The impact of COVID-19 has had on my guide dog partnership

I want to share a story with you. Grab a cup of tea and settle in because this is going to be a long one.

I’m learning new things about myself and my partnership with Ida daily.

Ida is a very hard-working dog, she loves to work and she gets more excited about leaving the house every day than I do. Now with the issue of the global pandemic, I was shielding and Ida did not work for months. She would go on free runs with Grant, and sometimes that would involve the local park if it just wasn’t feasible to take her elsewhere.

During this time Ida became accustomed to going to this park which also included the same way as one of our routes, it’s a massive ‘no-no’ to take your guide dog to a park that is either very close to your home or encompasses a working route, and this is because the dog can become easily distracted and excitable thinking they are off to play when actually it’s work time.

This has come to bite me on the bum.

To give extra context, when shielding was postponed we found another park that is within driving distance and Ida now relates that park to her free time.

But if you know anything about my dog, you will know; she is an absolute chancer. I cannot remember if I have shared this in previous blog posts but I have certainly shared her antics on social media. I was actually matched with Ida because they needed a person who was strong willed and would keep her focused as she has a strong character and would take advantage of a less assertive person.

Well, they do say guide dogs are perfectly matched to their owners!

So let’s rewind and take you back to the moment when letting Ida play in the park on one of our routes came to bite me on the arse.

It was only a few weeks ago, and Ida has NOT been to that specific park since July.

I had a doctor’s appointment to receive my flu jab, so it was something I couldn’t be late for.

As we approached the crossing Ida excitedly assumed we were heading to the park, a little to the right of the crossing. I had to be firm with her and use my voice, body and skills as her handler to make her continue on the path we NEEDED to be.

We reached the crossing and Ida was clearly too excited and not focusing properly.

As soon as we stepped out into the road to reach the island she started to veer right and walk me diagonally into the car park.

At this point I had to be extremely firm with her and make her find the closest pavement in order to get us out of the road.

Because our bodies were not fully aligned when she found the kerb, I was too far behind her, and didn’t realise she’d already stepped up until it was too late. I tripped and went flying almost toppling onto her.

Unfortunately for both of us I have severe arthritis and my balance isn’t good on flat and even surfaces, let alone when I am disorientated and starting to panic.

I wanted to highlight this in particular because there is a strong possibility someone with no pain or mobility issues wouldn’t have ended up in the state we were in.

Utterly frustrated I instructed her to turn around and find the crossing. I hoped this would make us end up back on the island we should have been on, or at the very least, the side of the road where the park is, so I could orientate myself and get us back on track.

What ensued was Ida, following my instruction, knowing I was not messing around, crossed me directly in front of us and when we got to the other side instead of hitting blister paving as I hoped. We were on a slab of pavement with a metal rail blocking our way. At this moment we were close to being back into the road again so I asked Ida to find the kerb, thinking she would take us back to the other pavement we were just on. She did as I instructed, but at this point, I literally had no knowledge of the direction I was facing.

I knew she had been disobedient and distracted so my confusion and frustration were not making anything better.

My stroke of genius was to allow her to walk whichever way she wanted and I hoped we would end up in the park (although I had no idea where it was).   This, I thought, I could regain my bearings. We would get to the park and I would then correct us once more.

During this entire commotion, there were no people around I could ask for help, it was raining and I had left my headphones at home, thinking naively I wouldn’t need them. Ida kept walking and I kept following, I could hear traffic on my right, a fan whirring on my right, I could smell the rain and stale alcohol in the air, and there was a grass mound on my left which Ida was eagerly pulling me towards.

None of this made any sense of the map in my head as to where the park was. I felt we were on a slight incline but I still wasn’t sure.

I finally pulled my phone out, found my location and knew that Ida, wherever she was going was not to the park itself, I visualised where I thought I was, in tandem with knowing I should be heading downhill not uphill and I used the new BETA feature on Soundscape to disseminate that I needed to follow the path. It would either lead me to the doctors or at the very least a human.

By chance, the latter prevailed. I asked a woman for directions from the doctors and she gave me verbal instructions and visuals of where it was.

Finally, we were back on track and we arrived at the doctor’s very wet and very flustered. I apologised for being late and not so happily recalled our incident when the nurse commended Ida on her good behaviour.

We got home in one piece, and no cheeky pup behaviour from Ida on the way home. She knew I was frustrated and so she compensated by working beautifully. I praised her continuously but when we got home and i sat down I was beyond frustrated and really upset.

