Glaze "speaks"
I've never blogged as my dog before and don't anticipate doing it ever again. But this guide-dog meme has gotten started, and I thought I'd participate. If you have any more questions for Glaze (you don't have to come up with five of them), post, and I'll answer in the comments. And if you'd like five questions for your dog (or other animal critter), leave a comment. I thought this was a fun writing exercise. And I shouldn't be surprised that Glaze had a lot to say! Here are her answers to the questions from brighid0704 and her guide Caroline.
1. How does it feel to be almost retired?
Thanks for asking this one. It was really hard for my mom to understand at first, so I want to explain it, in case it somehow helps other dog-parents. The thing is, I really have loved working for my mom. Any guide dog will tell you that the work can be really hard, but it's fun, too. I'm especially proud of myself when I find places or things my mom should see. But the work does require a lot of concentration, and I'm not as young as I was. My mom said once that I'm 72 in dog years, whatever that means. So as much as I love my mom, I just don't really have the energy to keep concentrating like this.
My mom has a human friend who retired from her work not too long ago. She tried to explain to Mom how it felt. This friend told Mom that as much as she loved her job and the people she worked with, she just couldn't keep doing her job every day anymore. She was able to do it part time. I wish I could be Mom's part-time guide. Sometimes, I really do want to work, and sometimes, like today at the office-place, I do a great job. But I don't want to go all the time. Sometimes, I let Mom know this, and she takes that stupid cane thing instead. I’m glad she understands that I don’t want to go all the time. I know Mom needs a dog who can go all the time, so I have to retire.
I think retirement will be OK, though, as long as Mom gets another dog who's as good at finding stuff for her as I am. You know, lots of the time when I'm off leash and Mom gets near stairs, I'll come over and stand in front of her so she won't fall down. I know she can walk down the stairs without me, so once she knows where they are, I run on ahead. But she does need me to tell her where they are. I’ll probably have to keep doing this even when the new dog gets here, because of course it won’t know any of this stuff at first.
Once, when Mom was really tired after something she calls a “final,” she told me to find stairs so we could leave the class-place. But I knew how tired Mom was, so I turned and went the other way. It took Mom a second to figure this out, but by the time she did, I had already found what I was looking for. I took her to one of those elevator things instead of stairs. She was saying, “Glaze, left! Left!” because she wanted the stairs. But I knew what I found was better, so I just stood there and wagged my tail until she figured it out. And when she did, boy was she ever happy!
So anyway, if she gets another dog who's half as smart as I am, I guess she'll be OK.
2. What was the worst mistake you ever made?
When I was young, I liked to chase things. Once, I broke away from Mom and ran after a squirrel. Mom had to call her landlord to come chase me down. Fortunately, I grew out of that. The funniest mistake I ever made was taking Mom to the wrong apartment. The door was unlocked, so we went inside and everything! We had just moved there, and I wasn't sure which one was ours. But I figured it out pretty fast after that. The ability to pattern is a point of pride with me. Once, when a taxi let us off at the wrong place, I took us home, even though Mom didn't have any idea where we were.
3. Will you miss being a guide?
Sometimes. I've gotten to go to so many cool places with my mom. But, you know, I've had a good run. I'm ready to lie on the furniture all day. When the new dog gets here, I'm going to have to train it so that it knows stuff. First, it's got to realize that I'm top dog. And second, I'll have to tell it something I figured out after I'd been here a while. This might come as a surprise to some people, but it’s true. My mom can't see! At all! My trainers and other people like that could see, but Mom really can’t. I figured this out pretty early on. (A couple of times, I have tried to get away with things, like the one time I stole the neighbor-dog’s rawhide from his yard and didn’t make a single sound with it. I would have gotten away with it, too, if the other dog who lived with us then hadn’t picked it up and started chewing on it. I knew that I needed to wait until Mom was distracted so she wouldn’t wonder where it came from.) If the new dog understands this the way I do, I won't mind not being a guide anymore, because I know that dog will show my mom all the stairs and find the elevators when she’s really tired and everything like that.
4. How was law school?
Mom says I will have finished exactly half of law school with her. I think that’s kind of neat, because then the other dog gets to go through half of law school, too. I'm really glad we came back to Charlottesville. This is my favorite place to live and work in the whole wide world. I always figured out where Mom's classes were right away. And also, we once got to go to some place called the Supreme Court. Mom was very excited, but I really didn't think it was that big a deal. Some people got up and talked a lot to a bunch of listening-people. Then, the listening-people talked to each other. Boooo-ring!!! I slept through most of it. My mom said one of the listening-people slept through most of it, too.
5. Does your mom spoil you? You know, let you get away with stuff that the dog college people wouldn't like.
Well…yeah, I guess she does. I sleep on her bed. But that was my idea, not hers. The very first time we met at dog-school, she took me into her room, and I jumped on the bed right away. Eventually, I figured out that I couldn’t do that at dog-school, but here at home, things are different. My mom also gives me these things called white chocolate truffles. She says that most chocolate is really bad for dogs, but this kind doesn’t have the bad stuff in it. She won’t give these to me very often, but they are my special treat.
