My Holiday With Gerta

I've only been gone from school ten days, and already it seems so much has come and gone.

I had the privilege of sitting my co-raisership dog Gerta (see photos) for the last time before she has her IFT (In For Training test to see if she can be in the Guiding Eyes Program) on January 5th while her other raisers visited family in Myrtle Beach. It was a wonderful ten days, spent walking (of course) and in general enjoying myself with a dog that I trust very much and adore. Gerta was even better than the last time she visited, and seemed much calmer and enjoyed sleeping much of the time whenever we weren't out walking our three miles. She was also exceptionally responsive to every command I gave and seemed very secure in knowing my pack leadership. I even taught her a new game of "hide and seek" where she would sit and wait while I hid her toy, and she' have to go find it somewhere in the house. She got much better at this game before she left, really getting to use her nose and brain! For Christmas, however, she decided to go into heat again, which might mess things up for her up at the school for her scheduled IFT. Hmmmm....

When she was picked up this morning, the Lipperts told me that their plans had changed, and that if Gerta were to fail in the program, they wouldn't be able to adopt her as intended due to a few years of traveling they planned to do in the near future. Because I've had Gerta for a total of 6 months of her life, they told me I'd be eligible to adopt her then as my own dog. Imagine that! But while I don't exactly enjoy walking three miles a day to keep her in shape and as mellow as a lamb, she is easy to have around and one of the best dogs I've worked with, so I suppose I would take her if need be. This means I will have to hold out on getting a cat (yes, I was thinking of getting a cat, as much as I love dogs) to see how she does, in case she needs to come live with me in May in my new apartment. Again with the Hmmm...

In other updates, I will be spending my January with two Jack Russels and a Chihuahua for one week (some serious alpha/exercising going on), and hopefully walking Carly the Chow-Shepherd mix for $10 a walk if her owner is still doing okay. Unfortunately, I haven't gotten my roller blades yet for Christmas, and probably won't until the middle of the month. Quite the bummer.

Until my next post <3