The Babs Journal: Day 9 (May 17, 2005)

Wow, I’m up early. It’s 7:15 and I’m all done.

I found out Babs likes socks. I’ve been leaving my socks out by my shoes…and well one of my socks ran away, to her bed, and inherited some dog slime. I had to go find it and bring it back. At least she didn’t chew a hole in it. That’s really funny…and the whole time I’m looking for the sock she stole, she’s just rolling around all innocent and stuff.

It seems today was the day all the dogs, well most of them, revealed hidden tallents. Amy stole Margery’s whole coin purse…and that thing doesn’t look easy to steal, and Willow revealed that she likes to chew leather, specifically her leash! Chewed it so badly that he needs a new one! I think this morning instructor Tim speaks to upper management about the vet thing with Babs’s lump on her
chest. Really worried about what the news will be. I’m so attached to
her that I couldn’t get another dog if it was that bad, but I’m afraid of
how much it will all cost…and what it is. God I should stop thinking about
it. It can’t be that serious because I press on it and she doesn’t
flinch so it can’t be that sore.

But then I learned Babs didn’t let me know when she hurt.

Anyway, maybe I should start the journey to the breakfast table. then we all have to scoot like crazy people to take our dogs to busy, we all get in the big van and we get our I.d’s done. me and my woof. Together in a passport picture.

Sometimes we have the funniest conversations at the breakfast table. Student Tim says that there was a student in the class he was in the first time that swore that a dog got named Goodscrew. We just laugh and say “come, goodscrew” and all fall over laughing at how funny that would sound. And there was this other guy who always would repeat things that student Tim rides with on the handi-transit in Winnipeg. Apparently one day he just kept saying, “clean it Bill.” and singing about sugardaddies. So now all we have to say is “Clean it Bill!” and we all start laughing.

There was a reason I opened this. Oh yeah, we finally put our own harnesses on the dogs. We’ve been using his harness because it was nice and soft and stuff, but today we get the pictures taken and then we put the reflective sleeves on the harnesses and from now on we bring our own harnesses to the walks. Wow, heehee. One step closer to Babs being my guide woof!

And that was weird too. Why wouldn’t we want to work in our own harnesses for as long as possible before we went home?

Today we get our pictures taken, then we do a short walk, come back for lunch, and then in the afternoon we go out again and then we have dinner and then we go out to a pub. Should be interesting. Got my money…money to pay instructor Tim back for the battery and then money for my photo. Don’t know if we’ll get a colour picture or black and white. It’s just an ID. but should I go colour? I dunno. Later.

Oh boy. What a day. Went out in the morning with our own harnesses, and got our pictures done. We got on this bench so you and the dog sat together. Then you put your arm around the dog and they snapped the picture so your head and the dog’s head are both in the picture. That was the cutest thing. We had to take two of Babs because she tried to look away. Camera shy I see.

Then we sit in the van, and one by one we all go on this walk. It goes well, pretty flawlessly…except my legs hurt like a mo fo and I don’t know why. I had to keep focused on the dog to just keep going so I didn’t feel the pain as much. I don’t know why. That was kinda weird. But the walk ended in a really neat way. At the end of the walk, he let me keep the handle! heehee! I have a complete harness now. Complete with handle! Wow! Coolness right there.

So we come back for lunch, and then I groom her. Then I read for a while and take her out to busy and then we go on our afternoon walk, suburban walks…in the places with no sidewalks so you have to walk in the street. Eek that was scary. You have to keep checking to make sure you are actually close to the side curb. Then we came back and did the usual routine and ate supper.

At supper, I found out that this dude who my parents know who has a dog actually called to say hi to me. That’s way cool!

Then after supper, instructor Tim took us out to a little pub place. That was fun. But we had to keep our dogs in check because they all wanted to lick the floor, especially mine! And who shows up to sit with us? Scary Jane! I don’t know, but tonight she seemed extra scary. In my head I kept hearing her saying, “off ya go! Off ya go! Chop chop!” like she used to say when she was my instructor. Gave me the chills. Man she’s busy, she has 2 retired dogs and one career change dog, that’s the flowery way of saying they didn’t make it.

At least at GDB, career change does mean they may do a different career. It didn’t seem that way in Ottawa.

