[Nfbf-l] First dog; First Steps

Tue Aug 14 00:13:22 UTC 2018

Hi Marion thanks for your message. I am so excited that you got another guide dog. Thank you for meeting with Delta Airlines about their service animal policy. I am so happy for you and your dog.

On Aug 13, 2018 4:50 PM, 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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