The Patrick Chronicles – Part 2


Posted May 28, 2019 by growingupguidepup

service dog, service dog law, guide dog, puppy in training, ptsd dog

 
We recently decided to take that chance and see if the information we got was the real deal. We took a chance at attending a K9 trial and hoped that Patrick would be one of the competitors. The department we thought he was with was listed to be there. The gamble paid off. There were many dogs there, but not every dog from the department we went to see. We did see a dog that looked and acted like Patrick. Both Matt and I were pretty certain it was him, but he had a different name.
This is probably a big surprise to most people who follow us, but both Matt and I are pretty shy with people we don’t know. Neither one of us wanted to approach any of the officers there to inquire if Patrick was in fact there. We were in a little bit of a difficult situation. Here we were at an event where the officers were concentrating on the events they were doing with their dogs. It was open to the public, but we didn’t want to be a nuisance. We had never been to an event like this and had no idea if inquiring about a certain dog was acceptable. At one point we were thinking about leaving, but we had driven well over an hour to get there and devoted our day to watch the trial.
Matt finally got up the courage and did approach an officer from the department. He had one of our Patrick trading cards and showed it to the officer. I hung back because I was super nervous about how we would be received. I didn’t want them to think we were ambushing them, or that we were crazy people. The officer did confirm that the dog we thought was Patrick was there and was super nice and called the partner of the dog over. That officer was also very nice and saw Patrick’s card and said yes, that was his dog. He knew that his name was Patrick, but had been renamed.
All the officers were extremely nice. We were given an opportunity between events to say hi to Patrick. Everyone wants to know if he remembered us, I’m pretty sure that he did. We got lots of tail wags, but Patrick seemed to be very focused on his handler…and the toy he had on him. While some people might have been disappointed that our reunion wasn’t more exuberant, I wasn’t disappointed at all. We came at a time when Patrick was on duty. He was definitely in work mode and that made me proud. He was happy to see us, but ready to go to work. We had no idea if we would be a huge distraction for Patrick and cause him to not do as well as he could at the trial. We absolutely didn’t want to be the cause of him not being his best.
We stayed a little longer and watched Patrick compete and cheer him on in the final event of the trial, the apprehension phase. I was a little surprised that he had learned bite work, mainly because he was such an outgoing and super friendly guy with people. I never thought he would want to bite, or if he did that it would change him. Well he did a really good job at following the directions his partner gave him, I was super impressed. I didn’t notice much of a change in him at all, he was still a friendly guy with people and his partner even shared some adorable photos of him saying hi to some of the people and kids in their community. So those fears went out the window very quickly.
While we were there we occasionally got pointed out to some of the officers in the department and were introduced as Patrick’s raisers. We had some fun sharing some of the goofy photos we had taken of him as a puppy. We even had a good laugh when I shared photos of Patrick’s first halloween and him being dressed up as a cop. Every officer we spoke with had nothing but great things to say about Patrick. It seems like he is very well liked throughout the department, of course that makes us feel wonderful. Other people love and care for Patrick as much as we do.
Right before we headed out from the trial we gave Patrick’s partner his favorite puppyhood toy, his frisbee. We had brought it with us just in case we ran into them. Patrick’s face lit up when he saw his old toy, it was the exact way I had imagined handing that toy over. We actually have a box of frisbees in our garage somewhere that we had saved just in case we made contact with Patrick’s new partner. We may have to go searching for those.
Now you may be wondering why I’m still calling Patrick, Patrick, and not by his new name. Because we surprised the department at the event and we haven’t had a chance to form a real relationship with them and discuss how much they want us to reveal about Patrick, we have decided not to reveal his new name or what department he is with. Patrick belongs to them now and we need to be respectful to that they should be able to make these decisions about him. This is also for Patrick and his partner’s safety. Patrick now works in a very high risk field. His Partner has enough to worry about every time they leave their home for work, we don’t want them to have any further stress.
We have no idea what type of relationship we will have with Patrick’s new partner, it is completely up to him on if he wants to stay in contact with us. Of course we hope that we can have some sort of relationship, but time will tell. I can say that Patrick couldn’t have been placed with a better person. He seems to have a perfect understanding of who Patrick is and embraces it. Patrick seems to absolutely love his job and his partner. Everything we were trying to tone down with Patrick as a puppy he now is encouraged to let out. He has found the job that he was meant to do. It took us two and a half years, but we can now sit and watch our puppy work and say, “That’s our boy, we helped him become the dog he is today.” Patrick didn’t become a guide dog to help one person stay safe, he is now helping to keep an entire community safe. We are now his biggest fans from the sidelines. And just like every other person that receives a puppy we raise, we are always here for Patrick’s partner if he needs anything.
For more details on our products and services, please feel free to visit us at service dog, service dog law, guide dog, puppy in training, ptsd dog
-- END ---
Share Facebook Twitter
Print Friendly and PDF DisclaimerReport Abuse
Contact Email [email protected]
Issued By growingupguidepup
Country United States
Categories Business
Last Updated May 28, 2019