Training Internship: Day 5

Wow, it's hard to believe my internship is already half way over! It went by so fast and I have loved every minute of it! All the staff is super nice and love having the interns around to help and do whatever needs to be done.

Today was a pretty relatively calm day. I arrived in K1 at 8am and started washing food bowls, and when I finished dishes, I went out to scoop/accel/spary out runs. While I was in the midst of finishing up my second quad of runs the head of all the CWT's came out and informed me I was able to go out with a trainer and her 4 dogs! I was beyond excited! I have been waiting all week to go out with a trainer, so it ended up being a great Friday surprise for me! I am scheduled on Wednesday to go out again so I got super lucky I got to go out today! I happily relinquished my cleaning to another CWT and headed out the vans to find the trainer I was going out with. We loaded up and headed out to downtown Novato, where she would  be working her dogs. It was a good 15 min ride and she asked me if I was a puppy raiser and of course I said yes! I learned she was in her 3rd year of her instructor apprenticeship, and she would be taking one of her exams Monday with one of her dogs she was working today!  She was extremely nice and asked me what I was wanting to do with her and I said I'd love to go under blindfold and get a chance to work a dog and she agreed and said all her dogs were class ready and just had to pass a few more exams! We arrived in Novato and she worked the first dog, which was the dog she was taking her exam with and she had to teach her patterning and targets. I quickly followed behind (this dog had a fast pace) and watched every move they made in awe. She explained she goes as fast as the dog feels comfortable working, because the dog needs to feel confident working so she goes whatever pace that is, so it could be a nice walk pace or a fast brisk trot. She had all ranges of dogs! We stopped at the van and put that dog away and played with her a little bit to let her know she did a good job and was getting rewarded for her awesome work! We put her in her kennel and gave her water and next up was my turn with a big yellow lab male!! I was beyond excited but at the same time very nervous because I did not want to do anything wrong and mess up his training. She gave me about a 2 min juno talk (we were very short on time, or else she would have given me a lecture on juno work) and the basics I would need to be able to work him. We got him out and she put his harness on and I grabbed the handle and said hello to him and let him get to know me. She extended out his leather leash and held onto it, and was going to walk behind us to make sure we were both doing our job and was there to give me pointers along the way, and I told him forward and off we went!  I was not yet blindfolded, I was walking his pace and he walked me around a seating area, and then walked me back to my path, which is super impressive thinking, and stopped me at every curb and at anything that blocked our path or that I could run into. After about 3 min of walking with eyes open, I told the instructor I was closing my eyes so she knew she had to fully spot me, and the first steps were very scary but as soon as learned I had to trust him and know he was going to do his job and keep me safe and that the instructor was behind spotting too, I got much better walking with him, and walked his normal brisk pace with confidence!. It was an amazing feeling knowing that I could put my life in the hands of a dog I had only known for 5 min. I got the hang of it really quickly to follow him and where he pulls (left or right to avoid obstacles) and if he stops I had to feel for a curb or put my hand out and probe for an obstruction in front, above, or next to me. It was almost a natural feeling to be walking with my eyes closed and being guided by a dog, he did an amazing job. His instructor said it was his first time being working with a new handler let a lone an inexperienced handler like me. I was probably "blind" for about 5-7 min because we did a quick route with all the dogs. It was an experience I will never forget and it now gives me a reason why I puppy raise and say goodbye to these dogs because they go on and become eyes for a blind person and that is something that is a gift they get to have their "eyes"back.  She was super happy to see that he could adjust to new people and work like he does with her, he could tell I was new as I didn't fully know what I was doing but we both got the swing of things and learned to trust each other. I had the other training intern take a video of me working him but unfortunately I can't post it because you can hear me saying his name and I am not allowed to say the names of dogs and how they are doing in training. While she worked the last 2 dogs I asked a ton of questions that had built up over the past 5 years of puppy raising and she answered every one of them in great detail and I was thrilled! We also stopped at Whole Foods and she grabbed lunch and assured me she was not stopping there because she wanted their food, but she was stopping there so the dog is exposed to a route that a normal person (blind or not) would do in their life, and also so the dog knows they are working for a purpose and not just working to work in a circle route every time they are taken out.

The time with her went way to fast! Before I knew it we were all loaded back up in the van and headed back to campus to unload and get ready for lunch. I went and checked back in with my mentor CWT and helped finish up community run, put all the dogs away and locked them in their inside kennels and handed out enrichment. It was now lunch time!! We all enjoyed a nice 30 min lunch together & talked, I told them about my very exciting morning and they all shared their experience being under blindfold. As lunch always does, the time flew by! We headed back to K3 and collected enrichment, washed the Kong's, and re-filled them for tomorrow.

The rest of the day was pretty laid back, I ran between K1 and K3 helping with afternoon scooping & spraying down of the runs and doing food prep. After all the dogs in K1 and K3 ate I washed the food bowls and filled some more Kong's for kennel enrichment. Most of the CWT's left at 3:30 and I wasn't due to leave till 4:30 so a night shift staff had me and the other training intern help set up recall decorations for tomorrow and then we went to the other kennels to make sure they didn't need help, so we got to leave around 4!

*On a puppy note, I went and talked to Mary (the person in charge of placing puppies) and let her know I could not pick up a puppy till Sunday and she said she has had to change my assignment 3x now and that she should have my assignment by Wednesday and she will have a male cross or yellow lab ready for me Sunday!

~Katlynn