Funny Dew

Some co-workers in my office were taking pictures for a new staff directory, so of course Honeydew got her staff picture taken too.  They did serious pictures, and funny ones.  This is her funny one - what a trooper!  

Introducing Honeydew

To introduce Honeydew to our new co-workers (as my office was merged with another larger city office), we posted her bio on the employee blog (with this AMAZING photo of her, taken by a colleague - Betsy Ames).  This is what Honeydew had to say about herself....

I’m "Honeydew" and I am a Guide Dog for the Blind puppy in training www.guidedogs.com. I often come to work with my mom, Michele Crim. She currently works out of the Ecotrust building, but she is often at the 1900 Building too. I like to go to staff meetings and events with my mom because it helps me in my training – but I understand that sometimes folks might prefer I stay behind, so just let Michele or your manager know if you have any concerns whatsoever.

 

I am a yellow lab – almost 10 months old! I was born at the training campus in San Rafael, California – where all Guide Dog puppies are bred and born. I get to go a lot of places, including riding on transit, and visiting stores, banks, restaurants, and coffee shops – my mom loves those places! This helps me learn to be calm, focused and well mannered, which will be important when I am an older working dog.

 

Every week I go to training class with about 20 other Guide Dog puppies. There I have to pass tests and demonstrate that I am learning all of the things I am supposed to know when I grow up. I am a pretty good student, but sometimes I get really excited when other dogs come around. At home I live the life of a normal pet, including sharing my den with two other dogs and three cats (which I sometimes chase, but don’t tell my mom!).

 

I am not allowed to eat treats, play with balls, learn to fetch or jump on people (I am working on that one!) because all of those things can cause behavior problems for me when I am a working dog. But I get to go lots of fun places (like work!), so it is a fair trade. I love to play tug with people (my mom will gladly teach you how to play that with me), and to get my belly rubbed. My favorite pastimes include attacking plastic bottles (like empty orange juice jugs), chewing on my bones and running circles in my yard at home.

 

You are welcome to pet me when we bump into each other, but if I get too excited it helps if you step away so I learn that I get more attention when I am calm. My mom also encourages folks to wait until after the meeting, etc., so that getting attention is a reward for good behavior. Sometimes my mom has to correct me when I am not behaving properly – but, every moment is a teachable moment, right!

 

I will go back to Guide Dogs for the Blind when they call for me – which could be anytime between 6-months to a year from now. I will then go through about 6 more months of intensive training to learn to do Guide Dog work in a harness. My mom, and all of my friends and family, will be sad when I go back. But I am destined for great things….to help give the gifts of companionship and independence to my blind partner!

 

I am very excited to be a part of the new Bureau of Planning and Sustainability! Growing up in a work environment full of love and support will help me become a well-mannered and confident Guide Dog. I look forward to making friends with you all!

Christmas Dew

Honeydew, and the rest of the Crim Critters (even us two legged ones), wanted to wish you a very Merry Christmas!

"Arctic Blast 08"

Well, the weather here in Portland is pretty crazy (by our standards).  Below (attached) are some pictures from our Monday morning commute!  Much of it was by foot, through lots of snow and ice.  I actually wore my "Nanook of the North" snow boots - I haven't worn those since I left North Dakota! 

Glenn worked from the coffee/book store downtown (imagine that), and I worked from my office until the Mayor shut the city down and sent everyone home.  Most of the trains weren't running, and over 70 buses were stuck in the snow - including the one that goes to our house.  Ugh.  I waited about 45-minutes to catch a shuttle that was packed to the gills with the 100 other people that were stranded in town.  Glenn got tired of waiting and opted to walk home...5+ miles, in the deep snow.  

That is where he is as I type this.  He is following a couple on cross-country skis (towing a kid trailer that is also on skis).  He is pretty miserable and is likely wishing he would have waited for the shuttle with me.  Poor guy.  Luckily, he is heavily caffeinated...and this trek should cure him of the terrible case of "ants in his pants" he had from being stuck in the house yesterday.  :)  The odds of us going into work tomorrow are looking pretty slim, as this isn't going to melt and they are expecting more snow tonight.  I guess this is the worst storm to hit Portland since the 1960's.  Hopefully, it doesn't all melt at once and cause massive flooding like it did about 10 years ago ("500 year floods").

The photos are of the pups playing in the snowy yard.  A good "action shot" of Honeydew.

