Monday, July 20 - "D" (Dog) Day!

Thank you all for being patient as Kia and I adjust to life being home. I am FINALLY getting around to telling you the day KIA came into my life.
Kia, like the other 20 dogs in my class, has been raised by a "Puppy" raising family for about 18 months. Kia happened to be raised by a young girl...about 6-9. The young girl had an older brother, parents and some cat and dog pets, other than Kia.
Monday, after lunch is when we were promised our dogs. It has been since our arrival Saturday that we all (Students) have been awaiting this moment. We have no idea what breed we will be getting or anything else about our friend to be.
There is a main lounge for both male and female students upstairs, but on my floorm which was a "Female" floor, there was a smaller lounge for us girls to meet and hang out. The lounge has a few chairs and a couch. It also has a kitchnette and a TV.
A knock came at my door around 1 p.m. or so, it was my instructor, who told me that it is my turn to meet my dog, down in the lounge. I was a bit nervous and excited, but we were told ahead of time to try and be calm and easy when meeting our dog for the first time. The dogs have been through an adjustment already from "Puppy" raiser to 4 months with a trainer at the Seeing Eye, and now they will be handed off again to their new owners. That is a lot of changes for one dog.
I walked down the hall and into the lounge where my instructors were with my dog. They told me her name, breed and color and asked me to call her. I did and here came KIA, just calmy wagging her tail. I hooked her up to the leash I brought and was told to take her to my room and hang out to bond for awhile. So Kia (Heeling so nicely) and I walked back down the hall to my room. I sat on the floor next to the bed by her mat. I calmly pet her and talked to her. Kia kept looking towards to door, as I think she expected the instructors to come and take her back to the kennels. But they didn't. Kia was mine forever now! Kia and I had all afternoon to relax together, so I had her tied down by her mat and I flopped on the bed, with arm hanging over to pet her....and we both fell asleep for awhile. It was a big day for both of us.
The first activity was at 4:30 p.h. and that was to feed and take our dogs out to "Park" (Go potty) out in the designated area. There is a knock at the door and Kia's food bowl is presented. I put a little water in and give her her first meal. She eats IAMS mini chunks-Chicken. 1 1/2 cups 2x a day. After feeding, The harness goes on and we head down the hall and a flight of stairs to go outside. The fenced area i concrete and there are 21 students with 21 dogs, all coaching their dogs to go "Park". Beofre you tell your dog "Parktime", you have to take the harness off out there, as they are NOT allowed to go potty in harness. This will encourage them or let them know that while guiding us...it is OK to stop anywhere and go. We must keep a close eye on their daily routines and constitution. The dogs go out 4 times a day: 5:20 a.m., 11 a.m., 4:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. is the last call. Keeping a regular schedule will help us NOT to have unexpected stops to "Go".
The second activity for Kia and I was to get her into ter harness and go to dinner. The trick comes in learning how to get the dogs under the table in a safe position, so the servers do not step on them and we also have to leave enough room for the other dogs uunder there. So, you lead the dog head first uner the table and turn them around, so their head is facing out...this way, we can better know if they are sniffing or licking or doing other bad behavior under there. This is important, as in a public dining place, you don't want her to do these bad things to strangers. Even now, if Kia licks someone's foot...they say "It's OK....I tell them that it is NOT, as she may try it when someone may object and this is not good. I ask my do-workers to let me know if she bothers them during a meal....I may not "See" or notice all bad behaviors.
After dinner we had a class with our dogs at 6:30 and it got over at about 7:30.
We have 1/2 hour back in our rooms before the "Lat Call" parktime at 8 p.m. Kia, I guess could not wait for that, she "Pee'd" on the time floor in my room. I just cleaned it up and did not get mad, as it has been a HUGE day for both of us and who could blame her? When I took her out at 8p.m of course she did not have to go. She also di not "poop" all day, so I sure hope she would go the next day.
Kia settled onto her mat and we both slept real good the first night!