I spoke with Grant on the phone and then again when he got home. And all I could think was why was she being so naughty? Why did she have to play up the day we HAVE to leave the house for something important. And why, after 3 1/2 years of partnership is she still behaving like this?

Grant made me see sense and reminded me that Ida has always pushed the boundaries but with the lack of work, her excitement at the thought of going to the park (which she remembered clearly), and that once more we are only leaving the house for a purpose because I am back in shielding. Ida wasn’t doing anything out of the ordinary in her mind; I just wasn’t mentally adjusted to her strong-mindedness.

Guide dogs are still dogs at the end of the day and  I put us in the predicament because I allowed my emotions to take control and hoped Ida would just do the right thing when I was already too deep into the situation.

I must also point out, that I have never gone into that car park on foot and so I actually had no idea that’s where we were until after I explained what had happened to Grant.

I remember being praised for my ability to correct Ida’s behaviour and remain positive and confident when blips happened during our training. I quickly realised that the reason I didn’t overreact or get frustrated with Ida when we were in class together was 2 fold: for a start, we were a brand new partnership and I was told to expect blips or cheeky behaviour, but secondly and most importantly, it was because I was in a controlled environment. I was with an extremely knowledgeable person who not only knew Ida and her quirks but gave me verbal and visual instruction on what went wrong. In essence, I felt safe. I felt safe because I knew that I had someone qualified:  having many years of dog training experience and she was sighted and could help me predict Ida’s behaviours.

I understood then, that I needed to walk through the steps where Ida and I had gone wrong, with Grant, so he could verbalise what was going on and where I was; so I could build a mind map in my head.

Ida true to form got all “free run brain” and took an almost identical route to our last adventure. This time, however, I didn’t force her to turn round and cross the road several times, because Grant was helping me create a visual layout of where we were when I had tried to correct her.

Having Grant describe my surroundings, and letting my cheeky pup walk and sniff all the areas she wanted to the last time, gave me the confidence to know where and when to correct her and get us back on track if she was to try again.

Somehow I don’t think it will happen again because the beautiful thing with Ida is, giving her that time to explore whilst on a harness and having me softly correct her and encourage her to stay focused, alongside reminding her she’s in work mode, will reiterate to her that this is not a place we go when she is working so she needs to stay focused.

I am fully aware that I am in charge and I allowed my stress in those moments to cloud my perspective, eventually derailing me, because I felt worried we were on the road (throughout both journeys cars were driving up and down). I also put time pressure on us which added to my frustrations and in turn, I created more of a problem for both of us because Ida didn’t really know what I was asking from her.

As I said, it’s been a few weeks since this incident and the walkthrough but I wanted to share this story to highlight a few things.

Covid has made life difficult and stressful for many of us in the blind community, we are in unprecedented times as Boris likes to keep banging on about, and as someone who was shielding for 6 months: Not worked her guide dog to the standards of workload and obedience she is used to, any guide dog will inevitably be more distracted, unfocused and even lacking in confidence when things try to pick up again.

I was naive to think that because Ida had lots of playtimes and still did as she was told at home, this would automatically transfer into her work. If you have had a tough time adjusting to the new normal of social distancing and your guide dogs’ work exposure because of all the lockdowns, then just know; you are not alone.

I wanted to showcase that although Ida in this instance may have been distracted and disobedient, guide dogs are not robots or plugin SatNavs: they are highly trained dogs, with little dog brains, and just because we think they should know better, in reality, their capacity for understanding things like having morals and knowing they should be on the ball 24/7 is unrealistic and unfair for the dog. It essentially sets you both up for failure.

And the final reason I wanted to share this story is because there are still days when I struggle with my mental health, my levels of pain and fatigue, and when I am not in a good place mentally or physically; this can impact my handling skills as a guide dog owner.

Too many people share highlight reels on social media and I have always said I’ve wanted to be as honest and open as I can on my platforms.

Maybe you have struggled with your guide dog, or your mental health or your psychological health and it’s spilt over into other facets of your life, work or both, I want you to know that you are not alone, life is not all sunshine and roses – even if some people only portray that side of their life online – and most importantly; it’s ok to forgive yourself, start again tomorrow, and ask for help if you need it.

Thanks for sticking with me on this brain dump, and if you have any thoughts or questions, pop them in the comments below.

Sassy x