I have purposefully been putting this post off for a while, as I wanted to wait until I had qualified with Ascot and to give me a good opportunity to look back on the experience so far.

The one thing you always hear about guide dog training is: its incredibly tough.  Now when I kept hearing this I just said to myself well toughness/difficulty is subjective, what one person finds tough another may not.  So was guide dog training difficult? The actual training I went through and the amount of information I received wasn’t difficult really.  Perhaps what is tough is coming to the realisation and a position where you can begin to read your dog and understand how best to work him.

This is the difficult bit and is something I am still working on (and no doubt will be for a long time).  Trying to judge Ascot’s mood or indeed change his mood an be tough.  When you are out walking the dog and he isn’t doing exactly what he should be the stress levels begin to rise, however under these stressful moments when you are worrying about moving around is when you have to read the dog.  Why is he acting like this? Is there an external factor going on I just can’t see? Is he being fidgety because he needs the toilet? Or is he just in a mood.

Trying to balance those things to get the best out of your dog is the difficult bit.  I find myself often trying to guess what mood Ascot is in and when I think he is feeling a bit low I become conscious of the fact I may not have met his needs to keep him cheery.

Looking from a larger point of view and slightly more balanced we do work well together, the relationship we are beginning to create allowed us to qualify in just one week.  So we must be doing something right, but I still stay conscious that I want to do better, I want us to be more in tune and to understand each other well.

Reading the do is the difficult bit and I only hope to improve over the months.

Last night was the night walk with Ascot.  This is the one training walk that people sam to worry about the most.  Maybe because a lot of blind people avoid going out at night, as if you do have any residual vision this generally deteriorates to 0 vision during the night hours.

Due to this a lack of experience of the dark can create a little anxiety at the thought of walking around an unfamiliar location with a dog.  As I sat in the training van talking about the night walk with a fellow trainee she was a little worried but positive she wanted to try the experience in order to conquer her fears and highlight that walking at night was possible.

As my turn arrived I was a little anxious of walking at night but had gained a decent level of trust with Ascot over the past 10 days.  I knew he would be able to see where I couldn’t so all I had to do was follow the handle just as I had been practicing.  At first it was a little difficult as our speed was a little up and down but we both settled down and by the first turning had found our rhythm.

Trusting in the dog is really the key, as long as you trust the dog the night walk is just like any other walk.

Today saw our first free run, I had been looking forward to this and giving Ascot the opportunity to run around a field.  He was incredibly excited as we entered the area and needed quite a few corrections, he also again began to take commands from the trainer.  I think this may be due to the fact she was delivering commands in a stern voice which made Ascot stand to attention.

He seemed to thoroughly love running around with the other guide dogs and a little pug that had come along to play.  They chased each other round the field as we tested our recall.  He always came bounding over quickly on recall, which is great as I know I won’t lose him in a field!

I plan to write a post tomorrow about the entire guide dog training experience, touching on the common topics of difficulty and so on.  So pop back tomorrow for a good read.

This morning was another sessions of traffic.  However today Ascot seemed to deal with it incredibly well and I didn’t see the dips in his confidence or stress levels I saw the previous day (it must be noted I am obviously still a rookie at identifying these things).  The route was very simple and we intend to return to it late tonight in order to do a night time walk.

Due to stressing the dogs out with the last 3 walks we had this afternoon off.  The trainer had given me a hardcore dog proof toy to give to Ascot.  So returning back to our room I gave him the toy, it lasted around 3 minutes.  He found the weak point of the toy and simply chewed it apart!

Later in the afternoon we had a lecture on dog behaviour and learnt a few things about what particular behaviours can mean.  After this I returned to the room and tried Ascot with another toy, with his new bone though he refused to nibble it alone.  He would only chew on it as long as I held the other side.  So not really a toy that keeps him occupied!

So now I am sat waiting for the night time walk, should be interested as I rarely go out at night.  Will be a great chance to test my trust in the dog.

Today was a tough day for Ascot, we had to do a particular piece of reinforcement that is stressful; traffic.

