[nagdu] {Spam?} First week of training

[Lisa]

Hello everyone!

Well, the first week of my guide dog training is over and I thought I'd tell 
you a bit about it. It's a rather long e-mail. But maybe you're interested 
anyway.

The beginning was incredibly rough and stressful. My boyfriend and I had 
spent the whole Monday waiting excitedly for the arrival of the trainer and 
Taylor. When they came in the evening, the trainer entered the apartment 
with Taylor on leash and told him to lie down immediately. I was not allowed 
to say hello to him in any way. At this point I thought well, he must have 
his reasons so I waited.
Then, after we talked a little while, he gave me the leash and said we 
should go for a short walk so Taylor could relieve himself. We went outside 
and Taylor pulled so hard on the leash, which was not surprising for me 
because at this time, we still didn't have any contact with each other. I 
expected the trainer to advise me on how I should react best and stuff but 
all he did was criticize me for everything I did without giving me any 
suggestions of alternatives. It was terrible. I was so hurt and stressed out 
after this. Then the trainer set up the crate and told me I wasn't allowed 
to take Taylor out of it. He left for the night and I was so disappointed. I 
really thought I couldn't make it through these three weeks of training with 
this horrible guy.
The next day, he took Taylor on leash and kind of chased me through town for 
three hours. He said he wanted to see how prepared I was for the graduation 
at the end of the training. I had to go with my cane and he just followed me 
and criticized me for numerous things.
At the end of this day, Tuesday that is, I finally started a serious 
conversation with him. I told him I wouldn't understand why I wasn't allowed 
to touch my future dog and all the other things. I was so exhausted and 
disappointed. He made a few attempts on explaining his behaviour but nothing 
was really new to me. Like "the new environment is stressful for the dog" 
and "I have to know how prepared you are for the graduation". And I kept 
thinking: "Well, guy, I thought we would work for three weeks so I'd be 
prepared for the graduation afterwards." But I didn't give in and told him 
I'd need more structured announcements from him. Like when we start training 
in the morning and in the afternoon and what we are going to do -- so far he 
had just shown up at our place and started whatever he wanted to.
I was desperate.
But Wednesday morning, everything changed. Well, not everything. Not his way 
of talking to me, which I still think is with a lack of respect and 
courtesy. But he started telling me how long our training session would be 
each morning and afternoon and what we were going to do. And finally, I was 
allowed to take Taylor on leash with me through the apartment. So I finally 
got in touch with the dog and everything looked alot brighter then. Okay, 
this is a good moment to tell you about Taylor.
He is so full of joy and lust for living. He behaves like a puppy in the 
apartment -- stole stuffed animals, knocked over the milk pot and started 
licking the milk from the table.... But during the short period of time that 
he is with us, he has learned so many things already. In the living-room he 
is very relaxed and sleeping most of the time by now. The other rooms? Well, 
we are working things out. ;-)
And the day before yesterday, I worked him for the first time. So, I walked 
with a guide for the very first time in my life. And surprisingly, it worked 
brilliantly. I was so sure that it would take ages for me to trust the dog 
and get used to the feeling of walking without a cane in my hand. But it 
went so well! I keep thinking there has to come a big change next week or 
so, where I suddenly feel insecure because I just can't believe it.
And since Taylor and I are working together during the training sessions, 
the trainer is much better to endure. Even though I'm kind of scared of the 
next week and the week after that, because we will have to be at the central 
station and take busses all the time then. And he is just so not the kind of 
person that encourages and validates you, unfortunately.
But Taylor is so great. In harness, he works with all that joy I mentioned 
before. You just notice with any step how  much he likes to work. And I 
think we bonded very well so far. I say "I think" because the trainer never 
tells me things that are positive. So I have to think of what's positive 
myself instead.
OK, that's my update so far.
best wishes from Germany
Lisa