Rocco's Graduation (Part 2)

*Warning: LONG and LOTS of pictures!*

When last we left off during our exciting "tail" of Rocco's graduation, it was just about time for all of the puppy raisers to meet in the Day Room before presenting their dogs.

First off, no one came to get us so we were wondering if we should head down to the Day Room or not. When we saw all of the other raisers there we thought it would be best to go too. We'd been sitting with Rocky and his raiser for about five minutes when Rocco's trainer came in, saw Ms.D, and looked very relieved. Haha! Apparently they had been looking for her. I swear, no one came to get us.

A picture of Rocco (R) and Rocky (L) in the Day Room.

Anyway, for those of you who don't know, this time in the Day Room is a time for you to be alone with your puppy. You spend an hour getting to know your puppy's new person, but these fifteen to twenty minutes is for you to really say good-bye to your puppy. It's actually the second hardest time for me during the graduation. It was especially hard with Rocco. That's not to say that I love Rocco more than I love Freya so saying good-bye was easier. With Freya her graduating was like a big "take that!" to everyone who thought she couldn't make it so all I was thinking was how proud I was of both her and myself. But I always knew that Rocco would graduate so not having that "take that!" attitude, I found myself trying really hard not to start crying before going on stage. Both Mary and I took advantage of our time alone with Rocco.

Rocco jumps up on his Mother Mary and gives her a kiss.

Rocco and me sitting down in the Day Room
Rocco in Harness. He's looking so mellow and mature.

Rocco and Rocky laying down and being absolutely perfect!

I got down on the floor and cuddled with Rocco.

He was very affectionate and lovely. It's almost like he knew what was going on.

Well, after the opening and the presentation of the new Breeders and the CSI: Miama stars presenting an award to a real life Blind pheorensic scientist it was time for the dogs to be reunited with their blind handlers. Freya and I were one of the last...Rocco and I were one of the firsts. Still tyring not to cry we walked out on stage and presented Rocco to Ms.D...I also gave a horrible speech. I had it all planned out in my head and I knew what I was going to say and then I got up on stage and was like "Rocco was my second puppy *trembly voice* and...uhh... *"Erin, don't you start crying now!* he was special..." I don't cry at these things because all I can think of is the happy stuff. I cry after, but never during. It was an odd experience for me. I totally forgot to mention how much easier it is to give up your puppy when they go to a wonderful person and Ms.D is simply wonderful. *face palm*

Mary and me walking Rocco on stage. My head is down, but I swear that's just how I walk.
Ms.D giving her speech. I'm still holding Rocco because she gave her speech before taking him. He was so bad on stage.

Me handing off Rocco's leash. She handed me the microphone without taking Rocco and so into the mic I said, "Here, let me just give you this." *face palm* I'm sure I sounded horrible.

Then we got refreshments and Rocco got to say hi to Lance again before leaving. Now, Ms.D went down the hall with her husband to get some dog food and left us in the room with Rocco and her best friend. Mary and Ms.D's best friend started talking so I just sat down on the floor with Rocco and started petting him and told him how he had to be a good boy or else I would be so disappointed in him. And that, my dear friends, is when I started crying. That also happens to be the point when I started crying at Freya's graduation. When I was left alone after presenting her. I think it's going to be a trend now. But, yes, I started crying and Ms.D's best friend looks over at me and says, "Don't you start now. You're going to make me start!" Haha!

Rocco (R) and Lance (L)

Then it was really time to say good-bye and to watch my boy walk away from me.

Rocco walking away with Ms.D and her husband. "You know you're a puppy raiser when you find such joy in handing over your dog's leash to someone you just met."
A close-up of them walking away. "You Know you're a puppy raiser when you'd rather see your dog walk away than stay."

It was a lovely graduation and, if I haven't said it enough, I can't believe the great matching powers of Guide Dogs for Blind. My first puppy went to the absolute perfect person and now my second puppy is starting his new life with the absolute perfect person for him. Good luck and many Guiding years to Rocco and Ms.D!

