A Honey of a Post

Hi folks! Do ya believe all that rain we're getting? I'm so happy, since we need it so badly. This is one country where you'll never hear the song "Rain, Rain, Go Away," and I am one dog who will never complain. My ancestors, you know, hail from Labrador in Canada, where we were water dogs. So I love the wet and the cold! More! More!


Anyways, on to "Dog of the Day." The cutie in the middle if this snap is Honey, fresh off the plane from the New York area. She was puppy-raised there by Jeff Lambert and family. I have never been on a plane, and I am waiting to have some time to talk to Honey about how she liked flying. I hope I get to fly somewhere sometime.

Because dogs are naturally pack animals and enjoy having company, they are usually housed with a couple of roommates at the center, since we want them to be as happy as possible. It's fun to have pals to fool around with, to snuggle up with if it's really cold, or just to yap with a bit and share experiences. So, in this pic are Honey's new Israeli roommates: Zita the second (the shepherd) and Kaya (the golden).

At this moment, Honey and Kaya are being "evaluated." (If you don't know what that means, check back a couple of posts, where I explained it.) Good luck guys! Hope to see you soon out there on that obstacle course!

What's new? A course, of course!

Hi folks.

Izzy here again. Hope you are all well. It has been so hot lately, that it is hard to believe that it is the middle of October already! And, being the middle of October, we, at the Center are really excited because "it's that time" again!

Yup, we're really busy here at the Center because a new "course" will be starting in just a really short while. Six of our dogs have finished their training, and are all ready to be set up with their new partners for life.



In the picture here you can see Norman (remember him from a few blogs ago?) all ready and waiting with his nice new harness before he started the course with Dani a while back. I think he looks a bit concerned because he still didn't know who his new buddy was gonna be. I mean, it's kind of like meeting your new bride at the wedding. But at the end it was a wonderful match because the staff at the Center puts lots of careful thought into making it, and it's usually love at first sight. Really...you can trust me on that!

In case you don't know what this "course" is, I will tell you how it works.

At our beautiful Lady Kaye Student Center we have 6 lovely rooms, each set up with a bed and a private bath. There's a nice rug for the dog to sleep on too. Our dogs' partners-to-be stay here for three weeks, when they meet and learn how to work with their highly educated canine.

While they are here, the students have their meals served to them in our lunchroom. Freida is the cook, and she makes them the most wonderful food! There is also a student lounge where, in the evenings, they can relax, play piano, read books, work on the computer (it talks, and has a braille keyboard, too), check out what the time is by listening to the talking clock, or just have some drinks and snacks.

They will start out practicing with the trainers on the premises on the obstacle courses. You should see them. Blind people who are not used to walking with a dog will start out really hesitant and shuffling, but before long, they are striding with confidence because they have learned to trust their new four-legged eyes. It chokes me up every time when I see it.

Once they have gotten the hang of how to hang on to the dog (heh heh), they will head out to the city, to go to venues that get constantly more and more complicated. At the end of the three weeks, they have a grand final test, where they are given instructions (verbally, and with a 3-D map) on how to get to a certain place, and they have to manage it without the instructors.

On the last day of the course, there is a grand finale celebration, when the best thing happens....but I think I will save that for another time!

So Many Visitors!

Man, oh, man....or should I say, dog, oh, dog...How the time flies.

Well, it's holiday time here, and so many holidays, and we are all so busy. What with Rosh Hashanah, and then Yom Kippur (dogs don't fast, by the way). And now, it's Sukkot time, when all the little kiddies are on holidays.

Well, we've taken advantage of the holiday times to have a few tours to the center. We invite anyone who is interested to just give us a call and we can arrange a tour of our facilities. If you have never visited the center, what are you waiting for? You get to walk around, see all the doggies, see the student dorms and hear all about being a guide dog. There's always something "special;" like a blindfolded walk (sometimes with a dog), or to hear some real experiences from one of our staff.

Just this last Monday we had about 16 people visiting. In the pic, you can see someone doing the "dog obstacle walk" as we call it, and the other pic is Katya (our receptionist) and her dog, Dundi, talking with the group.

Tomorrow we are planning another tour, and I hope to post more pics. By the way, you can see more pics here.

Enjoy...and hope to see you at the center. Here's our phone number in case you want to ask when the next tour is: 08-940-8213
P.S. If you come, say Izzy sent you!

Shana Tova

From all of us,
to all of you,
we wish you a New Year
that's blessed with everything good!


(P.S. This is a picture of Mona, a beautiful golden retriever, and 5 of her 8 pups. Mona was generously donated by Michael Testler of the UK. The pups' father is Neon, a black lab (I bet you figured that out yourself!). These gorgeous "Y" pups have just been given to their puppy-raiser families, just in time for the New Year!)

My Friend Angie

Hi all! The picture you see here is of my good friend Angie.

