A Home for Heloise

I haven't mentioned Heloise on the blog here very much, but this post is all about her.  Heloise was bred into Guide Dogs for the Blind, and after she finished her puppy training, became a breeder for Guide Dogs.  After our previous dog, Sydney (I talked about her here) died of cancer in Feburary of 2011, my mom was looking for another dog as a companion on her daily hikes, and with her background with Guide Dogs (she and her three sisters raised puppies for them growing up), she called them up and found that they were looking for a custodian of a certain breeder. ;)  Being a custodian of a breeder means they are a semi-permanent dog.  They live with you in between pregnancies and while pregnant.  They go back to Guide Dogs to have their puppies, and raise them until they're 7 or 8 weeks.  Then they go back to their custodians, for a rinse and repeat cycle.

Keep in mind that we went into this knowing that she may not stay with us permanently, and our worst nightmares were answered when we found out that she was being pulled from the breeding program in April (for putting out only four puppies, across two litters) and being chosen to go back into training to become a guide.  Becoming a guide would mean serving a blind person for the rest of her life, and that meant we would never see her again.  So, we were heartbroken when we found out that she was going to be trained for that life.

Heloise has been home for a few weeks though, through when she's set to be spayed at the end of the month (for recovery).  She was supposed to go back to training in the beginning of July, and we've been counting down the days.  However!  Tonight my mom got a call from the people who raised her (we've been in contact with them since last summer, and met them multiple times), who told us that Heloise "belonged with us."  She was rejected from training today for annihilating Kong toys (rubber, cone-shaped chew toys), and apparently ingesting them, and her raisers had first pick if they wanted to keep her permanently or not.  And since they said no, she's ours!!  As soon as mom told us that, I instantly started crying from being so happy.  Never in a million years could I have hoped that things would have turned around this much.

Anyway, I'm sorry for this uber long post about my dog (who is now actually mine!) but I'm just so happy and excited!  :D   xx

currently listening to.... What Not to Wear