She came around the corner looking for baby Matthew to find him sitting on the kitchen floor eating 1/2 a chocolate cupcake. Now how did a 9 -month old manage to get a cupcake off the counter? A few steps around the end of the counter yielded a cake-crumbed white muzzle eating cupcakes as fast as it could. The Labrador attached to the muzzle looked innocently upward as if to say, "Hey lady, those cupcakes fell off the stove all by themselves."
Picata is living proof that just because you spent 8 years working as a Guide Dog doesn't mean you are perfect. Inside she's still just a hungry Labrador
Picata is living proof that just because you spent 8 years working as a Guide Dog doesn't mean you are perfect. Inside she's still just a hungry Labrador
The first time I met Picata (yes as in Chicken Picata...she has a brother named Pilaf) she was about 10 weeks old. She was the last guide dog puppy I raised before heading off to college. The four others before her had all been black labs, but Christy my co-raiser and friend, wanted to raise a yellow one this time. I picked up Picata at the Guide Dog school in Boring, Oregon. Christy and I co-raised her for a year then she returned to the school for her formal Guide Dog training. She graduated shortly after I started my freshman year at WSU and moved to the Shelton area with her guide. That was September of 2001.
January 2009 rolls around and Guide Dog's sends a letter saying Picata has retired and will be living out her retirement with her guide. Often however, things do not work out as planned and her guide soon felt he wasn't able to give her the care she deserved. He returned Picata to the school in Boring.
Guide Dogs in turn dug into their records and contacted my
parents, and Christy parents hoping to track down 'Cata's former puppy raisers to see if they would want to adopt her. Turns out both Christy and I would do so in a heartbeat! Unfortunately, we both have young boisterous dogs at home, and neither of us is home during the day (Picata is accustomed to being with people almost 24/7). Still the old girl has earned a proper retirement and we didn't want her to go to just anybody. Sooooo, enter the Butcher family.Carrie, Rob, and Clay lost their old dog a few months ago and have another dog, Kyra, around Picata's age. Carrie is a stay-at-home mom, they have a fenced backyard, and are used to sneaky dogs who cruise the counter looking for edible tidbits (Kyra has eaten over $75 in baby formula herself...but that is another story). The one catch is that the Butcher's live in Massachusetts.
We picked Picata up last Friday...in almost the same spot where we first met. She's a bit older and a bit rounder...so am I for that matter, but I guess that's what time does that. We've come full circle, her and I.
Friday night she'll be off on the next chapter of her life. She's flying out to Massachusetts to meet her new family.
3 comments:
I didn't know you used to raise guide pups. That is something I thought would be really neat, but Shane didn't think I could let them go in the end... Might still do it someday.
And, maybe in a few more decades, a guide dog rights will be extended into retirement. It doesn't seem fair that after so many years being by someone full time that they would have to retire into "normal dog" status with rules applicable to normal dogs with regard to stores, shops, etc... But, it is nice that someone is able to care for picata.
And she has arrived. As I leave write this she is peacefully snoring by my feet.
Hi Cassy,
Wow, has it been 8 years since you raised Picata and she because a guide? I remember her well. I know Carry and her family will take excellant care of her in her senior years. Thanks for letting me know.
Lynne
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