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Author Archives: Donna Black-Sword

Puparazzi

Posted on August 1, 2010 by Donna Black-Sword
Webster Street Market
Yeah, I’m with the band
Traveling around with Micron is kinda like hanging with a celebrity. I noticed this phenomena with our first CCI dog and it’s the same with this pup.
Walking through public spots with a caped dog by my side I hear whispered remarks. We’re hard wired to notice whispers, I think. Unless someone calls my name, I really don’t hear conversations as I pass by folk. But a shishy shush comment perks the ears. 
Ok, so try this out. Think of a hot rock star; anyone you like. And for each time in the next paragraph you see a reference to “dog”, replace with your rock star’s name . . .

As I’m walking through the Farmers Market with Micron, I overhear things like “did you see that Dog!?” or “a lady with a Dog just walked by”. Out of the corner of my eye, I see someone peek around a corner who says “holy cow, you’re right! There is a Dog over there.” It’s like they’re too shy to come up and talk to me and the Dog. 

So it’s pretty great when folk will stop and talk to us instead of about us. I love it when someone asks if it’s ok to pet Micron because it opens the opportunity to talk about what we’re doing for CCI. I think it’s way better than hanging out with Bon Jovi or something. But hey, that’s just me.

Dayton Dragons Baseball
An American werewolf in London
Ok, so he’s closer to a yellow dog in downtown Dayton.
Speaking of out and about, we brought Micron to walk around at the annual Celtic Festival. I wanted to hang a nickname on him that would make him feel like a Scot, but nothing clever came to mind. Mikey doesn’t sound Scottish, Irish, Welsh or anything even close. He’s an all American dog, so we embraced this heritage by hugging a huge baseball. Here’s one proud California blonde.
We did manage a photo op with a fellow who seemed pretty authentic to me. If he’s not a Scot, he sure as heck owns the look anyhow. Here he is working his Celtic charms on Micron. The dog looks rather blissful.

Dayton, Oh is a river city and is partly bordered by the Great Miami River. Before we got all modernized and everything Dayton had canals in the downtown area for commerce. Legend has it they were actually rather nasty and cesspool-ish. But today in the electronic age, we prefer to think of the former canal streets as a quaint old idea. ‘Tis a much happier way of thinking. For a parting shot, here’s Micron posing in front of a beautifully restored canal near Monument Street.
Sorry kid, we’re not going swimming

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Four Dog Night

Posted on July 11, 2010 by Donna Black-Sword

Four Dog Night

Cute photo, right? This was an evening of dog sitting at my place. Not dogs sitting, dog sitting. Like baby sitting, but with more slobber. It’s funny, I shared this pic on my Facebook and found the different reactions interesting. My non-CCI friends were all “how did you get them to sit at the same time? And stay in one spot long enough for a picture?” 
Taken from another perspective, fellow CCI puppy raisers were thinking “only four?”
I know where they’re coming from on that. I’ve seen the photos of seasoned puppy raisers. There will be somewhere between five to eight dogs of various ages sitting side by side. In order of height.
And all wearing birthday party hats.
It brings a sense of awe and wonder to a novice like me. Someday that will be me. Because it’s important to have big goals in life.
So how to get four dogs to sit nice and calm? It’s not so hard, you know. You just start with about 75% of them as CCI dogs; one outlier is ok to add to the mix. See the body language there?  If you always keep your treats in the right front pocket, just moving your hand anywhere in that general area will get the dog’s attention.  The spotted one on the far right is not looking at the camera; he’s locked onto that front pocket using his Jedi mind tricks to get a dog biscuit to levitate out. And see the yellow guy on the right leaning ever so slightly? Because he has faith in the Force.

These well-behaved boys are, from left to right, Kell (a CCI COC/change of career), Micron at 9 months, Karsen at 7 months, and poor hapless Jager, always the odd guy out.
Here’s Karsen and Micron after they’ve chewed through all the toys, including Jager, and now declaring that there’s nothing to do around here. 
Parting shot is Micron showing his love of the USA on the Fourth of July. I tried taking a picture with him sitting proudly while holding the flag in his mouth. Yeah, that didn’t work out. Instead this is him being distracted from chewing on the flag.
It’s not patriotic to eat the stars and stripes, honey.

