[NAGDU] Anniversary (LONG)
David
david at bakerinet.com
Mon Jun 27 23:23:22 UTC 2016
July 3rd will mark the anniversary of the day Claire Rose and I arrived
home from school. As you can imagine, after a year Claire and I are
pretty tight. We walk each morning for a couple of hours, unless I start
too late and it gets too hot. I carry ice in a Camelbak and we sit on
benches a couple of times to finish off the ice. She thinks that ice is
the world's most fabulous treat. The school's local trainer here is not
too hot about treats, but Claire is so food driven, we have continued
treats for performance on a random basis since leaving school.
She can find an elevator button, even when I am convinced there isn't
one. The minute the door opens on an elevator in a bank of elevators she
is dragging me to it. Men's restrooms are a magnet and she never fails
to find one when I ask. I think I've mentioned before how she learned to
find traffic buttons in one clicker session at one intersection. The
only ones she has trouble with are those behind a guardrail. We still
argue about pace when walking, but I am becoming more relaxed about it
and she is, too. I don't know whether she was taught the Walk and Hike
commands, but she handles both of them with ease. Walk has been a big
help in grocery stores and Hike is great when we have to wend our way
through narrow places. We're currently working on tree roots on park
paths and she is getting pretty good. At 76 I'm a little too old to
spend a lot of time on the ground. Fortunately, Claire thinks so, too.
She's very good at sidewalk problems, once I've tripped over them.
(Right About, repeat Right About, repeat)
She is a perfect lady in restaurants - slides under and disappears until
it is time to go. (She does like licking bare toes and lotion from legs,
however, and when I hear giggles from my dinner mates, I know she's
indiscreetly making her presence known.) She finds cash registers, exits
and entrances, of course, and ignores children and dogs with a "Leave
It" (even though she loves the little ones).
We took 10 flight segments last year and she was perfect. The airline
attendants love her. As sweet as she is, it is kind of hard not to.
Teaching TSA officers how to handle us through the scanner has had mixed
results. We're off to the NFB convention in Orlando next week. It will
be our first train ride.
I think she has filled out some, but at 70 pounds she weighs the same as
the day we left the school. Fenway, our 55 lb. pet lab/husky cross has
become more tolerant and while they are not always playmates, they kiss
after absences and as long as it is not one of Fenway's high value toys,
she allows Claire to play with them. Fenway won't go near the water and
Claire won't stay out of it, so when we are out on the lanai and Claire
has been given "pool time", she confounds Fenway by jumping in the pool
on her float with one of Fen's toys. Claire has found a few other dog
friends. An old friend and another grad from our school live a few
blocks away and his 80+ pound lab and Claire are a good match
energy-wise. Their play reminds me of how she played at school with her
larger brother. No fear.
Thanks to her trainer and Claire's puppy raiser for the wonderful job
they did with Claire Rose. She has made a big difference in my life. I
was pretty good with a cane, but my wife said she started to cry when
she saw the two of us walking down the street looking like normal
"people". Ah, well.
Thanks, too, to all the wonderful people on our lists who have provided
support each day as we hit different challenges.
--
David and Claire Rose in Clearwater, FL
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