TROY

Born: 30th November 1987

Breed: Golden Retriever x Yellow Labrador

Sire and Dam: Laddie and Molly

Littermates: Tamsin, Tammy, Ted, Tess, Toby, Trixie, Trudie.

Puppy Walkers: Gerald and Liz Hodge, Devon

Trainer for advanced stage: Emma Hebard

Qualified: 28th June 1989

There’s a song that always reminds me of the time Troy and I spent training together during June 1989. Beautiful South had released what was to become their first hit, “Song for Whoever”, which took them to no. 2 in the UK charts. Red Dragon Radio was playing it like there was no tomorrow! At first, I really didn’t like it, but after constantly hearing it on the radio, it finally grew on me, and it now brings back wonderful memories.

The first day at the Cardiff training centre of Guide Dogs was spent listening to introductory talks by the trainers and the centre manager, Leon Hornsby. I also familiarised myself with the layout of the building and its grounds, settled into my room, and got to know other staff members. There were two other trainees on class at the same time, Tom from Pontypool and Danny from Merthyr Tydfil. We weren’t introduced to our dogs until the next day, but Troy’s trainer, Emma Hebard, took Su to meet our new family member before she made her way back home. How unfair is that! I simply couldn’t wait for the next day so that I could finally meet my beautiful boy, who had completed his basic training at Exeter, and had been transferred to Cardiff for his advanced training and matching process.

Our training took three weeks, with the second weekend spent at home, giving our dogs the opportunity to become familiar with their new home surroundings. We weren’t allowed to work our dogs at all that weekend, the harnesses being kept at the training centre in readiness for the final week on class. There were some exceptionally hot days during our training, making it way too hot to work the dogs. So some of our training was done in the evenings once things had cooled down sufficiently.

One day while Troy and I were walking along one of the city centre streets, we suddenly came across someone groaning and rolling around on the pavement. Emma described him as a large burly man, unshaven, wearing an Afghan-style coat, and seemed extremely drunk. Troy became quite nervous of this unusual situation and started backing away from him. Emma told me to let go of the harness handle, and she led us well past the scene. We gave Troy a breather for a few minutes to give him the chance to settle down, and then continued with our walk. I thought no more of it, until sometime later when Troy reacted to two situations.

The first was when we were walking along the street where we live. there was a gentleman who would regularly sit out on the pavement in his deckchair, happily reading his newspaper, enjoying the fresh air and chatting to people as they walked by. Troy, on the other hand, was not at all happy, and totally refused to walk past him until he had gone indoors! On one occasion, I even let Troy cross the road to avoid him, but he still wouldn’t go past! Maybe in Troy’s mind, he looked similar to the man who had unnerved him in Cardiff.

A year or two later when Su’s family were visiting us, we took them to White Castle, located between Abergavenny and Monmouth. As we walked towards the main entrance, a gentleman came up behind us. Troy spun around and gave him the most vicious growl! The man said: “It’s OK, I love dogs and all dogs love me.” As he took a few more steps toward us, Troy let out an even more vicious growl! Thankfully, he did the sensible thing and stayed well away from us for the rest of our visit. Su later told me that he looked like a younger version of the man who lived along our street.

As part of their training, most guide dogs are taught to indicate we have reached a kerb, or the top of a flight of steps, by sitting. Even though Troy had been trained this way, on occasions he would hover his rear end rather than sitting properly. It happened a number of times on class, and Emma would let me know he wasn’t doing a full sit, and I would encourage him until his fluffy butt was firmly on the pavement. He often tried it on when we were on familiar routes around our home town, especially if he knew it was just a very brief stop to cross over a lane or quiet side road. Once when walking back home from town, he did one of his infamous hovers at a kerb. As I’d been trained to do, I stepped forward so that I was in line with his shoulder. Then, I told him: “No troy, sit.” He wiggled a bit and dropped his rear end just an inch or two. “No troy,” I repeated, “sit.” He wiggled again but still wouldn’t do a full sit. “Troy...?” I said, at which point he side-stepped to his left, and as my left foot plopped right in the middle of a pile of poo, he let out an enormous sigh as if to say: ‘Well I did try telling you!’ My poor Troy-boy didn’t want to sit in it – or get the blame for doing it either! Sometimes it’s a good idea to let them get away with things just in case!

