Half a Dozen Puppies

Am I really on puppy #6?! It's really hard to believe that I will be taking home my 6th guide dog puppy! Time really flies by when your having fun raising puppies!

I waited anxiously all day for an e-mail about a puppy assignment and it finally came!

On Sunday I will be picking up a:

LGXX (3/4 Golden 5/8 Lab) 

Male

DOB: 6/1/2012 

Dam: Azul

Sire: Medford

"B" Litter

I am so happy I got assigned a cross! I told Mary I would love a cross if there was any in the kennels, but would be happy with a lab as well. Ashley Carol I know will be excited because she raised his dad! This boy is going to be "old" for picking up as he will be over 11 weeks old. I am excited to start again from the puppy stage and watch him grow up!

~Katlynn, Ryder, & "B" Boy!

Training Internship: Day 8

 I knew today was going to be a good day no matter what because I was expecting for a puppy assignment and I got to go out with the instructors! I arrived at 8am and went and found my mentor in K2 and I did quiet work with the dogs while the instructors loaded their dogs. I only had about 20 min left before I got to go out with the instructors so I went out and scooped/acceled/sprayed a quad of kennels.

I headed to the training office to meet up with the advisor who was taking me out. He told me I was going to get to observe traffic training! I was kinda bummed I didn't get to experience blindfold work again, but I am thankful I got the opportunity Friday. The string of dogs I went out with, this was their first time being exposed to traffic training. Traffic training consisted of a team (instructor & dog) walking a route in a quite neighborhood, and a GDB car and driver setting the dog up. The setups were: backing out of a driveway, quickly pulling into a driveway, cutting the team off in a crosswalk, chasing the dog in the crosswalk, starting the car and pulling out of a driveway & backing up and re-pulling into the driveway. What I thought was most interesting was when the car was backing out of the driveway if the dog did not catch on they would bump the dog with the car to really let the dog know a car is a bad thing. Of course they did not hurt the dogs, and the dog quickly backed up and was confused as to what just happened! But the dogs need to learn that cars are very dangerous for them and their partner. From here on out the dogs will be worked out in busier neighborhoods and be set up with non GDB cars and every day traffic, until their final traffic exam.

 Most of the dogs caught on real quick that cars are not safe to be around and they needed to back up quickly or speed up to the curb, it's the dogs decision to either back up or speed up to the curb based on their intelligent disobedience & what they decide is safe. It was really fun to follow the team and watch the dogs catch on really fast to traffic. After I followed a few teams, I rode in the GDB van with a supervisor who was setting all the dogs up. He explained a lot to me as to why they do this setup and what the dogs initial reaction should be. I really enjoyed going out with the team, they are all so friendly and willing to answer any questions and are just happy to have us interns there.

I got back to campus close to lunch time, and went back to K2 and handed out enrichment to the dogs and locked them in and went to lunch.

Lunch always goes by way to fast, but it's always fun to get back to work! The rest of my afternoon went pretty smooth and normal. I collected all the enrichment in K2 and started doing quiet work while the instructors got their dogs for an afternoon route. My mentor had meetings most the afternoon so I floated between all 3 kennels and in K3 me and 3 other people took four dogs on a cemetery walk. It was a really nice afternoon and not scorching hot like it has been.

All the CWT's had a meeting today, and I got to attend. It was a presentation from a vet tech about how to properly and confidently do an IV bag of fluids for any dog in a kennel. It was very informational and fun to watch the demonstrations. The meeting ended and I headed back to kennels to start scooping food and fed the dogs. The dogs eat in about 1 second and then the bowls are collected and washed. I locked in a quad of dogs and started scooping/spraying out the runs. My mentor asked me to accel the outside center hallway that all the instructors use to train their dogs about overhead and ground obstacles, so I of course said yes and that took me the rest of my time I there this afternoon. I put all my cleaning equipment away and headed home!

