Meggie Miyagi: Guide Dog Lessons Beyond Wax On, Wax Off

Female black lab, Megan, sits in harness looking at the camera
with a focused, serious expression on her face.

My Guide Dog, Megan, is a tiny pocket puppy filled with power.  In our five months together, it has become clear we are quite similar--she is me, on four paws. She is sassy, spunky, playful, and curious. She loves to explore, travel, and experience new things.  She's very smart, thinks things through, takes her work very seriously, and once in a while, she gets really anxious and scared.

As a new team, you are working to build a relationship. This beautiful, expertly trained, furry ball of energy enters your life, and you begin to get to know one another--not just who you were--the dog and the girl--but who you are, two together, the team.  Every day, each route, and every new experience you share together helps you become a team.  Unlike getting to know a new friend, you don't have words--you learn from one another and about one another through the leash, harness, touch, movement, and body language. You begin to recognize and sense how your guide is feeling--happy, excited, serious, focused, anxious, concerned, even afraid.  If you are lucky, you get to observe and experience your guide developing relationships with others as well:  other dogs (pets and guides), friends and family (including their puppy raisers), and their trainers and others who have cared for them. And if you really pay attention you realize that our dogs can teach us so much more than we think. Everyday I learn from them, but these are a few things they've tried to teach me...

1. Your success doesn't impede my success--don't hold one another back, help one another move forward. Help one another grow.

Megan and her best guide dog friend, Samurai, sitting in harness
on a break during a route together.  Both look lovingly up at the camera.

2. It's ok to be afraid sometimes. We are ALL afraid of something.

3. Good friends make all the difference. Let them in. Let them know you. Let them see your fears.

4. When life feels just a little too big and scary, a friend by your side is the best medicine.  Watch out for each other.

Megan, Picassa, and the Toddler watching with great anticipation
as the Tween gets home from school.

5. Play!  Have fun!  Romp around with your friends. Cuddle with the ones who love you. Give hugs.

Sammy (left) and Megan (right) laying on the floor out of harness after
romping around playing together for the first time.

6. Be a little naughty. (Just a little.)  An occasional jump up to hug your person when you're in harness. An occasional sniff of the pee-mail along the sidewalk as you're guiding your human. Inching toward your best friend when you're both working to say hello, I love you, I'm thinking of you. It's ok to be a little naughty. Life is better when it's lived out loud.

7. Be grateful. Tell them you appreciate them. Tell them you love them. Tell them how they make your life different, better. Tell them they make YOU better.

Megan (left) snuggling in blankets with her sister, retired guide dog, Picassa (right)

Our dogs, they may not communicate verbally, but if we pay attention, if we show up, we have so much to learn from one another.

Much love,

Rainbow image with white letters "Nicole"

My Sightless Vision for Sweet Tooth Satiation

I have a friend who makes ahhhh-maaaaay-ziiiiiing cookies!  We're talking, knock your socks off, insanely adorable, so cute you don't want to eat them but so yummy you're practically yelling, "GET IN MAH BELLY!" as soon as you see the FedEx guy has dropped them off by your door--THAT kind of amazing!  She made and decorated ladybug sugar cookies for the Toddler's first birthday--they were red and black polka dot perfection!  Last Halloween, she sent me a dozen of her Halloween cookies, and I shamelessly ate 2/3 of them.  They're just THAT good!

After consuming my eight very Halloweeny cookies, I chatted with this friend and said, "You should make guide dog cookies!  Wait, NO, you should make BRAILLE cookies!".  I figured I would submit an order for such scrumptious tactile cookies in the near future....  

And then, somehow, sometime, the crazy crafty side of me decided it would be a good idea to try it myself!  Why NOT, I thought!  It'll be FUN, I thought!  Nevermind that when the Tween turned 6 and wanted one of those Barbie cakes with the "real" Barbie in it where the "dress" is the cake--I had to do some serious dress patching and repair through the use of heaps of icing so big I thought we would ALL be zooming through the house like the Flash after Happy Birthday was sung and the cake was cut and consumed.

But, I did some reading, and I decided, "No fear, Nicole....  It's a cookie...  Worst case scenario, you get to eat some really ugly sugar cookies.  I gave it a shot!  I made a batch of cookies as gift for the retirement of a guide dog training supervisor I respect a great deal.  I figured if they didn't turn out, no harm was done, he didn't know about them anyway--SURPRISE!  But, they turned out pretty well, especially for my first attempt with making and decorating sugar cookies with anything other than a store-bought tub of icing (true story).  My apologies for the lack of fancy setup for these photos, but I was really focused on the task and trying to do just a little better with each and every one.  But here they are, my first-ever attempt at guide pup cookies.  This batch included guide dogs in harness, guide dog puppies in training, dog bones, and hearts (some with the letters "GDB" and others with paw prints).

First-ever attempt at guide pup cookies:  yellow, chocolate, and black labrador guide dogs in harness and puppies in training (wearing green GDB puppy coats, green frosted hearts with "GDB" and paw prints in white, and dog bones in brown and white.

I felt really good about this attempt!  They weren't perfect by any means, but I felt like I had done pretty well for my first try, and certainly, I felt I had done far better than the days of my Barbie cake aka mountain of icing.

