The Seeing Eye, Week 3 and 3.5. The Last Hurrah

Friday, May 14. A New York State Of Mind.

This is the day that every handler looks forward to if they plan to work their dogs in the city at home. It’s the ultimate test for the team to see how effectively they’re working together in a busy environment. The traffic, the people, the smells… New York is the perfect place to attempt different street crossings, work through distractions, and to practice pedestrian work and obstacle avoidance. We woke up at the usual time and filed down to the dining hall for seven o’clock breakfast. It was oddly quiet with the retrains gone. Five of the 9 remaining students left yesterday with their dogs, as they were not first time handlers and were able to be put through the expedited program. All of us were seated add a single table. The rest of them, once full, were now empty, and the dining hall felt like a ghost town.

There were only two students going on the New York trip; myself and another student, whom we will call “J”. I went to my room to get changed after breakfast, and shortly there after met my fellow classmate and our instructors out in the park area. We gave our dogs a chance to relieve and headed over to the class van. We had a couple stops to make along the way. We were planning to take the ferry across the Hudson river, and we stopped at CVS to pick up some meds for seasickness, just in case. 20 minutes out of Morristown, we had to turn back because something important was left at the school. After much extra driving, we were finally off. 

It was about an hour drive from Morristown to Hoboken, which was where we caught the fairy. I have to say, I’ve never been on a ferry quite like that. Well, maybe the once in 2018 when I came to New York as a tourist, but they’re definitely not the kind of fairies we have back at home. This was a small boat, with options for in and outdoor seating. However, there weren’t many rows and it was definitely more boat than building, unlike ours. Our fairies that carry people from the mainland to various islands are more like cruise ships, I guess. They have cafeterias, sitting areas and gift shops. The water was fairly calm, but you could feel every wave. The boat was small enough that any motion could be felt throughout. I think small waves are peaceful, but one of us certainly did not. It wasn’t a long ride, though. Maybe 10 minutes at most. Both of the dogs did great on the boat, and they boarded and disembarked with no problems.

We stepped out into a different an alien New York. I had been to the city only once before in 2018, as I said. Even when we arrived there late at night, it was bustling. Crowds of people all over the place, lots of traffic, never a quiet moment. This New York was different. It still had the excessive traffic, and it still smelled the same, but the crowds were gone. There were still people out, but in a strange way, it felt like a smaller city. There were no big crowds, no shows, nothing at all compared to the New York I had known. There were still obstacles for the dogs to navigate and still some occasions to practice pedestrian clearance, but it felt like a pretty average city. The traffic was still horrendous, though, so we had plenty of occasion to practice different street crossings. There were lots of grates on the ground that Evenstar tried to stay clear of. Most led down to the subway tunnels, I assume. We stayed on Broadway, mostly. Eve n considering how different New York was, it was still a high distraction area. Evenstar did great with most of it. She thought about trying to catch the first pigeon she saw, but was a bit more agreeable after a reminder that it’s work time.

New York had a lot of true curbs, which I found interesting. Most curbs these days are built with ramps, and some with truncated domes for tactile distinction. A lot of streets still have the older style; the drop down into the street, and it was something I had to keep in mind the first few times. It was a nice day for walking. Pretty warm, but not unbearable. The streets smelled of garbage and subway fumes, pollution and deep-fried food. Pretty typical New York smells, I think. We walked by a lovely water fountain, and I took Evenstar over to dip her feet in. We walked on one side of the street, and our class mate and her instructor walked on the other. There was quite a bit of standing around and waiting at the lights when we didn’t make the crossing simultaneously. We stopped for a photo op at one point. One of those photos ended up being our class picture with the Hudson River and Statue of Liberty in the background.

We weren’t in the city for very long, over all. Maybe an hour or two… We met some interesting people along the way, though. We were heading back to the boat before we knew it, and it was rather hot by that point. The sailing back was short, just like the one there had been. When we reach the other side and disembarked for the final time, we decided we get pizza before heading back to the school. A lot of people on the East Coast seem to love it, but I’ve gotta say, New York style pizza wasn’t all that great. The crust was fantastic, but the toppings were very limited when compared to what I’m used to here. I wasn’t going to get pizza at all, at first. I bought a can of Pepsi and was prepared to sit and enjoy it while everyone else had lunch, but I was eventually persuaded to try a piece. My pizza had only mushrooms and cheese. It was fine, but not worth the calories, in my opinion.

