GDB Alumni Reunion 2017

Here are a couple of memories from when I attended the GDB Alumni reunion in Nov 2017. This was the first reunion I have attended and it was fabulous. SO MANY LABS AND GOLDENS. One evening everyone was mingling in the lobby and I was on a couch and I said that I never get to be around goldens so I wanted to cuddle one and Marianne said that I should ask a puppy raiser named  Mary if I could say “hello” to her golden in training Theodore. They were standing nearby so I asked Mary and she said, “Sure.” She is telling me about Theo’s progress and how well behaved he is turning out to be and I started talking to him and having a great time. I stopped petting and leaned back into my seat and started talking to Marianne about goldens and then I leaned forward and continued petting Theo, I leaned in really close to his fluffy face and said to him that I thought he was going to make a great guide dog someday. I started feeling all nostalgic about this pup’s future ahead of him. Suddenly Marianne says, “Did you know you are talking to Racer right now? Theo left a while ago.” We both busted up laughing because Racer was just sitting there all cute probably wanting to say, what do you mean I’m going to make a great guide someday?? Aren’t I already?!!

Racer loved getting to spend time with his puppy raisers. Marianne came with me to the reunion and we shared a room. Racer usually sits at my feet. Basically where his human is, there Racer is. One morning Marianne was at the mirror doing her hair and I was sitting on the edge of the bed putting on shoes and Racer couldn’t decide which of his humans he wanted to be near so he picked a spot on the hotel room floor that was exactly half way between us. It was approximated 6 feet one direction to Marianne and 6 feet the other direction to where I was on the bed. He just sprawled out right there and he probably assumed he would be able to keep tabs on both of us that way.

Shannon also helped raise Racer. Often a puppy will spend time at two different homes and that way they get to experience a lot of different scenarios and home environments. When puppy raisers team up like that then they can share the time and responsibilities needed to teach the pup and it works out well. For example one of the raisers might have young children so the pup gets to experience that and the other raiser might have cats and birds. One of the families might live in an apartment and the other family might live in a home with a pool in the back. One raiser might work in an office so the pup will go with them to work and the other co-raiser will be a stay at home mom and will be taking the pup to soccer practice and piano recitals. The idea is that these pups will grow up being all the more flexible if they experience a few different environments. After the reunion we got to go to breakfast with Shannon and visit with her at her home. Racer was so excited to see her and her familiar home and he remembered everything. It was great to see how excited he gets when he is reunited with one of his raisers. Shannon hadn’t seen Racer and me (besides photos) since the graduation in 2015. It was a great reunion. Racer got to pal around with Kahuna a nine month old yellow lab that Shannon is raising. Racer even tried to crawl in Kahuna’s crate, formerly known as Racer’s crate.

One last funny thing that happened was that Marianne had brought a fleece mat/bed for Racer to use at the hotel. The last night we had checked out of the hotel and were staying at Marianne’s new house. It was early evening and we were all visiting and relaxing with her family and Marianne looks over and she sees Racer who had gotten tired and didn’t know where he should go to sleep in this place   so he had found the mat that he slept on at the hotel but it was folded in half and leaning in a corner by the door. Racer had tried his best to climb up onto it and was trying to sleep. It was quite hilarious and from what I understand he was all off balance and teetering trying to stay on it, but what a good boy for finding a bed. We all started using the line, “nobody puts baby in a corner!”

I am really grateful for all the fun people I have met through GDB. Marianne and Shannon and other puppy raisers around the country, and all the trainers and instructors, and of course all the guide dog handlers and the pups themselves. It is a really great community.