Today was one of those fabulous days that you enjoy simply for the ease with which happiness surrounds you.  Today we celebrated the L’s turning 3 a few days ago with a reunion of many of the pups from the litter!

Can you guess who’s who?

Liam and Lyric having their own reunion and catching up!  They give a big shout out to their handlers at Stanley!!

I loved how the celebration encompassed a wide range of what I love best about my involvement-a group of people that believe in the power of the canine heart and that it is possible to create a bond between one person and one dog so seamlessly that you forget what it was like when they hadn’t yet been matched, and a group of dogs that love every moment of life and the people they are surrounded by!  There were puppy raisers, long term fosters, whelping homes, breeding fosters, adoptive families and clients all in the same room celebrating the same thing-the fact that these dogs change lives!

No pup birthday would be complete without some Pupcakes from their Mama Sugar!

And the dogs; Miss Sugar the mama, and 4 of her pups.  What they have seen in the last 3 years is astonishing when you think about it.  They’ve lived in many environments and homes.  Some of them spent some of their training time in a prison program where they adapted to one environment, and then on to a home where they adapted to another.  Then they went in for final training, foster homes, and at last their final home.

Mark reading a birthday letter from one of the inmate handlers at Stanley.  A great reminder that it takes many hands to get a service dog in training from birth to client!

Liam, Lyric, Linus and Lola were the ones present and they represent 2 client families, 1 adoptive/career changed family, and a breeder host family! Sugar’s litters of pups have always represented almost every facet of the organization and this litter was no exception!

Liam loves to help Mary get the things she needs, Lyric enjoys his family and going to outdoor sporting events in the summer, Linus takes great care of his boy Gage, and Lola is a mama herself and has had two beautiful litters of pups to the assistance dog program!

They were so fun to be around and they had an incredible time playing with their siblings and mom.  Of course, the humans in the room were having just as much fun watching them and we all enjoyed their happy faces and their light spirits!

“Did someone say TREAT??????”

The pups and mama got to enjoy some pup cakes and photos to commemorate the occasion, with the hopes that someday in the near future we can come together again so we can remember the simple joys of just being.

On this #NationalTherapyAnimalDay , I couldn’t help but give a shout out to an incredible, loving, and beautiful addition to the profession! This is Miss Sugar’s first year as a therapy dog, and by all accounts from the people she visits she’s exceeding all expectations!!! She never ceases to amaze me at every turn and it’s so fun watching how people fall in love with her, which doesn’t surprise me one bit!

Below are some of the beautiful pictures students from two of her classrooms she visits weekly drew and the stories they wrote about her, which melted my heart:). Watching the difference in the kids as soon as she enters the room is magical! Their teacher said that it’s difficult to get them interested in writing, but writing about Sugar is a whole different story!

The kids from the classrooms that Sugar visits were very proud of their latest writings about her!

It’s so wonderful seeing how a dog can help a child to read or write!

Sugar brought in bookmarks this month for kids to remind them how important it is to read and last month she gave them trading cards with her photo on it!  The kids (and adults!) in the school seem to really enjoy her visits each week, and Sugar starts whining when we pull into the parking lot.  I think she is just as happy to get in and see them!!!!

Then, when she makes her rounds at her independent living, assisted living and memory care facilities around the cities, I am once again blown away by how she is able to draw them out in one way or another. Staff members try to warn me that a person is “non-verbal”, but to Sugar  this information is meaningless; she approaches and gently does a “visit” on their lap and all of a sudden words form and come out of their mouth about a dog they had growing up, a dog’s name from their past, or a phrase like “good dog”. Some staff will go and get a camera to take a picture so they can tell the family members about it later.  Although it’s only a brief conversation, it still drives home the point that positive triggers for those enduring medical and memory issues can and DOES make a difference!! Sugar then goes over to a gentleman with memory loss and hearing issues, but if I quietly engage him for a few minutes the frustrating memory lapse he is fighting dissipates, his hearing recalibrates, and then he tells me about being a PHD professor at the U of M for 40 years in Animal Science! Shortly after, he starts asking me questions about why dogs do certain things (why do dogs pant? Why do they have eyelashes? Why do their paw pads sweat-what does that mean?), and it all of a sudden dawns on me that he isn’t asking because he doesn’t know-rather he is looking for an opportunity to share his expertise that he has spent a lifetime learning with me-he wants to teach me like he has spent his life teaching others, and those memories are so deeply embedded that it doesn’t take long for them to rise to the top. Next month we will start all over again, and I will watch the same “reawakening” happen and we will start with the same conversation. And yet, I will be just as amazed by the light in their eyes, the slight interactions that tell me they understand, and the gentleness with which Sugar interacts with them.

