"Returning Zach"

Zach is the fifth Guide Dog Puppy my family and I have raised; and we had  him for almost fifteen months before he had to be returned to Guide Dogs. Zach was a wonderful dog to raise, and everyone in my family absolutely adored him, which made returning him even harder. No matter how many Guide Dog pups you have raised, and returned, it does not make the process any less difficult. Every dog we have raised has been unique and we have loved each one with all of our hearts, and dreaded the day we would have to return them to their birth place.

            When Zach’s recall letter arrived in the mail, everyone in my family was saddened at the thought of not having Zach around. We had expected the letter, however hoped that it wouldn’t come. From this point forward, it got hard to be around Zach without thinking that he has no idea of what is to come. It feels terrible to consider that he will be left confused as to why he is not with us anymore. In Zach’s last month with us, I tried to spend as much time with him as I could. I spent a little extra time training him each day, so that his so his commands would be perfect by the time he went back to Guide dogs. The day when we would have to return Zach seemed to approach rapidly. Zach’s last few days with us were probably great for him, because of all the attention he was receiving; however they were very gloomy for my family and me.

            When the time arrived to take Zach down to Guide Dogs, it was hard to come to terms with the realization that in a few hours Zach wouldn’t be in my home with me anymore. I loaded him into the back seat of the car with me, and rode next to him the whole way down to San Rafael . I paid attention to him the entire car ride. I could tell he was baffled as to why I was so sad; after all, being left at the Guide center was not something he was expecting. When we arrived at the Guide Dog center, I got him out of the car and slowly started to make my way inside.

            Zach, my mom, and I went to the kennel kitchen were we would be instructed were to take Zach. After a couple of minutes, a man walked in, pointed to my confused pup, and asked if he was Zach. Then he led us to the cage that Zach would live in for the time he would spend at Guide Dogs, and left us to say good-bye. We spent a few minutes with Zach, gave him a couple of hugs, then put him in his cage and walked away. My heart sunk, and tears welled up in my eyes as I left my puppy all alone. I looked back at him, his ears were perked up, and there was a look of confusion in his eyes. This made me even more upset to think that he didn’t understand how we could’ve loved him for more than a year, and then leave him. Going home without Zach was very difficult to say the least.