January was a big month for me. It started off with my 18-month PAT (Public Access Test), where my puppy trainer said that I was ready for advanced training! Of course, after this news, my hooman said we needed to do a graduation photoshoot.
The first week back at school after winter break brought many opportunities! The first was that my human got to attend a free yoga class. I didn’t see the appeal, so I napped through it, but can you believe that I didn’t even get a yoga mat? The next big event was that I got to attend the UBC Winter Classic Hockey Game! The game was very exciting, but what was more exciting was that they had an Invictus Games booth set up! Us PADS dogs will be supporting all the athletes at the games, so it was lots of fun to do some advertising at my school.
Later this month, I got to mentor a new puppy, PADS Allen! He is the son of my mentor, PADS Parker! After Parker mentored me as a puppy, it was fun to mentor one of her babies. This month, I had to say farewell to my buddy PADS Orion. He found a wonderful client with a very cool job, so we had one last trail romp before he left.
I have had such an amazing time being a PADS dog, but at the end of the month, after much deliberation, PADS decided to medically release me from assistance dog training. Unfortunately, my environmental allergies make me unsuitable for working life, but my wonderful puppy raiser and her family have decided to adopt me. I am very excited about this next chapter in my life and will make sure to keep in touch with all my PADS furrends. Many thanks to all those who have supported me throughout my journey.
Sloppy kisses, Taj
Submitted by: Annika E.
