News from our trainee

We just received this copy of the official photo taken at Brando's turn-in on February 11th, along with a cutesy note allegedly written by Brando, telling us how much fun he's been having.  He looks a little worried to me in this picture, and frankly, I'm a little worried too since hearing there's been an outbreak of kennel cough.  But we know he was immunized for that shortly before turning in, so we hope he's faring well.  We won't get our first real report on his progress for another whole month.

Goodbye, puppy friend!

Here we are, about to turn Brando in for his advanced training.  The dreaded moment came today.  After living with us for almost 19 months, Brando is now in a kennel up in Oceanside.  He's sharing it with another young male pup, and I'm hoping his buddy's presence will distract and comfort him amidst the strangeness of his surroundings. On Monday, the CCI staff will start doing the physical exams and temperament testing that will take up most of the puppies' next few weeks.  By the beginning of March they should begin working in earnest on transforming the pups into service dogs.

People constantly comment to me that they could never raise a puppy and give it up, and I always respond that you can never volunteer to be a puppy raiser unless you understand that it's not your dog. You get to take care of these really cool animal for a year and a half or so, but you steel yourself from the start for what's coming.

That's all true, but the psychological truth is that I don't much think about Turn-in Day until it's almost upon us.  And then it's horrible.  It helps to see the graduate dogs being awarded to the people whose lives they'll change -- kids in wheelchairs with awful diseases; ex-soldiers who's limbs have been blown off; even the facility dogs who'll be going to work with victims of violent crimes or strokes or the like. It doesn't help to see the slide show of images of the incoming puppy class, always adorably cute and comic and surrounded by their loving puppy raisers.  The crying starts then, and overtakes us periodically from then till we drive away, with an empty kennel.

Will Mr. Brando make it?  Fulfill the destiny he was bred for and enter a life of service?  Steve and I say he has a fighting chance.  He's the easiest dog we've ever raised, a total sweetheart and an ever-entertaining companion.  But only he can demonstrate that he has the right stuff.  We'll continue to follow his journey here.

Brando Does Vegas!

We've just returned from Brando's first tour of Vegas, and he was a HUGE hit.  Although the original plan was to accompany Steve to the conference he had to attend there, Brando was the star of the outing, as things turned out. We stayed on the 24th floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel, and while toileting was always a challenge (exactly how well can a puppy hold it while walking down a loooong corridor, waiting for the elevator, making his way through the Mandalay's "beach" (read ground) floor level and out the door to the not so near stones and grass?), he performed like a champion.

Brando will turn in for his advanced training in mid-February, and if there was ever any great opportunity to practice avoiding distractions in preparation for that, this was it.  A few times, walking down the Strip in the early evening, with all the crowds and noise and lights, his flattened ears gave me an inkling that he was uneasy.  But he never acted fearful or inappropriately.

And the big surprise and delight of the trip was people's reaction to Brando. CCI puppies often get a warm reaction when they're out in public, but I have NEVER seen a response like we got here.  Everywhere we went, people pointed and smiled and made kissy noises or exclaimed, "What a good baby!" Some burst into spontaneous chuckles, and we never rode in the elevator without once getting warm nods or comments and usually extended conversations.

Steve supposed this meant that Vegas attracted an unusually high percentage of animals lovers, but I have another theory.  It seemed to me that Brando's innocence and cuteness contrasted so sharply with the jaded artifice of the place that it startled people into smiling or laughing. I felt like I was accompanying a rock star.

Here are a few choice moments from our adventures:

Our home away from home

Brando enjoyed all the pharoanic art...

...though that large creature made him a little nervous.

We wish we could take him with us to Paris later this month, but the Vegas Paris will have to suffice.

A pup can get sleepy even he could have a bird's eye view of the Strip.

Yankee Doodle Puppy

Brando and I felt honored today to be a part of the first ever Canine Companions for Independence (CCI) Puppy Precision Drill Team, in its debut at the City of Coronado's Independence Day Parade.

In a nod to the fact that the actual 4th this year falls on a Sunday, a day when much of Coronado has churchly duties, the parade was shifted forward a day. As far as I could tell, the change didn't reduce the turnout much. Orange Avenue was crammed with enthusiastic spectators. And our drill team delivered, in the way of spectacle. For the first time ever, all of the puppy raisers wore a sort of uniform, and our puppies not only were caped but also sported patriotic bandannas. Best of all was our precision marching and crisscrossing and halts at which we ran through a sample of CCI puppy commands: Sit! Shake! Down! Stay! Let's Go!

Veteran puppy-raiser Jim Siegfried employed his best football coach voice and whistle-blowing skills to prompt us. You can't hear the whistle signals on the following video, but they worked just fine in real life.

After all the parading and performings, we wound up at the amazing home of CCI patron Jeep Rice, who once again opened his beautiful home to a horde of frolicking puppies and their puppy raisers.

Brando had such a good time that he's now fast asleep. And I'm dreaming dreams of glory. Today the Coronado Independence Day Parade. Tomorrow: the Rose Parade?

Precision Pups!

Brando, Steve, and I have a special reason to look forward to Independence Day this year. As we did last year, we're going to be marching in the Coronado Parade. But this year, the participating CCI pups will include a puppy precision drill team.

Brando and I showed up at puppyraiser Pattie Urie's house last weekend to learn and practice the drills. We think the whole gang will look very sharp. We have signals to cue us to form two lines, criss-cross each other, then halt and run through a short but snappy set of commands (Sit, Down, Shake, Stay, etc.)

It promises to be a blast. Look for video here, hot on the heels of the big event!

Happy Birthday Brando!!!

He's one-year-old today! And such an obedient fellow, sitting so nicely with his birthday crown. No cake for him, because he's only supposed to eat dog food (ha!), but we did have a party of sorts. Riley and Cassidy, the two 11-year-old Golden Retrievers from next door, have been visiting us for the past few days, while their pack has been off in Las Vegas. Riley and Cassidy are very chill guys. They wag their tails, they smile, and mostly they just lay down and look around, or they nap. But they do lend a more festive air to the patio, and even if they won't wrestle with him and chase him around, as he would like, Brando seems to welcome their arrival every morning.

Only Brando was good enough to tolerate the party crown for long, though Tucker tolerated it briefly.

The game all pups love to play

I believe it's called Try to Bite the Other Guy's Head Off (Not Really!) Here Brando is playing it with Eva, Leslie and Craig's dog, who stayed with us two weekends ago. Brando loooooves this game. But Eva loves it even more. When he would get tired, she would bark at him and scratch his nose to try to provoke her into playing more.

Tucker, who's nowhere near as fond of the game, now that he's a geezer (in spirit, if not in years), just stayed with Eva Saturday and Sunday, while the human members of the pack were in LA for the book festival. But Brando got to go to Benjie's house, another mecca of puppy pleasure.