*This post might have caused me to cry*

Rocco's Graduation (Part 1)

*Warning! LONG and LOTS of pictures*

Graduation day for me started out really early in the morning. Mary and I wanted to leave at 6:30am just in case there was traffic, but Candie was driving and she said that we could leave by 7am and be just fine. So, Mary and I are standing outside of Mary's house at 6:50 waiting for Candie. She was running a little late and, of course, Mary and I were going crazy. Haha!

We ended up getting there just fine and a little early. It was just enough time for Mary to check Lance into the kennels and for us to go to Panera and inhale some soup before checking in at the Day Room. We sat with Rocky's raiser (who also graduated yesterday) and talked about how excited we were and how nervous we were to meet their new people. We waited a full 30 minutes to meet Rocco's new person and see Rocco again. I think it could be considered torture, but while we were sitting there a training comes up to us and says, "I was Rocco's trainer." It doesn't always end up that the dog and its trainer end up in class together. She told us how much she loved Rocco and that he learned really fast and really easy. Then she told us that Rocco was going to the most wonderful lady. It was so good for us to hear that because we had tried to call Thursday and Friday and never got through.

Finally, it was time to see our pups again. With Freya they led in all the graduates and let the raisers meet them there. They're doing it a little different now and leading the raisers to the graduate's room. I like this way a lot better because you're alone with the graduate right from the beginning. Also, last time at Freya's graduation, I was the last raiser to get paired with their puppy. This time Mary and I were the first (probably because Rocco's trainer was there and wanted to match us up first)! We went straight to their room and this is what I saw;

My first glimpse of Rocco and his new "mom," Ms.D.

Rocco's trainer wasn't lying. Rocco was paired with the most wonderful lady I could ever imagine! I could tell that she and Rocco were already totally in love with each other, but Rocco's heart is big enough for all of us. So, as soon as he saw me he decided that he would not be the good Guide Dog I know he is and went a little nuts! I brought both of them a gift in a lovely bag and guess what...Rocco ripped it when he jumped towards me. Haha! Right away Ms.D handed the leash to me (perfect way into my heart). I tried getting down with Rocco but he was just too crazy! So I said hello standing up. Ms.D also had people coming to the graduation as her cheering team and they were wonderful too (gosh, Canadians really are lovely people. I know people joke about that, but I think it's totally true). They adored Rocco so much and that's so nice to see.

Because Rocco was being so good Ms.D decided to give him a little treat. He's such a lab! His entire attention went from everyone to directly on her.

Rocco looking up at Ms.D after she gave him a treat. "Please Mom! Can I have more?"

But then he decided that he wanted to pose for the camera and be sociable. He's such a cutie pie! I don't know if you can tell from some of these pictures how BIG he's gotten but Ms.D said he was 72.5 pounds! He looks so good and has filled out so nicely.

Rocco looking straight at the camera with a goofy smile.
Rocco with Mary and Me. The light wasn't that great, but we're all smiling!

Rocco with Ms.D and Mary and Me. Rocco is looking right at Ms.D!

Then it was time for pictures. We were led from the room to the picture place and took all of our pictures. Obviously Ms.D got her picture alone with Rocco then Mary and I took a picture with her and then we did separate raiser pictures.

Rocco and Ms.D in the picture room.

A close-up of my handsome boy in his harness!

Mary with Rocco and Ms.D in the picture room.

After pictures we were allowed to visit some more. I of course took more pictures. We exchanged gifts and Rocco knew that there were a lot of toys for him and he kept looking over at the suitcase where they were packed! Silly boy! Ms.D had also never heard that Rocco will be Mr. May for the 2012 calender so I got her one of those.

Rocco and Ms.D with the dead present bag.
Rocco smiling and looking all happy in harness.

Then it was time to go back to the Day Room and get ready to present our puppies. Stay tuned for Rocco's Graduation (Part 2) either later tonight or tomorrow.

Another Question

I keep getting these questions and this one I just couldn't wait to answer (mostly because otherwise it never would be answered!) Haha! Anyway, Kat&Holly of Making of an Angel asked me how to read the phase reports.

