Adios vs. Chao

In Spanish there are several ways to say goodbye. Most people know the term "adios." However, in Ecuador where I learned Spanish, adios is a permanent goodbye. You'd only say that word if you knew for certain that you'd never see someone again. Thus, I cringe anytime I hear the term.

Instead, I prefer the term "chao." This word is a much more informal goodbye. I love the friendliness of this term that is more akin to "see you later." Chao is a goodbye that I can handle.

Saturday afternoon, I took Kyle at the puppy truck. This morning Kyle should be arriving at the Guide Dogs for the Blind campus in Boring, Oregon. Although Kyle is no longer in my home, there is no way I'd ever say adios to my boy. I couldn't do that. Our paths in life have diverged, but we both have big adventures ahead of us in the next few months.

With tears in my eyes but a smile on my face, I say chao to Kyle. He's ready for all the excitement formal training has to offer him.

In the mean time, here are a few final shots of my big boy.

(Kyle in the car on the way to the puppy truck. I love his clear brown eyes!)

(This is the final shot of the four of us together for now. I'm hoping we'll get another one at graduation. My fingers are crossed.)

 (Kyle spent a good portion of the day in my lap, but we needed one more cuddle before goodbye.)

 (Kyle with his little brother Rio. This is a great shot to capture the contrast in their personalities. Kyle: "I'm not taking a picture. They bother me." Rio: "Aren't I cute!")

(The drivers asked me to put Kyle on the truck, and I lost it. I love this boy!)

(One final shot of Kyle in his kennel on the puppy truck. Kyle, I hope your journey went smoothly and you are enjoying new adventures in Oregon.)

Good luck Kyle. You are going to do wonderful things in life. ¡Chao!

May 12th

Until tonight, I thought the first Utah puppy truck of the year was going to be in April. A fellow club member texted me and let me know that it is actually coming on May 12. My leader later confirmed that at our meeting.

What does that mean for Kyle? Unless things change, Kyle will be with me for another two months!

Kyle arrived on May 9, 2010. Since he was a transfer puppy, I never expected to keep him a full year. Instead, I mentally prepared myself for him to be recalled at the end of February when he turned 15 months. Now it looks like we'll just barely pass the year mark together.

(Kyle the day I picked him up. He was such a wiggly ball of fun that day.)

Now that we have a lot more time together, I need to find interesting things to entertain Kyle while training him. The way I figure it, we can use this time to further tip the odds in Kyle's favor for successfully graduating. First off will be cementing "stand" and perfecting his off leash recall. However, I'd also like to come up with new outings for him.

Has anyone out there kept a puppy in training until almost 18 months? I'd love to hear your ideas for outings and activities to work on Kyle's training as an older pup.

Variety from the Puppy Truck

Thursday a much anticipated puppy truck came to Utah. Most of my puppy club gathered at the truck to celebrate the arrival of three new puppies.

 (For those who haven't seen a picture before, this is our puppy stork...the puppy truck.)

The first puppy that came off the truck for our club went to a first time raiser. The raiser has tons of contagious enthusiasm that spread to her family and our club. She brought her father, children, and grandchildren to meet their new arrival.

(Our new raiser couldn't stop bouncing around in excitement as the drivers retrieved her pup.)

This addition ended up being a female yellow lab named Antigua. She has a wonderful darker color and seems to be a petite little thing.

(Antigua with her new mom.)

The second puppy that came off the truck for our club went to a second time raiser. While we are all excited for the new addition, it meant that Spike was headed to formal training/breeder evaluations. Good luck Spike!

This new club puppy is a male black lab named Clyde. His name sounds fitting of a horse. Since Clyde was way bigger than the other two puppies our club received, it seems that his name suits him.

(Clyde with his new mom. Look at the size of those paws!)

The last addition two our club is one of two celebrities in the puppy raising world right now. Megan is extremely lucky to be raising the little guy as her tenth puppy. Ever since Megan found out that he was headed our way, she could hardly contain her excitement.

(Megan waiting for her new arrival.)

Everyone spent the week debating this new arrival's name. I wanted Swiss or Smores, but another raiser got a last minute, prophetic vote in with a candy bar.

(Megan holding a Snickers bar.)

