5 More Weeks

Levi and Reily in the snow....how they love it!

Only 5 more weeks and our dear, sweet, loving Reily will be back in the hands of CCI and living in California. I can easily start to cry just thinking about it so writing this post is really hard. It's one thing to think about it, but when the packet of info on turn-in came last week, well, it's so hard. There's lots to do before we leave...vet visits, final weeks of training, realizing the hole that will be left in our hearts and hoping and praying that she will conquer Advanced Training and become a graduate. 

Seems like Sept 15, 2010 was just yesterday, instead of over a year ago when we picked her up at the Albuquerque airport - a 12 pound bundle of black fur and wiggly body.....from her exit out of her crate until this very moment, she has taken our hearts and wrapped them around hers!!  Yes, we've had some "challenges" with her being a puppy, but overall she has not done any real damage.....a cell phone and a couple of tv remotes, some papers, a couple of shoes, but nothing terrible. She's given Levi a new lease on life (he's 10) and they are good buddies. He, too, will miss her. 

So now we wait...and dread the day we have to hand her over. I think both Gene and I will need lots of Kleenex. 

She's done well - I've not done as well as I should have but together I hope we've done enough. I have learned, though, that no matter what I do for her, if she isn't meant to become a full-fledged graduate assistance dog, it's not my fault.  Some dogs make it and some don't. We also need to make the decision about taking her back if she doesn't graduate. Like Scarlet, I'll think about that tomorrow. In the meantime, we love her and always will. 

Lots of fun the last few months...she goes to work with me, goes to restaurants, goes to church, and when we went to Taos for a weekend awhile back, she and Levi went off to Santa Fe to the pet spa for a couple days. She's a good rider in the car. Her eating is a little picky....how she can make a dish of food last as long as she does is amazing....Levi is nearly done eating before I ever get her dish down. 

Right now she's telling me it's time to get in the kennel and get her beauty sleep. So I'll close for now and update more later.