[Cagdu] FW: [GDUI-Friends] New leader dog Harper comes fully loaded, but...

Sat Mar 10 16:28:01 PST 2007

Tina, Nina and Sicily

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Subject: New leader dog Harper comes fully loaded, but...

Midland Daily News, MI, USA
Sunday, February 25, 2007

New leader dog Harper comes fully loaded, but...

By Cheryl Wade

I recently came home to Midland with Harper, my $39,000 German shepherd.

I wouldn't use this expression in guide-dog parlance, but he comes fully 
loaded. He's had nearly a year of socializing with a nice woman from Paw Paw

who never, ever let him run in an unprotected place off leash and made 
certain he was a very obedient fellow. He's had four months of learning how 
to approach curbs slowly and cross streets straight, jump onto and off 
escalators, locate doors and chairs and stairs, even follow the wall inside 
a mall so his future handler would be able to count entrances to find Sears 
or Target. And, taking into account all his food, veterinary care and 
training, plus the cost of boarding and training me for nearly three weeks 
in a dormitory that's akin to a small hotel, it all adds up to $39,000. And 
yet, the real gig barely has started.

Harper is my fifth guide dog; he replaces my good-hearted, faithful 
yellow Labrador retriever, Scout, who just turned 11 and who has retired at 
the home of my brother, also in Midland. Harper is a gentle giant of a dog 
who appears to think well of me, although I'm used to receiving approval by 
means of a vigorously wagging tail, and Harper's, which is about as thick as

a tree limb, doesn't wag. His tongue licks, though, and I'm hoping that's a 
good sign.

I have always been totally blind, seeing light but not objects. So I 
never could relate to what it's like to lose one's sight suddenly or to 
grovel around in the dark trying to find a lost shoe. But, whenever I get a 
new dog, it feels like I'm blinder than I used to be, all over again. I have

to make sure Harper doesn't walk past the Daily News door on the wrong side 
of the railing on McDonald Street. The first time on the bus bound for an 
interview, I was the one who had to find the door because he didn't quite 
know what to do, although he'd been trained to ride buses.

Harper hasn't roamed Midland's streets much yet. During his training at 
Leader Dogs for the Blind in Rochester, Mich., there wasn't nearly as much 
snow as there was in Midland when we arrived Feb. 2. He's learned how to 
"find the curb," but how can you find a curb when my street is flanked by 
snow and there's no curb to be seen? I needed to show him.

Scout had been trained to point to a door handle with his nose. Harper 
was not trained to do so, and I wanted him to learn how to do it. So we 
practice finding the "handle, handle, handle" of my bedroom door, my 
bathroom and closet at Leader Dog. I helped him get the idea by dabbing a 
little bit of peanut butter on all those handles, so he would go right to 
them. I'm still not sure if he knows about handles yet. One of my trainers 
says it takes 30 to 40 repetitions before a dog learns a concept such as 
that.

Harper also veers to the right sometimes while crossing streets. In 
summer, that wouldn't bother me so much, but in winter, when there's so much

snow and cold, I want him to do it right the first time so I don't have to 
climb up on a snow bank and try to figure out where the curb would be if 
snow didn't cover it. So I asked a friend to tail me to work a couple of 
weeks ago.

The big leap is, how do I know if I can trust this dog? When I feel him 
move in something other than a straight line, is he taking me around an 
obstruction or goofing off? It'll take us six months to a year to get to the

point where we will almost read each other's minds the way Scout and I 
could. It's sort of scary, sort of freeing, I hope victorious after all.

By the way, I'm now one of two Leader Dog teams in Midland County. 
Fellow resident Jim Hedelund has just come home with his big shepherd, 
Shaddai. He'll be walking around Thayer Road, where there are no curbs and 
sidewalks, so be courteous and keep a watchful eye.

http://www.ourmidla
<http://www.ourmidland.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17895950&BRD=2289&PAG=461&de
pt_id=472539&rfi=6>
nd.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17895950&BRD=2289&PAG=461&dept_id=472539&rfi=6

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