The Big secret

Some of you know this already because I am horrible at keeping this ‘big secret ‘a secret for the past month.

At the end of March I got a call from my area coordinator telling me that our group would be getting puppies the end of May. They were little Labrador puppies (!) which were what I wanted for time frame purposes since I will be transferring colleges next fall. I got to pick between a yellow girl, 2 black boys and 2 yellow boys. And I selected…..

Drum roll please!

A yellow and a black boy!

Just kidding, though I would take them both in a heart beat I was told I could only have 1. I could not make up my mind on which color I wanted. I have had 2 black and 2 yellows and I kept going back and forth between the two. It took me 2 days to finally decide which one I wanted.

So on May 29th my puppy will be released from the puppy kennel and it will be a…….

Little yellow Labrador boy!

This was actually the first time I got to pick the color of my puppy. Let me tell you it is a whole lot easier to be told what color you are getting than having to decide between the two.

A new addition to the neighborhood

The couple across the street’s 12 year old black lab died a few weeks ago. So last weekend they got a new puppy. He is a 6 week old black lab and is adorable. Puppies are the best medicine when you send a dog off to college. The puppy’s name is Cole and is so much fun to watch. I love how puppies bound and pounce when they are out walking in the yard. When they brought him home they let their other lab and Cole meet in our yard since it was no one’s territory. He was so calm and little. I get to play with him about once a day. He is still tiny, but now he has a lot of energy. He is a puppy on the go. His owner said they have tried to get him to cuddle with them and he does not like it. I got down on the ground and he was just crawling all over me. Giving me lots of puppy kisses. He is going to be a great playmate for my next puppy which should make Ely very happy.

Of course

In the last few days, the name Sherman has been popping up everywhere. For the last 18 months I had not heard of that many Sherman’s and the weekend after Sherman leaves his name is all over the place.

My theatre appreciation teacher’s wife is a children’s author and wrote a book about a dog and a little girl who changed each other’s life. My teacher gave me an autographed copy of the book. Of course I had to start reading it the weekend Sherman leaves and one of the characters in the book is crazy Sherman.

I was babysitting Saturday night and we were watching the Backyardigans and they were helping a worm who was lost find its way back home to the other wormens. Of course this worm’s name had to be Sherman.

Then yesterday, I had DVR’d Adventures in Odyssey since I loved listening to it when I was little and didn’t know it came on TV. Of course the dog’s name had to be Sherman!

I am kind of hoping not to run into too many more Sherman’s right now. It does not help very much with the coping when you keep getting reminded of the puppy you miss.

Safe and Sound

Sherman made it safely to Southeastern and apparently went happily with the trainer back to the receiving kennel. The couple who took him back fell in love with him. They said he was a great traveler and slept or looked out the window quietly on the way down. Sherman always loved looking out and watching the world go by. I know Sherman was happy with getting petted and lots of love before heading off to college. He got dropped off at school around 2:45 Saturday afternoon. He always loved to go out new places and should enjoy going all kinds of new places and on new adventures with his trainer.

Sherman's last day

Sherman’s last day with me started with, of course, breakfast and playing in the yard. We then went on a really long walk. Once we got back I packed Sherman’s bag and finished up his paper work to send with him. Once all that was done we went back outside to play some more. At 2, he got his last meal with me and then we left our house for the last time. We made a pit stop at my dad’s office building so that he could say good bye to Sherman. Then we were on our way to my area coordinator’s parent’s house. They were going down to Florida anyway and offered to take Sherman back. We got there around 3:30 and said my last good bye. Sherman had no problems going with them and never looked back to make sure I was ok, which was a really good thing. No matter how many puppies you raise, it never gets any easier. Once we got home, poor Ely looked all over the house for Sherman; he even looked in the bath tub for him. He does not understand where Sherman is. Before dropping him off (sunglasses are great when turning in a puppy)

My goofy little Sherman

Such a handsome boy

They love each other

Sherman with his packed bag

His last bowl of food with me

He still looks like a puppy

Most of his stuff that when back with him.

