[nagdu] Top Dog

[marilyn]

Hi Everyone,
On Jan.10 , 4 of us from Long Island flew out of our local airport with our guide dogs to attend the Top Dog Conference in Savannah , GA. No problems going through security or changing planes in Philly. We flew US AIR who had a wonderful staff helping us. 
The weather in GA was warm and sunny all 4 days we were there. The hotel Holiday Express was very helpful too. Two sides of the hotel was section off for our dogs to relieve themselves. Pick up bags and hand cleaner were placed on a bench and near the door was a garbage can. Some people did not pick up so two announcements were made about asking volunteers for help if they couldn't clean up after there dogs. Two Trainers from Southeastern were there and very helpful.
Thursday evening about 12 of us went for dinner at Carrabbas' an Italian restaurant.
Friday more people arrived. We went on a trolley tour of Savannah and the 2 tour trolley drivers  were very informative with the history of Savannah.
I am not sure but someone said there were 75 or 80 teams of dogs there. all well behaved. 
John Byfield from Freedom dogs was there with 3 dogs he is training. One a white Sheppard that he raised, a yellow lab, and a black poodle. 
A few other schools Leader, GDF, GEB and Southeastern had tables with information. Jenine also had a table with grooming supplies and dogs nails and ears were taken care of for free.
Someone spoke about the history of GA, we took a red cross course and got certification in animal CPR , and the guest speaker at the dinner was Sue Martin who wrote a book about how she went blind. 
Saturday I meet Anna's puppy walker and my consumer who came with us met his for the first time. It took both walkers 4 hours each way to drive. 
There were 3 puppy walkers from GDF at Top Dog and one from Southeastern who had the youngest pup there. A black lab 4 months old.
There was also a boxer guide dog, lots of Sheppard's , labs, crosses, an aussie, one guide poodle, a collie/Sheppard mix guide and golden's. One person used two dogs . One for balance and one for guiding. 
I also won a set of holiday bandanas for Anna. 
The rooms had a living room , 2 TV and 2 queen size beds. The only thing I didn't like was the bathroom sink was not in the bathroom but in the room. There was a small kitchen with a sink , refrigerator and microwave.  It was a very nice set up.
Our breakfast was also included in the price of the room.
On Sunday some of us who stayed the extra day went to River St and walked on the cobble stone streets where the trolleys go. My friend and I went on a sail ship. We had to walk up and down the gang plank . It was steep but our dogs had no problems. We ate lunch in a restaurant called Dockside and got to sit outside to eat. It was hard to believe it was January as we didn't have jackets on. 
Marilyn and Anna