1 Captions by Faith Hamblyn. www.able.co.nz Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2015 INSPIRING MUSIC COUNTRY MUSIC Who's a good dog? Good girl. Holly's actually a very adaptable dog. And she seems to know exactly what's inside my head. I don't know how she does it, but she's just marvellous. Having a guide dog has meant so much to me. He's how I get to work, and he's how I get home. He's like my baby as well, my companion. He enriches my life by just being in it. Humans have a close affinity with dogs because we've lived in close proximity for many thousands of years. Guide dogs have a very intense role with their owners. They are even more tuned in to them, I think, than many pet dogs are. BIRDS CHIRP (SINGS) BIRDS SING GENTLE MUSIC Holly is a... is a very happy and joyous, uh, dog who loves it when the doorbell rings. She loves people, is full of joie de vivre. Hello. Holly's now 7. She has a birthday in December, and she'll be 8. Holly. So, hmm, I don't know which of us will last the longest, really. We'll have to wait and see. Come on down the steps. Down the steps. I had some sight up until the age of, uh,... 7. And I had infantile glaucoma, which meant that I either lost my life or lost my sight. BIRDS SING Not a lot of rain again. In the '60s, I'd heard about this seeing eye dog training unit in Morristown, New Jersey, which is really the birthplace of modern guide-dog training. Now, when I went to Britain as a 20-year-old to train as a physiotherapist, before I came back to NZ, I said, 'I must get myself a guide dog.' 'We met in England at the physiotherapy school for the blind. 'I was born with a sight defect.' I'm legally blind, but I've got broad peripheral vision, so I've got... I always feel I've got a good functional level of sight. Don is very generous with his guide dogs. We are allowed to love them as much as we want to. Here we are. The first dog I got was Jassel. Jassel was the fourth guide dog in NZ. There were three others before me. Of course, the guide dogs were very unusual in NZ. Many of us did talks around the country, and we had to publicise the benefits of guide dogs and the ability to bring them into restaurants and houses and public places. So were a band of pioneers, really. Come over here. Come on. When Jassel first came back to Auckland, in the mid-'60s, I rang up the bus company and said, 'Look, I've got a job at Auckland Hospital, and I'll be catching the 7.30 bus.' They said, 'Ooh, sorry, sir. No, you can't bring your dog on the bus. It's totally prohibited. 'It's totally against the law, and we won't have it.' So the Howick Bus Company, they said, 'Ooh, show us what this dog can do. 'Does this dog really hop on the bus and keep quiet and all that sort of thing?' I said, 'Yes.' And he said, 'Right, I'm gonna take you for a ride around the block.' Jassel jumped on to the bus, went straight under the seat, as they're trained to do, and he drove me round the block, and Jassel stayed nice and calm. And he said, 'That's amazing.' And he said, 'Not only can you bring your dog on the bus at any time, but I'll give you a free pass as well.' That was the beginning of giving me some confidence that guide dogs could begin to be accepted in NZ. Straight on. Straight on. We managed to get the Dog Registration Act changed so that guide dogs could go into public places, and happily, that's the way it now stands. GENTLE MUSIC Good. MUSIC CONTINUES Yeah. Yeah. Hey, Donna dog. So, we breed about 100 to 120 puppies here at Guide Dog Services every year, because we need variety. They need to be perfect ` they need to have perfect health, they can't be scared of things. They need to fit through... I think it's about 55 different tests that we put them through. How many? That's only three, Donna. You've got more puppies than three. Oh, there we go ` four five. Donna is what we call a maiden bitch, so this is her very first litter. She's got five little gorgeous black puppies, and they will be 6 weeks old tomorrow. So what we do is we bring them up to this room. We have got all this colourful stuff for them to explore and play with. Uh, new experiences ` that's what the little mirror is about on the wall. So they can actually start to see themselves and go, 'Ooh, what's that? Am I happy with that? Am I not?' All the lovely colourful dangling things you can see from the ceiling are there deliberately to try and help teach them to look up. In the wild, dogs don't have any predators that attack them from above, so looking up is not natural to them, but we need them to if they're gonna be guide dogs, so that guide-dog handlers don't, you know, get a tree branch in the shoulder or in the head. (BARKS) These dogs are very intelligent, and they are able to learn a huge amount. Guide dogs are very adaptable, and they need to be because they're exposed to a lot of different events, and they have to go different destinations. We have guide-dog handlers who work in the middle of Auckland City ` you know, trains, planes, busses all over NZ for business purposes. They need a dog like head dog there. He's the most confident puppy we've had in a long time. He's just up for anything. (BARKS) We have other, you