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Baseball and Hot Dogs

Posted on June 21, 2010 by Donna Black-Sword
Hot time at the Reds game
Micron and I hit a Reds game at the Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati last month. It was a Bark in the Park event that the Reds, along with Iams and Eukanuba, will sponsor a couple of times a year. Dogs are invited to come with their human partners to watch the game. This was my second time attending one of these events. It really is a blast and Bark in the Park is gaining enough reputation that the dog seating was completely sold out for this game.

We had signed up to volunteer at the Iams booth; handing out dog food samples and such. I’m not really the outdoorsy type and I do tend to avoid hot, humid weather because it causes me to whine about my hair. But I did sign up thinking, hey it’s mid-May. It’s bound to be beautiful weather. A pleasant evening to be sure.

Yeah, so it sounded plausible for Ohio weather. It was, of course, a hot and muggy evening. Micron was his usual good sport about it all.  And we did have it better in the Iams booth than the ladies handing out the Iams bandannas under the unforgiving Cincinnati sun. By the end of the evening though, we were all feeling not so fresh, humans and dogs alike.

I didn’t get any photos of Micron in a position that resembles a state of consciousness. He looks like he’s heavily dosed on Benadryl in all my shots from the evening.

Which, by the way, is not something I would ever endorse. Don’t even think about calming your puppy with an antihistamine.
Save that idea for those long road trips with your kids.
  
Visions of hot dogs
There’s a hot dog place near our house called Dreamy Weenie. I’ve refused to go there based on the name alone. Just something about that name . . . Dreamy Weenie. Just don’t sound right to me.
Anyway, since we’re completely remodeling our insanely outdated kitchen, we’ve hit every fast food joint in town this past week. Nothing left to hit but the weiner place. Ok, ok, I’ll go. But I’m taking the dog.
They say it’s good to reach outside your comfort zone. That’s how you grow and truly enrich your life. And consuming anything labeled a dreamy weenie was, believe me, way outside my comfort level.
But dang it, this turned out to be pretty good stuff. I got a Reuben all-beef dog, with saurkraut and thousand island dressing. And fresh cut fries. Real iced tea, too.  It was all pretty yum, I gotta admit.
But back to the dog. The real dog, not the weiner in a bun dog. Micron showed off his outstanding restaurant manners by turning invisible under the table. Perfect. Before we left, I did get a shot of him dreaming of, well, a weenie of his own. 
The place is wonderfully graffiti friendly. We grabbed a purple marker and struggled to find a place to fit his name on the wall.  And here it is for posterity. If you happen by the Dreamy Weenie in Englewood, Ohio and need to use the restroom, check the wall on the right. Around the height of a dog’s head. Micron’s left his mark.
In a good way. Not the lift his leg way. Let’s try to keep all this weenie talk G-rated shall we?

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Divinity. It’s more than a fudge recipe.

Posted on May 17, 2010 by Donna Black-Sword
CCI May 2010 Graduation
We attended the spring graduation ceremony for Canine Companions for Independence on Saturday. (My experiences at the Feb 2010 CCI graduation are here .)  Another wondrous day of making new memories and new friends. The stuff of life.

I’m not a devotee of luck or fate, but I do have a healthy appreciation of the divine touch when a big dose of awesomeness gets dropped in our laps. A little story to illustrate . . .
We made it to the graduation a bit early. By early, I mean as navigator I kinda overestimated the time to drive to Columbus, so we showed up an hour before things were to start. Could have easily chalked this one up to yet another goof-up on my part, but if we showed up later we would have missed out on meeting someone very special. 

A bit of backstory first. The last CCI puppy we raised, the lovely Inga, finished her six months of advanced training and so was involved in the team training sessions for this graduation class. In the end, however, she was not matched with anyone as a Service Dog, Skilled Companion or Facility Dog. This is not good news nor bad news. It’s just news, really. Inga will stay at the North Central Regional Center this summer, then rotate over to the next team training scheduled for August. A moment of reflection on my part to deal with the disappointment, then moving on to fantasies of handing over the leash in three months. It’s ok, I’m good with it now.

