*** It was brought to my attention that I never posted  #2 post in this series! OOPS-it was left in the “draft” folder. It is the day I got Sophie and certainly a highlight! The moment she bounced into the room to meet me, my breath was taken away-quite literally and I was overcome with emotion….that moment is indelibly marked  in my memory  for it was the culmination of the long process of applying, waiting, imagining and preparing for this event. My tears were of joy and gratefulness that I was being given such a wonderful gift…

March 8, 2011 “Dogs Before the Dogs”

We are just a few hours now from getting our dogs…they have made many preparations for that special event. The dogs all were bathed and groomed for us so they will be looking and smelling their best. Today we had a special luncheon with the staff all serving us “dogs before the dogs” 🙂 Yes- I ate a hot dog! It was very cute… Our lessons today involved how to “correct” misbehavior. So our instructors pretended to be a dog and took us on a walk with the harness and misbehaved! Kevin said he wanted to see if i was going to be able to give strong enough corrections to the dog if necessary, and made me practice snapping the chain quickly and firmly. There is a certain way to administer corrections and they all thought I was going to be too “soft-hearted”- ha! I fooled them -I said “just ask my kids-I can be firm!” Well, I did fine and it was another good day. It was quite cold today and so we waited in the heated buses for our turn. Tonight at supper one of the students had an allergic reaction where his throat swelled and we had to call 911. He had a known peanut allergy and no Epipen. The ambulance took him to the hospital and we were all worried sick for him. We sat around the table and fretted and then it deteriorated into silly blind jokes and before we knew it we were all cracking each other up! Someone said “We could play a game…” and you know me…I piped up with “yeah-lets play “I spy” and everyone died laughing!!! It is a great group of folks and we are having fun 🙂 Our friend came back from the hospital just now and he is going to be fine. My back is much better tonight and I hope it will be even better tomorrow. Thank you for the prayers, emails, and love…I will be in touch soon after 9am. Hugs and kisses, me, mom, Audrey

March 9, 2011-It’s a Girl!
Hello everybody! My dog’s name is Sophie and she is a sweet and well-behaved Golden Retriever. I may already be partial but I think she is the most beautiful in the class! She is petite (just like her momma hahaha) and she has a very “sophisticated” air about her. Her features are delicate and her coat is wonderfully soft. She weighs 50lbs and is 16 mo. old-still a lot of puppy in her. We walked just briefly in harness today and she just glides along like she is walking on clouds. She already whines if I leave her sight…she has had a stressful day but is behaving impeccably. Right now, Sophie is lying at my feet and looking up at me with the “gaze” of affection. It rained all day today so we stayed in the dorm with the dogs. Tomorrow we will go for our maiden voyage outside-rain or shine or snow! I am having a blast and learning so much good stuff. My back is much better and I am able to walk at a jaunty pace with my head up and back straight…it feels great! Tomorrow the puppy raisers who live close enough will come to visit us to tell us about how the dogs were raised. If your puppy raiser is not able to come, they sometimes will write a letter and send photos. At that time we all get more info about our dogs-birthday, mother and father, health history etc. Well, Jake-let me know how you did on those tests. Hannah-I want to hear more about what you and Martin are up to…Kev, I hope you are able to fight off the cold, Ange and Ash-i would love to see photos of the new love nest! I hope everyone else is healthy and    “ happy soul and body”…Can’t wait until you all meet my beautiful girl!!! Take care for now. Love, Audrey/mom    

Sophie-the day I met her…It was love at first sight!