Official

Earlier this week I received my graduation certificate from Fidelco for completion of my training with Uschi:

Fidelco diploma

I can only assume that I’ve only just now received this “diploma” after such a lengthy wait because I didn’t attend last year’s walkathon and thus was not present for the graduation ceremony at the banquet as I was with Yara back in 2008. Of course, I generally think of my partnership anniversaries to be the date I’ve first been introduced with my guide dogs so I’m not really concerned with the delay. Frankly, I wasn’t even sure that I was going to ever have a certificate and thought they might be merely a part of the ceremony itself however informal they may seem.

However, I must admit that it does boggle my mind to realize that Uschi and I have been partnered for almost a year-and-a-half already. The time has truly flown by!

Cottleston Pie

Initially, I set out to write this incredibly serious post about public image and the burden it can present as a guide dog team and I had what you might call writer’s block. I knew where the issue stemmed from and all the points I wanted to highlight and yet I couldn’t get much written beyond the title and a paragraph that I wrote and erased more times than I care to admit. Eventually I decided distance would be beneficial and I promptly began procrastinating on the post for something like a month. This worked out beautifully because when I returned to the post I immediately knew what the issue was: I’m partnered with Uschi now and this is not the issue I think of most readily with her. So, this is not a post about public image, which I may well write one of these days but at present there are 100 other draft posts that are vying for that same opportunity. This is a post about Winnie-the-Pooh.

Uschi and meOkay, no it’s not. Though, the title is a reference to A.A. Milne’s character. (Albeit I generally think of The Muppet Show as Rowlf is quite famous for singing it.) Rather this is about how Uschi is not anything remotely close to serious and is far more often times the living embodiment of a “fluffy brain.” If Uschi had a theme song, it would be “Cottleston Pie.” (Mine, if you’re curious, is probably the “Cupcake Song.”) Now let me assure you, she does have quite a lot of brain and I’m almost entirely certain she is not full of stuffing. Nevertheless she has moments where I sincerely debate these things as fact. For visual proof, please note the photographs in this post. They are some of my most favorite shots of her because of how adequately they showcase my goofy partner.

In controlled situations I truly do not mind the fact that my guide dog is less a working assistance dog and more closely resembles the Nutty Professor. And by “controlled” I mean any time I am not working with her in public, entertaining house guests, or trying to get anything that could be loosely categorized as productive done. I’m highly amused by her. I was quite adamant when I retired my previous guide dog that I wanted the school to provide me with her duplicate sans health issues. I’m just as positive that they thought I said this with tongue firmly in cheek and what I actually meant was “I want a dog who can keep pace with me, but is small in stature so as not to overpower me and has personality to spare.” So, that’s what I got.

I’ve seen a fair few handlers that have mellow dogs and most of them seem quite happy with this. Call me a snob if you will, but I don’t get the appeal of mellow dogs. I don’t really know why, but for want of words to fill out this post I’ll postulate that it stems from my childhood. We always had at least one pet dog while I was growing up. Unfortunately, most of those were senior citizens and excepting when they were either actively working at creating awesome amounts of poop or physically generating said poop they were little more than furry space heaters. Don’t get me wrong, I loved them to bits, but they were not Frisbee catchers or ball chasers or known for trying to stand on their heads. And if any of them were, I was too young at the time to commit this to memory.

Uschi is also a space heater, but that’s the only similarity with my childhood pets. Even in this she separates herself from the pack because her heat output is such that I’m convinced only the fires of Hades can outperform her. At 70 pounds, she’s a tiny thing as shepherds go and like all things that are packaged in a small way she is inherently good. To Uschi, or so my theory goes, “good” means “excessive amounts of energy” which when witnessed is quite impossible to differentiate from what most functioning brains would define as “crazy.” Sometimes this is exhibited by trotting around the house in a very convincing imitation of a dressage horse. Other times she’ll eschew such formality and instead use the length of my house as a racetrack. My personal favorite is when she is so bursting with excitement that she is only capable of processing that she’s very thirsty and so she flits about the house dribbling the entire contents of her water bowl.

