As usual, my alarm – whether it was internal or external – woke me well before park-feed-water-park time. So I put on a coffee and got some work done, because just laying in bed made my skin feel like it was going to itch.

“Juno” curled up under my desk while I did the things that needed to get done. I decided to move the mat from inside her crate to the spot under my desk so she’d be more comfortable, and she curled up like she’d been working under a desk for years. If I ever wondered how she’d handle going to the office, I didn’t anymore.

“Juno” HAD to potty, at a time long before anyone was available to pick up. So I picked up, lleft the bag in a space that was easy to find, and sent a text to the nursing staff so she could grab it for more tests. Because that morning, we still didn’t know what was going on with “Juno”, and the more data we had the better.

We hit a milestone in training one year ago today. Our first few walks were with the support leash – where a trainer holds one leash while I hold another. This was interesting for a dog I’d already discovered had boundary issues (do not crowd her, please!) but it’s an important part of the process; if things go sideways, someone who knows this dog well will be able to pull you back from the brink. But one year ago today, the metaphorical “training wheels” came off. I saw some of “Juno”‘s hard-headedness, particularly when it came to going to the bathroom in the rain that had started pouring that morning. I made the inevitable miscalculation of comparing her to Jenny. But to be honest, seeing her stubbornness made me feel more comfortable. I could work with stubborn; I could not work with a dog who just went la-di-da along with everything I did. But while both Jenny and “Juno” are stubborn, “Juno”‘s stubbornness had manners. She decided she was going to be maybe sort of kind of distracted by something, keeping far to the left of the sidewalk. Jenny would have been FULLY DISTRACTED by whatever “Juno” was interested in, and getting her out of that headspace could be a challenge; “Juno” asked politely if I’d reconsider my position on the thing that distracted her, and then moved on when she realized I would not.

Again, guide dog training is exhausting. And the rain didn’t make it more pleasant. When we came back to campus from the training centre, we were all ready to dry off and warm up.

They found me and “Juno” in the grooming room. “Juno” loves loves loves to be groomed; I discovered very early it’s one of her favorite things in the world. You’re brushing her and touching her and all she wants to do is lean into it and soak it up for all it’s worth. If they were looking for me, I knew they had her test results.

“Juno” tested positive for giardia. This is not surprising in any group of dogs in a congregate setting; my partner’s dog tested positive while he was in training as well, and I know they introduced the dogs at some point to see how they got along. Is it possible that my partner’s dog gave it to “Juno”? Maybe. Could it have come from somewhere else? Maybe. Did it really matter? Nope.

“Juno” got medications with every meal. There were two types of medications, one she would take for five days, and one she would take for ten. The dogs in class all got a special treat called a “meatball” with their supper to kill any potential parasites they may have been exposed to. One of my classmates cracked a joke over our supper that there was no blame for “Blondie” (“Juno”‘s class nickname) potentially giving everyone an STI (socially transmitted infection). I was too emotional to find it truly funny then, but looking back now, I can admit… it is kind of funny.

The one constant for me at guide dog school was the fatigue. Not the type of fatigue that a night’s sleep improves, but the physical and emotional exhaustion of constantly doing normal things in a new environment that’s more like boot camp (with a time change to boot!) and new people and a new dog who didn’t know me like my old dog and I just wanted to go home! Throw in an infection that while easy to treat can become chronic, and I was so very exhausted that very little could break me out of this funk.

But “Juno” did…

After ignoring all the toys in the toy box for two whole days, she decided that she wanted to play. And if I was sitting and stewing or working and not moving or paying attention to her… she would nudge me with a toy. If I still ignored her, or didn’t give her the play time she needed, she then decided the way to get my attention for real for real was to throw the toy at me. I didn’t know dogs could throw toys a foot in front of their faces, but she did! I started laughing… And then couldn’t stop.

And, again, after another long day with important steps forward, I thought that maybe it would all be OK.