I said goodbye to my last guide, Hale, on February 5, but I didn’t know it would be the last time I would see him. I thought Guide Dogs for the Blind vets were going to run some tests on him, and he’d come back after his hip was treated. It turned out that Hale had a benign tumor on his spine, that was able to be removed, but which prevented him from being able to continue guide work. The last I heard, Hale was living out his days with his puppy raisers in Bakersfield.
Today, after a seemingly endless period as a cane user, I met my new guide, a male black lab named Hobbs. Two interesting things about Hobbs. 1. My favorite newspaper comic strip as a kid was Calvin and Hobbs. 2. Hobbs’s dad is named Samuel. My dad is also named Samuel.
Hobbs is quite affectionate without being overly so. He also responds extremely well to basic commands. We haven’t gone for a route just yet. Guide work starts tomorrow morning for me and my fellow retrains.
I’m going to attempt to post an update every day while I’m here. If yu don’t want to wait a whole day, I’ll be posting occasional updates on Twitter. My Twitter handle is @ServantWarrior