Literally and without a drop of hyperbole, she has the most pronounced difference in demeanor when in and out of harness of any guide dog. Not just my girls, but of any guide I have ever known in my entire life. It’s been a year now and I still find myself shocked and amazed that this wild child of a dog actually has the ability to focus and be calm and, you know, work as a guide dog. Oh, and it’s worth stressing this fact: she’s an excellent guide.

Except for when she’s not.

Uschi and me

Three guesses when that is — and the first two don’t count. Right. That whole “crazy” thing. You see sometimes she just can’t help herself and that goofy personality just slips out. Thankfully, a good number of these times have been situations where I’m mostly embarrassed in front of a friend or family member, like when instead of just getting into my friend’s car she literally hurled herself across me and into his lap! More concerning is when her “fluffy brain” turns the most random things into nothing short of intense distraction. Yesterday for instance she spent no less than five minutes completely entranced by one of the garbage cans in my driveway. She actually lunged at it — and very nearly sent me into cardiac arrest because I had no clue what she was reacting to at first. Granted that’s a random example even for her, but sometimes I swear she’s having an incredibly vivid hallucination while she’s supposed to be, well, guiding me. So far this hasn’t caused me anything but temporary confusion at why we’ve stopped for no reason other than for my partner to sit down and observe some elusive thing only she can see. I almost would prefer her wild and intermittent animal distraction. Actually, no. This is at least mildly entertaining and that day in the park was so very not. I used to say that Dolly had a “fifteen minute or two block rule” that was basically her version of needing a cup of coffee in the morning; she needed those minutes or that length of a walk to actually wake up enough to realize she was not asleep and really working. Uschi, on the other hand, is like a three-year-old in her own imaginary play land and sometimes she forgets that the play land is in her mind and it takes over completely. Last year I used that same description save for that she was a two-year-old . . . I’m not sure how long I can justify her childlike (mis)behavior based on age alone. Especially since I don’t think her actual age has anything whatsoever to do with the inner-workings of her stuffing-filled brain. If I had to give a reason, I would say that while her brain may not actually be full of stuff and fluff, it has a specific capacity to hold information that is only rivaled by its ability to be completely overwhelmed by, for lack of a better word, fun. Essentially, she gets carried away with herself and no amount of discipline and obedience is able to fully overcome it.

Let me assuage your fears: her bouts of absentmindedness during work are infrequent. Though, I’m torn between mind-numbing paranoia that one day she’ll fully commit to her Mr. Hyde side and havoc beyond imagining will ensue. However, she is not only almost always spot on when in harness, but she’s shown an amazing ability to stay on her job when other crazy things have happened, like a cat spazzing out on her in a bookstore. So, while the potential exists that she’s going to royally embarrass me in front of more than a few close friends, I’m not wary of her ability to keep me safe even if she is possibly certifiable. Also, and I can’t stress this enough, she proves on a daily basis to be tons more entertaining than my television was all of last year.


This post was written as part of the Assistance Dog Blog Carnival. This sixth carnival’s theme is “Obstacles” and further information can be found here on the founder’s blog.

One Year!

Time is an odd and bewildering thing. In equal parts I find myself astounded by the length of time that has passed and disbelieving that it is truly a year to the day that Uschi and I became a team.

In thinking over our time together I find myself at somewhat of a loss; the events that truly stand out seem so far removed from the present. Perhaps that’s a blessing because it seems to have eased some of the less pleasant recollections I have of our past events, such as training during the most horrendous weather while I was incredibly sick and the fiasco at a local bookstore. Though, I don’t I find there’s any less distance between other memories and can hardly fathom that it was so recently we went to the Tulip Festival and the Great Escape!

