As my trainer had another commitment today, Sadie and I were off on a solo walk in my lunchtime break.  As we had learned the route to the local Waitrose store last week we headed there today with us both having a spring in our step, Sadie so much so that I had to ask her to steady her pace a couple of times.  One thing that is becoming evident from our refresher training is my trainer’s thinking of giving Sadie destinations, and mixing these up most days, is motivating her and instead of a few weeks ago where we both dragged our heels as we (ever so slowly) ambled round a block route of the hospital grounds, Sadie is back in the main to “warp factor Sadie” as I term her optimal guiding speed.  For those who don’t know, Sadie and I stay in the town where Scotty (Engineer Montgomery “Scotty” Scott) on the Starship Enterprise, which features so prominently in the Star Trek TV series and films, will be born in the year 2222 so describing Sadie’s speed in terms normally only attainable with nuclear fusion seems appropriate to me as she rockets us along the road.  For those less fantasy science fiction inclined, Guide Dogs put Sadie in the moderate/fast guiding pace range (my previous dog, Waffle, was slow/moderate).  Not surprisingly, we reached our destination in record time with me not needing to correct Sadie at all on any part of the route and she found the entrance to the supermarket easily.

Its always remarkable to me that for a little dog who fair trundles along the road (when motivated to do so) she also instantly slows her pace right down when we enter a shop…a reflection of Sadie’s fantastic training that she does this without me having to ask her to.  Although we had walked part way through this store last week with my trainer, I really hadn’t taken in where particular things were in the store so Sadie and I set off to investigate a little further and I managed to find some interesting vegetarian pies/quiches that I felt obliged to purchase to try out in due course.  Sadie showed her characteristic patience as we queued to pay for my purchases and she helped me find the box where I put my token for the charity scheme the Waitrose stores operate (the cashier offers customers a small green circular token to put in a box near the exit of the store – there are 3 shortlisted charities/good causes that you can ‘vote’ for Waitrose to support by putting your token in your preferred box) which also shows the versatility of the “find the…” command as I can use it to ask Sadie to find the pole the green man crossing box sits on, the touchpad needed to open semi-automatic doors, the post box etc.

I was expecting Sadie to be somewhat slower on our return journey (as is many guide dogs’ behaviour) but was hugely surprised and absolutely delighted when she rocketed almost all the way back to the hospital with her only slowing her speed for around 100 yards close to the hospital.  My trainer has spoken a couple of times about what speed I can reasonably expect from Sadie and also what I will accept from her. Sadie has been trained to slow her pace to enable her to show appropriate caution in busy environments so expecting her to dash through crowds of people or along a street with multiple obstacles on it would be unreasonable of me.  I’ve mentioned before that Sadie’s slowest slow pace that she had been walking on over the last couple of months really doesn’t bother me too much (I’ve learned to chose my battles with life in general and my guide dog in particular) so a consistent slower pace wouldn’t be a deal breaker for me but it is wonderful when Sadie does walk at a reasonable pace, not least because we both gain health benefits from her doing so.

Sadie continued to guide me safely, and speed appropriately, all the way back to my office and as always I gave her lots of praise when we arrived there and played for a short time with her with her toys before Sadie took to her bed for an afternoon nap. A very successful solo walk I’d say!

Oh, and for fellow grammar pedants, you don’t boldly go, you go boldly except today when Sadie and I most definitely did boldly go!