Billy was right

Billly's question of whether those were the puppies we were going to raise or not really began to bother me. The puppies on the web cam were a week too young to be headed to Nashville. As it turned out, Billy was right. Becky and Pat (who were at campus to bring Miles and R.J. In-For-Training) told us the puppy we are going to raise was sired by Sparky - not Gunner. The webcam has been updated since and we know for sure one of those puppies is headed our way. Pat informed us the litter is 7 females and 2 males. The entire litter is solid black with the exception of one of the male pups - he is easy to pick out on the webcam as he is black with tan legs. I hope Pat gets to raise him instead of raising her 5th solid black puppy.

So, while we can see the pups on the webcam there is no way to tell which puppy is going to be ours to raise. In less than 2 weeks she will be here! Now on to purchashing dog food...

Puppy Cam updated!

We were all excited when we saw there were 5 black labs on the updated puppy cam today. I did not pay attention to the bottom of the screen where it states the dam and sire but Billy took notice. Then he quelled our excitement by asking "You know the puppy we are going to raise was sired by Gunner?". Hmmm.... great question. I did not even consider the fact there could be another litter of black labs behind this one. My excitement for puppy cam was dampened but my excitement in raising an inquisitive and intelligent almost 10 year-old deepened.

A potential breeder?

Puppy will arrive in Franklin on November 3rd and excitement is reaching a fevered pitch! While we will not find out her name until that day, we did find out that she is being considered for the breeding program. What exactly does that mean? Well, I was told she must stay 'intact' (not spayed) and therefore, carefully watched and restricted on exposures during the time she is in heat. Ok, we can do that. But it also means that after all of our efforts to train her, and after her advanced training in Florida, she may never be partnered with a blind individual. For me, that kind of deflates the excitement of raising her. Very few dogs actually become breeder dogs due to the potential medical, personality, size and training hurdles, so she still must be trained as if she were going to work with a blind individual. On the positive side, if selected to be a breeder she will live a normal puppy/dog life with a family close to the breeding kennel in Florida and that makes me happy for her too.

We also found out that only 2 puppies will be making the trip to Nashville. Becky cannot take another pup now due to changes at work and Tina cannot take a puppy now due to the advancing age of her other 'career changed' dogs. Tina will continue her role as obedience trainer extraordinaire by attending twice monthly puppy training meetings to help us raise our puppy.

I did not make it to the last meeting as I was lucky enough to see Jenny compete in a meet in Maryville, but Scotty said good bye to Miles, R.J. and Maywood. They will be In For Training (IFT) next week to begin their advanced training. Hopefully, we will be able to see them matched with their blind partner in their graduation photos within the next 6-9 months!