The Day Job (for now?)

If you've come across my Author Bio you will know that I train guide dogs for the blind. This month has been exceptionally hot, and this has an effect on how we train our dogs. When the temperature hits 28C (82F) for more than 2 days, we start something called the "tropical timetable". Dogs have a much harder time cooling themselves down than us humans. And of course, their paws are directly on the baking concrete whereas ours are protected by shoes. 

With the tropical timetable we start an hour earlier, at 7AM, to get most of the training done before the heat becomes unbearable. We train the dogs where we know it will be cooler, like shopping centres and train stations. And when it is too warm even there, we take the dogs to the woods so they can run around in the shade of the trees. We may even forego our mid-morning break and work through until a late lunch at 2PM. For the rest of the afternoon the dogs lay around lazily because of the warmth, and we trainers catch up on our paperwork. Here's a snap of two of my beauties napping in the afternoon heat after a busy morning training and then relaxing in the woods. Miori is the Lab on the left. I cannot tell you the name of the other dog because it is sponsored - we can share pictures of sponsored dogs and their stories, but not their names. This one's a German Shepherd-Golden Retriever cross, and she is SMART! I'll share more about her in a future newsletter.

I can share that the name of the sponsored dog begins with N. Have some fun and come up with your name for her - I wonder if you'll come close 😃