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Category Archives: CCI

A year with the Yuletide Yaxley

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Donna Black-Sword

Same intelligent locked-on-you gaze and those little adorable eyebrows. Ears soft as velvet. And that same serious mouth as designed by the Wallace & Gromit cartoonists.

But a whole year older now. February 19 marks the milestone event of bringing a third dog into my home (see Newest Golden Child ). How many dogs can I have and still be married? Today, the answer to this is the same as last February. That would be three.

We welcomed this cotton ball called Yaxley into our family to train and socialize for the next eighteen months for Canine Companions for Independence.  The Mighty Micron was still a pup in training last February, so we did overlap two CCI pups for the next three months until Micron’s matriculation into Advanced Training in May.  A feat of bravery we proved can indeed be done, but did require some serious attention and help from others. My friend, and sometimes cohort, Mary Ann was invaluable during this time. She is one of the unsung CCI volunteers – supportive, knowledgeable and blessedly always there when you need her. She’s been the wind beneath the angel wings of seven CCI puppies.

So did I learn anything new with pup #3 over this last year?  Sure, I did. There’s always new enlightenment to be discovered with these yellow fuzzies. Lessee, I already knew about there was no such thing as a quick grocery trip with a CCI pup. And to keep two sticky lint rollers in my purse (one for me and the other share). And that mud is my mortal enemy.

They say after four dogs in your house, it’s all the same. You can keep adding from there because it just won’t make a difference after that. But with three, I still had some shred of value system for cleanliness. The wood stairwell seemed to be growing a coat of its own. The Swiffer WetJet was threatening to defect during the rainy season. I started to get paranoid about potluck events and brought fur-free goodies fresh from the grocery (“I bought it myself!”) instead of home-cooked fare.

And how does dog hair get to the top of the door frames anyway?

So over the last year, I learned coping skills. And to tell friends and family to give me at least a thirty minutes heads up before they come over. I learned a single dog hair in the meatloaf ain’t gonna kill ya. And using a fabric softener and dryer sheet combo system, it is a teensy bit more effective in getting yellow fur to release its tenacious hold on my favorite black sweater.

And I learned that I absolutely love sharing my life with these wonderful critters. I’ll never be renowned for my housekeeping skills and that’s just fine with me. My world is filled, maybe even overflowing, with the warm companionship you can only get from a dog’s heart. So if I have to pluck yet another hair from my mug o’joe tomorrow morning, I think I’ll just continue to consider myself one lucky chick.

Unless it turns out to be a cat hair. That’s different.

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Unicorns, dog frogs and the odd duck

Posted on January 22, 2012 by Donna Black-Sword
Dog Frog and his noshable  friends

Introversion ain’t all it’s cracked up to be

Sometimes it’s tough living life as an introvert in a world that seems to be run by extroverts. You got all these Type A people out there on the front of the stage running the show, while all us quiet, unassuming folk are back in the wings holding things together. Go on out there, we say, we got your back, dude.

According to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, you can sum up these personality diffs this way:

  • Extraverts are action oriented, while introverts are thought oriented.
  • Extraverts seek breadth of knowledge and influence, while introverts seek depth of knowledge and influence.
  • Extraverts often prefer more frequent interaction, while introverts prefer more substantial interaction.
  • Extraverts recharge and get their energy from spending time with people, while introverts recharge and get their energy from spending time alone

As a highly functioning introvert, I’m pretty much in agreement with all this. I’m ok with the task of being the thinker behind the doer. And while I absolutely can do high energy adventures like give a speech or go to a party, it’s just that a nap afterwards would be quite nice.

I’m somewhat familiar with the Myers-Briggs personality test thingy, having gone through it a couple of times or so in the interest of career development. And while the results provide some comfort to know that my core personality doesn’t change, it remains unsettling to find that I fall into an “exclusive personality category which contains only one percent of the population.”  Huh, one percent. I try to think positive as I ponder on this nugget of info.

So, I’m unique, y’all! Creative, clever and sensitive! As rare as a unicorn in a world of plow horses!  No, no of course I know what this means. If you should find your personality style anywhere less than even 10% of the general public, well, it means people look upon you as a bit of an odd duck.

And so thanks so much, Myers-Briggs, for confirming that with your nifty little test.  Like the high school experience wasn’t enough to prove it.

