Puppy Slobber. yum : Week 52 with Lucky

So technically this is week 52 with Lucky, but I'm not going to do my "year with Lucky" post until May 2nd!

First, I have a not so good update on my Lucky boy. Since about November Lucky has been dealing with a lot of itching. He starts to itch so much at times that it caused a lot of hair loss from his ears and then his sides. He went on some allergy medicine for about 6 weeks which seemed to help it a lot. But unfortunately a little over a week later after he had finished the meds the itching came back. He is now back on the meds and is also on a special food trial to see if it is skin allergies to the environment or if it is food allergies. My bets are it's skin allergies to the environment because now that spring is here, he now also has an ear infection when his ears have always been clean. The real "not so good news" is that due to all of this Lucky can't be a guide dog. I'm devastated. I know, that may seem weird because it's "just a dog", but I've just spent the last year (almost! Our 1 year anniversary is May 2nd) working with Lucky, training him, teaching him how he should behave, in preparation to be a guide dog, and now it's all over. I feel this is almost worse then normal turn in at IFT time. I think I feel this way because he took an IFT2 Test (an IFT, but this one is for dogs that have already been medically released or dogs who are likely not going to go into training because of other issues) and instead of being excited that it's time for him to leave me to go into training and be heading towards the goal of being a guide dog, this a sad time because there's no excitement, this is it, he's done, never ever going to be a guide or anything, just a pet. NOT that a pet is a bad thing, but I didn't just raise him for a year to be a pet... But I'm torn because I'm also excited because I already know the person who will be adopting him! I wish I could adopt him, but I can't. I had decided that a while ago that I have my pet dog, I have my girl Dahlia, and for right now I know that I can only afford one dog, so I knew I wouldn't be able to keep him also because we don't know how this could develop and what could end up happening to Lucky with his allergies. Luckily (no pun intended haha) this wonderful person that I work with use to work at a vet and knows about what could happen with Lucky and is willing to take the risk of long term care for Lucky, this person also happens to be my good friend! And she also foster's Lucky's dad Maestro! So Lucky will get to live with his dad from now on!!! And another plus, is that Lucky knows Brenda so well, so well in fact that when we are at work together most of the time you can find Lucky snuggling with Brenda more then me! So as with everything in life there's always a bittersweet end to a story, and this is the bittersweet end. Lucky won't go on to change a blind person's life, but he's going to get to bless and change Brenda's life and.... I'll get to see him like ALL the time which is a happy thing too! :) I also know I can be proud of Lucky because even though he is released, he scored a 4.5 (out of 5) on his IFT2 test. A near perfect score! I can't believe it! I'm so proud of him!!!

So, now onto the things we have done! Now that he's released he gets to run off leash, hike off leash, and sleep in my bed! :) But first, guess what we got to do on International Guide Dog Day (on April 29th)! We went to the Today Show and were on the plaza from 6:30AM-8:30AM for the show! We were even in a few clips and tons of photos for a photo booth that BarkBox had! It was such a fun time and Lucky did amazing!! He was very composed and very well behaved. :)