The Bad News…

Well, it looks like no more starter pups for little ‘ol me. Our CFR wants the starter raisers to work with them for longer than a month, and that’s just not possible for me. So sadly, I’ll have to say goodbye to my dream of having one last starter pup. Too bad, because my parents almost said yes, too. 😦

 

However, I was talking to my leader and they said I could puppy-sit one of our new puppies, Tianna, over December. The raisers have a lot going and they would love to have me watch her.

I really wish I could have raised a starter, though. My only motivation for raising starters isn’t that I get glory for a graduate. Lawrence’s graduation, and the pain I went through, would prove to anyone that it’s not about getting to say “I raised a guide dog”. I just love having a puppy that’s “mine”–even if it is for just a month–rather than watching a dog that’s someone else’s. I don’t GET to do another full-time puppy until I graduate, so my starters are my compromise. They’re “mine” but not “all mine” which is good for my parents and me.

Does that mean I won’t puppy-sit Tianna? Absolutely not. I might actually have a better chance to puppy-sit her (rather than get a starter puppy), because my parents are more welcome of puppysittees than starter pups. I hope I can have her (or someone else) for Christmas….I’ve had a puppy every Christmas for 3 years– Arturo, my boy, Bradford, a puppy-sittee, and Pomona, my 2nd starter pup. So anyway. This is a really long and disjointed post.

I’m going to call Tianna’s raiser and find out exactly when she would want me to puppy-sit. I don’t want to take her away from her family while they want her. I definitely don’t want to ask to have her for Christmas, because I know that’s a special holiday for a lot of families and having their pups with them is important. I know I wouldn’t have shipped Artu off to a puppy-sitter for Christmas, for anything. So I’m not exactly sure WHAT to do right now. My leader is also e-mailing all the other raisers to see if anyone is going out of town and needs a sitter. But right now we have a lot of brand new people who want to puppy-sit.

I love brand new people, and I love that they want to puppy-sit, but I don’t think they’ll ever understand how much I want to puppy-sit until they’ve raised a gorgeous dog and given it away. And then been told they can’t raise again. (except for starter pups) So I don’t know…Dang I want my own puppy again. SO BAD. I’d even take this one back again…..

(by the way, her 2nd raisers saw her at the Oregon Fall Luncheon, and her current raisers said she’s doing great…. :D)

So will I puppy-sit Tianna? Probably. Yeah. Why not. I just really want my own puppy again.

Love your babies for me.

 and congrats on making it all the way to the end of my whining-post.