Coffee with a Canine

There is a wonderful blog entitled Coffee with a Canine on which I was a guest blogger. Please click on the link below to read about my Misty.

http://coffeecanine.blogspot.com/2010/10/joani-ascher-misty.html

Wilda

At long last, after some worrying months for we who lack confidence in our puppies, Wilda has been placed with a graduate. It’s not that Wilda was a bad puppy, but she did have at least one unusual habit that made me wonder if she was really a candidate for guide dog work.

Wilda talks. She doesn’t talk to everyone, but she talked to me, and I learned that she did talk to her trainer. Initially I thought it was kind of funny that when I was on the phone, Wilda would try to make words. But it progressed to me being unable to tell her anything, since she was so busy talking back and it was hard talking over her when I was having a conversation. The movements she made with her mouth were funny and exaggerated, and I wondered if I somehow looked like that to her when I was speaking.

She never made the noises when anyone else was in the room, but her voice sure carried. My husband could hear it upstairs, but if he tried to catch her doing it, to see what it looked like (as opposed to my imitation of what it looked like) she always clammed right up. Mum was the word, and she never admitted to him that she could talk.

Now that she is with her graduate, her person who will rely on her to guide her safely, I don’t know if she will talk. As far as I know she only talks to women, which makes it possible that she might have a few things to say. I’ll never know. But Wilda is a working girl, and of that I can be extremely proud.

Wilda Walks with Wisdom

It’s amazing. The trainers at the Seeing Eye have turned another bouncy, flouncy puppy, one which we spent months working to civilize and socialize, into a model dog guide. Wilda is now prepared to steer visually impaired people around life’s obstacles.

We were so excited to see her walk with her trainer around the streets of Morristown, NJ, on a frigid, sunny day in early January. Walking quickly so we wouldn’t fall behind her and her trainer, we kept the obligatory following distance and watched every move they made. Wilda confidently navigated around trees and signs in the sidewalk and negotiated her way past a construction site. She even thwarted her trainer’s attempt to walk into the path of a moving car.

Her trainer thinks she’s great and is hopeful that she will be matched with someone in the next few months. We are so proud that she learned her lessons well.