Now that Yasha had been formally introduced to my friends, family, and colleagues (virtually, anyway) and we were well on our way to building a solid partnership, in some ways things started to slow down. We continued with daily obedience routines (something I’ve since heard described as a “skills refresher”), and doing more walks on our own with the trainers being there for observation only, or to provide feedback after the fact. I felt that Yasha was a great match for me, even if her working style wasn’t quite what I was used to.

As things slowed down, though, in other ways, they were speeding up! Yasha would sometimes see a trainer on campus, and would get super wiggly and excited to see her. For a while I wondered why that was, but then I realized that this trainer was Yasha’s running buddy! So if Yasha saw her, she associated that with a run, and that made her very happy!

We went back to the park where we’d done our doubles work a couple of days before. This time, Yasha had her Unifly harness on, and a lightweight leash designed for running. We had a whole party of support, which I thought was great but I think offended Yasha’s sensibilities (“You think I need an escort to do this running thing?”) Yasha’s buddy ran with us, and two other trainers came along – one on a bike and another on a scooter. Yasha kept a perfect pace with me and (I found out later) had amazing facial expressions when she thinks I’m being foolish. Let’s face it, I’m regularly foolish with my dog… While I felt it went well for a first run (read: needs improvement), One of the trainers told me it was one of the best first runs she’d ever seen! I was happy to be able to run again, especially since my running over the past couple of years had been sporadic, and I loved that Yasha loved it too!

After our run, I got cleaned up and had a chance to spend some time with Yasha’s trainer in the grooming room. Grooming! Yasha’s favorite thing! And she just HAD to show her guide dog trainer all the toys and how happy she could be! Oh, happy day! We talked about Yasha’s speed, and how she likes to go quickly but is always on point. But Yasha got jealous of her doggie friends who were meeting with their trainer in the outdoor fenced yard, and spent several minutes staring out the door and they were frolicking and running.

After supper, I had an opportunity to chat with one of Yasha’s puppy raisers. She wouldn’t be able to make it to the graduation the next day, but we had a lovely chat for almost an hour about Yasha’s growing up during the pandemic and how much she is loved. My heart swelled with happiness at making this connection; we’re still in touch to this day.

It was hard to believe that we were almost done training! And while I was very ready to go home in a couple of days, I was glad to have come and made such great connections with amazing people and a wonderful dog.