On Sunday(March 17), our family arrived at the same restaurant
where we had been on Saturday. We sat and visited with people. My turn came, and
I went outside to get evaluated. The trainers gave me the harness to hold. Well,
first I walked a little with one of the trainers holding on to his arm. He told
me how to hold him. I guess I must've been holding too tight cause he sad to
hold it looser. I held his arm lightly. That's how we're supposed to hold the
harness with the guide dog on it. I walked with the dog while the trainer told
him the directions in French. These trainers are from Canada, I suppose. Their
organization is in Canada. They speak French in that area. I kept walking until
the dog stopped by the curb. I could tell. She did great! We turned around and
reversed the route! I had fun doing that! A lot of people were there and
watched me. I went back into the restaurant.
Then, a reporter talked to me. I am not sure
what kind of reporter. He asked me a few questions. I was happy to answer them.
I told him I didn't mind. We visited some more. After everyone had been
evaluated, everyone came back inside. They told us we five who were still there
had been accepted into the program. How exciting! This year it'd be all girls
from The United States! We probably will have a ball out there! Yeah! A few
others talked to the group. People had come to see us work with the guide dogs.
I thought that was interesting. All the kids and one parent talked to a
different reporter than I had. We described our experience! I think we all were
extremely happy! My dad got some pictures, as well.
After most of the kids were gone, Mr. Bob
told me to work on my cane skills some more. He said to do them an hour a day.
Wow! I'm going to be quite busy! I will be the only one to take care of my
guide dog. One hundred percent of the time! The cool thing is I can take the
guide dog all over the place, even to school!
Next, pretty much people had left, and my
parents talked to the owner of the restaurant for a little while. Then came a
group of people from Chapel Hill. I suppose they wanted to see what we'd be
doing with the dogs and how that worked. They missed it, unfortunately. Well,
they didn't quite miss it. Thankfully, we were still around. My parents let me
show off again. This time, it was more of a show off than an evaluation part. I
worked with another dog. He veered some, but he's still in training. All these
guide dogs were still in training. I got to tell the dog to sit, stand, and lie
down. I gave him some treats and loved on him. As I went along, I gave him
praise. I was told to give the dogs praise. At one point, the trainer thought
the guide dog needed to go bathroom. He took the dog and tried to see if he
needed to go. He apparently didn't. We kept on going after that. I even got to
cross the street with him. I thought that was awesome! I finally, stopped walking
with the dog and took more pictures, with my dad being the photographer. We
took pictures and talked to a few more people and went on our business.
That's it for my adventure in getting a guide
dog. In July of this summer, I will go to Canada. If they can match me up with
one correctly and safely, then I will come back to Alabama with a guide dog by
my side!
So excited to hear this and so well written!
ReplyDeleteLove the pictures, too.