Wednesday, October 24, 2007

IE Lab

We just got a summation of the notes the volunteer "patients" took about us at the lab:

You and Maudie were golden! Aside from asking Maudie to go a bit longer than she was available for, you two did a great job. I’ve nothing more to add!

Sounds like we did ok! And I'm glad that I was already conscious of Maudie's limits...makes me feel smart.;-)

Monday, October 22, 2007

The Meantime. A Lull.

I keep having this vague sense of some impending task that sits heavy and jagged. I’m not sure what it is. It could be that I need to clean the house, or it could be the certification test, or the In service day at work. Or watching the Red Sox game and anticipating the World Series. (The Red Sox always get me so charged up, and I'm not sure I like begin that excited...!!!) Or that my bike, again, with the new longer Brooks saddle and Albatross bars needs adjusting.

M and I went for a 7.5 mile ride today on the Springwater Corridor. What a great ride, but I was squirming and fidgeting trying to get comfortable; need to change the seat and bar angles.

When we got home I took Maudie out for her run. We have to find another place to run nearby because they’re about to rip up the street –again-- for sewer work. Maybe I should tackle the necessary hills to bike with her to the park. There is a big off lead, fenced in area she could run in. Then bike back. We’d both be in turbo shape …

Tomorrow in class we can work on stay and loose lead walking. Usually she ambles along right next to me, but when she’s excited, she gets distracted (d’uh) and pulls. Her stay has been improving steadily.

I should take her lots of places over the next 2 weeks to work in new and distracting situations. I should be doing that all the time, it’s just that since school started again, I tend to stay home on the days I don’t teach, so I’m not going as many places as I did in the summer. Still,
there’s Home Depot and Pet Smart…both pretty near by. (Is there anywhere left where they aren’t near by??)

Sometime this week we should get a written summary of notes all the volunteers we “visited” took on Saturday. I think they’ll be positive.

But you don’t know what you don’t know. We all have blind spots.

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Notes on the Equipment Lab

Maudie is stretched out in a corner of the kitchen asleep. Occasionally she utters one of her big rattling sighs. She’s tired.
I’m tired too and feel a little unmoored. So much energy has been focused on getting to and through the lab, and now it’s over. The actual test is in 2 weeks. I assume we will get the nod to move toward certification.

I’m thinking about using these categories as a way to log our experience:
-Memorable Moments
-What I Learned
-Things to Work On
-Things We Did Well
-Notes about Names and Facilities

Memorable Moments
I asked Maudie if she would wave to the volunteer and made the wave signal I use with Tartuffe the Senegal and Flynn: palm vertical and still, fingers together and bouncing up and down. Maudie lifted her paw—the way she always does, as if to shake hands, and as it falls, it looks alike a wave. She did it consistently. We have a great trick! Especially handy for this work.

Near the very end, when we were in the “community room” and she had begun to turn off, we went to sit down together. I put her on a down and she lay looking up at me and wagging her tail as I talked to her and I could feel our bond so strongly.

What I Learned
Several people responded strongly to her as a collie. This creates an instant bond.

Maudie was uncomfortable with one person—the small darting person who kept scooting closer, peering directly at and under her and talking about the people in the walls while looking for her lost dog Buckley. Oddly enough, I felt not only OK, but intrigued. I don’t know if it was OK to accept her version of things…like agreeing to look out for the people in the walls by walking in the middle of the hallway. I kept trying to direct her attention away from Maudie.

She shut down during our second to last of 15 visits by turning her back to the person, refusing her attempts to get her attention. She did take a treat from her though. This was the woman who has a service dog and trains service dogs for others. She is one of the original volunteers in this program. Maudie’s response was very like it was with HT, the director.
She responded very well to the woman in the wheelchair (who I also liked. She was sad and sweet and lonely), and none of the equipment bothered her at all. The beep beep machine made her want to investigate.

She rallied for the very last visit and then spent the few minutes there lying facing the woman.

So far then, she’s good for about a half hour and likes gentle calm, people. She did like the teenager who read to her. She likes girls. I wish we had had more opportunity to visit with children.

She probably is not a candidate for unpredictable environments.
She responds well to my encouragement.
Driving home I felt a flash of anger at another driver. I understand this as a stress response…it was a lot to take in at once.

What I Need to Work On
-Keeping a loose lead by asking for her attention more consistently.
-Watching that she doesn;t paw people.
-Keeping the visits (myself) calm and giving us both breaks.
-Brushing her out REALLY well. There were collie filaments floating all over the place…


Things We Did Well

Overall I felt that we did quite well and everyone responded positively to us. We were a team and for the most part, both of us were present, personable and relaxed. (Until we got tired.)

Equipment Lab


It is pouring and the sky is so dark we need lights on in the house. In an hour Maudie and I will leave for the lab at Dove Lewis.

Yesterday I took her to a self serve dog wash for her bath; she didn’t have much fun, but boy is she clean and pretty! Her coat is turning that rich mahogany and the fur along the ridge on her back is slowly turning black. My favorite coat color for a collie…Her ruff and paws are sparkling white. Up top is a photo of her grandfather, Ch Twin Oaks High Plains Drifter, also a mahogany sable.

I am nervous! I know it’s not a test, but my perverse imagination is running amok: I picture her refusing to get on the elevator, or tuning out and turning her back on everyone. Offering a big No thank you all around.

The disciplined imagination pictures ease, success, relaxed laughter and perfect interactions. But when you’ve pledged, as a writer, to excavate the darkest ravines of your psyche…a well-mannered imagination is not at all what you cultivate…

So once again…I find myself with a foot in two worlds…..sigh.

