First Official GDA Meeting

Denali attended her first GDA area meeting last night with the South Bay group. She did very well, and wasn't very distracted by the other dogs. She has improved when she's cradled, and no longer whines. She willingly goes into her crate at night and does not whine then either. The only time she really whines is when we take her in the car, but she's improving there as well. I'm sure it won't be long, and she'll be riding along just fine, waiting to get to her next destination.

This picture is one we took of her in her "official" GDA bib. It's actually supposed to go on her back; we just put it in front for the picture. The South Bay group puts together a calendar to sell to raise money for GDA, and we're hoping that Denali's pictures will make it onto one of the pages.

We've Expanded Our Home By Four Feet!

Welcome to the Dog Days of Denali - GDA Puppy in Training!

Not only is this our first time training a puppy for GDA, it's our first attempt at creating a blog. In the next few days we'll attempt to bring you up to date on how we arrived on this wonderful journey, but for now, let me introduce you to our new puppy, Denali!

Denali is a female, yellow labrador retriever who belongs to Guide Dogs of America (GDA). She was born on May 18, 2010, so that makes her 7 1/2 weeks old. She was born into the "D" litter and her litter has seven puppies -- 6 yellow, 1 black; 4 male, 3 female. Her littermates are: Dublin, Deco, Dusty, Delaney, Daisy, and D-Logan.

D-Logan and Denali are sponsored puppies. Being a sponsored puppy is a very special honor -- it means that an individual has donated $4,000 to GDA (per puppy) to cover the expenses from breeding to 18 to 20 months old when the dog goes in for formal training. Often times a sponsor will choose the name of the puppy that is being sponsored. This is why Logan's name is D-Logan. His sponsor wanted to name him Logan, but he has the letter "D" in front to show that he belongs to the "D" litter. We lucked out and got to choose the name for Denali, even though she is being sponsored by the same person who is sponsoring Logan.

Today was Puppy Pick Up Day and the picture above is one of the first we took of Denali.