This is her current job-and I’ve never met a more capable dog in bringing joy, love and life to those she takes pleasure in serving!

This girl continues to change lives in BIG ways!  Way to go Sugar!

As of January 1st, Sugar became a certified therapy dog with Therapy Dogs International and today was our day to have our very first visit!

In November we had a meet and greet with Elementary School staff to make sure that we would be a good fit for their special ed and EBD classrooms.  It seemed like we were exactly what they were looking for to work with the kids, so we started making plans for the visits which will be weekly and started with today’s visit.

I don’t even iron my OWN clothes, but today it seemed critical for me to steam and iron her outfit, groom her, and make sure she looked stunning for her first day on the job!

Sugar went into the school like she owned the place!  And one of the many great things about the day is that the staff had been informed about her role at the school and I think they distributed photos of her when she did the meet and greet, so when she went in she was already known by staff as they encountered her in the office and hallways. We had the opportunity for some quick learning points to explain the difference between service dogs and therapy dogs and how Sugar was absolutely okay to be pet, which was a LOT of fun for me!

We then visited the two classrooms and the kids immediately fell in love with her!  Even some of the kids that I didn’t think would end up approaching her made their way over to her to give her a soft pat on her head. It was really wonderful to observe the interactions between the kids and Sugar, and just like I’ve had conversations with people about previously, there is something about dogs that they can bring out in people what other humans just are not capable of no matter how hard we try.  It’s really remarkable to watch it happen. And the kids were DEFINITELY not the only ones who enjoyed Sugar’s visit to the school; the teachers that stopped in loved watching her with the kids and were more than happy to offer a pet or two as well! Even the principal made a trip to the classroom to watch Sugar and the kids interacting together!

With her first therapy visit successfully under her belt, it was time to go and visit my mom who is 86 and who LOVES Sugar!  Once again, Sugar evaluated the situation and determined exactly what was needed to make a successful interaction-and she lulled my mom right to sleep!  She didn’t even mind that her front part of her body was on the chair while her back legs stood! I tried getting her to lay on the floor next to the chair, but Sugar quickly let me know that on the floor was just too far away for her plans with my mom!

Sugar loves my mom and will do just about anything to bring relaxation and comfort to her!

To complete the trifecta of a successful day, we finished it off with her going for a walk with my 2-year-old grandson!  She seemed more than happy to recalibrate once again and gauge her behavior and activity level to the human that she was around.  Just when I think I can’t love her more or appreciate her abilities in a new way, she surprises me!  She is really an amazing companion and she will be able to bring joy to so many through her therapy dog work!  We are already getting calls from other schools, hospice, cancer units, in-home therapy visits, and memory care centers and she will do amazing with all of them!

Way to go, Sugar!

Now, this is a TRUE loose leash test-walking with a 2-year-old and not pulling him down on icy roads!

On July 2nd Sugar was officially retired from the Breeder Program and by July 23rd I wrote a blog saying Sugar would be starting her new journey towards becoming a Certified Therapy Dog.  After only 21 days in retirement, it had become obvious to both Sugar and I that she was meant to make people happy and although she was doing that, she was capable of much more!

Sugar has always loved riding along in the car, visiting a variety of restaurants, schools, memory care centers, and nursing homes-spreading her joyful personality wherever she went!  So, it seemed only natural to pursue therapy work as her next step.

So, we went back into training mode; slowly but surely I tried to remind her of all of the skills we had been working on for the last 3 years!  She had spent more time raising puppies and less time learning skills so things were rusty to be sure!  Her sits were sloppy, her “leave its” were almost non-existent and not interacting with other dogs seemed offensive to her-she wants every dog she encounters to be her best friend 🙂

We continued to train and I have to admit I had my doubts; we signed up for a testing evaluation months ago and finally today arrived.  I wasn’t sure she had learned everything she needed to pass the test and I had heard that the evaluator we had was a tough one-things would not be overlooked and you would only get one shot to prove your worth. I decided we would go into the testing with the thought that it would be a great starting point, and if we didn’t pass then we would know what was left to keep working on.

