Yale's Trip

By Phil Vigil
Last week Yale got to go to Guide Dogs for the Blind Fun Day in San Rafel. Fun Day is where guide dogs and their raisers get together and do different activities including games, seminars and training. I was not able to attend, but a guide dog leader was willing to take Yale. At Fun Day he met many other dogs and many people. He got to go in many stores and restaurants and also got to ride a ferry across San Francisco Bay. Yale was very relaxed and calm in the Rainforest Cafe and in some stores on Pier 39. He did fine on the ferry ride; he probably didn't even know he was on the water.
In the hotel room he did very well; he just played with his toys the whole time. (When he stayed with me in a hotel room once, he went behind the floor length curtains and look out the window. All you could see was a lump in the curtain with a tail sticking out.) Yale did bark for no reason a few times. This usually happens when he is awakened by a strange noise. We will just have to work this out of him by giving collar corrections. (A collar correction is when we give the dog a quick jerk on the collar.) The only thing he was really scared of on the trip was an escalator. We are not allowed to take guide dogs on them, but I guess seeing it was scary enough.
Yale is still having problems with his ears. They are still a little red, but they seem to be getting better. Our vet says it's systemic and that we should take corn out of his diet. Guide Dogs says to flush the ears and that corn is not causing the problem. We really don't know what to do, so we are trying to sort this all this out.
Photos coming soon!