F Litter Update: Flute Sends Regards

We've been following a litter of pups - affectionately called the "F Litter" - from the time they were born. Flute is now a working guide in Arizona; she sent this update to her mom, retired breeder dog Christine.

Mom!! nobody told me how fun life in Arizona's White Mountains would be!!

My new companion takes me everywhere with her - even on the boat fishing for trout! It has been an adventure every day. We have a vegetable garden, as well as two flower gardens. We love to sit under the grape arbor in the afternoon. The apple tree bloomed this year, and the blossoms smelled wonderful! (That's a picture of me, amid all the apple tree blossoms!)

It has been raining some lately. I love the rain, but the thunder and lightening make me a bit worried about my human partner.

Everywhere I go, I attract people. For many, I am the first Guide Dog they have seen. I try to be a good ambassador for us all. We have visited every first grade classroom in town, and we have even been requested at schools in other towns nearby. I feel like a real celebrity! My partner and her family are VERY proud of me!

It was so good to hear about all my brothers and sisters of the F litter. I am so happy that everyone has found a home and a job!

Take care! I love you all!!

Flute

F Litter Pups: Where Are They Now?

Do you remember the F Litter pups that we followed on this blog from the time they were born way back in the summer of 2008 through their various adventures in puppy raising, graduation and beyond? Well, we thought you might want to know where all those adorable pups wound up, so here's a round-up of the F Litter's accomplishments.

• Faulkner, Flute and Frolic are all working guides
• Franco is a working K9 Buddy
• Finella (renamed Jolie) was gifted to Pacific Assistance Dogs in British Columbia, Canada, and is nearing completion of her training (pictured above)
• Faraja and Fjord are both career change dogs, happily living as pets



Thanks, F Litter pups, for sharing your lives with us! We know you'll continue making a difference in the lives of others, and we hope to keep hearing from you!

F Litter Update: Flute's Life as a Guide Dog

Hello to all my mates of the F litter! My life these past three months has been very full of adventure!

In November, I graduated with my person, Nyla, and moved to a small town in northern Arizona. It sounds really hot, but since we are in the mountains, we actually got snow this morning!! The week after we graduated, we went to a wedding in Phoenix, and Nyla depended on me to help her around through the crowd. It was hard to find room for both of us, but it felt good to be doing what I have been trained to do. Nyla appreciated the help, and since it was her grandson that got married, we even wound up in a couple of the pictures. We also visited the "Pro Bass" shop, but it was kind of scarry, with all the big stuffed animals around. I don't care if it's stuffed or not, Nyla does NOT need to be in the same room as a bear, and neither do I! Then, Nyla's son had kidney surgery, and we got to visit Phoenix again. The hospital staff were very friendly, and found comfortable places for us to hang out during the procedure. We are all grateful that it seems to be working out for him!

In the meantime, I have been guiding Nyla regularly the three miles to her physical therapist, and the mile to the grocery store. I also help her around the Walmart and other stores in the "big city" an hour away. It is fun to be out doing my job.

I have a playmate, Milly, who is a chocolate lab, and lives with Nyla's grandkids. She's only a year old, and when we get together, we can both pretend to be puppies again, even though I am a WORKING dog. She only WISHES she were so important!

Nyla really appreciates all the wonderful people who helped us to get together, and so do I!

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL! WE LOVE YOU!!

Flute

F Litter Update: Faulkner's Final Adventures with His Puppy Raiser

Guide Dog puppy Faulkner sends his mom one final dispatch from his puppy raising home. By now, Faulkner is at our Oregon campus, starting his training to be a Guide Dog! Good luck Faulkner!

Mama,

My trip to Seattle was SO much fun!!! I got to meet all kinds of new people and even new dogs. My puppy raiser, Kate, and I even got to see my littermate, Faraja! He's looking great and absolutely loves his puppy raiser, Judy. He has a new buddy that Judy is raising named Magoo. We all got to greet each other and Kate shoved my brother and I together for pictures. She says that we look almost the same and that Faraja is just as sweet as I am. I got to go out to dinner with Kate and her friend and her dad at a really nice restraunt which was tons of fun. They all were really nice to me and, while all of the staff smiled at me, none of them tried to distract me from working. I was just happy to be out and about.

Since we've been home, life has not been too much quieter. We've been keeping really busy. Mostly with getting around to people so that they can say goodbye to me.

Nancy (Kate's mom) arranged it so that I could go to her office today for a very special thing. We gave out dog bone shaped cookies, Faulkner autographs, Faulkner love, and pictures with me for donations to a charity Nancy's office is supporting. We made over $20 in the hour and a half that I was there and Nancy's boss joked that I should be named volunteer of the year!

