We Interrupt this Blog for One of Our Favorite Dogs

While we love our pups, we love other puppies too and we wanted to share this story, as it is one of our favorites, as well as involves one of our favorite "other" dogs.

A very dear friend of ours raised Dusty, who is now six, and a working guide dog. Dusty's partner has had some medical problems that are preventing Dusty from working as a guide, so Dusty (or the Dust-Bucket as she is affectionately known) has been home with her puppy raiser for awhile. In order to keep her in public, she went to work with Amy a while ago. Dusty, being a dignified lady, is a bit more aloof than these "hi-pet-me-please" young pups. In Amy's office at her junior high school, Dusty was less than impressed with the bells, the kids banging on the door to talk to Amy, and the eager hands wanting to pet her. She calmly took it all in, looked around, and promptly took a nap.

Toward the end of the day, one of Amy's co-therapists came in to say hi, and process some cases. The other therapist asked if she could say hi to Dusty. Amy released Dusty from her (self imposed) down-stay. The other therapist began to baby-talk to Dusty, but when she did, she reverted back to her native Spanish. The change was amazing.

Dusty's ears went up and tail began to wag (Dusty is very unique in that when she wags, her tail is pointed down and only the tip moves, but the happier she is, the smaller and faster the wags). She ran to bring her new friend a toy. She even gave very gentle Dusty kisses, which are few and far between for most of us. And then Amy remembered - Dusty's partner speaks Spanish also. Upon further investigation, Amy's co therapist and Dusty's partner are from the same city.

Dusty is bilingual.

Dusty now has a permanent place in the therapist's heart, but the story doesn't stop there. Dusty's puppy raiser took her to visit her partner soon after - and she told Dusty's partner the story. He loved it, but not only that, he shared with everyone around about his amazing bilingual guide dog. He is so proud of her.

Below is Dusty, with our little Tai. It almost looks as if Tai is asking Dusty for her guide dog secrets...