Thanksgiving Emergency Vet Visit

When everyone is sitting around the table for the Thanksgiving feast, I have always felt a certain amount of gratuity for food and friends and family. However, to be quite honest, I don't think that I have every really sat down to embrace what it is to be thankful. I have grown up doing things for other people and I was raised to know the value of helping someone. Be it through church, Girl Scouts or Guide Dogs, I feel the spirit of giving surround me almost every day.

This Thanksgiving morning gave me something real to be grateful for.

While my mother was in the kitchen I had Mark and Barley on tie-downs on the couch. Mark started squirming and I was trying to calm him down. All of a sudden his leg got caught on the tie-down, he squirmed away, I heard a popping sound and then he started screaming. As fast as possible I got him off the tie-down and into my lap. For the next half an hour I continued testing his leg to see where it hurt, how sensitive it was and if he would put pressure on it at all.

Mark made a show of being absolutely pathetic and he had us convinced that he had dislocated something. After a phone call to my CFR, we were on our way to the Emergency Vet. Mark would whine and not put any pressure on his leg even when we weighed him before going into the exam room, but by the time the technician came in, he was fine.

That puppy was flopping around on the exam table and walking around the room as if nothing had happened at all.

The technician and my mom and I had a good laugh about their hospital being so good that all you had to do was come inside to be cured and she went to the front desk with our paperwork. As we were walking to the front desk, I couldn't believe that I would be the reason for a bill to be sent to Guide Dogs for absolutely nothing. As I approached the front desk, the lovely girl behind it handed my Vet Reimbursement form to me and wished me a happy Thanksgiving from the staff at WestVet.

In this society, it is a rare thing to walk out of a vet's office or doctor's office without having to pay a fee even if it turns out there was nothing wrong. I truly felt blessed this morning not only to have a healthy puppy, but to be surrounded by a community that cares so much warmed me more than any turkey dinner could.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

The Worst Blogger Ever...For Real

Well, I've been away for a while so this is going to be a loooooong post. Last time that I checked in, I had a baby Jerry and a Faulkner that was graduating! Since then, stuff has happened. Let's start with Faulkner.

Faulkner graduated and is working with a wonderful lady named Karen Karsh. She is a singer/songwriter and she sang a song at the graduation that she dedicated to me. Even though it was my sixth graduation that I attended, it was the first time that I cried. The song that she sang for me is called "Wings to Fly" and is from her album After The Rain. The lyrics touched me so deeply that I feel I have to share them with you all:
You’ve given me wings, wings to fly
A song to sing
The way that you touch my life
It means everything
And with my wings spread wide
Now I know, I always know that I
I’ve always had wings, wings to fly
Before, before there was you in my life
I never realized, never knew before
All that I could do in my life
And I was lonely, so very lonely
I never knew which way to turn
Should I cross that bridge or let it burn?
Then you gave me wings to fly
The sweetest song, you gave it me to sing
The way that you touch my very soul
It means everything
And with my wings spread wide
Now I know that I, I’m gonna always have wings to fly
I look up and see
I see some rivers of golden sun
Somehow it makes me feel part of everything
Part of everyone
I never knew before
Life was such an open door
Just waiting for me, opportunity
Now you gotta look, now you gotta look, look at me soar
‘Cause you give me wings to fly
A song to sing
The way that you touch my very soul
It means everything
And with my wings spread wide
Now I know, now I know that I’m gonna always, always have wings
Always have wings to fly
Now, this lovely jazz piece could easily be about a person, but I like to think that it is about a dog. So many things about Karen are wonderful. The most wonderful of all, of course, is that she is positively in love with my Nerd. One of the really cool things that we found out was that Faulkner is Karen's sixth guide dog and he was sixth puppy to raise and sixth puppy to graduate. It just seems too perfect!! After working together for eight months now, their bond is strong and the lovely puppy that I raised is doing something amazing. Here are a couple of pictures from graduation:

When I went to Karen and Faulkner's graduation I brought my little Jerry along with me. He was between four and five months old when we took this trip and it was a lot of fun to have both my boys together. We took a couple of picture opportunities as well!

Ever since going to this graduation, I have loved getting to do some emailing with Karen and I even received some pictures of her working with the lovely Faulkner in his new Colorado home.

If you are at all interested in listening to some of Karen's music, please visit her website! I am a big fan of her jazz compositions and if you like jazz at all, her work is definitely worth a listen.