Can you believe that I'm leaving tomorrow to go back to Guide Dog school? In just about 23 hours I'll be getting on the puppy truck to go to Oregon! Kate has talked to the woman on the truck who's traveling with her husband to come pick me up. I'm going to get to meet all kinds of puppies when we get there! I know that Kate is feeling a little sad about me leaving. We've been through a lot together this past year and we have become very special in each other's lives. Kate wants to make sure that you know just how lucky she feels to have had me in her life, even for this short of a time. She says that everyone I meet thinks that I'm something pretty special and she can't wait to mee the incredibly lucky person that I get to spend the rest of my life working with.

There are pictures of Faraja and me as well as some pictures from my going away party at Nancy's office today. I'm sure that Kate will be sending you more pictures tomorrow or the next day as I embark on my puppy truck adventure. I can't wait to see what has everyone so excited for me at the other end of this jouney! I hear that there will be lots of food....

All my love,

Faulkner

Mama Christine's response:

Hi Faulkner,

Thank you for all your news and pictures, I thought I'd add one of my favorite baby pictures of you as well. Please please Kate take a picture of Faulkner in front of the puppy truck. I hope it is the new truck with the picture Cathy took on the side of it. Since the F litter was the inspiration for that picture it would be so cool to have a picture of you and Kate and Franco and his family all together next to the side of the truck.

I know you are going to do well in training. It is great you got to play with Faraja. I know the bond between Faraja and Judy is very special. It was very hard for her to have Faraja career changed—you know how committed she is to Guide Dogs : )

Love,

Mama Christine

F Litter Update: Faulkner, Ready for a New Adventure

Hey Momma!

I'm on trade this week! I'm staying with a girl named Kylie who is a first time raiser in our club. She's really enjoying having me since I'm so close to the end of my training and a welcome break from her 9 month-old puppy, Kayla. I'm just having fun getting to meet even more new people! Kylie has been taking me to high school and it's a very active life.

My puppy raiser Kate and I have been really close since we found out that I'm going back. This last month of my training is shaping up to be a very special time for us. We do a lot of cuddling and loving these days and Kate has been sharing stories with me of the five dogs that she's raised in the past. Did you know that all of them are working guides? All of the talk is making me even more excited to go back to campus! While this is a fun experience for me, Kate told me about just how much this organization means to her. Here's what she had to say:

"These past few months have confirmed how much a person can get out of an experience such as this. The feeling that you get when you are able to help someone else, while helping yourself in the process, is beyond explanation. I don't know that I'll ever truly be able to express what Guide Dogs means to me and what the organization has done for me. GDB came into my life at a time that I most needed it five years ago, even though I didn't know it at the time. Through all of my medical adventures, and times of not knowing what life would bring day to day, I had at least one constant: a dog. Every morning, no matter how terrible I was feeling, there would be a wriggling ball of fur just waiting for me to wake up. Not because they wanted to ask how I was feeling and not because they needed to take me to another doctor's appointment. They simply wanted me. And even in in my days of not knowing where my life was going or when I would be able to really start living it again, I knew that puppy needed me. And not just that puppy, but, in extension, a person needed me. After the first graduation that I attended all those years ago, I couldn't believe that I was actually a part of what the working team had become. Bob and Yamaha were soul mates and you could tell by just looking at them. To think that I was even a small part of that beauty and freedom still makes me swell with pride. I don't know where I would be now if it wasn't for Guide Dogs coming into my life when it did. But I do know this: This organization is magical. And not just for the blind that get partnered with a guide."

I know full well that becoming a guide isn't for every dog. Kate has told me that if I get to school and don't want to do it, I will not have to. She's assured me that no matter how my formal training goes, she is very, very proud of me. The best part is that she has assured me that even if I come back to her house to live as a pet, I have helped at least one person's life be better - hers. Through all the emotion of the last weeks, I'm ready to keep on going until I just can't go anymore. I'm bursting full with all the love that has been given to me in my raiser home and I can't wait to go on to share it.

Love, 

Faulkner

Momma Christine's Response: 

Dear Faulkner,

This is an absolutely lovely note and makes me cry with delight in your shared vision and in the beautiful way you express it in words. I hope other people will be able to resonate with you as well after they read your dear words. Very very sweet.

I am so proud of you, and I hope I will see you at your graduation, if that is in your future. Take care and enjoy these last weeks together.

Love,

Christine

F Litter: Franco Writes Home

Dear Mama,

Did you hear the good news? Flute is going off to Puppy College. I am so excited! That means that fairly soon, the rest of us will go too. I can hardly wait. I have all my commands down very well and am well behaved, most of the time!

