The Rosie Road, part 7 DOUBT

Doubt.  I was full of it.  What was I thinking when I signed up to be a volunteer puppy-raiser for Leader Dogs for the Blind? 

Caspian, the one-year-old Future Leader Dog that I cared for one week in June of 2008, was well-behaved and no trouble, really.  He stayed in the kitchen.  He backed away from my nervous-nilly Gypsy.  He ran into his crate at night with no complaints.  But he was huge.  I know.  I've said it before, but he was easily double Gypsy's petite size, and that was alot of dog in our small townhouse.

Caspian was so big he didn't quite fit in my Chevy S10 pickup when I took him with me on my three-day-a-week-Invisible-Fence-field job.  Leader Dogs are trained to ride on the passenger side floor, but Caspian gazed at me quizzically when I told him, GET IN.  "You're kidding, right?" I read in his eyes.  "You expect ME to fit THERE?"  Somehow he wedged himself in, draping his upper body over the seat.  By the end of the workday he was exhausted; he reminded me of a Salvador Dali painting as he slid down the seat in a heap.

Caspian sat patiently before eating, but drooled puddles on our tile floor.  He shed copious amounts of black-lab fur.  Too bad I didn't know about the program that recycles hair to make oil spill collectors--Caspian could have single-handedly solved the recent disaster in the Gulf!

 

Apologies to Oliver Hardy, but I was feeling like this Leader-Dog-thing of mine was just another fine mess I'd gotten myself into.   How could we manage a large, shedding dog in our small space?  Andy was accommodating, but was it fair of me to subject him to this?

 

When Caspian's raisers came to pick him up, they graciously presented me with a Kong-toy and a Nyla-bone:  "For your new Leader Dog puppy!"  I thanked them, but inside I wasn't sure what I would do when the Leader Dogs for the Blind finally called to say, "We have a puppy for you!"

A TIP for Tuesday: SETTLE

I park my truck and bring FLD Mike out from his place on the floor of the passenger seat.  MIKE, SIT. (*See note at bottom.)  Mike sits patiently while I fill the parking meter with change.  I walk Mike over to the berm. MIKE, PARK.  After a few moments sniffing around at the end of his leash (I never let him wander while he's doing his "duty"), he "parks."  MIKE, WAIT.  He stands still while I buckle his "Puppy-Being-Raised-for-Leader-Dogs-for-the-Blind" working jacket.  MIKE, HEEL.  We set off at a leisurely stroll to the restaurant, a bit early for my luncheon date at John Barleycorn's.

At the door, which opens from the right, I tap the handle and say, MIKE, AROUND.  Obediently, FLD Mike ducks behind me to enter the door on my right side.  This is a command that the Leader Dogs for the Blind asks puppy raisers to teach our Future Leader Dogs to prevent their paws from catching in the door.  I pass his leash to my right hand and heel him through the entryway.  Once inside, I command MIKE, HEEL and FLD Mike ducks back around to my right side while I transfer the leash back to my left hand.

Most of my group is already seated, so FLD Mike and I take our place.  MIKE, DOWN.  Mike settles calmly at my side, but he spots a crumb under the table.  He sneaks his way toward it like a crawling Marine under fire.  It is my job to pay attention to him; I quickly say MIKE.  He stops to look up at me.  NO, and I gently guide him back to position.  MIKE, SETTLE.  FLD Mike relaxes, practically undetectable for the rest of the two hours or so that we are there.

My friends are amazed.  "How do you get him to stay there like that?"  I smile to myself.

• Well, Mike's been coming to places like this since he was seven weeks old.
• Leader Dogs breeds puppies for this temperament. 
• I walked Mike two miles this morning.  A tired puppy is a good puppy.
• There are many exercises we do with our puppies to train them to behave like a Future Leader Dog.

As I discussed in last week's TIP, there is no short answer, but one of the best techniques I've learned from the Leader Dogs for the Blind is an exercise we call "settle."  It is a valuable tool to use with ANY puppy!

SETTLE

"Settle" helps to build trust, leadership, and self-control.  Depending on the age and size of the puppy, there are different methods with which to employ this technique.  "Settling" should be practiced frequently, in various locations, and with increasing distractions.

PUPPIES UNDER 10-12 POUNDS  "Elevation"

This technique can be harmful to a larger puppy.

When FLD Mike was less than 10 pounds, I grasped him around his chest with my hands just below his front legs and, much like I would pick up a baby, lifted him.  As he faced me his rear legs dangled just off the floor.  FLD Mike would squirm, but I held him until he "settled" down and relaxed.  I did this several times during the day, in numerous places and situations.  It wasn't long before I could add  MIKE, SETTLE when I picked him up and he would immediately relax.

PUPPIES OVER 10-12 POUNDS  "Cradling"

Alternatively, I "cradled" young FLD Mike in my arms like a baby, restraining him from wiggling until he "settled."  As he grew, I switched position--while sitting on the floor I held his upper body against me with the rest of him between my legs.  This has become one of his favorite things to do at the end of our day; now that he's almost full-grown he curls up between my legs (or next to me), and rests his head on my lap.

FOR ALL AGES  "Quiet lying down"

As a pre-cursor to the "down" command, I would situate FLD Mike on his side with his legs stretched out away from me, petting him with long, slow strokes.  When he "settled" (usually this is accompanied with a big "sigh"), I would praise him, GOOD SETTLE, MIKE!  This was an excellent opportunity for me to "handle" Mike--touching him all over, fondling his ears, face, and paws.

