[NAGDU] FW: Obedience

[Julie Johnson]

Cindy,

I think it would do both of you a lot of good.  You miss the walks with 
him and it sounds like he would enjoy the work.

I am one of those people who switches between two dogs.  Here's the 
story for the new people or those who don't know.

In 2013 or thereabouts, I noticed that Monty was slowing down on the way 
to my office.  He would walk at a snails pace, stop for no reason and 
then the way home would be at warp speed.  I noticed other things that 
made me feel like he didn't want to guide anymore.

I got baby Jetta in  August 2013.  She spent the next year with Meghan 
learning obedience, socialization, general manners and intro to being a 
guide dog.  Meghan brought Jetta back here in August 2014.  Jetta was 14 
months old and a fully trained guide dog.  She was young and needed a 
lot of experience yet, but she was solid in the foundations of guide work.

My plan was to work both Jetta and Monty until Jetta got a bit older and 
was ready to handle the mental pressure of full time guide work.  I 
worked Jetta exclusively to my office and related work tasks.  Monty 
went with me to some shopping and more leisure things.

The reason I went with private training for Jetta instead of owner 
training, as I had done with previous dogs, was because of time. There 
were plans to expand programs at work and I was tentatively offered the 
position of being the director of those programs. Between changes in 
grant funding, attitudes of elected officials and other drama, I ended 
up leaving that job in November 2014. The new program never materialized 
in the way it was planned.  The job I left has never been filled.  The 
program I used to administer no longer exists.

I continued to switch between Jetta and Monty.  Over the next year Jetta 
developed a pretty serious dog reactivity issue. Interestingly Monty 
recovered from his stress issues, since he didn't have to go to the 
office anymore.  So I was working Monty as my main guide while I worked 
with Jetta on her dog issues.

Over the past year Jetta has made huge progress around other dogs.  
She's still not perfect, but she's well within manageable parameters.  
Monty still loves to work, but is slowing down due to age.

It's not what I had planned, but it has worked out okay.  The changes in 
work volume has never affected either one of them negatively.   They 
both come to the door when I put on my jacket, but when I harness one, 
the other backs off without a fuss.

Life just keeps on happening and the best you can do is roll with it.   
At the time I was really frustrated about the job situation.  Looking 
back though, it's been wonderful.  I've been able to grow my guide dog 
business.  I'm doing something I enjoy. I'm in charge so there is never 
drama about business decisions. I'm learning new things and growing as a 
person.  those are all really important things to me.

My advice  for today is to do what you think is the best thing you can 
do for yourself and your dogs.   My advice for tomorrow is to do the 
best thing you think you can do for yourself and your dogs, even if it's 
a different thing from today.

Julie