Yara, The Ever Impressive
I’m indulging myself in a bit of ego-stroking today, but I think it’s well deserved. And since technically I’m stroking Yara’s ego, you can’t fault me too much.
I mentioned to my boss today how I was somewhat apprehensive in bringing Yara with me to my interview. Memory failed us both and we couldn’t recall if I’d mentioned during the interview itself that she’d only been my guide dog for a mere six weeks.1 I explained to him that it was mostly out of “new dog paranoia;” meaning that as we were such a new team I wasn’t entirely sure how she would behave even though she hadn’t given me any sign that she would be less than the perfect guide dog.
This hasn’t entirely gone away in the sense that we’re in a radically new environment and she’s still a young dog, new to guide work. For the most part, though, she’s been very well received at VESID. But I knew before I started that there were three other guide dog users at the Central Office and I wasn’t sure how we both would compare to those teams. I like to think I’m a competent and responsible handler and I’ve personally been nothing but continually impressed by my little GSD. However, I’m admittedly biased.
There’s been a few comments on both sides of the fence about her over the few weeks since I started. Mostly favorable ones and the few that aren’t seem more based on stereotyping her than taking anything of merit into consideration.2 I’ve gotten the routine questions about her — name, sex, age, training school — but precious few have really paid attention to the fact that she has only been with me just shy of four months.
Today, however, five separate people discovered this fact, including two of my direct superiors. To say they were impressed hardly gives credence to one person’s shocked reply of: “Wow! And here I thought you had been together for five years or more,” when I admitted she was only three months out of formal training. I have to say, I’m a proud mom even if I didn’t play much of a part in Yara’s amazing behavior and sweet temperament. What truly warmed my heart, though, was the admission of a coworker that she is very afraid of dogs, especially German shepherds; yet Yara’s sweet expression and calm demeanor put her at ease.
You won’t hear me complain about anyone’s exclamation of how great she is. As impressed as they might by, I’m easily ten times that.
On a daily basis.
1. I did mention it; and Louise and Mike were duly impressed by the fact.
2. I’d go into detail, but we’ll just leave it be as I try to avoid delving into the rumor mill.
ID Card — A First
Yesterday, my mother, half-brother and I went out to a local Chinese restaurant to celebrate his birthday and I was quite shocked when the owner came over to me asking for my “dog card.” Through some amazing stroke of luck foresight, I had taken the card out of the depths of my wallet and stuck it in my jacket pocket back at home. The woman took one quick glance at it, thanked me and walked off, leaving me sitting there quite shocked at the entire set of events.
In the eight years I had worked Dolly I had never once been asked for any form of ID to prove she was a guide dog. Granted, I can count on one hand the number of access issues we had had over the years, but even of those her status as a guide dog was never contested. Ironically, it’s probably a good thing I was never asked to produce the card GEB had made for me as I’d lost it sometime rather soon after training what with all the moving a college student does.
Admittedly I’m not an expert on the intricacies of access laws, but I didn’t think it was legal to require that one produced “certification” of a service animal’s status. Then again, this was told to me years ago and I’m certainly not saying I recall all the chatter I’d heard about the subject correctly nor that it wouldn’t have changed. Either way, I’m quite glad I thought to bring my card with me and more that the restaurant owner didn’t make a big fuss about Yara.
Guide Dogs in China
This article was recently forwarded to me in an email:
Ping Yali, China’s first paralympic champion with vision of a mere 0.05, has been in a low mood recently as she cannot apply for a license for Lucky — her guide dog.
Lucky, the first ever professional guide dog working in Beijing, entered Ping Yali’s life early December after being trained in Dalian, and has greatly helped the disabled athlete during her daily life.
Unfortunately, Lucky, a male golden retriever weighting 40kg, is among the city’s blacklist of banned dogs and is now facing difficulty getting a required license. Without a license, Lucky’s presence on the street could be seen as illegal and he can be taken away by police.
Ping Yali has visited her local Public Security Bureau over the crucial issue. Police officers say they are willing to help but claim a gap in the current law pertaining to guide dogs prohibits them from issuing Lucky with a proper license.
