Right now he only has his kerchief, not his jacket. He gets his jacket at 6 mos and in most states that allows him access everywhere legally. So, for now, I ask if he can come in and most places are very accommodating. But because he is so young, we have really limited things to outings at parks, outside in the downtown area, and Lowe's, the FD, and the VCE office. Even after he gets his jacket, I will try and ask as we are not trying to be pushy, but courteous.
With a Guiding Eyes pup, I am learning that there is a lot more than just exposing the pup to situations and trying to have him experience it. That is certainly a big part and so that is why he goes nearly everywhere I go. But, because he will be with a visually impaired person, he needs to be in control and calm in every situation because the impaired person can't see if he is acting out/reacting to something or picking something off the floor, etc and correct him as often happens with other service dogs even after they are placed. So not so much de-sensitizing as actually teaching him to be in control and calm and even teach him to problem solve and not be frustrated. It is why those two guide dogs could lead their blind owners down from some of the top floors of the World Trade Center after the attack on 9-11. They had not been exposed to smoke, confusion and noise like that prior to that day, but they had been successfully taught and trained how to calmly react and be in control in a variety of situations because of the focused training they had gone through for nearly 2 years.
So I need to be a lot more involved and help guide him through situations -- numerous times -- until he has it under control at all times. There are times when I know I just can't devote that focused attention to him and I leave him at home for that trip to the grocery store, etc. Hopefully, as we progress, we will get better as a team(really, I will get better as a handler) and he will go to nearly every place I go.
But, for example, right now I am seriously thinking of leaving him with one of the GEB puppy sitters when we go to Minnesota for the FSU football game. Would it be a great experience for him? Absolutely, but probably not so much for me. It would be such a new experience for him that I would have to spend most of my time focused on him and making sure he was learning the appropriate way to interact and I would probably not enjoy any social aspect of the game. One of the things I like about GEB is that they get that and that is why they have volunteer, well trained puppy sitters who can take the pup so the raiser can have a break when they need it.
ps -- I am not sure I am explaining this well, but it is a much more active role in trying to teach the puppy than I experienced with the prior organization.