~Katlynn

Training Internship: Day 7

I arrived, and before I could say "good morning" to everyone, I was sent to do quiet work with K2 dogs while the instructors loaded. The dogs are the most crazy in the morning because they just got fed, everyone is coming into work, they are looking for their instructor, and they all have energy!! I did quiet work for a good hour until it was time to scoop/accel/spray runs then I got started on that. I was interrupted while cleaning the community run, because I had to take a break, in order to help with IFT's.

I was excited that I got to help with IFT's. I am not quite sure what IFT stands for but basically every recall dogs goes through this. We had 18 recall dogs to do. There was 3 of us doing this and one of us each took a dog down to the vet clinic, went and visited with the vet and he looked them all over, gave them 3 shots, and nasal spray in the nose. All the dogs I had did really well and were accepting of the vet looking in their ears, mouth, body, and giving shots. Next, the dogs had to go back to the sugary area to get extensive x-rays to determine if they are in tip-top shape to be a guide or breeder. They all got blood drawn, which would be tested for heartworm. Lastly, I had to hold their head and paw while the vet tech put sedatives in their veins, making it very easy to get x-rays done. The x-rays took maybe 5 min and the dogs were taken from the table and put on blankets to be able to wake up. Most of the dogs woke up within 10 min and the 3 of us took turns taking them back to the kennels and feeding them their very late breakfast! The first dog we took down ended up being dropped for a knee or hip issue, I was bummed he seemed like an awesome dog! Overall doing IFT's was a very neat experience, and I was glad I got to be a part of it!

After all the dogs went through IFT's I handed out enrichment to the rest of the K2 dogs, and locked the rest of the dogs in and now I was headed to lunch.

When I came back from lunch I had to hang out in K2 for a few minutes while I waited for my mentor to get out of a meeting. While I was walking up and down the kennel hallways saying "hi" to all the dogs, I noticed a dog we took through IFT's that morning had blood piles in his run, obviously something was wrong with him. Luckily as I was headed out to look for someone another CWT came in and I informed him and he quickly took this dog down to the vet and I cleaned up the blood in his run.

Right about this time the instructors were coming in to get their dogs out for an afternoon workout. I was sent in to help do quiet work with the dogs so they were not being obnoxious while the instructors were loading. Quiet work is usually fun, as you have all the dogs attention and they will do anything for food! Once all the dogs were out for the afternoon, I started washing all the food bowls from the dogs that ate late that were doing IFT's. My mentor had another meeting so he sent me over to K1 to help out. I was happy to see that my favorite CWT was there and we got to walk dogs! I got to walk one of the crosses that looks full golden. I am a sucker for all the crosses and goldens in the kennels down there! We took the 2 dogs on a cemetery walk, and enjoyed chatting.

My mentor was back now, so I went back over to K2 and assisted him. He had me write all the meds on the board and in each dogs' file. I have learned that GDB has their own med lingo. For example a med might read "BFF soak in CHX SID" your right this is a foreign language! It means soak back front foot in CHX one time a day. I have learned to read and understand their lingo and it makes sense in the GDB world. Every dog that went through IFT had a vet form that had meds, ear cleanings, etc on it that we had to record for each dog to make sure it would get done. Now it was time for my break!

We came back and put the dogs back in their run, and now it was time to refill the food bins and start dishing out food. 3:00 rolled around and all the dogs know it's dinner time! We fed all the dogs that were there, collected all the bowls, and then washed them. We gave the dogs their time to "do their business" and locked them all in and went out to scoop/spray the runs.

My mentor had to go work with his project dogs, so we went over to K3 and took them on a quick campus walk. Once we got back and put them away I was sent over to K2 to help with quiet work and then it was time for me to leave. My day always goes by way to fast, and I would love to stay longer. This has been such an experience and tomorrow I get to go out with another team and observe them and maybe do blindfold again!

