It really wasn't so bad saying good bye! But I am looking forward to my next pup. When I inquired last week about the next pup, they told me they had a few pregnant dogs, but no litters at the time. So I guesstimated something like 10 weeks. But today, I was pulled aside and told about a litter of "iffy" yellow labs. Apparently these pups are so hyperactive that they are weighing their suitability for guide dogs. I've seen plenty of hyperactive labs go thru the program, so my guess is that these guys are MONSTERS!!

I said, sure, I'll take one.

Oh yeah, this is Nisha's roommate, Stuart. I think he's thinking, "Nice tail!!"

=sigh=
This is Nisha's last 24 hours with us. Tomorrow Guide Dogs of America will have a lunch for the puppy raisers whose puppies have come of age and will continue their training.

When we arrive at the campus, we will hand over her yellow jacket. We will socialize and play with the other returning pups. Then we will sit down to a yummy hot lunch (catered/donated by a family who also raises pups and owns a restaurant). Afterwards, we have a few last moments of play, then we all march down to the kennels and put our pups into their kennel. We remove our collars and tags, put the tags on the GDA collar and then put that collar on our pup. This is pretty much the part where everyone gets choked up and misty eyed. We say out last good byes, watch them play with their new kennel mate......

GDA is very good about making our pups write home one a month, keeping the family abreast of what they are doing in College.

I will never see Nisha again.... unless she successfully completes her harness training and she graduates. Then I will see her at the Graduation Ceremony.... but that's another story.... and requires a BIG box of Kleenex!




PS. my next puppy is still in utero.... I estimate about 10 - 14 weeks before she will be ready to come home with me. (I always ask for a female because my alpha dog prefers females and I like peace in the house!)

I almost fell off my chair laughing!! A coworker put this up as a desktop background on our shared computer! (I usually put up LOLcats stuff)

I want to know, does this person *really* not know the difference between an opossum and a cat? Or was this for the funny?
Brilliant....

I just LUVZ this pix of Cooper!

A couple of weeks ago we took the dogs on a field trip. We loaded up the sheep and drove to Landscatter to a poppy field. It was a *very* windy day, but the sheep enjoyed munching fresh poppies, the dogs loved herding in a strange location, and the people had a great time taking photos for each other. This shot was taken by LS.... Thanks, L!!!

Look at the squinty eyes!
See the apple cheeks!
Note the cheesy mustaches....