Today me and Sherman went to the mall to finish Christmas shopping. (YAY! I am done!) Anyway, we were there for a few hours and were heading out to go to my car when we ran into a working guide dog. I didn't see him at first, a lady walked up to me and asked me what school I raised for. (That was a new question) I said Guide Dogs for the Blind." and then I saw behind her a man with his guide dog. She said "Oh, that is where his dog is from." He was a really handsome Male Yellow Lab named Murphy. We let Murphy and Sherman say a quick hello and then both boys laid down and waited while we chatted for a while. (I was very proud of Sherman for behaving himself) I learned that they graduated together from the San Rafael campus three years ago. I had parked on the other side of the mall so I walked with them for a bit while we talked since they were going the same direction. It was so amazing to watch them work. Murphy was so protective of his handler and was so alert and watching everything and navigating the crowds wonderfully. (I am always in awe when I see people work with their dogs) They said that I was the first raiser they have ever run into and it was great to learn where the dogs come from. I said that I never run into working guides and it was wonderful to see him in action. Maybe that will sink in for Sherman so he will know what an important job he has ahead of him. :) They thanked me for raising puppies and I went on my way. I really enjoyed talking with Murphy and his handler. It is great to see the final result and makes me want to work that much harder to help my dogs become perfect guides!
Thursday, December 13, 2007
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4 comments:
Even after getting to work dogs and working with the students and their dogs all summer, it never fails to amaze me when I see them working. Glad you got to meet Murphy, he sounds like a good boy :)
AWESOME!!! How incredible. What a great end to your shopping adventure!!! Sounds like you had a nice chat with them too. Yippee.
On another note: Do working teams go to your meetings? Or are your meetins just for puppy raisers?
Anybody who wants to attend is welcome. We have had a guide and its partner come to a few of our meetings. And there are usually a few working guides at our state meetings that we have a couple times a year. I have a CCI raiser friend who regularly attends GDB puppy meetings because there aren't many CCI dogs in her area. :) HTH
So neat! I also love seeing working guides, but I have never really talked to one outside of meeting though. I am always afraid my puppy will do something silly or distracting, so I have actually avoided teams if I have seen them! Good job to Sherman for acting to maturely!
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