Arturo was my baby. I raised him from July ’05 to November ’06 when he was finally recalled at 18 months old. His siblings, parents, birtdate, etc are posted on the right…
He wasn’t neutered until later in his life because he was being considered as an International Breeder, but he was too dog distracted, so he was finally able to be neutered!! Our theory is that since they had to wait so long, his dog distraction got worse than it should have been. Between the head collar and a lot of work, I was able to get him to a point where he was mostly controlled around dogs. Then, our Community Field Representative decided to put him on food reward “for the fun of it” and to see if it would help him any more. It made all the difference in the world.
At his “final evaluation” Arturo was horrible. He whined non-stop, lunged, dove for food, and did everything he normally didn’t do. After the eval, our CFR told me, “he hasn’t shown me he can make it as a guide, but he hasn’t shown me he can’t make it” so she wanted me to keep him for a while longer.
A week later I showed the squirt at state fair. THERE he finally showed his true colors, and won grand champion in the control class. He did amazingly well on the evaluation course, and after seeing how good he really was, my advisor decided to recall him after all.
He entered advanced training on November 4th, 2006…a.k.a. the day my heart was torn in half. We drove him all the way down to the campus, and said goodbye. He was happy all the time.
12 days later, I received the call that he had been career changed for cataracts. We decided to let Guide Dogs place him, and he is now a happy and much loved pet near the campus in OR.
On February 9th, 2008, I was able to see him again for the first time since recall. He’d gotten huge! But he remembered me. I was so so happy to see him again! As soon as he saw me, he lunged forward on his leash, and when he got to me, he jumped up on me and gave me lots of kisses.
I love you, Arturo. You taught me how to be selfless, loving, and how to sacrifice. You’ll always be “my baby” and no one will ever take your place. Love you buddy!!!
Stories from a GDB puppy sitter 
AWW! Iverson and Arturo were so much alike! Iverson was put on food rewards too for disctractibility, not for dogs, but still, he was hard to get to maintain his focus until he was older! He sure is a handsome pup and you did really good with him Anna!
Arturo’s sister Augusta was raised in my club. She was a super hyper, whiny and high maintenance dog. Everyone in the club loved her though. She was the first puppy I puppysat. She doesn’t look a thing like Arturo. She is super red/copper, almost like a golden retriever! She was career changed in phase 7 because she has trouble calming down. The trainers think she would have made it as a guide if she wasn’t so hyper. The last we heard she was training to be a search and rescue dog!
Maddie – the Augusta from your club is actually blog dog Angel’s sister! After Arturo’s sister Augusta was career changed GDB used the name again…..(The Augusta you are talking about was born 4/24/07)
Anna – Ooops I didn’t look at the birth year. I just assumed when it said Augusta under siblings and you said that Arturo was being considered for an international breeder that it was the same dog. (Augusta’s litter was supposed to be international as well). Sorry for getting your hopes up about pictures!