The testing site was 1 1/2 hours away.  I knew the ride itself would take Sugar off of her game as she typically likes to run around and smell everything after a long car ride.  I decided my best bet was to stop part way there and get her out at Cabela’s for a walk through the store where we could work on her distractions, being around kids, and general smells that she needed to ignore.  She wanted to greet everyone-fish, the animals in the display like the polar bear and raccoon, the kids running through the store and the other dogs.  I shrunk a bit in disappointment because her behavior wasn’t boding well for the possibility of a successful testing day.  My nerves started to increase and I got her back in the car to finish the long drive.

Sugar was trying to make friends with the fish she met…..she made people smile with her interest in the fish!

During the final part of my drive, my frustration was increasing.  I had worked hard trying to give Sugar all of the skills she would need for this test and I was disappointed at the thought that she might not show the evaluator what a great fit she would be for therapy dog work.  I resigned myself to the fact that the 3-hour round-trip drive may not get us any closer to my hopes.  As we were just about 2 miles from the testing location, out of the blue came a large adult bald eagle. It came from the driver’s side and flew next to my car for a good 5 seconds!  I’m not sure why, but it just felt like the bird gave me an immediate sense of peace about the situation and my nerves eased.  It was exactly what I needed at exactly the right moment!

We got there a bit early so I worked with Sugar outside of the facility to try to get her brain engaged.  She was not having any of it though!  As people came out from the first testing time I checked in with them to see how it went.  Two people were dismissed-their dogs had given a low growl when they saw a dog across the room and they were not allowed to participate any further.  The owners were devastated.

Finally, it was our group’s turn to go into the facility and take a shot at passing the exam! There are two phases to the test and 13 separate testing requirements. Some of the testing portions were similar to what we had trained as a service dog in training, and others were not.  In one, Sugar had to watch me leave the room for one minute, and when I came back in again she couldn’t rush to me-she had to remain calm and not advance.  Another one was what I call the food and toy gauntlet; In service dog class we may have had one or two items that were very tempting on the floor that we had to pass by; in this test the floor was FULL of temptations!  Squeaky toys, elk antlers, bones, balls…..and then the evaluator put down jelly beans on the floor and then a handful of skittles.  In the end, to add insult to injury, she opened a fresh bag of YUMMY salmon dog treats, placing them on the floor directly in the path of the dog.  Sugar decided that she WANTED whatever was in that delicious bag! That was our do or die moment! I just didn’t think she would be able to resist the temptation.  I didn’t realize it at that moment, but that wasn’t even the worst of it.  In addition to having to go through the food and toy gauntlet twice, at the end was a person in a wheelchair who was holding the full bag of yummy treats and it was her job as part of the testing to lean the bag of treats forward right into the nose of the dog and ask if the dog would like some treats!  While I declined the offer, Sugar overruled me and wanted to let me know that “Yes, I do want some treats and you are not making good decisions for me!” in no uncertain terms! I thought that this was the moment that we would fail, and she would gently excuse us to leave the testing procedure.  To my surprise, Sugar regained her composure at the last available second and went into a sit and avoided the treat. I gave a sideways glance towards the evaluator to learn mine and Sugar’s fate-and it was enough to let us continue.

We went through the rest of the testing and finally, it was time for the evaluator to inform us of our fate-WE PASSED!  A flood of relief came over me and I resisted the urge to tear up.  It was going to happen. Sugar and I would be a Therapy Dog team!!!!

In the near future when we receive her Therapy Dog bandana and kit from the organization, we will be ready and waiting to determine who she will be able to visit and help!  There are so many places that can use the real gift of engaging with a dog that the possibilities are endless!

We had to have a couple of celebrations afterward!  A quick visit to one of her whelping homes to tell them in person of her accomplishment and then off to a human/dog party where she got to play with friends and meet one of her grandaughters (Quince)!

Visiting one of her whelping homes to deliver the good news in person on the way home!

5 dogs, 3 breeds! Happy pups!

Sugar and her grandpup!

She was meant to be a Therapy Dog, and I can’t wait to see the people she helps along the way!!

How fitting this quote is for her journey!

Return To The Basics

We don’t always need a profound new insight. Often, we just need to be reminded of the basics — the lessons we’ve already learned.

