This story begins on a sad note. On May 31, 2006, my 11-year-old German Shepherd Dog, Ero, died suddenly of an apparent massive heart attack. Eighteen months earlier, I'd lost my 14-year-old GSD, Kelsey, to Degenerative Myelopathy.

Ero (left) and Kelsey, 1996

No, they weren't allowed on the bed, but things were too quiet one day. I crept upstairs to my loft and this is how I found them. I grabbed the camera to catch this - my favorite shot of the two of them together. This is a scan of an Advantix photo, pre-digital for me!

As anyone who is owned by a dog (or cat, or bird, or ferret, or ) can imagine, I was devastated. As my heart began to mend, rather than bringing another dog of my own into the house I decided to pursue something that I've wanted to do since second grade - raise a guide-dog puppy!

My pet sitter, Karie, is raising her second guide dog pup, "Yoga", so I went to her with my initial questions. She pointed me to the Guiding Eyes for the Blind website where I filled out the Puppy Raiser application. Soon I was connected with the Monroe County region and was off and running! In telling me about GEB Karie said, "I get to take a dog where ever I go!". It got me thinking about taking the dog to work AND about all the red tape involved in doing anything out of the ordinary in a big company-and bringing a dog into Kodak is definitely out of the ordinary!

Some of the pre-requisites for raising a puppy are attending training meetings and puppy sitting others' dogs in the program. When Karie had to go out of town for a long weekend, I was able to do my first puppy-sitting gig with Yoga and read through the puppy raiser manual. It covers instructions on socialization, training, and even pet massage. Having a four-month-old puppy in the house certainly stirred life up. Washington, my cat, was very happy to have a new doggie playmate - Moses, my other cat, not so much!

I couldn't catch them in full play - this was taken after Washington decided it was time for a rest. He is not impressed with Yoga's play pose - "I've handled two dogs bigger than you, kiddo!"

Even though it's "behind the scene", I like this shot with my P880 - the lower light level in the house let me catch the happy wag of Yoga's tail as she tries to entice Washington into yet another game of tag.

Generally when taking pictures of kids and dogs, it's good to get down to their level (left - Yoga rolling around the kitchen floor - Kodak single use camera) but often "breaking the rules" by shooting straight down (right - Kodak P880) gives an interesting perspective!

Back on the Kodak side of the process, I began to find the necessary contacts to confirm that I could bring the pup to work with me. I called my Human Resources rep, Deb, who put me in touch with Kathy, the building manager who had worked with a previous raiser. I was then put in contact with my building manager, Dave. We reviewed the procedures, and my next step was to contact Legal. Meanwhile, Dave contacted Gary in Security. In talking with Gary, it feels like this is also blazing the way for anyone with an assistance dog to work in Kodak Park.

Of course I had to share my excitement with a few co-workers who I know are "dog people". As the word spread, people kept stopping by my office - "Is the dog here yet?" "Do you have the puppy?" "What kind of dog are you getting?" I have scheduled a lunch time field trip with some co-workers to a nearby pet supply warehouse to stock up my office with a crate, bowls, and a chew toy or two. I'm going to have to contact Aprille Roelle for ideas on decorating with a kennel theme!

Co-worker Greg (owned by Golden Retriever Rocco) found a camera from one of our labs to designate as the "puppy-cam". Of course the question came up - is a puppy-cam to take pictures of the puppy or to put ON the puppy (with a timer that takes a picture of the day from the dog's viewpoint)? Could be interesting! A wall space in the office area is being scoped out to photographically journal the puppy at work - at meetings, playing Euchre at lunch, at my computer?!

At a recent class, one of the exercises was to put a tee shirt and sock on the puppies. They need to be used to all sorts of handling. No, they won't be wearing either a tee shirt or socks as a Guide, but they do need to be comfortable with pretty much anything they might encounter "on the job" when they grow up.

What we as puppy-raisers do is called "pre-training". In the year or so with us, they learn the basics (where and when to "get busy", walking nicely, come, sit, stay, etc.) and get to socialize themselves to things that many pets never see. After another long weekend of puppy sitting, I'm both excited and nervous to begin with my own trainee! Now it's just a matter of waiting for the right match....

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