Snug in Harness

Snug graduated from Guide Dogs for the Blind on January 21st.  We are so excited that all our hard work training her paid off.  We were so happy to make contact with her partner Jan.  Jan very kindly sent us an email "from Snug" and a Photo of the two of them together (see below)!

Dear Megan,

I thought I'd drop you a line to let you know how I'm doing.

I went to training when you dropped me off at Guide Dogs. . It was a lot of fun and hard work. Then, after Christmas, there was a little break. Suddenly, I wasn't in a kennel any more but in a room with someone I didn't know. She seemed okay enough and I like new people anyhow. She told me I was her tenth dog. I heard about all of them. Apparently, I am in the top level of what she calls her wonder dogs. .


She is 62 and did social work and therapy for decades. Now, she plays mandolin and we go a lot of places. We go to the gym and I lay around during a yoga class today. She thought I would try to lie on the mats that seem like dog beds to me. She didn't take in to account how much more comfortable any  dog bed is.


We live in San Anselmo, not far from Guide Dogs. It is a walking kind of town with all kinds of restaurants and stores. She has been taking me everywhere to show me off. Her eighth dog, Addie, was supposedly really wonderful. She now lives in Northern California with Jan's sister and her family. The ninth dog was only out a month because it turned out the bad work she did was caused by really bad knees. She lives with her raiser in Reno. Jan says that dog just prepared her for me and gave her some distance from her Lovely Addie.


I did something good. When we come back from the gym, it is a little complicated. There is a street we have to cross mid block. Jan was not sure exactly where to cross. She made a mistake and got lost. We both tried to figure it out. Then, I found a landmark I thought she would recognize because she took me there once. She got so excited because I showed her the door  handle of the vet clinic where we  go. I was praised up one side and down the other. She said this kind of initiative and team work generally happens later, not one week after coming out of the shoot, so to speak.


My household consists of Jan and her boy friend, Tal who she met during her first guide dog class way back in 1969. They wrote for a couple of years and drifted but always thought about each other. Jan was married to her husband, Charlie  from 1976 until his death late in 2007.
I like it here and hope you get the chance to talk to my new people.


Say hi to everyone for me. I hope you are raising another puppy. You are good raisers, Jan wants you to know. I haven't done anything bad, not even trash stealing. She does keep a watch on me though.


Best,
Yours in Harness,
Snug