The Excitement Builds

I'm wiggling like a puppy. I just can't wait!

I received my leash and tie down, and Stacy's ID card in the mail today. Normally those items come with a puppy, but since this is a transfer dog, Guide Dogs mailed them to me.

At any rate, the 6 foot braided leather leash with it's shiny silver clips is ready, and so am I!

Here puppy ....

only 76 hours till she gets here.

Too much bleach?

Well, it looks like our 8 week old black lab female has morphed into a 10 week old yellow lab female named "Stacy". And, no, we didn't bleach her!

We have been ask to take on a transfer dog. Sometimes guide dog raisers are unable to take care of a puppy for the full 12-16 months until the puppy is ready to go to college. Life happens, and Stacy needed a new home.

By all accounts, Stacy is a wonderful little girl. Stacy has already learned how to sit, and understands the command "do your business."

For those of you who haven't raised a guide dog, the "do your business" command allows a dog to relieve itself (go potty). Guide dogs are only allowed to relieve on command.

I'll admit I'm a little disappointed that we won't get to share in weeks 8-10 of the puppy's life. Puppies are just so much fun when they are tiny.

We meet Stacy on Sunday, 1/3/10. I'm looking forward to welcoming the wee beastie into my life.

It's a girl!

We've learned that we will be raising a female black lab. The only other details are that her name starts with "P" and we pick her up in 8 days.

Anticipation

We've been attending club meetings since September, learning how to care for a guide dog puppy. Next week, Paul and I will meet the "puppy truck" and bring home an 8-week old puppy. Then we'll take care of the wee beastie for about a year. If we do our job well, the wee beastie will grow into a happy, healthy, well-behaved dog and go on to puppy college and eventually become a guide dog for the blind.

What, you ask, is our job? Well, it starts with providing the basics, food, water, and a safe place to live and play. House manners come next, including training the puppy to relieve on command. Then we do some basic training -- sit, stay, come, ... And finally we need to socialize the puppy, which means exposing him or her to lots of different environments, animals, and people.

Him or her? We don't yet know whether our puppy will be male or female, but there are currently more females available than males, so the puppy will probably be a female. As to the breed, it may be a lab/retriever mix or a lab. I hope it is a mix, because they seem to be a little easier to train.

Our puppy? Well, the puppy won't really be "ours." The puppy belongs to "Guide Dogs for the Blind," www.guidedogs.com. We are simply volunteer puppy raisers. Nonetheless, I am a bit concerned about how it will feel to give up the wee beastie when he is ready for format guide dog training.

Here boy ...