Just like that, the New York trip was over and we were all piling back into the van for the hour or so drive back to the Seeing Eye. Both of the dogs guided fantastically, and I couldn’t be more proud of Evenstar. All of us were tired, so there wasn’t much conversation on the way home. I sat in the backseat with my girl and listen to a book. We had the rest of the day off, so we walked the leisure path and sat in the gazebo together while I continued with the story. 

Saturday, May 15. A Long Walk.

I’m writing this much later, so there’s not a whole lot I remember about this day. I remember having one long walk instead of two trips, but the roots were split up a bit. We started with a country walk. I think this was the most advanced country route in class that we did. We started on a quiet road, and then we turned left onto a road similar to the ones I walk at home. There was a white line separating us and the traffic, and it seemed a rather busy highway type place. I forget the name of this particular street. Evenstar was less confident working on the right side of the road on the way back, but still did great with it, considering most work is done on the left. When we finished with the country stuff, we got back into the van and drove to another small town near by. It was a route that Evenstar had never done before, and a rather long one at that. There were a few interesting occurrences on this route. Someone was watering their plants, and there was a sprinkler going that reached the sidewalk. It was a hot day, so we stood underneath it for a few moments to cool off. I almost took a header a few times on the crazy uneven sidewalks. Some of them were slate, as they are in Morristown. They say that tripping on the sidewalks is a rite of passage for a guide dog user, but I hadn’t tripped yet and didn’t plan to start then. 

Sunday, May 16. A Lot Of Good Things.

This day was an interesting one. We had one trip in the morning that had several stops. First up was the pet store. I think it was a local one, but I’m not sure. I bought Evenstar a White rope toy, (probably should have chosen a different colour), and a Kong for her to chew on. She was very fascinated with the rodents, which I took her over to see. Most importantly, though, I bought her a dog tag. It’s on the larger side and is in the shape of a dog bone. It’s metal, but it looks as if it’s made of wood in the centre. It’s patterned on one side and has her name and my phone number on the other. Our second stop was to a food market where we practised following someone and weaving up and down the isles. We came across a rather rude employee who saw Evenstar guiding. She looked at me, laughed and said, “Who’s walking who?” In a slightly derisive tone. If I had been at home, I would’ve said something to her manager. Nevertheless, we carried on. We walked to Starbucks after to grab a quick drink and a few coffee mugs to bring home. I’m not really a fan of Starbucks in the US. They don’t have the good frappuccinos they do here. It surprised me that a chain as big as Starbucks had region specific drinks. I mean, if they had a theme, it would’ve made sense to me, but they didn’t. I don’t think they had vanilla bean or double chocolate chip. The one I had was fine, though, but I forgot to ask for it with no coffee. We made do, anyway. We have the rest of the afternoon off.

We sat up in the lounge with the instructor who was staying over that night. Let’s call her “S”. It was her, my dog and I in there for the first little while. There was a movie playing in the background, and I think I fell asleep for a while in one of the comfy chairs with Evenstar laying contentedly underneath. Eventually, she tired of her nap and wanted to play. So for a change of pace, I took her out to the free run area and tried to interest her in some toys. She wasn’t particularly interested in fetch. She would chase a toy, but bring it back as often as not. She liked tug, and she liked when I kick the ball around with her. I’d send the ball across the grass, and she’d tare after it. In triumph, she’d leap on it and wait for me to catch up and kick it again. After a bit of play, we worked on some obedience and having her ignore the mildly enticing toys for the few moments I was asking something of her. She did fantastic with it, overall.

We eventually found ourselves back in the common lounge. After a time, the other remaining students wandered in and we had a bit of a social evening. We watched a movie together called With A Dog’s Eyes. It was a one-man show written and performed by William Mooney. A documentary of sorts, one would say. He played Morris Frank and told his story alone on a stage in the style of a play. It was an interesting one, certainly, and quite touching. I learned a lot about The life of Morris Frank, even though I’m sure that what I know and what was told is negligible in comparison to the real story. It was a decent overview, though, and I’d like to watch it again. I’m not sure where to find it, though. Recently, I’ve become aware of a movie on Disney+ called Love Leads The Way, another movie about Maurice Frank. Curious to watch that as well.

