Update on Emmy's First Day at PAWS

Good morning! We received word this morning from Julie at PAWS that Emmy did very well on her temperament test yesterday and that she is settling into the kennels well! YAY EMMY! So it sounds like all is going well for her...honestly this is probably a ton of fun for our little ball of energy!

On the home front, Bill and I are doing well...just takes time to adjust! Thank you all for your encouraging words. It's good to hear that no matter if this is your first or fifth foster puppy it is still hard...makes us not feel so bad for missing her a lot!

MAKE US PROUD EMMY! :)

Emmy is at college!

TODAY'S MY BIG DAY!!!

Saying our goodbyes at home

"Let's go to college!!!"

One last picture in front of our building

Watching out the windows as we're driving to PAWS

"I love my mom!"

We arrived!!!

Julie takes Emmy to get her settled in

One last picture of the pup (she looks naked without all her tags and cape) before Julie gets her settled in.  Bye Emmy! We love you!

This morning at 9am Bill and I took Emmy back to Paws With A Cause in Wayland to take her to college!  Many, many tears have been shed in the past 24 hours but we thank you all for your kind and encouraging words to help us through this sad time.  We said our good-byes here at home this morning (anticipating that our lovely, energetic pup would want nothing to do with hugs and kisses once we arrived at PAWS).  She got very excited in the car when we pulled in...as usual as well.  We met with Julie, the Foster Puppy Coordinator, who walked us through the steps of what Emmy will be doing.  There were 8 puppies coming in today so Emmy will have lots of company...including two of her sisters: Emma and Elkie.  This morning they were going to get Emmy all settled in with a bath and vet appointment and then this afternoon she will be taking her temperment test.  We'll be able to call in tomorrow to see how she did and how her first night was.  From then on, we'll have updates on the 15th of every month starting in January.  Bill and I were both SHOCKED that Emmy actually was not all that rambunctious and behaved very well allowing us to give her one last kiss good-bye!  

After that, we got a tour of the PAWS facilities to see where she will be training and living once she reaches Phase 3.  As you can probably here in the video with Julie, Phase 1 and 2 will be about 10 weeks long with 2-3 trainers working with her during that time.  Then Phase 3 can take anywhere from 6-9 months where she will work with yet another trainer on her client specific tasks.  

It was definitely very strange and sad to come home afterwards.  We spent the first little while putting away all the dog toys and things.  We are not getting another PAWS dog right now because we are unsure of where we will end up once Bill graduates...so for now, we'll just have to get used to the quiet house.

We are so proud of Emmy she is such a wonderful dog.  Cheeto and Marianne...thank you for bringing such a sweet pup into this world.  This past year with her has definitely been full of ups and downs, but we wouldn't trade it for anything.  Thank you to Amy and Julie at PAWS for walking us through this.  Emmy is such a compassionate dog, willing to please anyone...as long as you'll rub her!  She will be missed here in our house, but we are so excited for someone else to be blessed with such a precious gift!  

We'll keep you updated as we hear more about her progress!

Last Day Home

After church...

It snowed today!!! Emmy with her HUGE snowball we brought her!

Just the girls

"Oh Bob!"

Taking a snooze...

Today was spent together as Emmy's last day with us as a Foster Puppy.  We had a pretty "typical" day which included going to church, and visiting with friends.  Emmy did the best today that she has ever done in church.  She has always done well, but we made it through the whole service without having to get up because she was fidgeting.  Then we had our friends, Katy & JP over for lunch with their 6 week old daughter, Leila.  Emmy was VERY curious when it came to Leila and she really wanted to help when Leila started crying.  We enjoyed having them over and allowing Emmy the chance to be around more little ones!  

We're having a good night just hanging out together and then first thing tomorrow morning we head off to PAWS!  We'll post more tomorrow after we get home.

Thanksgiving in New York!

Getting ready to head off to New York for Thanksgiving!

The drive was pretty tough as you can see....it...um...was really taxing on Emmy...as you can see! *note sarcasm*

Posing for a picture during our walk in the woods behind Amy's parent's house

In a "down-stay" at the health clinic during our visit

Having lunch with Teri at the health clinic

Learning more about the lab from grandma (we took a picture similar last time we visited but we lost it somehow!)

Visiting Aunt Betty in the nursing home (and we brought Amy's grandma too!)

Sitting in front of the nursing home fire place (if you look back to pictures from last December you'll see the change in Emmy's size from when we last posed here!!!)

Hanging out with grandpa...we had lots of fun playing!

Vacation can be exhausting!  Taking a nap with grandma

Celebrating Emmy's last night in NY with some human Scooby Snacks w/ applesauce and Emmy under the table!

Headed back to Michigan...boy it was another long ride!

