trips today

I really think we are going to get the snow the weather report is calling for which would be just fine with me. When I was on the afternoon trip a few snow flakes fell. The morning trip went well, I had to get onto Shannon because she was paying attention to this guy and all most ran me into a pole. I had to work on the street crossings because I was not going straight across. The reason for this is that I was pushing Shannon and was not lined up correctly. I have this habbit of when I get to a down curve I am lined up to cross the street but I turn my body just before I am about to cross. Other than that the trip went very well, I was doing doubles so that seemed to help allot. The second trip I did allot better with my street crossings and Shannon did great work accept for at the end when she ran me into someone. I had to get onto her because she had plenty of room to go around. These things happen, guide dogs like us are not perfect. They make mistakes, and we make mistakes it is all part of working as a team. A guide dog and handler is a relationship and any relationship takes work. Dogs will test there handlers by doing things like not clearing obstacles. Its the handlers responsibility to let the dog know with a leash correction that is not acceptable. It does not mean that the dog is a bad dog, the dog just made a mistake. In the past with my first dog when I would give her a direction and she would do as I told her and I told her left instead of right the public assumes that the dog knows where to go and its the dog who was not doing there job correctly. The handler has to know where they are going and the dog takes them by the directions they give. A dog can not judge traffic its the handlers responsibility to know when its safe to cross. A dog only does what it is told, if the handler messes up its not that the dog is not a good dog. I know through out the all most eight years working my first dog I made lots of mistakes. Mistakes are sometimes how you learn. I hope I explained that all correctly, I'm not the best at explaining things. The second trip I did doubles as well, if it snows tomorrow we may not be able to get out and do any work. This trip is our second solo trip and it was pretty difficult. I think I am free for the rest of the night which is fine with me. I'm kind of tired and just want to relax. Shannon sure has a goofy side and was trying to show it today, and she sure enjoys playing. I tried to get my soda this morning but the drink machine for some reason didn't like one of my quarters. I was too lazy to walk all the way up to my room on the top floor to get one quarter. One of my classmates had a soda that was hot but I drank it anyway. It was very sweet of her to give me one. I did get a few laughs today before lunch and before my first trip. The inside joke was braught up again one that I probably will never live down. I think that is all for now, going to check e-mail I think. More tomorrow, hoping we get snowed in.