The Seeing Eye, Week 3, Part 1, Fast And Furious

Monday, May 10. The Last Solo

With each of the dogs I worked with, I was required to travel a couple of pre-planned roots before moving onto free lance work. The two dog changes set me back a bit, because I had to rework the same roots over with each one. This morning was our last planned root, and this was our first and only solo. It went well, as predicted. No blown curbs, she did great with her traffic checks and I didn’t trip over my own feet. A good trip all around, if you ask me.

While we’re on the subject, let’s talk a bit about basic travel, traffic checks and crossing streets with a guide dog, for those of you who aren’t familiar with the process. The Seeing Eye has one of the most rigorous traffic training programs of any guide dog school, and the guide dog training on the whole has been excellent. Let’s take a look at guide dog travel in a bit more detail…

Guide Dogs Do Not:

•Operate without direction from the handler

•take a person to pre-determined destinations on command

•Read traffic lights or street signs

•Pay attention to the order of traffic cycles

•Indicate to their handlers when it’s safe to cross the street

A guide dog is not a GPS, nor is it a baby sitter. A person needs to have good orientation and mobility skills with a cane before even being considered for training at The Seeing Eye. I was speaking with an instructor about the misconceptions the public has about guide dogs, and she said that the one she’s come across most often is that a lot of people misunderstand what the dog’s job actually is. “It’s commonly thought that the dog does all the work, and the person just follows”, she said. “In reality, it’s 50/50, or 100/100, rather. It’s a team effort. Both the dog and handler need to be paying attention to their surroundings and focused on each other in order to reach the destination safely.”

I think of Evenstar as something akin to my copilot. I’m the one who decides when we walk, how fast and in which direction. (Yes, you do have to give these dogs left and right commands.) I decide on the destination and how we’re going to get there, and she’s there to trouble shoot and make sure nothing crazy happens along the way. The dogs have these tasks, in a nut shell: Obstacle avoidance, indicating elevation changes such as curbs, stairs, ETC, maintaining as straight of a line of travel as possible, and intelligent disobedience. I think the middle two are pretty self-explanatory, so I’ll talk about the first and last one.

•Obstacle Avoidance: The dog should either indicate or move around obstacles in the path of themselves and their person. If there are polls or benches in the middle of a sidewalk, a dog should move around them. If there is something blocking the entire sidewalk, the dog should stop, allow the person to realize this, and together they’ll find a way around it. The dogs should not walk through a gap that is too small for themselves and their person to walk through together. This is called maintaining right side clearance. The dog should account for the width of themselves, as well as that of the person they’re guiding. This is also the case for overhead obstacles, though this is a tough one for them.

•Intelligent Disobedience: This is the skill that a dog uses in traffic situations. It’s the person’s job to pay attention to the flow of traffic and to judge when it’s safe to cross the street. THE DOG DOES NOT INDICATE WHEN THE LIGHT CHANGES. However, the dog should also be paying attention to traffic. When the person gives the “forward” command, the dog checks if there is any reason the crossing shouldn’t be attempted in that moment before proceeding. The dog will refuse the “forward” command if they think it’s unsafe to go, such as when a car turns in front of you during an advanced left or if someone’s blowing the light. The dog is a safety net. It shouldn’t be relied upon to make judgement calls or to made decisions about when it is safe to cross, but they’re a second pair of eyes that can let you know if for some reason your judgement’s off.

•Quick Explanation On Traffic Checks: Traffic checks are when something becomes potentially dangerous during a street crossing, and the dog must react. This is something we practice in a controlled setting during class, and sometimes, for one reason or other, we get natural ones out on root. If someone turns in front of the team in the street, and the dog thinks they’ll get too close, the dog will either slow, stop or back up, depending on the situation. An other example might be a car pulling out of a drive way, or even some forms of oncoming traffic on a sidewalk. (“Traffic Training” is written on the vans that cut us off in the street for practice, but I wonder sometimes what the general public thinks when they see this happening…)

After our last planned morning root, it was time to park the dogs and head down for lunch. (Parking is the term used at The Seeing Eye for bringing the dogs outside to answer the calls of nature.) We have specific park, feed and water times each day to try and help our dogs get on a consistent schedule. This is imperative for a working dog, so one can prevent accidents inside and to discourage the dog from relieving on root. We parked the dogs, had a quick lecture and filed into the dining hall for lunch. I forget what kind of sandwich it was, but the cream puff was pretty good. I had taken the last bite of my cream puff and was sipping my refilled soda when the hall was suddenly filled with a cacophony of noise. The alarm was a familiar one. It was the same one that tore up my room that first night during the fire drill, but this time wasn’t planned. The initial blare made me jump, but we were all pretty calm after that. We gathered up our dogs and regrettably left the remainder of our lunches on the table, sighing as we assembled outside. Needless to say, there was no fire. We still don’t know what set the alarm off, but 20 minutes later we were filing back into the building after the fire fighters had given the all clear. Our lunches were missing when we got back to our tables, however. During a supposed fire, apparently the kitchen staff had thoughtfully cleared up the plates before evacuating the building ourselves… LOL. Oh well. I was mostly finished by that point, anyway. 

