A Gucci brag

Greetings. Gucci did something a couple of weeks ago that I've been wanting to post here but haven't gotten around to it until now. It was a weekday and I decided to split a cab with a coworker on the way home from work. I wasn't really paying attention when the driver let us out at where we were in the complex. I thought I knew, but I wasn't really sure. I usually make a point of asking where the building is and so forth, but I totally forgot about doing this until after the cab had driven away. So, here I was, standing outside some apartment buildings, and starting to realize that something didn't feel right. It didn't sound like my apartment building usually sounds. This might sound weird to the average "light dependent" or sighted person, but something about it felt wrong. I figure it's like someone looking around and noticing that they're in the wrong place. I was doing the same, but with sound and tactile cues. Anyway, we started walking one way, then the reverse. I quickly realized that we definitely were not in the right place. Then I began to worry, wondering what to do. Several things came to mind, such as calling a neighbor and having them come and look for me, or even calling the cab company back and requesting a ride from where I was to the other part of the complex.

I should mention here that neither Gucci nor I had been to that side of the complex before. This was a new environment to both of us. It then dawned on me that perhaps we were on the other side of the building from where we normally were. There are a series of sidewalks that run in all different directions inside each of the buildings "yards" at my complex, so that if you're going to another building and you can navigate the sidewalks, you need not go into the parking lot. So I figured that if we started out going straight on the sidewalk, that we should in theory be able to walk out the other side and be closer to familiar ground.

Gucci and I found a sidewalk leading inward, and I basically just told her, "Forward," and let her do the rest. Which she did. She didn't go completely straight, making a turn or two, but I soon heard the familiar noisy AC/heating unit that sits outside my door. After she found the door to the apartment, which I actually had to help her with after I identified the AC unit, I dropped the harness handle and gave her lots of big hugs. About 10 minutes later, after we had gotten inside and were both relaxing, the magnitude of what she had done, of making it back to our apartment from a completely unfamiliar location to both of us, on her own and by her own initiative, struck home to me, and she got another series of hugs and praises.

I've heard that the German Shepherd is very smart, and is good at problem solving things before they happen. After this experience though, I've gained a new appreciation for this ability.