[Nfbf-l] First dog; First Steps

Mon Aug 13 21:01:52 UTC 2018

Hi,
Sounds like you have a great dog.
I like his name!

Best of luck with your training!

On 8/13/18, Marion Gwizdala via Nfbf-l <nfbf-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>                 As the president of the National Association of Guide Dog
> Users, many refer to my guide dog as "First dog". In a previous post, I
> shared my first meeting with my potential new guide dog, Trooper, which
> took
> place on February 23. At that time, it was estimated I would begin training
> in about three months. As president of NAGDU, my advocacy work over the
> past
> few months has been rather intense: Meeting with Delta Airlines, working
> with other air carriers, helping the NFB of Illinois overcome the city of
> Chicago's attempt to implement illegal restrictions on service animals in
> Midway and O'Hare Airports, and participation in our Florida and national
> conventions. The timing was not conducive to engaging in training and
> Trooper needed a little more time, as well. Over the past few months,
> though, I had several opportunities to spend time with Trooper and I
> believe
> these meetings were beneficial to us both; they helped ease my impatience
> and gave Trooper a chance to get to know me before we started our training.
>
>
>
>                 Since John Byfield, Trooper's trainer from Freedom Guide
> Dogs lives in Winter Park, he joined us at our NFB of Florida convention
> which was held in Tampa. John brought Trooper with him on May 26 to attend
> our annual meeting of the Florida Association of Guide Dog Users and took
> the opportunity to expose him to the crowds of blind people with white
> canes
> and guide dogs, the type of work he will be doing with me. That day Trooper
> and I spent about three hours together. This was an excellent Segway to our
> next meeting when John brought him out to our national convention in
> Orlando. The hotel was much larger and, with 2600 in attendance, so were
> the
> crowds of blind people, white canes, and guide dogs. Here I had three more
> visits with trooper.
>
>
>
>                 In my previous post, I mentioned that Trooper seemed to
> have
> the impression that I was someone more than just another human he was
> meeting. This seemed even more apparent when I walked out of the room where
> I was preparing for our annual NAGDU meeting and unexpectedly met John and
> Trooper. Troop (as John has come to call him) was sitting next to John. As
> I
> exited the room, John greeted me and Trooper jumped up on me and gave a
> little whine, as if to say, "I know you and can't wait to come live with
> you!" I admit that I felt the same way!
>
>
>
>                 The day finally arrived and Trooper came to his forever
> home
> on Saturday, August 11! After a little get acquainted time, John suggested
> a
> short walk around the neighborhood using my white cane and letting Trooper
> leash guide me. As we approached my home on the return, John suggested we
> do
> a little harness work. Of course, I did not object! I have worked my wife's
> guide dog, Peca, from time-to-time but I had been waiting to work Trooper
> since our February 23 meeting.
>
>
>
>                 I harnessed up Trooper and was exhilarated when I felt the
> pull of his harness in my hand as I gave him our first "Forward!" command.
> We worked the same route we had just walked. I must admit I had some mixed
> emotions: I was happy to be working Trooper after waiting so long while
> feeling a bit of sadness remembering the many walks Sarge and I took on
> this
> same route.
>
>                 Upon our return home, John asked Merry if she wanted to
> join
> us for one more trip before he left. The tandem walk we took was the first
> of many we will be doing for a long time to come.
>
>
>
> When we returned, the three of us discussed the following day's events.
> Since the next day was Sunday and I am the music director at Unity North
> Tampa, it was a work day for me. The initial plan was that I would take
> Trooper with me to church on Sunday and heal him. John was so pleased with
> the work we had done he suggested I work him in harness the following day.
> Merry and our granddaughter, Hannah, would be joining me just in case there
> was the need to remove Trooper while I was working. (Trooper had never been
> exposed to live music and a large group of people singing and clapping. He
> also still has a little puppy in him, so we were unsure how he would do
> during the quiet time of meditation my community has during our services.
> Suffice it to say that all went very well with absolutely no issues!
>
>
>
> John arrived at my home bright and early at 6:45 this morning. He said we
> were going to have "baptism by fire"! Trooper and I loaded into the van and
> we were off to Ybor (E-bore) City, Tampa's equivalent to the New Orleans
> French Quarter. At this time in the morning, not much is going on in this
> historic district but it has a lot of obstacles to maneuver. It also has
> ferrel chickens and roosters that are protected by the city, since they are
> descendants of the fowl the original cigar-making Cuban immigrants brought
> with them as they settled Tampa, thus our nickname of "Cigar City"! Trooper
> made a couple novice mistakes but, all-in-all, I am very pleased with his
> work!
>
>
>
> After our Ybor City outing, we came home and gave Trooper and me a little
> break and cool off time, since it is about 85 degrees and 95% humidity even
> at 8:00 a.m.! John went up the street to a shopping center to work with
> another Freedom dog he is training. He came back and we did another short
> walk around my neighborhood, taking a little detour to introduce him to one
> of our local shop owners.
>
>
>
>                 Our official first day of training went very smoothly.
> Tomorrow we will work with Trooper on our local bus, through a fairly
> obstructed shopping center, into Lowes, across some very busy and wide
> intersections, and through the Walmart parking lot. Maybe we will even do a
> little shopping; after all, I do have both a Lowes and walmoart credit
> card!
>
>
>
>                 I intend to share more updates on our training. They will
> likely not be daily but will be frequent enough for readers to get a feel
> for the community placement program John Byfield has created and brought to
> Freedom Guide Dogs. I realize there is another training program that likes
> to take credit for creating the community placement model; however, even
> though it was the first program to use this training model, it was John
> Byfield who created it for them. With more than 60 years of training
> experience and training more than 1500 teams, Jon Byfield is the most
> experienced and well-respected guide dog trainer in the world! It is an
> honor and pleasure to be working with him! Please stay tuned for more
> updates on our training.
>
>
>
>
>
> Marion Gwizdala, President
>
> National Association of Guide Dog Users Inc. (NAGDU)
>
> National Federation of the Blind
>
> (813) 626-2789
>
> President at NAGDU.ORG
>
> Visit our website <http://nagdu.org/>
>
> Follow us on Twitter <http://twitter.com/nagdu>
>
> The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the
> characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise
> expectations because low expectations create barriers between blind  people
> and our dreams. You can live the life you want! Blindness is not what holds
> you back.
>
>
>
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