It's been awhile...

It's been half a year since my last post.

A few things have happened in the meantime.  Here's one of them:

Cade.

Cade at LSES after reading with the school kids.

After a training session.

At the dog wash

Cade (top left) with two new service dog pups.

The journey of raising a service dog in honor of my sister has turned into a journey of raising a service dog FOR my sister.

It is a mission that is challenging, beautiful, fulfilling...  I love the work I am doing with him.

But that is not to say it's always easy.  Yesterday I had to dig deep to find reserves of patience when I felt like I had nothing left to give.  He was a total clown at puppy class and had the attention span of a gnat. 

The day before that was the complete opposite.  I had one of the most satisfying training experiences ever.  He was up for new challenges.  He excelled at everything I asked of him and was angelic during our public access training.  We really clicked; we were a team.

This last picture is pretty shadowy, but I feel like it captures how I feel about Cade these days.

All the training ups and downs aside, this pup has a big part of my heart.

And he knows it.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry