Vomit Comet

I feel better today. I slept really really deep last night, even slept in a wee bit.

Got up, took this one out, she peed, took her back in, fed her, took her out again and she peed, but she didn’t poop. I was nervous maybe I’d just missed it. Came back, felt sick. Lay down and didn’t have a shower. Came to breakfast, and breakfast looked raunchy. Toast with a slice of processed cheese on it and butter. That didn’t look good to a queezy stomach. I didn’t really touch it, just drank the juice. I went back to the room and lay down again.

Margery wasn’t feeling too good, and I think Sharon wasn’t feeling her best either. I lay down and then I got Babs up, took her out, she just peed again. I’m like gees am I missing it? Then I came in, did obedience and then brought her out to the van.

We went to Bayshore mall. Wow that was cool. Intense, but cool. We deaked and weaved through obstacles and went through stores. I hit one thing, sorta brushed it, but other than that, nope. We took the coolest elevator. It was all glass, and it would say things like, door is opening, door is closing, going down, second flor. It was like in the movies. So we did that and then we took a couple escalators. Yep she can do it. It’s a little nerve-wracking, but she did it quite well.

Instructor Tim locked his keys in the car, woops, so he didn’t have kibble for the dogs as rewards for doing the escalator. So I just told her how awesome she was.

Then Margery went and did the mall zooming and I just drank a pop. I had two people, complete strangers come and talk to me about my dog. Yep yep, the thing about the dog being an ice-breaker is working. Haha. Two kids were so sad that they couldn’t pet her. I would have taken the harness off, but I was a little nervous that she might go a little loopy in the mall. So I said no and thanked them for asking.

Came back here and didn’t touch the sandwich. But we got Anka’s card signed. The rest of the class liked it. So I picked a good card.

Did I mention that when we came back to the school I took her out for a busy and she finally pooped? Yeah! Success! I have to admit, mine did the whole leash busy flawlessly. It’s nice to have a better day. It’s amazing what your frame of mind is like when you’re tired compared to well-rested. I still have to groom this one. And start packing. Packing! Tomorrow morning is our last walk. The last walk before all the signing and handing over of lunies. They have us pay a buck to the school so it’s some kind of business deal. I don’t understand it, but there it is.

I think tonight is free and then tomorrow night is grad, and then we go home! Have to get a hold of mom and dad and see when they’re coming. yeesh! Can’t believe it. I’ll write later. We’re going out to do traffic islands, whatever they are…they’re making Sharon nervous, so I should be terrified.

Well traffic islands are a little nerve-wracking, I don’t think I’d do them until I absolutely have to. They’re in this place where there’s a turning lane. So since there’s a lane like that, they have an island in the middle where pedestrians can stand and then go when it’s safe again. So you cross, treat it like an upcurb, go a wee bit in the direction away from the traffic, and then go again when it’s safe. And get to either another island or an up-curb. So did that, went into Canadian Tire, and did turnstyles! That’s a bit of an art, but not bad. Then we went to Dairy Queen…and I had the brownie batter blizard. Mmm…blizard. It was good, but I was very full, and thus had trouble eating supper.

We gave Anka her thing. She was so so so surprised and touched. It was the best. She said she didn’t want to open the coffee because she wanted to keep it to remind her of us. We all managed to sign the instructor Tim card.

Oh yeah, last night we found out that we’re not supposed to buy things for individual staff, they’d rather we just give to the centre. Woops, a little late on that one. But no going back now. It makes me a little mad. Why can’t we give to who we damn well please? And after all the work they do, they deserve some rewards.

You have the right to be a lot more mad than a little. That was another red flag.

So after dinner, I came back and Babs was in a real playful mood. I took her out and she pooped again and then I brought her back and we played a game of let’s pin Carin down and lick her face off. God she was funny. I gave her her bone too and she gnawed the ever-loving hell out of it. Then we both crashed for a while and then I came out and talked to Sharon. She gave me her address and the pet care number. I’m debating whether I’ll put her on pet care, it’s a pet health insurance. On the one hand, it would insure that I have serious nutty vet bills covered and not have to worry about whether the CNIB’s fund is alive, but on the other hand, it’s 40 bucks a month, and the guide dog allowance is only 64 bucks a month…doesn’t allow me to save for annual checkups and things the insurance won’t cover. I guess what I decide will depend on what that lump is on Babs. I’m going to Sue Hawkins and asking her point blank, “What in the hell is that lump? I want an answer before I leave with this dog.”