know, sort of, maybe slightly older people, retired, they just like to poodle up to the local club two or three times a week or to the dairy or go and visit friends, so, you know, a quieter type of dog is needed. We need the variety. Come on. TOY SQUEAKS We're encouraging them to try new things, encouraging them to climb on those colourful objects. And we let them fall off. If everything as much as possible is positive and we let them develop at their own speed, then they'll just get more and more and more confident, and that is one of the key things that we need ` confident decision makers. GENTLE MUSIC MUSIC CONTINUES On the puppy programme, the puppies are generally placed with a puppy walker around 9 weeks of age. And they have them for anywhere from a year to around 16 months. Hello, darling. What have you got, huh? The role of the puppy walker is hugely important in that, because we need to get them bonding with that dog and also developing the idiosyncrasies and the individuality that each puppy can have to offer. Good girl. Come on, then. I was dropping off at school and saw somebody with two Labradors. I said to them in passing, 'Oh, my son wants a dog, but I'm not too sure.' And she said, 'Well, have you thought about puppy walking?' I'd never heard of it before. So I went home and googled it and... was very interested. The role of the puppy walker is to socialise her to different areas. So anything that's got different sounds, noises, smells, people. ENGINE RUMBLES Training experience is the rubbish truck, because the noise can really unsettle them. It can really frighten them. But what we tend to do is... just watch them, not make a big deal out of it. So if their body language changes, they might need some encouragement, but we wouldn't say, 'Poor puppy,' um, you know, and sort of feed into that fear or that uncertainty. We just, uh, say in a sort of upbeat way, 'You're OK.' You know, 'You're all right. Let's go.' I am very connected with her. They're with you more than pets, because you do your grocery shopping with them, you go to the pool with them with your kids or you go to sports, restaurants. She's been on date night with my husband and I into the city. Uh, leave. Leave. Leave. Leave. (PANTS) Leila. Leila. Just steady. Just steady. Steady. Relax. Good girl. As a puppy walker, you always want your puppy to do the best. You never want to think that you're the person that's failed them. This way. This way. Oh, this is a bit like having a Plunket check-up, isn't it? (LAUGHS) It is, isn't it? I love it. We're your Plunket nurses. Yeah, yeah. So, Leila's just come out of kennels. Mm-hm. Obviously, everything went OK? She struggles a little bit with her adaptability when she's away from me, it seems. OK. What I'd suggest is in the home, just over the next few weeks, change things that you do around here. If you'd normally feed her at 7, change it till 8. Vary maybe where you sleep her. I would be coming to visit Nicky to supervise her puppy, Leila, to check on the progress that she's making, to set new milestones for her along the way and also to offer the support and coaching for Nicky as a volunteer puppy walker. Do you want me to tell her to leave at the same time? Yep, and just getting that focus back on to you. Good girl. Well done. Good girl. Well done. Good girl. Let her sniff your hand. Pull her back. Pull her back and stop. That's right. Good. That's right. Pull her back and stop. Leila. Leila. Leila. Leave. Leave. Good. Come on. Leave. Leave. Wonderful. Come on. Leila. That's right. So you may not feel like you're winning. But you're teaching her that, 'OK, I do have to keep stopping.' That's right. Pull back. Release. Release. Well done. And heaps of praise. Good girl. Leave. Yay. Good girl, Leila. Good girl. Come on. So there's a lot they need to learn and cope with, so they need to be confident. The latest way of training is all positive reinforcement, and there's no punishment used. What we do if we don't want a behaviour to occur is we just, what we call, extinguish it by ignoring it. Something that I, um, have found is I normally have to walk her down this section of the footpath, cos she loves all that down there. And that's how we train them. And for a client, there's billboards and rubbish bins and things like that, so we want them nice and central as they go. That's right. So just move her back on to the other side. Shorten yourself up a bit. Good. Leila, sit. Sit. Good girl. Settle. < That was a really good opportunity, to see that dog outside the library, because that's something that I'm uncertain of sometimes, so it's really nice to get your input. Yeah, definitely, her level of dog distraction is high, and that level if she was a working guide, > it wouldn't be acceptable for her to behave like that. > But we've gotta remember she's just over 12 months. > She gets all the crumbs under the table. She always does that. > Yeah. Good girl. Settle. Good girl. Settle. That's it. When our puppies do wear their red coats, we do deem them to be working. The majority of puppies would spend a couple of walks a day in their red coat. The rest of the time, it is fun time. BOY LAUGHS The playtime