Sadie and I happily set off for our lunchtime solo walk.  She performed as usual guiding me safely out of the hospital but as we crossed the road she didn’t pick up her pace as she normally would.  It took me a few seconds to realise that it was bin emptying day and there were emptied wheely bins strewn along the street so Sadie was showing caution in her guiding rather than any reluctance to step out.  She did pick up pace on the short stretches where there were no bins obstructing the path and we arrived at Sainsburys in good time with Sadie maintaining a safe guiding pace, slowing down and picking back up as appropriate. Go wee Pops!

I purchased a few things in Sainsburys and we made our way out of the store with me asking Sadie to locate the bus stop pole as we neared it which she did perfectly first time. Go wee Pops (again)!  She was a bit sluggish in her pace as I asked her to go straight on which might have been because Sadie was expecting to get on the bus, especially as there was a bus at the stop as we drew close although it departed before Sadie had located the pole.  Once we turned out of the shopping centre and onto a long straight stretch of path I asked Sadie to “hop up” which she immediately did and continued to rocket her way along the street, only pausing momentarily in a sit at each down kerb until it was safe to cross and then picked her pace back up beautifully.  She continued like this until we reached the down kerb we needed to turn at.  At this one I made a point of fussing and praising Sadie because she had done remarkably well in maintaining her pace, not sniffing at all (there was repeated sniffing when we walked this route 3 days ago, although bins being on her shore line* might have helped that) and kept good focus on guiding safely.  Sadie made this turn perfectly but wouldn’t increase her pace much for me.  She kept looking to my right hand which suggested she was expecting a treat.  I’ve not treated her at a down kerb for a long time but perhaps with me praising her she was also expecting, or hoping, for a treat too. No such luck Sadie, I even showed her my empty hand at one point allowing her to sniff it and then told her a bit more briskly to go “straight on” and to “get on with it” which she reluctantly did, albeit keeping to a slower pace.  I accepted that pace as we were walking up hill and its not unreasonable for a dog to slow their pace, especially as they are actually taught to do so during training (and frankly after rocketing along the previous section of the route I would have needed oxygen and roller skates to have maintained that pace up a significant hill!).  Again where we previously had constant sniffing on this part of the route, Sadie never sniffed once, or if she did, she did it so furtively that I didn’t pick up on it despite specifically watching for her doing so.  My trainer had told me a few days earlier when we had walked this route that at the moment she wasn’t too worried about Sadie sniffing (I corrected the ones I was aware of) as there were more important things for me to concentrate on during walk so had Sadie sniffed, I wouldn’t actually have corrected her….clearly we forgot to tell Sadie that!

We reached the next down kerb and I praised Sadie again, perhaps not as enthusiastically as the last kerb point but she had still maintained a reasonable pace and continued to walk on without me needing to get too tough on her so she did deserve some praise.  On crossing the road she hopped up for me (a flatter section of road) only slowing as we neared a complete blocking of the path by rubble and two small diggers, one working to move the rubble into someone’s driveway.  Give the workman his due, he switched off his engine as we neared and told me there was an obstruction offering to guide me around it but I wanted to let Sadie do so, which she did perfectly.  I did give her a treat when she got me safely off the kerb, round the obstruction and safely back onto the kerb after finding the step for me (not sure if I mentioned previously that Sadie was clicker trained to find the up kerb for me by my own GDMI teaching  her “step” with Sadie finding the up kerb, putting her front two paws on it and then pausing until I step up.  During class we practised this on occasions but always with Sadie getting a treat to reinforce this behaviour so that when I need her to do this in the dark on a crossing that I know don’t know whether it has a dropped kerb, or am unsure of it, she will do so reliably.  I still practice this randomly with Sadie to ensure her ability doesn’t degrade over time).

Sadie kept a good pace up thereafter all the way back to the hospital and even through most of the corridors back to my office, only slowing when the corridor became busy.  I really couldn’t have asked for, or hoped for, a better walk than this.  Ever so proud of my wee Pops!

I don’t know what is happening with training tomorrow as I need to wait for my trainer to call me either later today or tomorrow morning to find out how today’s walk went and to make arrangements going forward but I need to collect a pair of trousers that are in the local sewing shop and I would also like for Sadie to have a free run so hopefully these will form the basis of the next few days training or solo work.

*shore line.

When I was being taught safe mobility using a long cane, my RNIB rehabilitation officer taught me to check using my cane that I didn’t stray too far from the shore line and become disorientated on the pavement.  If you imagine walking along a beach with the sea on your left, the shore line is the point where the tide stops coming in and you can walk along the beach without getting your feet wet.  When using my cane this translates to when I swing my cane side to side on the pavement to check for obstructions, it should make contact on the left hand side of the path off the building line, hedge etc, particularly in unfamiliar areas.  If I stop feeling this, I’ve strayed too far to my right and risk falling off the pavement if its narrow.