[nagdu] class -10 (Yikes!)

[Tracy Carcione]

This is a sort of class journal entry.  I'm not asking for advice, though a 
little encouragement might not be amiss.

The class supervisor called yesterday to see if I had any questions.  I 
asked him what dogs they had in mind for me.  A lab or a cross, of either 
gender.  So there's probably a retriever in my future, and not altogether 
golden.  I'm fine with that.  I'd prefer a guy, but TSE has some very nice 
girls, too.  Maybe one of those ultra-cute microlabs. <smile>

Then I asked him who my instructor would be, and was dismayed to hear that 
it was a person who did something stupid that actually hurt me when she saw 
me on follow-up.  I told him so, too, and he said he'd think about switching 
instructors.  I am not happy.  I had a vague hope of getting a good 
instructor who would actually teach me something new about dog training.  If 
that squirrel is the best they've got at the moment, that hope is crushed.
I had 4 really great instructors early on in my guide dog life, 3 of whom 
went on to become directors of training.  I guess it gave me high 
expectations, which haven't actually been met in almost 20 years now.  Well, 
I guess I've got enough experience to get by with only a few helpful hints 
from the trainer.  I'm just disappointed, and stressing about the whole 
thing.
A friend reminds me that everybody stresses about something in class.  Last 
time for me, it was what to wear to lunch, when we're supposed to dress 
nicely.  This time, it's a quality trainer, which seems like a lot bigger 
worry to me. But there's not much I can do about it, except wait around for 
someone I think is good, which I'm not going to do, having already arranged 
time off and all.  Ugh.
Tracy