling
yoga instructor, Martha, struggling to hold Coach in
the air and giving him a hug.

If the puppy is bad in yoga class, I can only whisper "no", a soft "no" with a complete lack of authority in my voice. (There's no loud talking in yoga.) And it is much too easy for a little puppy to get attention.

So I'm pretty sure this will be Coach's only visit to yoga. Maybe.

Naughty Children at Frenchy's Rockaway Turn Deck into Vermin Picnic Area

Yes, I thought I had seen everything.  After all, I have caught poop in my hands.  I have had a stranger come up to my table look me in the eye and calmly say, "Now I will put my hands under the table and pet your dog." Oh no you will not, crazy lady.

But today, really took the cake.

Fred and I had decided that Coach needed a lunch exposure and we thought that the deck of Frenchy's Rockaway and the sand of Clearwater Beach would be a good break for our gentle giant.  So, off we toddled to the beach for some grouper tacos.

Fred and Coach, a black goldadore in front of Frenchy's

We sat down at a table next to the wall of the building, which I liked, because it gave us a place for Coach to be out of the way.  Plus, Frenchy's, like every other restaurant near the beach, has a problem with sea birds: gulls and pigeons and sparrows are always darting in to snarf up some stray crumb.  There are signs telling you not to feed them as they become aggressive.

We sit down next to a table with a mom and dad and their three boys and little girl.  The parents are in their forties.  Old enough, certainly to know what proper restaurant behavior is.  Here is a photo of them.  You can see them just past Fred.  Rather, you can see two of the boys and the girl.

Fred, holding his menu up, three of the urchins are visible in the background.

Fred and I order our food and get Coach settled when all of a sudden a half of a french fly comes flying in under our table.  Coach leaps up and goes for it.

"Where did that fry come from?" I said as Fred snatches the fry off the deck.  Fred rolls his eyes back to the table behind him.  "Are they throwing french fries?" My voice is not especially low nor is my tone especially friendly.  I narrow my gaze at what I now consider urchins and discover that they are indeed throwing entire french fries all over the deck in hopes of attracting pigeons (vermin!! Literally, flying rats!) to their table.  The only problem is that vermin walk.  And vermin like pigeons are especially attractive to dogs like Coach.

A pigeon walks along the deck under the tables and chairs.

Coach meanwhile is under the table trying desperately to figure out if another fry is going to be flung his way or if a pigeon is going to walk by with a fry sticking out of his mouth and if maybe he might be able to pounce and get a two for one deal.  We are trying to get him to settle.  I am shooting daggers at the mom who is watching her sons throw fries all over the floor of this restaurant and not saying a word.

Coach looks out from under the chair for a pigeon.

"I can't BELIEVE this!" I say to Fred. I'm looking around for a waitress to call over so I can point them in the rabble's direction and say, "Look at what these people are doing!  Surely you don't allow customers to throw food on your floor so pigeons will gather and poop on your deck?  You must stop them."

Coach looks up at the camera.

But I think all the waitstaff was conflict phobic.  Finally, the mom had enough and said, "Stop it.  Go outside and throw them." And she gave all the fries to the oldest and the children left.

Coach gets ready for a nap under the table.

Coach went to sleep.  He was so worn out.  I was worn out and disappointed with people in general.

Naptime has been achieved.

As we were walking out of Frenchy's another woman approached me.

Coach gets to experience his first beach. Here he is standing beside Cheryl on the sand.

"Am I allowed to pet him?"

"No, I'm sorry, not when he has his coat on. He's working. But thank you very much for asking."

"No. Thank you! Thank you for all that you do."

How nice. I guess we did have a lovely lunch out.

Exposing Yourself (to Criticism)

Home Depot. Your first thought might be super place for guide dog puppies in training. There are plenty of loud noises and strange sounds coming from every aisle, so it makes for a grand experience. Plus the floor is concrete, so if there are any accidents, no worries. Clean up is a breeze! You would be correct, but your puppy may have another reason for loving Home Depot. At least mine does. Her Royal Highness (HRH) Berkeley sees Home Depot as one of the places where she can caution the underdressed and fashion misfits on their poor choices. People dress mighty casually when they go to Home Depot and there is a lot of exposed flesh, something that does not sit well with HRH.

As you can see from this photo HRH is looking through the lumber cart down the aisle for scantily clad Home Depot shoppers. She likes to scope out the scene and then pounce on them when they are least expecting it. And when the person on the other end of her leash is least expecting it. Take this lady for instance, notice how the back of her knees are right out there in public AND they are at just the right height for a cold nose to be pressed up against them. HRH can walk right by them and then, with a quick head turn, nab her knee before I realize what is going on. Usually the squacking is not long lived. Here's a two for one deal! A quick swipe of the nose on the calf of the Mister and then a cold nose to the back of the knee on the Missus. She loves that. It makes her especially happy to goose the young ones. Sometimes she even goes low for an ankle. Just for variety. Or if the shorts are very wide, like these, she might stick her nose up them as if to say, "Girly man shorts!" That's when it becomes embarrassing.

"Oh, sorry! My dog just stuck her nose up your skirt. Ooops!" At school when she does this, and I correct her everyone just says, "Oh, Berkeley." In the real world, it's a bit of a problem. I even had one student just walk by us 6 or 7 times so I could correct HRH and keep her from nosing up the girl's skirt. Was her skirt a bit above the knee? I won't tell!

HRH and Home Depot. If you see her coming, don't turn your back on her.