Easter break plan

We have been waiting for the Easter break. There was no earth shattering reason but there were numerous small reasons. 

So, the Easter break is for 2 weeks and comes around April first week. It's the time when spring is in the air. The bulbs are awakening and the tulip heads are budding out. There are sporadic rains in just the right amount which give the newly blossomed leaves after winter a lovely green sheen. It's just the right temperature on most days. The increasing hours of sunlight in during the day also bring in a degree of happiness. Given the cosmic alignment of such happy stuff taking a day off in itself makes one feel happy. 

To top it we were asked to look after a 3 month old golden retriever puppy for a week. Our family adores golden retrievers. After Lucky  this would be our second chance to look after such a young pup. It could also be our redemption. We were sent the picture of the puppy Scamp and he was supremely adorable. We jumped at the chance and said yes.

Our first week of the holiday was thus going to be occupied. For the second week I proposed a road trip to Edinburgh. I had a friend when we were in Ipswich. We have managed to keep in touch. She turns 40 in May. So I thought it might be a good idea to pay her a visit. K agreed quite easily for the trip as well! So that was our Easter break planned. What remained was execution!

Lucky to have you

 Lucky - the puppy was to board with us for 2 weeks. When the guide puppies are raised they are boarded in many different homes. This gives the puppies a chance to interact with a wide variety of people because they could be matched with any person in the future. Before boarding Lucky's raiser Alison decided to bring her over to our house so that we could have a feel of her. When Lucky came to our house she was hyper, she was manic with excitement. She ran around, climbed on us, went exploring and was just crazy all over the place. We were just as excited to have her. We couldnt wait for her to come and stay for the 2 weeks at our home.

The day she came, it was super hot. She was settled on the floor and avoided the carpeted areas. She was all right with us and a bit curious to explore. But given the heat she went off to have a nap quite soon. We had been warned that since she was 4 months old, she was teething. She could have a witching hour from 6-8 in the evening when she could go a bit bitey and try to get a bit more aggressive. The plan was to try to take her on walks during that time so that she could settle down a bit. The first day, K took her on a walk with the girls. She was a bit uncontrollable and they did have a tough time in the 1 hour they were away. At night when we all settled down and K was with Lucky. She puked out all her food and then re-consumed it. It was a harrowing experience for K and he immediately called the helpline. They confirmed that this is quite normal behaviour with puppies! Some time later Lucky settled down and K could get his sleep too.

The next she woke up right at 6 and K was at her beck and call. He took her to the toilet, gave her breakfast and then a short walk around the neighbourhood. Since it was a warm day again, she was quite sleepy and inactive during the day. In the evening once the girls came back, she was hyper with them. She tried to - what looked to us - pounce on Chiyaa. I have been with dogs before so it looked like normal behaviour to me. But K and Chiyaa were quite shocked. We tried to keep her calmer by playing low intensity games. She retired eventually and she slept peacefully on night 2.

The continuous work was taking a strain on K. As with a baby there are a million things to be done with a puppy. Alongside a full day of work, it was quite strenuous. K pulled through the day. But in the evening it was a repeat of her aggressive behaviour. This time K got very nervous since he was very concerned about the safety of Chiyaa. K called up the helpline and asked for advice. Sensing his mental state, they recommended that it would be best if the puppy is removed from our house.

The next day our assigned puppy development contact came over and took Lucky to board her with someone else. Lucky went away in the car and left a gaping hole in the house. A lot of things reminded us of her - the shoes she had chewed on, the place in the garden where she used to go crazy, her smell. It was a long recovery for us, and for me in particular. It took me quite some time to get used to not having her. And it made us feel bad that we probably reacted hastily and incorrectly. But what was done was done. As a final closure we decided to visit Lucky at Alison's house after a few weeks. She was so much calmer and well behaved, it was such a pleasure to be with her. Lucky - it was amazing to have you with us. And hoping you have a splendid career as a guide dog. 

A step

 K hankers for a pet. They come up as regular discussions in our household. The girls are of course gung ho about a pet - any pet. But my stance is clear, the only permissible pet was a hen. It would be outside most of the time and Mother Nature willing would lay an egg. The girls were fine with that, but no chance that would fly with K 😅

So one day on the radio K heard an advert. It was from the charity Guide Dogs. They raise dogs, who would assist visually challenged or people who need assistance in being mobile. It is a quite a good charity making solid and positive changes in the lives of people. The charity was asking for volunteers, especially men with tattoos and beards to raise puppies. The idea was, puppies need to be exposed to a wide range of appearances early on so that they can acclimatise to their future life where they could be paired with any person. The cause was asking for people to raise puppies from the age of 14 weeks to 14 months -ish. Then the puppies would be taken for training and if they passed put forth to be matched with people needing a guide dog.

 K has both - tattoos and beard! He came home super excited. It was a very good cause. Most of the costs of the care aspect, food, insurance, etc would be covered by the charity. All they needed from us was the time to raise a puppy through 1 year. I agreed.

This set off a chain reaction. First K had to fill in a very detailed application. Next detailed pictures of the house, the car, the neighborhood so that they were aware what sort of environment the puppy was potentially going to be in. After that, he went on to the interview. During the interview, he was informed that since there was another adult (me) in the house, it might be a good idea if I was made a supplementary applicant as well. Else for insurance purposes I would not be allowed to do anything for the puppy, for instance take if for a walk if K wasnt around for some reason. My application was a bit lighter than K's. But he took all the pain. My interview was quite straight forward too.

Once done through the stage, we awaited the results 😊 We received an email that we had been through and all that was needed was for us was to come to the centre and walk a dog for them to see our dog-handling skills. At the centre we were made to walk a gorgeous 17 month old called Peter. We were both oohing and aahing at how adorable he was. After the walk, we both were given the green flag and were officially recruited as puppy raising volunteers. 

Our coordinator Helen took us through a few more details. She recommended that since we had not had pets before and were first time puppy raisers, it would be a good idea to board a puppy for a few days. Puppy raisers do need to go away be for vacation or work. In that duration, they need boarders who would be willing to keep the puppy for a short duration. We were more than happy to house a pup for some days to get a feel of what it was like. 

That set another ball rolling. K looked up and found a ton load of stuff that would be needed. They were minor details he really wanted to sort - a drinking bowl, a bottle to carry water for the puppy, a blanket and many such small stuff. He got some second hand, some required trips to the shops, but he set up the house in perfect order to host our boarding puppy - Lucky.