Tomorrow should be really interesting. We get to ride the bus in the morning, and then the afternoon, we get to play with cars as Sharon says..so they drive at you and you see what the dog does, or something. Something along those lines. And guess who’s apprenticing for this school to be a trainer? Ben Francis. That name ring any bells to anyone? Bryan Francis? Yup. He used to work for Ottawa, and now he’s gone to San Rafael, and now his son is apprenticing here!

So yeah that’s tomorrow. My poor thing is flopped out on her bed…and I didn’t get to her obedience. Well crap. I meant to, but ran out of time. Oh well, I guess I’ll just do it tomorrow.

I’m still waiting for news about the lump. Student Tim said something really scary. What if they say I cannot finish training with her? What then? What if I have to wait for another dog? Oh it will break my heart in two. But this is coming from student Tim, who appears to be the eternal pessimist. Cross your fingers, please?

Well, he was right. What if? It would have been better to leave training than to have what happened happen.

Well I should probably get going, must run down and check email. It’s late and I don’t want to be at the computer long. My poor beast is dead to the world. I don’t want to drag her down there. Poor thing.

The Babs Journal: Day 8 (May 16, 2005)

Hmm let’s fill in the gaps. After I finished up that post yesterday, some funny stuff happened. First off, while trying to let Babs out to free busy, she escaped! She ran straight for Willow, leashless! I got her back and then put her out, fed her, and she was good. Then I came out to the patio, and Anka came out and said, “Who left laundry in room?” I’m like, “Uh it was me…had a little trouble reaching the buttons.” She said, “After I finish cigarette, we go in and do laundry.” I was so scared, thought she was right ticked at me, and she’s someone I don’t want to tick off.

So we go into the room, and Anka’s reaction was priceless. She went to show me…and then she’s like, “Oh…you no reach.” I’m like, “yup, that’s why I didn’t do it before.” Oh she had a good laugh and said, “Oh I help, don’t worry, it’s ok.”

I came back out on the patio and told Sharon and Tim and they just laughed. Then we had supper, which was…hmmm…ok I guess. Oh well, can’t win ’em all.

Was that the night Anka made us fish and chips? I think so. Her idea of fish and chips was to cook fish and serve potato chips beside it. Ah, the fun of a language barrier.

After dinner, we came back and I tried to make a couple calls. Got a hold of my neighbour and told him about Babs. Then I took her for busy and did her obedience. Getting better. Then I went to see Sharon cause she said she wasn’t feeling well…asked her if she needed an aspirin. Then Margery helped me with my laundry, but she kinda messed it up. It ran for a half hour but the clothes didn’t dry. Anka saved the day once again, and Sharon helped me get the clothes out at the end. I gave Babs her bone again and she seemed to be having fun. Gotta go now. gotta meet up for lectures on fund raising and dog language??

Fund-raising when we’re not even done? Should have been a red flag! red flag!

Well that was interesting…now I understand why they tell me to stand tall. Dogs rely on dog posture to figure out the dominance/submissive positions. So if I’m always bending over, I don’t seem like the dominant one.

We talked about straight line. So you always walk to a downcurb and then say left or right…you don’t just take the path around the corner. Easy enough.

Babs is so cute. Her breathing almost sounds like a person breathing. If I closed my eyes I swear people would think I was asleep by the way she breathes. Loud loud loud.

She loves Sue. She came straight at her when we came through the door.

Margery…oh dear dear. She’s not getting it. Her hearing’s bad. I swear that’s the cause. She’s saying things that have no relevance whatsoever. And I think she’s mad at me. She’s awful quiet. Have to sorta check on her a bit later.

I talked to mom and dad last night. I think they’re surprised at how well things are going, although I can’t blame them. I was nervous as hell coming here, so I think they’re waiting for something to go wrong.

All of that comes later.

They definitely want to see me next Sunday. Should be fun. I’m a bit nervous about this afternoon’s walk. Off-curb obstacles. Yeesh. well I should probably scoot to the john and then head to lunch. Please don’t be a sandwich, please? Please?

Aww doh, it was a sandwich. Oh well, I was hungry so it was ok.

Did you ever hear me complain about GDB food? Maybe once the day I messed up my knee, but that’s it! And people talked about how much blathering I did about the food. Now you understand why.

This girl seems to really like cheesies. Don’t know why. I’ve never let her have any, but whenever I open the cheesies bag, there she is…and god she wants to lick my hands clean. My hands, my jeans, anything that has any trace of cheesy on it. Won’t even take her bone if offered.

