My Journey at Guide Dogs for the Blind
One route at a time.

February 9, 2009

Day 24 or Work Day 1

Just a quick note as I am at work. Harold and I arrived to the office at about 9:00 this morning and things have been going well. I took him out for lunch (no, he didn’t eat :)). We did a simple…

February 8, 2009

Days 22 and 23 – Excitement Builds, arival on campus, lunch, graduation, party time and leaving on a jet plane

Harold and I are home safely and I am writing this on my desktop. Boy does it take some getting used to switching keyboards :). I got up early on Saturday and was dressed for the day by 6:00. I ran…

February 7, 2009

Day 21 – Mall Visit, packet review, graduation walk through, Goldstein family confirmation and packing

Friday was going to be a short day as far as routes go. After breakfast we meant in the Visitor’s Center and talked about graduation a bit and then transitioning home with our guides (travel…

February 5, 2009

Day 20 – Taking trips, Getting security concious, Freelance and buying Smart for our Dogs

We are almost done! Today started with a discussion about taking trips with our guide dogs. All of the basics were covered: feeding, watering, relieving, riding in cars, cruses (they should have…

February 5, 2009

Learning Life Lessons through Guide work

Below is an essay that Bryan Goldstein wrote about his sister Robin. Remember that Robin raised Harold even though the entire family played a vital role in making Harold who he is today. This was…

February 4, 2009

Day 19, AGS discussion, Clicking through to Caring for your Dog and Mewing as we moved toward Crossing the diamond rough, Exit Interviews and Alumni discussions

We are nearing the end. I got a very nice note from my boss today and I sincerely appreciated that. She is awesome. I actually have two supervisors and Zach is out all week at an Oracle conference…

February 4, 2009

Day 18 – Route, Clicking, going to the doc and the night life

Today was again going to be a very long one. We went into Portland to work on routes in the morning. Nothing special here. We did stop at a Goodwill and walked around inside. Harold did well here. He…

February 2, 2009

Super Bowl Party and Day 17 – Route, Clicking and Targeting

Sunday morning was pretty lazy. I kind of hung around in my room and then took a nap at 12:30 or so until we had to take Harold out again for relieving at 2:00PM. I was out like a light and had to be…

February 1, 2009

The rest of day 15 and Super Bowl Day!

The last time I left you we were all preparing to go out on our routes in the afternoon. We all eventually met for pizza or ice cream. We had no problem getting there but getting back was a bit of a…

January 31, 2009

Stats on Harold

Here are the stats on Harold: Birthday: July 3, 2007 23.5 inches tall at the shoulder 68 Pounds I do not remember his parents names but will revise this post when I get them

January 31, 2009

She did it!

OK, that post I mentioned by Mary, the nurse here at GDB? Huh, well, she posted it :). It is on her blog in the post Welcome Back. So, go take a read and comment at will. I love you Mary

January 31, 2009

Days 14 and 15 – Revolving around the bank, stepping it up, playing dodge car, going home interviews andd pizza time!

Friday was a day of stairs, revolving doors, elevators and traffic checks. The morning went as normal and we all loaded into the busses for our last trip into Portland. It was very cold Friday…

January 30, 2009

Day 13, More Escallators, learning new route for Saturday and romaing through the night

When I got up on Thursday I knew it was going to be a very long day and I am feeling it today (Friday morning). After breakfast (I had cold cereal and toast) we took the dogs out and got on the…

January 29, 2009

Days 11 and 12 – Snow, Busses and Trains oh my

Tuesday morning I got up and got ready for the day. After sitting down and starting to read email before taking Harold out my tradition has been to check the weather to see what I was up against…

January 26, 2009

Day 10 – Pictures and more pictures and a walk in the park

I got up around 5:30 or so and got ready for the day. I spent some time catching up on email list and work email before I fed and took Harold out. I then listened to some local Tucson radio stations…

January 25, 2009

day 9 – a day of rest

Today was a lazy day. I got up around 6:25 or so and rushed to be ready to take Harold out after feeding him. The wonderful surprise we had was about an inch of snow on the ground. It felt neat…

January 25, 2009

Pictures of Harold

January 24, 2009

a better picture of Harold

Here is a picture of Harold just one week prior to him leaving for Guide Dog training. It was taken in October 2008. I want to thank his puppy raising family for the

January 24, 2009

Day 8 continued

My plan was to groom Harold and then go for a walk. Well, we had to go relieve the dogs at 1:45 or so and then a gang of classmates wanted to do the walkabout right after. So, off we went. After I…

January 24, 2009

Day’s 7 and 8

This entry is being written on Saturday afternoon, just after lunch. I am just about to go and groom Harold before we take the loop around the campus. Day 7 actually kind of starts with the evening…

January 23, 2009

a change on day 6 and a tribue to Declan

This post is going to be a tough one to write. Thursday was a very hard day for me. A decision was reached after a lot of tears to make a switch to a new dog. Let me be very clear. Declan’s work was…

January 21, 2009

Day’s 3 through 5 – let the guiding begin and refining command structure

I haven’t written for a while. The main reason is due to the very hectic schedule and me being very tired in the evenings. OK, well, let’s review the last three days: Day Three: Let the Guiding Begin…

January 19, 2009

Day 2

Day 2 started pretty late in the morning (well, at least relative to the rest of my stay here). We met for breakfast at 7:30 and then proceeded to the discussion room at the end of the hall to wrap…

January 18, 2009

New Guide dog

I will put up audio later today but I wanted to get a picture up. Here it

January 17, 2009

Day 1

The journey started early this morning, or should we take you back even further. On Friday night Keri and I finished up packing and she got to bed around 10:30 or so. I chatted with Darrell and Karen…

January 14, 2009

Boring Oregon, does it really exist?

As I was preparing last weekend for my 3 week trip to Guide Dogs for the Blind I thought I would set up Mobile Geo to have the school’s address set as a route. This way I could follow the route as we…

January 11, 2009

My Hero Jacinda

Jacinda past away on January 3, 2009. I will miss her dearly. The picture above shows her loving smile and great personality that she shared with all of us throughout her life. I want to thank Fred…