After much anticipation one of the first two chocolate labs born in sixteen years joined our club. Little Snickers is sure going to get a lot of attention over the next year of life in our club.

(Megan and Snickers meeting each other as they touch noses. He is a gentle little guy.)

The best part of our new arrivals is that we got a puppy in each color lab possible. What great variety! It will be fun to watch such unique puppies grow up alongside each other.

(Snickers with Megan, Antigua with her raiser, and Clyde with his raiser in front of the puppy truck.)

These puppies have a lot to learn, but the have great raisers that will get them there. The preliminary reports from their raisers suggest that they are doing incredibly!

(Snickers tried on Kyle's large puppy jacket to show just how much growing he has to do.)

Finally, since I had practically ignored Kyle for the whole outing while I played with younger pups, I had to get a picture of Kyle in front of the truck. Thanks Kyle for being well behaved and letting me play. I still love you even if you aren't tiny any more!

(My big guy in front of the puppy truck. Even if the baby puppies are cute, I wouldn't trade them for my boy!)

Picking Up Kyle

Sunday was quite the adventure. When we got to the puppy truck, all the dogs were being relieved and Kyle was out of the truck. I waited until they put him back (without even peeking). Then  my mom and I helped walk the recalled dogs so that they could relieve themselves.

(I'm walking a black lab and neither of us are paying any attention to the camera.)

When all the dogs had been walked, Kyle came off the truck. He was a wiggling ball of energy. I didn't account for the fact that he had been on the truck all day, so I thought that was his everyday personality. Thankfully he later calmed down a bit. :)

(Our first picture together. Kyle was jumping all over me giving me kisses while I laughed my head off.)

Eventually I picked him up and we got a few pictures of me hugging him while we both looked at the camera.

(I'm giving Kyle a giant hug. I love that this shot shows off his eraser pink nose and light spots on his lips.)

(Kyle resting against me while I look off in the distance with a huge smile on my face.)

I let Kyle run off some energy, then we were on for round two of pictures--this time in front of the puppy truck. That was the moment Kyle won my heart forever. When I picked Turk up thirteen years ago, he put his head on my shoulder and fell asleep. To this day, that is one of my favorite memories of Turk. Kyle must have known that action was the fast track to my heart because he gave me a repeat performance and I melted.

(Kyle is resting his head on my shoulder while I stand with my back to the camera looking at the puppy truck.)

I wasn't the only person to get a transfer puppy off the truck. My friend and fellow club member Megan got a sweet nine-month-old female yellow lab named Picassa. She has the pinkest nose I've ever seen on a lab and a beautiful bushy tail. Kyle and Picassa weren't too cooperative for a group picture in front of the puppy truck, but we tried.

(Megan holding Picassa, and me holding Kyle. I feel bad because it looks like I'm about to drop Kyle in this picture, but I promise that I didn't drop him.)

While the puppy truck is known for delivering bundles of fun, it is also the place for dropping off recalled dogs (dogs ready for formal harness training). Megan just finished raising Paris. Paris is perhaps the best trained pup I've ever seen in one of my clubs (except Turk of course). While Megan got the fun of picking up a new pup Sunday, she also had to drop off a incredible dog. I have no doubt that Paris will go on to do great things.

(Megan kneeling next to Paris for one of their last pictures together.)

Since it was mother's day, my mom and grandma went with me to pick up my new little guy. My mom helped my sister and me raise Turk and Mesa, so she is supper excited to have another guide dog in the family.

(Here my mom is smiling while she holds the leash of her new grandpuppy.)

After the puppy truck, Grandma, Mom, Kyle, and I headed to my uncle's house for a mother's day dinner. My uncle's family was very receptive of Kyle, and they loved playing with him. When we took family pictures, they even offered to have Kyle in them. I have a wonderfully supportive family, and I am so thankful for them!

(Kyle and I are sitting on the lawn in between family photos.)

Kyle's first raisers wrote me a great letter telling me about everything they've done with him. One thing they mentioned was that Kyle loves to sit in their laps. I love cuddly dogs, so I hoped that habit would carry over to me. When I sat on the floor to watch a movie after dinner, Kyle curled right up in my lap and fell asleep.

(Kyle is curled in a tiny ball on my lap.)

I'm looking forward to many adventures with Kyle. He's a sweet little boy with a lot of spunk. :)