Another situation when it’s sometimes good to take notice of your dog is when crossing a road. While on class, we’re always encouraged to make sure our dog sets off in a straight line, then once on the opposite pavement, do a left or right turn. Don’t let them cut corners and cross diagonally. This is known as anticipation, as it usually happens when the dog knows exactly where it’s going, and thinks they can get there quicker by cutting across diagonally. That’s fine when you have a trainer there who can see the other side of the road is clear. At home though, it’s not that simple. Once when walking to my father’s home, we needed to cross a road, and I could tell that Troy was trying to cut over to the left. Remembering the training we had, I took his leash in my right hand, and encouraged him to go straight. He tried cutting over to the left again, and I repeated to go straight. His pace slowed down to a crawl, and gently . . . ever so gently, walked me straight ahead as I’d requested. My right knee then found the side of a car that was parked in our way. Needless to say, our next few steps took us to where he was trying to take me in the first place, safely around the car!

As mentioned in the Introduction, I used to take Paul out for walks in his well-designed, safe, and comfortable carrier. I was concerned that although Social Services had cleared us to go out together like that, Guide Dogs may not share their views on it. I discussed it with Emma, and she suggested giving Troy a bit more time to settle in, and then we’d take a look at things to see if it would work as well with Troy guiding us. Thankfully, she had the same opinion as Social Services, and gave us the all-clear. By now Paul was about 2 and-a-half years-old, and was putting weight on nicely. I had no idea how long we could continue doing things this way, but it was lovely to be able to have little chats with Paul as we were walking around. Sometimes he was able to tell me what the obstruction was on the pavement, and even why Troy needed to do an “off-kerb” to get past things. I didn’t feel that having him holding my hand and trying to walk at Troy’s speed was such a good idea. So, I still took him out in the carrier for quite a while longer, until he was just too big and heavy.

We soon arranged a visit to Devon so that Troy could meet back up with his Puppy Walkers, Gerald and Liz. It was wonderful to see how happy he was to see them and their children again! He made his way into the garden, exploring all his favourite places from his puppyhood. It didn’t happen on this occasion, but Gerald and Liz told us of how Troy absolutely loved their blackberry bushes. He would go heading off into them, and stay there for quite a while. then he’d come out with a very innocent “I’ve been a good boy” look on his face. His dark-red stained snout told a different story though – as did his poos!

Troy had great fun playing with another guide dog in our town. His name was John, and he was Emlyn Taylor’s guide dog. We would often meet up at Tyleri Court, a local day centre for those with disabilities. It wasn’t long before Troy and I would take a walk to town to visit Emlyn and John at their home. I remember one day, I needed to go to town and didn’t have time to call in to see Emlyn. Troy on the other hand thought that was where we were going, and tried to cross the road to get to their house at every available opportunity. When he finally realised that we weren’t going to see them that day, my right shoulder firmly met a lamppost! Punishment maybe?

On the whole, Troy was an exceptionally well-behaved boy when it came to not stealing food. One night, however, Su and I had been watching TV while eating our evening meal. Many of our friends know I’m not really that fussed on meat, and I couldn’t finish the pork steak Su had cooked for me. We put the plates to one side while we continued watching TV, then completely forgot to put them in the kitchen before going to bed. When we got up the next morning, the plates had been licked spotlessly clean – even cleaner than any dishwasher! For Troy, that pork steak was far too tempting!

Once when we were shopping in our local Kwik Save supermarket, a lovely lady spotted Troy and began making a big fuss of him. Suddenly, there’s Troy, still in his harness, on his back, legs in the air, wagging his tail, having his belly rubbed! I turned to Su and said in a low voice-but loud enough for the lady to hear: " “I wonder, if I laid on my back would she tickle my belly as well?” A gentleman who was stood just behind me began laughing very loudly! He was her husband! After that, they always stopped us to have a chat if they saw us in town. I love how a little humour can act as an icebreaker with people. Some just don’t know how to react to someone who has sight loss, feeling embarrassed and awkward. By showing them that we are normal – and I use that term very loosely – they start feeling more at ease, and begin treating us the same as they would anyone else.

Troy was generally very good at locating specific shops I needed to go to in town, particularly if they were on corners, or just a door or two in. There was one shop however that he just simply could not locate for some reason. It was the Freezer Centre, which was half-way along quite a lengthy block of shops. One day when Su, Troy and I were in town together, we went in to get some things. As we walked past the meat counter, the young lad working there decided it would be nice to throw Troy a piece of meat. Troy caught it mid-air and I don't think it touched the sides as it went down! From that day on, Troy had absolutely no problem finding that shop!

