[NAGDU] FW: [New post] A Typical Morning at The Seeing Eye

[Tracy Carcione]

This if from a blog I read.  The author is at TSE right now.  She got her new dog Wednesday.

Thought people might find it interesting, keeping in mind that every team of trainers does things a little differently.

Tracy

 

 

From: Beth Finke [mailto:donotreply at wordpress.com] 
Sent: Friday, January 10, 2020 11:01 AM
To: carcione at access.net
Subject: [New post] A Typical Morning at The Seeing Eye

 


Beth posted: " How's life at the Seeing Eye, you ask? Here's an account of our latest day of training: 5:30 a.m. Music comes through intercoms to wake us up. The day before we were matched with our dogs it was Fleetwood Mac's "Don't Stop Thinking About To" 



	

 



New post on Beth Finke 

  <http://s0.wp.com/i/emails/blavatar.png> 

 




 <https://bethfinke.com/?author=1> 


 <https://bethfinke.com/blog/2020/01/10/a-typical-morning-at-the-seeing-eye/> A Typical Morning at The Seeing Eye


by  <https://bethfinke.com/?author=1> Beth 

 <http://bethfinke.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/trainer.jpg> Photo taken during warm weather of an obstacle course that trainers use to teach dogs how to lead their eventual companions. 

The dogs work hard even before they meet their human companions. Here, a trainer teaches a dog how to lead around common obstacles.

How's life at the Seeing Eye, you ask? Here's an account of our latest day of training:

*	 

o    5:30 a.m. Music comes through intercoms to wake us up. The day before we were matched with our dogs it was Fleetwood Mac's "Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow." This morning it was "Baby its Cold Outside." Every day, a different song to wake us up.

o    5:35 Leave dog in her crate while you dish out one-and-a-half cups dry dog food from the tightly-closed bin on the floor near our dormroom door.

o    Zip open crate, say and repeat the word "rest" as you place the dish in from of her. Keep saying "rest" until you stand up, clap your hands and happily call out, "Take it!" Your dog must stay in the crate by the bedpost until you say those magic words. If they go after the food before those magic words, you pick up the food and go through the entire routine again--she can't have her food until she stays in her place.

o    5:45 Your dog inhales her food, then you "heel" her to the bathroom (heel as in walk with leash, but no harness), measure out two cups of water, she drinks what she wants, and you empty out any water she didn't drink. She only gets water when you give it to her, part of the "bonding." She better follow my commands and keep me safe so that she can have water!

o    5:47 Dress up warm then out to the courtyard for "park time." Twenty blind people circle their dogs around them, all  urging our dog to empty. Trainers are with us and call out to let us know when we've had success: "#1 for Dilbert!" and Dilbert's owner whoops it up to encourage him to always go on command. "Harry has a #2!" And his owner squeals with delight. Today was a red letter day, my dog did her #1 AND #2 fairly quickly: once they do both you can have them lead you back into the building (and warmth!) using the "inside!" command.

o    6:00 Back to our room. Clean out empty bowls with a little squeegee thing they gave us to do so, put bowls back on their shelf (above toilet) in bathroom.

o    6:05 a.m.: I don't what others do, but I make myself a cup of instant coffee using this groovy collapsible "hot pot" Mike bought me for my birthday last month.

o    6:15 Check email.

o    6:30 Shower.

o    6:45 Call "6368" on desk phone to hear what the menu for today is, check blood sugar and take appropriate insulin to cover breakfast.

o    6:55 Announcement over intercom "first floor ladies, head down to the dining room" or "men from upstairs, start heading to breakfast." We all parade down to the dining room, our dogs leading the way.

o    7:00 Each student has an assigned seat in the dining room, we give dogs a series of commands to go "left" "forward" or "right" to get to our seat and praise them when they achieve their goal.

o    7:15 Breakfast. The dining room is lovely, white tablecloths and all. Waiters and waitresses come to get our orders so the dogs will know how to act in a restaurant.

o    8:00 Off in vans to training center in downtown Morristown.

o    8:15 Today we are practicing our "solo" route. We've been practicing a route around Morristown for the past couple days. The route includes T-intersections, four-way stoplights, a two-way stop sign, talking walk signals, left turns, two right turns. Our "solo trip" is Sunday, and during the solo the trainer is still behind us, but quite a distance.

o    Uh-oh. Announcment over intercom just sounded: time to head to the vans to downtown Morristown. It's not even 8:00 a.m. yet!

 <https://bethfinke.com/?author=1> Beth | January 10, 2020 at 11:01 am | Tags:  <https://bethfinke.com/?taxonomy=post_tag&term=guide-dog> guide dog,  <https://bethfinke.com/?taxonomy=post_tag&term=training> training | URL:  <https://wp.me/p8qdst-48l> https://wp.me/p8qdst-48l 


 <https://bethfinke.com/blog/2020/01/10/a-typical-morning-at-the-seeing-eye/#respond> Comment

    <https://bethfinke.com/blog/2020/01/10/a-typical-morning-at-the-seeing-eye/#comments> See all comments

 


Unsubscribe to no longer receive posts from Beth Finke.
Change your email settings at Manage Subscriptions. 

Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser: 
 <https://bethfinke.com/blog/2020/01/10/a-typical-morning-at-the-seeing-eye/> https://bethfinke.com/blog/2020/01/10/a-typical-morning-at-the-seeing-eye/ 

 

	

  <http://pixel.wp.com/b.gif?blog=124458953&post=15893&subd=bethfinke.com&ref=&email=1&email_o=jetpack&host=jetpack.wordpress.com>   <http://pixel.wp.com/t.gif?email_name=email_subscription&blog_id=124458953&_ut=anon&_ui=e173d5b6544f2258c161b5856b7d0c88&email_id=f2ad266deea26253e649c144f38e9a3c&date_sent=2020-01-10&domain=bethfinke.com&frequency=0&digest=0&has_html=1&locale=en&_en=wpcom_email_open&browser_type=php-agent&_aua=wpcom-tracks-client-v0.3&blog_tz=-5&blog_lang=0&_ts=1578672077234>