Instructor Tim got my watch fixed. he’s a miracle man. And I won two more super seven tickets. Two more! One with encore and one without. Maybe I’m actually gonna win! heehee!

She’s sniffing my room like crazy looking for traces of…cheesy I think. I don’t know. Silly sniffer.

I thought the coolest thing I heard today though was a thing in a video that said that guide dogs are the hardest working dogs there are. Think about it. It’s dogs’ natural instinct to protect. So making a guard dog isn’t really that much of a stretch. Dogs herd each other and circle in packs,so making a sheepdog is not much of a stretch. A hearing ear dog’s job primarily is retrieval, or at least so I heard. You bring things to the person to tell them what’s happening, That’s another instinct. A dog that does work for people in wheelchairs does retrieval, pick up the keys, turn on the lights, etc. Police dogs follow their noses, natural instinct. But guide dogs must do purely learned behaviour and suppress all their natural instincts. Don’t be protectiv in the vicious sense, don’t sniff, don’t fetch. They’re the hardest working dogs. Poor things. But I thought that was the neatest perspective. And they also said that with guide dogs, the position of power is constantly shifting. I’m the boss to tell it where to go but it’s the boss as far as leading me around things, etc. Neat idea. Other than that, not much else new.

Tonight I get to buy doggy things. Doggy boots for my puppy and something for my neighbour.

Ah, the thing for my neighbour, which I now have, because he died not long after I got home and his family gave it back to me. Sometimes I look at it and think of him.

Oh, must remember to ask mom and dad if they’d be willing to empty the guider collection dog that’s set up at Walmart…apparently it doesn’t get emptied enough. I have to see where the collections are set up at Guelph and see what I can do about emptying it once a month. At least one of them or something.

Good thing I didn’t get embroiled in that mess. That would have been ugly supreme!

Wonder what we’ll have for supper tonight since it’s Anka’s night off. Well I should probably take this one for some grooming and obedience. maybe in a few. Grooming and obedience. Then busy. Then off for the walk…wherever it is. I’m still a little nervous walking with her…don’t know when we’ll fall into a complete comfortable place yet, but I guess we’re getting there.

Oh, if only, if only you knew!

Maybe I’ll read a wee bit and then head out there. Later.

Well I’m back. Something’s happening. Sometimes when I head out for walks on the streets, I feel a sense of apprehension. I guess since she’s being a bit of a loser with me when I ask her to sit at doors etc. I don’t quite trust her yet with my life. As I wait for my turn, my stomach spins. And rightfully so, the little scoundrel missed a couple curbs. Would have just walked me clean across the street. They say that’s just testing. Testing level 2. Or is it 3? Oh I don’t know.

Had a bit of a rough moment with instructor Tim, but that’s straightened out now. Don’t know if I wrote about how Babs got a bonk on the head with a door. I was opening it towards me and she didn’t move in time…and it got her. And he gave me hell about “if this happens a lot she might be afraid to face doors or she’ll start to rush through them.” But I showed him what happened. and he says that isn’t my fault. So that’s good.

We did off-curb obstacles…they take a bit of getting used to. She escaped on me again and tried to run at Amy. But I got her before Margery and Amy came through.

Arg we don’t get to shop tonight, apparently the boxes are all in disarray. So maybe Friday. Sue’s staying over tonight. Should be interesting.

Oh, and they’ve remedied the laundry situation. They put a stool in there. Yee ha, I don’t have to ask for help and have more embarrassing situations. Hahah.

I’m tired. My feet hurt. My legs were bothering me a bit when we were walking. Student Tim’s getting interviewed by the CBC. Some kind of series where he did something with his old dog and getting his new dog. Yea student Tim and Willow are celebrities.

Hmm I should busy her. Then I should hog…er, um, use the computer. Actually Sharon’s doing that.

O the phohne ringeth. Damn, missed it. But got Margery to figure out the phone. So that was cool. She’s on the phone now.

And Babs had better not be a crap-eater. I just brought her back from busy, and her mouth was full of some slobber that got on my hands and my jeans. That had better not be crap. Didn’t smell bad, but oy if she’s eating her own crap, we’re gonna have to cure her of that real real real fast. She’s chewing on her bone. Did I mention that? I’m full, and tired, and should probably send out emails. Poor lonely mom and dad.