~Katlynn

Training Internship: Day 6

After a great weekend of hanging out and going into San Francisco, I was more then happy to get back to work today! I'm really bummed this is my last week, it all went by so fast and I have learned so much!

I arrived at 8:00am and was quickly sent out to scoop/accel/wash kennel runs. I finished that rather quickly, I am getting used to the routine and know what to do when. Each kennel has weekly and monthly duties and today all the cabinets and drawers needed to be cleaned out and organized & wash the goggles. It was fun getting to go through all the cabinets/drawers, seeing really where everything was and goes. That took me a quick 15 min to do, and then I learned how to really do quiet work with the dogs. Quiet work is walking up and down the kennel hallways telling the dogs "no" or "quiet" to get them to stop barking and we can also use citronella collars if needed, but once most the dogs figured out I had food and was rewarding them for being quiet they quickly caught on to the verbal commands. I got to do quiet work for a good 30 min while the instructors loaded their dogs up for the morning.

I took a quick 10 min break then came back, found my mentor and we did community run with all the new dogs. This was really fun because we had to bring out 2-3 dogs at a time and introduce them or single them out in the center run. Eventually we got all 18 dogs out and let them run around and exercise. They all did very well together and only a few caused trouble. They were all put away and I ran down to the vet clinic to look for meds for K2, and there was one there so I signed for it and headed back to write it on the meds board and make a box for it in the meds cabinet.

More quiet work was needed while all the dogs were coming back from their morning route, so I did quiet work with them till all the dogs were in. Kennel enrichment was on the agenda next, so enrichment was handed to all the dogs, then it was lunch time!

Lunch flew by, and before I knew it I was walking back to K3 to help with vet checks. Vet checks consisted of: getting the dogs out, grooming them, and making sure they had no weird bumps, scabs, etc on them. After we did the vet checks on 2 dogs we took them for a quick campus walk. After the walk, I headed over to K2 to find my mentor and we took dogs to the training office (for stress relief) and came back and collected/cleaned/refilled the enrichment. It was now my break time!

After break, I helped feed all the dogs and collected their bowls and washed them. After dinner we give the dogs roughly 15 min to "do their business" then we lock them in and scoop/spray their runs. We were short staffed yesterday so I got the pleasure of scooping/spraying out all 4 quads in K2 (each kennel has 4 quads). It didn't take as long as I thought and I came back in and was told 2 dogs were CC'd so I made CC tags for their kennels so they could be moved to K3 and adopted out. Since all the cleaning was done in all 3 kennels I got to go home a little early, which is always a bonus!

~Katlynn

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

Training Internship: Day: 4

I arrived at 8am in K3 and was quickly sent out to accel/spray the runs which took me a good 20 min. I came back inside and helped a CWT get ready for the recall coming in Saturday, which consisted of making kennel tags, move dogs around & their tags, watch "play-dates"with potential dogs that could be room-mates to free up runs for recall dogs. It was now time for the daily 9:30am CWT meeting which was short and brief and I came back to K3 and folded laundry and started a new load. 

Morning break was now here and I took it with two CWT's and another training intern in the employee lounge, it has been nice working with so many people and eating lunch/taking breaks with them because we all talk and I have learned so much from them like why they started working at GDB, how they found out about it, why they love their job, their personality's, etc. Our break quickly ended and we all headed back to K3 as dogs were waiting for us to run. We took out a quad of dogs and did community run with them and even set up the pool! One dog was hilarious, he kept going in the pool and laying down in the water and chewed a bone. We did community run for about an hour, put all the dogs away and locked them inside their kennel run. Next we handed out enrichment which consisted of large Kongs filled with food and peanut butter all frozen, or frozen kibble in ice. All the dogs love kennel enrichment time! After all the enrichment was handed out it was lunch time! We all headed down to the lounge and had a great time eating lunch together. 