Angie just spend a year in Lisa's home learning all the important things that any well-behaved dog should know. Here, you can see her being nice and quiet at Lisa's office. Isn't she a good dog? She's such a sweetie!

Anyways, Angie and 8 of her friends are now back at the kennels and they are being EVALUATED. They go into a little room, with a pencil and an exam booklet and they have to .... ha ha ha... just kidding.

Actually, I'll tell you how Angie's evaluation will go, because I get people asking me all the time how they "evaluate" the dogs.

So this is what happens. A trainer will take Angie out for about five short walks to different areas: a place with lots of cats, a place with lots of dogs, a place with lots of noisy traffic, a place with lots of food (like the shuq, with lots of food smells and also lots of food on the floor), and a place with lots of people (like a mall). Also, she will walk up different types of stairs; go on an escalator and in an elevator; get to play with a toy in a room that also has a cat in it; and she also gets a nice, juicy bone to chew, and the trainer tries to take it away.

And then the trainer watches to see if the dog reacts really weirdly to any of these distractions. Like, for example, let's say Angie sees another dog, what does she do? If she ignores it, that's great. If she is afraid of it, or is aggressive to it (ha ha, Angie?!?) or wants to run and play with the dog, that's not really good. So then a note goes on Angie's report card that she has a "Dog Issue."

Or... let's say, she doesn't like walking with her back to noisy traffic. So she will get a mark next to "Back to noisy traffic Issue," or whatever they call that thing. Or, let's say she spots a lovely piece of raw fish garbage on the floor of the shuk and eats it. OK, that's an "Attracted to Sushi" mark on her card. Liking sushi is a no-no for guide dogs, unfortunately.

But that doesn't mean that, zap! bang, she's out of the program. Actually, most dogs don't flunk out during this time at all. She will get a kind of probation time when they will take her for more walks in her "Issue Area" and see if with a little persuasion she can deal with her "issue" and put it in a bubble and let it go. If that happens, then, yay, Angie will be ready to be accepted as a freshman student in the Israel Guide Dog School for Guide Dogs, graduating class of approximately April 2010.

So, Angie, my good friend, my pal, if you are reading this blog, I am wishing you lots of luck and you be real cooooooool and show them what ya got! OK?

By the way, Angie, when you're in the room with the cat and the toy...DON'T EAT THE CAT! I heard they don't give probation for that one!

Hugs
Izzy

Norman and Norman

Hi friends.

Today I am going to tell you about Norman. Actually, there are two Normans.


The two-legged Norman is Norman Leventhal, the wonderful human who, almost 20 years ago, helped Noach to found the center. Norman-the-human just celebrated his 80th birthday, and, in the name of all of us 4-leggeds at the IGDCB, I want to wish him a BIG WOOF "Mazal Tov" WOOF and many happy returns. Norman is a pillar for us. Where would we all be without Norman? Uneducated and unemployed! That's for sure. There is so much to say about him, that if I start, I won't stop. So that's all I'm going to say about him at this point.






So now, I want to present to you THE OTHER Norman: the four-legged black dog in the other picture.
Norman-the-dog is named for Norman-the-person (would ya' believe!). Norman-the-dog is the son of Diamond and Neon. He was raised in Be'er Sheva by one of our "Ben Gurion Students" (actually, by Oded and Karen, a pair). He is a great dog, and has just finished his training and is now working with Dani L., in Jerusalem. So, in the name of all the four-leggeds here, I am wishing Dani and Norman the best of luck and lots of happy guiding!

Oh my goodness...I hear that someone dropped some food in the other room......gotta go..see you next week.

Izzy

How has a month passed already?

Izzy here,

Wow, so much time has passed, and I promised to keep updating frequently. Well, my new assistant has been having fun in the sun and has been a mite neglectful of this blog, but what can I say...sun, beach, laziness...all part of summer.

The Center, too, is on summer "time" but my assistant has also given a few tours for the public. About 60 people, some from almost round the corner, and some from overseas, have come to see our beautiful premises, learn about the life of a guide dog, realize how these amazing dogs can change a person's life, and watch a short film called "Partners for Life" (I always get a lump in my throat when I watch it :'-| ). More tours are planned, so if you would like to see the place, give a call to the center and find out when the next one is.

One of the great things about the tours, are the amazing questions that people ask. Every time I learn something new and interesting (and believe me, I know quite a bit already...woof woof!)
The last tour had Itzik give a wonderful demonstration on how to approach a blind person. Everyone should know this. D'ya know...it's OK to go up to them and ask if they need help. So don't be afraid to do that!

I'm including a picture here of one of our Bar-Mitzva boys who brought his family all the way over the ocean to visit Israel, and the center. Here you can see Rafi (a trainer) giving a taste of being guided by a dog!

Take care, now, until next time,

Izzy!