Tag Archives: GuideDog

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 bothContinue reading “Training for a career change.”

He was not a chocolate Lab.

They were all Labs. I was partnered up with three different guide dogs. All were yellow labs. Most were just about blond or creamy white. But boy could they shed. My first guide was named Axle. He was about 20 or 21 months when I started working with him. He was trained first by aContinue reading “He was not a chocolate Lab.”

Dogs don’t eat popcorn.

Never mind he was trained to do something else. His thing was popcorn. I would pull out of the cabinet a microwave popcorn package and he quickly would be so close to me he would be standing on my foot. Rickles, my beloved Yellow Lab guide dog, would be at my side in a sitContinue reading “Dogs don’t eat popcorn.”

How to train a dog to fly.

This is an article I submitted several years ago and published by the Chicago Tribune in their Sunday Travel section. Three different guidedogs flew with me at different times over the years. Flying with the Dogs By Me February 8, 2004 A helpful American Airlines employee escorts the two of us down the jetway forContinue reading “How to train a dog to fly.”

That’s a funny name for a dog.

So I had this dog. He was a special bred dog and was a mix of Yellow Lab and Golden Retriever. He had a body of a Lab with a head and feathered tail like a Golden. So far so good. However he had special training first from a puppy raiser and then from aContinue reading “That’s a funny name for a dog.”