Not that we're counting...

But there are approximately 16 hours until we pick up Tai (and 42 until Paige comes home).

Can you tell we've been puppy deprived?

Waiting for Tai...

We are beside ourselves. We're on puppy watch 2007. You see, with Liam now graduated (and not going in for training until he was 22 mos) we have not had a puppy since November of 2004.

That was a long time ago.

And yes, Paige is a puppy, but a really BIG puppy - 16 mos now. But there is something about the little guys: their little faces, the Frito-feet, the puppy-breath.

We realized that after raising two graduates, we realized that some of the puppy toys were... threadbare to say the least. Our boys were not especially destructive (and were given Kongs when they were ) so much has survived their puppy hoods, but we decided to get some new things. We went a little crazy on the petedge.com site, new soft toys, new travel bowls, and Big Sister Paige got a pretty new collar. Oh, and let us not forget, the ubiquitous busy bags.

So we have all this stuff, waiting for Tai. And waiting and waiting.

Friday can't come soon enough.

Oh Where Has My Big Dog Gone?

Well, all, there hasn't been a whole lot to post on, mostly because... we haven't had a dog recently. A week and a half ago, Paige went back to the guide dog school for her breeder evaluation. Our school keeps its own breeding colony, and sometimes if they see lines they like or want to continue, they will keep that litter intact and then evaluate them (males now at 12 mos and females at 15 mos).

Paige will have her heart, eyes, and hips checked, as well as a temperment test. The temperment test is the other reason we didn't want to blog about it immediately - we had concerns. Don't get us wrong, she is sweet as can be and not an unfaithful bone in her body can be found, but - she doesn't like the crate. This was brought to our attention by other puppy raisers who have watched Paige (hi, Jenny!) and discovered that she refuses to get into the crate. After seeing this for ourselves, with just a week and a half left before Paige left for her eval, we were concerned. The pups are transported by crates in vans.... and if Paige (all 75lbs+ of her) refused, there may be problems.

We spent the next week and a half feeding her in the crate, putting her toys in the crate, and having a very sweet friend of ours with a crate in her SUV come to help Paige practice. She will now go in the crate - she isn't really happy about it, but she will go in. And as the guide dog school says, it's not the stress, it's how they recover from it.

We heard last week - Paige passed the temperment test. This means that yes, she did get in the crate (hallelujah) and she recovered after she got out. This means she will go on to have the rest of the medical tests.

And then we wait. If her hips, eyes, and heart are all perfect, it is POSSIBLE (and only possible) that she could be made a breeding female, to have little guide dogs rather than be one herself.

(Paige and her brother Palmer. Yes, she is the bigger of the two.)

On a side note, even if she is perfect, she could still be fixed and turned in for training. Both of our boys before were kept intact (14 mos and 16 mos respectively) before the school decided that they wanted them in for training rather than as potential dads - even though they were sound medically and tempermentally. The ironic thing is, it seems that we will always have a dog that is kept in tact - Voight, at 14 mos was quite the ladies' man, and Liam, at 16 mos liked to sniff EVERY blade of grass before choosing to get busy. They couldn't help it, it was being an intact male. So having an intact female - heck, why not?

And speaking of boys...

Tai, who is not quite seven weeks right now, will be home on Friday.

Second Dog, Second Guide

We still haven't sufficiently recovered from the weekend. Graduation is, above all things, emotionally draining. It is wonderful and inspirational, but this second time around, we discovered the same thing as the first time: it takes a lot out of you.

There will be much more posted, including pictures, but we wanted to update you on Liam. We went to GDA (having first had breakfast with Jenny, Lomax's puppyraiser) and then met with Louise, the head of the puppy department. Here's the drill: you sit in the room, waiting, and she asks who for the puppyraisers is speaking (this time it was Amy), and then she tells you what you can and cannot say. I hate to say it, but it is straight out of the Charlie Brown cartoons - "blah blah blah blah". You want to see your dog. Except, it's not your dog anymore. The puppy you raised has bonded to a person who will depend on them for so much. And that's exactly what they are bred for, why we all do this.

But you still want to see them.

We met a very nice lady, who is Liam's partner. She's in love. She absolutely loves our "small black bear" (who was looking small after our robust girl Paige). She raved about his obedience, but also his loving, healing nature. Also a great plus: before she was given Liam, she had hit it off with another graduate - who happened to get Lomax. It figures that the "brudders" would have graduates who were friends.

It was great to see everyone there and feel so supported - not only were my parents and Matthew's mom there, but our first pup we raised Voight, with his partner. She said that she wanted to see Voight's "little brother" graduate.

How cool is that?

We've since had an update from Liam, from his partner's daughter. She said that Liam must be doing well, because every day, when her mom gets home with Liam, her mom says, "good boy Liam, good job".

It's such a humbling experience to raise these dogs, and to know their people. Truly Voight's and Liam's partners have no reason to know us... except that we raised their dogs, and that bond - that we all love Liam and Voight - is strong enough to make a friendship, a relationship, or even a passing acquaintance. Now that graduation is done, we miss Liam a lot, but we know he's doing what he was born and raised for, and we couldn't be more proud.

There's the strangest excitement today

There's the strangest excitement today

if you're awake then you're welcome to hear.

