There is a common misconception that a Guide Dog is simply delivered to an owner like an Amazon delivery, and the next day you are ready to step out the door and go about your life as normal. Reality couldn’t be further from the truth as it takes significant time and commitment for this highly-trained hound and its nominated human to gel and adapt to each other. In most cases, it is at least a year before you have a true partnership and there are many ups and downs on the way. Before you can get there, there is the important matter of qualification, and that is what happens after finishing off the two-week residential, meaning Chester and I had at least another three weeks of solid training at home.

Where the residential element was all about building trust, learning the essentials of caring for a dog, understanding the differences between caring for a working dog and a pet, and, of course, getting to know our new life-changer, coming home was about getting to work and learning my routes. We started on the simple one first.

Baby steps

Out of the front door, through the alley and stop at the kerb to check it’s clear. Cross to the middle, check again and a final “forward” past the green and stop at the next kerb. Instead of another forward across the road, we do a “back” and immediate “right” to carry on our way.

Why, you say, do you do this convoluted 270 degree turn instead of simply telling the dog to turn left? Well, every instruction has three elements to it, a verbal command, an arm gesture and a foot position. To turn left, you turn your body in that direction and take a step in front of the dog’s head before sweeping your arm forward. This means that when at a kerb, chances are you will be taking a step into the road. A “Back right” on the other hand involves stepping backwards so both feet are approximately in line with the dog’s hind legs and then tapping your right thigh twice to get the dog to turn around. This is followed by another step back (this time with right foot at 90 degrees so your body is slightly turned in the direction of travel) and thigh tap to turn right. This means you are always going to be safely on the pavement.

On our way again, at the next kerb Chester stops on the edge, we mark and reward with a piece of food before we set off once more. This happens all the way to the school gate where with a final marker, Chester gets a reward of a high-value treat such as a piece of beef stick or a fishy bite and, of course, lots of fuss before turning and retracing our steps back home again. The whole trip (which normally takes less than 30 minutes there-and-back) took almost an hour on that first day as Christine, my Guide Dog Mobility Specialist (GDMS), and I stopped, retraced our steps, reworked sections that we didn’t get quite right and discussed the best approach for the next part. But eventually we were back home with a nice brew to review the session and talk about next steps.

I’ve said before how different working with a dog is compared to a cane and these first few weeks took a lot of adjustment. These dogs aren’t robots – they are living, breathing beings with minds of their own meaning we have to get tuned into each other. It is also important to note that each dog is different and has their own personality which is why that trust account I talked about in my previous post is vitally important.

Getting into our stride

Although these first few trips out were relatively short, they were draining as I had so much to concentrate on. Not only were there the commands (or requests!) but there was the constant need to slow this eager-beaver down to a pace slightly slower than a full-on run! On that first trip to school I lost count of the number of times I had to give a slight pull on his gentle leader and the cue to “steady” and quite a few times we had to stop altogether for me to gather my breath. I’m not going to lie, it was disheartening at times and on more than one occasion I had that sickening feeling that I’d made a huge mistake and this beautiful pup wasn’t right for me.

As we continued to build and develop our routes – extending the school run down the hill to the train station or going straight over the road to the bus stop rather than “back” – each trip out was a literal and metaphorical step forward, Chester relaxed into his harness and I began to worry less, steadily enjoying our walks more and more.

Our first big route was into the office which consisted of a 25-minute walk to the train station and then navigating through Reading to get to our connection to Basingstoke and onwards before a final walk through a country park to work. Previously, for other new routes, we had walked the route with Chester’s handle down and me holding onto Christine’s elbow but this time we allowed Chester to work his magic and, once more, he didn’t disappoint. Now, we typically do that route at least twice a month and he bosses it every time.

By the end of these walks we had mastered our trips to the shops, school, into town and off to work. Chester was working at a much more manageable pace and my anxiety of getting everything wrong had significantly reduced. Before a Guide Dog partnership can officially throw away their “L” plates, we must first go through one final test. It was like going back to being 17 again and I hoped not to have a repeat of my second test (all the best drivers pass second time!) where I managed to miss my gear change exiting the test centre and crunching the cogs between first and second.

Test Day

Much like the driving test, the Guide Dogs assessment involves an independent  GDMS observing one of our walks except rather than sitting in the passenger seat with dual controls, they follow at a discrete distance, hiding in driveways and behind trees like a Soviet-era spy (except without the trench coat) so as not to distract the dog. The morning of the assessment came and, after a summer of 20+ degree bone dry days, that was the morning the heatwave decided to break.

After waiting for a pause in the rain, we gave up and headed out into the downpour. I really wished for all our sakes – but especially the GDMS (we’ll call him Tim) as he didn’t have a jacket – the rain would ease but sadly not and so as we rounded the corner to the shops I remember thinking that I hoped the weather wouldn’t go against us. Chester worked beautifully on that day, hitting his marks and rewarded him with lots of treats as we approached the final road crossing back home. I need not have worried and Tim remarked that, whilst drying off with a fresh cuppa, if he wasn’t there to sign us off he would have thought we had been working together for months, not weeks. I’ll never forget that feeling of pride and joy when Tim handed me the certificate to prove we were a true Guide Dog Partnership.

Since that day it has been an absolute whirlwind of a year with visits to the theatre and the cinema, trips into London, to the beach and visits to places like Stratford-upon-Avon. Chester has worked around castles, up and down narrow staircases at Shakespeare’s birthplace, explored the dinosaur exhibit of the Natural History Museum and sat on one-of-a-kind vintage cars.  We’ve joined training courses, attended village fayres, spoken at community events and have participated in lived-experience panels.

What next?

There is so much more to come – some of which is already underway and others are in early planning but all exciting and I can’t wait to share it with you all but, for now, I bid you farewell.

Team Chris and Chester – Blind Man with a Backpack