PUPPY DAY! May 5, 2012

I made plans to take a week off for "Pup-pernity Leave" and started counting down the days..
Finally, the day had arrived! I didn't even have to set my alarm to get up at 5:00 so we could leave by 5:30 a.m. for the long four hour ride ahead of us. We stopped for breakfast sandwiches in Glastonbury and made good time to Cassville. The school is way out in the "boonies" surrounded by farmland in New York State, between the Catskills and Adirondacks. Absolutely beautiful country.

Here she is -- Wanda the Polish Warrior Queen!!

All the other pups had gone to their new homes and Wanda had been by herself for several days. Freedom staff entertained her on a regular basis and the Loori family's Bloodhound Buford made a wonderful playmate. We chatted with the Loori's and with John Byfield while enticing Wanda with a plastic water bottle in the driveway. John had guide dog trainee "Windy" with him and Wanda kept trying to engage her in play.

Windy is in training and will be placed with her new partner in the next month or two.

 Once we were assured that puppy had a good amount of exercise, we hit the road, back to the Albany area. On our last trip here in March, we found a Comfort Inn in East Greenbush, less than 5 miles from my cousin's house. It makes a very convenient stop-over mid-way in the route.

Wanda meets Simon, my cousin's 2 year old terrier mix.

Once Wanda fell asleep, we took her back to the hotel. She was very good and I took her out

once in the middle of the night, and Paul got up very early with her in the morning

and let me sleep in til around 7:00 a.m., then it was time for the ride back home.