Pinellas Park Library October 30

Another special opportunity caused us to push our Tuesday meeting back a week as we welcomed two Southeastern graduate teams to talk to us about life with a guide dog. We met in a room at the Pinellas Park Library in a combined meeting with the St. Pete West group to hear the stories of these two teams.

Tim is a comedian by trade, naturally making his talk very entertaining. His guide dog JC is a smooth-coated collie raised by the AC of the North Pinellas group, Carolyn (who kindly arranged this meeting for us) and sponsored by a raiser from our old Pinellas group.

Debbie, a friend of North Pinellas Assistant AC Stephanie, is a first-time guide dog user who is still learning what life is like with her dog Luke.

The audience of puppy raisers gave their rapt attention to Tim and Debbie as they gave us a clearer picture of what lies ahead for our puppies and how important it is for us to do a good job in preparing our pups for their training. I know everyone was inspired by what Tim and Debbie have been able to do and by listening to how their guide dogs have transformed their lives. I don't think there were any dry eyes at this meeting.

All the puppy raisers were able to leave this meeting with renewed vigor to do a great job as they received copies of the brand-new puppy manual. This was also the last meeting for John & Trudy, long-time Pinellas puppy raisers moving to Colorado. Good luck in your new adventures!