Now, a Jerry update. My little Jer-Bear is now a year old!! A very interesting story surrounds his raising, actually. We had a new raiser move to Boise from California. She was through the application process and ready for a puppy when her life circumstances changed a little and she ended up moving. Once here, we had to re-submit her paperwork and she finally had a puppy on the way. Unfortunately, when the puppy arrived he was very sick. Our raiser, Alina, and our club leader spent a lot of time at the Emergency Vet and the poor little dear almost didn't make it. Guide Dogs recalled the pup and had him scheduled for surgery. Luckily, he is doing very well and is a happy little Career Changed love! On the not so positive side, Alina didn't have a puppy. Since she works and is a full time student, Alina was counting on the summer hours to get her puppy ready for school. By the time all the drama was sorted out with her sick puppy, Alina had run out of summer to be with a brand new, 8-week-old. This is where I stepped in.

I love puppies. The brand new, puppy breath, pot-bellied, wobbly, sleepy puppies. I think that it is a mild form of addiction for me, actually. At the time Alina was struggling with not having a puppy, I was thinking that it would be fun for me to get a new baby. My school schedule was set up in a way that it would be really easy for me to be home often and it just seemed like fun. I decided that I would transfer the then 9-month-old Jerry to Alina. It seems to have worked out perfectly. Alina is very happy with Jerry. He is spectacular with her kitten and he gets to go to school and work with her all the time. To top it all off, Jerry and Alina share a birthday! I'm very happy with the arrangement and Jerry seems to be doing very well in his new home. I'm excited about the possibility of going to graduation with Alina as well. She's a lot of fun and I think that a trip to campus would be extra special with both of us there.

Since you were obviously gypped out of Jerry pictures, here are some to make up for it!!

The puppy that I got in return for transferring Jerry is another lovely black lab, male and his name is Mark. Mark has more personality than any other dog I have known. I don't know exactly where it all comes from, but it sure is fun. Mark is currently 5 1/2 months old. He is quite possibly the biggest sweetheart of a pup that I have ever encountered. All he wants to do is snuggle. Whenever he is cuddling, he turns into a fantastic rag doll. His coat is silky smooth and I can't get enough of running my hands over it. With his immense personality come a couple of training frustrations.

He seems to be too smart for his own good. For instance, we were working on his "Go to Bed" command. He loves getting to work with food so this was very exciting for him. He was doing pretty well for his second time really focusing on the command so I gave him a break at a high point. Later that day we came back to work it just a little more. When I asked him to "Go to Bed," Mark ran straight over and plopped down directly next to his bed. When I gave him the "Not quite, try again" look, he stared at me for a second and then very nonchalantly lifted his paw up to place it on the bed.

After that display of attitude I couldn't do anything but laugh at him. Needless to say, we abandoned that particular training session and went back to work the next day. He has "Go to Bed" down pretty well these days.

I am absolutely loving the chance to deal with Mark's quirks. He comes with a few issues but I am feeling very confident that they will resolve quickly.

I know that this is a longer blog post than anyone should have. Congrats and thank you to the people who have stuck around long enough to make it to the end!! Future posts will be much shorter as I have a schedule these days that permits me the time to post on a regular basis. Hopefully I will be able to have a daily post for a while!

Puppy Withdrawl

Since Faulkner has left, I have not spent very much time "puppyless."

The day that he left I took on Niven (a 13 month old black lab) for a few days. He was pretty fun and a good distraction to have right after Faulkner got on the puppy truck. Once Niven went back home, I only had a couple days before I took on a pup being raised through a local service dog organization called Genesis Service Dogs. The puppy is a 6 month old labradoodle (lab/standard poodle mix) named Chester. He's been a bit of an adventure and has reminded me of the huge differences between labs and poodles. The past week was a true learning experience for us both! Chester has gone to spend some time with another of our currently "puppyless" raisers so that we can continue to try to help him succeed. But, that leaves without a dog again.

I don't know what to do with myself when I don't have a puppy in training with me. Really, I'm lost.



I always forget what a huge part of my life puppy raising really is. If I had to pick one title to describe myself, it would be "Puppy Raiser." Plain and simple, I have an addiction. And I'm going into withdrawls. No matter how many pups I have go through my home, if I'm not raising one of my own, I don't feel like a complete person. I've noticed for the past three years that I always have a dog with me in my dreams. The dreams are VERY rarely about the dog, though. Most of the time, I'm just holding a leash with a dog attatched because that's what I do. And the dog just goes with me.

I've been told that my club has puppies reserved that will be leaving California around December 15th and I can't wait to get my hands on one!!!!

