Young Love

There is a young man spending a lot of time at our house these days!

The new man in Katie's life has captured our hearts, as well, as we spend time with him. Ken definitely approves.

He has blond hair and big brown eyes.

He will be going into the Service, and already has his uniform.

Meet Chester:

Katie has always wanted a dog, but it hasn't been an option until now. She is raising Chester to eventually be a service dog for an autistic child. He will be in our home for 12-18 months learning basic skills and then on to more extensive training as he gets ready for his child. Katie and Chester will be attending puppy training classes each week for a while and then it will go to every other week. She is required to take him on three outings a week when he gets a bit older, (at this point, he is just learning how to climb stairs), malls, grocery stores, parks etc.... Even school when he gets older. The trick is to train him to not be distracted by crowds, traffic, other dogs, food and anything else that will affect his "job" when he gets older.

We realize this will alter our lives for a bit, but what a special cause. Service Dogs have always intrigued me and I am excited to see the process that makes a good service dog. Of course the breed has everything to do with it. Chester is a golden retriever/lab.

I have never cared to have dogs in the house, but our house is situated real well for this, as Chester will spend his time in the basement and will not have to go through the main part of the house. The great thing about this program is that the NSD (National Service Dogs), pays for food and vet bills. You can find out more about the program at www.nsd.on.ca