Monday, July 21, 2008

Guide dog school!!

Yesterday I went to the guide dog school!!
It was a lot of fun. I got to see a real guide dog there with a blind lady, and then there was a trainer with a dog that wasn't a working dog yet. She showed us how they trained them to walk around things so that the blind person won't trip and fall. And after that was the best part!! She said something in Japanese (I had NO clue what it was), but then Rieko was trying to explain it, by the time she did another girl already raised her hand. I figured out right then (since Rieko found the right words to explain it) but since the other girl raised her hand first, I couldn't do it. "It" was if you were the one who raised your hand then you got to come up get blindfolded, and then walk with the "in training" dog, that was wearing a harness!! You even got to hold the handle, the trainer was on the other side holding the lead, just in case. But it wasn't me who got to do it, it was another girl. After she was done walking with the dog, I found out that the trainer was going to let some more do it, I raised my hand right away!! But she was only going to let 5 kids walk with the dog. And more then 15 kids raised their hand. Somehow out of all of them I was picked as one of those five!!

This is the first time I have every gotten to walk with a dog in harness holding the handle!!

There are pictures below, mind you the harness was a "Japanese" harness, so it was a lot differnt, and it was white!!"


Japan girl


Showing how they train themto go around things, (it was a fence).




Showing us how they get them to go around chairs.















This was the working guide dog, and for some

reason, it was not just wearing a harness, but also

wearing clothes!! And that was just like the service

dog I saw at the other school. I wonder if that is to

show that it isn't just in "training" with a harness ,

it is really working.

ME!! Her telling me what we are going to do

(in Japanese!!).














Me walking with the dog.

Me walking with the dog, (going back to where we
started)















And giving the blindfold back, and also saying
thank you.



1 comment:

Sarah and Shadow said...

Wow! That's so cool!!! Working dogs are amazing!