Rocky - service dog #1

On December 4, 2005, Rocky, the first service dog we raised graduated from Service Dogs of Virginia. It was a proud moment for us. I wrote a few words to say at graduation, but my emotions got the better of me and all I could really do was cry. I managed a few bumbling words before the tears got in the way. What I had written for that day is below.

As puppy rasiers, much of our time is spent teaching the puppies what seems like so many individual skills. We're so busy working on the little specifics that we sometimes forget that there's a bigger picture.

It takes an event such as this graduation -- to see the puppy that you held in your hands at eight weeks of age working together with another person, doing something really important -- to realize the impact of what we're really doing.

We're not just house training a puppy.
We're not just teaching a puppy good manners.
We're teaching the puppy how to trust, how to bond, how to build a relationship with a person. How to be a friend and a helper.

A quote that I found some time ago has helped me through the hardest part of the puppy raising process, the turn in.
"Sometimes when you sacrifice something precious, you're not really losing it. You're just passing it on to someone else."

The Peace Corp's motto is it's "the toughest job you'll ever love."

Puppy raising is JUST like that.
It's hard.
It"s fun.
You'll meet more people through that puppy than you ever knew existed.
You'll laugh.
You'll inevitably cry. A lot.
And you'll love every minute of it.

We've brought three puppies into our house so far, and we're already anticipating the arrival of the fourth.

Rocky, the graduate!

Both Families
(from L-R): Manny, Peggy Law (Service Dogs of VA), Dana (my husband), Tapan (in chair), Laurie, and Rocky