Upcoming Trip

Well, I've worked it all out so that Faulkner will get to go to Seattle with me!

This is going to be more than just a trip on a plane. I think that this will actually be the most intense traveling experience I will have ever had with a puppy in training. We will be flying to Seattle (which I've done before, but not with Faulkner) and staying a night with my dad at his apartment. Then the next day, we will be on our way to stay with one of my best friends who is going to school at PLU. This is where the new experiences come in. Are you ready?

We're going to live in a dorm for 5 days!

I have visited a dorm with a puppy in training before, but this will test us both with it's newness. Luckily, the school is very happy to accommodate us and I'm almost positive that it will be a great experience all around.

As I mentioned in my last post, Faulkner and I will also be getting to visit the Guide Puppies of Seattle puppy raising club and get to meet a lot of new raisers! I'm really looking forward to this trip and everyone here should look forward to upcoming pictures from our grand adventure!!!

Puppies On The Web

Guide Dogs for the Blind Inc. is not just a website anymore!

Visit their Facebook page to support the organization and see pictures (or links to pictures) of all their activities. Follow them on Twitter for updates on the blog, shout outs to puppy raisers and information on upcoming events. And, don't forget to keep up with their blog No Bones About It for stories of raisers, working dogs and all kinds of fun!

What is a Puppy Raiser?

My name is Kate Richardson and I am proud to say that I am a puppy raiser. I'm currently raising my 6th puppy in training. (You'll be able to read all about my puppies in a following post.) I got into puppy raising for my Girl Scout Gold Award. I never finished the project, but I got absolutely hooked on Guide Dogs!!

You may be asking, "Kate, what exactly is a puppy raiser?"

Well the 'definition' of a puppy raiser is pretty simple. A puppy raiser is simply a volunteer who takes in an 8 week old puppy and teaches it basic obedience, self-confidence, how to behave in public, and housebreaking. Like I said, the definition is simple. There is a lot more involved in being a puppy raiser that isn't in that definition though.

As a puppy raiser, you are required to attend a weekly meeting with the other raisers in your community so that your leader can check in and help you with any problems that you may have. A very important part of being a puppy raiser is being an informal PR person for Guide Dogs for the Blind. Lots of people will approach you when you have a puppy. Especially when you're at the grocery store, a movie, or out to eat. Those are activities that dogs are usually not involved in!

After you get the hang of Guide Dogs' training style, puppy raising becomes a lot more fun. I was stressed out about being perfect and not messing up my puppy for the first three months that I was a raiser. Once I calmed down, I began to have the time of my life! And then the time came for me to send my first puppy off to school.

Yes, that is the part of puppy raising that people most often ask about. "How can you give them up? I couldn't do it."

A very important part of that is knowing from the beginning that the dog does not belong to you. It belongs to Guide Dogs. You simply play the part of a foster parent. Just like a foster parent, you have a hugely important job and what you teach the pup stays with them for the rest of their lives. It can be very hard to believe that your influence for a year can mold a dog, but it's really true.

After you send your puppy away to Guide Dog 'college' they go through a 10 phase training program which generally takes 4-6 months to complete. Once your puppy has made it through those ten steps, they get paired with a blind partner that they work with for about 6 weeks. After that, a miracle happens. You get the letter telling you that your puppy is graduating. Not only that, but you get invited to the ceremony!

I've been to three graduation ceremonies and still get choked up when I talk about them. At a graduation, you get to spend about an hour with your puppy and the person that they will be paired with for the rest of their lives. Did you know that a dog can remember and recognize a person by their scent for up to three years? Keeping that in mind, imagine this grown-up dog that you had in your life for a year seeing you and turning back into a 6 month old puppy. It's amazing. They see you and go crazy!

After getting to know your puppy's partner you go to the ceremony. This is the part where most people cry. When your partner's name is called, you take the puppy that you raised on stage and get to give a little speech about your experience with that dog. And you get to hand the leash over and officially start your dog's career.

The really cool part of starting a dog's career, however, is that you are starting so much more. By agreeing to take in a puppy and turn them into a 'good dog,' you give someone their freedom and their life back. It's a very hard feeling to explain, but it's the most real feeling that you will ever have in your life.

For the past 5 years, I have devoted a huge chunk of my time and my life to this glorious program. I have NEVER felt it to be a sacrifice.

If you're at all interested in becoming a raiser, donating to the cause (yes, it's not for profit and anything that you can do is GREATLY appreciated), or just learning more, feel free to visit Guide Dogs for the Blind online.