Edit: Glaze talks about NFB conventions, playing, and sleeping in the comments.
1. How does it feel to be almost retired?
Thanks for asking this one. It was really hard for my mom to understand at first, so I want to explain it, in case it somehow helps other dog-parents. The thing is, I really have loved working for my mom. Any guide dog will tell you that the work can be really hard, but it's fun, too. I'm especially proud of myself when I find places or things my mom should see. But the work does require a lot of concentration, and I'm not as young as I was. My mom said once that I'm 72 in dog years, whatever that means. So as much as I love my mom, I just don't really have the energy to keep concentrating like this.
My mom has a human friend who retired from her work not too long ago. She tried to explain to Mom how it felt. This friend told Mom that as much as she loved her job and the people she worked with, she just couldn't keep doing her job every day anymore. She was able to do it part time. I wish I could be Mom's part-time guide. Sometimes, I really do want to work, and sometimes, like today at the office-place, I do a great job. But I don't want to go all the time. Sometimes, I let Mom know this, and she takes that stupid cane thing instead. I’m glad she understands that I don’t want to go all the time. I know Mom needs a dog who can go all the time, so I have to retire.
I think retirement will be OK, though, as long as Mom gets another dog who's as good at finding stuff for her as I am. You know, lots of the time when I'm off leash and Mom gets near stairs, I'll come over and stand in front of her so she won't fall down. I know she can walk down the stairs without me, so once she knows where they are, I run on ahead. But she does need me to tell her where they are. I’ll probably have to keep doing this even when the new dog gets here, because of course it won’t know any of this stuff at first.
Once, when Mom was really tired after something she calls a “final,” she told me to find stairs so we could leave the class-place. But I knew how tired Mom was, so I turned and went the other way. It took Mom a second to figure this out, but by the time she did, I had already found what I was looking for. I took her to one of those elevator things instead of stairs. She was saying, “Glaze, left! Left!” because she wanted the stairs. But I knew what I found was better, so I just stood there and wagged my tail until she figured it out. And when she did, boy was she ever happy!
So anyway, if she gets another dog who's half as smart as I am, I guess she'll be OK.
2. What was the worst mistake you ever made?
When I was young, I liked to chase things. Once, I broke away from Mom and ran after a squirrel. Mom had to call her landlord to come chase me down. Fortunately, I grew out of that. The funniest mistake I ever made was taking Mom to the wrong apartment. The door was unlocked, so we went inside and everything! We had just moved there, and I wasn't sure which one was ours. But I figured it out pretty fast after that. The ability to pattern is a point of pride with me. Once, when a taxi let us off at the wrong place, I took us home, even though Mom didn't have any idea where we were.
3. Will you miss being a guide?
Sometimes. I've gotten to go to so many cool places with my mom. But, you know, I've had a good run. I'm ready to lie on the furniture all day. When the new dog gets here, I'm going to have to train it so that it knows stuff. First, it's got to realize that I'm top dog. And second, I'll have to tell it something I figured out after I'd been here a while. This might come as a surprise to some people, but it’s true. My mom can't see! At all! My trainers and other people like that could see, but Mom really can’t. I figured this out pretty early on. (A couple of times, I have tried to get away with things, like the one time I stole the neighbor-dog’s rawhide from his yard and didn’t make a single sound with it. I would have gotten away with it, too, if the other dog who lived with us then hadn’t picked it up and started chewing on it. I knew that I needed to wait until Mom was distracted so she wouldn’t wonder where it came from.) If the new dog understands this the way I do, I won't mind not being a guide anymore, because I know that dog will show my mom all the stairs and find the elevators when she’s really tired and everything like that.
4. How was law school?
Mom says I will have finished exactly half of law school with her. I think that’s kind of neat, because then the other dog gets to go through half of law school, too. I'm really glad we came back to Charlottesville. This is my favorite place to live and work in the whole wide world. I always figured out where Mom's classes were right away. And also, we once got to go to some place called the Supreme Court. Mom was very excited, but I really didn't think it was that big a deal. Some people got up and talked a lot to a bunch of listening-people. Then, the listening-people talked to each other. Boooo-ring!!! I slept through most of it. My mom said one of the listening-people slept through most of it, too.
5. Does your mom spoil you? You know, let you get away with stuff that the dog college people wouldn't like.
Well…yeah, I guess she does. I sleep on her bed. But that was my idea, not hers. The very first time we met at dog-school, she took me into her room, and I jumped on the bed right away. Eventually, I figured out that I couldn’t do that at dog-school, but here at home, things are different. My mom also gives me these things called white chocolate truffles. She says that most chocolate is really bad for dogs, but this kind doesn’t have the bad stuff in it. She won’t give these to me very often, but they are my special treat.
Edit: Glaze talks about NFB conventions, playing, and sleeping in the comments.