Hi friends!
I’m Casper, and I’m a 2-month-old assistance dog in training. So far, I’ve spent most of my life cuddling, playing, sleeping, and growing up with my sisters and my mom. But recently, I’ve been doing so many new things!
My sisters and I went to PADS, said goodbye to one another and met our puppy raisers. My puppy raiser brought me a special friend to play with. His name is Tio, and he was my raiser’s first PADS puppy. We had fun meeting and playing together. I also met my friend Taj, who came along for the puppy pickup adventure. So many people and puppies wanted to meet me! I then had to sit still for so long as my raiser took a million pictures of me and Tio. He says this will happen a lot in my future with her. After all the excitement, I was very tired, so I took a nice nap in the car. When we arrived, I met even more new people! I’m spending the holidays with sitters since I’m too little to travel with my raiser.
When I went into my sitters’ house, I got to meet this guy that they called my uncle Thresher. Since I was used to being with my sisters all the time, it was nice to have another dog around. We had four back-to-back sleepovers, and boy, was there a lot of sleeping to do. Moving house is kinda scary and very tiring, so my sitters, Thresher, and I spent the first few days adjusting through cuddling, kibbles, and lots of watching. Whenever I saw or heard something new or strange, a kibble would magically appear in front of my nose! I quickly became known for my passion for climbing and was usually found either on top of my kennel or inside my cave (under a chair). Although we mainly hung out in the house, no day was ever the same, and one evening, the people kept saying that Santa Paws was coming that night! Although I’d only heard rumours, I knew that whenever Santa Paws comes, so do toys, so I fell asleep next to the fireplace to try to catch a peak of him first. At some point, I was moved into my kennel, so no Santa sighting for me, but luckily I still woke up to new and pre-chewed toys! Thresher and I were so busy playing that we didn’t even notice when more humans came to visit, but don’t worry, they were pretty fun, too.
Eventually, Thresher had to go home, so I had to learn to eat, sleep and play without having another dog around, which is kind of weird. Instead, I’ve had some playdates with Taj, Louise and Poppy and sometimes get to go to the forest without my leash to run around. The sitters say that we can only do this because I’m so good at coming back when called – it does help that coming back means more kibbles! I’ve been learning to get used to my leash and the rain. I do not particularly like them, but apparently, both are here to stay.
A few bonus lessons from the past week:
1. My “singing” voice isn’t as nice sounding as I think it is.
2. When someone says “Casper,” I look at them.
3. “This way” means follow the leader!
4. If I toilet outside then I get an all-you-can-eat buffet of kibble.
5. If in doubt, sit or go to the bed or kennel.
I hear that soon enough, I’ll be rejoining my raiser and going to university, but I don’t know what any of that means. What I do know is that I’ll get to have lots of playdates with my friend Taj, which is very exciting. Hopefully, one day, I’ll wake up in a rain-free and leash-free place, but apparently, that is “unlikely” in Vancouver. Talk to you in my next pupdate!
– Casper
Submitted by: Sophie Pantel and Fiona Mak
