A Brand New Coat

By Fred
Poor Coach has been wearing a hand-me-down coat for months now, with faded lettering and frayed edges, and I've wondered if his self-esteem has suffered, with him seeming to be the poor kid at all the guide dog meetings.

A picture of Coach in his new coat.
He has a big smile on his face.

I could tell he was overjoyed yesterday when his new coat arrived in the mail. And I couldn't wait to take him out into public and let him show off.

It wasn't long until someone came up to us in Publix. Coach did his best Sit ever and looked up at the woman with the sweetest face, knowing that his new coat would help get him the attention and affection he feels that he deserves.

The woman gave Coach a quick glance and then looked at me. "Do you know Coastie?" she asked.

Yes, of course I know Coastie, I replied. Coastie is another guide dog puppy in our group. But when I tried to change the subject and tell her about Coach, the woman interrupted me.

"I've read all about Coastie and seen him on TV," she said as though she were describing Brad Pitt instead of a puppy. "And I saw him here in the store, just a few days ago." And then she went on to tell me about her dog and her husband and her job and more about Coastie, not giving Coach another look.

I could tell that Coach had his feelings hurt. His tail was a little droopy on the way out of the store, that is until another woman and her little girl came up to us.

"Pretty dog, mama," the girl said. "Yes," her mom agreed. Obviously she admired the coat very much.

And Coach was back to his old self.

Doughnut: Get In My Belly!

We had a very successful breaksale last week, raising over $250 to name the next Southeastern Guide Dog puppy for me and Fred to raise (to donate go to Coach's walkathon page).  We added ice cream bars to our list of items for sale and they went like wildfire!  In addition we had tons of doughnuts.  Tons!  So many that in the crush of students clamoring for a doughnut, one tasty piece of fried dough hit the ground.

To say that Coach was on the doughnut like a duck on a junebug would not be an overstatement.  I was handing out ice cream bars and heard a cry:

"Coach has a doughnut!"

My first thought was "How?" and when I turned there were three student library proctors pointing in horror at Coach who was so happy he couldn't contain his joy.  He was trying to swallow the frosted, cream-filled doughnut whole, which is only thing that saved him, because otherwise, I think he would have successfully snarfed the whole thing down.  As it was, he was stymied.

I reached down to try and open up his jaw and pry the doughnut out and Coach decided that he was going to eat this doughnut no matter what!  It was a grand struggle.  He knew if he opened his jaw, the doughnut was gone, but he had to give a little in order to swallow.  I could also see gooey, cream-filled, slobbery doughnut oozing between his teeth.  His eyes were starting to bug a little because he hadn't taken a breath.  His mouth was filled with doughnut.

Before the breaksale madness, Coach hides under my skirt (it is a very long skirt and I am standing!).

Finally, breathing won out over doughnut and he opened up to take a quick breath.  I snatched out the nasty, slobbery goo-doughnut ball and proceed to throw it away.  About a third of the cream filling remained on my fingers.  

Coach licked his chops and stared at the trash can.  So close.  So close.

The Puppy Who Cried, "Stick!" and Then Was Redeemed

 There once was a puppy who would go off on long walking adventures with his two long suffering companions.  At first all was well and a smooth and steady pace was achieved, but soon, the puppy would begin to have doubts about the route.  Perhaps he should have eaten more breakfast.  Perhaps that acorn over there would be a tasty morsel to add to his morning repast.

And so he would lurch off the path, dragging his companion with him to nip over and lunge for an acorn only to be told to "drop it."  That was the worst.  To feel the acrid bite of the acorn on your tongue, that first crunch, and then, "Drop it."

But, it had to be done.  He dropped it.

So he looked for sticks.  And found them.  They were everywhere.  They littered the entire path as it was a forest path and was not swept with any regularity.  Over and over his companion had to bend down and pull bits of stick out of his mouth and he could see that she was not happy with this new turn of events.

I am standing holding some sticks, Coach is sitting in front of me and is looking off to the right.

And yet, he did not care.  For the lure of the stick was too great.  He could not pass it up. Even in the photo at the end of the journey when his companion held out some sticks to show what he had gathered and how he had slowed them down with his thoughtless chewing, he still yearned for them. Looked for them.

I am standing holding some sticks, Coach is sitting in front of me and is looking at the camera.  His eyes are glowing.

He was confused.  Should he walk fast? Or should he follow his instincts and eat sticks?  What should he do?  What did his conscience tell him to do?  What would he do when no one was looking?  That was the question.

Later when his companion was in the shower and he was in the dressing area, he snoozed lightly looking out from under the curtain and into the main shower room.  Two older Hispanic ladies approached from the pool area.

"Hola, perrito!" the one lady said to him, trying to engage him in conversation.  Coach looked at her.  This was it.  What would he do?  Then he got up and moved into the shower area and away from the two ladies.

