An Oceanographer’s Guide
Adventures of a blind oceanographer and her seeing eye dog
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All work, and some play

Posted by Britt Raubenheimer 
· Monday, July 18th, 2016 
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Hugger in the WHOOSH Trolley, which is a bus, made to mimic an old-fashioned trolley by removing the shocks, including wooden seats, and adding some grinding clanking noises. None of that seemed to faze Miss Hugger.

Hugger took me to work on Sunday.

As expected, she happily trotted to the bus stop (which is near the squeaky-duck store and vet-office treats). The Sealine bus took us to Falmouth, where we connected to the WHOOSH Trolley to Woods Hole. Hugger already seems to think this commute is boring. I agree.

But, her excitement returned in Woods Hole. Trucks unloading, tourists stopping to look at the drawbridge, dogs, crowded sidewalks, the Sunday market … Hugger likes a challenge and activity, and decided Woods Hole was the cat’s meow, or the bee’s knees, or maybe more appropriately she just thought “hot diggity dog!” as she wound her way through the obstacles to our office.

Of course, the thrill of the office wore off quickly, smile. But we went outside for lunch, and checked out the ducks and rabbits who live by the picnic tables. We made a trip to explore the docks. We went to Coffee O, where we met an interesting MBL scientist and had a great conversation during which Hugger was very well behaved. And we played a little “hall-ball” – it was 5pm on a Sunday, nobody was here, and long hallways are perfect for playing fetch, smile.

About Britt Raubenheimer

Britt driving a small boat, with electrical engineer Bill Boyd (SIO) giving instructions (5 deg right, oops now a little left, ….).

Britt driving a small boat, with electrical engineer Bill Boyd (SIO) giving instructions (5 deg right, oops now a little left, ….).

Britt Raubenheimer is a senior scientist at WHOI, studying the processes along our coasts, including the effects of storms on water levels, flooding, and erosion, and the effects of waves, tides, and winds on sediment transport, pollution, and groundwater behavior (see the PVLAB website). She lost her vision suddenly in 2003 owing to optic nerve atrophy, and trained with her first Seeing Eye™ dog in May 2005. As an employer, WHOI actively considers how we can assist employees with disabilities to be successful! In this situation, WHOI has provided Britt [and others in a like situation] with salary support to enable her to take time to train with her guides.

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