Graduation Day

My human drops me off at the bathing area again. Wait a minute? Didn't I just have a bath? What is going on?

Phew no!

It's play time and snooze time.

Then I see my co puppy raisers. I'm real happy to see them and I tell them all about my human. I think they kinda understand, because they seem happy and sad. They take lots of photos of me.

Then I get put in a big van and taken to this big place with lots of people. My co puppyraisers come and take more photos. I like having my photo taken. Then I sit with my co puppy raisers and watch these humans standing up above us and talking. These humans call it a stage. There's lots of talking. Then each of my classmates come on stage and is handed over to their human. My human comes on stage and sits down with her classmates. She stands up and more talking.

Then my co puppy raisers come on stage and hand over my leash to my human. She is crying from happiness. I'm happy to see her, but I just saw her this morning. I have no idea why everyone is crying and hugging, so I just am quiet and still, because that's the best thing to do when the humans are being confusing. I look over at the other dogs already on stage. They don't have a clue either. Oh, well.

My human looks pleased, but she doesn't say "Good girl." so I look at the audience. They admire me, so that's okay.
Then I do a DOWN because my human's sitting down. I am not sure when my human is going to get up again, but I think it could be a while.

Finally all the human talking is over and it's time for one last photo. My human's puppies are restless. It's hard to get them to look at the camera. I'm good at posing for photos, but there are so many interesting things going by. My human is still incredibly happy. I have to watch out that she doesn't stumble for joy.

Thida's turn:
I'm so incredibly grateful for all the hard work and love that Hermione's breeder caretakers, puppyraisers, and trainers put into raising this incredible dog. I found meeting Hermione's co-raisers and graduation a very moving and touching experience. I just wanted to share a humorous side, about how a graduating dog would probably see graduation.

Best and worst of times

Oh no! My human leaves me and I have to have a bath! Ugh! Well at least I got to see the bather again. Nice guy. Then I get stuffed in a crate like always. I hate bath days. I try to tell them I just had a bath, but they don't understand.

My human rescues me and says I smell good. I smell like shampoo. How is that good?

More human talking and not even new commands to do with my human. Snooze.

I go to Takoda's human's room and I play with Takoda and my human chats with Takoda's human. He tells her she'll learn how to be a better handler. She just needs time and patience with herself. Been trying to tell her that, but she doesn't speak dog very well. He gets her to relax more. My human works better when she's relaxed. By the end she's smiling.

And then I get left in my crate while my human goes off. I can smell the other dogs and the party. Why can't I go? [Soon to be graduate dogs aren't allowed to go to the puppyraiser homecoming in case the puppyraiser who raised the dog unexpectedly meets them.] Worst day ever.

FINALLY she comes back. She's tired again. I lick her and she says I'm the best dog ever. Best day ever.

Mall again and party after passing some test [ADI Test]

Today my human spends most of the morning on her laptop. Snooze. She gave me a bone to chew on which I enjoyed. She doesn't seem to know I snooze a lot. [She took a written final.]

She gets up and then she eats and doesn't feed me of course, because she's the pack leader.

Then we go to the mall again and do the same things we did two days ago. I walk around with my human as she goes around poles. I push the button to open the door. She gives my leash to someone else and she walks around a pole and comes back. My human is nervous AGAIN. What? We just did this. She is even more pleased the second time when I do everything again even better, because this time she praises me before the fries hit the ground.

This time when I get the paper from the trainer, she's so excited, she drops the paper. I squeeze my nose under the counter to get it. Best part, because even the instructor said I did well! My human was practically jumping up and down as best she could. I was really happy.

Well that was easy. I'll go back every day if it makes her happy.

The humans get very excited when we get back to CCI and say "We passed!"[the ADI Test] They have what they call a party where the humans eat all kinds of things and we lie under the table. I was glad everyone was so happy. I use my friend under the table as a headrest.

Pet store

More commands which I do great at. My human gets less confusing. Hooray.

We go to the pet store or what the humans call a feed store with all my classmates. Well except they don't feed me at this store even though there's food there. This lady offered me a dog biscuit, and my human said no. So my human didn't get my message I need more feeding. Oh well. Someone petted me at the store. I was polite but I was working.

My human buys me a dog collar. She seems so very pleased by it that I like to wear it. And TOYS. A TENNIS BALL. Well at least she got the message that I LOVE TENNIS BALLS.

Later we go to one of the small play yards and she laughs and throws me the ball.

More lectures and the mall

Today more human talking. Snooooze.

Then we went to this mall that I've gone to with my trainers. My human was nervous. I dunno why she'd be nervous with me. We did things where the trainers do things like drop a clipboard behind us. Like I'd care about some clipboard. Drop french fries. Ooh food! I try very slowly, because my human is not getting the message that I LOVE FOOD. My human gets so excited that she jerks and kicks the fry away. Okay no more trying for fries.

Otherwise I am calm, because it's work time and focus on my human, so my human calmed down. I like picking up the pen and the piece of paper. My human was super pleased.