I asked for open and honest feedback--and several people gave me their feedback.  I am a guide dog handler but I am not a puppy raiser, so some of their feedback simply had to do with the details on the puppies in training.  They also hoped that I might be able to figure out a yellow icing that would work for the yellow labradors.  In retrospect, they do seem pretty boring with the sugar cookie as their yellow color and the icing of their harness or puppy coat as their only icing.

I realized I really, REALLY enjoyed doing this!  And, I figured that as with everything, I would get better with practice.  I had a friend ask if I would make these for her dear daughter for Valentine's Day--so I said of course and it was time for round two of Project Super Sweet Guide Pup Cookies!  I figured out a lot of things between Super Sweet Guide Pup Cookie 1.0 and 2.0.  I'll post an actual blind chick tutorial soon, but for now I'll just say that even with learning a lot so far, there is still MUCH to learn, but I rarely back down from a challenge and I see perfecting these cuties as a fun and creative challenge right now.  Also, in decorating the cookies, there are definitely some non-sighted techniques that I've been employing, and these techniques often differ from the methods of the sighted decorators I've been learning from.  With creativity and patience, we can find ways to almost anything as a blind person--just doing it a little bit differently.

In addition to the guide pup cookies, I also prepared to work on some Valentine's cookies for my daughters' teachers--I decided I would like to send them heart shaped cookies with red or pink royal icing and I wanted the words on the cookies to be in Braille.  The smaller cookies would simply say, "love" in Braille, and the larger ones will say "love is blind" in Braille.  I've only done a couple of the Braille cookies, but even in their simplicity, they are my absolute favorite cookies so far!!

Top row:  guide dog puppy in training cookies (black, yellow, and chocolate labradors.  Middle row:  guide dogs in harness (yellow, chocolate, and black labradors).  Bottom row:  two heart shaped cookies covered in green royal icing with two white paw prints on each.

Heart-shaped cookie iced in red royal icing with Braille spelling "love".  The Braille dots are made with dark pink and light pink edible pearls.  

I'm hoping the special people these cookies are going to will enjoy them as much as I've enjoyed making and decorating them!  Here's to a very happy and super sweet Valentine's Day ahead!

Until Next Time,

Vertical rainbow strips with white handwritten text spelling "Nicole".

Meet Megan! (Better Late than Never!)

Black and white photo of Megan in harness with a black background

 Introducing: Megan the Magnificent

It's true, this is late. Soooo late. Nearly five months late, in fact.  My apologies, friends.  I will do better.

But, when the full passion to write isn't there, and you just don't have the words, it's best to wait until that passion finds its way back and the words pour out of your head freely to write. I promised Chronicles would become more lively soon--and I hope to deliver on that promise!  Sometimes  life gets crazy. When that happens I need to immerse myself in it and wade through it before I am able to step outside and get my bloggin' on again.

Back to the star of the show!

Meet:  Megan the Magnificent!

My first guide dog, Picassa, was set for retirement. We had talked through the particulars, and I had adjusted to the idea emotionally. We decided she would remain in our home as our pet to enjoy her retirement. Guide Dogs for the Blind called me one day, and with about two weeks notice said, "We think we have a match for you!  Can you come to class?!"

In that moment I felt excitement, nervousness, and a bit of shock!  But, when the hubs and I looked at the dates and how it would work, it was actually perfect. The very first detail in a long line that made it seem that this was meant to be.

So, I went, and I shook with nervous energy the first day as I embraced staff I had worked with previously, and met the team I would be working with during my training.  The second day, I paced my room waiting to be introduced to the dog they thought may be my match. I listened through my door (I know, I'm bad) as the other students received their new partners. I giggled at some of their reactions and smiled for ALL of them. And then, the trainer I had already come to adore, knocked on my door and brought me a TINY female black lab!  I knelt down on the floor and she approached me with the excitement and energy of a puppy!  I couldn't believe this tiny little peanut was going to be able to guide me. I seriously wondered if a super long harness handle would be necessary for us to walk side by side. My trainer smiled, "You said you wanted more cuddly, there ya go!"

And there was Megan. Meggie Moo Moo. Megador. Megalicious. The black lab with the unique golden orange eyes, with the face of a puppy, and the heart of an angel. The guide with the energy of a toddler (which is good since together, we would be keeping up with one) and the precision of a master builder (yeah, I'm a Lego movie nerd... And I'm totally ok with that!). And, like her new partner, she has a little bit of attitude, a lot of spunk, and the innate drive to walk the paths of this world at a break-neck pace and the willingness to stop and smell the roses.

Immediately upon meeting Megan, my very first picture of her.

And, there was Megan.

We've been home since mid-September, and like any new partnership we have areas we work on, but overall, she's me in guide-dog form. A perfect match to be my partner, friend, and companion during this chapter of my life. Just like Picassa was a perfect match during that chapter of my life.

Black and white photo of Megan and I walking with the Toddler on my right hip.

So, this sweet girl has been home with us for nearly five months now, and we celebrated her second birthday yesterday!  She may be a little spoiled...  Maybe. But, her job is to selflessly guide me and keep me safe, she walks alongside me, shops with me, explores with me.  She loves my family and is akin to one of my children in my heart and in our home. She's with ME folks, all the time...  Lol.  Anyone who can handle ME all the time  deserves a cake and a cookie (and much more)!

Welcome to my world, Megs!  I'm so glad it was you!

Until next time,

Rainbow image "Nicole"