We each ordered a pint of ice cream to go along with the movie. It had to be delivered, and that was the smallest amount one could order and expect it to show up untainted. Mine was chocolate peanut butter cookie dough, and I may have also ordered chocolate hazelnut pretzel as a treat for the last night of class. LOL. Spoiler alert. They were both fantastic. We ordered from this place called Beenie’s ice cream. They make all of their flavours in house, and they had some pretty out there ones as well. Really wanted to try their cinnamon toast crunch ice cream, but never got around to it. Someone else ordered a pint of honey lavender, and after trying a bite I kind of wish I had as well. I wasn’t sure how it sounded, but it tastes way better than you could ever imagine. When they steeped the milk for the ice cream, they infused it with lavender water, I think. Something like that. It was all fantastic, not gonna lie. Makes me wish even more that ice cream were good for you.

Monday, May 17. Rear ended.

The last few days of class were cool because there were so few of us. We got to do a lot of routes together, which was more common pre-Covid. There were three of us by this point. Student J, student E and myself. The only thing I really remember about this day was our afternoon walk. We all put our dogs boots on to give them practice working with them on their feet. Evenstar really wasn’t thrilled with hers, but she suffered through it. We walked down to a small ice cream shop, and each of us bought a little snack. I got to try dulce De Leche ice cream for the first time, and I’m definitely a fan. Evenstar was The fastest dog in the group. It was difficult for her not to want to lead sometimes, but we had to practice being in both front and back. I remember on the way back to the school, we were in the front with student E and his dog behind us. Evenstar and I had stopped in the sidewalk for some reason, and student is dog slowed. Now, student E has a very excitable and animated way of working with his guide. They were about 5 feet behind us when student E vigourously encouraged his dog to “hup-up”. With a blatant disregard for the consequences, his dog rushed forward and slammed student E right into the back of us. We all laughed. Once we had collected ourselves, we had the team rework the challenge, and they did fine the second time around. The rest of the root was without incident, and the dogs were beyond happy to have their booties removed when we arrived back at the Seeing Eye.

Tuesday, May 18. Way Too Much Ice Cream.

The details of the last couple days at the seeing eye are a little fuzzy. Thinking back on it, everything kind of blends together. I don’t remember much about the Tuesday, but I do remember the ice cream shop we went to. It was the three of us ordering ice cream for the second day in a row… OK, maybe the third. This time, it was our end of class celebration. The three of us and our instructors all ordered sundaes with various toppings. It was hot that day, so they melted quickly. It was a messy snack, but we all enjoyed them and toasted our success. We had pizza that evening, and may have finished off the rest of our pints of ice cream we had ordered from beanies a few days prior…

In the afternoon, I went with two of the instructors to give Evenstar some exposure to horses to see how she’d take to them. I have three back at home, so knowing what to expect before introducing her to my herd was a nice opportunity. The barn was a fair ways away from the school, so we left right after lunch. It was a really nice place. I can’t remember the name of the barn manager, but she was an English rider, along with most of the boarders there. There were many larger warmblood type horses, and a couple of smaller ponies, as well. We introduced Evenstar to a little pony first, and then let her walk up to a large horse in cross ties. She was fine with everything. I think she was a little leery of them because they were so big, but no aggression nor significant fearfulness. There was something interesting about one of the barns they had on the property. It had two levels, both meant for horses. There was the main level, and there was also a slope down to an underground level with a couple of stalls. I’ve never seen anything quite like that, but it worked well to keep the heat out. It was nice to see a horse again after what felt like forever. They didn’t look or even smell like my horses at home, but it was a taste, and renewed my excitement for seeing my babies again soon.

Wednesday, May 19. The Beginning Of The End.

