I wanted to take a moment and introduce Hiways' "little" brother. Finch came to me by accident very soon after Hiways death; but at just the time I needed him the most. He was only 7 weeks old when I brought him home. He has the sweetest nature of any dog I've ever met. My goal is for Finch and I to volunteer with a local group that does comfort post crisis or traumatic events. We've been through several classes already and there are more to come before he is a certified Pet Partner, but it's been worth every second.
I work as a behavior specialist and one of my requests before taking my new job was to be able to bring Finch to work with me once he is certified. He's come several times already, just for an hour or two at a time and he is wonderful with my people (I work with developmentally disabled adults). One of the things we've worked on in for him not to knock people over and he's learned to crawl, before I could even give him the cue he did it himself. I was so proud of him. He knows some hand signals and I taught them to my clients, poor puppy was so confused; there was a whole bunch of people all giving him different commands and talking at the same time, but he was awesome. We have a big halfway mark in his training next month and then another 6 months to finish.
He's been wonderful for me to come home to and good company for Kitten; they don't sleep together like Kitten and Hiway did, but they are good friends. As you can see from the attached photo, she's taught him where the best spot on the sofa is.
Thank you so much for being here this past year. I didn't post much, but often came to read and think.