Introducing.....

Last night we had the opportunity to meet more with Mike, the trainer for Charlie's dog, ask more questions and go over what the next several months will look like in training Charlie's dog.  At this meeting we went over paperwork that Mike requires of his applicants, talked about Charlie's specific needs and some "wish list" items we want the dog to be able to do for Charlie.  Our wish list will give  Mike an idea of where to start with specific training needs.  We will be working on completing the paperwork and finalizing our wish list in the coming days.  Once we can get this information back to Mike he will be able to write up our contract.  Our next meeting with him will be to review the contract, sign and give a downpayment.

Based on the information we have given Mike so far he already has a dog in mind for Charlie.  A dog he has been doing basic training with the last several weeks.  We actually met this dog a few weeks ago when Mike initially came to our house to meet us.  Charlie was in pure bliss when Mike brought the dog into the house to meet us once again......

We'd like to introduce you to Sunny!

Sunny is a 1 year old, female German Shepherd who will begin her service dog training in the next few weeks.  She has been undergoing basic obedience training the last couple weeks with Mike.  She weighs approximately 80lbs. and is as sweet as sugar.  

The boys all got to play with Sunny and get to know her a bit tonight.  Charlie was in love, but then, we knew this the first time we met Sunny a few weeks ago.  

Kisses from Sunny

Charlie loved seeing Sunny again!

Even though Mike has chosen Sunny for Charlie, there still could be some "what-ifs" hanging in the air.  What if Sunny can't handle the training or do the tasks she is needed to do.  What if she gets a serious injury or illness before training is done.  What if her personality just doesn't fit to be a service dog.  These are all possibilities.  We hope that Sunny has what it takes to be a service dog because I think Charlie has a heart for Sunny already.  But Mike knows there are possibilities of dogs not working out, he's experienced it in his years of training service dogs.  When Mike starts training a service dog he actually has 2-3 picked out that he'll start training with.  That way, if one of the dogs just doesn't work out for whatever reason, he has another option to fall back on. 

They both had such interest in each other.  Charlie introducing Sunny to one of his stuffed animals

Sunny was such a sport and let Charlie try his TMNT hat on her

Things are feeling very real.  This is really going to happen for Charlie and we couldn't be more excited!  We are so incredibly thankful to Mike for taking us on.  We look forward to having you join us on this amazing journey that we are so blessed to be on.