Today is the first full day that Ken is holding the reins in the puppy world with me away. It sounds like he is doing everything well and this is just the first in a series of changes that these puppies will encounter during their training. They need to be easygoing, flexible and adaptable as they will be placed with a variety of families and  locations and learning to adjust to changes is just as important as any other training during their early months.  I’m approaching this time away as one more step in their future success (and maybe a good step for me as well!). 

So, how’s Ken doing with them?  Here’s the text I received this morning from him-“Going to be a great Sunday. My goal is to have the puppies potty trained and on 10 second stays by the end of the day”. Shortly after that another text….”How about a pic of them playing in the snow?” I had to wonder-he certainly knows they can’t go outside, doesn’t he ???? Just to make sure I sent a follow up text (“no, no playing in the snow”). I didn’t want to leave anything up to chance!

So, here’s Ken’s blog post from Saturday in his own words! 

December 2, 2016

Today is the day, the pressure is on. Holly did not want to leave the house and hung around the whelping room looking for things to do and watching over me for the longest time. I finally realized that she was procrastinating; maybe hoping she could delay long enough that she would miss her flight and have to stay home. Sugar on the other hand was watching Holly knowing something was going on and she had a nervous look as well. Her look was DO NOT leave me alone with him, he does not know what he is doing. I have never seen a more concerned look on her face. This got me more concerned wondering if I could handle it as Sugar is a dynamite dog who is bomb proof and can handle anything, if she was concerned then I should be concerned. 

I had to put my concerns aside and get Holly moving, I looked at her and told her “It is time for you to leave” She gave me a nervous chuckle, delayed some more, yet after another 15 minutes she was finally out the door.

Holly has left for the airport and I am now in charge of her precious cargo. Seven service dog puppies who just opened their eyes, are walking better, are beginning to bark and play fight with each other, each day they are developing more and it is amazing to watch. On top of all of this I have to live up to high expectations of Holly.

For those of you that do not know Holly she is very detailed and everything she does is done with passion. She has reviewed her dog bible with me several times, gone over the reporting that needs to be done on a daily basis. When do the dogs eat, how do I change out the bedding, how much and when should I feed Sugar. I actually went in to puppy overload but I was not going to let her know this. I am used to running a business not raising a pack of adorable puppies, what did I get myself into? Wish me luck…

My first night did not start off good and it was not due to the dogs. I was having a craving for some sweets and I knew that we had some cookies in the freezer downstairs. I went down to ease my craving and upon opening the freezer I realized it was not running and the food was thawing. The GFI outlet had blown and now I had something else to deal with. Too much for tonight so I just took inventory of the food throwing some out, turned the freezer back on, did some google research and went back upstairs knowing this would still be here tomorrow.