Remember when...

A conversation yesterday that started with "remember when Belle was a puppy..." left me a little saddened. I did not have the memory my daughter had, and I couldn't believe I could forget so soon. That's why it's exciting for me to see the newest Helping Paws blog - Growing Up: Service Dog. The foster family for Maeve (known as Spots in Tiga's Litter) is chronicling Maeve's training right from the start.

Oh, how I wish I would have thought to start Belle's blog right from the first. Our graduates sometimes wait years for one of our dogs. One of their most cherished gifts when they receive their dogs, is the photo album of their dogs' training years lovingly prepared for them by the foster home that trained them. Angie, one of our recent graduates, has told me how she used to go to the website of Milo, a Helping Paws service dog in training to make the wait seem less long. Little did she know that when her time came for a service dog, she and Milo would be a match!

The neat thing about the blog is how easy it is to do. No web skills are required. Blogger, the blog host site I use, provides all the templates I could ever want and best of all, it's free. All I've had to do is fill in the pictures and the words - and the words aren't really required. I hope to turn over the blog administration to the graduate with whom Belle is placed. But even if the graduate chooses not to update the blog, I will always have the memories of our time together at the simple click of a mouse. Starting from the very first day Belle was placed in my arms to love and to train (see picture above).