[nagdu] A New Chapter Begins to Start

[Julie J.]

Congratulations!

It's exciting...and terrifying...and freeing...and humiliating, but in the 
end it's all worth it.  or at least I think so. *smile*

Julie


-----Original Message----- 
From: Buddy Brannan via nagdu
Sent: Tuesday, July 01, 2014 5:17 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: [nagdu] A New Chapter Begins to Start

Hi,

Well, been talking about it for years, and now I’ve decided I’m jumping in.

I’ve decided that I’m going to train my next guide dog.

First, I want to make one thing very clear. I have nothing but the utmost 
respect for guide dog schools. This isn’t some anti-authoritarian down with 
the establishment thing. In fact, I may never do this thing again after the 
one time. Or maybe I will. No one knows, not even me. This is just a thing I’m 
doing because I want the experience of raising and training my next guide 
dog, simple as that. I’m under no delusions here; I don’t, for instance, 
think that I’ll do as thorough a job with traffic training as the Seeing Eye 
does, but, and meaning to cast no aspersions, I don’t think *anyone* does as 
thorough a job of traffic training as Seeing Eye does. I do, however, 
believe that I will do a safe and adequate job of it, otherwise, I won’t 
pass my dog out of training.

In this case, and for my purposes, this is more about the journey than it is 
about the destination, important as that destination is. Whether I take two 
years or three, or even whether I (and my dog) am/are successful, I will 
have the experience, and I expect to learn something valuable from it.

I’m in no rush. Leno and I are coming up on our fourth anniversary at the 
end of August. That means, if he holds to pattern, I’ve got at least two 
more years of working with him, and he’s showing no signs of slowing down. 
Even if I started with a puppy today, I don’t anticipate being done any time 
before dog’s second birthday, and probably later, and really, I’m *not* 
starting with a puppy today.

I’ll be visiting with a breeder on Saturday. I’ll be surprised if I have a 
new puppy in much less than a year from now. This is a thing I’m nervous 
about, excited about, and looking forward to. Also perhaps dreading 
slightly, if for no other reason than puppy parking in the middle of the 
night. Still, it’s exciting stuff, albeit a really, really large undertaking 
that has an uncertain outcome.

So that’s my bit of fun. I fully expect to be bending the ears of the owner 
trainers here, because, well, I’m going in on new territory. Fortunately, 
Leno will be around to help me through it.

—Buddy


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