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"Life of a Service Dog" by Kovin

1st Semester Report!

Hi Guys,
I miss you all very much, but I'm having fun with my trainer Vickie, she is really nice! My kennel mate, Devlin, and I love to go play with our friends. I get to go play in the play yard 2 times a day, then sometimes they bring out water pools for us to splash in, that's tons of fun!
Vickie says my behavior is wonderful. She didn't check any bad things on my report card. And She checked all the good things on my report, some of which were, I'm attentive to her, calm, interact good with dogs and people, I seek direction, walk nicely on leash, and I'm willing to work. I'm not totally sure what all those things mean, but I guess it's good!
I'm getting to learn 3 advanced commands! They are Retrieve, Hold, and Get. I'm learning really fast!
Vickie and other CCI people tested me when I first got to AT. I wasn't scared at all of the sounds and visual surprises that they did. Vickie says I wasn't distracted at stuff either. Haha! Of course she had to say that my energy is low, but I have a high response to motivation and correction.
Did you know that I've gotten to go to Western Farms twice? (that's a pet store in Santa Rosa that I used to go to with mommy)
Oh, gotta go... Vickie is calling! Remember me...

Kovin ~ NW ~ Santa Rosa, CA ~ (BLGX)(Quester II x Amy III)(DOB ~
10/4/03)(1st semester AT) ~ http://www.dogster.com/?101666/ ~ Canine
Companions for Independence ~ AT Trainer - Vickie Bixler

Letter!

Dear Friends,
I'm pretty busy, but I took a few minutes off to write you a fast note!
Things are going well here at CCI. I am making a lot of new friends. The people here are really caring. I have a roommate whose name is Devlin II. We play in the yard every day and they even have a pool with a slide. There is one especially nice person that comes to see me every day; she is my trainer. She will be keeping notes on how I am doing and then the Puppy Program Manager will be sending you monthly training reports. Hope everything is well with you. Well, I have to go to the training room now.

Bye.
Love,
Kovin

I Miss Kovin!

Hi Kovin fans,
Kovin is now gone into Advanced Training (AT) where he will learn lots of new helpful commands to helpfully use to help somebody. Kovin will be in AT for 6 months (maybe 9). But I hope he will write and tell you and me hi every now and then. If he does write to me, I'll make sure and tell you.

I think the last thing he told you was that another puppy named Robby came to visit us? Well... he had so much fun with Robby and packing that he didn't have time to tell you bye, but he told me to tell you instead. Robby and him hit it of very well and Robby liked Buley a lot too.
On Saturday, May 21st. Kovin and the rest of us drove of to Santa Rosa for doggy pictures at 9 in the morning. Kovin and his best-brother-friend, Kenton, got to meet their older brother, Kiva. They thought he was a nice guy, but they hope to get better acquainted with him since they thought he was a bit cold. Did Kovin ever tell you about a puppy that I fostered named Terry IV? Well… when Kovin was about 13 months, he and I got to foster an 8 week old GR named Terry. She was a lot of fun, then she went to her new PRs and we haven’t seen her for 6 months. Anyway, we got to see her on Saturday!!!! She was a much bigger girl, and Kovin thought she was pretty cute. Then at 1 we went to the graduation, where all the puppies that were getting turned-in got to walk across stage and get a ribbon. Kovin and I walked across and Kovin took his ribbon proudly! Then at 3 we had to go back and turn him in to CCI. It was very sad, but I didn’t cry a bit, but handed him over proudly and told him to do well!

On Monday Robby’s mom and I went to visit Guide Dogs for the Blind (GDB) and at GDB they showed a video of a puppy’s life. Then they talked about the dog getting turned-in, that’s when I lost it and started to cry.
I’m all right now, but I stop and think about “my” little black boy and miss him a lot.

Kovin’s Mom