Updates from the Cliffdon Hotel – Teignmouth Devon UK.

Day One and a bit.

The training is part repetition and part perseverance.

The repetition:

Teaching a well trained dog, your own habits and needs, can be confusing.

Such as remembering stating to the Guide Dog, to turn, left, right, stop, and other commands with each step and obstacle you come too.

Some parts are frustrating, and hard to write. One part that I did struggle with was speaking out loud to a dog!

The Perseverance:

After a few hours of walking around the town with Teal, she did start to carry out the commands without too many problems. She had a couple of issues with distractions. One of them being birds and squirrels!

Part of the experience at the hotel was linked me and a milky, wet foot.

I was still working for the government quango, and had an organised workshop, where I was needed to host.

This fell on day three of my guide dog training, in Tiegnmouth.

I was being picked up at 0745 and taken to the venue. I had arranged an early breakfast. I rocked up, suited and booted. Went to my usual table, and set loose on the help yourself option.

One question, that I kept on wondering, was, why in a hotel that specialises in blind people.

“Why would you have self service meals”?

I’m at the start, getting my cereal, hoping that Teal, would stay at the table whilst I wondered around the dinning room, filling my tray with hot drinks, cereal, and toast.

My tray was full of my breakfast and I just needed to add milk.

Well, let’s just say that when I was in the walking around the workshop, I had an aroma linked to dairy products!

At the moment of turning the milk tap on, I gave my leg a 5 Litre cold milk bath!

I went in my next training walk and continued with the five different commands.

Today I am off into Dawlish for two walks. This time I will try to get the commands in the correct order.

My instructor also showed me a useful tip for measuring out Teals food. The use of a tin can!

Basically the tin can is the same amount of food per meal.

Apparently Guide Dogs have a weight issue.

I can relate to that!