In the fall of 02 we turned in Gretchen, a German Shepherd we raised for a dog guide school. Later we picked up a yellow Lab we named Kate to raise. Two weeks before that, we were given a 15 month old male chocolate Lab named Jag. I do not understand why people pay $400 for a dog and then ignore it, and finally give it away. He had very little training before the 2 weeks he spent with us. I started with a head collar, but had him leading fairly well in a slip collar in 2 weeks. He was just a great dog, and I had decided I would keep him as my dog when he failed as a dog guide as most of the donated dogs like him do. He went through the physical and dog guide training fine, but ended up in a home for a while for remedial house manners, chewing I think. Finally he was matched with a partner and they completed their training and graduated. We returned Kate last fall, and she graduated last week on schedule. Gretchen was kept as breeding stock. She was bred following her X-rays at 2 years old, and her first litter recently went to their puppy homes. We hope timing works out for us to return Pepper to the service dog school about the time Gretchen's second litter will be going to their homes. We are very happy with all 4 dogs.

Not only are we very happy Jag did graduate instead of coming back to us, we have Aster now. We raised her 10 years ago. She worked until she was 10 year old, and came back to live with us. It is very unusual for a working guide dog to be living where it was raised, and to visit both the family that raised it, and the family that bred it. Since Aster was 1 1/2 years old, she has had 3 families that dearly love her. She is living in a different one of them now. but still returns to her old partner when we need a sitter. Her replacement spends an occasional day off with us. He is a fine, big black lab.