Summertime means vacation time and while we’ve committed ourselves to raising Yazzie, the Harvey & Lewis Fidelco Guide Dog, we still need to get a break from time to time. Now that we’ve developed a strong bond with Yazzie and she has become a part of our “pack”, we’ve been able to let her spend several extended visits to the kennel at Fidelco including during our summer vacation. She’s always very happy to be going to the Fidelco facility on the grounds of Kaman Aerospace in Bloomfield and the feedback we get from the staff is that, while very high energy, Yazzie is also eager to please when working with her handlers.



Now that we’re back we’re working very hard on her socialization skills with other dogs. We’ve been trying to take her to places where there tend to be a lot of dogs such as the West Hartford Reservoir, the bike trail in Simsbury and elsewhere. The goal in these walking exercises is for her to be able to observe the other dog as they pass by but not to interact. We do this with a tight leash, a steady pace and timely offering of treats to distract her. Yazzie has come a long way in being able to overcome her natural desire to interact with other dogs.

We also want her to be able to spend time in the company of other dogs on a social basis and so we have gotten together several times with Jim and Kitty Van Guten and their dog, Bodo. The Van Gutens have raised 16 guide dogs for Fidelco and are a real inspiration to newbies to the Fidelco Puppy Raiser program like us. It’s great to be able to observe experts handling their dog and we’ve picked up little tips that we’ve been able to apply to our training regimen. As Jim Van Guten said, “The day your dog is perfectly trained is the day before you give her back to Fidelco.” Yazzie and Bodo interact very well together on our walks and we have plans to do more walking in the future.

So where did our German Shepard-raising family go on vacation? Why Germany of course!