Talking about school, my puppy raiser is back in school and running cross country again. He is pretty fast but the races seem to take a very long time. It also gets really hot during the day when he runs - I’m glad I don’t have to run with him! Speaking of the heat, I hope you’re safe down there in California and far away from all the smoke.

It is hard to believe that I have been writing letters home now for a year it seems like just yesterday we were at Fun Day. Time sure does fly when you are having fun. 

With love and licks,

Franco

F Litter Update: Faulkner Writes Home

Hey Momma!!

This past month has seemed to just fly by! My raiser Kate and I haven't been doing a whole lot because she had surgery. We've been going crazy stuck at home together, but I've really gotten good at being a house dog. I've gone to work with Kate's mom a few times, and I've been to SO many doctor's appointments. While Kate was in the hospital, our whole puppy club (including our friends from Elko, Nevada) showed up for class!! I got to be at the hospital once a day for the three days that Kate was there. It was fun to get "ooh-ed" and "ah-ed" over by all the nurses!

Kate is feeling better and I'm trying to help her get back on her feet. She plays outside with me and whenever she goes out, I get to go too. She says that having me around helps to distract people from the neck brace that she's having to wear. I guess that having a dog in tow does offer a great opportunity to change the subject!

Summer is coming to an end and Kate's brother, Alex, has headed to college. He's promised to take me sometime in the next couple of weeks which would be great fun! I'll let you know how my adventures in the college world go once I get a chance to see how it is. I wonder if it will be anything like the "college" that Kate keeps talking about me going to at Guide Dogs....

Faulkner

Letter From an F Litter Pup: Flute Has Big News!

Dear Mom,

Exciting news! My puppy raiser and I just found that I'm going to COLLEGE ... on Friday! The folks at GDB thought I might have to wait a while longer because there were so many other dogs ahead of me, but something must have changed and now they want me! Everyone around here is really excited, so I guess it must be really special.

I got a bath, toenail clipping, ear cleaning and toothbrushing this weekend so I'm all clean and ready to go. I'm getting lots of extra hugs and whispered messages about working hard and becoming a really good Guide Dog. People seem sort of sad underneath their excitement however. I'm not sure what it all means. But I know I'm ready for something new and interesting. I've done so many things this summer, including going to a Seattle Storm basketball game, swimming in Lake Washington, riding on a new streetcar, and best of all, making a new friend. Donovan says that he was the first one to train with my raiser, Kathi, ten years ago. He lived in California for a while with her sister, but has come back to Washington in his senior years to live with her. We've had great fun getting to know each other, though he moves a bit slowly. He is nice to snuggle with and tells me that college is a lot of fun with great people. He made it all the way through training but was career changed for a medical reas

on. Here is a picture of the two of us.

  

Well, that's all from Seattle. I hope to be sending you word in the coming months of my graduation from college, but I know that whatever the future holds, you got me off to a good start. Kathi says that if I don't make it as a guide there might be another job waiting for me somewhere and I can always come home to live with her. But I want to make you all proud.

Love,

Flute

A look back at Flute as a puppy: 

F Litter Update: Faulkner and Franco

Hey Mom! 

I've got all kinds of fun things to tell you in this update! 

First of all, my puppy raiser, Kate, is doing all kinds of house sitting since it's summer and everyone wants to go on vacation. The past ten days, we've been staying at a house that came complete with chickens and a little 1-year old Welsh Terrier named Reuben. He has a lot of energy, but we were able to play outside a lot and he followed me everywhere! When Kate would put me in my crate, Reuben would often go in with me. It was neat to have a little "brother" for the week. 

While we were at Reuben's house, my littermate Franco also came to visit a couple of times. The three of us boys had so much fun getting to play together and run around!! Franco even got to stay the night and all three of  us curled up in a big puppy pile in the crate. Kate told us that we were too cute to exist. The only problem that we had was that Franco and I were a little too interested in Reuben's food, but Kate made is almost impossible to sneak any because she kept such a close eye on us. 

Next up: Kate is pulling a switcheroo! She's going to take Franco with her to her next housesitting gigs, and I'll be going home to stay with Franco's puppy raiser, Mike! Franco with have a great adventure with Kate - he gets to meet nine new cats and four new dogs! I'm hoping you'll be getting a letter from him because he'll certainly have plenty to write home about. Franco made sure that I wouldn't forget to tell you hi and send you some puppy kisses and a tail wag until you get to hear from him again. 

Love,

Faulkner (and Franco)

P.S. The first picture is of the two of us at Reuben's house. Reuben wouldn't sit still long enough to be in the picture though. There's also a picture of me when Kate and I went to the park.