This afternoon was our first introduction to “country work”. I put that in quotes, because the term amuses me. “Country work” at The Seeing Eye is pretty much just walking anywhere where there are no sidewalks. There are plenty of areas like this near where I live, so it’s definitely a good thing to practice and to have a good grip on before going home. The road we walked was a quiet one. It did have a curb line, but no bike lanes and no real shoulder. It really wasn’t required somewhere that quiet, though. Evenstar did great, of course. When doing country work, we’re taught to carry a cain, at least for the first while, and to use it to check that the dog is hugging the curb as much as possible. The technique is interesting, for sure. Not all dogs are comfortable with country work for some reason. The path isn’t always as clear, and they can’t deviate from the path too much, especially on higher traffic roads. She took to it fine, though. It will be something we’ll have to fine tune a bit as we go, but that’s life. 

We went on our first night trip this evening, as well. It wasn’t a very long walk, but the instructors make a point of taking new students out a couple of times at night to get a feel for how things might be different, if at all. Evenstar’s work was pretty much the same. We moved maybe a touch slower in the darkest areas, but that’s to be expected. There weren’t many people out, seeing as it’s a Monday night, so we didn’t see much of the night life. We walked along South Street, mostly, and one of the restaurants was playing loud music in their outdoor patio. I was glad it was a short trip, honestly. By that point in the evening, I was ready to pass out.

Tuesday, May 11. Interesting Things…

I didn’t wake up in a very good mood this morning; not sure why. Maybe the 5:30 wakeup time was just getting to me… I dunno. I woke up at the usual time, parked and fed Evenstar, and went right back to bed until breakfast. I don’t remember much about breakfast, or this day on the whole, really, but I remember the trips we took. I had trouble getting into the work in the morning. I was directing Evenstar with a brain that was only half awake, and her work was a bit more hesitant because of it. I don’t remember exactly where our destination was, but we eventually arrived there in spite of the set backs. We had come mostly for the revolving door. There are some things in public places that are a bit more challenging with a dog, so the instructors do their best to make sure we experience as many situations as possible. A guide dog normally walks on your left side, but in the case of a revolving door, we bring them to our right and heel them through. It really isn’t feasible to work them through such a door. We stepped into a dark building with carpeted hallways. There were a set of stanchions that we had to rework a couple times, because they were giving us trouble. Evenstar wasn’t very inclined to weave through them and I honestly wasn’t either, so it took a couple approaches before we got up to the counter smoothly. The rest of the building was pretty simple. We practiced targeting a few things before heeling back through the revolving door and walking back to the van.

I was feeling a bit better after lunch. I was finally awake and ready to kill the afternoon trip. It was time to hop on a bus and go to the mall to work on something I’d been a little worried about; the dreaded escalator. The buss was interesting. It was one of the shuttles that belongs to the school, and it was set up kind of like a school buss. It had many narrow rows of seats, and it felt a little weird to be the only one riding in it. In a situation where a person and a dog need to fit into a row if seats, it’s ideal if the dog backs in so their tail isn’t facing the aisle. We try to prevent the dogs from being stepped on as much as possible, obviously. The idea is that you put one leg in first, back the dog in and then bring your other leg in to close the dog between your knees. Evenstar wasn’t having that plan. She kept wanting to come in forward, and after the third try, I gave up. I picked her up bodily, sat down and promptly set her down in the proper position so we could be off. Our bus driver was an assistant instructor, B. We chatted as he drove about his time at the school, his recent move to Jersey and our history with guide dogs. The drive went pretty quickly, and we were pulling into the mall parking lot before it felt like any time had passed.

We worked inside the building and did a couple of laps of the lower level to get Evenstar comfortable. When we came across the escalators, we spent a few minutes talking about possible techniques and how to mitigate the possible risks that come along with travelling on an escalator. The most important part is to make sure you get off quickly to avoid getting any part of the dog’s paws caught in the belt at the end. Here’s the gist. You board the thing with the dog heeling slightly behind, making sure you’re one step ahead. Reach far up on the rail with your right hand so you can feel with plenty of time when the escalator starts flattening out, and start walking as soon as you feel the change. We want to be as sure as we can be that the dog steps over the crack at the top and onto the platform, rather than waiting until the very top and risking injury. It’s not as hard as I thought it might be, but it’s definitely a process to be cognizant of.

A lot of people talked to my dog today. Just a word to the wise… Never distract a working dog for any reason, unless lives are at risk. I know it might be tempting, but it’s rude, possibly dangerous and all around just not at all appreciated by the person with them. When the harness is on, they’re not to be petted, talked to, or even acknowledged. The best thing you can do for a working team is to interact with the person and pretend the dog isn’t with them at all. I try hard to educate and to remind people of this in as nice of a way as possible, but it’s not easy sometimes in the bigger cities, trying to remind the 10th person that day to keep their hands off the dog. The dog’s job is hard enough for them as it is. All the interference is doing is making their job harder than it needs to be and frustrating the hell out of the person with them. 

