I had a sleepless night processing all that had happened during yesterday’s training session and emailed my trainer in the early hours of the morning to ask if I could speak to her about how I could try to make buses more manageable for me.  I also did some scoping work in the evening on possible destinations for today’s training route and decided that it would be most sensible to make the destination one that would reflect the time I had in a normal lunch break – at the moment if I go over my hour lunch break for training purposes I need to make the time up during the evening by working at home.  My trainer replied to my email in the morning that the other trainer would have time to discuss what I needed to when she met me today.

We were doing our training early afternoon but I picked up on Sadie’s restlessness as we headed through my normal lunch break time which is encouraging as she is starting to recognise our usual working routine.   As pre-arranged I met my (other) trainer at our meeting point, Sadie again giving me practice in controlling her when she spots someone she knows and wants to rush towards them.  I talked through my experience yesterday on the bus suggesting what I thought might help me and my trainer agreed (it was the same agreement reached with my own GDMI when I was doing my initial training with Sadie and although not best practice, the way I do things needs to be practical and achievable for me while obviously not causing any (potential) harm to Sadie).  We then agreed on a destination for today’s route and set off.

We were aiming for a Waitrose which is about a 15-20 minute walk from the hospital I work in but despite working there for around 19 years have never been to.  Before setting off, because this was a route I had never walked before and to my knowledge neither had Sadie, I did flag up to my trainer that I may have to ask for sighted assistance if I wasn’t sure on occasion, or indeed if Sadie did something that I didn’t know how to correct.  As it turned out Sadie and I sailed along happily with my trainer only picking up on one thing she would want me to correct in the future (Sadie drifting slightly to the left on a crossing so she could scent as she went past – my trainer remarked that I was correct to go with Sadie as she drifted as there might have been an obstacle that I was unaware of but she could see Sadie was drifting for self interest so I need to correct her but still go with her; Sadie should respond to the correction and pick up the perfect straight line but I shouldn’t alter my position relative to Sadie’s until she guides me back on to the straight line…back to the comment my trainer made last week of me having to ensure that Sadie does the work of guiding me and I don’t compensate for her lack of attention at times).

I didn’t need any shopping from Waitrose so just had a wander round really for me to get my bearings and for Sadie to get practice in finding the door in, behaving appropriately in the supermarket and then guiding me back to the exit and back to the main path heading back to my workplace.  Once we reached the main path back to the hospital and Sadie realised that we were going ‘home’ she started her death march slow walk again.  But it did give me practice in alternating between being a bit sterner with her to try and get her to increase her pace, and being more playful in my approach to doing so (as I’d learned earlier in the week).  Sadie did respond on each occasion, albeit for a mere few steps, but my trainer explained at the end of the walk that although Sadie only responded momentarily, she was still responding.  I remember for a fairly long period of time after I qualified with Waffle having to work on correcting her desire to walk very slowly home from a destination.  Over time she sped up a little, not to her usual walking speed but we reached a happy compromise of a speed I would accept.  I’m hoping the same will happen with Sadie.  If I’m honest her very, very slow walking pace doesn’t bother me but I do understand what my trainers explain to me that it should always be me who decides on an acceptable pace, otherwise over time Sadie will demand more and more of her own way so correcting things early on sets us up for a better longer term working partnership with a bit of give and take on both sides.  It was also very encouraging personally to hear from my trainer that there was nothing else she would have suggested I try in attempting to alter Sadie’s speed on our return walk or that she herself believed that would have worked if she were the one working with Sadie.

On reaching our destination (back to the entrance I needed to the hospital) my trainer explained that her and my usual trainer had discussed yesterday how they moved my training on suggesting that Sadie and I try a route on our own tomorrow.  Remember yesterday my own trainer had said she needed to test which one of us needed support when she wasn’t there…this is her way of testing it.  The trainer was quick to reassure me that if I didn’t feel confident enough to do this, then they would make arrangements for one of them to do the route with Sadie and I or that if I felt in the morning that I did need support they would give me that support. But I do feel confident enough.  No idea how Sadie feels about it but I’ll find out!  I discussed the route I will do tomorrow with Sadie on my own, avoiding her sticky area of the shopping centre, and then we made follow up arrangements.

A few weeks ago when I was discussing refresher training, my trainer had indicated it would likely take around the same amount of time as normal class (circa 3 weeks) before we would be allowed out and about on our own again (she was very clear that if I agreed to refresher training as a way of resolving the issues I was having with Sadie’s behaviour I would need to agree to having a trainer “on my shoulder” and not go out on my own with Sadie during refresher training).  I had no issues with her stipulations then or now.  To be told that on day 6 of training Sadie and I will be let completely loose on our own is a real confidence boost to me…my trainer will be miles away should we get into difficulties; the norm is that they slowly get further and further back from dog/owner to allow us to work independently but have rapid support available if we need it.  It also indicates that in general I do handle Sadie well and have been able to learn the new skills taught to me over the last couple of days and put them into practice.  I’m writing this blog post in the morning of day 6 but haven’t lost any of my confidence in stepping out with Sadie on my own…the only way I’ll know how well I handle Sadie truly on my own is to do just that.