Rocky has a new family!

I got an e-mail tonight from one of my AC’s telling me that Rocky has been placed with his forever family! Below is a summary of what I got about Rocky’s new family

His new family is a single guy who loves Rocky’s laid back attitude and distinctive facial features. He feels lucky to get such a well-mannered and obedient dog. Rocky will get to enjoy runs, walks and plenty of swimming in his new home. His new person is very appreciative to get a dog from Southeastern and is thankful to the staff and me.

Just from that, I can tell that Rocky found the best person to call his owner. Reading it brought tears of joy, knowing that I made the right decision for Rocky. I could not be happier for Rocky and his new forever person. I know that Rocky was meant for his new person from the very beginning and I am just happy that they finally found each other!

Short update

First I would like to thank everyone for their kind words concerning Rocky. I am so blessed to have such a great support group of fellow puppy raisers on facebook, blogs, and in person. Rocky seriously has the best fan club in the world. As we told people in his club that he had been career changed and placed in the public adoption program, pretty much everyone said without a second thought that they wanted to adopt Rocky; so far over 50 families have wanted to make him a part of their family. Rocky was one very loved and special pup.

I am finally on the end of my recovery from my wisdom teeth being taken out. It was the worst 3 weeks I have had in a very very long time. I figured out what the bone that showed up several days after 2 of my puppies had one of their baby teeth removed was, a bone splinter. But I didn’t know that was going to happen to me! I had two of them and it took the oral surgeon over 10 minutes to get one of the out. Not any fun, but I am on day two of no Advil for pain!

Joe is still growing like a weed; I weighed him the other day and he is up to 67.4 lbs! However, to me he still seems small, unless he is next to one of the 5 month old puppies in our group. I try to spread out my errands throughout the week or we just go and look so that he is able to work in a store or restaurant setting every day. Joe LOVES this schedule as he gets to go see all of his friends often!

More updates on Joe and Ely to come tonight or tomorrow, but right now I have to go to work.

Rocky

I got a call Tuesday morning from my AC and I knew something was not right. She was calling to tell me something that I had not prepared myself for. Rocky had been career changed due to a soundness issue towards toddlers (backing away from them when they persisted at coming towards him). After him being down there since April, I would have thought he would have been career changed earlier if he had a problem, not after he had been down there all these months.

I was given the option of adopting Rocky myself or putting him up for adoption and having Southeastern place him. By the way, if you are nervous about getting your wisdom teeth taken out, getting a phone call telling you that your puppy has been career changed the morning before totally takes your mind off your wisdom teeth.

Since Tuesday I have been going back and forth and back and forth between what the best thing for Rocky would be. The pain meds that I have been on have not helped make it any easier.

One of the reasons it has been so hard is that I don’t know what the future holds for me. I want Rocky to have the best home possible and get lots of love and attention, but I also want him to be a part of my life.

I finally got the courage that I was doing the best thing for Rocky and sent the hardest e-mail of my life (if I had tried calling, I probably would not have gotten the words out) with the hardest decision I have ever had to make. I put Rocky up for public adoption and to be placed by Southeastern.

This was by no means an easy choice to make, but I know it is the best for Rocky (even if it does not mean the best for me). I will always love my little Rock, but he already changed me and left a part of himself with me and now he gets to make a difference in the lives of his new family. Rocky was always mine to love, but never mine to keep.

A part of me didn’t feel right about taking Rocky, not because I could not take care of him, but because I felt like God was telling me that Rocky was not meant to be my dog, that he had created him for someone else. Rocky was created to do great things, even if a guide dog was not on his list, he was created for someone special and that person was not me.

This was by far the hardest choice I have had to make and if I didn’t love my little Rock Star so much and cared about him so much I would I have taken him back in a heartbeat.

I know that Southeastern will find his perfect family, just like they have found the perfect people for the rest of my puppies.

Whoever gets picked as Rocky’s family is the luckiest family in the world!

Joe’s First Snow!

The snow started late Christmas night and continued all day the next day and it just happened to be Joe’s first experience with snow! We got around 5 inches and Joe LOVED it! He never tried to eat it, but would sniff it and would come up with snow all over his nose. He ran and ran in it! As a guide dog in training, he has to get used to going potty on different surfaces. Joe does not have a problem with going busy on snow; he actually prefers it to grass!

As you can see in the pictures below, they had a blast!