I climbed in the car with her puppies as a trainer watched. Ooh I love to lick them. I love to lick the male puppy's hair. He bends his head down so I can lick it. But I can't lick them as I walk to the back of the car or I get corrected.

My pack leader returns

Oh I had so much fun playing in the kennels with my friends.

Then this morning I got taken back to my crate in the classroom. Oh and then my human walked in. She was tired again.

I was so happy! I wanted to tell her I was there. I thumped my tail and whined for joy. She came back. She didn't go to my crate. The trainers started talking. But I wanted to see her. I know I wasn't supposed to but I just wanted to be near her again. She was tired and I wanted to make her happy. FINALLY they let me out. My human was almost crying. I guess she felt sorry for poor me.

The trainers started talking. I took a nap. Then suddenly the humans got excited and I got lots of petting. After that my human started acting more like a pack leader. What a relief. I was getting a bit confused with all this feeding and stuff. [Final matches were announced.]

Then I got to meet her mate and her puppies. Her puppies are so loud but sweet.

We go to this museum full of drawings of the same dog. The dog carries his supper dish in his mouth. Sadly my human never asks me to carry mine. Perhaps someone can tell her what a great idea it would. FOOD. Oh, sorry.

I climb some stairs with my human with the trainers. I walk beside her and everyone praises me. I don't mind stairs at all.

Human store and dog snore

Today we worked on more commands except she was still tired and stressed. It's harder to listen when she's that way. But I was a good girl.

We went to lunch and I was a good girl. I got lots of praise and corrected a few times, because my human ignores me with tempting food there. Why doesn't she praise me for ignoring the big chunk of food next to my head? So I go for it slowly then she corrects me and praises me. I wish this human understood how much I LOVE FOOD and what a good dog I am to ignore it.

Then we went to this place I've been before that humans call Target. It's big and full of strangers. She asked me to shake some stranger's hands. I like to meet people. But I liked best walking with my human, because walking made her happier. This human gets happy at the strangest things. Oh well.

My human rested after Target. Snooze.

Then more commands I know. I did them. She was happy.

Then she talked a while with my trainers. I took a nap.

Then more commands. She fed me. FOOD!

Then she took me to the kennels. I was happy to see my old friends again. She seemed a little sad. I tried to tell her she would be happy again soon.

Tired human

My human is tired. I needed to hurry in the middle of the night, because that's when I go in the kennels. She seems kinda stressed, so I snuggle up to her when I can. Sometimes she corrects me. Sometimes she doesn't pay attention to me. So I do stuff to entertain myself like sniff. Then she corrects me.

We went to this restaurant. I enjoyed lying under the table, except first she tried to get me to go under this tiny space. I just looked at her. Huh? She moved us to a different table. I am figuring her out better and she says "Good girl" more often. I'm happy.

We went for several walks! And we played with TENNIS BALLS. I love them!

Then she did too much and got tired, so I sat with her. Snooze. Then she got more energy back and we worked on more commands and we went back to her territory again.

She fed me and played fetch with me. I went to a crate to sleep. Snooze

Valentine's Gift

Today I went to this place where this human is staying. She called me her Valentine's Gift. I don't know what it means, but it sounds nice. More importantly she FED me where she stays. She's my new best friend.

I am happy. She smells good and pets me a lot and plays fetch with me and takes me for walks. And we go out together.

I went into my crate when this human brushed her teeth. That made her happy. Well duh. Humans brush their teeth before they go to bed and I go to bed in a crate. I like how easy it is to make this human happy.

Thida's story
On Valentine's day, we had our first night with the dogs. As soon as we got to our room, Hermione's tail started wagging. Then when I leaned down to turn on the tv, she rolled on her back exposing her tummy. I petted her and she thumped her tail.

However I still wasn't sure if Hermione really wanted to be with me. I took this photo that night. I know all my doubt sounds silly to those who have met us, but I really was very worried.

Prematch day by Thida

They didn't bring Hermione out to our class until the end of the second day which is the last day before prematches when they give you a dog they think you might graduate with. When they gave me her leash, I felt the calmest I had felt the entire Team Training. I'm not normally a nervous person, but TT was hard with no family the first week.

I also felt she was smart and like she could also be really sweet, although she was being her serious public self. I thought all the dogs had special qualities. But I was all worried about prematches. I hadn't seen Hermone's goofy playful side, so I was worried.

The night before prematches I tossed and turned until 3am. Then I remembered how one of the trainers commented she liked how she said Hermione. I went to sleep and slept soundly the rest of the night.

The next day I walked in our class and snuck a peek at the crates that were there. Hermione's crate was there and I got a little excited.

The Skilled Companions went first. As some of the kids were matched their total joy made me cry. I laughed when they gave one mom the CCI cat dressed in a vest, because she had petted the cat the whole time.

