Volunteer @ Fidelco--Round Two

 So I brought another group to Fidelco Sunday...no puppies again. But I was SUPER proud of the boys who still wanted to come volunteer not knowing what they were going to get themselves into. As it turned out although they didn't play with puppies they got the next best things....doggies!

 The group held a class working on all of the basic obedience skills the dogs need. I was really impressed, as most of the boys had very little dog experience. But as usual the Salisbury boys stepped up and shinned.

Tommy w/ Lilly

 Keith w/ Charlie

JP and Jamie

Ben w/ Inga

More Tommy and Lilly

Kevin w/ Ziggy

Bruce w/ Solo

Joey w/ Abby

More of Ben

Keith & Charlie

JP and Jamie

Laura teaching body handling

Tom and Seda

More of Joey

Kevin again

Jay & Tripper

I was really proud of Tripper, he was in class with dogs that were twice his age and experience and he held his own. Jay did a wonderful job handling him and making sure he was paying attention to him and not me. Overall a great day!!!

Volunteering @ Fidelco--in detail

So I know that I'm late with my update...typical. But I wanted to share the other photos that I have and share with you what the group did while we were there. We ended up having a smaller group than we intended but we made it there (and back) with 9 boys. The group split up into two and rotated cleaning vans.

These are pretty cool vans loaded with double decker crates for the dogs to chill in while the others do their training. But they get really dirty and the boys did a great job cleaning them up!!

Four boys got a chance to wash dogs, above Will and Harrison are washing Jamie. After brushing, bathing and blow drying Jamie they bonded over a nice towel dry. Below Nick and Collin do the same for another pup (I can't seem to remember who).

While one group was cleaning vans and washing dogs the other was working on some training exercises with some "career change" dogs.

Collin w/ breed dog Charlie

Ethan w/ Sophie

Steven w/ Ziggy

Laura demonstrating body handling onYukie

Mike w/ Jesse

Nick w/ Yukie

Nick w/ Sophie

Harrison w/ Jesse

Harry w/ Ziggy

It was a bummer that we could play with the puppies but with the first litter of 2011 being born two days earlier we were just out of luck. Luckily the boys were ok with the last minute change and ended up having a great time and really helping out. We'll be heading back there two more times before March break so we'll see how everything goes!!

Volunteer @ Fidelco

Today a small group of students went to Fidelco to volunteer for the afternoon. I'll write more about it tomorrow but I just wanted to post a couple pictures for you to enjoy tonight!

Now off to bed!

Tripper Visits the Extras

A while back...when I was being a terrible blogger, Tripper and a group of students visited the Extras program here in town. Extras is like an after school program for kids in kindergarten to 5th grade to play and learn until their parents can pick them up. There are a couple faculty kids who go to Extras so we used our connections and got Tripper an invitation.

Three boys volunteered to come with us and lead a discussion about Tripper and what we're doing at Salisbury as Fosters. Volunteers Alex Pepper '11, Chris Silvey '11 and Ryan Pappalardo '11 have spent a lot of time with Tripper both by being part of the Undefeated Western New England Thirds Soccer Championship Team and of course Tripper Training Class.

We brought the Extras class outside, had them run around for a while...both so Tripper could see what a large group of screaming children look like...and to make sure they were a little tired before sitting and listening as we discussed Tripper. After their invigorating game of partner tag the group circled up while the Salisbury boys spoke about our Tripper program. After doing what I thought was a very good and thorough job of explaining everything we opened it up to questions...big mistake.

Here are some sample questions...or at least what we got when we asked for questions:

• "I play hockey at Salisbury" 
• "Can the dog help dress someone who can't see?"
• "My mom works at Salisbury"
• "Can the dog feed someone?"
• "I've already met Tripper at the football game."

And they best question... "Can Tripper see the colors of the traffic lights, and if not how does he know how to cross the street. " Clearly this question was asked by a 5th grader.

So after Tripper went around so everyone could pet him, the boys taught the kids how to have Tripper sit and do hand touches. And I was pretty impressed with the boys ability to help control 20 little kids and how well those kids did training Tripper!

It was pretty awesome to see the boys using what they had learned in Tripper Training class to teach other little kids not just about dogs, but seeing-eye dogs and Fidelco. Great work Chris, Alex and Ryan!

What are we doing?

I've been getting a lot of questions about why in the world I would spend my time blogging about dogs. Though it might have something to do with the fact that I am dog crazy and totally and completely obsessed with my (and all) dogs...but really it's because I thought as Mike and I venture out on this journey of raising Tripper, we wanted to share it with all of you. And perhaps by letting you all in on all the love, laughter and  the entire experience you just might consider doing something similar.

I know, I know...you'd be too sad to give the dog up. This is all I've heard since I started talking about raising a seeing-eye dog. But my response to that is being sad when you give up the dog it a terrible reason not to consider being a foster family. If you have the time to raise a puppy (and by the way these puppies are the smartest and best behaved puppies EVER...it really show how important good breeding is) and space for the puppy in your life....you should really consider being a foster family.

And yes, we'll be sad when we have to give him up...it would be non-human to not be sad to give up a dog. But the amount of joy and independence it will give someone who is seeing impaired is worth the temporary sadness we will feel.

So as you're sitting there reading this blog and looking at adorable Tripper, I hope he touches your heart and stimulates your interest in maybe being a foster family. And if when you look around at your life and decide now is just not the time...I hope that someday there will be a good time. Dogs like Tripper are always in high demand and the foster family is an integral part of the process.

For more information check out these sites...there are so many organizations out there, Google one near you to find out more information....
Connecticut-- Fidelco Guide Dog Foundation
California--Guide Dogs for the Blind,
Any State...Main to North Carolina-- Guiding Eyes for the Blind
Pennsylvania-- Israel Guide Dog
New Jersey-- The Seeing Eye
Florida, Georgia and North Carolina --Southeastern Guide Dog

What a Week

I forget how fast different parts of the school year go...like the start of school until Parents Weekend. It seems like everything is non stop and the only time I get a chance to breath...it's 10:30 and I fall asleep.

Today we had Tripper's third training class. All the dogs did so much better this class. Last Friday (the first class) all the dogs were not paying attention and were kinda crazy. Today the dogs were pulling to get into the gym and really connected with their handlers.

Tripper even did a much better job. On Friday he just cried and tried to get to me. Today Connor worked with him and really did a great job. I'm not sure if it was because Tripper already knew him (he's on my soccer team) or if he really wanted the treats, but we had a break through.

Other than that...it's pretty much been raining nonstop, which has really put a damper on taking pretty pictures outside. Maybe I'll have better luck over the weekend!

day 45