My little red tether is my anchor in running with my friends. A beautiful guide dog has been my tether/anchor in mobility and independence for 17 years: 1. Pantera 2. Cricket, and now my beautiful 3. Georgina (Georgie). A life of family and friends is my joy and anchor in life.

The human spirit is stronger than anything that can happen to it. CC Scott

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Good Girl, Cricket

Many times, the whole 'guide dog' concept still just astounds me! Cricket's ability to scope out a situation and understand that part of being a good girl is 'intelligent disobedience' is amazing! Today we had a break in our schedule and went outside for a walk...I told her "Cricket forward" to cross the street ... I had gotten distracted with my cell phone and was not listening to the traffic correctly ... she would not budge knowing that just because I was telling her to go forward didn't mean it was safe to go. She was set on not moving and knew she was right! Good girl, Cricket ... lots of praise (and a kibble) for keeping her distracted handler, safe!

She also later in our walk had a complicated obstacle to go around ... a really overgrown tree that was blocking the whole sidewalk, then as she went out into the street to go around to come back to the sidewalk was a large trailer. As an experienced 3 year old now, Cricket is gaining more and more confidence as she eased around it all without being coached. Good girl, Cricket.

2 comments:

OSU 98 said...

What a good smart girl she is....

Becky Andrews said...

Yes! I love how they just continual to learn new words, my mannerisms, etc, etc! These dogs are so smart! Love the stories about Chelsi, too.