Forever Precious
Our
first puppy was delivered by Jill at The
Seeing Eye™
on the day after my birthday, January 22, 2004.
Precious was half Labrador, half Golden Retriever, and all wonderfully sweet
puppy.
At seven weeks old Precious was 7 lbs.
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This was
taken for our 4-H/Seeing Eye club calendar. I wanted to commemorate 9-11,
and do something different than the typical "back to school" for
September.
I thought Precious' posture and expression were perfect ...
Earnest, even with a toy in her mouth
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| Precious returned to The Seeing Eye™ on Monday, June 27th, 2005. She was one of the best dogs I have ever shared my home with. Now the waiting begins - to see if Precious passes all the health and other testing she must go through to become a Seeing Eye dog. |
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Precious with her favorite toy
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12/14/05:
We arrive in Morristown, NJ to watch Precious' "Town Walk." We are
several paces behind her as a guide explains what the trainer and Precious
are doing. Getting to be that close to Precious, but not be able to touch
her, was very hard.
Watching Precious wrap her head around the trainer's leg to keep her from crossing into traffic was amazing. Her tail wagged the entire time she was in sight. She obviously loves what she is doing, and her body language expressed how happy she is.
Precious was matched with a blind student at the beginning of January 2006. By the end of that month she graduated and became a true guide for the blind.
I said to my husband, "I just hope her person loves her as much as I did."
Jim looked at me and replied, "She will always need her more than you will." Somehow, that made the most sense of anything I've been told. I can find peace with that.
Update 8/27/06: Yesterday the mail delivered an unexpected letter about Precious. This made my day!
To
Precious' puppy raisers:
As the recipient of Precious, the wonderful yellow lab golden cross that you
so lovingly raised, I felt so honored to receive her! She lives in Wisconsin
and I am a 23-year-old woman. Since we have left The Seeing Eye together,
we have embarked on many adventures. We first lived at my parents home for
several months till April of this year. At the end of April, we made a big
move to the city where I attended college. My parents live in a rural area
and having adequate places for Precious to guide was difficult. She has adjusted
to the city with very little difficulty and we're both very happy.
Now that we're back in a more accessible environment, Precious and I spend
our time doing a wide variety of things. We get out for a walk at least once
a day, well, with the extreme heat, once a day is about all we can do. Thank
goodness it's cooling off! We also catch buses to church, restaurants, visit
friends, and so on. Every time the bus comes she gets so excited, she knows
we're going somewhere.
She is such a loving dog, in fact, she's lying near me as I type this letter.
I can only imagine how proud you are of her, as I recall she was your first
tse puppy that you raised. What a tremendous amount of honor you should feel
as Precious has grown into a wonderful guide. I just felt the need to update
you on how we're doing together and thank you for raising such a wonderful
puppy! Without your generous contributions to The Seeing Eye as a puppy raising
family, these dogs would not have the love and nurturing that is their foundation
to becoming great guides.
Thank you again and best with your future pups. May they all be as wonderful
as Precious is to me.
The Dogs We Have Raised for The Seeing Eye™:
Precious
Nikki
Anika
Jamaica
Harlow
For information on raising a puppy for The Seeing Eye, visit The Seeing Eye™