General~Lisa and Jim got to meet Jody, General's new person, last weekend at the NEADS meet and greet in Princeton. Jody was born with spinabifida and is in a power wheelchair. General is Jody's second service dog. From all reports, they are an absolutely perfect match and already have a close bond, as you can see in the picture. Congratulations to them all, and thank you to Lisa and Jim for taking on the newest addition to our string, Elsa.
NOTE~On April 10th, Jody and General and I visited PCC and Jody got to meet all of the people involved in General's training that she didn't get to meet last week. It was wonderful to meet and spend a few hours with Jody, she is a lovely person with a sunny personality. It is extremely clear that she and General have already bonded, and watching them I was reminded once again why we pour so much time, love and affection into these dogs, only to give them up in the end~it's so we can each have the feeling that I got when I watched General walk away with Jody.
Sully~Sully will be returning to Princeton on Monday to polish up his hearing training with Christy. All of his obedience and task training has been completed by his handler, Paul W, and he is as ready as we can make him for the next part of his journey. Having been his WPR for so many weeks I have a slight appreciation of what the other WPRs go through on a much larger scale, when they see their puppies move on as well. It is heartbreaking and inspirational and worrying to the control freak in me and over all, extremely emotional. With Sully's special personality, he was very close to my heart and I will miss him like crazy. Updates to follow.
NOTE~Sully's evaluation went well, he had only one thing that Christy thought he needed to work on as far as obedience, and his hearing work has a good foundation. More updates to follow, but look for him to be matched soon!
Deacon~He is still very low energy, although you wouldn't know that when he gets into the doggy daycare and has his 5 minute burst of "crazy dog" time. At all other times he is a patient companion, does well beside a wheelchair and walker, and is unflappable around noises, equipment, strange people and difficult situations. His handler, Scott, is working on fading hand cues from the TURN command, and a motionless UP STAY. All obedience commands are good in both heel and side positions, but he does tend to lag a bit. Occasionally he will return to heel and wind up behind the wheelchair.
In class with WPR Cory on Saturday, he won game for the fastest DOWN~woohoo, great job!