Beijing banned large or ferocious dogs back in 2006 in a bid to fight rabies, forbidding keepers from taking their dogs to public places like markets, stores, commercial areas, parks, hospitals, etc. But many such places are inevitable locations for a guide dog to be at when helping his or her master.
Alas Ping Yali is in a hurry. “If Lucky stays at home or hangs about for too long without going out, he will lose his ability to serve as a guide dog,” the Olympic torch bearer said.
“Now he barely reacts when the bus is coming, the drivers have refused him entry too many times. And whenever we go to the supermarket, he is in a low mood, as the security guard scolded him loudly last time.” Ping Yali said.
Ping Yali wrote done her worries on her blog, receiving attention and support from many netizens. Many called for a new law to be set up especially for guide dogs while expressing pity for Ping and Lucky’s situation.
“Without a license, Lucky can only stay at home and probably lose his sense of orientation, so how can I still take her to the Olympic Games?” Ping Yali said, mentioning her plan to take part in the Olympic torch relay in 2008.
The Organizing Committee for the Beijing Olympic Games announced on December 28 that guide dogs in aid of the disabled could enter Beijing’s public places during the Beijing Olympic Games.
But Ping Yali is worrying whether or not she and Lucky can still go out on the street after the Olympic Games. If not, she will have to send Lucky back to Dalian.
While I’ve traveled extensively both in and out of the USA, I’ve yet to take a guide dog on a trip abroad. Sometimes I think I take it for granted that we have so many rights and accommodating laws here. I’ve had my share of access issues, but with the exception of health issues I’ve never been in a situation where I couldn’t work my dog.
Recently on the NAGDU email list there was a posting in regards to the World Projects International Music Productions. They’ll be sending some 1,000 students to China this year to perform at various locations, including the Olympics. One student specifically has requested to bring their guide dog and is currently seeking information about access. If the above article has anything to say on the subject, this student may well be unable to take their guide dog with them.
EDIT: Another article regarding this issue.
There’s No Relieving in Rain!
The weather this week has been so mild, it’s awesome. Today, again is supposed to be around the forties, but very rainy. It started raining sometime last night and is already quite wet out.
The injustice of the weather is probably my fault in Yara’s opinion, but regardless she’s taking the rain in the same manner she dealt with snow initially. Stand there and stare at me rather than relieve herself. My saving grace is at least she isn’t eating it, like all the snow ever.
She seems to be more okay with walking in the rain, though. Dolly used to stomp around with this cross between depressed and angry face whenever she worked in rain. I always found it ironic given she’s such a water-lover.
Our First Follow Up
Yara’s new thing with food is to remind me every five seconds while it soaks that she would like her food. She paces around the house the entire time it soaks and will come up to nudge me with these sad eyes. I can just hear her little doggy mind saying, “Hey, Mom, my dinner’s on the counter. Don’t forget, okay?” After she has finished eating, she searches the house for her bone and lays down by me chewing it. One could argue that she’s cleaning her teeth, but Dolly used to do the same thing and I always took it as dog-speak for, “I’m hardly satisfied by the previous meal.”
Anyway, this morning Tommy was here for our first follow up visit. We talked some about how things are going both in and out of harness and then took a decent walk downtown. All in all, he seemed very impressed with us as a team, noting that we seemed more like we’d been together for many years and not just over five weeks. I totally agree, I’m still incredibly impressed with how smoothly things have been with Yara and how quickly we’ve settled with one another. Basically, the only things he said I should work on are to keep on her when she’s “charging forward.” He suggested, aside from corrections alone, to stop prefacing commands with her name as it seems to be building her anticipation and excitement. “Whatever you’re doing with her,” he said, “keep doing it, it’s working.” I think that made my whole day, seriously.
Back home, Yara headed straight for her bed and crashed. Really, you’d think she’d run the Boston Marathon. Funny girl.
In somewhat unrelated news, and in answer to some questions I’ve received, yes I do plan to finish adding the other sections to this site . . . just not right now. But sometime, yes!