Wisdom

This is my wife, Liz. Liz has a soft spot for puppies, and this year she's getting to realize a dream she's had for a while: to raise a seeing-eye dog puppy. In her arms is Wisdom, the newest member of the Logan family, and our charge for the next eleven months.

Basically, the program is that the puppy needs somebody to train it to do certain basic things and generally keep an eye on it until it's old enough to go through formal seeing-eye dog training. That's where we come in. We give it a place to stay, they provide the puppy, its food, cage, bedding, toys (it's only allowed three specific toys), and training gear (harness, leash, etc.). It's a good deal, overall, even though there are a few rules we have to follow.

SEDA (Seeing Eye Dogs Australia) is really great about working with you, though, and I'm looking forward to working with Mark, the trainer that's helping us raise Wisdom. When she turns 12 months old, Wisdom goes off to training school with a professional trainer, and we have to say good-bye (currently, she's only 7 weeks and one day old).

But it'll be a great trip until then. In some ways, it's a great excuse to travel, because she has to go everywhere a person might go: in a car, trains, trams, busses, restaurants, gyms (we'll see), cafes, homes, streets, etc. At this point, we're getting her adjusted to the house and trying to make her understand that the rug is not a place to pee.

The funny part about Wisdom is that she's really particular about being in our company. She can't stand it when we're not around. She'll start whining and whimpering, and then, when she finds us, if we stand still for too long (or if we're sitting down), she'll snuggle all up into our feet and fall asleep. It's great.

For more pictures and whatnot, go here.