Now, first thing you must understand is that all service dog organizations have a different way of tracking their puppies who are in formal training. Formal Training is after the puppy has left their puppy raiser and goes to certified instructors to receive more advanced training. Now, for puppy raisers for Guide Dogs for the Blind, once your puppy is in formal training he/she is almost completely off the radar for 3-5 months. The only time we hear anything about our puppy who is at their formal training is every Thursday when the phase report comes in (occassionally we'll talk to one of the trainers who happen to be training our pup but the most we get is "Oh, I really like him!" and no, sadly, we dont' get visitation rights).

Guide Dogs for the Blind has 8 phases of training (not including medicals which is classified as "phase 0"). In the back of our puppy raising manual there is a detailed list of what goes on during each phase of training (things like what new commands your puppy is learning, what they should already be doing without fail, and when their designated blindfold tests are).

This is how the phase report goes:

Name of Puppy: Puppy's ID number: Breed: Sex: Phase

So, I'll use my boy as an example:

Rocco (his name) 4Y13 (his ID number) LAB (his breed) M (he's a boy) phase: 0-8 (what part of training he is in)

Phase 8 is the last phase of training. Generally, if a raiser has a dog in phase 8 they will say that their puppy is "class ready" (or ready to become a Guide) even if they aren't too entirely sure (remember, we don't get any information about our dogs besides a little number once a week). A lot can happen in phase 8 and there are quite a few dogs who are dropped after making it that far.

Rocco is a little special though because he is no longer on the phase reports. He is what we call "in class". This means that he has been paired with his blind parter and is going through his training and initial bonding period with his partner. For GDB this class period can be 2-3 weeks. Blind clients who are getting their very first Guide are in the 3 week class and those who are on the second to their one hundred and first Guide are in the 2 week retrain class (Melanie, if you're reading, let me know if I've got that correct). For these 2-3 weeks the puppy is not on the phase report, but he's/she's still in training. The class period is a time for dog and person to bond as a team. They're working on the commands the puppy learned in training and learning each others' work habits. Then after the 2-3 weeks raisers are invited up to the campus for their graduation (where I will be this Saturday!).

I know that was a little long winded, but I wanted to answer your question as thoroughly as possible. And...I hope it did answer your question well! If I missed something again, don't hesitate to ask. When I'm not in school I have all day to do nothing!

Phase Report

Rocco 4Y13 LAB M In Class!!!!

Rocky 4Y14 LAB M In Class!!!!

Regina 4Y16 LAB F 0

Hermes 46Y1 LAB M 3

Halette LAB F Spayed and Healing

Belle puppy EATON is in phase 8 this week!!!! YAY!!!! And Belle puppy EPIC is still going through medicals in phase 0. Also, Belle puppy ESTEE has been chosen to be part of GDB's breeder colony! Hooray! Hoping for an Estee puppy when I get home. She's also been at Belle's breeder keeper's home for about a week on a trial. I'm so hoping that Ken and Nancy are going to keep her. I would love to see pictures of Estee's future litters. Ken, Nancy, Belle, and Estee are going to be at Rocco's graduation THIS SATURDAY, so I'll get pictures of them together. *If you know Estee's raiser don't tell her about Estee being on a trial with Ken and Nancy. I'm not sure if GDB or Ken and Nancy has let her raiser know. But I had to share to good news about Estee.*

Some Long Awaited Answers

Alright, so Elijah from Miraculous Journey has asked me a few questions which I just keep forgetting to answer. Don't worry Elijah I'm not ignoring you, I just have this bad habit of forgetting to put something into a blog post.

So first you asked way back when if I was raising Hilly in the States or in the UK. I'm really sorry this took so long to answer. I raised her while home on Summer Break. My CFR found a transfer that just needed a few months to see if she could get into formal training and that was Hilly. So I took her on because she would either go back or be CC'd right around the time I would leave. We all know how that went. The only thing I wasn't really expecting was me wanting to keep her. I thought that since we would only have such a short time together that I wouldn't get all that attached, but alas, her puppy self pulled on my heart strings. Here are some pictures of the jackets for you.

This is a Guide Dogs for the Blind puppy jacket in the States.
This is a Guide Dogs for the Blind puppy jacket in the UK

This is the Harness that Guide Dogs for the Blind uses in the States

This is the Harness used by Guide Dogs for the Blind in the UK

We all have our different jackets and harnesses used and these are just for Guide Dogs for the Blind. Other Guide Dog organizations use different jackets and different harnesses.