So tomorrow morning we go on our last walk. Then after, we wait to sign. Then after that, we go over some things in the qualification packages and instructor Tim tells us what to do when we go home. We get our medallians to put on our work and play collars. Way cool. Then it’s grad night. Woe papa. Then it’s pack like a mo fo. So if I don’t round up the last two days until I get home, you’ll know why.

Long day, am tired and low and lacking in confidence. Went out in the morning with her, exhausted, stayed up too late. missed her peeing. Went out again, caught some of her poop but not all of it. Didn’t even feel her back do that thing. How am I going to get this right by Friday? When on long leash to busy, can’t reach her easily to touch her back, but short leash is too close for her. So must figure out how to do it on long leash.

Came back inside and we did have a delicious breakfast. I ate it so fast. Then I did my laundry..had to do it all in one load. Was tired, sat and played with her for a little while, am worried she doesn’t really like me, doesn’t like to put leash on, tries to get away, does she trust me? Do I trust her? Why didn’t this low point hit sooner?

Well, you were on your way here, that’s for sure.

Legs hurt, very stiff. Went out on walk, couldn’t focus. Legs cramped up, had to shorten walk, was sad. Came back to check on clothes. Dryer didn’t dry them. Tried again. Found Margery’s bra in the laundry room so brought it to her. Played with Amy, brought mine in and they played together, ha ha. Babs thinks she’s the alpha dog. She jumped on Amy and made like she was trying to hump her. She also stole Amy’s bone and tried to drink her water.

So that’s why now my dog is the humpee. It’s revenge!

I think I was covered in golden retriever hair. Anyway went out again, oh in the morning we went through a congested market and the dogs had to focus. I was having a hard enough time focusing, let alone my dog.

In the afternoon we did country walk, which was easier than I expected. Basically it’s walking down a country road with no curbs on either side, just shoulders and ditches. It was still stressful, but not as stressful as I remember suburban walks being. So that was this afternoon. Am supremely bagged now. Bagged times 10.

Came back, took her out for a something, still no good at telling what I’ve got. Fed her, and took her out again, found some poop I missed from before so picked up. Damn it. Got our centenal heartworm/flee/tic control pills that I’m to give her on June first and once every month until they’re gone…and then get them again in the spring I guess. Was hard to focus on vet because bagged. Couldn’t ask about lump because she was in too much of a hurry. Damn it. Want answer soon.

Left for dinner, was exhausted, feeling low. Dog was being sorta bad, was wondering if I was giving enough praise. Feeling scared to leave and sick of people bitching about the weather and the sandwiches. A. at least it’s still pretty damn good weather considering what it could be, and b. yeah sandwiches suck, but at least someone’s cooking for us. Please, it could be worse. We could have to train *and* make our lunches. But I know it’s just their way of dealing with being tired, missing their families, and we’re all getting on each other’s nerves. But part of me is afraid to leave. part of me is just terrified. What if I don’t trust her? I still catch myself doing silly things because I don’t trust her yet.

Went out for dinner, ate, was good, took Babs to bathroom stall. Was an art. Even with being a disabled bathroom stall, was interesting holding a sniffing dog and fighting with the door.

Had the first nitwit try and pet my dog and succeed in harnesss, ran off before I could tell him off. Arg.

Came out from restaurant, went to place for night walk. Was terrified. Why am I still losing confidence? Terrified of messing up. Sue was there too. I dropped the handle once and asked if I crossed ok cause she freaked me out cause the up curb was huge. Rest of the walk went well, except my legs are sore. Somebody just wheel me around when I get home, ha ha. Pain pain pain! Sue says we’re doing well. Came back here exhausted. dryer still didn’t work right. Super arg. Dogs seem exhausted. I’m exhausted. Should take pills and crash before I fall asleep where I sit. Bagged. Bagged and then some.

