New Guide Dog Journals Day 2

Last Updated on: 26th March 2013, 10:15 pm

Well I survived to tell the tale, or maybe it should be tail, har har har.

A few things I didn’t mention yesterday because I literally couldn’t write anymore. The hotel seemed overwhelmingly difficult but I think it’s getting easier. There are clues on every floor. Unfortunately the elevator neither beeps nor speaks the floors, but at least it has braille buttons. The hotel people feed us, so the food is good, but not quite as awesome as when the kitchen staff did it. The breakfasts are huge. There’s also a buffet, and Rose, being a doll, gets stuff for us from there.

I saw Helen again. Helen, my hero. She’s now the nursing manager. Was she before? I’ve met one residence adviser, she helped me learn what was in my room, and stays the night sometimes. She seems nice. It was weird to walk into the room before I even had my dog and have it smell like dog already.

I don’t know what gives with stuff being left for us and then scooped up and spirited away by hotel staff. Oh well at least the GDB folks are good at getting it back.

My headache still lives despite throwing headache meds at it repeatedly.

Today I felt like Super Mario after he’s taken one of those speed up pills. Everything’s happening at turbo speed.

Today in a nutshell: saw admissions, signed contract, verified that they would fill out my attorney general’s card, got a very sweet parcel from a very sweet member of a guide dog mailing list I’m on, and did some work with Juno and Wheeler and stuff. Martingale collars are weird. At least I remembered how to do most things. I spent a lot of time making classmates laugh. I think they think I’m more than a little cuckoo. Ah but they tolerate me lol.

So that was the morning. Oh. I have to mention something else. As I walked into the lounge, the scent of the place hit me and I was suddenly full of emotions I wasn’t expecting. I had to put on a good face while wrestling them into place.

Lunch was good, a salad.
then it was the lecture about the intro to the pooch. And then the names came. I got a female black lab named Tansy. Note to self: don’t tell your folks about Tansy over Skype. They could not make out her name.

I recorded our meeting. I would have sent it to Steve but my iThing says it’s too long to send. Boo piles. Maybe I’ll dropbox it.

She’s a cutey. She hasn’t let me rub her belly yet but she’s given me lots of kisses. I’m having a heck of a time getting her to heel. I forgot how long that took with Trix.

We’ve had our first workout already and she did pretty well. She feels totally different than Trix,but man she can move her 49 pound self around. We had dinner with all 6 dogs and I can see she’ll keep me hopping. One thing she did when we’d get back to our room was run wagging to her bed. She’s also rolled around on the floor snorting. Silly silly girl.

I think I have to keel now. I hope this isn’t boring. I barely have time to write this.