Magician

This whole puppy raising thing started after a year and a half of attending puppy raising meetings. I was very persistant with raising and I was not going to give up until I had a puppy! So on Nov. 30, 2000 I got my little yellow bundle of puppy fur...and his name was Magician! Magician was born Sept. 28, 2000. His mom is Henrietta and his dad is Rashad...both of them have passed on. His littermates were all yellow, they were: Maynard (retired guide), Mazie (retired guide), Marlin (retired guide), Melita (guide), Mercedes (career change), and Madonna (career change).

Magician with Lindsey and Santa a week after picking him up!

Magician was a wonderful "first puppy". He was not perfect by any means, especially at first. Magician taught me many lessons which were:

* Yellow dog fur all over the house is not the end of the world.

* If your puppy respects you, the love will come with that.

*You can be the laziest creature alive, but still feel the need to get in trouble once in a while!

* Dogs need a pack leader, if you are not willing to be the leader, the dog will step up.

* Old habits die hard

*Guide dogs are dogs...not robots, they don't have to be perfect

Magician on Graduation day in OR

Magician graduated on July 27, 2002. His trainer absolutely loved him, and told me at Sonny's graduation, that she still has pictures of him on her fridge at home. She took Magician home with her a lot while she was training him and she just loved him. In class he was nicknamed "superslug", because he was pretty slow and just took his time! He is still working in CA with his perfect partner! He is doing great and has been through a lot with his partner, but they are the perfect team and hopefully still have many years of working ahead of them!