Graduation

Friday morning we left bright and early. The car was packed, the dogs were fed, and it was time to leave. We dropped Marley off at my parents house and started on our trip. We were about 30min in when I realized I had forgot my phone! So we backtracked, grabbed my phone, and re-started the trip. We drove through northern Utah, the bottom part of Idaho, and across Oregon. We battled tumbleweeds, drove past many farms, and marveled at the drive through the Columbia River Gorge (getting very excited for rafting and kayaking this summer in the process!). After about 12.5 hours, the last 2 of which were spent in pouring rain, we arrived at the hotel. Exhausted and excited, we went to sleep early.

Saturday morning I woke up early, excited for the day ahead. After a quick breakfast and park session for Rafferty and Hugo we drove to downtown Portland to checkout the sights. We drove around looking at all the cool bridges and finally found a market along the river's edge. It was the Portland Saturday Market. We walked along enjoying the gorgeous morning and looking at the city in general. I grabbed an awesome crepe with Marion Berries while we both ogled the Rogue Brewery booth.



Next we set out to head to Boring and the Guide Dogs for the Blind campus. We arrived right at 11:30 and headed down to the kennel kitchen to check in Rafferty. Next we met up with other raisers in the visitors center and prepared to head over to the dorms to meet our puppies and their new handlers! There were 6 dogs graduating, and with 4 of the raisers being local, there were some larger groups waiting for their reunion. We settled in a corner and waited for Millie and Mike to appear. Other guides walked by, and many happy reunions occurred.

Finally Millie appeared with Mike and an instructor walking down the hall. For this first reunion they have the graduates heel the guide dogs without a harness as they know how excited the dogs will be when seeing their raisers. When Mike reached us I had just enough time for a handshake and "Mike, I am Sarah" before Millie went wild! She was so cute: wiggling, jumping, sniffing, and licking all in a burst of excitement. I sat on the floor for a couple of minutes loving on her. Then she went over to Tom and had another excited reunion. Afterwards we sat down with Mike and just got to know him. Millie is his 6th guide dog over the last 3 decades. He seemed very happy with her, and she with him.






Millie was on a different collar than the other dogs graduating. She only had a martingale because she was just so easy to handle. This is perfect for Mike as he has some other health issues that would not work well with a very strong dog. He kept describing walking with Millie as "taking a relaxing walk in the park." We did formal pictures and then I was left alone with Millie before the actual graduation ceremony. We hung out in a small room with the other raisers and guides while we waited for our chance to go on stage and present our pups. I don't actually remember all that I said. Something about how we always hear about how great of a match GDB makes, and just how amazing it is to see with a pup you had raised. I also joked about people asking me why I was driving 13 hours for a dog graduation and my response that is was not just any dog...it was Millie!

After graduation we hung out and chatted a little more with Mike. I gave Millie her presents (a sterilized bone, Nylabone, and Kong with peanut butter stuffin), and exchanged phones numbers and addresses with Mike so I could send a completed photo album later on. Mike lives just about 2 hours from campus, and by this time his son in-law had arrived to pick him up. We said our final goodbyes, snapped a couple of pictures, and watched Millie walk away.

Afterwards we went down to the kennel kitchen to pick up Rafferty. There I met Martha and Kristin, her current puppy. After chatting and getting the customary picture of the board we headed back to the gift shop, where I met the couple who had volunteered and driven down to pick up Millie and the other "recalled" dogs back in October. Finally, all good-byes said, we headed back into Portland.

There we had a great dinner at the Rogue Brewery public house. We loved the growlers you could buy (they had a lab on them!). Then it was time to go back to the hotel and sleep so we could make the long drive back the next day. Graduation was such an amazing experience...I would not have missed it for the world!!!

Dog Distracted Guide Dog

I ran into a tricky situation today. I was walking with Sterling, and as we came to an intersection, there was already a guide team waiting there. As soon as the guide saw Sterling, he started jumping up and down and became VERY distracted. The handler gave him corrections, but the dog continued to focus on Sterling. I called out that I had a dog and backed up several feet (I was already 10 ft away!) to give them space to work it out. When it came time for them to cross, the handler told the dog forward, and the dog almost ran him into a car that was blocking the cross walk (stopped car).

The dog also ran his head into a pedestrian that was passing by the team. I followed behind them...unfortunalty this is the way I had to go...and the dog kept spinning around to look at Sterling. When we got to the crub, the team stopped, and I called out my position as I passed behind them.

I am wondering if I should call the school so that the handler can get some help reworking with his dog? I would say maybe they were having a bad day...but one other time we ran into this team, the guide ran the handler into a railing looking back a Sterling.

What would you do....any suggestions? Also, was what I did in the situation correct, anything that would have been more helpful? I did make sure Sterling did not stare at the other dog, nor did bark or anything like that....

New puppy

On November 17th, 2007, Tom and I got our first Guide Dogs for the Blind puppy. His name is Sterling, and he is a male black lab. He was born on September 10, 2007 to Denzel and Parkay. He has a brother, Shaw, in our club, Summit Guide Dogs. Another sibling is his brother Sparky who is being raised in the Utah County club.

I should have worn a white shirt! All of our club members who got black pups were wearing dark shirts! Sterling was 13.5 lbs when we got him.

Getting Sterling from the puppy truck.

We are slowly working towards housetraining. Sterling seems to have a very small margin for controling his bladder, when he has to go, he has to go right then! This has meant a couple accidents where he has pee'ed on people, myself and Tom included. However, he is very smart, and has learned kennel, come, sit, wait (to a small degree), and no! We are well on our way to a good 'Do your buisness' response as well!

Thats all for now. More stories to come about Sterling and my other amazing dogs; Dante, Marley and Hugo.