Adjusting to Different Gear

Thane has spent the last couple weeks with minimal walks and work, but in an older harness design which I was able to adapt the add-on loops to. His work was pretty good after a couple walks to adjust to the way the harness differences felt as he pulled into his guiding role.

The other day I found a sore beginning on Thane's lower neck area. I thought it was related to another item I was using but when I played around with his harness, I could tell it was related to it. I had forgotten that when I was using that harness, I had to add extra padding in that area. That is a big whoops.

The regular harness design has the girth strap further forward right behind his front legs. This changes how the handle pulls the harness on his body- making it a gentler pull to him.

Today I put him back in his regular setup as his skin has been healed well for about a week. I could not figure out why his work was so off. It was a beautiful sunny day which often elicits great work from him. We managed to get through our errands although it was a bit more work on my part to keep him focused and navigating well. I checked the area where the sore was and it was not the culprit. I just could not put my finger on the change after he worked so great the other day. It felt like *work* to me to be working him. Don't get me wrong. This was nothing like the hard work while in training, just his navigating was often times resistant and other times he was being overly dramatic about following edges.

I had been home for a little while and realized I felt sore. It was not the normal sore of when he has a harder harness pull as that was not the case today- nevertheless it was noticeably sore. That is when it donned on me. We had not only been working much less lately, but in a harness that was enough different structurally that it changed the angle of the handle, the distance forward positionally that he walked, and the length between connection and loop. Thane was going through adjustment to this change, just like my arm is.

Sometimes I can be a pretty dense handler LOL

Hard Traffic Check

Yesterday was a beautiful day here in the Pacific Northwest. In my town the temperature got to 77 degrees! It was positively gorgeous- a wonderful day for a pleasurable outing.

Thane and I got started a bit later than I had planned to. Having had to stop the Pet GO for medical reasons, Thane was working alright with a few reminders. We caught the bus to the max and hit the nature trail. It was beautiful. We truly enjoyed ourselves there. We made a quick stop at New Seasons along the route home where we encountered one of those people behind the wheel that make every guide dog handler grateful for the training their guide has. We came about as close to roadkill as we ever have in our training and partnership.

Thane did the most awesome traffic check! True to his training he assured that I was able to stop and he was able to block me without  getting run over. To accomplish this however required some significant torque with the handle and harness. I could care less that it popped a joint in the handle as I always carry a spare one. The sadness to me is the result to Thane's skin while he was so busy saving my hiney from *Mr Hell on Wheels, laws don't apply today because the sun came out* Where are the cops when you need them.

I was rattled a bit. Thane's work was different too. I did not realize until we were waiting for the max that Thane's skin had been impacted by that incident. We took the transit center stop so he did not have to guide me that far for the bus. From there I leash guided on and used my cane to get off the bus. He guided me home alright but we used the shortcut path.

He will be in a different harness for a while giving his skin a chance to heal. There's a time for goofing off and a time for being serious. Behind the wheel is definitely not when its time to goof off. Thane is paying for someones error in judgment.

It could have been worse though- one of us could have been injured by the car or killed. I'm grateful for Thane's quick action.

Today we stay home allowing his skin and my nerves some well needed rest.

Winter in the Pacific NW as a Wheelchair Guide Team

Dealing with Oregon winter as a wheelchair guide team has its exasperation points. I hate that my dog gets so muddy every time we head out. If you could only experience what poor Thane has to go through when we get home each time we go out. I can't imagine what it would be like without his rain coat. His legs and groin area are soaked in mud mostly from the throw off of the drive wheels of my chair.

With the progression of my eye disease, I truly needed to switch to the American style harness but to board the bus I had to be able to hook it up British style as the passageway is too narrow and the ramp too long for both the handle length and the firmer connection points with American style.

Thane's harnesses all have four handle connection D rings on them- two American position, two British position. Its just how I designed them to incorporate various styles of attachments and packs for ice during summer.

Thane's raincoats unfortunately only had access to the British D rings. Though I could make shift the coat for walks in town, to board the bus I had to practically remove his coat to change the handle connection. After doing this for just one trip, I knew we could not do this until the weather dries up in late spring. Putting his harness on the outside, just wasn't feasible
with how muddy he gets.

My MCS is a big hassle at times. I know that there was a formulation change on the coating of cordura which led to my inability to get it to effectively detox for years. I make Thane's coats from packcloth and worried that it too could have changed formulation. I chose to order with a company I have had really good service from in the past as well as really low toxicity for supplies. I was overjoyed when the materials arrived! Either it was old stock, or packcloth has not had a formulation change. The materials only laid out for a couple days which is unheard of. Normal minimums are about a week, but typical is more like a month or two. I set to work re-designing the *wheel* so to speak. After about four re-designs I came up with a two flap system that would allow me to release his handle easily from American D rings and connect it to the British ones. Its basically designed like an ID band (small rectangular cape) over the American style D rings and loops and has the main flap like before as well.

I worked as much as I could on it in between playing and training with Thane- mostly on rainy days earlier this month.

Yesterday, Thane and I headed out to Winco for our first trip on the bus using the new coat. Wow! What a difference having appropriate gear makes. Because it'd been dry a few days, he also did not match his dark brown martingale strap when we got back home- that was a treat.

When it is wet again, his mud bath legs and groin and his martingale will match! LOL

In case your wondering, yes I chose the color to hide the mud and not show staining as bad. It also, however, matches his new harness. Thus far no stores have complained about his condition on rainy days, but for me, its just hard because I pride myself in keeping my dog clean as a good ambassador for owner trained teams. Of course it gets quite old to Thane as well to have to constantly be cleaned up from the mud.

Some power chairs are beginning to put fenders and/ or mud flaps on their mid-wheel drive designs and you better bet if I get another mid-wheel drive chair, its going to be something I consider in making my choice.

Is it summer yet?