Today was interesting so far. Went out on individual walks. Sorta felt more comfortable. I always feel a wee bit nervous when I start off, but we seem to fall into place.

Or so you led yourself to believe.

Had one crossing where she danced so we were facing into the middle of the intersection, gotta get used to detecting that.

that would be the signal to instructor Tim to help me get used to that! Knowing you’re going home in 4 days and are having trouble aligning is not a safe plan. But he would just help me fix it by turning me the right way, but it was always rushed.

Then I took her out after the walk and she peed and I could tell she peed. I’m getting better at that. Oh and I actually picked up her poop. Guess I missed some…but I didn’t step in any, and I knew she pooped! Yee ha! This is getting easier.

Poor Margery, Amy had an accident in her room. She seems very frazzle fried, poor woman. Everyone’s in a low mood today. Tim and Sharon and Margery are now all taking their dogs out into this grassy little run because they thought they’d go better. They all did poop I guess. Think that’s all that’s happened so far.

Today I speak to Babs’ puppy walkers! Heehee! chinese food tonight…mmm…chinese.

I have these mixed feelings. I’m excited to be done, but I’m afraid to go home. Everybody else is really anxious to get home. Tim’s really super lonely and pessimistic, Sharon’s counting the days and celebrating. I’m just nervous. Getting a little better considering I can figure out what she’s doing now…but still nervous.

Now we’re going to group free run the dogs. This should be interesting to watch. They wanna play. I guess I should get there.

Well that was fun…did a whole bunch of group obedience, and threw in a whole bunch of distractions, things like, oh, say, Buddy the kennel cat coming by, being teased with toys, kibble, each other, but they misbehaved, and we were able to hold onto them. Cruel tricks on the dogs.

No. That should have been going on every damn day.

Then we let them loose. They had great amounts of fun…and out in the damn paddock, I stepped in poop! What is with my attraction to poop? Instructor Tim had to clean my shoe.

I don’t know what’s with Babs. She has her nose pressed to the door and won’t come when I sit on the floor and call her. I worry sometimes that she hasn’t bonded with me…na. It’s probably just cause she’s tired from the free run. That must be it.

Go with your gut, past self! And what were you smoking that a nose pressed to the door is a sign of being tired? That’s a sign of the dog wanting to go after something!

Crap! It’s 5:30 that I have my call. So I have to get her all fed and pooped before then. And I still have to groom her today. Today’s just been chaotic. Fun though.

My dog escaped. I opened the door and she had her nose pressed to it and then ran out. I got her back though.

What did I say? What did I say? Hahahahaha!

Then I went to find instructor Tim to call my puppy walkers, and found out Margery got lost outside. Ok, you walk out the door and you make a slight right and there’s a fense. Follow the fense and you’ll find a gate. Open it, take your dog into the grassy poop pen, find the gate again, turn around and go back and you’ll find the door. Not Margery. She ended up by kennels and who knows where else? oh dear dear. She was so scared she said “piss on it, I’m not using the grassy poop pen…I’m using the other run.” Poor woman is just shaken to the core. Poor poor woman.

Well anyway I talked to my puppy walkers, and I was so nervous. I was trying to think of things to ask her..and the only thing I could think of was what was Babs like as a puppy and what toys did she like? She likes congs apparently, and was a real chewer. She interrogated me though. “What job do you do? Will you be taking her? What children will you see? Where do you live? Send me pictures! I will be coming for a visit, expect me…” My god I felt like I was being screened for adoption. I was so nervous that the call didn’t last long. Then I ran Babs out to busy and got in the van and we went for Chinese.

Poor Margery was so quiet I just wanted to take her aside and give her a hug and say it’s alright, we all get lost sometimes. Hell leaving the office after the call I thought I was going to get lost in the maze of doors. But I found the right one thank god.

Babs was so dead to the world after her free run that when I shook the leash, she wouldn’t budge. Eventually I got her up.

Dinner was yummy. The only funny thing that happened was I bent down to see what Babs was doing, and got this big hand in my hair. I’m like Margery, I’m not Amy. We all had a good laugh, including Margery.