The idea is to get Ascot to move off a kerb while a car is approaching.  This is done in a controlled situation, one trainer drives the car while the other worked with me and Ascot.  Ascot performed well and despite me encoring him to walk into oncoming vehicles he stopped each time.

However it was easy to see how it was affecting him.  His entire body language changed and I could tell he was becoming less confident.  During this stage he became more aware of distractions and was busy eyeballing a dog.  We did traffic training twice today and each time I could identify how stressed Ascot was becoming.

I find it encoring that I am now able to read Ascot and hope I can continue to develop this technique and really create a strong bond.

As a treat on the way back from trafficking I also went and bought him some toys.  He doesn’t get them till he gets home though!

This morning Ascot gave me a nice lay in, he didn’t smack me in the face until 5:30am, thats nearly an hour improvement!

After spending the dogs we all met at the van and all 3 of us headed out on a training walk together.  Arriving at a road Jean went first while me and Kevin waited in the van.  After a while the trainer returned without Jean, I wondered where she had gone and then I was told she was waiting in a cafe and I would be jointing her there.

So after a short walk we had nearly arrived at the cafe.  Just outside someone had tied up 2 dogs that lunged at Ascot, he panicked a little and lunged back and started barking.  After calming him down we headed into the cafe.  As we were attempting to settle the dogs down a lady came over and wanted to stroke the dogs.  We told her we were in the middle of training and she walked away.

As soon as the trainer left the lady came back over to stroke the dogs, a few minutes later another lady came over with her son to stroke the dogs.  A good example of just how popular guide dogs are, people just want to stroke them! We let everyone interact with the dogs in an effort to familiarise themselves with the attention.  The dogs overall behaved incredibly well.  After a while it was time for me to leave the cafe and continue our training walk.

Again as we walked down the street Ascot gained a huge amount of attention.  Everyone wanted to stroke him! It appears he is just too cute.

In the afternoon we did a short off kerb training session that didn’t take long at all.  It is a reasonably simple action and me and Ascot appeared to zoom through it.  We both may be just a little impatient!

Overall Ascot and I have done incredibly well today.  I feel like I am beginning to understand how to handle him and getting the best out of him.  There is a long way to go to get this at a consistent level as I still struggle to handle him in high distraction scenarios.

As for now its time to chill out, Ascot seems to be doing this already as he is curled up in his bed!

Today was our official day off so it was time for us all to have visitors.  I had been looking forward to this day as I hadn’t seen my son in a week or my wife for that matter.

I knew I would have to spend some time calming Ascot down as he is easily excited and incredibly sensitive, I think this is due to his age as he is a very young guide dog.  So we did a nice grooming sessions which involved him nearly knocking me out as he jumped up and smashed into my jaw as I leant over him.  Besides from that it was a nice calming sessions so we did a little obedience too.  Keeping Ascot as calm as I could until my wife and son arrived.

I got the call to meet them in reception and my son was very shy with me.  He is still very young so me going away for a while then being presented with me again I don’t think he knew what to do.  So after about 10 minutes he had warmed to me so we took him upstairs to meet Ascot.  The first meeting didn’t go too well as Ascot predictable got very excited and wanted to play with Grayson.  Grayson didn’t know what to do some avoided him. My wife went in for one stroke and Ascot swirly tried to steal her broach!

We decided to leave Ascot in the room to calm down and head down for some lunch.  Returning up to the room Ascot had calmed down to the point where he was able to interact with Grayson.  Grayson loved this and he say down in front of him with an empty mug and pretended to drink, after each sip he then gave the mug to Ascot so he could have a sip, they played this for a while and Ascot was incredibly patient with him, then he went in for a full on lick attack which Grayson loved!

It really has hit me today how sensitive Ascot is and how I need to manage his moods.  Trying to keep him calm to get the best out of him.  This can often be difficult and lead to multiple corrections forcing me to escalate my tone and correction sometimes to a level I just don’t feel comfortable with.  This results in both me and Ascot becoming upset and we both mope around in the hotel room for a while.  But a quick rest and he is back being chilled out.  I am hoping this is age related and as we grow together we can learn to read each other far better and work as a great team,

With one week over it seems I have come a long way with my training.

