bye bye Muppet Dog....

It's hard to believe that another turn in date is here again. On Thursday, it was Norton's turn to return to NEADS and go onto his advance training. He came to me as an "older pup, just needing some finish work", but he caught on so quickly, that he was ready to go back. The night before I used him as my demo dog at dog classes. He love obedience work, and if he wasn't headed for service work, he'd be a great obedience/agility dog.

 But I think he's really going to make it in the service dog world. "working" is his thing....I'm going to miss having him on the floor with me. And I know that Camille always appreciates not having to "do" all the work....

We had to get Norton down to NEADS early on Thursday. They had an opening for him to get his hip x-rays done, so I told Dave I would be happy to get him there. My good buddy, Kathleen, got up extra early and drove down with us. The rest of the group came and we all met at our usual time. A group was touring the academy and we found out that Kathleen's Monty was sponsored by them... so we had to get this photo.

We did all our usual check in "stuff" while waiting for Norton to return from the vets. And then it was off to the big city. Rick and Moxie look like city dwellers (NOT)

Norton was still a bit groggy from having his x-rays done, but the vet said he could come with us if we took it slow. Knowing that he was leaving me at the end of the day, I took advantage of this, and we just followed the group, taking pictures and watching them work. Enjoying the last bit of our time together.

The puppies did well in the train station. It's such a good place to work... shiny floors, stairs of all kinds.. people etc. We get a lot done here.

The Maine puppies, soon to change .... Monty will become the "old" dog of the bunch once Norton heads off.... and little Moxie won't be the baby for long....

The day flew by, as I knew it would.. and it was time to hand the leash over to Dave and kiss my muppet dog goodbye. I didn't have him as long as the others, but I certainly got attached to him... you can't help it.. get attached and give away a piece of your heart when they leave. But that's the joy of puppy raising.

So, Norton heads to "college" and I wait again for his progress reports and the call that another puppy is coming to the farm.... I'll let you know when...