[nagdu] What a night!

[Daryl Marie]

So for the past month I have been gearing up for a fundraiser for the blind sports association; we've had training sessions three times a week to get ready.  We meet at a university campus at a building that no one seems to know what or where it is, my GPS has never been able to find it, and we have gotten there six different ways!

My trainer works in that building, and one day last week I went with her.  We took a rather circuitous route from the train station, but we got there just fine.  So I figured that last night... hey! I kinda know where I'm going, I can get there!

Well........ not really.

Jenny and I did just fine leaving the train station, wen down the ramp, past the station itself, up a flight of stairs...
I don't know how we did it, but we took a wrong turn somewhere and wound up at a theatre; it's not that far from the university as far as I know, but you have to cut through somewhere along the way, and I had NO idea what that was.  I whipped out my phone, plugged the building address into the GPS, and figured "OK, now I am good!"
This whole time, Jenny had been super calm and super focused; usually in unfamiliar surroundings, or if she is very confused, she will walk very quickly, not listen to commands, or display other anxious behavior... but not last night! We walked.... and walked... and walked! Past the theatre, through the endless parcade, and several blocks before we could turn and get out of there.  She found me the light post without sniffing the bottom, and we crossed happily.  We walked again, down a busy street, and crossed it when we got to the university complex...  Jenny took me to a building, then when it wasn't the one we wanted, she took me to a green space where she put up her front paws and looked up at me; I took off her harness, she relieved, then back on the harness she went!
But we were still lost!
Finally I came across a group of students and asked for directions.  Two of them were willing to walk with me, so we kept on walking! By this time Jenny was starting to pant and was quite obviously getting tired; but she kept her cool! We cut through the student union building, she listened to every single command I gave her, and made it through and entire food court with tons of students and no problems!

We finally made it to the building, right on time, and met up with my group and my husband.  Jenny was so excited to see everyone! But she sat and waited for me to take off her harness so she could say hi to my husband. I let her have a big drink of water, and then let her get out some of that excess energy by running around the group saying hi to everyone.  She ran around and did what we call idiot circles all around the group, but came back and sat calmly and stayed with my husband while I ran.

This whole thing took over 45 minutes... but I couldn't be happier.  It has proven something to me about myself and my dog...
we can get lost, but we are a team... and we can make it together

Daryl and Jenny (who got a well-deserved snuggle last night, and actually fell asleep in the front seat of the car)