Today saw a very wet trip out in the morning to a local high street.  This time to test out the skills of indenting and climbing stairs.  Again the instructor had enough faith in me to unclip early on and let me work the dog myself.  Due to the rain me and Ascot were just trying to rush through the route, we obviously both dislike the rain.

Ascot performs so well on the harness he gives me great confidence in his abilities, I am just struggling at the minute to find the right balance when he is on the lead.  I struggle to read him well enough to find the right tone of voice to get the best from him at any point in time.  However it is only day 7 so I need to bare that in mind and not be too hard on myself I am sure it is something that will develop in time.

Due to the heavy rain it was decided the afternoon would be an indoor obedience sessions.  We headed to the basement of the hotel and worked on a stand and wait as well as a recall.  The stand is apparently the hardest position to train a dog with as it is so easy for the dog to move out of position.  So the stand position was only used in very short period with the intention to train up and maintain a long stand.  In an effort to make it even more intense we did it in front of the other dogs in order to add numerous distractions Ascot and I performed well in this exercise and equally as well in the recall.

The recalls works just like feeder the dog does, three blows of the whistle recalls the dog to your side.  Quickly grabbing its collar so it doesn’t leg it!

Also seen as it was my birthday the trained had treated me and bought me cheesecake! I really must of mentioned how much I like cheesecake!

Today saw a return to the road with the bins.  Basically a route that the trainer can place as many obstruction as possible.  It is a great chance to practice following the dog.

The first lap went very well and I also bumped into a bin, now this is actually a good opportunity to train the dog on my dimensions.  So issuing a command the dog learns how wide you are, impressively issuing this command on the net bin we needed to avoid Ascot turned and made sure he was cleaning the bin just enough for my frame.

On the second loop of the block the trainer disconnected her support lead so for the first time I was controlling the dog alone.  It was a great feeling and a real acknowledgement that I was advancing in my training.

The afternoon saw a return to the obstacle course but this time with added difficulties.  Again the instructor left me to do it alone without a support lead.  I was feeling incredibly confident at this point as the trainer having this level of faith in my learning after only 4 walks with Ascot was great.  We zoomed through the course with our usual impatience and speed, its almost like we are a good match!

Returning back to the hotel Ascot became anxious with the teenager that are staying across the hall.  They repeatedly lock each other outside of the room, which begs the question; how many times can these people fall for the same trick!

This anxiousness made Ascot far less responsive when we went outside for a little walk and spend.  After many corrections in order to get him to do what I wanted I tried a different tact.  I tried to really calm him down and soothe him this worked wonders and he performed to his usual high standard.

This mornings session began with obstacle training.  In order to do this in a sage environment we went to the Nottingham kennels where the trainer had setup a little course of obstacles.  One of my fellow trainees went first so I groomed my dog on the back of the van.  This proved far easier than grooming Ascot on the ground.  The raised platform on the van made it far easier.  I may  have to invest in a dog grooming table for home.

When it was my turn to train on the obstacles we headed to the back of the kennels where a set of cones had been setup to simulate solid object obstacles. We did quite well at this task as I seem able to follow the handle reasonably well.  So we zoomed up and down a few times then did our usual play as a treat for Ascot and we headed back to the hotel.

Over lunch we had a talk from our DCR who basically acts as a conduit between ourselves and guide dogs over issues.  It was an interesting talk as the DCR was very chatty and interesting.  She also had a gorgeous guide dog!

The afternoon sessions saw this morning simulation put into practice in the real world.  It was a short piece of block work that had many bins littered over the pavement.  We moved around quite well but I did however see one of the bins at the last minute which caused me to dodge it avoiding a collision.  However the point should of been to take the collision in order to train Ascot in my dimensions so he knows what gaps we are capable of slipping through.

This evening spend also saw Ascot using his bark again, for a guide dog he has a substantial bark.  I quickly corrected him as I don’t want him barking at people.

As usual he is now sat down next to me as I type.  He is a relaxed fellow.  I also managed to fall asleep this afternoon and nearly missed his feed.  But thankfully Ascot woke me up only a few minutes later to remind me it was his tea time!