Karma

So, as of tonight (Wednesday), we have been home now for 4 days.  In all honesty, it seems like 4 weeks!  Having a 12 month old Golden in the house is comparable to having a toddler again.  I haven't had a puppy since, well, NEVER.  Twinkie has settled in nicely....a little too nicely!  LOL  She hasn't stopped moving so neither have I.  She loves to play and seeks Zachary when she wants to play.  Twinkie is just adorable.  She knows it, and we love her for it!   We wouldn't have it any other way.  Zachary still loves her to pieces, and she loves him.  :)  But, good Lord is she exhausting!!  Thankfully her tags jingle when she walks so I sort of know where she is, or at least know she's getting into some type of mischief when I DON'T hear the jingle.  


Twinkie is into everything just as a verrrrrrrryyyyy young dog should be.  Well, at least that's what people are saying to me.  Maybe it's really not true but they feel badly for me.   At any rate, she's taken a strong liking to Legos in particular.  I can't even tell you how many Legos I've fished out of her mouth since Sunday morning.  Today alone she practically ate a small space buggy.  Unfortunately for Zachary's Alien Conquest Space Ship, Twinkie has actually eaten some Lego pieces so the space ship may be a little off kilter.  It's a small price to pay for such a stellar service dog though.   I've become quite adept at prying her mouth open and retrieving whatever it is she's got in her mouth.  Although, I have to say,  it's not an easy task because she'll go from chewing on something to "hiding" it in her mouth.  I have no idea how she does it, but she does.  She's like a prisoner stashing pills in their mouth.  Cute dog.  


Needless to say, Twinkie made herself right at home very quickly; the transition to her new home was smooth and happy.  The transition for Elfie on the other hand....not so much.  KARMA.


Karma is a word that comes from Buddhist and Hindu traditions.  (click here!)

Karma: Totally innocent victims are rare  

If we had to pick a word to describe Elfie's reaction to Twinkie  becoming part of our family, that word would be despondent.  (See above picture).  Our typically happy, bouncy, dancing and SMILING dog was absolutely floored...and still is at times.  Saturday night after we got home and all day Sunday she just stood there with her head hanging down.  Elfie was not smiling, she was not dancing around, and she was NOT happy with me.  And, boy, did she let me know it.  After we came inside from the backyard introduction on Saturday night, she barely looked at me, and, when she did it was in utter disbelief.  She wouldn't even curl up next to me on the couch.  Joe and I discussed this and decided we needed to put Elfie on a 24 hour, supervised watch!  LOL  Elfie was now looking at Twinkie's arrival to NJ through Aubrey's eyes.  KARMA.


"Maybe KARMA wouldn't be so nasty if we stopped calling her a bitch."  -Unknown


Stay tuned, friends!  :)

DAY TWELEVE (Saturday): A bittersweet good-bye.

Today we left Xenia, Ohio and made the 540 minute trip back home to New Jersey.  It's always bittersweet to leave 4 Paws.  After a total of five weeks of training and three dogs since December 2009, this time around was especially bittersweet and emotional for me.  As much as I love the staff at 4 Paws, I do hope, though, that the next time I'm in the area it will be for social reasons only.  :)  We wound up leaving the training center last.  The only people left were the trainers.  We decided to give Twinkie a bath before we left and thought we should wait til most everybody was gone. We didn't want a wet dog running around the room and shaking the water off it's fur.  In retrospect, maybe this was our way of taking our time to say good-bye to the trainers for what will be the last time.  I hugged each and everyone of them like I was saying good-bye to an old friend and managed to hold back the tears until we got into the truck.  And, boy, there sure were a lot of tears for a lot of reasons, I'm sure.  


4 Paws sees the ups and downs of your life.  They see your child when they're a shining star.  They see your child when they have horns coming out of their head.  They see you laugh.  They see you cry.  They see you happy.  They see you frustrated.  They see it ALL because they have to.  There are very few people you allow to look through this window of your life, and it's usually the people you're closest to because you know they won't judge you or your children.  In kind, 4 Paws is one of the few places you'll ever visit where you'll feel this same level of comfort and understanding because no one there would ever judge you either.  Spending two weeks with the staff at 4 Paws is very much like being with the people you're closest to because by time you leave, they very much feel like family.  

