Island Hearing Celebrations!

Island Hearing has been supporting PADS since before my time (many many moons ago...)and they continue to be one of my very favourite groups of people. Like us, they are in the business of changing lives and increasing independence -- in their case they use state of the art technology and lots of patience and skill to help their clients hear better. We serve many of the same clients, and they think of us often -- whether it be to order PADS calendars to give to their customers at Christmas time, or because they are attending a trade or homeshow and want to give PADS some exposure by sharing their booth with us. Like a well matched working dog team....Island Hearing and PADS seems like a match that was meant to be! In short, they're amazing.

Yesterday we got to celebrate with them though...PADS Retired Hearing Dog Bowen, Puppy-in-training Duke, Instructor Pam Houston, Volunteer Brigid and I (Communications Coordinator Tara) piled into the PADS van long before it was light. We wrote "ROAD TRIP!" in the van mileage log and headed for Sechelt on the Sunshine coast. Island Hearing was having a Grand Opening for their new Sechelt Clinic.

Bowen was quite certain he was the rockstar of the day, firmly claiming his spot in the passenger seat -- he was quite convinced that this was his right and was nothing less than horrified when I tried to evict him to the floor. We comprimised on my lap where he, through many grumbles and grunts, tried to impart to me just how brilliant and amazing he was...nearly human in fact. Duke established himself as more of a "princess" than a Duke, sighing and pacing the back of the van until Brigid provided him with a towel to lie on.

We arrived at the Sechelt clinic in record time, and were immediately impressed -- not only is it beautiful and welcoming with huge windows with a glass sunroom as a waiting area -- but the staff was even more welcoming and warm.

Our dogs showed us in short order the difference between their off duty idiosycracies and their working professionalism. Bowen demonstrated his hearing dog skills, how he waits in anticipation for every sound so that he can let Pam know that the timer is going off, or the phone is ringing or someone is knocking at the door. Duke, charmed the Island Hearing staff and customers with his soulful puppy eyes, and impressed them with how well behaved and obedient he was for a 7 month old pup. On the job, he uttered not one complaint about his spot on the beautiful new white tile floor.

It was a great day...we had the chance to celebrate with some great people, and talk to some amazing customers whose lives are changed by Island Hearing...keep up the good work guys! We'll see you soon :-)

A Very Special Puppy!

Meet Shelby, like most brand new PADS puppies she's a Labrador, adorable, cuddly, sweet and her tiny feet smell very much like Doritos.

What's unique about Shelby?

Well for one she's a chocolate Labrador, in PADS' history we've had less than 20 chocolates, they just aren't as common, and currently we don't have any dogs with chocolate in our breeding program.

Rather than coming from our breeding program, she was also donated to PADS by long time supporter Terray Boomir at Terrarust Labradors. Terray has been donating dogs to us for a very long time...and currently we have over 14 of Terray's puppies at various stages of training and many more working with clients (so maybe Shelby isn't THAT unique on that front...)

But what makes this tiny adorable Chocolate Labrador unique other than her spirited, playful personality is that she marks a milestone in PADS' history.

She is our 500th puppy to enter training.

22 years, 500 dogs...a lot of history, a lot of lives changed. Who we are doesn't begin and end with puppies though....it starts with our wonderful clients. They are as diverse as our dogs: coming from all walks of life, with their own stories, their own victories, and their own desire for a new kind of freedom. Freedom that for many comes in the form of a faithful, and highly skilled dog like Shelby will be one day.
So, friends, supporters, volunteers -- congratulations, 500 is a big number, we couldn't have gotten here without you...and we can't keep moving forward without you either.

Here's some interesting statistics about those 500 dogs from Jackie Clark, our Director of Canine Programs:

• Labrador Retrievers - 207 (Yellow 105, Black 87, Chocolate 17)
• Golden Retrievers - 90
• Smooth Fox Terriers - 21
• Lab X Goldens - 19
• Schipperkes - 12
• Shetland Sheepdogs - 11
• Standard Poodles - 10
• Labradoodles - 8 (Standard 7, Miniature 1)
• Smooth Collies - 6
• Australian Shepherds - 5
• Lab X Border Collies - 5
• American Eskimos - 4
• Bernese Mountain Dogs - 4
• Chesapeake Bay Retrievers - 3
• Miniature Goldendoodles - 3

Other breeds: Basenjis, Tahltan Bear Dog, Soft-Coated Wheaten Terrier, Papillon, Miniature Poodle, Lab X German Shepherd, Karelian Bear Dog, Irish Setter, Miniature Schnauzer, various other crosses.