More Snow Adventures

Hello!  It has been a while since a Honeydew update, so I thought I would send along a few pictures.  She is doing great.  She is getting bigger and smarter by the day!  She gets spayed this Friday, so that will take her out for a few days, but I am sure she will bounce back quickly.  At last week's puppy class she graduated into a "large" sized jacket - so that officially means she is getting to be a big girl.  One of the instructors said that she will probably continue to fill out, but that her height and length likely won't change much more.  We are still working on the new "go to bed" command.  We had to demonstrate it at class (see Photo 1) - and Honeydew had to go first.  She did a great job, much better than some of the other pups (which is always our goal! haha).  Our social outing this week was cancelled due to the weather, which Glenn loves because it is his birthday and now he can do whatever he wants that night (which will likely involve eating a Hostess berry pie and watching The Simpsons).

Other exciting news - Honeydew experienced her first snow storm this week.  She thought it was a blast, at first. She just ran around the yard smelling all of the snow. She didn't eat it, just wanted to smell it - over and over and over again.  It was hard to get a good picture of her because she had her nose to the ground the whole time.  Now she just thinks the snow is cold and over-rated and you have to drag her outside to "do her business". 

Sunday night I decided to take one of the light rail trains out to the airport to greet Glenn (he was coming back from California and really didn't have any winter clothes with him - it was approximately 24-degrees out).  So, I checked the train schedules and they seemed to be running with no problems from the snow and ice. So, Honeydew and I geared up and headed out into the white tundra.  Well, all the transit was running great until we got about 25% of the way there....then the track switches froze and trains were getting stuck on the tracks.  It took over two hours, two train rides, lots of standing in the blowing snow, and a VERY crowded shuttle ride before we arrived to meet Glenn at the airport - about an hour after we were supposed to be there.  It was one of those times I regret holding out and not getting a cell phone - as we had to keep going because I couldn't call Glenn an tell him to abort the mission and grab a cab!  Honeydew was a trooper, but was definitely ready to get home.

Photo 1:  Honeydew and the other class mates on their magic carpets doing the "go to bed" command. 

Photo 2) The Dew and a new bone.  I didn't realize until the other day that she was allowed (per Guide Dogs) to have the sterilized cow bones - she was in heaven.

Photo 3) Catching snow on her tongue.  :)

Photo 4) What a snow bunny!

Photo 5) Honeydew resting on my feet during our epic airport journey on mass transit!  I think this is the view that most people have of her when we are on transit - these little eyes peaking out from under the seat. 

First Snow!

We woke up this morning to snow flakes (which is very rare here in Portland - in town)!  TV folks have been worked up about the proposition of snow for a week now, but usually nothing ever comes of it, so I half believed that it really wasn't going to snow.

This is Honeydew's first snow, and she wasn't quite sure what to make of it - spin circles in it, eat it, etc.  Mainly she just sniff, sniff, sniffed it.  This was one of the only pictures I got of her where her head wasn't stuck to the ground like a Hoover (is it time to throw that tomato plan away?).  Tully was being a little more subdued about the whole thing, she's been there and done that - I thought the picture of her turned out great, a definite keeper.

Magic Carpet

She is doing really well.  Getting so mature and calm (sometimes).  The last two weeks of training have been interesting.

All of the dogs are learning a new command, "Go to bed".  It has three parts -- go to the bed, lay down, and stay there until released.  The idea is that this will be a very useful command for a blind person so that, for example, if someone comes to the door they can give the command and the dog won't be in the way greeting the new person at the door, etc.  Traditionally, this would be trained by giving the command (Go to bed), putting them on the bed, making them lay down, telling them to stay, then correcting them if they sat up or moved off the bed...and praising them if they did right.  They wanted us to implement a new training technique for this command, called "operative training".  It is really a very foreign concept, and apparently is very hard for people with a lot of dog training experience to do because you don't get to correct the dog and show them what you want.

