By Carl Sampson
Since we last spoke, several developments have transpired in the Puppygate affair.
As in, we got a puppy.
I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking that I caved in to the kids — it wouldn’t be the first time — and that I don’t have a spine left. Here’s what happened.
Since my last column, the kids rallied their forces and signed a pact with an important new ally in their quest to get a puppy: their mother.
While I could pull rank on the kids, their new ally broke through all of my lines of defense. As they stormed my fortress, I found it necessary to begin peace negotiations.
As Henry Kissinger found out several times in his career as a diplomat, peace can elusive. In the case of Puppygate, I wasn’t looking for peace with honor, I just needed an exit strategy.
As is often the case, a little luck goes a long way. As we were preparing to look for a puppy, we happened to strike up a conversation with a woman who volunteers for Joys of Living Assistance Dogs. JLAD is a Keizer nonprofit that trains service dogs for folks in wheelchairs, including Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans.
“It sounds interesting,” I said. “So these are dogs that you give back?”
She assured me that, yes, they go to disabled folks, so we would have each dog for only six months.
“You don’t say…,” I said, scratching my chin. “Kind of like a rent-a-dog.”
Within a week, we were the proud “foster owners” of a 10-week-old Labradoodle named Ike. It just so happens that my wife wanted a poodle because they don’t shed and I like retrievers, so Ike may be the best compromise in the history of canines.
Ike and his seven brothers and sisters represent the next generation of assistance dogs that JLAD volunteers like us are training. I’m not prone to hyperbole, but boy howdy are they cute. During our first training session someone accidentally dropped a bowl of food.
Jackpot! Eight puppies instantly ran in eight directions lapping up the unexpected treat. That may have exceeded my quota for cuteness for the rest of the century.
During the weekly meetings, the JLAD founder Joy St. Peter spends as much time teaching us as she does teaching the puppies.
We’ll all continue to work with the puppies for six months and then swap for another six months. Then we’ll swap again.
The idea is that, by the time the puppies are grown up, they will be fully socialized and trained for a person in a wheelchair.
I’ve already thought about the time when Ike goes to another family. I’m sure I won’t like it a bit.
But I’ll also know that by then he’ll be the best service dog ever for someone who is truly deserving. And I won’t have the muss and fuss of a “permanent” dog.
Even Henry Kissinger would agree that’s a win-win situation.
The Joys of Living Assistance Dogs, 503-551-4572 or [email protected] or www.joydogs.org
