This is how it all started…

Carol and I were invited to a Guide Dogs For The Blind Seattle Puppy Raisers meeting in late 2019. After attending several meetings and learning the GDB process and methods, we received our first puppy in April 2020. Asher was a nine week old male yellow Labrador. He was a happy confident puppy however after a year and a half he was career changed for balking. He’d just stop mid walk for no apparent reason. Can’t do that guiding a visually impaired person. They offered him to us as a pet and we gladly accepted. 

Next up was Vivi. A 12 week old yellow female Labrador puppy with French roots. She was a rowdy fun girl who had lots of energy. Asher was a great mentor in raising her however after being on campus we learned she would too would be career changed for being a multi-tasker. Couldn’t focus on the job. We were offered her as a pet but we wanted to continue raising puppies so we helped her find a new home. Augustus, a male yellow Labrador was puppy number three. He was a big easy going boy but they found him on campus to be reluctant to walk through puddles and avoided rose petals. Odd but it meant he could be a guide. “Augie” found a home as a facility dog for the San Francisco Police Dept. Puppy number 4 was Natsuki, a 12 week old female yellow Labrador. She was another fun one with lots of energy. We ended up co-raising “Suki” with Beth and Jim in Edmonds. She made it to campus and is now a working guide in Colorado!! Lira was number 5. Another rowdy girl and as it turns out, Asher’s niece. Lira had to have surgery at about 7 months to remove some excess cartilage in her shoulder. Not sure how that would turn out and GDB had an abundance of puppies, we took on Puppy number 6, Yang. A couple of months later, they called and said Lira’s surgery was successful, she would remain on track and was coming home. Oops! Now we had two for Asher to mentor. Lira had a couple of encounters showing sensitivity and reactive behaviors around some dogs. After a long evaluation, they decided to career changed her. With GDB’s help she found a new home with a local Veterinarian and now lives in North Bend. Yang is now 11 months old, still with us and is doing well. We expect he will be with us for about 3 more months.