is equally important for them. They are puppies ` they're not miniature guide dogs, so they need to release energy and have fun at the end of the day. GENTLE MUSIC Noah, my 7-year-old,... has just absolutely.... grown so much with Leila. GENTLE MUSIC He spends a big part of his day just lying on the carpet, cuddling her. And in the mornings before school, they lie on the kitchen floor paw to paw, nose to nose. There's recent research that's come out of Japan, and they looked at what we call puppy dog eyes, where people stare into each other's eyes or they stare into a puppy's eyes and they feel a lot of love. There's actually a release of oxytocin, so what they've discovered is with the puppies, equivalent to when a mother and baby look at each other and there's a bonding process goes on. Dogs certainly experience emotions similar to the emotions that we experience, so they will be sad, they may be unhappy about something. I don't know how I'm gonna pass her back sometimes. You have to tell yourself that you are their foster parent, they are not your pet, and this is going to be hard, but you're doing it for the greater good. POIGNANT MUSIC GENTLE MUSIC CLATTERING > You're such a good girl. > Eh, P? > Prentice. Where'd you go? Hello. 'Get up about 6.30 usually, sometimes; sometimes a bit later; have my shower. 'Prentice tends to wait outside the door.' Prentice? Where'd you go? > GENTLE MUSIC CONTINUES And then I feed him. That's his favourite part, of course. You know, he gets pretty excited. He watches Mum eat and waits patiently sometimes. Usually, he just wants to get going. So I quickly have my breakfast, and then we're out the door, walking up to the bus station and ready for work. He gets pretty excited to go to the bus station, cos he loves to work, really. Aw, he loves food. He's definitely got that lab in him. GENTLE MUSIC Ready? Ready, ready, ready? Let's go, let's go, let's go. I was born with congenital cataracts in both eyes. I was completely blind. So they did about 13 surgeries before the age of 4. They managed to give me some sight in my right eye and pretty much none in my left. It was pretty much a lazy eye. I can see very large print for a short period if it's very up close. I'm very short-sighted ` I guess maybe 0.5m in front of my face to see basic things. Good boy. OK. It's all right. It's all right, buddy. The cat's not there. Yeah, I know. The thing with the harness is it allows you to feel the body movements of the dog. I can feel when Prentice turns his head left. I can feel when he turns it right. I know when his attention will jerk away to something else. If he's suddenly alert, his body becomes stiff. Just his whole aura for me, it just becomes very tense and... unsure. Prentice. Watch. Forward, then. Straight across. You've gotta trust that your dog knows exactly what they're doing. And if they say stop, then you stop. Up to the crossing. Forward. Go, P. The guide dogs will be happy to do exactly what their owner tells them, but a guide dog has to think twice about something if it's being told to go forward when there's traffic coming. The dog needs to be able to say no, it's not safe ` I'm not going. They certainly can make snap decisions on their own. With my guide-dog instructor once, we were chatting away and walking along the street, and Prentice suddenly stopped, really stopped, and this car screeched right out in front of us. He actually saved, well, all three of us, really. Come on. Up to the crossing. And forward. It does seem to be a lot of pressure to put them under. And yes, it is pressure. It doesn't mean it's a hard job that they do, but they seem to cope very well with it. And they also have the upside of constant companionship. Find the button, P. Find the button. Find the button. Good boy. Where's the button? MALE RECORDED VOICE: 360 to Glenfield is due to depart in 25 minutes. GENTLE MUSIC Good boy. Up step. He ignores everyone. He's very mummy-orientated, very focused. Almost from day one, he was watching me. Like, he sort of knew that I was going to be the person he protected and looked after. MACHINE BEEPS Down. Good. In you go. Good trip. GENTLE MUSIC INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS This is my very first job. I'm really enjoying it, love working here, love the people, love the environment. We're the national offices for NZ Blue Light Ventures. We're a youth charity. We work with kids at risk. Prentice is allowed. It took us a little bit to get used to the protocols around having a guide dog. You're not sure when you can play with the dog and when you can't, and Michelle's helped us through that. It's quite a complex relationship, I guess. When he's got the harness on, the way he behaves and looks after her is really remarkable and quite a different dog with it off. And we can play with them like a normal dog without the harness, can throw the ball for him and pat him and the like. They switch in as soon as you put the harness on, they change and switch. And that's really important, because they've got that measure of what they should be doing at that time. No! (LAUGHS) ALL LAUGH You want chocolate? Let's go. Let's go get chocolate! Go, P. Find the