Train Training and Rain Raining

This morning we set out to walk the route in Rehovot that we walked yesterday, this time on our own, but a cloudburst soon forced us to change plans. We ended up at the train station in Rishon Letzion, where we boarded a train for Tel Aviv. The plan was to get off at Azrieli, and we hoped for a bit of parading around and shopping, but the train was so late in arriving that we had time to use the restrooms and return back to Rishon on the next train! Definitely the first time I have ever taken a half hour train ride in order to use the ladies room! We tackled the route in Rehovot in the afternoon instead, and we were treated to the strong smell of eau de wet dog on the way home in the car. Suki is now dry, brushed, and clean again.

As of today I have had Suki for two weeks, and in three days I will take her home with me and begin working with her taking routes where I ordinarily go at home and in Tel Aviv and nahariya. Working with Suki, often trusting her completely in traffic and in the dark, I have gotten to know her personality (or perhaps "dogality" – well.

Suki is extremely intelligent and eager to please, as are all the guide dogs. She is eager to learn, as demonstrated by the clicker training that we tried a few days ago. She is responsible for leading me properly when we are walking, but she is also sensitive – jumping at the squawk or a parrot in the pet store, and starting at a gust of wind from several large colored pinwheels in a yard we passed by. She is well behaved and quiet, but can get up to mischief – no one else was present at the scene of the crime in my room who could possibly have been responsible for the shredded roll of toilet paper on the rug or the tipped over waste basket and the chocolate wrapper on the floor, so it must have been Suki! She has just the right amount of pepper and mischievousness but is easy to handle. I love walking with her and giving her commands (clues) even in a soft voice, and watch her respond, offering her praise as we go. She also has a few extra "features" that Ami taught her – all the dogs on this course are unusually cooperative about walking to the curb and stopping at the edge, which is extremely important, but Suki also knows how to "walk" into her harness or into the loop of her collar if I hold them in front of her. My imagination runs wild thinking what else I can teach her to make my life more convenient.

Rainy days in the lounge - besides working with our guide dogs, what we really learned on the course was how to play shesh-besh. We had a running tournament going throughout the course. Above: Liron and Moshe battle it out.