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I never realized the
potential of 'Service Dogs' until some of Jewel's experiences
showed what remarkable dogs they really are.
Written by Jewel
Blanch, our New Zealand author and correspondent.
For some years, I
had a Newfoundland, Sealcove Hello Sailor, who pulled a cart [SAILOR'S
WAGGIN']. Sailor's photo must be found in albums all over
the world, as he was photographed in the wagon by many tourists.
When Sailor was working,
I walked behind the wagon, holding on to it while the guide dog
of the day was hitched to a ring on the side. I
directed him with verbal commands of "walk on", "stop", "go left"
and "go right". "Go" meant just move sideways a little.
If it was a turn, unless
the degree of the turn was dictated by the path, I would lead
him around. He was extremely clever in the wagon, as over its
entire length of seven feet, there were several different widths,
but he scarcely ever touched anything.
He could run it along
with the outside wheels tracking along on the very edge of the
curb, but his judgment was so precise that the wagon rarely fell
off on to the road. The
amazing thing was that he never appeared to look back.
The first thing Sailor
had to pull when he was a puppy was a converted baby's buggy.
I slipped long pieces of aluminium tubing over the handles to
make shafts and ran it along on it's hind wheels and from that
he progressed into an apple box bolted on to the chassis of a
pram. This was called the AppleCart, and from that he went into
the big wagon when he was two years old.
When I was looking
for someone to build it, I went to see an engineer and asked him
if he could build a wagon for a dog to pull. He said "we don't
have much call for that sort of thing". I was very surprised.
I thought that he would have been building wagons for dogs to
pull quite often. haa haa!
In the end, I found
that our local garage would make it and the chap who undertook
it did a first class job.
During his working
life, Sailor hauled all manner of things, including herds of children,
groceries, sacks of grain and timber. In fact, if I could get
it in the cart, Sailor hauled it.
The wagon is four-wheeled
so I did not have to bother with balancing loads. When loaded,
it is very heavy, so when we were going up a hill, Sailor pulled
and Jewel pushed. In
town, I would leave him parked in various convenient places, while
the guide dog and I did our shopping.
When the time was approaching
for Sailor's retirement, I got another Newfoundland to take his
place, but by the time he was a year old, it was obvious that
the pup was going to be too small for draft work.
I did not want to give
him away, so Jewel being Jewel, the inveterate guide dog trainer,
I decided to train him as a guide. I would need a replacement
for Sieger at some time in the future, so to have Buck already
trained and working would mean that there would be no time when
I was without a dog.
When he was still
a puppy, I had started Buck, (Bear'srest The Buccaneer),
on a little trailer that I had adapted from a child's trike. I
removed the handlebars and replaced them with a bar that stuck
out in front and served the purpose of a single shaft. Where the
saddle had been, I bolted on a tray and had a second one between
the rear wheels.
I had also taken the
handle from a motor mower and had this hinged to the rear of the
erstwhile trike, so that, if I wanted to walk behind, I had something
to hold on to. The whole outfit was extremely light and Buck used
to pull this rig into town if I had only to collect a small order
of groceries.
I would use a guide
dog harness with the handle removed as a hauling harness. When
I began his training as a guide dog, Buck would still pull the
shopper into town while I walked beside him holding the shaft.
I would then unhitch
him, replace the harness handle and away he would go as a guide.
When we had finished the shopping, Buck would be hitched again
to the trailer to take home our purchases, so you can see that
he was most versatile in spite of the fact that he was only a
year old, and for the giant breeds, this is still extremely young.
I still did not have
a draft animal for the wagon, so I bought a Shetland Pony. I would
take bets on my guide dogs being the only ones that guided their
owner around the streets of the town while being followed by a
pony and cart.
The fact that Tommy's
dainty little hooves were tripping along behind them didn't seem
to affect their work in the smallest degree. Tommy looked after
his cart himself and knew just how much space he needed to get
through a given gap. If we had not left him quite enough room
he would stop so that I could find another route for him.
I was leading him of
course, just in case you thought that he was a liberty pony. The
cart that Tommy had was the same one that Sailor pulled. I merely
put on different shafts and raised them. I also changed the name
from SAILOR'S WAGGIN' to TOMMY'S TUCKERTRUCK.
When I took Tommy into
town, I drove him. Well, I say *drove, but that actually just
meant that I clung to the reins in a valiant attempt to control
his speed. He was very careful about following the road, so I
left direction up to his lordship, for, after all, he was the
one who could see where he was going.
When the three of us,
ie dog, pony and I got to the river bridge before the town proper,
I alighted, and led him from that point.
Sometimes, I drove
round to a depot where bread was distributed to supermarkets and
dairies etc to collect left over bread for hens and pigs. This
trip involved going down a road that bypassed the main part of
the town but carried a lot of trucks.
Again, I placed my
faith in Tommy's good horse sense, and left his position on the
road up to him. If we were bowling along, and a vehicle was either
coming up behind or towards us, I would feel him move right over
to make room for it to pass. when he got to a corner, he would
often meet a truck.
No matter how imposing
the rig, Tommy was quite unfazed. He would slow right down and
carefully go past it and then pick up speed, go along two more
roads, and then turn right and trot up the drive to the warehouse.
He did all this on
his own. For these trips to the bread warehouse, I had to keep
his pace down to a smart trot as the guide dog would be running
alongside on a lead.
Once the wagon was
full of bread, the animals would take up there usual positions
with the dog in the lead, me in the middle, and Tommy followed
by his cart bringing up the rear.
If your
appetite has been whetted by these stories, they and others are
to be found in "My Life With Guide Dogs". The book is available
directly from the author, Jewel Blanch on 3.5 inch computer disk
at a cost of 10$US, p&h inclusive. Jewel
Blanch
Text
and images copyright 1998 Jewel
Blanch
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