"How I Got My Guide Dog Puppy"

I first heard about Guide Dogs for the Blind from my friend, Erika.  She started raising her guide dog, Tanaca, in eighth grade and I really wanted to do it too.  The only problem was, my parents wouldn’t let me.  My dad said that he didn’t want to have to give the dog back, and we already had a Golden Retriever.  Then, two more of my friends started raising Guide Dogs, and I ended up giving up.

The next year, I started high school at Shenandoah.  We were assigned a project where we were to interview a person whom we admired.  I chose my friend, Erika, who was raising her Guide Dog.  Then, I really got into the project, and my mom suggested doing some background research on the Guide Dog Program.  So I got onto the Guide Dogs for the Blind website and printed a whole lot of information.  Then, I found myself learning a lot about it and started wanting to do it again.  I told my mom and she decided that she too wanted to raise one.  The only thing standing in my way now was my dad. 

A couple days later I talked to my dad.  He told me to let him think about it for a while.  After a few days and after asking him over and over again, I got the answer.  My dad said the puppy could stay for about six weeks.  Then, if there weren’t too many problems and if Brandi(our Golden Retriever) was ok with the dog, then we could raise the puppy.

I then contacted Erika and asked her how to get a puppy.  She told me I had to fill out a lot of forms and go to about four meetings, be approved by the leader, and then I’d get my puppy.

After I had attended all the meetings, Terry (the Guide Dog leader) told me I would get my puppy in a couple of weeks.  Shortly after that, I was at home sick and Terry called for my mom and I told her she wasn’t home but that she could call my mom’s cell phone.  Then she asked why I was at home when I should be at school.  I told her I was sick.  Her answer was, “Well you better get better because you’re going on a trip this weekend.”  Then we hung up.  A minute later I thought about it.  We didn’t have a meeting that weekend.  Then I got up and called my mom.  She told me we were getting our puppy that weekend!

The day before I was getting my puppy, a friend of mine came over to stay the night, as she was going to go with me to get my puppy.  We stayed up half the night and in the morning we both jumped out of bed and got ready in a hurry.

The Guide Dogs for the Blind school in San Rafael was very pretty and the grounds were really pretty with flowers and trees all over.  We went into the Puppy Department with another lady, who was getting ready to give her dog back to Guide Dogs for the next phase of training.  We ended up waiting about ten minutes before we were led to the department where we would receive our puppy.  Finally, when we were taken to the property facility, a lady told me about how to take care of my puppy and what to use.  She gave me a free bag of dog food, and another bag with all of his other things, including the Heartguard, Advantage, ear cleaner, tooth brush and tooth paste and a whole bunch of other stuff.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, I got “Drew”.  He was so small and so cute!  I’ve only had him for six weeks, but he’s a great dog and he’s doing great with all the training.  He already knows that he needs to go to the back door when he needs to go out to do “his business.”

I work as an “intern” at the U.C. Cooperative Extension with Carol Martin, who is another Guide Dog raiser, and Drew comes with me every Tuesday and Thursday.  He’s a great dog and I hope that he will go on to the next phase of his training and that he will finally graduate!  It will be a great day when I see Drew go across the graduation stage with his new companion!