Graduation

This past weekend Sunke graduated as a service dog with a paraplegic woman. This is her first service dog. She doesn't live far from me either. This was my first overnight trip without any dog in over 6 years. They asked that we didn't bring puppies in training to the graduate luncheon so I made the rough decision to leave Genevieve and Belle at home with my sister. I considered bringing her to CCI for someone to babysit during the luncheon but was too nervous about people I don't know all that well. I made sure I wrote out a schedule for my sister to follow. So this is what happened...

We left for Santa Rosa at about noon and after a stop at the Tracy Outlets managed to get to the hotel by 4 PM. I love the hotel. We checked in and hung around until the CCI reception got close. We showed up there and I instantly missed my baby dogs. I petted every dog that I could. While we were there we met up with Zastrow's family and set up a time to meet up with him the next morning. We also saw the woman we thought might be Sunke's graduate but we weren't sure. Looking back on it, we should have said "Hi" then. 

Then we went out to dinner at The Outback and then back to the hotel room. While there I called my puppies to make sure they were okay. 

The next morning we got up and went to

 the CCI campus to meet up with Zastrow (aka Buddie). He LOOKED so handsome and recognized me right away. Yay! He's going to be 5 this month and he was so cute. He is such a sweetheart and am so happy I got to see him. 

Then Lorna (the puppy program manager) came and found us. She said she had some "news". My first thought was what had Sunke done? Did he do something this morning that failed him? She told us that his graduate had gotten sick last night and was now at the hospital so we would be unable to meet her. This all kind of sucked because I enjoy getting to know the person who also loves Sunke and I also didn't get to give her his favorite toy and scrapbook. So instead of meeting our graduate we went and got Starbucks. Since this is our third time through graduation I skipped the procedure meeting and went straight to the luncheon. 

The food, served by the Lions Club, is ALWAYS good and this was no exception. Since I was feeling a bit lonely with no graduate I skipped out a little earlier and headed to the graduation to see the Sunkenator. I picked him up at the van where they confirmed that I would be giving the leash over to a trainer. 

Here he is, isn't he one of the most handsome boys ever? 

While at the graduation we were continuously looking for Lilac, Sunke's mom. She and her breeder caretaker said they would be there and we finally found them. I recognized her from the pictures that had been e-mailed to me. This was a special graduation because it was Lilac's first graduate puppy. 

During the graduation ceremony we got to see some of what Sunke was doing for his graduate and were pleased to see how good he was at his new job. Of course I cried a lot and it was worse because I had no dog to soothe it. 

After graduation, I said goodbye to all the puppies. I met up with the woman who runs the CCI prison program. One of the local CCI graduates just got a new dog and she wanted us to spy for her. I know the woman who got the dog and she is great. I wish I could remember her name. I know her dog's name was Georgie and she went to Stan State with me. 

What was weird is everyone kept calling Sunke: Soon-key instead of Sun-key. Talking to his breeder caretaker who named him, they confirmed that it is Sun-key and not Soon-key. I tried correcting people but no one really listened.  

During graduation I had someone say that the worst part of puppy raising wasn't turning in the dog. I don't agree with that AT ALL. Turn-in is by far the worst thing. She said that having your dog chew up a shoe is what's the worst. Each of my dogs have chewed only one thing that was serious. Yancie=bed post. Zastrow= wallet. Pismo= hair brush. Lacey= head phones. Sunke= remote. Diva= nothing yet. I try to keep a pretty good eye on them and haven't had anything chewed too badly. Usually they are only out of my eye sight for about one minute. She said the best moment was when they are matched. Again I have to disagree, the best moment is when they place that bundle of fur in your arms for the first time and you get puppy kisses. 

I haven't decided if I am going to puppy raise for a 7th time. It's a lot of work and it's really hard to give up a dog. I always consider making a runner to Mexico with every turn in. But I was scouting around for parents none the less. We did get to see Shira, Lacey's mom, during the graduation. Shira had another graduate. I saw this gorgeous breeder boy during graduation sitting behind Shira, his name turned out to be Lawrence. My mom was smart enough to ask who his father was, it was Baumann. No wonder I thought he was gorgeous! I love Baumann pups (Yancie, Pismo, and Sunke were all out of Baumann). So who knows? Out of five dogs I have had 3 graduates and Zastrow would have graduated if not for his medical problems (even the CCI trainers say he would have). I've been blessed with some pretty awesome dogs.