Boeing

Its not often I get to puppy or dog sit for other raisers, guide dog users, and ambassadors. So when I get the opportunity I get really excited. This weekend I'm taking care of Boeing or "boeing 747" as my brother likes to call him. He's an ambassador dog for the program, a 6 year old 60 lb yellow lab. He was dropped from the guide program for hip displasia  but has a great temperament.
Ambassador dogs are dogs that have been dropped from the guide dog program but are still used to educate the public about GDD and service dogs. They don't go out as much as the puppies do but they still love to work. Boeing gets super excited when I pick up his jacket. Today I took him out to lunch with me to visit two good friends. Christine is a fellow puppy raiser who is part of the California group and raising 8 month old black lab Pistol. Laura is one of my best friends who's attending the naval academy. It was super great to see both of them and catch up on puppy raising stories and college life.
I love the opportunity to work with other dogs because it teaches me to adapt to the temperaments of different dogs. Its nice to work with Boeing because he is an older dog and there for he already know what's acceptable behavior and what's not. When I puppy sit pups in training its a lot different because they often have bad behavior that needs to be corrected. I fell very accomplished when I get emails from raisers after watching their pups for a few days - weeks and they say "he's so much better behaved what did you do???". That's how you know your on the path to being a great trainer.
That's all for now,
Girl + Boeing (for the weekend )