Socializing the yellow dog

So, you might think taking Yaxley out for socializing would present a challenge for me. In a world where I prefer to go about my business within an imaginary cloak of invisibility, that taking a dog would knock me off my groove. It’s true, walking Yaxley through “no pets allowed” facilities negates the invisibility cloak. You’re gonna get noticed.

It can be turned into a game, of sorts.  I flash a friendly smile at anyone we encounter who makes eye contact. The sport of it is to tally up the reciprocated smiles against any askew skunk eyed glares. The smiling faces always win (there’s bonus points if you get an awww).  Skunk eyes can go on their way and live to stink up someone else’s day, I say. But only because I’m weird.

After reading fellow dog blogger Something Wagging This Way Comes‘  post titled  5 Ways Dog Save the World, I was reminded of our local farmer’s market and their no-pets-rule. A rule that I find a little off. The PNC 2nd Street Market is an effort in sustainability with organic food and handmade natural products. Come on folk, what’s more organic and natural than a dog?  But really, I do understand. Space to move about the indoor market is limited, not much room to maneuver a dog through there, organic or otherwise.

Animal Snackers Bakery

In the winter months though, the crowds have dispersed providing a shopping experience at a leisurely pace. Yax and I popped by the 2nd Street Market for some power socializing.  With his CCI logo cape, he is easily identified as a trainee. But he pulls himself off as a pro. Walking by my side, sitting when we stop. Shaking paws on command as he meets toddlers and adults. A fine ambassador for CCI, he is. Good dog, Yaxley.  

We made time to stop at the Animal Snackers Bakery, a shop run by the volunteer group Friends of the Humane Society.  These folk make healthy and tasty dog cookies as fundraising for the Humane Society of Greater Dayton. I stop by here every trip to the market to grab some baked goods to support the fine work these volunteers do. And because the dogs love it when I bring home some goodies for them. They nosh upon all of the varieties with eagerness, but it does seem their favorite is the peanut butter Dog Frogs.  How can I tell? I measure the drool strings.

Hey Food Lady, the cookies are glowing!
Kinda like a unicorn does!

The farm market experience gave us a couple of things to check off Yaxley’s New Experience List:

  • Tight traffic areas and how to position the yellow tail safely.
  • A really big guy in a clown suit making balloon animals.
  • Balloons popping before becoming said animals.
  • A dog cookie store and ignoring the treasures that are within easy reach.
Another successful outing with this masterful puppy. He went out there and wondersmacked the world while raising awareness of Canine Companions for Independence.

Ah, twas a good day. Now, please excuse me, won’t you?  I think I’ve earned myself a cat nap.  Wish me sweet unicorn dreams.

Chickie Chompers
The dogs aren’t the only food motivated ones here. Tasty fare from Baan Thai Noi

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Not purely altruistic

Posted on January 8, 2012 by Donna Black-Sword

Now don’t go off and get the wrong impression of me when I tell you this story. I don’t want anyone thinking I’m all stuck up or anything as I talk about an article from the New York Times. While, yes, I do have the New York Times drop an email update to me on a daily schedule, I really only scan the headlines. Put the Sunday issue of the Dayton Daily News and the New York Times side by side and watch me grab for the Dayton paper. Because DDN’s Sunday issue has the comic pages in color.

So I admit it’s not often that I actually open an article from the NYT email to absorb a story. I discovered that not only do the Times writers tend to use obscure words outside of the common tongue, they use several multi-syllable of the things in a row.

But here’s an exception.

Is Pure Altruism Possible? says the headline. Blog readers who have stuck with me over these past couple of years may recall my ramblings about teaching catechism to seventh graders (Rambam’s Ladder explains in further detail of these years of penance for me).  I have a foundational belief that I valiantly attempted to fit into the heads of these young people. Regardless of circumstance, each and every one of us has experienced blessings in our lives. And each and every one of us has a resource available to make a difference to someone else. This process of “giving back”, my young friends, is the very least we should be doing within our lives
 

Tell ya what, chick-a-roni, says Bodine.   
If you fill my food bowl, I’ll write your cards.  
How’s that for altruism, feline-style?

So this altruism headline in the Times intrigued me. I got as far as the byline and saw that this opinion piece was written by Judith Lichtenberg, a professor of philosophy at Georgetown University. Well, that should have been my first warning to stop right there before my brain exploded. Who did I think I was anyway?  Reading a NYT article written by a philosophy professor? But I bravely trudged onward hoping for a nugget of information that I could actually hold in my humble gray matter.