4 Paws REASON #1 (Aubrey)

4 Paws has given Zachary so much more than you could ever imagine.  Although he's had to contend with a type of loss that most people would never truly understand when he lost Aubrey and will experience again when he loses Elfie, the gift of love he's been given from each of them is like no other.  Dogs love you unconditionally; it doesn't matter what you do or say.  Dogs bring you feelings of comfort and happiness that a human simply cannot because if you love a dog they'll always love you back no matter what.  Dogs just love you.  Plain and simple.  No ifs, ands or buts.   Aubrey and Elfie have done just that, and I am absolutely, positively sure that Twinkie will do the very same thing.  We've already seen it, and it's been beautiful to witness once again. 

4 Paws REASON #2 (Elfie)

The saying goes that "Everything happens for a reason."  I don't know about that to be perfectly honest with you.  I don't believe there should ever be a reason for people to face adversity, feel pain or experience a loss.  The word "everything" isn't synonymous to "positive experiences only".  Maybe I'm just not spiritual enough and don't have enough faith to actually believe it.  Having said that, the very reason Zachary has felt the unconditional love and companionship of these furry, four-legged miracles is because of the amazing people at 4 Paws.  I guess everything is relative. Plain and simple. 

4 Paws REASON #3  (Twinkie)

Thank you 4 Paws for Ability.  You all will always hold a very special place in our hearts.  No ifs, ands or buts about it!!  

DAY ELEVEN (Friday): Oh, The Places You'll Go!

Oh, The Places You'll Go!

by Dr. Seuss

CONGRATULATIONS, ZACHARY!
TODAY IS YOUR DAY!
YOU'RE OFF TO GREAT PLACES!

YOU'RE OFF AND AWAY!

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.

You're on your own.  And you know what you know.

And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go.

You'll look up and down streets. 

Look 'em over with care.
About some you will say, "I don't choose to go there."
With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet,
you're too smart to go down any not-so-good street.

And you may not find any

you'll want to go down.
In that case, of course,
you'll head straight out of town.

It's opener there
in the wide open air.

Out there things can happen
and frequently do
to people as brainy
and footsy as you.

And when things start to happen,
don't worry. Don't stew.
Just go right along.
You'll start happening too.

...OH, THE PLACES YOU'LL GO!

I LOVE YOU, ZACHARY!!  

Love, Mommy  XOXO

DAY TEN (Thursday): The Week In Review

Today was exactly that....a major review of everything!  Wow, we've learned a lot and have come a long way from when we walked into the doors at 4 Paws just ten days ago.  The first part of this morning was spent  on all of the commands we've learned since our first day of training.  It doesn't even seem possible that we've been here ten days and will take our public access test tomorrow.   Time stands still for nothing.                  

Behavior Disruption: "Nuzzle"

After this we went tracking for the last time with the trainers.  I had a bumpy start for the first track.   I know where it went wrong in the beginning, which is good, and once Jeremy backed me up, and I was good to go.  Twinkie was on it and found Zachary without any problem.  Jeremy still ran with me and answered my questions all of which have definitely helped me.   I began the second track more deliberately and slowly which is what I need to do each time.  It was a shorter track since Twinkie was tired and there wasn't much time between both tracks.  Joe and I will each run a track with Zachary tomorrow morning then head off to the mall for the public access test.   Our test is scheduled at 11:30am at Fairfield Commons Mall.   The test takes 30 minutes.  

We went out to lunch with Twinkie at Applebee's again, and she was great!  It was a fast lunch, but we wanted to get one more eating out experience under our belt before we left.  This is the time to practice and get help if you need it.  After lunch, Jeremy gave us a run down on  bringing our dogs home.  He covered flying home with your dog, driving home with your dog, how to manage your dog if they go to school with your child, transitioning from 4 Paws to your home environment, introducing other dogs/pets and tracking.  Everyone had lots of laughs this afternoon.  I think we're all  slap happy at this point!  :)

Behavior Disruption: "Over"

There is just so much for us to learn and do while we're training, and it will continue once we get home.   It has to continue.  Zachary will ultimately get out of this experience what Joe and I have put into it.  And, when we look back at ALL of the time and effort we HAVE put into our 4 Paws experience it wouldn't make sense not to continue working hard once we're home.  As much as we love Twinkie and as adorable as she is, this experience was entirely about Zachary and Twinkie becoming the very best of friends, and we think they're well on their way!!  :)