[NAGDU] FW: Obedience
Julie Johnson
julielj402 at gmail.com
Sat Mar 18 11:21:52 UTC 2017
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
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