But, oh!  I got it!  Well, most of it.  Ok, ok, some of it.  Anyway, it’s full of some really great profundity and I’m finding it tough to summarize it here. I welcome all you curious folk to read the article in full here:  Is Pure Altruism Possible?  Grab that latte first, though. You’ll likely be there for a few minutes. For the truly courageous, read on through the reader comments, where you will find even more deep thinking as provided as critique by Dr. Lichtenberg’s fellow philosophers. My poor quivering brain sprung a leak after the first couple of those and I found myself reaching for that glass of Pinot Grigio.

The thought of pure altruism remains interesting to me as a volunteer puppy raiser for Canine Companions for Independence. Sure, my very hope is that this incredible pup I’m raising will become an assistance dog for someone. Which in turn would provide a level of independence, companionship and a sense of security to someone else who is looking for such things.

Pure altruism however? Well, no.

Inga taming a polar bear at the
Cincinnati Museum of Natural History

Why not? Oh, as if, people. Because I got me a puppy in my house, that’s why. I get nearly a year and a half of  happiness as only a fuzzy canine can give. Puppy breath and Frito scented feet in a cotton ball body, followed by months of having a constant companion. And adventures! Have you ever taken your dog to a museum? To the movies?  Well, I have and I gotta say, it’s a blast. The dog is a social bridge as well.  I meet amazing people I never would have without this dog at my side.

And we work hard, too, with the socialization and training. Some different doggie rules than the pet dogs have. And at the end of our time together, this dog we love so much, this dog who is not our dog, leaves our home and is entered into the advanced training program at CCI.

Every puppy raiser has their own reason for doing this stuff, for going through the hard work, the happiness and then the resulting heartache. Hey, I’m no philosopher, but here’s my thinking. During the short time we have these fuzzies in our lives, we fill them with our love. It’s not a conscious choice to be sure, it just kinda happens along the way. Then, with a kiss and a long hug, we send them off to share that love. So when they are placed with someone in the next part of their journey, well, they carry that very love inside them to give forward.

And indeed they do, so I’m told. Person after person, story after story, I hear. Pure altruism? No. But I don’t doubt for a nano-second that what I’m doing with these dogs is totally where I’m supposed to be.

During the holiday season, I joined up in a card exchange with other CCI folk.  Puppy raisers, graduates and others involved with the CCI program. Rules were simple, really. Just make sure you send a photo of a dog or two with your card.

Oh, it was wonderful picking up the mail every day to see what dogs were gracing the photo cards that day. I couldn’t even wait to get the cards in the house before opening them. Dogs in Santa hats, dogs in snow, dogs at the beach, dogs smiling. Then one day, opening the day’s postal treasures, I find myself standing in the driveway with tears in my eyes.  It’s a beautiful Christmas card from a CCI graduate, a young lady I’ve never met. Along with a photo of her and her blue-caped CCI dog, she’s left a handwritten note inside the card for each of the volunteer puppy raisers on her mailing list:

Wishing you a wonderful holiday season. Thank you so much for all the time, energy, patience & socializing you invest, in order to give someone else more independence & a greater quality of life. Loving & caring for a puppy you know you will have to give back is such a selfless gift.

Thank you for everything you do.

Dogs and dog cards.  It’s a blessed life, it is.
Now if Micron could just plant his blessed behind into a decent Sit.

So in answer to your question, Dr. Lichtenberg, is pure altruism possible?  You know, of course it is.  But I can’t stake claim of it here.

Because someone gave back to me.  And I’m feeling especially blessed today.

The photo we used for the CCI card exchange.
“Santa? Stop him, Micron! 
He’s goin’ for the dog cookies!”

Yaxley, Micron and Jager share some
Christmas spirit.

Aw, is Christmas over already?

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Birthday wishes do come true

Posted on December 28, 2011 by Donna Black-Sword

The anniversary of my 29th birthday falls in the early springtime. It happens every year, it does. And I do love that time of year, right at the cusp between winter’s end and the renewal the more temperate weather brings to our days.  That wonderful season of windbreakers, yellow daffodils, and rain boots.  