Long-story short, this is how it works.  You put out a bath mat or some other special rug, blanket, etc -- this is the "bed".  When the dog just happens to walk on the rug, you say "nice" and give them a kibble.  If the dog stays on the rug, you say "nice" and give them a kibble.  Pretty soon, the dog realizes that magical things happen when you are standing on the rug, so they will return to the rug in hopes of a reward, which you give.  Once they reason this out (if I go stand on the rug I get a kibble, and if I stay there I get more), then the rules change to be that they have to "sit" on the rug, and then eventually lay "down" on the rug - but you don't ever give them those commands verbally.  Honeydew was one of the "demonstration puppies" in class that night.  I was just sure she was going to fail miserably, because she is so distracted and high energy - she is in a big gym, surrounded by people and dogs - a very high energy situation for her.  But, once she got wind of the game and figured out she needed to be on that rug, it was amazing to watch her reason things out.  She figured it out after about 8 kibbles!  Then, when the rules changed (have to sit on the rug, not just stand), it was amazing to watch her face as she offered the trainer other things....it was like she was saying "Hey lady, I am standing on the rug, give me a kibble.  Ok, that isn't working, what if I spin in a circle?  What if I jump?  What if I sit?  Oh, if I sit I get a kibble!".  Each time Honeydew would do a little dance of different positions or tricks on the rug, but eventually she figured out the magical formula was to sit on the rug...and then she did the same thought process (offering various tricks and positions) when the rules changed to laying down on the rug.  At one point Honeydew forgot the rug part and just sat in front of the trainer.  She had a look on her face like "Hey, I'm sitting, where is my kibble?"...but again, she reasoned it out and you could see a little light go on "Oh yeah, I have to be sitting on that rug thing"...so, she literally stayed sitting, but bunny hopped (butt bumped?) the 4-feet across the floor to the rug.  It was hysterical.

Only after the dogs fully understand that going to the rug, laying down, and staying there is the right behavior that gets the kibble, do you start naming the command.  So now, at home, Honeydew understands that if she does those three things she gets a kibble, and now I am starting to tell her to "go to bed" and she is understanding that the command is the name of that series of actions I want her to do.  The amazing thing is that at no point during the training do I touch her, position her, correct her or give her a verbal or visual command (sit, down, stay).  It is all about her ability to figure out what I want her to do based on when she gets a reward (the word "nice", followed by a kibble).  It is the same technique used for "clicker training", but instead of the click they hear the word "nice".  Of all of the training we have done, this has been the most fun because you can see her actually using her brain and thinking/reasoning things out.  She is so interested in the activity and gives me her complete attention (which is rare!).  At this point, the only commands she gets kibble for are this one and "come" - which has proven to be a good approach because you can bet that she is always going to want to do those commands, even when there is an exciting distraction (like someone coming to the door).

At last night's class, I had to do everything blind-folded.  It was SOOO HARD!  It was really fascinating though.  For example, we have always been told that when doing the recall ("come"), that the dog needs to come all the way up to your legs and you have to grab their collar before giving them their kibble reward.  Well, after a while you forget some of those details -- they get close enough, you reach out to them to grab their collar, etc.  Well, when you do it blind-folded you realize that if you reach down and the dog isn't there because they stopped a foot or two away, that you can't find them.  Honeydew stopped short, so I just ended up feeling through the air at my knees, never feeling or finding her.  I am sure I looked like a complete idiot.  She did what I asked her to do (she "came"), but I hadn't been doing a good job of making her she came right up to my legs.  I never realized how important that last foot of space was because I could always see her and bend over to grab her and pull her closer.  It was also really difficult to figure out what she was doing on the end of the leash -- was she eating something off the floor? messing with one of the other dogs? smelling the hands or legs of the person next to me? etc.  At one point she got tangled up with the puppy behind us and it was so hard to figure out what had happened and to get them untangled.  It was hard to figure out if she was doing something wrong, and if she was, it was hard to figure out how to correct her, etc.  We spent the entire two hours blind-folded, going through our exercises, etc. Glenn was there.  He somehow got out of having to wear the blindfold!  He did a good job of helping to make sure that I didn't run into anything (which we all know, I am prone to do, even when my eyes are open!).

Lastly, Cole, the guide puppy we watched a month ago (Honeydew went to live with Cole's family, Cole came to live with us) was recently career changed.  That makes two of the four puppies that Honeydew came in with that haven't made it so far.  Ughh!  The pressure.  Cole was a super sweet dog, and I think the raising family might adopt her as a pet.  In the end, she just wasn't that excited about working for a living - and as she got older she was less responsive to commands, etc.  She will make a wonderful and sweet pet.  So, who knows what the future holds for Honeydew.  They say you can never predict if a dog is going to make it or not.  There was one dog in our club that was completely out of control, a total spaz.  That dog has just made it to the final training phase and will likely get paired with a blind person soon.  Who knew!  We continue to believe that Honeydew is destined for great things.  :)