Spreading the SEGDI Word

Little Bucky is a PR Pro. With his good looks and the Golden Grin he gets noticed everywhere he goes. People are always commenting about how good looking he is.

But now that he is 10 months when he is wearing his vest he can not accept petting from the public anymore. (TEN MONTHS! YIKES! Where does time go?) Its tough for me to tell people "No, I'm sorry, while he's wearing his vest he is working, so you can't pat him." I then always add "But when he's not wearing his vest he's just a regular dog and you can pat him and play with him then."

Most people are good and ask before they touch and they accept that he is in training and that he can't be touched. But some folks..... well.... even when I tell them 3 times (yes, THREE times!), they still keep touching him. Or there are the others that walk by and sneak in a pat as they pass him. Really???

Saturday April 12th we had a SEGDI display at the Houston Area Insight Expo.

When I tell people about the program, a typical response from people is "I could never do that. How are you going to let  him go?" I always answer "I don't know, we haven't done it yet."

We have known all along he is not our dog and that there are plans for his future that are out of our control. I know when we take him back to Florida for IFT (In For Training) September 20th, I will cry (and that is not something I do often). But they will be tears of pride and tears of optimism for his future. (It chokes me up right now just thinking about it.)

I hope that Bucky will be able to have a fulfilling service career that he enjoys and is happy doing, whatever that may be. He could become a Guide Dog, a demanding career which only the elite of elite dogs can do. Or he could become a Veteran Services dog, or an Ambassador, or a drug detection dog, or a search and rescue dog, or work in the Veteran Affairs' offices as a comfort dog. Or he may become Backyard Bucky and bring joy and pleasure to a loving family.

For now, I just enjoy him and am so happy to see that he is developing the Golden Grin - I figure it means he is a happy dog - as he should.