Sponsored by the letter K

Our Canine Companions for Independence Puppy that we have been raising for the last 18 months will return to her hometown in two weeks. To say that we have fallen in love with her is obvious, to say that we have fallen in love with volunteering to raise a future service dog in the making with CCI is something that has happened during our time together.

We are now officially hooked on this role as Puppy Raiser.

It is customary to receive word on your next puppy before your current puppy turns-in. The two leg folks that run this amazing organization have the heart-thing licked. They know that it is much easier for a Puppy Raiser to continue raising when another cute fluff ball puppy is waiting in the wings. They also know the transition is much easier when the training just keeps rolling.

We sent in our Repeat Puppy Raising Application back in November and requested to have our puppy delivered on February 27th, or later. We knew that we would be taking time after Haddie's Turn-In for vacation, and traveling for two days home with a puppy in the car who, would not be potty-trained, sounded like a horrific idea to our family. Even though it is very common for Raisers to do it; it just is not our choice.

Knowing that puppies are only shipped out on Wednesdays, we were willing to take a short one week break from our arrival home to puppy raising #2. The kids have been talking frequently about the "what ifs" of this second puppy. We are getting excited to start over.

I sent an email to our sweet contact person at CCI yesterday, hoping to get some information about our pup and also to remind them of our application. I have yet to hear they are short on Puppy Raisers, so giving frequent "Hello, just checking in" messages are perfectly acceptable and encouraged.

I immediately received an email response that there were no neutered males available for February or through March (a request we had made - neutered male). She wanted to know if we would be interested in another option.

I will admit that our family was immediately disappointed. We were really hoping for that male dog to break up the comparison of Haddie to another female, and to give our lovely female pet a break in the territory-stand-offs that naturally happen between female to female. We thought going male was a good choice.

However, we also realized that we can not control everything in life, and we chatted about the possibility of another female, and about being open to a Black colored dog (we had input a request for only Yellow).  We were kinda specific (smirk). Seeing now that our parameters might have squeezed us out of a back-to-back raising experience, we agreed that in reality all we wanted was another pup. And soon.

In short, with in two hours the Director of our Region from CCI gave me a call to discuss our options. She was so patient and worked her database sharing all the scoop that she had on all the puppies available. I won't share here, as I am not sure how much is public info, but let's just say it was heartwarming to hear her talk about all the litters out there. Their parents, their coloring, the sex - it was nice that she took so much time with me.

By the time our conversation was through, we have our name on a puppy to be delivered the first week of March. We do not know if the puppy will be black or yellow, we do not know the name, and I forgot to ask the birthdate, but I am sure it was fairly recent as not much info was in the database as of yesterday's phone call. They will send me that information as they hear more from the Breeder Caretaker.

For now - we are dreaming about our Neutered Male (yes, through all her diligent searching she found one!!!) who is coming from the K litter, which means his name will begin with the letter K.

Ohhh K!! We have a Puppy!!!