My friend, Sue, has a new guide dog. Button
is a yellow lab and is not quite two years old. She is a beautiful animal as
you will see in the picture at the end of this post. A trainer from BC and
Alberta Guide Dogs came to Osoyoos to work with Sue and Button for an intensive
two-week training period before Sue was left to manage Button on her own.
Button is Sue’s second experience with a
guide dog. Sue’s previous dog, Pinta, had become more of a pet towards the end
of her working life. It was hard for Sue to let go of Pinta and to think of a
replacement. For the year that followed,
Sue worked with her white cane and the assistance of a sighted human guide. Both
transitions, from guide dog to cane, and most recently from white cane back to
guide dog, required concentration and new learning on Sue’s part.
When Sue and I walked together last week,
she was still in the process of training Button over three selected walking
routes. It was an interesting morning. Button was great. She was still a bit
wary of the sloped sidewalk that led to crossings. I think that she had been
trained to stop at well-defined curbs and so with the sloped path she tended to
stop a little further back. She seemed disappointed that we didn’t stop at the
drug store, where had she gone in, she would have been given a small treat. Instead, she happily led us to our coffee shop
destination for a well earned rest for us all.
I was pleased that Button wasn’t distracted
by the use of my white cane when Sue and I walked side by side. Sue and I have
it in our heads that we might plan for a longer walk at some point in the new
year. I have also been thinking about a repetition of the White Cane
Connections Walks – perhaps from east to west next time around.
The picture below was taken at the
beginning of our walk. I am standing to the left in the picture holding my
white cane, while sue and Button are on the right.
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| Sue, Sue, and Button |
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