March 10, 2008

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

I am a year old! Quite a milestone in anyone's life, and no exception for CCI dogs. My mama Carie sent a birthday greeting to us: "Wishing Penela, Patrina, Piute, Pixel, Palmer, Pippi, Peggy, Pasha, Pilot and Parker a glorious year. My how you all have grown!"

Mama Carie sent along a few photos of us as tiny pups, and WOW! We really have grown up. Check out the slideshow with this DogBlog.

Marianne heard from several of my siblings' puppy raisers. Nancy says, "Palmer goes to work most days with me. I work for a granite company that makes and installs granite countertops. It's dusty but Palmer likes it. He also goes to college with me. I am almost ready to graduate with a degree in interior design, and I've had CCI dogs with me all the way."

I imagine you get extra credit from your teachers if you have a wonderful CCI puppy with you. And of course, even though we look like we're snoozing, we really are listening so we can help with homework, papers and cramming for exams.

Piute's puppy raiser, Meryl, tells us, "Piute picks up commands quickly and is quite the star in his puppy class. He is spunky, but also cuddly." Marianne says that last part sounds like me!

"And why doesn't the 'star of his puppy class' part apply to me?" I asked. Marianne eyed me for a minute and replied, "Well, it might if you'd focus a bit more on the commands and less on the possibility of a treat."

Oh.

"Patrina, nicknamed Trini, is small, very affectionate and very bright. And did I mention fearless? She loves hiking every weekend and resting in front of the fire on cold winter days. She has stolen my husband's heart and that of everyone else she meets. She is our seventh CCI pup and her older brother Change of Career Doug the dog, adores her," says Regina. Awwwww!

(For those of you who don't know, Change of Career is what the puppy raisers call dogs who decide they don't want to be working CCI dogs, and are released from the program. That's a whole DogBlog topic in itself.)

"Pixel is doing well," says Nancy. "He had a health problem up to about Christmas and since then seems to have outgrown it. He suddenly started packing on muscle and gained 10 pounds in the last five weeks. I thought he was going to be relatively small, but now I think he is going to be pretty big!"

Hmmmm. I wonder who is the biggest in our litter? I weigh 67 pounds right now, and Marianne thinks that's as big as I'll get. We'll see!

And finally, a puppy after my own heart, my brother Pilot. "He is a local celeb due to our participation at Paws in the Pool last summer," says Roxanne. "The photographer at the event must have liked him because he took a ton of photos!" The photos were posted on the Web site for the Groveport Aquatic Center.

Celebrity runs in our family! The Phabulous P Puppies, that's us.

Chow for now!

Parker

Questions or comments for Parker? Send them to Call7ForHelp@TheDenverChannel.com.

Would you like more information about Canine Companions for Independence, or perhaps be a puppy raiser? Call 1-800-572-BARK or go to www.cci.org for details.