Wednesdays with Whitney: Happy New Year!

Thank you for all your thoughtful responses to our posts about Whitney’s happy retirement in rural Pennsylvania. Thought you might like a quick update from an email message her new/old family sent yesterday. “Having Whitney is giving me the motivation to take walks again, so that’s been good,” reports Elisse, who walks with Whitney every morning. “She does pull quite a bit, which is mostly ok, except when going downhill…the good news is that my favorite nature walk is relatively flat.”

In other news, Whitney met Alisse’s daughter Kate’s dog Thor this past week. A 16-year-old high school student when Whitney lived with them a decade ago, Kate is now an occupational therapist and a newlywed. When her husband Luke and their dog Thor (a big, well-trained puppy) came for a visit this past week, Elisse says Thor seemed to understand Whitney was an older dog. “Whit’s still spry, but has her limits, although she would play at frisbee until she keeled over, I’m sure. I have to stop and force her to rest. It’s nice to see she still has retained some of her crazy!”

Elisse’s daughter Kate knows a lot about dogs. Recognizing how strong the canine sense of smell is, Kate suggested I bring an old shirt of mine along to leave for Whitney during her transition. “she does sleep with your shirt,” Elisse reported in yesterday’s email. “And sometimes I see her nuzzling it.” Elisse knows a lot about dogs, too, and told me that while dogs do live in the present moment, they won’t ever forget a scent. “I’m not sure how long I’ll be able to keep that shirt before deciding it’s a little too scented, if you know what I mean” she laughed. “For now, I’m sure it’s a comfort for our mutually loved furry canine!”

In other Whitney news: our Safe & Sound blog had a little bug in it before Christmas, and many of you never received a post I’d written about Whitney’s very last school visit as a Seeing Eye dog. So here it is, with all good wishes for a happy and healthy 2020 — I look forward to future school visits this year with new guide Speedo, or whoever my next Seeing Eye dog is!

Questions Kids Ask: Are You Older Than Whitney in Dog Years?

December 12, 2019

I was busy shoving Whitney’s water dish and extra leash and a Braille copy of Safe & Sound into my backpack Wednesday morning when it dawned on me. The presentations we’d be doing at Ravinia and Braeside schools in Highland Park that afternoon would mark Whitney’s final school visits as a working Seeing Eye dog.

Whitney’s always known how to charm kids. (photo by Jamie Ceaser)

Do third-graders even know what the word “retirement” means? Should I tell the kids its Whitney’s last visit? That Whitney’s moving away? Could eight and nine-year olds possibly understand?

Whitney and I have visited dozens of classrooms this past year as part of the Educating Outside the Lines disability awareness program, and the thoughtful, caring questions third-graders came up with during the Q&A wowed me every time.

When we arrived, I ran the idea by their teachers. Would it be okay to forego most of the blindness stuff? Focus my talk on Whitney’s upcoming move instead? “Sure!” they shrugged. “If they want to know more about you being blind, they’ll ask about that, too.” The teachers were right, of course. This sampling of questions the kids asked tells all:

• How did you get blind?
• Why do you want Whitney to go to another person?
• At the beginning of your talk you said all of Whitney’s brothers and sisters have names that start with ‘W’, so do all the dogs who start with ’W’ live in one house, and dogs that start with ‘B’ or another letter live in another house, and like that?
• Is Whitney gonna have babies?
• If you can’t see where you’re going, and there’s like, a wall in front of you, how does your dog tell you it’s there?
• After Whitney retires, are you looking for a certain type of dog?
• Do you have kids?
• If the dogs are just puppies, how do the people at their school know that they can be trained?
• How many years have you had a dog that helped you?
• Do you really want Whitney to go to another person?
• How long does it take to train a dog?
• What will you do in-between the time you give up your dog and you get a new one?
• What are the books that you wrote?
• What if your new dog isn’t a good match, do you have to go back to school again?
• What happens if a person is blind and they’re allergic to dogs?
• So if dogs are color blind, is everything in black & white?
• Are you older than Whitney in dog years?
• How do you get on the plane to get your new dog if you don’t have Whitney to help you anymore?

That’s just it, I told the boy who asked that last question, admitting that I try not to think about it. “It’s going to be hard, but eyebrows up! She’s still here now!”

And with that, I thanked the kids for having us, and when I stood up, the beautiful ten-year-old Golden Retriever/Yellow Labrador Cross at my feet jumped up, shook herself off and stood patiently at my side. I lifted Whitney’s harness handle then, commanded, “Whitney, outside!” and dozens of eight and nine-year olds, all of them sitting criss-cross applesauce on the classroom floor, laughed and cheered as Whitney threaded me through them and out the door.

Whitney finished her final school visit on a high note, as did those third-graders. They wowed me again.