03/06/2025
After what has been a very happy/sad ten months, our guide dog pup Otis has flown the nest.
He’s headed off, to his next stage of guide dog training and the hole he leaves with our fam is huge.
Words don’t justify how well he’s now taken to his training and I’m sure he’ll absolutely smash his next stages.
But on a personal level for me, Otis was with us when Ian, my first ever guide dog, came back to live with us after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Otis took to Ian instantly and was happy to share his bed and his toys and I think, in his own way, he was even alright with grumpy old Ian telling him off every now and then.
When Ian passed, Otis was exactly the support we all needed.
Guide dog pups come to puppy raisers because they need us to help them, but what’s never mentioned is exactly how much they help us.
Watching them enthusiastically grow and learn, is massively rewarding.
But what is most apparent with every dog I’ve raised (Otis is number 21) is that love, unconditional love, is what each and every one of these amazing dogs gives to the people around them.
Every second I spend around these dogs makes me happy. And when I was so unbelievably sad about Ian, Otis’s love managed to keep me going.
And for that, I’ll be forever grateful to him.
I really hope I’ll get to see him again one day, but that’s not always something that happens. But what I am sure of, is that he will go on to do great things and that the forever home he finds will be so blessed to have him.
We already miss you so much.
Thank you Otis 🧡🦮
