Tales about Yale 2

By Phil Vigil

Yale, my guide dog in training, has been having fun socializing. Since he is a guide dog, I get to take him in many stores and places a normal dog cannot go. On my last adventure with Yale, I took him to Target. He pulls a lot while on a leash, so I have to put a "Premier Gentle Leader" on his head (a Gentle Leader fits around the dog's muzzle to keep him from pulling, as you can see in the picture.) It controls him somewhat, but he hates wearing it. He always tries to rub it off on me or on other people we pass. Anyway, as if taking him in a store with a "gentle leader" on isn't enough of a nightmare already, he poops right in the middle of Target. Before I went in I took Yale to do his "business" and he would not go. My other guide dogs also have had accidents in large stores. It usually happens not because they have to "go," but because they get overly excited in crowded environments. I still have to work on Yale's on-leash behavior and get him used to going in stores.