Lunch always go by way to fast! Before I knew it we were all walking back to K3 to collect enrichment and let the dogs out. I got to be in charge of washing the Kongs and re-filling them with kibble and peanut butter and sticking them back in the freezer. I really enjoyed making the enrichment. Next, I got the task of taking K3's food cart and bins to the kennel kitchen and refilling all the food. I came back and hung out and talked with the CWT's for awhile and then it was time for afternoon break. I went & refilled my water, went to the bathroom and ate a quick snack before I was due back. When I got back all the food was scooped out in bowls and it was feeding time, the dogs favorite part of the afternoon! Of course all the dogs eat their food in about a second and the bowls are collected and I washed all the bowls then locked the dogs in and headed out to scoop and spray out runs. I finished and let the dogs out and headed over to K1 to help scoop/spray runs and after that my day was pretty much over. I left about 30 min early which was nice! 

~Katlynn

Recall & Pictures

Today is a day puppy raisers never look forward to, recall day. Mojito was being recalled early so they could fly him up to the Oregon Campus and start his training. I was very excited that Mojito was going to Oregon and that he even got to fly! Mojito was in the recieving kennel Monday and Tuesday and I heard he was stressed out a little bit, but for the most part did really well. When we were pulling into GDB this morning he recognized it and was getting excited as he thought he was going to get to go in the kennel and play for the day and I would pick him up on my lunch and take him home at night, he thought wrong. I checked him in and we walked to kennel 3 and I walked in with him and the water works began, Mojito the past few months has made leaps and bounds and has really turned into a nice dog that I loved having around. So you can imagine after all the hard work and dedication I put into him and seeing the end result, leaving him in the kennel for good was awful, I think he could tell I was upset because he kept coming up to me in the kennel box and giving me kisses and wanting me to pet him. I was in there about 15 min with him and was already running late to start my internship so I gave him one last big hug and kiss and wished him luck and I shut the kennel door and left. The hardest part, walking away & knowing you might never see this dog again.

Puppies in the Kennels! 

My host family that I am staying with during my 2 weeks here are just the best! They are always making me feel welcome, and when they get home from work they are taking me around town and showing me around. I really could not have asked for a better place to stay!

Last night they took me on a dinner picnic to Angel Island, where I got to enjoy a gorgeous view of San Francisco and the Golden Gate. The bay area is just so beautiful, I am in love down here and would move here in a heart beat! We also celebrated Mojito's last outing with me as a puppy in training as he was going in for training today!

Mojito enjoying our picnic!

The gorgeous view of the Golden Gate!

Mojito and I with the city behind us! 

Mojito in the kennels, looking at me while I was locking his kennel like "why you gotta leave me here again, but I guess I'll see you in a few hours." Good luck Mo-Mo make me proud I am proud to be called your puppy raiser, you sure did give me a challenge throughout the past year but we worked through it and I could not be any more proud of how you turned out!

See ya when I see ya buddy! I love you!

~Katlynn

Training Internship: Day 3

Today was a rather calm day for a day at GDB. I arrived a little early because I had to turn in Mojito (I will post about that with pictures soon) as he was headed up to Oregon for his training. I spent about 15 minutes in his kennel crying my eyes out as I knew if he was career changed I would let GDB place him. I felt a little more relieved leaving him, because I knew the K3 kennel staff and I like them all very much and they assured me Mo would be well loved for the few hours he was there in the morning. I said my final goodbye and gave him a huge hug and kiss and headed to the bathroom to dry up my tears and get my A game on and get ready for another day!

I reported to K1 and explained to my mentor why I was late and she was very understanding and she quickly put my to work cleaning all the community run bones, jolly balls, and water bowls. Every Wednesday the community run toys and water bowls are cleaned and disinfected. We hurried up to finish as we had a department meeting from 9:30-12 that I was going to get to attend. I'm not gonna lie when I heard I had to attend this meeting I was not thrilled, but I am so glad I went! It was very informational and fun to be a part of! I was able to take a female black lab training dog with me to the meeting, it was good to have a dog with me during that time. The meeting went by super fast and at 12 I was sent to lunch and took an hour and went over and checked out the mall.