Which brings me to the second question you asked about Hilly. I got her on June 10, 2011. So we're just going on 3 months together on September 10. Unfortunately my flight leaves back to Aberdeen before our 3 month anniversary. But we'll celebrate before I leave.

And now, you asked why I'm a vegetarian. It's for a bunch of reasons, but there are two main reasons. 1) I don't like the taste of most meats. Pork and Beef just never really tasted good to me. I would eat them when I was little but it was by no means my favourite thing to eat. 2) The way America treats its slaughter animals is appalling. What I find is that most people don't think about where their food comes from. I could never do that and I don't like the idea that most of the packaged meats we find in our grocery stores comes from animals that have been shoved into a cage far too small for them for their entire lives and have never seen the sunshine. The way Europe treats the animals they raise for food is definitely more morally correct. I don't care if anyone out there thinks that chickens and cows don't have souls or sentient thought or whatever. Every living being can feel discomfort and I feel that if we are going to nourish our bodies with their dead carcasses that would should honor and respect them. Being a vegetarian has actually helped a lot in the UK. Meat is a lot more expensive over there.

Hope that answers your questions Elijah! Please don't be afraid to ask questions. It might take me a while to answer them, but I get there in the end.

Hilly's Last Meeting

This was a very special meeting for Hilly. We have a tradition that we celebrate when a puppy in our group moves on into the next phase of their lives. This is a tradition that I started over a year ago. I'm pretty proud of myself for starting the tradition of cookies or other such treats to celebrate our dogs. Today's meeting was Hilly's special celebration. I even made her a nice cake and everything. Check it out!

Hilly's cake. It says, "Proud to be a Career Change"

"But wait Erin," you say, "I thought you said that Jim was really proud of Hilly's progress?" Indeed Jim was. He was very impressed with how far Hilly came. He even went as far as to compliment me...TWICE (if you know Jim you know he can be a little negative at times, but all for the right reasons). The problem is that Hilly just couldn't get to the end. She overcame so, so much in the short time that I had her and I think she could have gotten to a recall if I had her for a little longer.

I'll tell you what happened. Jim was all set to put her ont he September 5 recall. He even had "recall Sept. 5" written on his paper. Then he just had to ask how she was with dogs she didn't know well. I wasn't about to lie to him, so I told him the honest truth. The truth apparently wasn't good enough to keep her on that recall. So...oh well. She was officially CC'd for being "unreliable." That just means that she would sometime react around dogs and sometimes wouldn't. She chose specific dogs to act crazy around too. Mostly little dogs or dogs with pointy ears. She would whine. You can't have a dog in harness whining because they're not aloud to play with the other dog.

In truth, by the end of the week he gave me to see if I could work some miracle, I didn't think it was the right choice. She was showing little improvements every day. I won't lie and say that I think she definitely would have graduated, but I would have liked to see what would have happened once she got into formal training. But, I'll never get that chance so there's no use in dwelling on it right?

What I know now is that Hilly is my first Career Change and is my forever girl. Check out her blog to keep up with her.

Hilly's Last Chance

As most of you know, Hilly came to me as a last resort. This is why I got her so old! (Ok, so 14 months isn't exactly old, but to puppy raisers the pup is old as soon as they hit one year) So, instead of Career Changing her at 14 months she was sent to me for what I like to call "remedial training". When I was told, "She's really dog distracted." I thought to myself, PHST! Can't be more distracted that Freya was. I can do this. Of course when I finally got her my first thought was, Why in the world have they kept this dog in the training this long!? I quickly found out it was because Hilly had the best work ethic as long as there wasn't another dog around.

So, for almost the past three months Hilly and I have worked really, really hard in getting over her dog issues. Let me tell you, this girl has made me so proud. We've overcome one obstacle after another and she just keeps getting better.

This is a picture of Hilly at her last Blind Babies outing. She's being loved on by 4 kids at the same time and is doing great! She loved the attention.

Oh...5 MORE DAYS UNTIL I SEE ROCCO AGAIN!!!!!!