Why would we raise a puppy that we have to give away to someone else?

That's the first question most people ask when they learn that Kruiser is an assistance dog in training. So why would we raise a puppy that we have to give up? We love dogs. We have time (well, I do. Ed not as much, but still more than a lot of people.) And we already know what it's like to give up a dog we love to someone with a handicap. Several years ago we "inherited" a black lab named Coal and became her 3rd owners. Coal was sweet and attentive, but also a barker who didn't like other dogs and just barely tolerated our male yellow lab Pat-the-Dog (that's Pat with Kruiser in the picture here. Pat, unlike Coal, loves to play with other dogs, and especially puppies.) When we moved to a townhouse with virtually no yard, we had to take the dogs out several times a day on leash. Every time we passed dogs in yards or walking along the creek path near our house, Coal would snap--kind of like a preemptive first strike in hopes they would leave her alone. Despite our trying to help her, Coal's snapping and barking only grew worse, and short of moving we felt we had little choice but to find her another home. So through a lab rescue organization we found a housebound man with multiple sclerosis who wanted an older lab. Moving in with him meant Coal never had to see another dog the rest of her life but she still had someone to throw balls for her in the backyard and love her. And she brought him pleasure and love in return.

Then a couple of months ago I hit a point where I needed something more in my life. For many years I've been writing, but with limited success. (That means I've published stories for kids, had an agent, but have yet to publish my middle grade and young adult books.) And for as much as I like writing, when rejection letters are the main communication I have with publishers, it's hard not to feel a little bit like, well, a reject. And then an article about a boy with autism who was paired with an assistance dog showed up in the London Sunday paper (we were living in England at the time.) Here's the link: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article3553932.ece. It seemed so perfect, to put a child who had a hard time relating to people and following directions with a dog that could love him/her unconditionally, focus and guide him/her, and be a people magnet as well.

And so, I left England early this May determined to become a puppy raiser for a dog that ultimately would help a child with autism.