From Lemon Cookies to Puppies

On February 12, I took lemon sugar cookies to a party and came home with a puppy. And now, starting on Monday, that little puppy is going to be a part of my life for the next two years. I will be raising SSD Doppler as a service dog for Susquehanna Service Dogs.

I’m a volunteer with Susquehanna Service Dogs. Technically, I also work with them, since I’m the web writer for Keystone Human Services and SSD is one of our programs, but when it comes to this puppy, I’m a volunteer. Wednesday was Dessert with the Dogs, a potluck puppy class so the dogs can get used to waiting patiently under the table while their handlers eat. Although I wasn’t raising a puppy at that time, I decided to go to do some live social media. Naturally, I took something to share. (Lemon cookies, if you care.)

As soon as I walked in the door, Becky (SSD’s puppy coordinator) asked me if I wanted to take a puppy home. Take a puppy home? Um…yes! I ended up taking little SSD Doppler home. As I was bundling him into the car, Amanda, the training coordinator, said, “You can raise him, if you want.”

For the next two days, the idea kept rattling around in my head, despite the fact that I have never raised a puppy before.

I didn’t grow up with dogs. When my two brothers and I were kids, the only pet we had (not counting some unfortunate goldfish) was a rabbit named Thumper. Thumper lived in a homemade hutch outside, and although we had a harness and leash to take him for “walks” around the yard, he certainly didn’t give me any experience raising a dog.

Then on March 3, 2010, I got SSD Fire, my first dog ever. (Yes, I know the exact date.) He was already 3 years old and a breeding dog for SSD. (He’s now retired as a breeder, after fathering more service dog puppies than I can count.) I learned to speak dog and trained him as a demonstration dog for SSD. He can open and close doors, turn on light switches, pick things up, alert to sounds, and find my keys, no matter where I hide them. But because he was already fairly well trained and house trained, it wasn’t very difficult to train him.

Now, after spending two full days with little Doppler and with some expert convincing by Becky, I’m going to be raising a puppy. I couldn’t get the idea out of my head. (I think Becky knew exactly what she was doing when she asked me if I wanted to take a puppy home for a few days.) So now I’m going to have to learn to speak “puppy,” which I’ve already learned is not the same language as “dog.” Luckily, Doppler comes with a handy training manual from SSD. (There are 179 pages. I’ve been reading it like mad.)

My observations so far:

1. Puppy teeth are sharp. Like needles. Lots of tiny needles. I'm already counting down the days until they fall out. Doppler and I will be working very hard on gentle treat taking. 
2. Don't blink around puppies. They can wiggle into small places and disappear. Doppler and I will be working on recalls immediately. He already comes tripping over his feet when I say, “Puppy, puppy, puppy!” 
3. Doppler is too stinkin’ cute. Really. He has a little wrinkly face, big floppy ears, and legs like small tree trunks.  

I’m going to be raising Doppler and blogging about our adventures. He’s a Labrador retriever and was born on December 21, 2013. He’s part of the Weather litter and his siblings are named Fahrenheit, Drizzle, Breeze, and Flurry. I will be co-raising him with Becky until June, and then I'll be all on my own. If all goes well, Doppler will become a service dog and change someone’s life.

So put him on your radar, (Sorry, that was terrible, but I couldn’t resist. I promise it won’t happen too often.) and follow along as he grows.