In 1990, Su, Paul and I were on holiday at Weston-Super-Mare in Somerset, staying at the Laureston Hotel of Action for the Blind. On returning to the hotel one evening after a walk, Su and Paul headed straight indoors, while I took troy around to the spending pen to make sure he was comfy. Our route involved going through a side gate, along a path past a fire escape, then around to the left to the dog spending area. It was the first time I’d taken troy there on my own, and he wasn’t in harness. Su reminded me about the fire escape, but I’d forgotten how narrow the pathway was between it and the fence. Troy moved over to the left as I’d expected, indicating the narrow section. Thinking there was enough room for me as well, I walked next to him rather than behind him. I realised what a mistake that was when my head hit the fire escape! Now, unfortunately, there’s something that happens to me when I have a sudden fright or shock. For some unknown reason, the area around my throat totally constricts, and rather than making a manly sounding loud groan, out comes a feminine sounding scream! Meanwhile, Su and Paul were at the reception desk when a couple of very worried guests also turned up there. What were they concerned about? You may well ask! They thought a woman had just been attacked outside by the fire escape! They soon discovered no one had been attacked – least of all a woman!

It wasn’t long before we took Troy and Paul on holiday to the Cliffden Hotel of Guide Dogs for the Blind in Teignmouth. While there, we had a terrifying experience! We’d taken Paul for a walk on the beach, and Troy was having a bit of free time off leash. Over to our right was a man sat with his German Shepherd dog, which he had tied to a piece of rope rather than having it on a leash. Before we knew it, his dog had burned the rope through his hands and was furiously chasing Troy around the beach! Even as newbies to dog ownership, we could tell this was no playful chasing, this was serious stuff! Troy did everything he could to shake off this out-of-control animal, even running off the beach onto the Promenade. At this point, Su had left me with Paul who was as frightened as we were! Su made her way up to the Promenade, as did the dog owner who scaled a wall to get up there even quicker. Troy now had to make a lightning-fast choice. If he kept left, he’d go straight up the Promenade, but if he went right, he’d end up in the road among all the traffic! Thankfully, he kept left! Somehow the man managed to get hold of his dog, but not before it had caused a puncture wound to the base of Troy’s tail. Obviously, this meant a visit to the vet, but there didn’t appear to be any other physical harm, and he was put on a course of antibiotics. Mentally though, it had definitely had a negative effect on him. If a pet German Shepherd came anywhere near him, he would be visibly shaking and anxious. However, if it was a German Shepherd guide dog, he never reacted negatively at all! Evidently he was able to make a mental distinction between the two! How incredible is that!

During another holiday we spent there with Su’s family, we booked in on a coach trip to the Shire Horse Centre at Plymouth. Su’s uncle Harry took me down to meet one or two of the horses, while Su took care of Troy. Apparently, he was quite agitated while I was with the horses, so much so that as Harry brought me back to Su, Troy pulled his lead clean through Su’s hand and ran as fast as he could to me. I’m told that as he neared me, he launched himself, all 38 kg of him flying through the air, with his head hitting me in a rather delicate area! As you can imagine, I crumbled to the floor in a heap!

Soon after that holiday, I began noticing Troy was having difficulty walking while wearing his harness. During the National Guide dogs Week in October 1994, we went to the Cardiff flag day to lend a helping hand. One of the volunteers offered to take Troy for a stretch of legs and to make sure he was comfy. She didn’t take him very far, but she noticed the difficulty he was having in walking back to us, and that was without his harness. Very soon after, Katie Sargent came on a visit to see exactly what was going on. We took him for a walk, but the poor lad didn’t even get halfway to town before he started limping quite badly. Katie called off the walk, and we got him back home. The result of the visit was that she thought the best thing for Troy was to semi-retire him. This meant that he had to have an extremely light workload, but at least I could still work him if absolutely necessary. This also meant that I found myself facing another assessment, this time for a replacement guide dog.

It was around the same time that I began noticing I couldn’t hear Su properly, particularly when we were out shopping. sometimes I simply misunderstood what she had said, while at other times I didn’t know she’d said anything at all! And no, this is not a case of selective deafness! It was very noticeable when we were stood next to the fridges and freezers with their loud buzzing noises, but it also began happening when there were other sounds nearby – both indoors and outdoors. Su suggested that I have a hearing test, which was very soon arranged. I had low-tone deafness, and the mid-range tones were also affected but not to the same degree. I also had something called recruitment, which is where certain high-pitch sounds can be particularly painful. Having this type of hearing problem means that the high tone sounds I hear are masking over or even blotting out the lower tones, making conversation very difficult. As women tend to have higher-tone voices, I find it easier to follow what they are saying, unless, like Su, their voice is in the mid or lower ranges. The consultant at Nevill Hall Hospital in Abergavenny very kindly told me that if I were sighted, I wouldn’t even notice my hearing problem. The fact was I was not sighted, and was having dreadful problems! It just goes to show how much people rely on their sight when communicating with others, without even realising it!