After, we came back and Tim read over the qualification packages. I hope all that stuff is on disk. Apparently a lot is. One thing that pisses me off is they assumed before that someone would be around to fill out your monthly report forms with you that you send back for the first six months. Um, dude? Even if I had tons of sighted friends around, who’s going to have time to sit and help me answer 20 questions once a month? Not really anybody. Oh well if it’s not on disk I’m sure they’ll find a way. And the sheets on access rights for guide dogs were in print. Ok there guys. Sure I can scan them, but why not just put them on the disk? Hello! Oh well we’ll see when I get the disk and find out what’s on it.

Then I bought a beany buddy for my neighbour. So that’s done. Then Sharon and I got talking. She’s funny. I was really starting to think she didn’t like me because there were a lot of bitter comments flying around about what we were eating, how many days were left, I was just like gees am I that annoying? I just figured I’d lay low.

Gotta remember to tell fund raising Steve tomorrow that mom and dad are willing to empty the Walmart guide dog.

Margery’s so funny. In describing what Amy was doing in the poop run, she said, “Oh, she’d jerk off to the left and jerk off to the right.” We were having trouble not going into spasms of laughter. I think we did rather well.

I think that’s about it. I’m tired. I should sleep. It’s late. Babs is snoring like a buzz saw.

Well not much else happened yesterday except I found another lump on her other side. I’m wondering if she’s biting herself. She licks a lot…who knows?

Upon reading that, I don’t know what ever happened to that second lump. I don’t remember her having lumps, plural, until after the first lump exploded when it was being removed and then spawning began. But I don’t remember what the other oddity turned out to be.

After almost falling asleep in the lounge again after talking to Sharon for a little while and having student Tim thank me profusely for letting him leave the centre, oh and talking to a friend and my parents on the phone, I took Babs out for her last free busy. Sniff sniff.

I slept in this morning…not long though, I was awakened by a groaning moaning licking playing dog. She must have been supremely confused because usually I put my shoes on and put her leash on her and we go. Well this morning I have to grab a bag, I put my coat on, I was kind of slow, I grabbed the food whistle so I’d have it, etc. I took her down, and put on these gynormo rubber boots that I could swim in to go out into the busy run. This is so if you step in doggy dung, you don’t end up tracking it all over the wild blue yonder. I put her in long leash when we got outside and said “busy busy.”

Amy was out in the other run so I don’t think she did anything. Maybe a pee. I don’t know. I stood out there for a while. Then I brought her back here which confused her as well, left and got her food and I sure had to go. Then I brought her food back and she was as good as gold. Then I took her out for another attempt at busy, don’t know, maybe she peed. I’m not good at this yet. It’s hard because on long leash I have a hard time reaching her back without cramping her space. You’re supposed to put your hand on her back so you can feel which way she’s got it pointing to know if it’s pee or poop. I don’t know if she did anything. She’s awfully quiet, which leads me to believe she did something. I wish someone was watching. Really really wish someone was.

I have to remember to take the rubbers off as soon as we step in the door, because I think I tracked something half way across the grooming room. Sorry buds.

After we did that, she tried to visit Anka. I still had my shoes in my hand and so couldn’t restrain her. She went straight for the lounge. Fulll speed.

Hey dumbnird. Put your shoes on before you start walking.

Anka doesn’t like the way Tim holds Willow’s leash to prevent her from chewing it. She says, “If I was your dog, I’d bite you.” Crazy funny woman.

Breakfast is at 8:30 this morning. Did I mention the game she played on her last free busy? Pop her head up, I try to put a leash on it, and then she pops it back down. Oh well , no matter, there are no more free busies now. And I mentioned the leash bone game right? I pick up the leash, she picks up her bone. Silly girl, bone is going to go in a drawer when she goes on the leash. She seems so calm…did she busy? I don’t think so..maybe pee. I took her out two more times, no poop that I can detect anyway. But apparently none of the dogs wanna poop yet. I guess they have to wait this long so the dogs will be ok with it.

Na, we could have done this before.

The grooming room stinks. I swear someone tracked in poop. Icky. Poopy boots.

I gave my sheets to Anka. She’s funny, making innuendos that student Tim and I are going out. He’s old enough to be my dad. hell he has a 17-year-old son for christ’s sake. I just want to give him a change of scenery like I’m getting. Try to do something nice and people get all childish.

