New Puppy!

On Monday we got assigned puppies to work with (in addition to our adult dogs). I got assigned a 4 1/2 month yellow lab puppy named Xian (pronounced "she-ahn"). The reason for the X name is because every time a litter is born, they name that litter according to a letter of the alphabet. If you can believe it, this is the second time they've gone all the way through the alphabet naming litters. This was the X litter-so they had to get really creative and think up a bunch of X names. Xian's coat is yellow, but her skin tone and eyes are the same as a chocolate lab-she has green eyes and liver colored nose and lips. I learned that's called a "choc-top" (chocolate lab coloring/yellow lab coat) Anyhow, she's super sweet and smart as a whip. She's really eager to work but does have a tendency to bark when she's bored or wanting her breakfast. As we all know, learning patience is a process! Kyria and I will be taking pictures of the puppies tonight so hopefully I'll be able to have them posted in the next day or so.

This week we've started lectures on the more detailed aspects of running a service dog organization as well as lectures on dog training (yahoo!!) as well as puppy training in the morning and adult dog training in the afternoon. Today we had a three hour lecture on disability studies. Kyria was way ahead of the game here since she has a concentration (at WVU) on Disability Studies, but it's been awhile for me-so the refresher was good.

We've also started kennel duties this week. Instead of class starting at 9am we now start at 7:15 cleaning kennels. We've been broken up into groups, each group assigned a specific kennel task: cleaning, feeding and monitoring/scooping (which I call poop scoop and babysitting). This week my group is scooping poop and babysitting. This means that we scoop all the poop in the kennels first thing so the cleaning teams can disinfect and spray without having to worry about picking up poo-and then we babysit play groups to make sure all the kids (dogs) play nicely-with so many dogs, this is an important job. We don't want any dogs being bullies or getting bullied on the playground (ya'll think I'm joking, but I'm serious!) Everyone has to learn how to play nicely with others :)

Kyria's birthday is on Thursday so (naturally) we're already making plans. Thursday (the big day) we'll go out to dinner with everyone to celebrate....and then extend the birthday celebrations into the weekend. Saturday I think we'll go shopping at some outlets in Napa, do manicures and pedicures and on Sunday do a wine tour. We have Monday off and will be shortly making plans for that day as well. Can't wait! Thank you to Debbie, Kyria's mom for sending the peanut butter fudge!! It's delicious! Also, thanks to my mom and dad for sending a stack of adorable pictures of my baby girl!

Visit paws4people for more information about our Assistance Dog programs, NPOFundingSolutionS for more information about our nonprofit fundraising programs, and CharityRaffles.org to purchase online raffle tickets, support our programs and Win $1Million!