Suki Deals with Israeli Drivers

I got out of the car in Yavneh today with more than a bit of apprehension. Today we were to practice the fine art of dealing with drivers who surprise you by suddenly pulling out of driveways, drive across crosswalks, and leave you and your dog unprepared. Another member of the staff joined us in a separate car and coordinated these "surprises" with Ami by walkie-talkie.

We began cruising down the sidewalk and as I approached a driveway the "dummy" car suddenly approrached and cut in front of us. Suki stopped on a dime! Ten points.

We then continued to a crosswalk, where I was told to deliberately give Suki a wrong command as the car approached. Ami gave me a tap on the shoulder as the car reached a point about three meters to my left.

Suki, Kadima…Suki stood her ground as the car passed us by. Twenty points.

The next exercise had me cross a street with a traffic island in the middle, stop, and then stop out into the second half of the road as a car approached. Halfway across the car hove into view and Suki stopped dead in the middle of the road, preventing me from entering the car's path. Thirty points for Suki!

Towards the end of the route the car not only pulled into a driveway, but also stopped directly in front of us, blocking our path down the sidewalk. When the motor stopped I commanded Suki to go forward and she neatly led me around the obstacle. She chalked up a hundred points or more in the entire exercise, performing perfectly every time.

When we returned to the center and had fed and groomed the dogs we were treated to a short ride through the fields on a tandem bicycle. Volunteers ride with blind people and go on outings around the country. The ride was relatively short since it was quite hot, and I am afraid Udi did most of the work, but it was thrilling to go speeding (quite fast) through the surroundings fields whizzing up and down hills.

A note about the new hybrid cars: these are a true hazard for people wno do not see well as well as for people who do. The new cars are extremely quiet and are considered ecologically advantageous because of this, but a car that approaches a pedestrian quietly at high speed is a true danger for those of us who rely more on our ears to assess approaching traffic! Equipping these cars with some gadget that makes artificial noise would help a lot.

We have been told to keep in mind that the dogs are trained to do this, but we cannot solely depend on them to judge, and have to be extra careful.