I arrived back at 1, and my mentor was not coming back from his lunch till 1:30 so I hung out in the K1 reading some of the reference binders, it was actually helpful info that was fun to read about. Right before my mentor was due back, the K1 CWT asked me to help dish out the food for the 3pm feeding so I gladly put down my reading and scooped food for the K1 dogs! 

My mentor arrived back and we headed over to K3 to walk his project dogs. Each CWT is assigned 1-2 project dogs and that means that 1 hour out of the day they are expected to walk the dog and access them and keep records of them, which helps breeding and training. I took a beautiful female LGX who was white in coloring and looked like a Taylor puppy. We took them out to a grassy paddock and let them run around with toys and played with them for about 20 min. We took them back to their kennels and I groomed the girl I was walking as she was shedding like crazy! I finished up grooming her and then my mentor and I headed back to K1 and I took my afternoon 10 min break.

When I got back from break it was time for the 3pm feeding of dogs who were there, which was a whooping total of 5. I picked up all the empty bowls and started washing them, then locked all the dogs in, and headed out to scoop and spray out their runs. Since there was so few dogs in K1 I was done cleaning rather early so I was sent over to K2 to help out with their cleaning and they had me scoop and spray out a quad of runs. I went over to K3 to do the same thing and they were done with cleaning so I hung out with the other training intern and we waited for my mentor to come meet us. He came and found us after he got out of his meeting and he took us to go help him clean the bathing room. Cleaning the bathing room consisted off: cleaning the hair/dust off washers & counters, acceling/spraying the floors/drying kennels/bath tubs/mats, and taking out the garbage. It took us about 20 min to clean, then we were done for the day but I still  had 45 min till I was due to leave so I was sent to the employee lounge to read the CWT reference until 5 when I was due to leave. The time went by fast and I headed home empty leash and enjoyed a delicious dinner and ice cream. 

~Katlynn 

Training Internship: Day 2

I arrived again at 8am and was greeted by all the staff and they always make you feel welcome! The staff there is amazing they are very appreciative of our help and are always explaining what goes on & how to do things, they are happy to answer any of my questions, and they are just fun to be around and work with!

I was quickly sent into kennel 2 and started cleaning the morning food bowls. Like I said before there is a never a dull or down moment when you are working, you are always walking around doing this, or getting that, or getting/taking a dog somewhere, etc. I finished dog bowls the went to one of the quads (one of the 4 groups of kennels in each kennel) and let all the dogs in and went out to their runs and scooped poop and started acceling (cleaning solution that they use to clean the runs with every morning) the runs and washing them out. I was pulled from cleaning to attend the daily CWT meeting at 9:30 and they just discussed how each kennel was doing with cleaning, staff, dogs, etc and if any kennel needed help and if any changes to the schedule needed to be made, it lasted about 5 min and then I went back to kennel 2 to finish my cleaning of the runs and a community run. Immediately following the cleaning of the runs and community run the dogs were let out in their runs and my mentor and I went out and did community run with a quad of dogs for about an hour. One dog was left behind for training this morning and he was not in the quad we did community run with, so my mentor and I took a black lab male on a walk around the campus. We walked him for about 15 min and we came back put him back in his kennel run and I went to go grab a female yellow lab and brought her out into the center of the kennels and spent about 10-15 min grooming & loving on her. A lot of the female labs I have worked with I call them "pocket labs" because they are tiny for a lab, and so loving & sweet, made me want raise a female in the future. By this time it was near 11:30 and I finished up grooming her and put her back in her run and now it was time to lock the dogs in their kennels and hand out enrichment. Enrichment is usually a large frozen peanut butter Kong with treats in it, that we hand out to the dogs that are in the kennels that are allowed to have them. Some dogs are not allowed enrichment due to many reasons or some dogs are simply out working with their instructors and miss it. Once all the enrichment got passed out I headed out to my lunch and went and grabbed Mojito from the receiving kennel, and hung out with him during my lunch.

