Five Years
-> I wrote this a couple of weeks ago and just go everything finished up..< :)
Dear Sixteen Year Old Me,
Five years ago, today your life changed. As a kid, one of your dreams was to work with animals, especially dogs, in some capacity, but as you grew older your childhood fantasies started to fade, as the realities of life started to dawn on you. You were very persistent in your “Erin-Needs-A-Dog” campaign, from ages 8 to about 12 when your parents finally gave in and got you the families first pet dog. Though a dachshund wasn’t first on your list of desirable animals, you were over joyed at the thought of having a dog.
Fast forward a couple of years, you are now 15 years old, Bubbles is about five, she doesn’t play much, she doesn’t walk on a leash, she sleeps all day, and is kind of boring to have around to be honest. The puppy fever bug bites you quietly and you start talking to your parents about getting a bigger dog.
You were shot down pretty quickly as your dad says: “Big dogs = Big poop”. Words of wisdom not doubt. However that niggling desire was still there, though you did your best to squelch it. Later on that year, your piano teachers blind friend brought her guide dog to your Christmas Recital.
A few weeks later, on a cold January night, you met your first guide dog puppy and started down the road you are on today. Seabee was his name, he was four month old black lab, being raised for Southeastern Guide Dogs. He was attending a 4-H Achievement Award Night with his raiser, you were playing a piece for the club “choir” and only got a glimpse of him as you raced around trying to get prepared for the coming events.
Do you remember the surprise you felt, when your mother not only beat you too the lady, and ask questions, but positively indicated that perhaps you (as in your family) might get involved with that program? How you excitedly told your (very un-enthusiastic) friends about the possibility? Most of your excitement stemmed from the thought of a dog + going places with it, rather than a deep commitment to helping people. My how things have changed.
That was a Tuesday Night. By the weekend, you had sent in your application to become a puppy raiser, had been contacted by the local area coordinator and attended your first “puppy meeting” and was wading through the “puppy raiser manual” every chance you could.
In February, you attended your second puppy meeting, and set up a “home visit” with the area coordinator. This visit is what finally brought your father on board with the whole thing. Basically she explained the program to the family with the help of her current pup a male Viszla named Rusty. Basically you and your family were committing to raising a 7-8 week old puppy until it was about 18 months old. You would be teaching it basic commands, taking it every where with you and attending monthly meetings with the area coordinator (A/C) and other puppy raisers in the area.
Though a bit worried about your dachshunds initial response to Rusty entering the house, we were all set to get our puppy and I couldn’t wait. However the six-eight month wait was daunting...how in the world would I survive?
The next several months were spent dreaming, planning, writing lists, checking them twice, re-writing them, looking up every possible piece of information about guide dogs, guide dog puppies, Golden Retrievers, Labs, Viszlas. When your mother coerced you into asked you to do a 4-H presentation, there was no second thought about what your topic was going to be.
The day you were set to present your topic, to your home-school group, you asked the A/C if you could borrow Rusty for the day. This was the day you found out that the Guide Dog Foundation, though in the complete opposite direction of SEGDI had puppies that would be ready within a month, and “did you want to apply there?”
Why was this even a question?
By the day’s end, my application to GDF was in and you were soon sent an email letting you know you have a male Golden Retriever in your arms in early June.
-----
June 10, 2006 I received my first guide dog puppy. I haven’t been without one since.*
Why was this day so life changing, you ask? To be honest I don’t exactly know, perhaps it was because I had to grow up a little, to think outside my box, to something else before me and what I wanted to do.. perhaps it was because I realized I “had arrived”, achieved my goal of working with animals. Perhaps it was because I finally felt like I was good at something. (well with the exception of potty training) With dog training, the results are instant, if you are doing what you are supposed to, you will see it in the pups behavior, if you aren’t...then that is evident as well.
Jake didn’t make it as a guide due to behavioral issues and was taken from our home days after that decision was made. A few weeks later we started with guide dog puppy number two.
My life has changed a lot in the last five years, I never would have imagined all the things that have happened in the last five years, the knowledge I've gained...its, in a word, crazy.
I wonder if my parents realized how serious I was about sticking with this. They had NO CLUE I would march over sixteen dogs (not counting visiting pooches) through their lives/home over the last five years.
Rei, Midnight, Tim, Veda, Ben, Gideon, Hope, Ira, Eden, Daniel, Victoria, Pompei, Rob.
My reply?
“Knowing the impact each dog has on his new life partner, whether they "make it" or not."
Jake with his family, the freedom Rei gives her handler to go and dog, and be as a busy mother of three, the countless lives Midnight gets to change as she delivers litter after litter of new future guide dogs, not to mention the enriching she is giving her breeder keepers life; Tim, Veda giving a little boy the confidence to face the big strange world, Ben so sweetly watching Cole as they tackle life with autism, Gideon, Hope, Ira, Eden and the happiness he brings to his puppy raising family, Daniel, Victoria as a facility dog, Pompei and the potential he has and Rob even on my life now.
With all this love just waiting to be given to someone, who am I to keep it to myself?
*Two weeks is about the longest I’ve been without a service animal in training of any kind
Fast forward a couple of years, you are now 15 years old, Bubbles is about five, she doesn’t play much, she doesn’t walk on a leash, she sleeps all day, and is kind of boring to have around to be honest. The puppy fever bug bites you quietly and you start talking to your parents about getting a bigger dog.
