You wouldn't ever think a meeting is interesting. Well, these kinds of meetings can be. As a member of the 4 Paws for Ability puppy raiser crew, we have to attend meetings on campus and once a month, go to Xenia for a monthly meeting. Every Monday at 8 p.m. in the Bear Cave, Polar Paws meets. I love going to these meetings because you pick up on a trick or get some answers and then afterward, puppy play times! Four of our lucky puppies get to run around together to their heart's content or until their foster parent wants to leave. It's a lot of fun to be able to watch all of them play together and how excited they get when we go to the Bear Cave.
The monthly Xenia meetings can be way more interesting though. It is a two-hour long drive to get to the building and to get parked. I love driving a lot and when there is a puppy riding with you, it makes it a lot more fun. I usually end up driving down to the meetings and I almost always have a puppy in the car with me. My roommate and I go down together most of the time and we jam out to music. Whoever the lucky puppy is, typically ends up passing out in the backseat completely unaware of how bad our singing is. When we get to 4 Paws, there is a room off to the side of the main entrance where the raisers have to go in at. It's a big room and they do all the classes for the placed puppies and all the classes for the raisers at. As a raiser, we are not permitted to be involved with these classes unless we are on staff there. The meetings go over three things. We cover any problems we have with the puppies, a new trick or command, and then we gather any supplies needed for the next month. Almost everyone gets one bag of food and monthly medicine. Sometimes you can meet other puppies while you are waiting on the meetings to start. I was able to meet Rayne from the Video Games 2 litter. She is Saber's sister. She looked so much like Saber that I was shocked that it wasn't her. Our monthly meetings only last two hours and when we get our supplies, we are able to go.
The rides back to campus usually consist of a nap for either the puppy or the passengers. RossCo was one of the most memorable nap takers. He had just gotten neutered and had to wear a cone to keep him from picking at his stitches. He had scooted so close to my car door that his head was straight up in the air at a 90 degree angle. He was completely passed out and snoring.
These meetings may seem boring to some people but, they hold a lot of good memories for me.
This is so interesting. You always see people walking the pups around campus and think about how lucky they are to have a pup around all the time, but you never think about the amount of work that the student has to do. I love the fact that all the pups get to have puppy play time. They may be future working dogs, but in the mean time they still deserve to have a little fun while growing up.
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