Icy sidewalks

People often ask me how I get around in the snow.  With banks to clamber over, mounds of snow in our path, icy sidewalks.  I tackle first, the icy sidewalk question.  I do wear ice grippers on my boots when I know it is going to be particularly icy.  These, I have to choose carefully though as they can hurt my guide dog's paws if I get ones that are too sharp.  I also have to remember to take them off quickly before going inside as they are dangerous when walking on floors.  If you wear them outside, you can fall inside with them on.  If you don't, you are safe inside but can fall outside!  I imagine that sighted people scan upcoming sidewalks for icy patches.  They watch others, watch the ground.  I listen.  Do I hear others slipping.  And, I walk carefully.  All of my guide dogs have gotten to the place where they recognize ice and slow down for it.  Unfortunately, I have had to fall with each dog before they figured this out.  I fell last year on ice with Tulia.  She instantly jumped into my lap and was concerned that she made a mistake.  This morning, some sidewalks were snow covered.  Some were icy.  It was terribly cold when we headed off for our yoga class.  We were walking along over snow covered sidewalks.  We turned a corner.  The sidewalk was shere ice.  I started to slide a little.  I wasn't wearing ice grippers.  Tulia slowed right down.  Then she curved herself in front of my legs and stopped, bracing me.  No one taught her to do that.  She stood there.  Her little black body against my legs.  Wagging.  I hugged her.  Then, as we carried on up the icy sidewalk, I heard the neat sound of doggy boots on the ground on a quiet saturday morning.  A pitter patter sound.  tulia remembers ice and has figured out what to do.  Slow down, be careful, and if necessary, provide a brace for moving legs.  Good good girl!  Lots of kibbles inhaled at the next corner.

Glad I don't drive on a day like this.

It is freezing rain, snowing, windy, and miserable outside.  I feel a little smug sitting in my home office with a lovely guide dog on her bean bag bed and a cup of tea.  All nice and warm.  Early this morning while still lying in bed, I heard activity from the parking lot outside.  People scraping their vehicles.  Shoveling them out.  I never have to do that.  Mind you, I will have to take the bus later today and will have to stand outside waiting for it so I might not feel quite so smug then.  but, for now, I am glad I'm blind and don't drive and can work in my home office on a day like this.

The dog who wears boots.

My current guide dog Tulia will wear her boots.  The very strange thing about it though is that she does not want to sit or lie down in them.
If we are in a restaurant, she will stand for a long time wearing her boots, leaning her head on me but not sitting or lying down.  I have heard that when dogs sit, they do so by sliding their feet.  When wearing boots, they sometimes can't quite figure out how to do it.  However, I know she knows how to sit in  her boots as she can do it.  If we are going to be somewhere for any length of time, I remove them and she is grateful.  Never had a dog before that would just stand there in their boots.  Tulia keeps them on though and that is wonderful for us both.

The dog boot saga continues. Lost boot recovery.

I left things yesterday with us returning home with six boots instead of four.  But that fourth boot I lost remained lost for several months.  In the spring, my work colleague and friend was driving to work, when she spied something hanging on a bush.  Something that looked like one of Gia's dog boots.  She hurriedly stopped her car, jumped out, and grabbed it.  Sure enough, it was the missing boot.  We think that perhaps the boot was in the snow and the plough ploughed it further into the bank and it was only discovred in spring.  So, we then had seven boots instead of four.  More boot adventures tomorrow.

The day of acquiring dog boots.

I was so excited when I found that my third guide dog Gia would actually wear and keep on dog boots.. No more people walking past as we stood at bus stops in the cold saying, "That dog should be wearing boots." It was wonderful. Still, I had to check the boots but it would be great. She would be warm and comfortable in her red winter coat and red boots. One morning, we set off for work when I worked in a nursing home. We had to walk about five blocks to the bus stop. Take one bus, transfer to another one, then walk about three blocks on a sidewalk and one block on a sidewalkless road, through a big parking lot, and to the door. We made it all the way to the sidewalkless road with four boots on. I was so excited and proud. Here we were on the home stetch and all boots were accounted for. I didn't check again until we got to work. It was just one block after all. The snow was falling and it was very cold. I was horrified when I stepped inside and found that only two boots remained on. Work colleagues went and checked. One boot was found. but still, there were only three. In the afternoon, another work colleague went to a pet store. she found a pack of three boots on the shelf. She said, "You should just give these boots to my friend for her guide dg. You wouldn't want a guide dog getting cold and all hurt by the salt would you?" She was persuasive because they did it. Gave her the pakc of three boots for me. So I returned home with six boots instead of four. Tomorrow, how the remaining boot was found.

