My sister has become part of the Seeing Eye/Companion dog universe; specifically she has volunteered to be part of the first step of the process. She has agreed to take a pair of new puppies for a total of 6 weekends per year, the puppies come to her at approximately 6 weeks of age and as you can see by the pictures, these puppies are little fatty’s. lol
The sleepyhead’s name is Blondie and the adorable one being hugged by my niece is named Bunny. I think that what my sister is doing is such an amazing thing, not only for herself and her family, but also for the Organization itself. I am sure that the Companion dog Organization enthusiastically accepts whatever help they can get and they fill such an important need in our society. These puppies will grow up to be, not only seeing eye dogs, but also seizure detecting dogs, epilepsy sensing dogs and the list goes on and on.
Moreover, my sister being accepted into the Organization’s fold, means she can follow the puppy’s progress through the training and socialization process. Once they are past a year old, they are introduced to the foster care system where dedicated families do a much more disciplined training and socialization process, this is serious work and I admire these families a lot because they are doing such hard work and not even keeping the dog after all is said and done.
Most importantly, I am very proud of my sister, I so admire what my sister is doing, it is 6 weekends a year and it is an important piece of the greater picture. I don’t think that I could do it, I would want to keep every puppy coming through my door and I’m sure that the Organization’s people would have to come to my house on a search and rescue mission because after a while, there is nothing left to explain missing puppies, except that they are being held beyond what the agreement originally stated. lol