The Babs Journal: Day 7 (May 15, 2005)

Well it’s our day of rest. And resting we’re doing. Anka even didn’t make breakfast until 9. That poor woman seems exhausted. That’s the first time I’ve seen her sort of cranky. But her version of cranky is mild compared to what it could be. We had french toast for breakfast and then I gave Anka my sheets and towels to wash. She washed our sheets and towels! She deserves an award. Then I took Babs to busy and groomed her, and after that I gave her her bone. They said she might just take it away and chew it…but she chewed it for a minute or two, very happily, and then wanted to do something else. So we went to find Margery and we couldn’t. Then we went looking for Sharon and couldn’t find her either. Gees! Tim was at the computer reading the paper. I eventually found Sharon and then we went out on the patio. That was nice. Our dogs got all warm from the sun, especially Charity cause she’s black. Then Margery came out and joined us and then we all came back in for lunch. Then after lunch, we sorta were bad and let three of our dogs, while on leash, play together. Oh they were so happy. Then I took Babs into Sharon’s room and she and Charity played together until Babs barked, which is not allowed, so we had to stop the game. But that tired them out, which was good, because Babs was being a real jerk to me, refusing to sit, etc. After the game, she was better.

Then I went and tried to do laundry…but both machines were in use. Damn I hate being short. What they’ve done is the dryer sits on top of the washer and the controls for both machines are up at dryer level…which is just about out of my reach. But Sharon’s nice and is going to help me wash my clothes. Glad she’s helping, but arg I hate being dependent on someone else for something like laundry. So I haven’t done laundry yet. Haven’t done much else. Just hangin’ out.

Man I could have slept forever this morning. Will have to sleep with the clock radio in my covers so I can press it without making big movements that will make Babs think, “Ooo, Mommy’s up! Come and sniff/lick her!” before I want to get up. I want my watch back! sniffle sniffle!

I love the way Babs moos, and sighs. She always sounds like she’s deep in thought when she sighs. The dogs are all getting nicknames. I call Amy fuzzball cause she’s the fuzziest of them all, Sharon calls Charity bedbug because she’s always climbing into Sharon’s bed and Sharon’s had to set up an elaborate apparatus of a chair and her can78 machine on the bed to keep Charity off it, and I call mine moo-cow because she’s always mooing…and I haven’t come up with a nickname for Willow yet.

My parents are acting all sad and lonesome. They’re saying, “We know you can’t have visitors today, but can we call? Is that even a good idea?” I told them gees of course call.

That was stupid. I mean, even if we couldn’t leave campus, we should have been allowed to have visitors in to see us. That’s dumb to keep us like inmates, not even inmates. Inmates get visitors!

I’m starting to think I should be sending them this daily scoop too. I thought it might bore them, and I’m still not sure if I want to expose them to my inside thoughts on the bad days…which I’m sure will come. Still debating.

Well I should probably get going, should see if Sharon will help this shrimp do laundry. And maybe do obedience…although Babs is pretty dead here. Maybe I’ll do obedience a bit later. That’s the only thing I hate doing. And babs says moo. and Amy has a deep bark. and margery isn’t getting her in trouble. Later dudes.

Safe Mock Crucifictions?

You’ve heard the stories about the people in the Philippines who whip themselves and simulate the crucifiction on Good Friday, right? Well, now, since there’s no way to stop it, Philippine health officials are telling people to please do it safely. That’s right. Get a tetanus shot, use sterile nails and clean whips to cause all the infection-free pain you like.

It kind of reminds me of the needle exchanges and things like that done here so heroin addicts don’t give themselves something else. I know it is a good idea, it just sounds funny. “If you’re going to allow others to nail you to a cross and beat yourself bloody, for the love of Pete, do it with clean things!”

Trixie’s Thoughts On Dog Day

Trixie speaks
Carin’s been acting all weird today. She says we’ve been together for one year. I happen to think she’s wrong. It’s been 7, doesn’t she know? After all, I am the time expert.

I remember the first day I met her. It was a weird day right from the beginning. First, the people who took care of us…what were they? Kennel staff? Well, they took a really special interest in some of us. Not all, just a few of us. They took a really good look at our necks and then wrote something down. I didn’t know my neck had a size, but I guess it does. Then they took the collar off that I always wear and put this other one on. I don’t like it! It feels new! It makes my neck itchy. Scratch scratch scratch!