Once I arrive, I am sure I will rise to the occasion; after all, I am a member of a team, AND the leader of the team. I can do that.

Friday, October 19, 2007

New Squidoo Page on Cycling with your Dog

I am making a page with tips on cycling with your dog. I will include reviews of available equipment and tips for getting started safely. CLick on title of this post for a link.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Handler Training

Last Saturday from 8am -5pm I spent at Dove Lewis in a handler-training seminar. There was quite a large group of us, maybe 30 people, and made up mostly of women with retrievers. One person was working with a cat. Australian Shepherd/border collie crosses weighed in with 2, also a Bouvier, a beagle, an English setter, Chihuahua, a pit bull mix. Many of the retrievers, most of which are Labs, are guide dog almosts.

There were no animals there, but I remember people’s dogs from their introductions.

We talked about proactive handling, Dove Lewis, hospital protocol and decorum, and preparation for the certification test. A video of Turid Rigas’ on “calming signals” showed some of the more subtle incarnations of dog-dog communication.

Next Saturday, Maudie and I will go to Dove Lewis for more training together. They call it a lab and the 2nd floor of Dove Lewis will be set up as a mock hospital environment. We are to prepare our dogs and ourselves as if for a real visit: dog freshly washed, handler well turned out and equipped.

Although we were reminded several times that this is a lab, not a test, and that we should try to approach it with a relaxed and open state of mind, we will also be evaluated as we go. Copious notes will be taken. So it is not a pressure free hour….and I keep thinking of the lab like a haunted house set up for Halloween.

I have a lot of confidence in both of us though. Maudie is extremely well behaved in public, and she keeps me calm and focused. My conscious “worry” is about my ability to role-play as a mature adult: “Hello Mr. Alzheimer; my name is E and this is Maudie and we’re from Dove Lewis. Would you like us to come in for a visit?”
I want so desperately to appear natural and un self conscious that I get nervous and sometimes when I get nervous I make jokes and laugh inappropriately. But it’s not about me…it’s about us. And I can speak as the manager for the Marvelous Maudie.

Friday I will have to bathe the marvelously furry Maudie, do her nails again, check her teeth, be sure to comb out and untangle her coat. I need to bring the things we would take on a real visit: water, a safe brush (no metal or sharp tines) a collar and lead with no chain, some wipes and bags, a towel, her quilt. A notebook.

Nov 3 is the test. It is the same test that the Delta Society administers and if we pass we can register with them to also be a certified Pet Partner team. If we pass we can begin the work.

Nov 3 is my father’s birthday. He would have been 75… Perhaps from his seat in the Other World, he will help guide us, support my small part for Tikkun Olam (healing of the world).

“It is not your job to fix the whole world, but neither should you shirk your part in the work.” (Talmud)


Here we go.

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Riding with Maudie




photo left: http://www.velorution.biz/?page_id=1131

Ye olde OCD has kept me busy setting up my bike, reading about bikes, talking on forums about bikes.and …happily…RIDING my bike. I ride every day and on the weekends, M and I have been exploring the bike paths around town.

There is the ongoing saga of the saddle, although I am committed to my beautiful Brooks B67. I ordered new handlebars so the saddle will be most comfortable.

I’ve also been taking Maudie out. We do .75 miles at a time, and she’s fine, not even winded. One of the concerns when starting out and running on asphalt is keeping mindful of paw abrasions: the pads need to be toughened up slowly. Her paws are sound.

My plan is to take her out 3 x a week and gradually increase the distance, although I am still seeking a good place to ride. We’ve been running along the street where we live in the afternoon when traffic is minimal. It will be a challenge to keep on as the rain settles in for the season.

I have been using 3 of the bike attachments that are readily available for roadworking your dog:

Walkydog
K9 Cruiser
BikerDog

There is another called the Springer, which many people like; I think it looks cumbersome.

The Walkydog is simple---an easily removed rod attaches to a bracket on your seat post—it keeps the dog right next to you and attaches above the collar. There is a spring in the rod that absorbs the shocks, but because the attachment is higher up, it feels a bit less stable than the lower ones. I find the bracket comes loose easily and pivots, bumping into the back of my leg. I like having Maudie almost in heel position, but on the other hand, having her a bit behind feels safer.

The K9 cruiser attaches to the wheel hub and the frame bracket and puts your dog a little behind you, more at your heel. I like the lower attachment, but I think I like having her a bit more forward. It is sturdy and I think the safer of the 2 as well as being easier to ride with.

The Bikerdog I just got. It attaches to the rear frame of the bike and thus offers both a low attachment point and a more forward position. It also comes with a harness --basically a simple drafting harness—that seems comfortable and way safer for her than using a collar.

Several times we have encountered tempting distractions, but she has not been able to pull me off course or over. There is a nice amount of information relayed through feel and sound; I can feel her drifting out, or turning back to look at something, and I can talk her back into position. (I also have a collar and lead on her. I hold the lead in my left hand for a correction if need be). I can hear her breathing and what gait she’s in. I try to keep her at an even trot which means riding at a rate that is slow enough so that she need not break into a gallop, but fast enough to keep her moving along.

It is actually much easier than I thought it would be. I was most worried about my own stability and ability to steer a straight course, but it didn’t take very long to get my “bike legs” back and riding with her is quite smooth. She also seems to know what is required of her: “ready?” “Let’s go” “GOOD job” and “slow up” are the commands I’ve used successfully. She picked them up VERY quickly.

I’m interested to hear about others experience riding with their dogs. It's fun!