Later the older lady saw his companion and apologized saying, "I tried to talk to your puppy when you were in the shower, but he was so good.  He wouldn't do anything.  He just got up and moved into the shower away from me.  He is much better behaved than I am!"  She laughed.

"He sure is!" Her friend added loudly.  Then they both laughed.  His companion patted Coach on the  and said sweet words to him.

Coach standing with a smile on his face with a smile. He is in coat.

He knew then he had made the right choice.  It was going to be a good day.

Mastering Your Fear!

Sometimes, it is the unexpected things that give us pause.  That make us say, OMG!  That frighten us or make us timid and shy.

Sometimes, it is only repeated exposure that make us comfortable with those things, with the OTHER that has frightened us.

And so it was with Coach.  We were shopping for some things to help with our Halloween outfits when we headed down an aisle that had a whole big wall of FAKE BIRDS.  Who knew that fake birds were so scary.  I didn't.  But to Coach, it was like meeting a zombie.

He reared back and wouldn't go near them.  If he had been human and knew karate, he would have kicked that stand down and stomped those fake birds into dust.  Or perhaps not.  He really didn't want to get close to them.  I think he was afraid they would leap onto him.  I swear we have not been watching Alfred Hitchcock movies at home!  He is not channeling Tippi Hedren.

So, when met with a object that your puppy finds scary, as a Southeastern Guide Dog puppy raiser, we are supposed to get our puppy to at least come back and try to go next to it or get closer to it.  And try again until they gradually lose their fear.

We were in a pretty empty Michael's, so I whipped out my iPhone and started to video tape the exercise.  I thought he was pretty good.  He would get close and then back away.  But ultimately, he grew annoyed with me and gave a huge big boy bark, just one, that the entire store heard.

"MOM! Enough already!!"

Ooops.  Sorry, buddy.  I'll stop filming now and take you away from the birds.  I did however, buy two of them and we continued to deal with this issue.  In the end, well, I'll let you see how Coach finally masters his fear of fake birds by watching the video I put together.

Jam's Report Card!!!

We just got a new report on Jam.  Seems like he is continuing to do really well, so everyone should keep crossing their fingers and saying their prayers!!  Don't slack off now.  He's working really hard and loving his training as his trainer's comments below show he is a happy worker, but we knew that!

Jam at the Bradenton Mall sitting in harness by a giant sandal.  He is inside a shoe store! Photo by Kathy Hysmith. 

COMMENTS:  Jam is always in a good mood and loving life.  I don’t think this dog ever has bad day in his head. J  He loves everyone and has a blast running around with his roommate.  His harness work is still improving and he absolutely loves it.  We are still working on his obedience including his jumping and sit/stay.  He is a very smart dog and just needs to keep busy.  Sometimes I think that I could do a 10 mile route and that would only be his warm up!

 Go Jam go!!!

Hugs Not Drugs!

A week ago, middle division had a drug free week where each day had a special theme.  On the Hugs, Not Drugs day, a group of middle school students came running into the library.

"Mrs. McLean!" They cried. Right away, I was a bit on edge.  It was a noisy entrance.  What did these crazy middle schoolers want?

"Can we take a photo with Coach?" I looked at them quizzically.

"Why?"

"It's HUGS NOT DRUGS DAY!!!!" was the shouted response.  Sigh.  They were so excited and evidently the assignment was to bring in photos of people they had hugged.  They had all come up with the brilliant plan to hug Coach.

"Of course."

Who wouldn't want to hug Coach?

Inside or Out

By Fred
Yesterday I had an extensive list of chores to perform, both inside and outside the house. And since Cheryl is not here to distract me and give me excuses to goof off, I knew that it would be a busy day. And I wondered how I could get Coach involved in my chores in some way.

I started with weeding. Our Turks Cap in the back yard gets full of vines--I pull them but they always come back. Normally when we are in the backyard with the dogs, the focus is on them, but yesterday my focus was on those vines, me on my hands and knees, crawling though the thick maze of plants, and Coach quickly lost interest.

When he walked away and became involved in mischief, I took him into the house and then returned to work so that he could see me through the French doors. A month or so ago Coach would have just found some mischief in the house, but now he was perplexed by his situation. So he just sat there and watched me. It seems that all the puppies go through this transformation at about 6 or 7 months old, when you can finally trust them a little.

Ten minutes later I let him out and returned to weeding while giving Coach a speech about the nature of vines and so on. The neighbors, I'm sure, have formed an opinion about me (good). He watched and listened again for about 10 minutes and then wandered off.

Coach standing by the Vines.
Notice the curly tail--just like Jam

So I took him back into the house for another 10 or 15 minutes. The next time he came out he sat close by until I finished my yard work.

Then later I was in the kitchen preparing food for the grill but I made the dogs stay on the porch, where Coach sat patiently staring inside. Then outside at the grill, when Coach got bored and wandered away, I put in back into the house to watch me from there. More confusion on his face.

Five minutes, ten minutes, and I let him out again. He did not wander away again.

More chores today.