OUTING TO CARMEN'S OFFICE

July 26, 2005

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Each year we take the puppy's to Carmen, our leader's, office. The site offers open, grated stairs, a second floor open balcony, a traffic walk along a busy street, and a nature walk along the Highline Canal. Guide Dogs must navigate any surface--grates, slick floors, and uneven pavement. They must not hesitate to walk near an apparent drop-off. They must be calm around the hustle and bustle of busy streets, and be able to handle rural areas. This outing has it all!

TM&A building sign with dogs walking along street

OPEN STAIRS By 'open stairs,' we mean stairs that the puppies can see through the risers or railing. It can be frightening to climb stairs when the dog can tell how high it is climbing. Carmen's stairs are open not only on railings and risers, but the stairs themselves are made of wire mesh! The puppies can see through them, and must accept the grate-like surface of the stairs in order to climb them. If the pups can conquer these steps, we bet they can successfully take on anything.
Open stairs--see through risers, railing, and grated steps. Frannie is doing a great job climbing them.	Paxton needed a little convincing that going up was a good idea. Carmen and Labelle work at this office and climb the stairs several times as day. They lead the way, hoping to inspire confidence in the older dog. After a little confidence building from Lizz, Paxton went on to do the stairs several times with no worries.

Alexi and Daniel start climbing. It's okay for the dog to sniff and check out his surroundings when he starts out. That's how he will gain confidence about the experience.	Some dogs do fine coming up, but don't want to go down! Mary Jo and Nana have mastered both up and down.

Sheila and Quazar take it slow. Young puppies have to learn to travel at the speed of their handler, and not charge up or down stairs.

OPEN BALCONY Being high off the ground can cause a fear reaction in some puppies. This narrow walkway with its open railing offers an ideal way to give the puppies a relaxed introduction to high places. It also gives us a chance to assess which puppies may have issues with high places and need special handling to head off fears before they become a bigger problem.
Up the stairs and across the open balcony.


	Nana (left), Alexi (above), and Icon and Frannie (below) aren't worried about being so near a high edge.


TRAFFIC WALK It's vital that our puppies are exposed to the sights, sounds, and smells of traffic and learn to work calmly in a city environment.
Carmen leads the way down Broadway	Sherwood and Jeanne navigate around some bushes. As a working dog Sherwood will be responsible for making sure his blind partner has enough clearance to not run into such things.

Broadway is a busy street!

Alexi and Daniel wait to cross the street.
	Even a highly trained dog can't tell when the light changes to green. The blind person reads the traffic by listening. When the person judges it is safe to cross, he gives the command, "forward." The dog then checks for oncoming cars and proceeds only if the way is safe. Puppy raisers let the professional trainers teach this advanced concept. We merely get our puppies used to being around traffic.

Carmen and Labelle lead the group across. It's good experience for the puppies to pass by waiting cars with their engines running, with all the sounds and odors associated with traffic.	Jeanne and Sherwood, Jenny and Italy, and the group make it safely across.

Janet and Frannie wait for Sheila and Quazar's group. We keep track of each other and keep the group together during our outings.

Bikers crossing from the Highline canal give the puppies experience with another kind of traffic.

THE HIGHLINE CANAL TRAIL: A COUNTRY LANE Just a turn off Broadway and we enter the Highline Canal Trail. The walking path boarders an irrigation ditch that runs through much of Denver and its suburbs. The trail offers the feeling of a rural area, with lots of smells of other hikers, their pets, and wild animals. Even though this is a more relaxed part of the outing, the puppies are still considered to be "working." They must stay under control and walk calmly at our sides, avoid the temptation to sniff, and not relieve themselves along the way. Of course, accidents can happen, and we always have lots of clean-up kits, just in case!
Frannie, Paxton, and Alexi turn onto the trail from Broadway.	Icon and Italy are siblings, and often are found together during our outings.

Bayla, Sherwood and Nana head off down the trail. The traffic seems miles and miles away!

	The group enjoys the natural beauty of the canal trail. The puppies seem to like it, too!

HEADING HOME
After an hour of exploring, it's time to head home.

	Everyone made it home safely. It was a great outing!