Growing Up Guide Pup - Week 63 - Final Decision

You know when we first started this web series we had no expectations. Sure, I hoped Ricki would go on to become a guide dog. Not only would it be cool to raise awareness of the process, but damn; talk about a cool Hollywood ending. This episode really sums up the reality of the guide dog raising world however. Unpredictable twists and turns in the story always result. We wanted Ricki to graduate as a guide dog, but at the same time we wouldn't mind her becoming "career changed" so we might be able to keep her. There is always a lot of ups and downs and it can be crazy.

Now we are faced with a whole new challenge. Ricki has made it clear she wants to keep working. She paces up and down the living room as soon as a day or two go by without her working, or training. If she didn't show this tendency perhaps we would think about keeping her. But we want to give Ricki every chance at doing a job because we feel this will give her a much more fulfilling life based on her personality. She is prepped for something other than guide dog work so lets see what happens.

The future is uncertain as I write this blog. The one thing we hope people have learned from the series is that becoming a guide dog is hard. We strived to raise awareness about this, and hope people have a larger appreciation for the "puppy raisers" involvement in the process too. At the end of the day, if we met these goals, then Ricki has done her job as far as this guy is concerned.