Day Nine

After spending the dogs, we all met at the van and with the trainer at the wheel we set off to a location nearby ─ it looked a nice area. I went out with the trainer first and after a short walk we came to some shops and I noted that one of them was a cafe. We went in the café and found an empty table near the window. Ishka immediately disappeared under the chairs. Oh yes, I wondered how many cafes Ishka has been in because you could see that she was no novice and knew exactly what she doing. The trainer went to get me a fruit drink and then told me that she was going to fetch Simon and his guide dog, Ascot.

Ishka attracted a lot of attention from the other customers who asked if they could stroke her while others asked me what it was like having a guide dog. I explained that it was early days for me to answer that question as I was on a guide dog training course ─ throughout all this. Ishka behaved very well and I was proud of her. It was not long before Simon and Ascot arrived and after bringing a drink over for Simon the trainer set off to fetch Kevin and his guide dog, Danny. Once again, some of the customers started to come over asking if they can stroke the guide dogs.

Eventually, Kevin and Danny arrived and now it was time for Ishka and me to depart ─ we walked along the street and eventually arrived back at the van, I really enjoyed that walk. When the others arrived back, we returned to the hotel for a light lunch.

In the afternoon we did some off kerb obstacle training, this is when a guide dog cannot get their owner safely round an obstruction while on the pavement and so means going on to the road which could be dangerous for the owner and guide dog. Situations like this could happen when there are some road works, or a car parked on a pavement or a group of wheelie bins. The trainer had set up some barriers which forced the guide dog to take their owner on to the road ─ it was simple but clever.