I arrived back from my hour lunch and put Mo back in his kennel run and headed to kennel 1 to find my mentor and we headed over to kennel 3 (K3 is where all the career change dogs, breeder dogs, boarding breeders or boarding guides are, so basically no training dogs are in K3) and me and 3 other people took 4 dogs on what they call the cemetery walk. The San Rafael Cemetery backs right up to the campus and it's a nice 20-25 min walk that the dogs get, and it was hot!! I was surely sweating when we got back and the dogs drank water and passed out on the cool linoleum floor. We made sure all the dogs were doing well in K3 (kennel 3) and headed on back to K2 (kennel 2) and my mentor and I each locked a quad in and started the afternoon cleaning up of poop and spraying out the runs. My mentor then had to go to a meeting and there was no other CWT (canine welfare technician) for me to hang with in the kennels so I sat in K2 and read about all the signs of illnesses and what to look for when you think something is wrong with a dog. I finished up with that then walked up and down the kennel hallways and did some basic quiet work with the dogs (praising the dogs for being quiet and calm in the kennels, and quieting down the barkers). By not it was 3pm and that means dinner time for all the dogs that were left behind from training for whatever reason. We walked up and down the K2 hallways feeding the dogs that were there and then back tracking and getting all the empty bowls out of the kennels and placing them in the sink for washing and disinfecting. Between 3-5 the instructors are usually back and it is then their responsibility to feed their dogs. After dinner the dogs are given 10-15 min to relieve in their run and they are then locked in their kennel while the runs are scooped and sprayed out again.

My mentor made it back from his meetings (he's  kennel lead for K1 so he stays very busy running around, dealing with any problems in K1, going to meetings, and whatever else he gets called in to do) and we headed over to K3 again to do an afternoon walk with those dogs, all the dogs in K3 get an AM & PM walk. I leashed up a female yellow lab, and my mentor and another intern leashed up a dog and we went and walked the campus with them. I learned that all the dogs are walked on an EZ leash (it's a gentle leader and leash all in one that can be used for any dog in their kennels) and sometimes you see them being walked with a gentle leader and leash that usually the volunteers walk them on, but regardless all dogs are walked on a gentle leader, which makes walking all the dogs very easy because you might get a very easy walker or you might get a headstrong puller. Now it was 4:30 and I was due to leave in 30 min so we went back to kennel 1 and discussed what was going on tomorrow, made sure all the other training kennels were doing good, and just hung out and he let me go 5 min early.

The entire training dept. has a 3 hour dept meeting from 9-12 so no dogs are going out for training in the morning, and I get to attend the meeting! From what my mentor was telling me, a lot is going to be discussed and a few presentations. The dogs will be taken in with instructors and CWT's, so hopefully there will be a dog for me to take as well!

Sometime during the day blindfolds came up, which is volunteers/interns/staff gets put under blindfold with a class ready dog and the instructor right there and you get to be guided by the dog for a little bit. I asked my mentor is there was any way I would be able to do this and he said he would talk to his boss and we met up with her in the hallway and she said I was already on the schedule to go out to town next week (either downtown San Rafael or maybe San Francisco) with the instructors and would most likely get to experience blindfold. I was beyond excited when I heard this, this is the part I was looking forward to the most!

Mojito and I enjoyed his last night with me going on a picnic to Angel Isalnd and enjoyed a BEAUTIFUL view of San Francisco and The Golden Gate Bridge with my amazing host family! Pictures will follow soon!

~Katlynn & Mojito

Training Internship: Day 1

Today was busy, busy, busy to say the least. I started my day off by arriving at 8:00a.m. and checking Mojito into kennel reception so he could be boarded during the day, then I headed off to meet the head of the interns, and from there she took us 3 interns to our departments, and me and another young women headed off to training!

