[nagdu] 13 years of Echotude

[Wayne Merritt]

And many happy good girls per hour, grin. Love reading about other
people's dog experiences and various anniversaries.

Wayne

On 2/15/10, Tamara Smith-Kinney <tamara.8024 at comcast.net> wrote:
> What a wonderful partnership.  Many happy sniffy walks to Echo.  And many
> spring squirrels to chase!
>
> Tami Smith-Kinney
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
> Of Tracy Carcione
> Sent: Monday, February 15, 2010 7:55 AM
> To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
> Subject: [nagdu] 13 years of Echotude
>
> Tomorrow will be Echo and my 13th anniversary!  13 years ago, in 1997, I
> went off to GDB San Rafael.  I had spoken to my instructor beforehand, so
> I knew I was getting a small female black lab, which was exactly what I
> wanted.  I was delighted when he announced on Dog Day that her name was
> Echo.  I went into the instructor's room to meet her, and she bounced up
> to me, then fell over on her back for her first belly rub from me.  She
> was the cutest thing!  I don't remember much more of that day, but that
> evening, after I put her on tie-down, she started whimpering.  I sat down
> next to her and petted her while I listened to Gregorian chant on the
> radio.  We were both a bit anxious that evening, and it was really nice to
> sit together and be quiet.  Our class was very small, so I had a room to
> myself, which was great.
> Next day, we went out for our first walk together in downtown San Rafael.
> She was awful!  She was slower than a snail.  She pushed me into tree
> cutouts.  She started wandering up the middle of the street once.  She
> stayed awful for several days, too.  But gradually she got used to me, and
> decided she could work for me after all.  We needed some more help after
> we got home, but then we finally clicked, and she was great!  She needed a
> lot of cheerleading, especially at first in New York City.  I made up a
> new measurement, good girls per hour.  Sometimes our GGPH was up in the
> hundreds.  Echo could do anything, so long as she knew her efforts were
> appreciated and she got some happy encouragement.  And over time, the GGPH
> dropped to an easier level to maintain.
> She was great at finding places she'd been before.  I remember at some
> convention hotel, I had breakfast at one of those open cafe places on the
> mezzanine.  Later that day, I was up there for some meeting, and got
> confused coming back to find the elevator.  I couldn't figure out where to
> direct Echo, and she couldn't figure out what I wanted.  Finally, she led
> me to the table where I'd had breakfast.  I recognized where we were then,
> and could give her some sensible directions.  She was also able to figure
> out, after the first time, which bank of elevators we wanted to get back
> to our room.  Not sure how she knew, as they all seemed similar to me, and
> all in a big circle, but she always got it right.
> She was a bit high-maintenance, but the results were well worth the effort.
> She retired at 11 and a half.  She had slowed down, didn't have the
> endurance for long walks, and didn't have her old enthusiasm for going new
> places.  She's adapted well to the life of leisure.  She enjoys going out
> for a good sniffy walk with my husband, and spends most of the day
> sprawled out on the bed, taking it easy.  Come spring, she can go out in
> the backyard with me.  She still enjoys chasing squirrels.  And stealing
> my tomatoes, when they're just getting ripe.
> Happy anniversary, Echo! Good girl!
> Tracy
>
>
>
>
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