Whew, another day down and another long waiting day to go!
Note:
If you wish to know about the graduation information it will be at the bottom of the post, last thing mentioned.
One awesome thing about being in class besides waiting on that perfect match is the people in your class and getting to know them. Each time I have been at Leader I have been lucky and been with an awesome group both with GDMI’s which is guide dog mobility instructors and with clients. This class here is holy cow amazing
GDMI’s
Phile, team supvisor
Linda
David or DAve, however by the end of this calls who knows what his name may be, lol
Stephanie
Angela
Betty
I hope I got that last one right. If not and she sees this she can beat me over the head with something later, 🙂
The group itself, us nutty clients! This is a group that connected from the moment we got here on Sunday. My other groups we took a few days, but oh no no no, not this one.
Michigan rules in this group as well. Like holy cow I have never seen a showing of one state in one class. For the guide dog teams there are a whole lot of us from Michigan in this group. Go Michigan!
Another cool thing that was notice is even though we didn’t know each other until we got here there are a lot of things that we have in common with someone in the class or more than one someone. It’s pretty darn awesome!
I didn’t mention it in yesterdays post, but there is a mobility client named Alexis here for this week and we have known each other for years over the internet and finally got to meet in person here at Leader. she is just as awesome in person and I’m glad we had that chance to meet. However, because she has known me for so long she is quite happy as well to join in on the torturing of May in this class. Like seriously, aren’t friends suppose to stick together here? HMPH. lol.
When we were introducing ourselves in the morning and it got to me, I said that I was the trouble maker of the group, but, I’m not the only one. I have some helpers this round. But, but, I am the only one that is getting picked on. I need to find a way to share the love you know. I protest this!
Oh, whoops, there goes my protest list again.
I apparently warned my instructor about me and I don’t remember doing such a thing. I’m slipping! That or my twin did it.
Anyways, back to our group. Let me tell you, there are some feisty ones in this group too. Yeah, don’t mess with them or you might end up with a cane up your nose. Oh wait, no that was Sarah beating me up, never mind! Cherry is our feisty one and she’ll issue you a challenge before you know it, better watch out.
Orgasmic cake anyone?
Hey GDMI’s, you missed the real fun at dinner time, lol. It’s a good thing that we are all adults around here. I don’t think any young ones are with us, but could be wrong, if so, someone will correct me I’m sure, lol.
So last night for dinner we had this cake for dessert and I first past on the cake because anything orange usually gives me a headache and so far I’ve been lucky I haven’t had a bad one yet.
Well, from across the table lots of excitment can be heard from my tablemate that got her piece first and I mean it was spectacular. Like she was really ***enjoying this cake. Then it spread to the next person. Like table 4 was having a good time with this dessert.
So, yes, I could not be left out so had to beg and plead for a piece. Had to throw in a little extra whine for my slice, lol.
And OMG, that cake, good gods, that was totally totally some delicious cake. The adulting was real over that dessert, just saying!
Again, so what did we actually do for the day. Guess that’s important too, eh?
Alright. After we all did the meet and greet it was Juno time.
For those that don’t know, Juno is where the GDMI pretends to be the dog for the first couple of days here at Leader. They check out the pace and pull and teach or remind you about what to do and the commands and all of those fun things that go with having a dog. Including the dog being bad and playing with poodles!
For the morning session we stayed on campus and did our first walk on the practice route. Sadly, there was no water in the pond and no frogs or other distracting animals for me to play with. cries
I was actually worried about my first walk because it’s been 2 years since I walked with a puppy and I felt I’d be a bit rusty and that my emotions would sneak up on me. But things went just fine. Work wise it all came back like I never put down the harness. There are a few things I will need to change like keeping the leash in my left heand instead of my right. Don’t need to confuse my ppor puppy.
The reason I had it in my right is because it was just easier with the reading of the dog and the easier control if something was going on. And it just just feels weird having the leash with the harness in my left hand.
So during this morning walk I was telling Stephanie that the pace was great and all, but I also need to see what the dog is like when I’m walking with my kids because they don’t need to run to keep up with me, lol. So, psst, Cherry, since you’re the shortest in our group, can I borrow you? lol.
The afternoon session was the same except we went to the downtown campus for Juno work and we threw in the Juno being bad and getting distracted. Key in poodle here. Like, OMG, my Juno was so into this poodle that I forgot what direction we were suppose to be going, lol. No cookie for her!
Then she got sneaky and if not for the help of some very nice person, probably the one with the poodle that distracted my dog in the first place, she lead me off into the grass somewhere and I was like, erm, where in the world are we?
If my Juno is that sneaky I think I’m going to be in trouble with the dog she’s giving me. I better be on my toes.
So, to wrap things up for the night a few of us went out for a walk around the practice path after dinner just to hang out and more time to get to know each other. I am so glad to be a part of this group. I was afraid this time would be pretty hard for me due to Wren, but I think this group is definitely what I need as well to help me through the healing process. New awesome perverted friends and lots of good times to have.
Graduation!
If you would love to attend the graduation ceremony, please pay attention to the following information.
Hello from Leader Dogs for the Blind.
You are invited to join us online Friday, September 12 for our Client Celebration Ceremony honoring our current class.
For our clients and guests joining the celebration ceremony on our campus, please join us at 11:15am (eastern time) in the Leader Dogs for the Blind- Polk residence banquet room. Please let me know if you can make it in person because I need to let the residence services staff know if you’re coming and any dietary restriction that you may have by the end of this week.
For our guests joining the celebration ceremony virtually via Teams please join us at 12:30pm (eastern time) via the Microsoft Teams link. Please note: if you use the “Call In – Audio Only” link, you won’t be able to see the video or use the “chat” function. Presentation is 30 to 45 minutes. Please enter the celebration with your video off and your microphone muted. Thank you.
Have an awesome day!