Then it was my class' turn. I saw a black dog being brought out. Was that my dog? The trainer brought the dog down the hall and someone else in my service class was announced. The person looked thrilled. Another black dog that I thought was a great dog went to someone else. An enormous yellow dog went to someone. I thought he was a wonderful dog, but too big for my kids. Then I saw petite Hermione being led down the hall. I held my breath. There were still some folks left. They started leading Hermione over to me and announced Hermione's name and my name and I cried all over Hermione. Hermione wagged her tail. I was thrilled.

Knowing what I know now, Hermione was giving me her polite tail wag, not the entire wiggle butt I get every morning, but it was enough for me that day.

Hermione seemed polite but somewhat aloof that first day. I asked if she could play and we played ball. You can see we're still getting to know each other.

First and second day of class by Thida

Today I met a ton of service dogs (okay about a dozen), all different, all well trained. I found myself utterly confused as I tried to learn the basic commands they taught us and figure out who was on the other end of my leash. Some dogs moved slow and others moved quickly. I discovered I liked the faster moving dogs. I thought I wanted a slower moving one, but I was clearly wrong.

Some dogs were really mellow and if they didn't understand you and many had problems with my accent and probably the way dystonia elongates my vowels then they sat and waited for you. This made me feel stupid and I tended to get frustrated. Others tried to do something usually slowly to see if that was what you wanted and that made me feel better. The ones that moved quickly and were wrong were too fast for me. Some needed to be encouraged to do anything even if it was clear that they understood since they didn't want to be corrected. That frustrated me too. I discovered that I'm not as patient as I'd like to be and yet my reaction time is slower also.

Others got too excited if you praised too animatedly and broke their sit or down. I was clearly too much for some of these dogs while working. Others responded with just a glance if you praised them which was too little for me. A look was fine. Okay I knew I was excitable. LOL. So that was not a discovery. But I did learn more about how different dogs express pleasure and that was very useful in my eventual pairing with Hermione.

Another problem I had initially is I would say "No" in a mom tone with a hint of worse things to come which is good for my kids, but terrible for dogs. I had to learn how to say "No" in the same tone as I give orders which is simply "I mean it now" I went too far the other direction and didn't say "No" firmly enough. Once someone told me the order and the no are in the same tone, I understood it, but I still messed up when the dog clearly knew it was not supposed to do whatever it was. Some of the dogs just don't listen that well to people who aren't their pack leader which is a good thing for people like me in a household with multiple people who could be the pack leader.

I was worried, because I rotated through all the service dogs and it was clear with some we were not a good match. These dogs were wonderful matches for other people and several graduated very happily. I wondered why I had this wrong match. I worried this dog would be paired with me. After a while I realised that I was learning about dogs and the trainers were learning about my reactions. It was a useful exercise, because the dog I had asked for and thought I wanted was not exactly the dog I was paired with who is a brilliant match for me.

Those coming back for their successor service dogs seemed calm and content to wait. I will take their cue next time if I'm privileged enough to come back, which I hope is a very long time from now since I want Hermione to work and live a very long time.

My life so far

I was born to the best mom in the whole world. I lived with my mom and my siblings and my mom's pack leader, or what the humans call a breeder caretaker. My human tells me these humans are all amazing. I got lots of petting and cuddling. I played a lot. Here I am learning the importance of snuggling and snoozing. I'm the white one under the other slightly darker yellow one.

Then my mom's pack leader loaded up all me and all my siblings in some crates and took us to the CCI kennels. We stayed there for a short time. I got to play in the puppy park with my siblings. I played with my 3 siblings in the puppy park. Then I got sent to two puppyraiser families in Seattle.

Can you believe that TWO families wanted me?

My best friend ever Moxie played with me and showed me the ropes and also was the best head rest in the world. Moxie is what the humans called Change of Career Dog. Moxie well, Moxie has a lot of energy like me, but she is still excited when the humans want focus, or what the humans call work.

See here I am as a puppy focusing. Focusing is very important if you want the exciting life of an assistance dog. That means you need to pay attention to your human and ignore other things even really great things like FOOD and TENNIS BALLS. The thing is that the right human will give you food and tennis balls at other times. And the human will praise you for picking things up (you heard me right my fellow retrievers) and tugging on a rope and my favorite standing up on your hind legs and hitting things with your paws. These make the humans happy and you get PRAISE.

I went to puppy classes and I learned a whole lot and I got to meet some other nice dogs with their wonderful humans. And when I understood what my puppyraisers said and did it, I made my puppyraisers happy, which made me happy. I went with my puppyraisers all around to a lot of human places. I had to learn my assistance dog rules which is not doing fun things like sniffing or eating food off the ground and some obvious things for any dog who knows their place in a human pack like respecting your human's territory, but I really liked wearing a cape and having people talk to my humans about how special and beautiful I was. First I wore a puppy cape then when I got bigger, I wore a bigger cape. I liked going around human places, and having people tell me what a good dog I was, so I kept on doing on it. I still got to play too.

Now I'm in the kennels at Canine Companions for Independence (CCI) learning how to be a service dog. I have a trainer. I am part of a string of dogs. I went on several field trips. I get to play everyday too with my friends. There's a big field to play in. It's fun. Then I go back to the kennel and play with my roommate.