Friday, June 11, 2010

a quiet place

There is a beautiful pathway on the NEADS campus... the pictures will tell the story.






















































"T&T"


Before heading over to NEADS for a day of "T&T" (training and turn in).. Chester just had to pose for a picture in the lobby of the hotel that we stayed in (and where the graduation was held). Pretty spiffy place if you ask us!!!! And it's such an honor that a place like this is "dog friendly" so many places aren't.









Nice breakfast with Kathleen, Teena and Linda (and pups) and we were headed for the campus.












While we were waiting for Dave, it was a great time to get a couple of shots. Here is Chester puppy and I... the campus is so pretty.













And a good picture of Kathleen and Kelly... this is the last day that they will spend together....













Before heading into the city, Dave thought it would be good for Chester and Kelly to have some work with a wheel chair lift. So, he pulled out the NEADS van, and we played with the lift for a while. Both puppies did really well. Course there isn't any way to know just yet, as they will ever need to be using this type of equipment, but all exposures during training time can be useful.





We went back to the hospital where we had worked last time. Played with revolving doors, worked the "under" command with benches... did down stays outside of the elevators while people walked on and off them....










And, of course, had several rides on the elevators themselves. Chester seems pretty comfortable with all of this sort of thing (actually he was getting quite tired and I think he appreciated being able to "just sit")....









After our time in the city, it was back to campus.. and a bitter sweet time. Today was "turn in day" for Kelly. I like the term "turn in"... as "turn into a service dog"... Miss Kelly is heading onto advance training. Here Kathleen and Kelly have a few quite moments together.....














And then she is handed off to Dave... with certainly some encouraging words from Kathleen. (good girl Kelly... you can do it!!!)


In case I haven't told you before.. Kelly was (is) the 13th service puppy that Kathleen has raised.. as she has told me, it's her "mission in life", and though it's always a little hard to let them go, it's knowing where they are heading that makes it so worth while. Needless to say, Kathleen is waiting for her next "project".....

And as we head for home, I can't help but think that Chester's day is just on the horizon.....