Monday, December 1, 2008

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!

3 comments:

Erin said...

Hugs from us!!
I know how you are feeling although its only been two weeks since my girl left, it feels like forever! I hope things work out for you as far as another puppy later on!
Good luck Emmy!!!

Erin, Bubbles and Texas

Emily said...

Ahh, good luck to Emmy in her training! It sounds like she will have a blast ;) And good job for raising such an amazing dog. Turn-ins are never easy, but it looks like you survived your first :) And knowing what amazing things these dogs will do always helps! So congrats to you and Emmy! Can't wait to hear how she does in college!!

Leah said...

Such a bittersweet day... Good luck Emmy! You've learned a lot, and now its time to make your parents proud.