Most of my morning was spent going behind the scenes of GDB, watching a video about hazardous chemicals, and reading about the chemicals GDB uses and how to properly use them, dispose of them, precautions to take, dangers, etc. It was definitely not the highlight of my day but you always have to learn the ground work before you get to do the fun stuff. After I finished reading I was taken out with a CWT (Canine Welfare Technician) and was taught how to be a distraction for a working team (a trainer and their dog) which I found out there was 3 levels of distractions. I didn't get to put those skills to the test yet, but I'm sure within the 2 weeks I will! I was told I will perform distractions around the campus and downtown San Rafael. Right after distraction training I hooked back up with my CWT mentor and he took me and showed me how to clean/disinfect runs, clean/disinfect food bowls & toys. It's a lot more then you think, but it really made me feel that our dogs that we loved for the past year are really well cared for and all the staff loves them as much or more as we did. That was pretty much my morning, and I headed off for my 30 min lunch. Guide Dogs is very flexible, any employee or intern can take a 30 min or an hour lunch and when you have worked your 8 hours you are free to go home, I thought that was really cool that they are really that flexible!

I spent my 30 min lunch with the other training intern in the staff lounge and boy did the 30 min fly by!  I couldn't complain I was more they happy to go back to work! I spend my afternoon helping another CWT prepping for the recall dogs coming in on Aug 11, which is way more then you would ever think! We spent 2 hours making collars, writing kennel tags (which included the dogs name, tattoo #, Micro Chip #, Sex, Color, & Breed), writing paper work with the same info as the kennel tags, and other misc. kennel tags that were needed for 39 incoming dogs. I never thought about all the work and prep that goes into recall dogs. I headed back to the kennels to return all the ready packets. I found my mentor in my kennel and he briefly taught me how to properly put on their 2 in 1 leash/gentle leader to any dog in the kennel in case I ever needed to grab a dog for whatever reason, then it was off to learning how to prep food for that kennel! Food is prepped around 2:30p.m. and by the time you scoop all the food and scoop the special diets for the dogs that need it, it's around 3 and you start at one end of the kennel and work your way down to the other end feeding the dogs that were left behind when the trainers went out for the afternoon and watching/separating any dogs that it applied to, and about that time the trainers are back and bringing their dogs in and we back track and feed those or the trainers take care of it. I then went back to where I started and collected the empty dog bowls and took them to the sink where they would be cleaned. The dogs are given about 15-20 min after being fed to go out in their runs and "do their business" and after that time they are locked in and the runs are cleaned and sprayed out for the 3rd time that day, and I got the privilege of doing that again, I really didn't mind I actually enjoyed it! After the runs were cleaned out and sprayed down in my kennel, my mentor took my to get a dog and showed me more behind the scenes of the campus.

By now it was near 4:15  and everyone is winding down and getting ready to leave and making sure they wrote down any needed info about dogs in their kennel in the logs or on the whiteboard. What I took away from today is GDB is very organized/scheduled orientated and you need to learn/love/live that schedule to survive a day there! It was a very busy day of learning and experiencing what goes in the 3 training departments and how to communicate with the employees and that it's extremely  important to read and understand all the kennel tags that could be on a kennel. I was dismissed at exactly 4:30 and I went into the receiving kennel and grabbed Mojito and headed on home for the night where I enjoyed a delicious homemade meal! I am NOT a morning person but waking up at 6:15 in the morning for the next 2 weeks I will not mind doing at all, I throughly enjoyed my day and can't wait for what's coming!

On another note I was informed Mojito is flying to Oregon on Wednesday at 11am and will be arriving there around 4pm. GDB is hoping to have a volunteer fly with him in the passenger area but if not he will be placed in a kennel and picked up in Portland!

~Katlynn & Mojito