Allow me to interrupt myself for a moment.
I mentioned Juno, and on Training Day 1, we meet Juno. People unfamiliar with guide dog training might wonder who exactly Juno is. In fact, a couple people have asked me, being a bit unclear on Juno. I guess that's because I didn't explain it very well.
Juno is an imaginary guide dog, whose role is played by a guide dog instructor. Juno's job is to teach the new guide dog handler (and, I suppose, remind veterans) obedience and guidework commands. At Guide Dogs For the Blind, Juno takes two forms. For obedience lessons, Juno is a rolled up furry rug, held at approximately dog height, wearing a training collar. That's the chain collar that is incorrectly referred to as a "choke chain"; its purpose is not to choke. Anyway, the rug will sit, lie down, heel, come, stay, and even misbehave as you will see. For guidework practice, Juno is an empty guide dog harness, again held at approximately dog level by an instructor. Yes, you have to treat Juno just like a real dog, with the exception of course that you don't need to pet the instructor.
An interesting side note: I asked the instructors why the imaginary guide dog was named juno, and they didn't know. It's always been that way. I've heard that the imaginary dog is Juno because Juno was the Roman goddess who protected travelers. However, I thought when I heard this that I remembered Hermes (who would be Mercury in the Roman pantheon) was the god who protected travelers, not Juno (or Hera, as the case may be). So I still don't know for sure. Anyone have clarification on this, please let me know.
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