Me and Uschi sitting by a rose bushStanding in sharp relief within my memory is a resounding feeling of trepidation. I didn’t know what to expect of this partnership. I was optimistic that it would prove equal to my previous experiences, but realistically knowing it could be a failure. And while I was quickly smitten with this adorable shepherd and her childlike personality, I found that truly bonding as a team did not come as easily or quickly as with the dogs before her. I’m not positive of exactly when I felt us gel into a team, but I do remember that I had a bit of an epiphany around Easter and realized I had been distancing myself. Maybe I was subconsciously trying to protect myself from the possibility of the partnership failing, however remote. But I think mostly I was preoccupied with concerns over Yara’s well being and it was seeing in person that she was thriving and that both dogs got along so well that seemed to clear out the emotional clutter I wasn’t even aware of.

Reflecting on this last year the most intriguing thing to me is that in many ways Uschi and I have surpassed my previous guide dog teams. Whereas I would generally build up to certain experiences and expectations, I never had much of a need — and more often no opportunity — to ease Uschi into certain tasks. Honestly, upon realizing this I was mildly horrified that I had been so lax about this, but Uschi’s risen to every challenge without fail, including several instances I would consider far more stressful than necessary and would have liked to avoid completely. Much like Yara, she’s had no need for settling into her role as my guide dog. A fact I still find astonishing given her antics when out of harness!

If anything, she certainly keeps me young with her limitless energy and exuberant personality! Every morning she practically throws herself at me for a bit of cuddling and then speeds around the house, bounding over large stretches of floor and flinging herself onto a piece of furniture or one of her numerous beds. Sometimes she will loudly toss her toys about or prance through the house proudly showcasing her dressage mimicry and it’s all I can do to keep from rolling with laughter. She’s nothing if not unique.

Truly, I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Favorite Photos of 2011

For a number of reasons I’m rather fanatical about checking stats here, but other than noting new comments I don’t pay much attention to the activity on my Flickr stream. I’m hardly anything above a pure amateur so I guess I never really have cared, but I was poking around the other day and was pleasantly surprised to see that there’s been quite a lot of interest.

I don’t normally do posts recapping the year because (a.) it’s tedious and boring for me and (b.) I usually note the yearly partnership anniversary of me and my current guide dog so it seems redundant at best. But after digging through the 750+ photos from last year I thought I’d share some of my favorites. These aren’t all photos I took personally, though the majority are, just a smattering of the ones I’m particularly fond of.

[Read more...]

Accomplishments

Uschi’s kind of getting a bum rap around here. The only time I really blog about her is when she’s sick or I’m having a particular frustration.

I keep meaning to do something about that but the thing of it is that I’ve had surprisingly little to discuss in terms of her working life. This isn’t because she’s lacking in any way or that we haven’t done lots of stuff, but rather that she’s so seamlessly settled into life as my partner that I’ve had precious few things happen that stand out to me as noteworthy. I guess that in itself is cause to mention, but I sort of didn’t realize that was what was going on.

Here’s the thing, a lot of the time new guide dog partnerships like this have a period of breaking in. Neither Uschi nor Yara had this; they just were my guide dogs. Moreover with Uschi I’ve noticed that a lot of the things that are routine to us are things that should have required some emphasis to become that way, but it’s like she just took over where Yara left off and I’ve had very few things that I’ve had to take the time to really train her about. For instance, she picked up on certain things I would have landmarked before I even thought to teach them to her. I’m very impressed with her intuitive attention to detail.

One thing we have worked on, though is the broken part of the sidewalk at one end of my street. This part of the street makes me crazy for a number of reasons aside from the missing bit of cement. There are a few neglected bushes that are in desperate need of being pruned back and so they block a good portion of the pathway. And, of course, there’s the pizzeria that likes to plow their parking lot onto the sidewalk in the winter months and so when it’s not covered in snow it’s a sheer block of ice. Basically this section of the street is impassable pretty much the entire year and so I just walk in the street for that ten feet or so.

What’s astounding is that Uschi was introduced to this section of the street when it was buried under feet of snow and she automatically guided me onto the shoulder of the road. Once the snow melted and we headed in that direction for the first time she stopped right where we had first turned off into the road and when I prompted her forward she proceeded to the curb and from there led me down the street and back onto the sidewalk once we were passed the bushes. Every trip coming or going she does this, hugging the shoulder until we can safely get back onto the sidewalk.

I can’t tell you how impressed with and proud of her I am.

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