Graduation Day at Guide Dogs of the Desert

Today was a special day. It was the graduation of six dogs from the organization Guide Dogs of the Desert. Six wonderful dogs were given over to blind folks who will now have a loving companion who will help them in their lives. ALL of these graduations are special but what made this one so special was that all of the graduates served in the United States Military. I have gotten to know a few of these wonderful brave people and I can say I am proud to know them and feel blessed to be given this opportunity. The graduation was so touching. As all Guide Dog graduations, there is a PowerPoint show of pictures that show the dogs when they are very small puppies being raised for 20 months by a family who, even though, they grow to love these special puppies, they will, one day, have to surrender them to a blind person with whom they will help and work. The PowerPoint shows the development of the puppies and how they are trained out here on the streets of Palm Springs. Then after the PowerPoint display you see the families, themselves handing the dogs over to their new owners. (Just for information, the puppies are raised in the families for 20 months and then they move to the school where they are trained by the trainers to work with the blind. Then for a month, the dogs are matched up with a blind person, The relationship between the dog and the blind person begins to grow. Then they graduate. What a heart moving experience it is to watch this process. I was there today, April 5Th watching this wonderful ceremony. The students were all from the military and it was so touching. Dexter in the left picture is a great guy, I got to know him a little when we all went to Blame it on Midnight, a local night club here, to hear Bill sing. Dexter loved to keep rhythm with the songs Bill would sing. I loved sitting next to Dex keeping rhythm with Dex. Dex's dog is a multicolored Lab named Shepherd, called "Shep". Shep, loves the ladies, Dex says and that is true. He won me completely over! I couldn't keep my own paws off him! But when the dogs are working, touching and petting is NOT allowed. My other favorite dog in this class is as you can see part of him above, is Waldo, a beautiful black Labradoodle ( lab and poodle mix) He is so pretty and is one special dog! The ceremony was just glorious and there wasn't a dry eye in the place of over 800 people who came to witness this special event. Paula Abdul was there as representing the charity for the month of May. Boy, is she not only beautiful, but she is one nice lady as well. It was a pleasure meeting and talking with her. It was a very special day. I feel blessed to be associated with this most worthy charity. I LOVE it and hope to be a permanent part of it for years to come.