Wednesday, August 29, 2012

One Week Until the Town Walk

Just a week to go until Vinson's town walk where he'll proudly demonstrate all his new guiding skills. Be sure to check back for the video of how far he's come!

Friday, August 10, 2012

Town Walk Invitation!

Vinson is doing very well in training and time has flown by. Hard to believe, but we've already received our invitation for his town walk!

The town walk is a huge moment on the puppy raising timeline - essentially like Vinson's graduation from training. A Seeing Eye volunteer will walk with Sarah and I as we travel through Morristown observing Vinson guiding his instructor through complex intersections and around obstacles.

Because we need to respect the bond Vinson has formed with his instructor, we will observe from a distance - about half a block behind the team. We will be able to take photos and video of his performance (assuming our proud tears don't fog up the lense!). The volunteer will explain a bit about Vinson's training and the learned behaviors as he exhibits them, including the all-important intelligent disobedience - the ability to refuse to follow a command when the dog knows it is not safe to do so.

Vinson's town walk will be in the first week of September, so be sure to check back to get a chance to actually see him working! As I promised when I began this blog 16 months ago, we will share this proud yet personal moment with all of you - the culmination of our year of work with Vinson and Lori's four months training him.