The dog boot saga continues with guide number 3

As I wrote in my blog post yesterday,  I decided that I would never buy another pair or rather set of dgo boots again.  It was too much trouble and too expensive.  Then, I met Gia.  My third guide dog and my first golden retriever.  After two dogs who hated wearing coats or boots or anything but their working harnesses, I was astonished in class to find that Gia enjoyed wearing her rain coat.  She modeled it.  She pranced.  She danced.  She wagged.  When I got her a winter coat (another story for another blog entry) she loved that too.  So, I decided perhaps I should loosen my restrictions on dog boots.  I bought her a pair.  She tolerated them being put on better than the others.  She walked in them well.  But, still we lost them sometimes.  Hear about a few of our spectacular boot adventures starting tomorrow!

Are the dog boots really on the dog paws?

One of the most difficult things for me about having dogs wear their boots, is knowing whether or not the boots are staying on the feet.  The story I told a couple of days ago, illustrates that the first time I tried them on my first guide, I had no idea that I had to check.  I thought that once they were on, they stayed on.  This is not always the case.  If someone with full sight puts boots on their dogs, they can glance down periodically at the paws.  Or perhpas they see a boot flying off or see it in the snow.  I can do none of these things.  One way to check on the status of boots is to feel them periodically.  Maybe at each street corner?  But, this is not an easy task.  Usually, when it is cold enough for my dog to need to wear boots, it is also cold enough that I need to wear thick warm gloves or mittens.  Once they are on, I can't feel the dog boots.  So, I need to stop, remove a mitten, hurriedly touch each foot to see if the boot is still on, and then put the glove back on.  And, if the boot is gone, where is it?  Do I wait outside in the freezing cold to ask someone to look for it?  Or do I just carry on?  I can sometimes hear if a boot is missing by the sound of the dog feet.  This is harder when there are many other sounds in the environment but I have caught this by sound a few times.  I did call my co workers on my cell phone one time to ask if they could keep an eye out on the way out to their cars for boots.  Stories of dog boot adventures continue tomorrow.  Two days of dog boot wearing this week and still all four pawz boots are in place.  Yay Tulia!  Yay me!

Dog boots

Yesterday, I began a new series on this blog about challenges in the winter for me as a blind person.  I started by talking about my winter boots.  Today, I talk about my guide dog's winter boots.  Actually, this talk of dog boots will go on for a few days.  Today, my first experience with dog boots.  My first guide dog was a lovely black labrador girl named Gwenny.  She was raised in southern California and trained at guide dogs for the blind in San Rafael California.  http://www.guidedogs.com/ She had never seen snow or winter before I got her.  For the first few years we were together, we lived in British Columbia and so didn't see much snow then either.  When we moved back East, the first winter was a big shock to Gwenny.  She didn't like the salt burning her paws.  So, I went and bought boots for her.  Gwenny hated wearing anything other than her harness.  She would not walk in a rain coat even though she didn't like the rain.  She would sit herself down and refuse to move unless I removed the embarrassing coat.  My school and vet suggested to put the boots on, walk around the neighbourhood and praise her for wearing her boots.  I put them on, put the harness on, and set off.  Being new to this, I didn't think to check the boots.  I figured that once the boots were on, they stayed on.  I kept walking around saying,  "Aren't you good for wearing your boots."  When we got home, only one boot remained on.  Gwenny never would wear boots or coat and so I had to give up on them with her.  Tomorrow, more dog boot stories.  It is minus 20 something out today so dress warmly if you too are in the cold.

Blindness and winter boots.

As I got all dressed up to take my dog outside this morning, I decided to blog about the challenges of being totally blind in a winter climate. Let's start today with winter boots. I also want to say that these views are mine and not all blind people would necessarily agree with them. So, winter boots. It gets cold here so I definitely need winter boots that are warm. For me, I don't want them with heels. I want to feel the ground beneath my feet. They need to be warm, good grippy soles, with good traction. but, walking in winter boots poses a few problems. First, when traveling around, I get a lot of information from all of my senses and my whole body. That starts with my feet. While wearing shoes, I can feel changes in surface. The bumpy pavement just before my mail box. The slight dip of the little driveway before a certain garbage can. With boots on, I still feel the big changes in elevation but not always these little cues for my environment. tomorrow, another installment. It is slippery out this morning. Be careful all.