door. Find the door. Prentice, sort of, knows where each aisle starts. When I say, 'Find the next aisle,' he'll find the next aisle for me. And he will, of course, watch out for any trolleys or other little obstacles. He'll weave me around people. He also knows exactly where certain things are. He often stops right in front of the chocolate. I'll tell you what is on this side, though, P, I reckon. Because you've gone to it, haven't you? It's the chocolate. Let's get some chocolate! Yes, it is. Good job. Ooh, yeah, Whittaker's. I have a little machine called Ruby,... and it takes moving video or you can take snapshots of things and then enlarge them on screen and look at them. Find the counter. Find your spot. He knows where the counters are and where the self-service checkouts are. And I say, 'Oh, find the one that's free, Prentice,' he'll go to one that's empty. Is there a spot? Find a spot. Find a spot. Find a counter. GENTLE MUSIC MUSIC CONTINUES OK, P. Let's go. Holly's a little bit prone to picking up bits of rubbish on Queen St from time to time. She's not averse to snatching up a cast-off tissue that had had a hamburger wrapped in it and the like. So those are the sorts of things that just need to be controlled a little, because we've got a job to do here, Holly, and we've no time for loitering in public places. Whereas one of my previous dogs, Senna, she stayed close by and wouldn't leave my side, really. They've all got different personalities, and you have to work with those personalities, in a way; really get to know them and build on their strengths, um, and that's, I guess, all part of that bonding thing that is just so critical to good working relationships. Working with Jassel, sort of, taught me an awful lot about my own emotional life. But the bond was demonstrated, sort of, really at the end of her life. One day, Jassel jumped up to the train, and she winced a bit. Thereafter, she started limping. I took her to the vet. The vet X-rayed her, but it was determined that she actually had developed a tumour, a sarcoma, uh, on her, uh,... back thigh and... that her leg had broken. So she worked for a week on this broken leg, still guiding me about. Once I knew that her leg had broken, I would go off to work in the morning, leaving Jassel at home, and she would creep into our bedroom and get up on the bed. Now, she never did that. She never did that in those... in those last days. But it just shows the, um... the affection,... uh, and the bond that there is. She was a wonderful dog. POIGNANT MUSIC Michelle Anne-Marie Jackson and her helper, Nellie. APPLAUSE Got Nellie when I was... 17. She was... my guide dog until she was 11. She was my baby. It was very hard when I... when I lost Nellie. I got very upset. I knew it was coming, cos we got the diagnosis of lung cancer. So we knew that it was a matter of months, maybe weeks, and it turned out to be two months. And so I had to make a decision, and I took her to the vet's and had her put down. (SNIFFLES) SAD MUSIC MUSIC CONTINUES Our dogs are incredibly special, and they're special to our whole guide-dog family. So when one of our dogs passes away, we organise a plaque. And often we will have a little memorial ceremony. It's important. They are important, and they've done a really amazing job. SAD MUSIC MUSIC CONTINUES Everybody who's had a dog that's close to them and that have lost that dog, they find that they can't just go out and get another one to replace it. You know, they need that time to grieve. They need the time to remember everything they did with the dog, and then they'll come to a point where they start to long for a dog and long for that companionship again. Find the table. 'My parents said that they wanted me to have another dog because they felt safer with me with a dog 'and they knew that I was a lot better and a lot more mobile 'and a lot more independent when I had a dog, compared to a cane.' Years and years later when, um, Senna was very new and Jenny came to visit Senna,... she said to Don,... 'Well, Dad, what does it feel like to be complete?' And we said afterwards, 'Ooh, that's an interesting comment.' But we realised that that must have been all to do with how as a small child,... she grew up just knowing that... Don and a dog were a unit. SENTIMENTAL MUSIC All my four dogs... have helped at various stages of my... life. It's all about loving them to bits. It's just making sure that that bond, uh, is... is there. GENTLE MUSIC It's an unconditional relationship that they give to you. They're not asking to be judged or judging themselves, so they're very forgiving. GENTLE MUSIC CONTINUES Definitely an emotional bond, for me, anyway. I know I think Prentice loves me. How do I know? Cos I always get kisses in the morning. I can just feel the eyes on me. I love him. He's my buddy. GENTLE MUSIC APPLAUSE The year's ninth annual Attitude Awards will be held on December 3rd. Join us at the Viaduct Events Centre in Auckland to celebrate the achievements of NZers with disabilities. Tickets are on sale now. For more information, go to attitudelive.com Captions by Faith Hamblyn. www.able.co.nz Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2015