I got a gift and it blew me away

from the far eastern sea straight to here

Oh God I feel like I'm in for it now,

it's like the rush has gone straight to my brain.

But my voice is as lonely as loud,

as I whisper the joy of this pain.

And suddenly,

you've done it all.

You've won me over,

in no time at all.

from The Gift, by Angels and Airwaves

We get to see Liam for the first time tomorrow in six months - and for the first time as a guide and with his new partner.

Wouldn't have it any other way.

Pages of Paige...

Now that I think we have the hang of this... meet Paige. Isn't she beautiful? She is our exception in many ways, and we love her for all of them. Paige is also a puppy in training for GDA, but her story is, in many ways, very different. We had been married only a few weeks, when (and this is always a fateful call) the school called. Could we possibly take a dog for a month? At this point, missing Liam terribly, how could we not?

Paige was given to us because her former puppy raisers could not complete their obligation, and there our adventure begins. We had never raised a girl before... and what a girl she is. In the few short days we had had her, she already had been nicknamed "our delicate little flower" or "tiny fragile blossom". Let's put it this way: diminutive she ain't. Paige came to us full into the adolescent stage where she was puppy brain and dog body, and didn't know where the rest of herself was located... hence, running into the coffee table became a hourly occurrence. And ladylike? Not so much... can this pup BELCH - and not just every once in a while. After EVERY meal, every drink. Finally, not being veterinarians, we're not sure if dogs have a septum. But if they do, it's deviated, because this girl snores as if every nap were her last!

Lest you think that she is all goofball, she is also the very sweetest dog we have ever met. Her mission in life is to love and be loved. She is never happier than to be in your lap (70+ lapdog), being scratched on the adorable white star on her chest. When she came to us, she was quite skittish, was afraid even to cradle. Once she figured out that that meant we were going to rub her belly... she was insistent that we do it more. Even now as she goes to work with us, all we have to say is "good girl, Paige" to see her tail thump contentedly. Voight and Liam were sweet boys, loved to give kisses, but they would want to lay NEXT to you, maybe NEAR you. Paige wants to be touching you, just in case you need a very gentle slurp.

It was love at first sight.

Paige's obedience has improved drastically, and this month GDA decided that it was best that she remain with us for the remainder of her training. She's learned that it is necessary to wait before food, to stay laying down at work, and that socks are NOT toys.

We think that Paige will be a great big sister to Tai, who (like our friend Jenny's Truman) is coming soon March 9. Stay tuned, same dog-time, same dog-channel.

In The Beginning....

There was a middle. Well, we must say that it's not easy to start a blog smack-dab in the middle of everything. Let us digress, make a few introductions, and then we will continue.

We are amy and matt, volunteer puppy raisers for Guide Dogs of America. We became involved nearly five years ago when we were looking for dog of our own (since we were already owned by two cats). We visited the Orange County Pet Expo, a truly mind boggling place for all things animal. We patted and petted, were slurped by every permutation of dog possible, and then we stumbled upon the row where all the service organizations were housed. We ended up talking to a very nice couple ( now friends of ours) representing GDA who told us all about the organization, and invited us to the annual Open House. That turned out to be the kicker: amy would be graduating with her Master's degree that day - we couldn't go. We didn't get a dog that day, but we did hang on to the GDA application.

We talked about it, pondered, gnashed our teeth, and finally sent in our application about eight months later. We interviewed... and began the wait for our first puppy. In the interim, we watched other puppies for their raisers "puppy sitting": adorable Cayla, sweet Courage, the thieving Tanner, mama's boy Westin, beautiful Landon, michievious Gus, the perfect (and now very silly) Jetta... there were ten in all. Before THE CALL came.

Louise, the puppy dept. head at GDA, called. "Male or female?"
Did she have to ask? We would have taken three legged at that point. Ironically, I was already on the phone with Matthew. I clicked over.

"Okay, dear, male or female?" He chose male. A black male, letter V would be coming home July 28, 2003.



Yes, there began our first dog Voight. I'm sure we will tell you more about Voight as time goes on, but we learned and laughed and cried with him. He was tall and lanky, a big beautiful boy. We called him Voighters, the Voight Monstrosity. We turned him in November 6, 2004. He graduated with his wonderful partner in July 31, 2005.

The part we skipped in all of this was Liam. Liam was our second puppy raised, coming home six days after we turned Voight in. We thought it was best to get another puppy while Voight was in for training. When we turned Voight in, all we could think was "We're doing this again? To have our hearts ripped out again?"

Yep. Liam was...amazing. A smart, gorgeous boy. Our "small black bear". He loved to play, loved to work, loved his "grandpa" and the boat. Oh yeah, did Liam ever love the water... and the snow. Liam had no fear and lived with such joy in his heart. We will be posting more and more about Liam, particularly since he is also brother to Lomax, whose raiser Jenny has become one of our best friends.
So here we are. The middle. We got the call again: Liam is graduating with his partner Heidi in a week. We are honored and grateful, and so excited to report to all of this that not only is Liam graduating, but will be joined by his brother and best friend, Lomax, who has also been matched.

There are also two more in this story, our Paige and soon to be Tai. You will see much more of them, but this post is starting to take on record breaking proportions.

This is not about the end. There are beginnings to come. Welcome to the middle.