You were shot down pretty quickly as your dad says: “Big dogs = Big poop”. Words of wisdom not doubt. However that niggling desire was still there, though you did your best to squelch it. Later on that year, your piano teachers blind friend brought her guide dog to your Christmas Recital.
A few weeks later, on a cold January night, you met your first guide dog puppy and started down the road you are on today. Seabee was his name, he was four month old black lab, being raised for Southeastern Guide Dogs. He was attending a 4-H Achievement Award Night with his raiser, you were playing a piece for the club “choir” and only got a glimpse of him as you raced around trying to get prepared for the coming events.
Do you remember the surprise you felt, when your mother not only beat you too the lady, and ask questions, but positively indicated that perhaps you (as in your family) might get involved with that program? How you excitedly told your (very un-enthusiastic) friends about the possibility? Most of your excitement stemmed from the thought of a dog + going places with it, rather than a deep commitment to helping people. My how things have changed.
That was a Tuesday Night. By the weekend, you had sent in your application to become a puppy raiser, had been contacted by the local area coordinator and attended your first “puppy meeting” and was wading through the “puppy raiser manual” every chance you could.
In February, you attended your second puppy meeting, and set up a “home visit” with the area coordinator. This visit is what finally brought your father on board with the whole thing. Basically she explained the program to the family with the help of her current pup a male Viszla named Rusty. Basically you and your family were committing to raising a 7-8 week old puppy until it was about 18 months old. You would be teaching it basic commands, taking it every where with you and attending monthly meetings with the area coordinator (A/C) and other puppy raisers in the area.
Though a bit worried about your dachshunds initial response to Rusty entering the house, we were all set to get our puppy and I couldn’t wait. However the six-eight month wait was daunting...how in the world would I survive?
The next several months were spent dreaming, planning, writing lists, checking them twice, re-writing them, looking up every possible piece of information about guide dogs, guide dog puppies, Golden Retrievers, Labs, Viszlas. When your mother coerced you into asked you to do a 4-H presentation, there was no second thought about what your topic was going to be.
The day you were set to present your topic, to your home-school group, you asked the A/C if you could borrow Rusty for the day. This was the day you found out that the Guide Dog Foundation, though in the complete opposite direction of SEGDI had puppies that would be ready within a month, and “did you want to apply there?”
 |
| Rusty and I practicing a "leave it" |
Why was this even a question?
By the day’s end, my application to GDF was in and you were soon sent an email letting you know you have a male Golden Retriever in your arms in early June.
-----
June 10, 2006 I received my first guide dog puppy. I haven’t been without one since.*
 |
| Jake sits next to me, at 12 weeks old. |
 |
| Six month old Jake, lays in the floor |
Why was this day so life changing, you ask? To be honest I don’t exactly know, perhaps it was because I had to grow up a little, to think outside my box, to something else before me and what I wanted to do.. perhaps it was because I realized I “had arrived”, achieved my goal of working with animals. Perhaps it was because I finally felt like I was good at something. (well with the exception of potty training) With dog training, the results are instant, if you are doing what you are supposed to, you will see it in the pups behavior, if you aren’t...then that is evident as well.
Jake didn’t make it as a guide due to behavioral issues and was taken from our home days after that decision was made. A few weeks later we started with guide dog puppy number two.
My life has changed a lot in the last five years, I never would have imagined all the things that have happened in the last five years, the knowledge I've gained...its, in a word, crazy.
 |
| They called and said "Come pick him up!" For fourteen months you'll train this pup. Every outing I took, at my left side they'd be. From school to shopping they'd accompany me. I knew from the beginning that one day we'd part. So I tried not to love them with all of my heart. They days were getting shorter, the weeks were passing by, soon would come the time that we'd have to say good-bye. I'll never forget tears cried that day, when I opened my inbox and read I.F.Tay..(grins). I took them to the airport, and said my sweet goodbyes. And wish them luck and happiness in becoming someones eyes. By Cindy (last name unknown) - Re worded by Erin |
I wonder if my parents realized how serious I was about sticking with this. They had NO CLUE I would march over sixteen dogs (not counting visiting pooches) through their lives/home over the last five years.
Rei, Midnight, Tim, Veda, Ben, Gideon, Hope, Ira, Eden, Daniel, Victoria, Pompei, Rob.
Note: Not all of those dogs were from the Guide Dog Foundation, some were dogs I trained with a local service dog organization for up to two months at a time. Not to mention the dogs I worked with on site.“How can you give them up?”
My reply?
“Knowing the impact each dog has on his new life partner, whether they "make it" or not."
Jake with his family, the freedom Rei gives her handler to go and dog, and be as a busy mother of three, the countless lives Midnight gets to change as she delivers litter after litter of new future guide dogs, not to mention the enriching she is giving her breeder keepers life; Tim, Veda giving a little boy the confidence to face the big strange world, Ben so sweetly watching Cole as they tackle life with autism, Gideon, Hope, Ira, Eden and the happiness he brings to his puppy raising family, Daniel, Victoria as a facility dog, Pompei and the potential he has and Rob even on my life now.
With all this love just waiting to be given to someone, who am I to keep it to myself?
*Two weeks is about the longest I’ve been without a service animal in training of any kind
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