And it’s an extra coolness when my special day actually falls on Easter Sunday, which puts a whole new glorious spin on the celebration. Sure, this has only happened once that I can recall, but it was a great theme party that year.

Of course I don’t have griping rights about sharing my birthday with a big holiday. Even something as powerful as the Easter celebration. Odds are, I have more chance of winning the lottery while being consumed by a tiger shark than getting another Easter Sunday birthday. So I can pretty much expect the same amount of gifts year after year. And by gifts, I’m referring to the stuff I buy for myself.

But I hear the folk who have their birthdays around the Christmas season don’t always get off as lucky. Christmas and birthday gifts sometimes get combined, lowering the meter on the happy scale into the yellow zone. Kids especially can feel a little slighted about their celebrations getting mixed in the holiday rush of family activities. You still get stuff and maybe even lots of it.  But what about your special day? You know, when your sister has to be nice to you and does the dishes when it’s really your turn.

One friend has solved this by celebrating his Half Birthday. A clever way to get your day of personal Me attention, I think. A full balloons and cake celebration in July instead of December. Smart fella.

So with all this in mind, we were sensitive to Yaxley and his first birthday that fell on December 22.  Yax was the fourth pup born in the aptly named Yuletide Y litter for Canine Companions for Independence.  These undecaplets met the world in the warm, caring hands of Susie Nash and her awesomely incredible team of whelping assistants.

Yaxley and his ten littermates were born to Keara, a full golden retriever. The dads were either Camden or Hickman, both Labradors, and paternal heritage was determined at eight weeks old by DNA testing (Yaxley is a Hickman pup).  Susie is renowned in that league of most excellent of breeder caretakers for CCI and once I began watching the videos of Keara’s Y litter, I just knew I wanted to raise one of these amazing pups.

Here’s the Y litter on their actual Birth Day, courtesy of Susie Nash. Eyes and ears closed, these fuzzies begin life with the comforting smell of Mom and warm milk in their tummies. About three minutes of newborn puppy goodness. 

So was that just precious or what? Well, check your glucose levels folk, cuz I got another batch of puppy sweetness coming up. Again, by the awesomeness that is Susie, we have a video of the Yuletide Y’s noshing upon their first Eukanuba meal.  This one is especially near to my puppy lovin’ heart as little Yaxley has finagled himself as the center of attention.

You can watch for the neon green collar for identification, but Susie does give him a personal call out. A couple of times or so. This is the Y pup’s first solid meal as they’re weaned from mother’s milk. Dunno about you guys, but this is seven minutes of time well spent for me.

Ah, but back to the topic at hand. What can we do to make Yaxley’s holiday birthday a special day?  The answer is rather easy, you know. Because he’s a pup, he’s a live-in-the-moment kind of critter. Hungry is in his doggie vocabulary. Along with Sit, Down, Bed and Hurry. But Happy Birthday is not. We give him an extra doggie cookie to mark the occasion. We’re nice to him the whole day and he doesn’t have to do the dishes that night, even though it was his turn. And as we’re tucking him in at bedtime, he says, Thanks! I had a good day.

It’s not hard to make a pup happy.

As human beans, however, we want a little more for the little yeller feller. It’s his First Birthday, after all. Let’s celebrate!

We were wonderfully surprised by a gift from Inga’s family. Inga, the first CCI pup we raised, is now a Skilled Companion to a young fella in Pennsylvania. And I admit, I struggle with the words to express how blessed we feel that this family has embraced ours and included us in their lives. We sent Inga off filled with our love to share. And now it’s coming back to us. This, my friends, is just awesome stuff. [sniff]

Hey Yax, I think today’s my half birthday. Just sayin’.

The accompanying note instructed us to open the gift before we celebrate as it contained something Yax would want to put on his birthday cupcake.

Oh! Adorable!

Now don’t feel pity for Yaxley when I share this next tidbit. He didn’t get to actually eat the cupcake. I rather enjoyed the chocolatey thing in his honor. Instead, he was rewarded handsomely for not touching people food. He got his very own Iams dog biscuit. 

Make a wish, Yaxley!

I wish that were a dog cookie.

Which, when you consider it, means his birthday wish really did come true.

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He’s goin’ for the dog cookies!

Posted on November 27, 2011 by Donna Black-Sword

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Posted in CCI, Christmas, Micron, Yaxley. Bookmark the permalink.
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