Mindy: She’s Back!

So, this is awkward.

You may have followed the adventures of Mindy as she prepared to serve as a Guide Dog for the Blind, and her return to the GDB campus in early March. Then I stopped updating, at first because I was waiting for news and then because I had news and I was waiting for an outcome.

Apparently she was doing well, acing pretty much all the weird stuff they threw at her — all that socialization and practice paid off! — but then there was some sort of weird episode. It was observed and reported by a single volunteer, and not any of the training staff, so without any disrespect intended to the volunteer, I just don’t have all the details I want. But it put Mindy’s career in jeopardy. There are obviously very high standards which must be maintained when placing a dog in literal life-or-death service work.

I heard of a case while I was teaching a workshop on the Leader Dogs campus, in which a dog who was otherwise doing well in the program went down upon exiting his kennel one day. His rear legs just went out from under him. A moment later, he was up and walking and acting as if nothing had ever happened. They did lots of testing and couldn’t find a cause. Did he have a hip or nerve problem? Was his leg just asleep? Without being able to find a cause, and thereby be able to predict or prevent it happening again, they had to career-change the dog. You just can’t risk that happening in the middle of a busy crosswalk while guiding someone.

Was this behavioral, medical, an ongoing problem, something fixable or preventable? So Mindy went through several weeks of neurological testing, and she came out with a perfectly clean bill of health. And while that’s great for her, it’s bad for her career as a guide, and so she was removed from the guide program. After some discussion, she was released for adoption, and we had first refusal.

Of course we took her back.

“Why are we waiting outside?” No longer a service dog, no more entering restaurants and shops.

So this week I made another drive to California and back for a Labrador Retrieval. We got in about 5 this morning. She’s sleeping, and I should be, but I’m still coming down off the driving high. (For speed, I did a Cannonball Run with two other drivers, and I had the final shift.)

How do I feel about this? Very mixed. We put a lot of time and energy into preparing Mindy to be a fantastic service dog, and by all accounts we’d done a pretty good job. I know she was reported unfazed by a school track team running past her and other distractions. It’s sad that she won’t be doing what she was intended to do.

On the other hand, she’s going to have a great home in a place she loves. And while reports said she was friendly and relaxed, happy in the kennel, she definitely had an opinion about seeing me again:

She was just a little bit excited.

She will be taking on a new name — probably Penny, as my husband was joking she was a bad penny returning. Stay tuned for more adventures.