Those who have been round for a while will realise that I have been rather quiet of late.
If truth be told; it’s been over a year!
But, that’s all about to change.
You may get sick of me in the next few months, but lots to update. Many posts will be backdated to when the drafts were penned.
Hope you enjoy
Life has been a little busy; 2023 has seen some major changes.
In February, I returned to paid work for the first time in over a decade.
In June, I started training with my 3rd guide dog.
Both have been absolutely BRILLIANT, yet thoroughly EXHAUSTING.
However it is time to get back to one of my passions, time to write again.
Blogs incoming.
Subscribe to get access to the rest of this post and other subscriber-only content.
We arrived safely at the hotel, checking into our room and are just about to meet the other guide dog owners, their dogs and the trainers who will be getting us through this.
Through the power of Facebook, I already know one of the other guide dog owners and as the same trainer has all three dogs that are on class, the dogs have already spotted each other and gone into play mode!
Ben is the palest of the three Golden, in-fact if we line them up right it looks like the colour started to run out by the time it got to Ben. All three dogs are boys and the other two are actually litter-mates but having trained together with the GDMS (Guide Dog Mobility Specialist) they are all best of friends.
As I said in my previous post, I have never done this type of training before. Which is making me feel a little anxious, but I am also excited. I have already fallen head over heels in love with Ben, he has a quirky goofy side that comes out every so often. And being only eighteen months he is the baby of the group, just another thing I have never had before in a guide dog. As both the girls were past maturity when they came to me; I am learning even more about dogs than ever before.
Today is about settling in, finding our way around the hotel and getting an idea of how our days are going to play out. We are in a beautiful hotel in Blandford, guide dogs have held classes here before, but we are only the second since Covid and the staff are so helpful.
Now for the work to begin …
Despite Ben being my third guide dog, he is introducing me to new experiences before we have even become a partnership. He is the first guide dog that I have attended a class training with:
My first guide dog Vicky worked before coming to me; her previous partnership ended when the person she was guiding died. So, aged 4 she was matched with me. A match that meant we would train from home. Otherwise known as domiciliary. Which given that I discovered in the first week of training together that I was pregnant with my son and not just super nervous was perfect.
Then my second guide dog Fizz had also previously worked with another partnership, that saw her come back to Guide Dogs and be offered to me when she was 3 and a half years old. So again, we trained together from home. Which with two children to get to school and nursery again worked out perfectly for me.
Domiciliary training has its benefits, such as enabling the partnership to learn local straight off, enabling home life to be disrupted as little as possible as all training is done within ‘school hours’ as such.
Yet, it also has its downfalls. It doesn’t give the new guide dog owner the opportunity to completely close off to home life, meet other guide dog owners or undertake group training sessions.
Although, having never known any differently I am not sure how I am feeling about finally getting my class experience.
On paper it sounds amazing! Monday to Friday for two weeks at a hotel, all meals catered for, two weeks of not having to cope with ‘home life as well as training.
But … There is a little part of me that is nervous. I am going on to a training class in a small village that I have never been to before! Unlike my ‘home neighbourhood’ which I know very well. I am going to be like a fish out of water, surely if I don’t know where a I am going, I am not going to be able to direct Ben correctly?
My kids are older now, they live between me and their dads’ so are fully able to understand where I am going and why I am doing it; so thankfully that’s something I don’t need to worry about. But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to miss them.
Maybe it’s also that it’s been nineteen months since Fizz retired?
Maybe it’s also that guide dogs now use a different training method, with different concerns that I’m feeling anxious?
I have been advised that a Ben is a very smart dog; but what if I’m not good enough for him?
Anyway, it’s a bit late for that now … Our bags are packed, although u feel I am forgetting something. Ben’s food is all measured out and the volunteer driver will be here in the morning to pick us up.
I’m sure it will be okay; won’t it?
Nobody knew that when Fizz retired in November 2021 that I would be without a guide dog for so long. However, at the end of April I got to meet a very handsome young man.
He is a full golden retriever and all being well, he will be my third guide dog.
His name is Ben and he was not even born when Fizz retired. He is a very clever pup and as such is only just 18 months old.
We are off on class in early June.
Watch space this for many ‘snap shot blogs’ of our training and new chapter together.
There are very few instances where I would say my long cane is better than my living, breathing, thinking guide dog; however puddles would most certainly be on the list.
Why you may be asking? Well, it comes down to feedback.
Despite being a Labrador-Retriever Cross, my guide dog Fizz DID NOT like walking in puddles when she is in harness. Which you may think is brilliant for me, however that isn’t the case; as she has no issue with walking me through the puddle as long as she can keep her own paws dry.
