My Graces

Guide Dog Chronicles: My Graces
by Kate Chamberlin
It was with fear and trepidation that I returned to Guiding Eyes for the Blind (GEB) for the October?November 1998 class to train with my third guide dog.
I trained with my first guide dog, Future Grace, a Golden Retriever, in September, 1989 and had a wonderful experience, not only at the training center, but for the next 8 years. She was retired in September, 1997 because of cancer and died three months later.
I trained with Wheaton Grace, a big, loveable Black Lab, in February, 1998, but She had to be retired in June, 1998 because of seizures.
I felt anxious about being able to commit to another dog after such a disappointment. I had neither the naivete of the first time trainee nor the high expectations I had prior to training with my second dog.
Having to live in a dormitory with 11 men and women you’ve never met, can cause some stress. A mutual friend put me in touch with another woman several weeks before class when he realized that we’d both be at GEB in
October. Patricia M. and I had several phone visits and looked forward to training together. I was pleased to find that we were roommates. That was one worry taken care of.
My February class supervisor, Lynn Robertson, was teamed up with Melinda Angstrom and Andrea Martine. These three women were professional, enthusiastic and excellent dog trainers as well as having great people skills. These high energy folks warmly welcomed be back and helped me settle in to the routine. I liked them immediately and another worry was gone.
During the first two or three days, they talked with each of us and got to know us as individuals. What our personal needs were, How fast we walked and Where we’d be living, working and traveling.
Each trainer had been working with ten dogs during the previous four months. They were trying to make the best match of canine and human to have a successful team.
As one of my classmates said: We come with only two legs and leave with six legs and a tail.
I was matched with an 85?pound female black Labrador
Retriever named Finch. We trained in White Plains: walking on sidewalks, stopping at curbs, crossing six?lane highways and going through a revolving door.
In Manhattan, we rode the subway, took a bus, walked in Central Park and had lunch at Consails. I knew I’d accepted this new dog into my heart when I started thinking of her as “my Finchlee Grace”.
I planned and plotted exactly how I would introduce my new guide dog to my retired dog, Wheaton. Although they are both female Black Labs about the same size and weight, I wanted to be as sure as possible that they would be friends. Wheaton’s puppy raiser wasn’t able to take her back and I couldn’t find a good retirement home for her. I knew that GEB would take her back and find a home, and yet, our bonds were strong and I wanted to keep her, too.
It was about 10:00 P.M. when Finchlee Grace and I arrived home from Yorktown Heights (NY) following graduation. My son, Paul, stayed in the van with Finchlee as my husband, Dave, sighted guided me into the house. Wheaton couldn’t wag her tail fast enough or rub against me enough, just like a cat. There was no sign of reproach for being gone three weeks. Is there any other reunion more open and joyful than a dog greeting her master?
I then went back to the van and put Finchlee on leash. My son sighted guided me down the driveway and onto the street. Finchlee piddled at our mailbox and we went for a short walk.
Meanwhile, my husband leashed Wheaton and walked down the driveway, stopping at the mailbox. The dogs saw each other across the street as I headed back south and they headed north. We stopped and talked for a moment before Dave brought Wheaton across the road to us.
I talked softly to the girls as they sniffed each other. Before they started to get frisky, we walked up the driveway together and into the house.
The rest of the night Wheaton slept on a tie-down on Dave’s side of the bed where she’d been during my absence. Finchlee was on my side, curled up on a small rug I’d let her use at the training center.
On Sunday, as Dave and I held hands, we went for a walk with the girls on leash along the street that would become my routine walk. It was a calm time for the girls to do something together and for Finchlee to get familiar with my neighborhood route. In the house, we kept each on a leash, letting them occassionally sniff each other. I didn’t feel comfortable about letting them have free play just yet.
Monday after Dave left for work, I sat at the breakfast table for a long time. Finchlee lay on my left and Wheaton on my right. What in heavan’s name was I going to do with two 85-pound black Labs?
“Take it slowly,” my GEB trainer’s words came back to me. “Do obedience everyday.”
And that is what I did. Each dog has a tie-down in our “training room”, formerly our game room. Each in her turn is put through sit-stays, sit-downs, sit-recalls and several other exercises. If one barks, she hears my stern “Quiet”. After grooming and a piddle break, they get to watch me do my floor exercises and 30-minutes on the treadmill.
At first, I tried to heel them, holding both leashes, and get from room to room. I found it difficult to walk when wound up like a May Pole. I soon realized that this was not what I could handle. Wheaton is so very laid-back, I tried voice commands on her and it worked.
At the top of the stairs, I say “sit” and they both sit. After “Wheaton wait”, I say “Finchlee heel” and go down. At the bottom, we stop and I call “Wheaton, come”, and she does.
It’s like choreographing a ballet. The more we work together, the more graceful we get. Each dog seems to know her role and willingly does what is asked of her. Wheaton Grace is content to be an at-home friend and companion, while Finchlee Grace enjoys being in harness and on the go out in the world.
It will take six months to a year to become a really smooth working team. You can help me train Finchlee by remembering not to pet or talk to her or otherwise distract her when she is in harness.
I find it helpful when you tell me about my environment, such as, “You are approaching the stairs up (or down).” “There is a loose dog on your left.” “I’m holding the door open for you.”
The next time you see us, won’t you hale us and introduce yourself (but don’t let her pleading “pet me” eyes get you into trouble.)
(Published January/February, 1999 Good Dog! Magazine) copy right © 1999, 2010 by Kate Chamberlin. All Rights Reserved.