Chapter 7 (Freedom and Animals, cont.)

Guiding Eyes Puppy Trainer

It’s funny how you get the impression that because these dogs are bred and raised for this cause, they therefore must be obedient and docile creatures. No way! Although they gave us clear directions, and had methods that have been proved to work, it still was hard work. They suggested using a crate. This would be the dog’s place for sleeping, his den, his security. I had a medium pet carrier for Wendy in case I had needed it. Though it was not suitable for a full sized Lab it was perfect for now as it fit under the kitchen table--thus not taking up any room. Tom fashioned gates to cordon off the kitchen from the rest of the house, making it easier to house train her. We left the door of the crate open at first so she wouldn’t feel cooped up. One of the first mornings, we found Gayle had decided the lower rungs of the wooden kitchen chairs made good “puppy chews.” We tried painting them with hot sauce. Gayle thought we were flavoring her puppy chews for her and liked the taste even better. We had to punish her verbally, giving her time outs in the enclosed crate, and closed the crate at night while she still insisted on chewing. We finally satisfied her need to chew and teethe by getting her rawhide chew bones. Later on I was to see a deal in a magazine for getting a whole box of rawhide bones at a reduced price, and sent for them. When they came in the mail, Gayle knew right away they were for her! She followed me as I took the box into the glassed in back porch to open the box and give her the first bone. She just acted so proud and happy, like a kid at Christmas unwrapping her favorite present.
We left the box in an unreachable spot, but she was good about not expecting another bone until the one she was chewing was completely gone.

We had a wonderful winter. She loved the snow and would follow me when cross-country skiing, then tumble into the deep snow next to the trail, coming up through the drift like a mole into daylight. Once in near zero weather she was so wound up being stuck inside, that I took her for a walk around the block-about a half mile trek in frostbite temperatures. I think I wanted to “Show her!” --as it was no weather for man or beast. But like throwing Bre’r Rabbit into the briar patch, she loved it! It must be their Labrador blood.

We were to pay for all their needs but the vet bill, which the Guiding Eyes Organization paid. We could deduct our costs from our income as a tax deduction. We immediately started taking her to basic obedience training at our own (tax-deductible) cost. Fortunately we didn’t have to find a good trainer on our own. The project leader, through the 4H Club, Diane Raynor, was also a dog trainer, only charging the Puppy Raisers $10 a lesson. For the first time in my life, I was learning how to truly raise a puppy… but it didn’t make it any easier, as I had to learn along with Gayle. I was worried about Gayle being so stubborn, but Diane told us that these puppies are supposed to be assertive, as they may detect a danger that the blind person wouldn’t see, and be stubborn enough to go against the owner’s directions if they could see that they were in danger, like if a car didn’t stop at a red light, or some other danger lurked that a blind person couldn‘t sense. They didn’t have to worry about Gayle, she had a mind of her own.

Even though we were careful not to spoil Gayle, and even though she was a normal stubborn little pup who chewed through furniture and was so full of energy she nearly wore me out, we became so fond of her that I had mixed emotions when I detected a problem in her hip area, as, we could keep the dog if she didn‘t make the cut. One day when on the way home from our walk, and approaching the top of a hill above the park near the house, I rested my hand on her lower back, and felt a “clicking” or a kind of snapping when moving. Next time I took her to training, I asked Diane to check it out. Could feel the vibration like something popping in the pelvic bone area. She said they could evaluate it when Gayle would be neutered (…all guide dogs are neutered). But we had time. I still had a lot of hoops to jump through. I had to take her through stores, up and down open stairways, through parks where there were many children, and board busses-- all part of her training. I wasn’t really bold enough for this program, as I would take it personally if someone objected to my bringing my puppy into a no-dogs-allowed area, even though she proudly wore the vest, stating, “Guiding Eye Puppy.“ …I never did board a bus with Gayle.

We made it to the Guiding Eyes Puppy Picnic in July… I think the hottest day of the summer. I had gone alone with Gayle, but was interrupted when Tom came to pick me up as my youngest son, Alb had gotten burned and was being treated in the emergency room at Wilson Hospital. It was a bad time for Alby, as well as this Mom who would have gladly taken some of the horrible pain of his burns if it was somehow possible in this sometimes cruel world. What had happened, was that he was trying to start a friend’s stalled car the way they had done before, as this car would stall every so often. On this hot, hot day, he had taken a Dixie cup of gasoline to pour into the carburetor of the still hot engine, and it back-flashed setting him afire, causing second and third degree burns to his upper body. He had to be hospitalized for a few weeks, and even had to get skin grafts to parts of his chest. When he came home from the hospital, he moved in with us. [The whole event could fill a book, but that’s the sketchiest of details of a horrible incident in our lives.]

Later that summer, Tom, Trese, and I took a well needed vacation to Rhode Island after driving Gayle to the Guiding Eyes Dog Clinic where she was going to be neutered, leaving the house in the care of Jim and his stepbrother, Alb. When we got back, we found they had a typical “parent’s-are-out-of-town-party.” They were so careful about not getting caught, that they had drawn up a strict list of behavior so the neighbors wouldn’t catch on. We never would have known the difference except for finding this list folded up in a wastebasket in the basement, as well as a can half full of beer.

On the way home from vacation we went to pick up Gayle, and found out that the problem with her hip was dysplasia, and therefore, she could not be a Guiding Eyes Dog. We, of course had the option to take it home as our own dog, so when they asked us if we wanted to keep her, we all said at once, “YES! Of course!” But Tom said it with tears in his eyes. He was so into this raising a dog for the blind, that he had envisioned Gayle helping a blind person, perhaps a business man in New York City, to get on subway trains, to go up elevators, and insuring him his safety and independence. Tom had to change his dreams. He loved Gayle, but felt bad about her having failed her destiny of being such a good Guiding Eyes Dog.