That’s brilliant news, I have always been amazed at the intelligence of a guide dog, best wishes for a long and happy friendship 

Hey, congratulations!I am sure you and Lucy will make a wonderful couple. My sister used to be a secretary for the Guiding Eyes of the Blind many years ago. For her, it was a very  fulfilling job.

It's funny you should mention that Lucy is a black lab. I just got a pattern and material in the mail today to make a black lab puppy - complete with little ducky! I will post a picture when it's done.

Here's a pic. :) 

Lucy is adorable!!  What a fun way to spend your time--in the sun with Lucy.  Is she going to stay with you permanently, or were you training her for someone else?  

Hi Lucy!

@squeakyandliza 

We were training to work together. Lucy did about 5 months of formal training before I met her. I'm bringing her back to my normal life when I fly home on Saturday.

There's a docuseries on Disney Plus called Pick of the Litter about the whole training process, from when the dogs are puppies through becoming working guides, as Lucy will be. It was a spin off of a longer documentary also called Pick of the Litter, although both are about a different training school than the one I am at. I think that longer documentary might be on Netflix. I haven't watched either yet, because I'm still upset about how that organization treated me after I got my first dog back in 2002. Lucy is dog number 5 for me. 

Lucy is adorable. She looks like a great friend. My husband and I walk our nephew's dog daily. He is an enormous  but sweet chocolate lab. They are a wonderful breed. Have fun. Thanks for the picture too.

What a cutie! Labs make such wonderful pets and as I am sure you have seen, fantastic service dogs. I've got a black lab myself named Barney. Best buds for 8 years now.

She is adorable!

Stella

Lucy is a beauty! Will she be wearing a special vest or something to let people know she's a guide dog? 

How pretty she is! I work with a man who has a service dog (a yellow lab) and I remember when they were in training together. I’d like to see that documentary. How are things going for the two of you?

Lucy looks like a wonderful dog, I hope you both enjoy each other.

I can not have a dog now, being I rent, but Labs and golden retrievers are much the same, I had a golden and all he wanted was to make me happy, Lucy will do the same for you.

You now have a best friend.

Dan

Hi all,

I figured I'd just dig up my old topic instead of starting a new one.

Go figure that only a couple weeks after I brought Lucy home the pandemic was made official and everything went into lockdown. When things started to open up a little bit, I figured out that Lucy wasn't the best fit for me in terms of her work, so I decided to return her to the school in Florida. Sometimes this does happen - it has happened to me more than once - and I am not ashamed of it. She was supposed to leave before Christmas, but covid case numbers prevented them from being able to pick her up until last week. Since she is so young I'm hoping they'll be able to retrain her for someone else, or put her in another line of work, like a veteran's service dog or put her with one of those places that trains dogs to sniff out explosives.

The other day they called me and let me know they've found me a replacement dog, so I will likely be headed back to Florida the end of the month. In a lot of ways that will be good; heck, just a change of scenery for a few weeks may do me some good, and I've never been happier in my life than when I've been in that environment where everyone understands and is working toward the same thing, and of their own volition at that. But that also means I have to scramble to book a flight and make other travel arrangements which is really stressful.

Anyone know how flying is different in this not everyone has been vaccinated yet world? I assume at the least I'll have to get a covid test, and I really hope I won't have to do one of the older ones where they stick the thing all the way up your nose... I have night mares about that. lol

Also like when I was there last year, I'm a little bit concerned about how my bowel will react to travelling and the change in environment. I let the staff know that I would need to take more frequent restroom breaks during training and that they may come out of nowhere and not to be alarmed by it. They were cool with that, and I'll be working with the same trainers this time, so they already know. There were a few nights during training last year, especially in the beginning, when I wasn't able to get up and get to the bathroom on time. Yes, that does still embarrass me even though I'm in a room by myself. I actually thought about picking up some adult diapers to take with me, but decided against it since I didn't know how I would dispose of them.

Does anyone with an ileostomy notice that stress when travelling messes with your output and have any suggestions to mitigate it? Even though I had mine reversed, I'm thinking maybe some of the tips you use could still help me. Maybe?

To answer the most faq: no, I don't know the name or type of dog they will give me yet. Won't know that until a couple days after I get there. I will definitely post back and let everyone know once I get the go ahead that the one they choose will be a good fit for me.

Take care,

Brian