Training for a career change.

Then there was Darber.
Yes, Darber was my second guide dog’s name. The guide dog school sometimes used the last name of a significant donors last name. Not sure though.
Darber was a Yellow Lab and Golden mix. Or as they call it a ‘cross.’ I could only guess to get the best of both breeds.
When a guide dog user goes back to the dog school, time spent training is shortened by a week or two. So you get your dog, train for about two weeks, and quickly leave. No time to think about it.
A week or two after returning home I could sense Darber might have his own agenda. There was this certain stubbornness. We would normally walk around the block two or three times. Darber insisted to return to the house after one round. He wanted to turn in to the front walk way and I wanted to go another round or two. To say there was lots of leash correction. Meaning a quick jerk on his chain collar. But Darber would hold in place. Never mind I told him ‘forward’ many times. But to get him acclimated to what needs to be done, I too held in place and insisted he continue on walking another round. And the conflicts continued.
One early afternoon I was making lunch for myself. A nice smoked turkey dagwood sandwich, placed on a plate, and sat it on the kitchen table. Then the phone rang so I answered the call. By the time I finished the call I stepped back to the table to notice my lovely multi-layered sandwich was missing. So a dog was missing as well. It didn’t take much to surmise what happened. There after I had to pay closer attention to where Darber was and limit his access to any food on the table.
Then there were many times I had to shoo him off the sofa. I could only assume his puppy raiser allowed such a thing. Then there was the time he was left outside. And outside against his will. So Darber came trotting in to the kitchen. I’m certain I left him outside. I walked to the back bedroom and discovered a large opening in the window screen. Ripped open by a dog needing to be inside.
Then after several other misadventures, I thought Darber needed a ‘career change.’ Yes, this is an official designation.
So after about two years of some difficulties, I contacted the guide dog school and made arrangements to train with a new dog.
Now, for real Darber did go through a career change. Darber started going with a teacher friend to her school with the official title as ‘therapy dog.’ His main job was to bring calm and smiles from the high school kids. Which did work. Darber was living with my oldest daughter and she would bring Darber to the school on her way to work. Kids would fuss over who would go out to my daughter’s car to escort Darber into the school. He was so loved Darber had two full pages of his photos in the school’s year book. Plus some of the seniors wanted to walk with Darber at graduation.
Then something bad happened. Darber at about age 7 or 8 fell ill and shortly died. Died even after a friend prayed over him. Not sure what he died from. Kids were most distraught. None the less, Darber did serve as Therapy Dog for about two or three years. So, in the mean time I went back to the dog guide school for training and a new guide dog.