So, we show up in Columbus with an obscene amount of time to kill. Just walking around aimlessly at the conference center, while trying to not look like we’re doing exactly that. The very first person we encountered was a young mother with her son, David. As we introduced David to Micron and Micron’s ever-enthusiastic tongue, the mom told us about the service dog that David was matched with as a Skilled Companion. Of the eleven dogs in the selection process, the mom felt a connection with two dogs, who happened to be littermates. As the week progressed, she started to feel this connection get stronger with one dog. She thinks, please let this be the One for David. 
David graduated on Saturday with Irina as his new Skilled Companion Dog. The very same dog the mom sensed to be the partner for her son. A perfect, blessed match. And not a match made by dumb luck; this kind of life changing beauty is no accident of fate.
What I love about this story? Irina and Inga are littermates. Through Inga and Irina, we are refreshed with new hope. We are inspired by a young mother doing the best and beyond for her child. This was one of those in-your-face moments for a puppy raiser – to see first-hand just how these dogs impact lives. 
Did we raise a future service dog in Inga? I don’t know the answer to that yet, but I feel pretty good that we sure gave it a heck of try.
And speaking of the lovely Inga
Another puppy raiser asked if I would be stopping at the regional center to see Inga while we were in the area on Saturday. I don’t know, I say. Probably not. Why not, he wanted to know.
Why not, indeed. Why was I so hesistant to see the pup I raised; was it fear? Afraid she wouldn’t recognize me? Afraid I would find her miserable and unhappy? Maybe it would be upsetting for her to see me. Or too hard for me to see her and not take her back home? It’s been six months since I’ve patted her ornery head.
Oh for goodness sake, what the heck is the matter with me? I’m stronger than that. We’re not talking about delicate flowers here, this dog and me. Time to take a deep breath of reality, cowgirl up and drive up to the center.
And wow. Sometimes it’s good to be wrong. Inga is happy, healthy and totally in love with the staff at the center. We got in some puppy hugs and I ended up with a pound of yellow fur on my clothes for old times sake. 
Inga’s nose has gone completely dudley. The pic at the top of the post shows her mature features as she crams a goughnut into my camera lens.
This next shot shows her catching up with Derek on her latest acts of derring do.
And here’s Inga going all T Rex on a levitating goughnut.

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How can you give them up?

Posted on May 17, 2010 by Donna Black-Sword

It’s a question a CCI puppy raiser hears a lot, but not an easy thing to answer. We take in these furry little carpet stainers at eight weeks old. We feed, train, groom and socialize for the next 14-16 months, then return the pups to CCI. How can you give them up? With a lot of pride and a box of tissues is a quick quip, but that doesn’t capture the essence of what a puppy raiser truly feels.

What follows is authored by fellow CCI puppy raiser, Elizabeth Holman, who has successfully put into words what is so difficult to say. Thank you, Elizabeth, for allowing me to share your thoughts here.

“How can you give them up?” As puppy raisers, if we had a quarter for every time we heard that question we could buy enough toys to keep even the strongest chewer busy for a year. It’s always well-meaning people (well, almost always) who marvel at our kindness. I appreciate it – but sometimes I want to ask them to lean in close so I can whisper something in their ear.



Let me tell you a secret: You will say goodbye to everyone and everything you love. It may be soon or it may be a long time from now, but the reality of our existence is that we keep nothing. Many of these partings will be surprises, and many will be filled with tears. As puppy raisers, we have given ourselves a great gift – we give our puppies up to life.


We know exactly when we will say goodbye. We pass their leash to loving hands and watch them walk off, tail wagging, to an exciting new world. We know they will be cared for by people who love them (nearly!) as much as we do. We know they will discover their joy in working with one special person, or be released to find their heart’s home. They come to us as little squirmy sparks of life, and after watching them grow we say farewell when they are young, strong, and on the verge of new adventures.


So don’t pity us or admire us as puppy raisers for being strong enough to give them up. Envy us for being lucky enough to give them up in precisely the right way.

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