First encounter

When a guide dog turns seven, latest eight years of age, it is high time to stat looking for a successor.

When quito had turned seven, I met with a guide dog trainer. I called him and told him I chose him because I knew he had trained Hovawartsbefore, and wanted another one. He was more than skeptical, and asked me why among all dogs I wanted a Hovawart. I told him my two guides were Hovies, I had no major issues with them and liked them. But only when I mentioned his friend ans Quito’s coach and Quito, he softened up and said he had seen Quito before. We met in Berlin on a nice late summer day, spent an hour talking about his training methods and attitudes, and I told him I wanted a dog from his school, but if possible no Labrador.

He didn’t get back to me about a dog, but a colleague of mine did and said she had an idea. Another colleague had takin in a puppy whose host family could no longer take care of her. The two, lady and dog, didn’t quite click, and it might be good for the little golden girl to get out of that family.

So finally on a grim, rainy November day I met Emma, just over a year old. I met a lively, interested and impatient golden retriever. My colleague told me she was impatient and started barking the moment she couldn’t get what she wanted. I had a key moment with her. She wanted to play with me, had a bark in her throat to come out, and in that moment I turned my back on her. So she stood quietly and stopped barking.

I immediately told my friend I liked her and wanted the guide dog trainer to assess her, I thought something could be done to redirect her energy.

The trainer came, took her with him, and some three days later I called him.

“If it weren’t for you”, he said, “and if I didn’t know you managed to deal with Hovawarts, I would drop this dog here and now. She has destroyed all my dog baskets and dog blankets!”

We spent some time trying to figure out why that happened, didn’t really come to a conclusion, but he said he was working together with a colleague, who can spend much more time with the dog. I agreed and told him that maybe Emma was a women’s dog.

“If she sees hope, we will work with her.”

 

 

Liebe Grüße  |  Best regards

Chris Kaplan