Another update from a Fall 'o8 Puppy:

Dear Birth Mommy,

Thank you so much for taking such wonderful care of me! I am healthy, happy, and having so much fun at my new home. Guess what? I have not had even one accident inside! I also slept all night long because I was pretty tired after the big trip to my new home. I'm being such a good boy, just like you told me to be.

I love going outside now. The grass was pretty strange at first but now it's really cool to see how many sticks, leaves, and pine cones I can find. My new daddy mowed the lawn today and made all the "cool" stuff go away, but I managed to still find a couple of sticks and leaves.

I also love to play ball! I'm sending you a picture with my new blue ball. I can put the whole thing in my mouth and carry it! I also found a big toy box. The toys were pretty big and I couldn't pick them up because they belong to Max and Maggie. They'll be able to share with me when I get bigger.

Here is a testimonial from one of my spring '07 Puppy Families. I am so flattered by what she has said (and I copied this with her permission!); I should point out that a lot of her happiness with the puppy was due to the fact that she took the care of her puppy and the TRAINING of her puppy very seriously!

Message:

Wilson Update:

Okay, Katie, when you told me about how laid back the English goldens

are, I partially thought it was a gimmick. However, Wilson is, by all

rights, still a puppy at 7 months old, and to this day, I have never seen

naughty puppy behavior in this dog. I swear.

He is not a chewer.

He is not a mouther.

He is not a jumper.

He is not a slobber-er.

He is not hyperactive.

The only thing that he does that's annoying is to dig holes in the

pinestraw when he's bored outside, and the only reason he does that is

because the stupid BEAGLE next door showed him how.

Here are the wonderful things he does:

He follows my baby around, making sure she doesn't get into anything

bad (like dog food).

He drops anything I tell him to drop immediately.

He tries really hard to be a lap dog. Not usually successful, but

interesting to watch.

He was housebroken in about a week, after which there have been ZERO

accidents. Literally, ZERO.

So far, not much shedding. (Hopefully those aren't famous last words.)

He tries really hard to play with my cat, who only swipes at his nose,

but Wilson continues to take it like a man.

He sleeps on his back.

He goes easily into his crate.

He smiles.

He's friendly to company.

He likes to take a bath. (Weirdo.)

The size & shape of his head compel total strangers to call him

"blockhead", or, more insultingly, "meat head".

When he has been too obnoxious and I put the headcollar in him for a

few hours, he spends the entire time trying to rest his chin on my lap,

my foot, my shin, whatever he can get it on. He's apologizing. The dog

apologizes.

He pokes people, occasionally, with his nose. Sounds bad, but it's

actually charming.

He has a daily Mexican Standoff with my trash can. He want to get into

it SO BAD. But he just stares and quivers.

He plays with our neighbor's dog so well and so HARD that I feel guilty

for not having a playmate permanently. So maybe there's another puppy

in our future. I'm waiting to check the shedding thing, though, after

he goes through a full season with adult fur.

You should totally use me as a dog reference.

Thanks again & I'll continue to keep you posted.

This worthy organization trains and provides service animals for a variety of assistance uses. GCI dogs purchases the animals and then spends two years in their training only to give them away for service to their human partners. Tim and Ramona have an amazing dedication to this work and rely solely upon charitable support for their program.

To find out more: www.gcidogs.org

Or to support this worthy cause: http://www.gcidogs.org/help.htm