As you can tell, we had a great trip to New York for Thanksgiving.  We're pretty much going to let the pictures and videos speak for themselves and all of our activities.  We had so much fun visiting friends and family.  It was wonderful to have a week-long vacation to spend together as a family and appreciate our last few days with Emmy before Monday comes.  We just arrived home this evening, and are thankful to be done driving!  We have a busy day tomorrow as we say a few more good-byes and spend time together, just the three of us.  Then on Monday morning it's off to PAWS to bring Emmy back to college!  We'll keep posting throughout the weekend, and also after we bring Emmy back...so stay tuned on her progress! :) 

Good bye parties

Emmy had a big day yesterday!!!!  Since it is Emmy last time around Hope's campus with the students and staff around before she goes back to PAWS we had some "Farewell parties" for Emmy to say good bye and also thank you to all of you who have helped her in the beginning of her training for service work.  Emmy's first party was at the Admission's Office where Amy works...

Everyone else has cake, so Emmy gets a peanut butter kong....

After that party Emmy got to eat dinner, take a short nap, and then all of her friends from around Hope's Campus and Western Seminary came over to Bill and Amy's to say good bye to their favorite dog.  It was so exciting for Emmy, all of her favorite people came.

Emmy's best friend from Western Seminary Terika (at her going away party and her second day home)

My best friend Bobby, Bill's brother

Emmy and Jordan have been fast friends since this summer

Whew, it has been a long day...time for sleepy time.

December 1st

This week PAWS Headquarters called to schedule the date for Emmy to return for her continued training. The date has been set for Monday, December 1st. We'll be taking Emmy home to New York with us for a nice week long vacation and when we return we'll take her back to PAWS. We're very sad that this day has come...but are definitely so proud of our little pup and are excited to see how she does in training. But until then, we're going to enjoy the most of our last month together! Please keep us in your prayers as we get closer to saying good-bye. And for those of you who have raised foster puppies before...any tips to help us cope?

Halloween and Fall

Emmy and her best friend Jordan as a monster

Emmy all ready in her glow in the dark trick or treating shirt

Woah we have been busy, on Halloween Emmy went trick of treating at three of Hope's residence halls along with hundreds of members of the local community.  Thank you to Cook, Dykstra, and Gilmore for letting us join all the kids celebrate Halloween together.   Today Bill got out of class a little early and took the chance to go out and play in the leaves with Emmy.  Emmy jump over in and around the leaves, but was far more interested in eating them than playing with them.

Trip to New York

We got snow in the last few days we were there!

Visiting Teri @ the Health Clinic - getting ready to register some patients!

Learning all about how the lab works at the health clinic!

Out for a walk in the country with grandma!

Visiting Aunt Katherine's house!

Posing with Grandpa for a cute picture!

Watching some TV with Dawn (and later they fell asleep together!!!)

Playing in the leaves!

Emmy and Amy had a great trip to New York. Emmy did very well on the long car ride to New York (12 hours). She was such a trooper and slept most of the way. Once we got there she had a blast hanging out with Amy's parents (aka grandma and grandpa), sister, Amy's grandma, and visiting some of our friends and family. She also LOVED having more yard to run around. We picked a perfect time to go as all the leaves were falling off the trees and Emmy had a blast playing in them (see video below). We also had a little snow while we were there! We also were able to visit with lots of friends and family so we took a trip to see Aunt Katherine at her house and we visited grandma at work at the health center and got to have lunch with Teri there too. We definitely had a great time...and it was hard to leave...but we'll be back for Thanksgiving!

Going on a trip!

Emmy's all packed up...she looks sad but don't be fooled...she'll be excited tomorrow morning when they leave!

As this is being written, Emmy and Amy are packing up and getting ready to head out on a girl's road trip. Amy has to go to New York on a recruiting trip for the Admissions Office and will have the opportunity to stay with her parents while she is out there for 10 days. We thought this would be a great opportunity for the McEwan's to spend some more time with Emmy before she heads back to training in a few months.

Also on a sad note, we received Emmy's final evaluations in the mail...or "the paperwork" as we call it. This is our last evaluation for Emmy and our chance to share everything with the PAWS trainers about Emmy's past year. Once we send those in, they will get back in touch with us to set a date to bring Emmy back in for her formal training. It's a very sad time for us but also we're very excited to see what she'll do! We'll keep you posted as we get more information!

Have a safe trip girls!

Halloween Party

Emmy fashioning her costume

Griffin as Uncle Sam

Kieko as a dinosaur

This week, Emmy had a Halloween party at PAWS Headquarters. All the dogs came in costumes to celebrate the occasion. Emmy went as a college student with her little argyle sweater vest and a messenger bag. She was so cute. We had a little parade of the dogs in costume, a great dinner, and then we also took the dogs through "The Land of Leave-It's"...which was a little Halloween inspired room with things that may scare or tempt the dogs. Emmy did great!