So generally the first I know there is a puddle is when I find myself walking in it. The only time I get a heads up that it may be there is because Fizz will walk be either to the left or right of the path so she doesn’t have to walk in it.
This is where a cane is very different. And it can actually give me additional information too on how deep the puddle may be, or how much of the path it covers.
How? I hear you ask….
As a long cane works by sweeping the ground before you, roughly by one and a half steps ahead of me based on the sweeping motion, it can give not just feedback on the objects that may be in the in my path, but the texture and changes of the ground itself.
And when that comes to water, the sound and feel of the sweep is altered.
A shallow covering of water gives very little resistances; yet a deep puddle is like moving a spoon through thick custard.
And as I sweep wirh my cane around a puddle the sound also helps to give feedback on the depth; so that I can try and walk through the shallower parts or even avoid the puddle all together.
After filming with guide dogs about my eye condition project in 2021; which sadly didn’t go anywhere as such.
I was invited to help them further with this and become a cartoon.
The above video is the final edit and published on Guide Dogs Uk.
And here is the accessible audio described version for my readers who are visually impaired.
When Fizz retired in November 2021, I didn’t expect to facing the summer still being reliant on a cane.
But here we are heading into July and the bruises on my stomach and side from multiple cane jabs are beginning to take its toll.
I had previously increased my cane tip from a marshmallow (size and shape not texture!) to a ball. Which as the name suggests is like having a white tennis ball on the end of my cane. The larger tip meant that the jabs were fewer; but the larger the tip the less sensation and feedback.
To give an example of this, beside my house is an older crossing where the tactile paving is under a tree, so throughout the winter the leaves would cover the tactile paving and as such make it difficult to feel that I was approaching the crossing as the larger ball tip didn’t pick up the bumps beneath the leaves.
So, as I am about to head away for a break in Cornwall; I undecided an upgrade was on the cards. Through Facebook connections and groups I had seen a few friends using the ‘no jab cane’. It looked amazing.
So, what is a no jab cane? I hear you ask.
Its actually quite clever: it is where the handle and first section of the cane is hollow, with a spring inside, so that when the cane tip gets caught or jars on an object or cracked paving stone the cane has a shock absorber, that by going into the handle softens the blow and saves my stomach or sides from a blunt force jab.
Because I need as much feedback as possible from my cane I also ordered it with reverting back to the marshmallow tip.
It’s been amazing! The feedback from the smaller tip is much preferred and although there is the occasional jab; I certainly feel the shock absorber taking the force more often instead of me.
The handle on the cane is also much more comfortable; instead of being a black sponge like coating, it is a padded red leather with both a rounded edge and a flat edge to be more comfortable in my hand. As usual the cane also comes with a black elastic strap to secure around my wrist and to secure the cane when folded.
My cane still has the red and white reflectors, so is still my ‘candy cane’ … But a much appreciated upgrade.
Recently Open Sight hosted an afternoon tea in my town. This saw many people visiting from outside the area. I was asked to help give directions for those coming in on both the train and the bus; because they are at opposite ends of town in relation to the venue.
Fareham has a funny one-way system that was put in place to elongate the traffic entering the town.
It was when explaining this to the visitors that I realise I know a little too much about light controlled crossings, which I just assumed was ‘common knowledge’ to all.
So, thought it was time I shared some of my geeky knowledge with the rest of you
Firstly, many people assume that the button controls for pedestrian lights are always on the right hand side; that’s not actually the case. The button control is always on the side of the oncoming traffic; it is just that on an ordinary road this places it on the right hand side. However, when you are on a one-way street the button control may well be on the left to indicate the direction of traffic.
In Hampshire (thanks to Hampshire highways only using Siemens traffic lights) all button controlled lights also have a cone under the yellow box; this cone spins when the green man comes on to indicate it is safe for visually impaired and blind people to cross.
Not all button controlled traffic lights have a beep; this isn’t because the sound is broken rather it is another tactic to support those who are visually impaired or even hard of hearing. If there are multiple sets of button controlled lights close to each other then the sound will be removed from them all. Especially if different lights run on different sequences. This is to make it safer for pedestrians; to save someone stepping out in front of moving traffic because they mishear the beep from a near by button controlled crossing.
So, here it is just some of the more interesting parts of my ‘geek knowledge’ when it comes to traffic lights and pedestrian crossings.
And don’t even ask me to start to explain the different types and styles of tactile paving !!!