Then they took a look at how big I am and wrote that down too. They never cared before! Whenever I’d go on a walk with people, they’d just take that harness thing that smelled like lots and lots of dogs, unbuckle the belt part that went around, and slide it to the spot that fit me. Now they wanted to know how big I was. I wondered why, but lots of weird stuff happens that doesn’t seem to change anything, so whatever. I wondered why every single dog in the place wasn’t being measured, though.

Then they took me and those other few special dogs for a bath! That seemed normal enough. But then they gave us a really really good grooming! I mean, they always groom us, not as often as Carin grooms me now, but lots. But this grooming was huge! It was like they wanted to make sure I looked as beautiful as possible. Some of the staff seemed kind of sad. I couldn’t figure out why. They were happy, but sad. Can someone be happy but sad? I was confused.

After all that was done, they didn’t want us few dogs to get dirty. I was jealous. Everyone else could play and play and play, but we had to not get dirty. Why did that matter so much today? And why were we the only ones?

All of a sudden, one of the ones who had been showing me how to do all the hard work like staying away from cars and making turns and not sniffing stuff and not chasing squirrles came in and got me. But there was no van and no bunch of crates and no harness. I figured this would be another one of those times where they let some strange human who didn’t smell like they were from hear hold my leash and try to tell me to sit, down, heel. I’d do that with a few humans, get some pets, and go back to the kennels. But I don’t remember such a long grooming session before one of those times. I went with her, because I like her. I came into this room and another one of the ones who showed me all the hard work stuff brought in this other human. I now know her name is Carin, but at the time all I knew was She was moving really fast and smelled nervous! Why was this human so nervous? She sat down and was sitting very still. Then the person who had me brought me over. Sniff sniff sniff! Definitely not from here. Sniff sniff. Hmmm. Then she started talking to me, and I love pets, especially belly rubs, so I wondered if she would give me one. She did!

After a little bit, the people who taught me all the hard stuff gave me to Carin. they walked with Carin and I back to this other room. There was another human in there with another dog! Hmm! The other dog was called Beauty! She was another one of the dogs who got the big bath and the brushing and all the stuff with the happy sad staff. Hmm! This was a puzzle!

What was this new place? I’d never been all the way down the hall this far before. I’d been in the building when the strange humans would tell me to sit and stuff, but never in this part of it. there are so many things to see. What’s that? What about that? Who’s over there? Are those more of the dogs who got the big bath? Where are the people I know?

I whined a bit, but Carin told me “quiet.” Hmmm. She knows the q word. And she doesn’t like it when I whine either. Wonder how she feels about barking. But I didn’t feel like barking yet. I decided to try that later.

At first I was sure I was just going to be taken back to the kennels. This was just a really long time with this human. I’d seen a lot of humans, and they didn’t all stay around. There were the people who took care of me when I was really little until I was bigger, but sometimes I’d stay with other people. Then I came and stayed in those kennel things and lots of people took care of me,and some of them taught me the hard work stuff. Maybe Carin was just going to sit with me for a while.

We walked up and down the hall for a while. I wonder if I can convince Carin that heel means something else. Nope! She told me to walk where the other people want me to walk. Ok, so that rule is the same with her as with the other people.

Then she fed me, and I liked her even better. She had the food! But I still wasn’t sure. Lots of people had fed me and they didn’t stay.

We went outside so I could do my business, and I saw all the dogs who got the special baths! I thought I’d say hello, but oh no! Carin knew how to give corrections!

Then she said the words that mean I can do my business and I did it. But then Carin just stood there like a lazy bum. I pooped and she didn’t pick it up. Other dogs had pooped and none of their humans picked it up either. Lazy, all of them! One of the ones who taught me how to do the hard stuff came around with a big scoopy shovel and picked it up. That was weird.

Then carin brought me back inside and back to the room. Her and that other human were talking for a while. Then we all walked down to this big room and we all lay under different tables while the humans holding our leashes sat at the tables and ate. At my table there was Storm! And Anton! We all got to lay under the table together, but we couldn’t say hi! We would try, but then we’d get told by Carin and these other strange nervous humans not to do that.

The rest of the evening was kind of boring, except for the part where I saw Dynamo and just couldn’t resist saying hi. Carin did a lot of typing and talking, talking and typing. She petted me a lot too, but there was a lot of typing and talking. Man she loved to talk and type. She still does.