All three of us who were left in class would be attending university in the fall, so our last trip was to a local campus to explore the grounds. We weren’t really allowed into the buildings because of Covid, but we walked around outside for a bit, first individually, and then in a group. All campuses I’ve been to have a similar set-up. Not that everything’s in the same place, but they all seem confusingly laid out, and all have a series of convoluted walking paths to get lost in. We worked on patterning our dogs to specific roots to see how good they’d get in a short time at figuring out common destinations without excessive prompting. It was interesting, for sure. Evenstar did great at warning me of random sets of stairs, of which there were many on this strange nature path, but she didn’t seem to think taking me around random baby scooters was necessary. No face plants, but a good correction for her and a second attempt. She was paying attention that time and was much better. It was a fun last walk.

We got back to the school early in the afternoon and were given the rest of the day to pack. Against all advisories, I’d brought a very large suit case with a large selection of clothes, so I had yet to need to do laundry at the school. I took some time to put a load in to save myself time when I got home. It was quite the process, actually. I stuffed all of my laundry into my backpack and heeled Evenstar down to the laundry facilities in the basement. There’s a tie down down there so we can secure our dogs while dealing with the machines. It has a collar already attached to it so we didn’t have to use our chains if we didn’t want to, but the collar was too big, so I clipped the cable to the dead ring on Evenstar’s training collar while I loaded the clothes. She was great, of course.

There are certain details of that evening I remember pretty vividly. While I was waiting for the laundry to finish, I neatly refolded all of the still clean clothes and packed them as tightly as I could. At first, I wasn’t sure how I was going to fit all of my stuff plus my souvenirs into the suit case, but it turns out that they can hold a hell of a lot if you pack smart. I took Evenstar to the grooming room one last time while my laundry was in the drier. I sprayed her with the diluted oil we used to make their coats gleam and gave her a final brushing before packing her grooming supplies away, too. Finally, I collected my things from the drier and headed back upstairs to put it away. I eyed my pile of souvenirs and contemplated how to include them. I folded the socks back into pairs and stuffed as many as I could into the coffee mugs I’d bought. I did the same with the new dog bowl, and everything else was pretty strait forward. I folded Evenstar’s dog mat and put it in a small ziplock on top of my clothes so it wouldn’t pass on the doggy smell. Finally, I packed up what I wouldn’t be needing for toiletries and left the necessities for the morning. The instructor on shift for the last night came around and double checked our rooms for things we’d missed. In mine, there was nothing except for the things I’d intentionally left out for the morning.

After the packing, I took Evenstar to sit in the common lounge for the final night. I brought all of the food and beverages I still had in my fridge to share with the remaining students so they wouldn’t go to waste. We listened to strange music and reflected on the last 25 days over many glasses of apple juice, a bit of ice cream and bottles of water. I hadn’t even left yet, but I already knew I’d miss these people I’d come to call friends over the last month. It was a hard pill to swallow that out of all of the people I’d met, all the people who’d been kind to me, I would probably never see many of them again. Strange how things come in and out of your life like that, just for a reason and then they leave so soon. Over the past few days, I had said my goodbyes to many people I’d come to like. There was a kind nurse who requested a song as her goodbye, so I obliged. There were the two other instructors who made a point to come up to my room to say personal goodbyes, and the wonderful kitchen lady who’d been serving us that I’d made jokes with… not to mention my own instructor… So many people I’d met outside the bubble of my own life, almost in another world. I’d be bringing home a wonderful new guide, a few small souvenirs and a whole lot of memories, but I’d be leaving things behind, as well. I cried here. I had hard days, but that’s par for the course at the seeing eye and I’d love to go and relive it. I learned so much about a wonderful new way of mobility and was fairly resilient through the process… for the most part.

The hour had finally come for us all to part ways and head off to our rooms for the last time. I climbed onto the hard mattress and snugged up the covers. This was it, my last night here. I had a guide dog, and home was on the horizon. It was the start of a new beginning, and from this day forward, I’d be sharing the greater part of my life with another. Surreptitiously, I lean forward and tapped the mattress by my feet. Wasting no time, Arwyn, (the name of my new guide), leaped from the ground and curled up to enjoy one night with me before our beds would be separated by a ladder. (Shhhhh! Don’t tell.)