Pleas don’t poop in the car, Babs or Willow. Please!

I dropped my pj’s in her water dish. Arg. Scared the crap out of me because I thought she pissed all over them. Doesn’t look like it though, even her food whistle got wet. Oops.

Ok so after repeatedly taking her out for a poop, she wouldn’t poop all morning. My parents show up and I go out to meet them. Then I get student Tim and then I bring Babs in. Everything goes well. We take her out and we all go for lunch. That goes well, but it is a bit exhausting. Just to think of everything and keep her from licking things, etc. Dad wanted to go into this candle shop full of narrow aisles and breakables. Just the thought of it made me want to fall over with exhaustion. Thank god mom sensed it, because I didn’t have enough courage to say no.

Welcome to guide dog life. At first, it’s one hell of a lot of work. I pity anyone who runs headlong into a denial of access issue when they’re newbs. That’s just too much to deal with.

And keep in mind that when we were out on this excursion, she only had the body piece of the harness on, no handle. So, there was no guide work she could do.

That was also dumb. WE either can leave the campus with the dog as a guide or we can only leave the campus without the dog. None of this in between bullshit.

Mom and dad took pictures of her. Yea. Then we brought our dogs back to see if they’d do anything. Well mine pooped, and I stepped in it! Yup! Planted the heel of my rubber right in it. Squish! I tell Anka and she cleans the boots. I didn’t feel anything! It happened so fast. But it appears my dog is the only one to poop thus far. But it had to be my dog’s poop because we ran into Heather the kennel lady who said there were some left over poops out there from last night that she was cleaning up, which meant there was none left to step in.

We go back out and go and get the thank you cards and the few little things I wanted, and mom bought me a book. Yea I have something else to read. We came back and took her out and…on turning around, planted my boot in more busy poop. Damn it! I don’t know if it was leftovers from the last busy, but yuck! It’s really hard to give your dog lots of praise for going busy when you’re gagging at poop on the heel of your rubber and cursing yourself for stepping in it. I managed to get a bunch of it off with the bag in my hand but there’s still some on there. I don’t have the heart to tell Anka again. Maybe the kennel people will see it. I’ll just use another pair and warn Sharon about the poop pair.

Or you could always clean it yourself, you lazy bum. Do you think you’re too good to touch poop? If you do, well, you’ve got a lot of learnin’ to do.

So poop and scoop day 1 ain’t going so well. Well in some ways it is cause my dog’s the only one that went crap. Everyone else is waiting for theirs to burst. I fed her and took her out and then flopped over, tired. She’s tired.

I went to supper and she was a royal devil, creeping around under the table. I wasn’t too hungry because mom and ddad stopped at Timmy Ho’s. Oh well. It was a hard goodbye when mom and dad left. The dog was sniffing like hell cause someone came to visit Sharon who had a guide dog. I guess everybody but Sharon went out for lunch. Poor Sharon, left to eat a sandwich.

What else happened? Oh Margery we notice is saying commands you only say in harness while the poor beast is on leash. Oh dear. Don’t know if we should tell instructor Tim so he can catch her at it. Maybe we should because he was very clear about not using those commands while the poor thing was on leash.

Oh yeah, this morning while I groomed Babs, she actually lay down. I tried that to relax her hoping she’d go poop. I guess we all tried that and no go.

That’s about it. My baby is flopped out. She’s snoring. I still have to make my bed, I still have to put everything away. I’ll have to do my laundry tomorrow because I’m too damn tired to do it tonight.

Ha ha ha ha ha I warned you that wasn’t a smart plan.

Mom and dad think I’ve lost wait. The walking’s making me all fit and stuff I guess. Did I write about the dogfood aisle? When we went to the grocery store to get a few things, we ended up in the dogfood aisle. Poor thing was going nuts. Licking her lips, sniffing, going looloo. We left the aisle pronto.

Am tired. napped for a while. Should pee and take dog for a pee. Ber it’s cold. Ber ber ber!

Fell asleep so didn’t get to make phone calls. Feel really bad about that. I promised at least one person I’d call them, and well damn it, I missed them.