The wierd part was when I saw my favourite person in the whole wide world, at least my favourite person who taught me the hard stuff. She always called me Bird. It was Tamara! Wag wag wag! I wanted to come see her! Hi Tamara! You’re back! Where’s that cute little chihuahua? I like your chihuahua!

But Tamara didn’t care about me anymore. She wouldn’t look at me. She’d just talk to Carin! This wasn’t fair! No fair no fair! Look at me, Tamara! You always loved me before! Why won’t you talk to me now? Do you think I smell funny now that I had the big bath?

I didn’t know that Tamara wanted to look at me, but she knew that if she did, I wouldn’t care about Carin and would try to go to her. She wanted me to know that Carin was going to be the one who mattered most. I just thought Tamara didn’t like me. I had no idea that I would leave all those dogs behind and go far, far away with Carin.

Hmmm. Thinking about all this time that went by has me wondering something. It’s about the same amount of time I spent with those first people who took care of me after I rode in that truck with all those other puppies. I don’t really remember the time before that. But I know I had brothers and sisters and a mommy. but then they put us all on trucks and I met these other people. But I spent about as long with them as I’ve spent with Carin. Maybe I spent a little more time with them. Then there was Tamara and all those other nice people. I didn’t spend as long with them. Is Carin going to give me to someone else? Maybe I’m going to go to the woman who lives downstairs. She’s nice, but it would be really nice if I could just stay with Carin. I guess we’ll see. She doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to pack up my stuff. I guess I’m staying here a bit longer.

Holiday Marketing 101

It’s nice to see that even the drug dealers among us can get into the holiday spirit.

Five Marietta, Ohio residents were arrested this week for
selling crack cocaine that was dyed green in honour of St. Patrick’s Day.

“I don’t know if they’re Irish or not,” Washington County Sheriff Larry R. Mincks said of the suspects. “They could be, I suppose. Or maybe they just wanted to celebrate the holiday.”

The sheriff says this isn’t the first time police have caught people with holiday themed drugs. A few years earlier, some red crack was confiscated during the Christmas season.

You Will Be Receiving A Female Black Lab And Her Name Is…

Do you know what today is? Believe it or not, today is the first anniversary of the day that Trixie came into my life. I know I wrote a journal entry for the day, but so much was going on that I couldn’t capture the amount of detail that I wanted to. So now that a year has gone by, I’ll try again.

I think I was able to convey the apprehension I was feeling when I wrote that morning. It was my new start, but would I be able to do it right this time? I had told myself I could, but now that it came down to it, could I?

All morning the instructors were teasing us. They knew how badly we wanted our dogs, so they kept saying later and later times when they would come. Of course we knew the truth, because the schedule said so, so we knew they were just yanking our chains, har har. They kept joking that they hadn’t taught them certain commands, so we were in trouble, that they weren’t in the kennels, that they forgot them somewhere, just to play with us. Those jerks!

I can’t even remember what lunch was that day. I did write it down, but you can tell that wasn’t the first thing on my mind. I remember how Frank was late and we were all so ancy.

At the very last second before I got her, I thought the dumbest things. What if it had a name of one of my relatives? What if, fluke of flukes, they named it Steve? A dog named Steve would be weird, but you never know. Or worse, what if it had a hideous name and I had to walk around for 8 or 9 years calling it something truly stupid? Then another part of me slapped myself and said stop being such an enormous tool. Whatever its name is, it will be great and you’ll love it because it’s your guide dog.

Finally, they started giving us the names. I couldn’t believe mine came first! The way they’re written down on that entry is how they were given. “carin,” they said. “You will be receiving a female blakc lab and her name is Trixie. T r i x i e.”

As soon as mine was spoken, all the air in the room suddenly felt thicker in my lungs. It was hard to breathe, and harder to concentrate enough to write down the other puppies’ names. Trixie! Trixie is my guide dog.

I had to grin, because both dogs I’d had did have a connection to friends of mine. Some people had nicknamed Barb Babs, and Jen had a cat named Trixie. So Trixie is it. I thought to myself, that’s a pretty cute name. I can deal with Trixie.

I can’t really remember much after the names were stated. I think they told us all to go back to our rooms and they would come and get us and take us individually to either the music room or the library to meet our dogs. They wanted us to meet our dogs in a separate place than our bedroom so we could meet the dog privately without our room-mate being there, I guess in case we might cry or something.

