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This incident occurred a good few years ago now, with my first Guide Dog, Willow. I was working in the centre of Edinburgh. My friend Sonia and her Guide Dog, Lindy, worked not too far from me. We used to meet of a lunch time. In the good weather we would go to Princes Street gardens and eat lunch, while giving our dogs a free run, but in the bad weather we would either meet up, in Sonias office or mine.
On this particular day, Sonia and Lindy had been lunching with me, in my office. She was leaving and I had gone down the three flights of stairs to see her off. We went round the corner to some waste ground where we would let our dogs have a busy, before going back to work. Our dogs were very good, they knew the routine, so we felt confident, we could let them off the lead to do their stuff. Sonia and I called the dogs back, I was pushed for time so I quickly popped the chain over Willows head and said my goodbyes, unlocked the main door of the building and left Sonia, still calling Lindy.
I hurriedly climbed the three flights of stairs again, marched smartly along a long corridor, through three sets of swing doors, passing fellow workers as we went, who would as usual say hi, to Willow as they went past, got in to the floors open plan area, my office was at the opposite end of the room, as I walked through, Willow became reluctant to move, I had to urge her on, at last I got in to my office, took off her lead and sat down at my desk and began to work.
A few minutes past, then my boss came in and said, "Mags, can I ask you something?" I of course replied in the affirmative, "--- Why is Lindy sitting at the far end of the open plan area, watching the swing doors?" Yeh, you have guessed, I had unwittingly, slipped the chain over Lindys head, instead of my Willows, smirk.
Meanwhile, my friend Sonia is outside calling Lindy, who was not behaving [smile], she was not coming back! Sonias voice was getting louder and harsher! She was bending over, as you do grin, holding out the check chain for Lindys head to go in, circling round and round, because, you know what little darlings Golden Retrievers can be, they creep up on you dont they, and for some unknown reason, they usually stand behind you, looking at you as if you are quite mad! So Sonia is bent over, circling and yelling angrily by now, when across the other side of a very large car parking area, our works messenger, john, spys sonia, he wonders whats wrong with her, so he begins to run, by this time, there was a chap across the street, who had been passing by, standing there scratching his head, probably wondering whether he should approach this mad woman or not!
By the time John got to Sonia, he had sussed the whole thing out. Sonia was calling for Lindy wasnt she, but Lindy was still inside the building, John knew this, because there was Lindys little face peering through the glass doors, looking out at Sonia! John explained, that she had shut the door before Lindy could get through it. Sonia says, "oh dear, Lindy must have gone with Mags, when she ran back to work, and the door has swung closed on her!"
Big relief all round! That is, until I appeared on the scene, just as sonia was putting Lindys lead and harness on. [laughs]. I cried out, "hey there! Give me back my dog!". Sonia straightened up and said to me in a foreign language, to get lost and stop messing around, she had had enough for one day. I came alongside and persuaded her to bend down and have a good feel at our dogs. She just about collapsed on the pavement in hysterics, when she discovered what we had done, hahaha.
I dont think Ive told you this yet, but, my Willow was practically white in colour, a yellow Labrador, while Lindy was a cross Labrador Retriever, mostly Retriever with a rich dark golden coat. Sonia and I might just have had a little excuse for mixing them up, but my work mates, especially the ones, who actually spoke to the dog as we past by, hmm, all I can tell you is the same as I told them, I would not like to rely on them picking out a criminal on an identification parade!