Kate’s 2¢: “Forward Together: an inside look at guide dog training” by Christie Bane

“Forward Together: an inside look at guide dog training” by Christie Bane

Kate’s 2¢: There is a plethora of in-depth biographies of authors and reviews of their books, that state the title, author, published date, and genre; as well as,     describing what the book is about, setting, and character(s), so, Kate’s 2¢ merely shares my thoughts about what I read.  I’m just saying…

   I’ve been a guide dog handler since 1989. I found “Forward Together” a really good refresher course for me. There were somethings I didn’t know about the puppy raisers and other things I’d forgotten about the actual training. I agree that training techniques have changed over the years and within the guide dog training centers. And, as she mentioned, the handlers who retrain with a new dog from a different school, usually revert to what they were first taught. The dogs are very accommodating and all becomes well in the long run.

christiebane.com

When I was in 10th grade, I had a cool English teacher named Ms. Urbani. She rode a motorcycle and was the first woman I ever met who went by “Ms.” She gave us an assignment: write about your dream job. This was an Honors English class, so most people wrote about becoming lawyers, doctors, engineers, things like that. Ms. Urbani commented approvingly as she handed papers back a few days later. Then she came to me and said, “Here we have one of the brightest people in the class. She could do anything she wants to, but she wants to train guide dogs.” Everyone laughed but probably no one was surprised. They all knew I raised guide dog puppies and brought them to school with me sometimes. I didn’t feel embarrassed at all; I felt proud of my chosen job and more determined than ever to pursue it.

All these years later, I train guide dogs for blind people and am more sure than ever that it is the best job in the world and was absolutely the right thing for me to do with my life. I work at Southeastern Guide Dogs in Palmetto, Florida. I knew I wanted to train guide dogs ever since I was 12 years old, and while I have flirted with the idea of other careers along the way (lawyer, dog groomer, writer), my heart has been with this job my whole life. I always say that “It’s not just my job; it’s also my hobby.” I set up this website so that I could have a place to blog about things I think about while I’m on the job. (And I am pretty much always on the job, whether I’m on the clock or not.) 

I really only do a few things in life. Working at Southeastern is obviously the most important thing I do. But I am also passionate about endurance sports, and am planning to do Ironman Florida in November 2018. I have two pet dogs, Frieda and Duncan, and train them when I have time and motivation. I also puppy raise sometimes, although I will be puppyless for the foreseeable future due to Ironman training Finally, I like to write about all of those things. Besides the blog on this website, I also have a triathlon blog, The Uninspired Triathlete. I guess you could say that writing is the longest-enduring passion of my whole life. Pretty much as soon as I was able to write, I was folding pieces of paper in quarters and drawing a picture on the cover and writing a story on the inside and calling those my books. I have actually written a very long and rambling book on guide dog training, and I plan to self-publish it once I get around to finding a professional editor and figure out how to afford their services. I only have three things in life that I have always said I really want to accomplish: write a book, finish an Ironman, and get an OTCh title on a dog. I’m reasonably close to the first two of these things, and will start on the third once I finish the first two.

From NLS/BARD/LOC:

Forward together: an inside look at guide dog training DB100008

Bane, Christie. Reading time: 20 hours, 4 minutes.

Read by Kristin Allison.

Disability

The author, who has raised and trained guide dogs for three decades, reveals the professional methods behind teaching guide dog skills. Includes explanations of a wide range of guide dog skills, how to match dogs to handlers, and teaching handlers how to work with their new guide dogs. 2020.

Download Forward together: an inside look at guide dog training