So, I went back to the room in a complete fog. I think I picked up the phone and called at least Steve and Barb. I don’t think I called my parents because they wouldn’t have been home to hear the news. But whoever I called, I don’t think I made much sense and there was a lot of sputtering and stammering and talk of how hard I was shaking and how I couldn’t breathe. Maybe Steve can fill in the gaps in my foggy memory.

After what seemed like an eternity, but I don’t think it was as long as I waited for Babs, they came for…autumn! Doh! I had to wait longer. I’m pretty sure Autumn came back to the room with a very waggly-tailed Beauty first. I waited, and I waited, and I saw how well beauty sat and heeled, and I prayed I would have the same luck.

Then they came for me! The journey to the music room was a very short one because I was moving so fast. As I passed the nurse at lightning speed, she said, “So Carin, you’re off to get your chihuahua, eh? Didn’t they tell you you’re getting a chihuahua?” Har har, hadn’t I heard that one before. Everyone joked I was going to get a chihuahua or a shih tzu, or on the other end of the spectrum, a great dane that I could ride. A St. Bernard was also a popular choice of saddle up and ride type dog.

I walked into the music room and sat down on one of the couches, so excited. I had my leash with me, and over came Trixie on another leash. You know what’s sad? I can’t even remember which instructor gave her to me. I just remember her saying “This is trixie.” She described her height, weight, birthday, and a few other details like the texture of her fur and how it got curly in spots. We then put my leash on her, and Trixie lay down in front of me and showed me her belly!

At first I didn’t know what to do. I was scared, because Trixie was slightly heavier than Babs, and I knew how hard Babs could pull. I was trying not to be too excited, since Trixie didn’t know me from anywhere, and I didn’t want to scare her. The instructor finally said “Are you happy with her?” Of course I said yes! I was happy. Scared of this new beginning, but happy! But I was paranoid even before we left the room. She started moving her head and I thought she was licking the floor, and I started to check if she had something. I didn’t open her mouth, I wasn’t ready for that yet, just checked where it was going. It turns out she was licking her own belly, but I was sure she was trying to eat. I remember the instructor saying “That’s good that you’re monitoring her head!” Well, after Babs, wouldn’t you?

The next few minutes are another fog for me. I left the music room, walked back to my room, and sat on the floor with Trixie. I petted her and talked to her…but she just kept staring into the hall! I forget why I didn’t shut my door. That would have been a way to remove some of that distraction. but I didn’t, and she would stare into the hall. She would stare and whine, whine and stare. I think I finally did shut the dor, but then she would just stare at it, it and Beauty, and whine some more. I was terrified she didn’t care about me at all. Well, why would she? I was just some random person. How would she know she was coming home with me? Plus, she’s such a curious dog that of course she had to have her eyes on everything.

After we had all had some bonding time with our new dogs, they came for us to take us out one by one to do heeling practice down the hall. They never did that in Ottawa. That seems to be a familiar refrain this week. I remember when they took Trixie and I out, there was no leash burn! Every time she’d get a little fast, we would stop, say “heel”, give a correction, and back she’d come. I remember being amazed at how good the collars were compared to my experience with Babs. This was a full training collar, where Babs’s collar was something called a Martingale collar I think. So half was chain and half was cloth. No wonder the corrections were no good!

I don’t have clear memories of the evening. I remember I fed her, and she ate slower than Babs who made it look like I was starving her by the speed at which she wolfed her food. She relieved and did it quickly, much quicker than Babs. There was much chattering on the phone. Did I send the big email yet? I don’t remember. Yes, yes I did. I did manage to write that down in the journal. I know I went to visit Amy, and Trixie threw herself at Dynamo. I know I walked to the nurse’s office for something for Autumn. What was it? I honestly don’t remember. I think that all happened the first night. And that was a year ago today.

Back when I bought the Musher’s Secret, I bought a special toy that I was going to present to her today. Well, I did, and in true Trixie fashion, she’s already mangled one end of it! Lord! At least it’s not completely destroyed, I’ve just learned a few things. She did enjoy it though, so I guess that’s all that matters.

Happy first anniversary together, Trixter. Although it’s not the first anniversary of us being a team, I still think dog day is a pretty special landmark. I hope we have many more of these.