The dogs were obviously exhausted from their playdate! They impressed all of us with their ability to relax in an active environment!

So, Sugar finally arrived at our home on July 22, 2015, and we nervously prepared for the birth of her first litter.  And before I knew it I was embarking on a journey that would surpass anything I had imagined more than 3 years and counting!

Sugar delivered her very first litter, and they were ALL girls!  6 girls to be exact!  2 I had to resuscitate 2 due to being separated from their placentas but all were beautiful.  2 yellow labs and 4 black labs.  Soon they were given a “litter name”-and they were officially “The Spice Girls”.  They were going to be given names that loosely represented spices-so the organization named them Clover, Poppy, Saffron, Nutmeg, Sage, and Cayenne. (Any guesses as to which one was the rambunctious, spicy one????)

Sugar’s whelping adventures continued, some with more difficulty then others-with her 2nd litter (the C litter), 3rd litter (the L litter), 4th litter (the Z litter) and finally her 5th litter (the N litter). Along with the puppies listed above, she had Cosmo, Crush, Carmen, Lola, Lyric, Liam, Leonard, Lizzie, Linus, Logic, Zip, Zag, Zing, Zoom, Newton, Nana, Nino, Norton, Nesa, Natalie and Nelson.  You may think that puppies are all the same, but all of these puppies were unique and individual and whelping homes hold a special place in their heart for each and every puppy that they are able to be the foundation for~her puppies are spread across the globe, making a difference for countless people and her legacy will continue for many years to come!

I whelped 3 of Sugar’s litters and she had wonderful, loving whelping homes for the other two litters.  Yet one more example of how many hands touch the lives of these assistance dogs in training!  If I invited all the people who had a role in Sugar’s life or the life of her puppies I would easily fill a large room!

Sugar and the Sires in her life!

The Spice Girls litter

2nd litter-the C’s

4th Litter-The Z’s

5th litter-the N’s

3rd litter-the L’s

So, how did Sugar start her life? Interestingly enough, I’ve been able to have email communications with some of the people who were involved in her life prior to her coming to Minnesota when she was with Guiding Eyes!  I have been able to learn a bit about her life before I knew her and it’s been so wonderful to be able to create the full picture of who she is as a dog and companion, as well as those she has had the privilege to live and play with!

I got to learn about some  of her personality traits, behaviors and what she spent her time doing as a puppy and young dog.  How she loves the heat-whether it’s laying in the sun or snuggling RIGHT up to the portable heat units people use under their desks; how she played the role of a sheep in a Christmas play; how her quiet and dedicated spirit captured the hearts of many along the way; and how her direction changed and she arrived in Minnesota to be a breeder dog for Can Do Canines, providing so many offspring to change the lives of people around the world.  She had people she loved and they loved her!  This is what has made me understand a bit better about the “letting go” part of volunteering for an organization of assistance dogs. (Full disclosure-that doesn’t make it easier for me to say goodbye, but I do understand it!) When I saw how Sugar adapted once she got to our home and how we adore her and she loves us, I realize that dogs are very capable of loving others after us, and that’s okay!

Although as first glance you may think this is Sugar with a litter of her puppies, but this is actually Sugar’s mom-and Sugar is the one in the front foreground with the pink collar(with her name Sugar on it)! This is where her assistance dog journey began at Guiding Eyes!

If you click on the various photos below you will see a caption:) These are some of the photos shared with me by those who have loved Sugar since she was a puppy!

field trip!

Making friends!

shopping manners

grocery shopping outing

dressing up for her cameo in a play

fall harvest

Snowflakes keep falling on your nose….

Wonders of the world

This is one of the things I love about volunteering-I am not the only one who loves one particular dog!  All of us have connections and a piece of our heart with a variety of dogs, and the dogs get the opportunity to have many people who love them along the way! How lucky are they to have so many rooting them on and loving them????  Sugar wouldn’t be NEAR the wonderful dog she is if she hadn’t had outstanding people along the way that cared for her, taught her, loved her and wanted the best for her.  Each person who touches the life of a dog adds one more brick to the foundation of their success and personality, and without each of those bricks they just couldn’t be the dog that they are! I am forever grateful to those who had a part in Sugar’s life!

So, what’s in her future? She’s only 5 years old, so in Part 3 I will share some of my ideas for this wonderful, loving, and kind dog!!!!!