His cute little paw

Thursday

Sherman’s last day going to college which of course could not be a nice quiet day. Sherman was taking a nice nap in English, while I was working on my research paper. The fire alarm started going off, Sherman popped up and I think everyone in class jumped. It was a really loud alarm with the strobe lights. Sherman got to evacuate the building with everyone else. He went down the 5 flights of stairs and stood in the parking lot next to the building. It turns out that it was a fire drill. We headed back up the 5 flights of stairs and then went back to class. My English teacher told Sherman bye and told him that if he didn’t make it as a guide dog then she would pay anything to adopt him. She loved Sherman (of course everyone who meets Sherman loves him!) My class got out a few minutes early so my friend and I decided to take the elevator. The elevator decided to not make up its mind and we went from the 5th floor down to the 1st floor back up to the 4th floor and then back down to the 1st floor again. It turns out that the elevator got stuck and sent us back up. Going up and down like that makes you really dizzy. We headed down to another building for my next class and there were about 10 police officers and security standing outside of the building. We were just about to go in and I got called over my about 5 of them. I hate being called over by security when I am out with a puppy in training. But they were sweet security guards who just wanted to let me know that there were be another fire drill in a little while and just wanted to make sure that Sherman would be okay. Sherman didn’t have a problem with the first fire drill so we headed up to class since I didn’t want to be late. We headed up the 3 flights of stairs and as soon as we got in front of our class room the fire alarm goes off so we get to go back down the stairs. It was kind of funny as we were coming down the stairs, someone shouted make way for the dog he is more important than any of us. After we got the all clear we headed back up the stairs to our class. Sherman slept through class and then went to tell all of his friends in student life bye. I dropped Sherman off with my mom while I went to take a test; he was not happy that I left him. After my test we went to get some lunch did some shopping ,and said goodbye to his favorite person at the library. Then we went to pick up Ely who had spent the day with my grandparents. My sister went to the preview of the movie Earth last night and stopped by to tell Sherman bye. We watched the preview of Earth and Sherman just sat there and watched the entire thing. He is the most curious puppy that I have had and loves to watch TV. He liked watching all of the animals and would probably had watched the entire movie if he went to see it.

I think he was still not awake all the way yet.

Finding my chair

Taking a nap

Looking at the fire alarm going off.

Leaving the building.

taking a nap after all the stairs

In front of the elevator

During fire drill #2

He got bored.

Going in the library

Such a cute face.

Wednesday

On Wednesday, Sherman got a spa treatment. He got a bath, brushed, ears cleaned and of course his teeth brushed. Sherman and I went out to lunch with my grandparents and went to Home Depot. I remember when I had not had Sherman too long and my dad was looking for something in Home Depot and I got bored so I took pictures of Sherman on my phone, they were my background for a long time. The rest of the day was spent studying and playing.

In Home Depot

I love his tail!

Not a very happy looking Sherman

Waiting for me to come play.

Tuesday

Tuesday was just another day of classes in the morning. We did go for a walk before classes during which Ely and Sherman were perfect little angles. In class Sherman took his normal nap. I got bored waiting for my mom to pick me up, so I took pictures of my little boy. Tuesday afternoon the two girls down the street came and told Sherman bye. Sherman always loves seeing his friends and loves when they come to his house and play. Sherman looking at me during English. He was watching some birds make a ton of noise. On their rock.

Monday

I spent Monday morning doing homework, while Sherman took a nap. He is going to miss taking a mid morning nap every day. For lunch Sherman and I went to meet a friend so that she could tell him good bye. After lunch we went to Petsmart where I weighed him - he is a whopping 88.3 lbs. We then went and visited the fountain and of course no shopping trip is complete without a stop at Super Target. We got back and played in the yard and went for a walk.