I suppose I should begin this blog by explaining its title. Seven months ago, Rocky, my first guide dog, passed away. it was only in the light of his retirement and death that I really came to understand the unique and tenuous thing that we had together. Throughout his life, I tried to distance myself from all the usual human silliness about dogs being like children and such, and I still maintain this wish to distance myself from such things.
It was only in reading some books about dogs by a man named John Katz that I began to understand what Rocky and I had been for each other. For me, he was a companion as well as a student, a worker as well as a friend. I had to trust him and I had to get him to trust me. We worked best when we allowed each other to do what we did best. For him, I was simply and solely his reason for being. This is a hard thing to know, but when he retired, he was lost and uncertain of himself. He was happy in many ways, yes, but when he knew that he had to be left home whenever I went out, I could tell that he was uncertain about it. So, Sir rockford was the "once" part of the title.
As for the "future" part, that future is not very long away now. In a week, I will be flying to New Jersey to attend the Seeing Eye guide dog school and to meet a new dog with whom I hope I shall forge another relationship which will be just as rewarding as the one with Rocky was. I intend this blog to be a crhonicle of that relationship. I think there were a lot of things about Rocky that I could have written down but didn't, and now, having had some experience with a guide dog, I think there will be a lot more things I can think of to write about with the new dog.
We will begin, therefore, at the beginning. So, starting next week, I will journal about my time at the school and will try to use this blog as both an educational resource and a place to explain as many of the ins and outs of the bonding process as I can. of course, there will be humour, pathos, much praise and lots and lots of hair. :) I hope you'll come along with me on this journey. I'm sure it will be an interesting one.
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