Happy Halloween!

Golden Retriever, Marigold, dressed up as a marigold flower with her raiser, Anna of Arendelle.

A New Direction

It has been way too long to recap the past many months, so things will reveal themselves as they come up.  Ving went into formal training in July.  We hadn't reached 0 issues, but he was ready for the next step of his training.  Then, 2 weeks ago, Ving was the Demo dog at the Guide Dogs for the Blind graduation.  He was in Phase 7, the last phase before final testing.  Alas, today, I got the call that Ving had been Career Changed for distractability.  Reading the report, he was a lot of dog (which we knew, but hoped he would still fit the guide dog mold).   He also did not take to the kennel environment with the enthusiasm I thought he would.  We are hoping for Community Placement for the big guy.  Anyway, not exactly a great start to the week!

Ving prior to boarding the Puppy Truck in July

Esme is a graduate!

Our sweet (and smart!) Esme graduated as a guide dog just 3 fast months (to the day!) after returning for formal training.   She will be working in Oregon.   We had a short, but very sweet, reunion with our girl prior to graduation, in what ended up being a whirlwind trip to Portland (who doesn't love 26 hours in the car for a 3 1/2 day trip?).  Congratulations to Esme and her new friend, Charlotta!

Esme in harness!

Wordless Wednesday

This makes me laugh...