After using all these settling exercises, FLD Mike is very well-behaved, just as you see here at Natalie's soccer game last night!

(*Puppy-raisers are taught to say our puppy's name before each command because this is what Leader Dogs for the Blind instructs the vision-impaired handlers to do.  The puppies learn name-recognition to help them focus.  My  prior experience in training dogs has been NOT to use the name before the command--this teaches the dog to respond to the command without having to add the name.  This also helps maintain consistency--you won't have to remember to say the name first, just the command.  The use of the dog's name is reserved for off-leash situations when you absolutely MUST get the dog's attention, like if the dog is running into the street and a car is coming.)

Spring Survival

Last week I took the down blanket off the bed and tucked it into the closet for storage.  Andy and I went for a bike ride wearing shorts.  But wait...it is May in Michigan!

Six-thirty on Saturday morning Andy says, "Mike is wacky."  Not a surprise since the only exercise he got the day before was our after-dinner shopping-date at Home Depot and Barnes and Nobles.  Too early for Mike to be instigating a skirmish with a vociferous Gypsy, I grab their leashes.  I'll be back!  Tough luck that they haven't even had breakfast yet. 

As the rising sun squints my eyes I take a quick look over my shoulder and spy an ominous wall of nimbostratus.  This rain-bearing-cloud, railroaded by a ferocious west-wind, threatens to thrust night back into the morning.

I pick up the pace.  Maybe we can make our two-mile loop.  FLD Mike and Gypsy simultaneously glance up at me as if to say, "Let's get going then!"

As we turn north at Little Mack I get a better view of the impending weather.  Well, maybe not.  I turn east at the next corner to shorten our route.  The wind punches me full-force.  I wish I had retrieved my winter coat from the front closet--it's COLD!  We hustle on.  Suddenly the sun blinks out as if Zeus himself had pulled its plug.  I look up.  The dark wall is looming just over the rooftops; a few sharp drops of rain prick my face; the lofty, spring-leaved trees that line the streets of this old neighborhood groan ominously:  "Go back, go back!"

Ok! I gulp, time to turn around.  HEEL I command as we do an about-face.  I know that running with an under-one-year-old puppy is never recommended (growth plates aren't fully formed until then), but I make a decision to get home ASAP and launch into a jog.  Well, I suppose my "jog" is more of a "slog"--FLD Mike and Gypsy break into a fierce trot.

We burst into the back hallway, soaked through.  Ah, breakfast laced with the lovely aroma of wet puppies!

Afterwards, FLD Mike transforms into: ta da....REGISTER DOG!  (While we were out, Andy kicked the heat on to chase the frost-warning chill out of the house.)

The Rosie Road, part 6 The Test

Miley never came back, she was with her girls forever.  The wait for a Future Leader Dog puppy began.  My application was in; by late March I had received a packet in the mail from the Puppy Development department at Leader Dogs for the Blind.  I was accepted as a puppy-raiser! Now I had to wait until a puppy became available--it could be 6 to 9 months.  (Currently, puppy-raisers are in great demand so the wait is not long.)

Sometimes I think that all the waiting was designed to test my resolve.  I wondered if the Puppy Development people brainstormed ways to verify that potential puppy-raisers really have what it takes to raise a Future Leader Dog.  Patience.  Persistence.  Doggedness!

The Meet Your Best Friend at the Zoo event came and went.  I waited.

My work schedule got reduced to three days a week.  I waited.

I checked PetFinder every night before bed.  I was still filled with "puppy lust."  I waited.

One day in June I received an email from a Leader Dog Puppy-Counselor.  Can you take a one-year-old male black lab named Caspian for a week while his raiser goes on vacation?

Hmmm...it seemed like another test.  Would I get a puppy sooner if I agreed to take the lab?  What if I didn't?  Would I be deemed "not-a-team-player" and never get a puppy?  (Questions I thought, but didn't come right out to ask!)  I wasn't sure how Gypsy would take to a grown, un-neutered male.  (Future Leader  Dogs are not neutered or spayed until it is determined that they will not serve as breeders.)  I knew I could handle exposing Gypsy to a puppy, but this was something different.  Somewhat apprehensively, I agreed.

One thing that impresses me about the trainers, puppy-development people, and puppy-counselors at Leader Dogs is their practical attitude in dealing with dogs.  At one of the puppy classes at the school, one puppy-raiser asked about how to handle the interaction between her puppy and her personal dog.  "My dog is not happy about having the new pup in the house."  "As long as there isn't any blood flying, let them settle it," she was advised.

The family raising Caspian brought him over a few days before I actually took him; we wanted to see how things might go with Gypsy.  (And maybe they wanted to check me out!)  We met outside our townhouse in the common area.  Caspian was HUGE!  

Does Caspian back off if a dog growls at him? I asked his raiser.  Gypsy can sound ferocious, but she puts up a good front; if the dog backs off, so will she, but if the dog doesn't...well, it isn't pretty.

"Oh yes, he's a big wimp!  And, seriously?  He could use a dog to put him in his place."

Sure enough, as Gypsy and I approached an interested Caspian, Gypsy rumbled and he backed away.  Our week with the big guy was on.