Three for Three!

Our third guide dog puppy, Wichita, graduates from Canadian Guide Dogs for the Blind this weekend. She joins our puppies AJ and Fairfax as a working guide dog, and we could not be more proud.

We got Wichita in the fall of 2009, and she turned out to be the easiest of our three guide dog puppies. She was great with the baby, great on the leash, good with other dogs, and generally a delight. She let Mark play tug with her, and they would sit and chew on their toys together.

"She's a lap dog," said her new owner, Bill, when I talked to him on the phone last weekend. He and his wife have renamed her "Chita," because they didn't think anything that sounded like "Witch" was appropriate for her.

We weren't sure Wichita would have the opportunity to become a service dog. She had some recurring ear infections, and while she performed well on her training test at Guiding Eyes for the Blind, she was released from their program because of her health. However, Canadian Guide Dogs for the Blind wanted to train her, so she went up there and has been successful.

Our second dog, AJ, graduated from Guiding Eyes for the Blind's training program right after we moved from Delaware to California in January of this year. His owner, Dustin, who lives in Burlington, VT, has become a good friend of ours, an unexpected and wonderful gift.

We got AJ after our friend Linda taught him all his manners and got him off to an amazing start. Linda decided to get another baby puppy when she heard we were looking for an older dog to raise until it needed to go back to Guiding Eyes for training, and we got AJ.

AJ took good care of Mark when he was born, lying on Mark's floor when we put him to bed, and standing by Mark's crib when Mark woke up from a nap crying. He used to come check on me if I went to bed earlier than Matt. I'd hear his paws pad into my room, and I'd say, "Good night, AJ." He'd pad back into the living room. He is an extraordinary dog. He was named after someone very special, and I believe he holds that family's love in his heart. I have never met a dog quite as tuned in as he is. When he wasn't at home, it felt like a human member of the family was missing. He has an amazing presence.

Fairfax, our first dog, came to us at eight weeks and left us at 18 months. A picture-perfect puppy, we adored him. He was incredibly intelligent, with a great sense of humor. He was always up to something. He'd wait until I was engrossed in work and sneak off to do naughty things in the house, like nap on the guest bed or chew up the toilet paper roll. He'd identify a bagel on a walk around the University of Delaware campus and plot how he was going to snatch it up on his next walk. Then he'd walk really well on the leash right near the bagel and dart away to grab it when his handler least expected it. His owner, Nick, who lives in New York, says Fairfax keeps him on his toes in and out of harness.

We feel like our service for Guiding Eyes for the Blind was the most wonderful volunteer experience we could ever have, and we have gotten back as much as we have put in--the immense satisfaction of having all three of our dogs graduate, the phenomenal honor of touching someone else's life in a tangible way, new relationships with the owners of all three of our dogs, and the opportunity to continue to be involved in our dogs' lives.