Lunchtime meet up with my trainer today to give her a glowing report of Sadie’s work yesterday and then we set off to the local shopping centre for the M&S store.  Sadie has in the past been reluctant to visit other shops at this shopping centre without also visiting Sainsburys so today we planned to try and work out a route that would encourage her to recognise M&S as the destination without the need to also add in Sainsburys (unless of course there are days when I do need to visit both shops).  Before setting off we also discussed our return route as to whether to continue to avoid the area just out of the shopping centre that appears to have super glue on it which Sadie keeps walking in and then finds herself unable to turn right when I ask her to, even cheese lost its appeal and miraculous unsticking properties last year!  We decided to play it by ear once we had been to M&S and off Sadie and I set at warp factor Sadie pace.

We had an uneventful walk to M&S with my trainer just asking me to pause momentarily as we neared it so she could talk me through what I should do if I encountered dogs at the Costa street café area just before the store (what is it with every café in the country putting tables and chairs outside in all weathers as it narrows the pavement down and creates extra obstacles to work around!).  As luck would have it (for me) there were no customers at all at the café but my trainer asked me to loop back round before reaching M&S in the hope that a dog and owner would come along but luck was still with me today (I appreciate that it would have made a good learning opportunity for me though).  Sadie behaved impeccably as always within M&S helping me find the desk so I could return an item and waiting patiently (and non-pouncingly …honest that’s a real word!) for my trainer as she went to a different part of the store and met up with us again.  We then decided to deliberately walk past Sainsburys to encourage Sadie to accept walking past it but asking her once she was past it to target the bus pole, which she did expertly.  As there wasn’t a bus due for a while we decided to walk the longer route back to the hospital which was to avoid the super glue pavement and it would give my trainer an opportunity to pick up on anything she needed to on the hill that Sadie slows on but does have a tendency to almost grind to a halt in her pace.

Shortly after leaving the shopping centre my trainer got her wish for me to get dog distraction practice.  I could see a cream lab in the distance whose owner really didn’t have much control over it…it was right out on full extension of its lead and clearly pulling on it.  As we neared I would have liked the person to pull their dog back in towards them but no such luck, although they did move the dog’s position slightly.  As advised previously by my trainer I took Sadie’s lead in my right hand so I could correct her in case she decided she was going to join in any nonsense instigated by the other lab but as we neared I lost my nerve because the other dog was so close to us and I started to advance on Sadie (when working normally I should be at Sadie’s hip but there are occasions when you advance on the dog which means you move up to their shoulder; that can be because you are body blocking a dog trying to get to them or stopping your dog from drifting right on a road crossing etc).  I’m still uncomfortable with dogs coming too close to Sadie (a reflection of her attack in the park) so I displayed a mild fear response in wanting to protect Sadie (advancing on her) and also stopped talking to her as I tried to keep myself calm and think through what I should be doing and saying to Sadie.  I heard my trainer tell me to tell Sadie “straight on” which I did and we got past the dog without incident.   We past another two dogs further along the route but happily for me, their owner was helpful and moved both dogs well out of Sadie’s or their reach.

We then started up the hill with Sadie slowing her pace and then starting to diminish it all together.  I got good practice in using the techniques my trainer had taught me previously and I had tried out on my own last week.  At one point when Sadie wasn’t responding very well to my efforts, my trainer said to tell Sadie “let’s go, hop up” but in a matter of fact voice…I’d tried a lighter tone with no success and a stricter tone with no success either.  The matter of fact tone worked and Sadie took off, not quite at her full warp factor pace but much faster than she has ever walked that part of the route before.  We got all the way back to the hospital without further incident (Sadie doing a great off kerb obstacle at one point for me) where my trainer and I reviewed the walk.

My trainer mentioned that I am still (yes, *still*) talking too much to Sadie. I’ve mastered being quiet in giving Sadie plain, short commands when she is not concentrating fully but then revert to chatter mode when she is working and trundling along good style.  My trainer’s concern is that my chattering will become white noise to Sadie that she doesn’t pay attention to but then misses any commands I do give her, or just switches off completely and pays no attention to me.  It honestly feels like just a few weeks ago that I was training with this GMDI and my first guide dog, Waffle, when she was encouraging me to talk much more to her as we walked along, again demonstrating how important it is to learn to work appropriately with your unique dog – what works for one, won’t necessarily work for another.  I also owned up to feeling a bit fearful when I felt the cream lab was too close and my trainer has said we will do some specific work on this a little later on in training (this is one occasion I do need to keep my voice and no go quiet on Sadie).  We then made a plan for the next few days and Sadie and I made our way back to my office but before my trainer left us, she said that she can see much progress and improved confidence in the way I am working with Sadie….can’t ask for more than that really!