Kruiser has a family!

Jan. 25, 2009

It's official. Kruiser has a family now. We made the connection through someone at the Joshua School in Denver who had worked on Boulder County school district disability policy with the mom of the family. The family has 4 kids: Christina (age 13), Matt and Katie (twins, age 10), and Donny (age 3). Matt has Asperger's and will be the main child Kruiser assists, but Katie also has been diagnosed as bipolar, so he can help her out as well. Here are some pictures of them meeting Kruiser.

From left to right, that's Mom holding Donny, Dad, Matt, a stranger who came over to talk with Deborah, Christina, and Katie's knees. And, of course, Kruiser.

Here's Donny and Dad giving Kruiser a belly rub. Mmmm.


And Matt trying to get Kruiser to "touch" his hand (with Katie to the right of him).

We're very happy, but some tears, especially at first, realizing that we will be giving Kruiser up soon. We're delighted with the family--they are so excited to be getting him (the mom left me a message early on, her voice almost breaking, calling it a godsend.) And they will clearly be able to give him the exercise and love he needs. The mom had worked at an SPCA in dog obedience classes and would have loved to raise a puppy herself if she didn't have so many demands on her time, especially with a toddler. And both she and Christina are runners. Their yard abuts a couple of acres of open space, complete with a pond (they've agreed to upgrade their fence so Kruiser can't jump out to enjoy it unaccompanied.) They even have an older dog, a 13-year-old black lab mix, and a cat that Kruiser got along with nicely on his house visit with Deborah. We feel like he will be well taken care of. And we already know he'll bring them so much.

We still have Kruiser for about six weeks to do some of the foundation work for the specialized training to support Matt in handling meltdowns and anxiety, etc.. So there will still be a few more entries, but we're getting close to closure. It's amazing how an idea turns into a real puppy and trainer, and a hypothetical family becomes real people.

Twentysomethings

Jan. 1, 2009

We had our annual family gathering at Snow Mountain Ranch over the New Year with my sisters and their families which are principally dominated by five twentysomething cousins and significant others including our son Matt and his wife Liyun. Here's a picture with Pat and Kruiser piled onto Alex and Amy, two of the cousins.



We cross-country skied most days and Kruiser went with us every day. He was great on the groomed trails. We'd let him off leash as soon as we left the busy areas and he stayed close by with stick in mouth, hopeful for a toss. We had a one or two mile downhill one day and he kept up perfectly, though at the beginning of the downhill we almost wiped out. At full speed Kruiser accidentally dropped his stick. I managed to dodge it on my skis but then he lunged for it and I had to dodge him too. By then I was almost off the trail and had to make an emergency sharp left to avoid the snowbank. As graceless as the whole maneuver was, we somehow all stayed upright and Kruiser hung on to his stick all the rest of the run down.

Pat and Kruiser made me proud more than once with their fine manners inside the cabin. Best example--a bag of trash broke as Ed was taking it out and Pat, Kruiser, and my sister Debby's dog Tucker all descended on the open trash. I called out "ignore" from across the room and both Kruiser and Pat immediately walked away. What dogs!