New Eating Arrangements

Lately, I've noticed how fast Mason eats his food, and I've heard many times how unhealthy that is for them. So, I got him a new food dish. It looks like any other dish accept for the 3 pegs inside of it. Their purpose is to slow him down by him having to eat around them. When I tested it out, the results were quite amusing. Not only did it slow him down, but it also made him work for his food. His old dish had rubber on the bottom to keep it from sliding across the floor. However, this one didn't come with that luctury. So, while Mason was trying to get all the food out from between the pegs, he was also having to chase his dinner across the kitchen. In the end, he was able to finish his meal, and my goal of slowing him down was achieved.

Seat Envasion

I had been home last weekend visiting family, and I had a study cession for political sciense today. When we got to school, Mom was going to drop me off at the library. But, she wanted to run some stuff in to my dorm first. Since we were in a rush, and we had so much to take in, we decided to leave Mason in the car. When we came back, he had moved from the floor board to the front passenger seat. When I went to get in the car, he wasn't interested in moving. So, I rode to the library with a dog in my lap, half of his body blocking the gear shift. I was smothered and getting covered in dog hair, but what mattered was that I had a happy puppy. I was just glad that the people at Seeing Eye didn't see us. They would bhave been ashamed.

Don't Leave Mason

Today, I got out of class early. I had left my computer in my room, and since I had nothing else to do until my next class, I decided to go and get it. A friend of mine, Ashley, decided to go with me. When I got to my building, I took Mason out of his harness to park him. For those people who don't know what that means, I let him go to the bathroom. After that, Ashley said that she would hold his leash while I ran inside to get the lap top. Little did I know that this was just the opurtunity my clever retriever was waiting for.
When I came out of the building, I heard running footsteps and a lot of shouting. It turned out that Mason had decided to take full advantage of Ashley, who isn't very strong. She told me latter that he had spent his time dragging her against her will down the sidewalk and around the courtyard. From now on, I think I'll be much more selective about who I leave my dog with.

Who Am I

As I have been putting this blog together, I realized that my readers probably have no clue who I am, or why I am doing this. Well, I guess it's time to make that a little more clear. My name is Sam Hogle. I am a freshmen at Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw Georgia. I am blind, and I travel with the help of my Seeing Eye dog, a golden retriever named Mason. I decided to create this blog after noticing that most people don't realize what it is like to have a dog guide, or any service for that matter. So, I am planning to document the interesting experiense that Mason and I experiense throught our travels together. Therefore, through this blog, I hope to give people more of an idea of what life is like for a dog guide, and how they help us humans who love and apreciate them so much.

Too Much Excitement

I knew that my dog was extremely excitable, but I didn't realize how crazy he could get until yesterday afternoon. My tutor was over and we were reviewing for a test I had coming up. Everything was going fine until she got a phone call. A one point, she got excited about something, and did what most girls would. She screamed. Sensing her excitement, Mason got up from whare he had been resting. Before I could react, he proceeded to climb up my tutors back, allmost ripping her shirt in the process. Of course, I reprimanded him for his mistake, but he wasn't the only one to learn a valuable lesson. I was reminded that even the most trained dogs will mess once in a while, and there is no use in getting upset over it. To be honest, as I was scolding Mason, I had to keep from laughing about it.

Top Dog

Today, I went to Top Dog, a specialty store for dogs. I had gone to get Mason's Christmas gift. The problem was that I had brought him with me. I figured that since he wasn't a person, he would forget about the fact that his present was with us when we went home. However, I underestimated his intelligense. He was verry persistant about letting me know that he wanted today. So, I eventually gave in. In the end, Mason was happy, but I have to figure out something else to get him for Christmas. Next time, I guess I'll have to be a little more crafty about not letting him see it ahead of time.

Harness Escape

Last night, I went to the dining hall with some friends. When I got up to leave, I went to grabb Mason's harness handle so that it wouldn't get caught on the chair as he crawled out from under it. However, there was no dog atached to the harness. For the first time, he had figured out how to wriggle out of it. He must have decided that he was done working for the day. This just goes to show that life with a seeing eye dog is never borring.