Wednesday, May 12. A Winding Road

This morning, we went to the local court house. I think it also doubled as the Morristown police station, because there were a bunch of cops arriving to work when we got there. This building was old as hell. I’m actually a little curious how old, but sometimes structures just give off a vibe. The smell, the feel, the layout… It was a little sketchy, not gonna lie. When we got there, we were given an opportunity to practice going through security before doing it at the air port. It’s comforting to know that by law, at no point is one required to be separated from their dog when going through security. The dog sits on one side of the metal detector, and the person walks through first, holding the leash. The person then calls the dog through. Both times, the metal detector will go off, requiring further scanning, but I’d rather that than to have to give my dog to someone else to be checked over.

We made it through security fine, and we just walked around the building for a while. A few people asked us questions and gave us weird looks. A found this odd, because apparently Seeing Eye instructors bring students and dogs in all the time. The purpose of coming to the court house specifically is because the building is a mess of meandering hauls, tight corners, and random, steep stair cases where they shouldn’t exist. Evenstar blew the first random set of stairs, but after earning herself a reminder, she found the rest of them without a problem. She did great with the narrow halls and tight corners. Her clearance was always as best as she could make it, and we made it out of that anfractuous place without injury. A had me walk with occlusion goggles on as a trust exercise. The further along we progress in training, the more responsibility the dog and handler are expected to have in their work. This was an opportunity to observe just how well the communication as a working team is coming along.

The afternoon trip was pretty chill. Nothing remarkable; it was a long walk, but pretty much just a continuation of the city work we’d already done. Apparently, “the high school root”, as people here call it, is a third root they used to make students solo back in the day. I can’t remember if they told me why they stopped, but it’s now just something that’s done during free lance work instead. I know it can happen quite a lot with new teams, but this dog almost never blows curbs, and it’s amazing. I think we’ve maybe had to rework two or three max in all the trips we’ve taken together, which is pretty good considering how many we’ve encountered in total.

Thursday, May 13. Back To The Roots

We took a longer country trip this morning. I can’t remember the names of the roads, but the area was sure peaceful. This one did not have a curb line. It just had a grass line like I’m used to at home. We’re gradually increasing the difficulty of the country work, since it can be a little difficult for some dogs. She hasn’t had much of a problem with any of it, though. We went to a quiet spot with little traffic, and next time, we’ll try a similar road with more cars. Something that Evenstar found a little bit challenging was working on the right side. Unless there is a very good reason, most dogs are trained on the left side and work on a right curb line very little. However, there’s a root I take often at home where coming back home on the same side of the street I leave on is most prudent, so we’ve been working on it. She still tends to pull to the left a bit when there’s no traffic, but that’s normal and will wash out with time.

The afternoon was pretty cool. We drove into town and walked a ways to the bus station. Their city busses are similar to the ones at home, but sound like they could use a lot more maintenance. LOL. With every turn, something underfoot ground together with a screech. I was surprised the thing was running. It was probably fine, but… who knows? We got off the bus in the next town over called Morrisplains and walked to a near by train station. The train was late, so we ended up waiting at a deserted station for half an hour until it showed up. (Not fun when you have to pee!) This presented us with the perfect opportunity to attempt the ultimate intelligent disobedience challenge. This is the moment where we commend our souls and tell our dogs “forward”, encouraging them to walk straight toward the empty train tracks. It was pretty uneventful, honestly. She went forward at first, noticed they were train tracks when we were a couple steps away, and pulled hard in the other direction. The train itself was interesting. Very steep steps up, but comfortable enough. It was steadier than I thought it would be when it moved, but there was this weird wobble to it, as well. It kind of felt like it was fish tailing, because it was so long. I was closer to the back too, I think, so maybe that’s why. The train was fast. I don’t know how fast, but the trip back to Morristown took less than 5 minutes. We were getting off the train by the time we got comfortable, and had one stop to make before the end of our trip. 

On “The Green”, there is an iconic statue that all guide dog users must visit in order for their training to be truly complete. That’s my opinion, anyway. It’s a statue of Morris Frank and his Seeing Eye dog, Buddy. He was the founder of The Seeing Eye, and Buddy was the first ever Seeing Eye dog. Buddy, (formerly named Kiss), was a female German Shepherd, and the first of Morris Frank’s line of “Buddy’s”. He named all of his guides after the first Buddy, either for sentiment or convenience, I’m not sure. As many grads do, my lil guide and I took a picture with them, which I will always treasure. The statue is near a very manicured park with beautiful flowers, and we took a photo there, as well. 

I’ll save our New York Adventure for the next blog, considering how late this post already is. More later.

Until next time…