Off to Puppy School

Wilda, our 16-month-old black Labrador retriever Seeing Eye® puppy, returned to The Seeing Eye Tuesday. Sending a puppy back is a strange feeling and differs with each of them. Some departures bring tears and some bring smiles, as the pups climb into the back of the Seeing Eye van. Our last one, Audrey, was hard to let go, but I was, if not happy, relieved when Wilda left. She is a wonderful puppy, came house-trained at seven weeks (!), and followed commands. And she is full of personality.

Here are some of her traits.

Wilda is smart. To show me she wanted to go for a walk, she pulled a leash off the hook, put it in the middle of the kitchen floor, then pulled out a plastic bag and put it next to the leash.

Wilda is sneaky. She is a pickpocket, both from jackets hanging on the hook near the door, as well as from briefcases or purses left unzipped. Any paper and pen I am using is instantly on the floor if I leave the room, and that includes, unfortunately, twenty dollar bills.

Wilda is a pack animal. Whenever it is time to go out, she rounds up the other dogs and pushes them to the door. She also appointed herself the pee police and took over Misty’s job of alerting us to canine potty needs.

Wilda is a cat lover, at least if the cat is Smudge. She likes to remove his collar as often as she gets a chance. Then she carries it back to her lair, which, conveniently, is the middle of the kitchen floor.

Wilda is possessive. If I stand still for even a second next to one of the counters in the kitchen, she will lay down across my feet. It makes cooking difficult. Luckily, I have long arms. She also sometimes drapes an arm over the other dogs.

Wilda is talkative. This is her worst trait, but she only does it to me. She seems to be mimicking my mouth movements and talks to me, sometimes also barks at me, while I am trying to work. For everyone else, mum is the word.

It has been quiet since she left. Very quiet.

The more they are the same, the more they are different.

We have been fostering Seeing Eye® puppies for almost 15 years. Almost all have been Labrador retrievers, with the exception of two, who were Lab/Golden crosses. The eleven dogs (which may sound like a lot of work, but it’s easier than, say, having octuplets) were all as different as they were similar.

Two were diametrically opposite. Pauline, dog number five, was a yellow Labrador retriever whom we nicknamed Paulinidini, since she was so much like Houdini. She could get out of anything, a triple-locked crate, a house . . . . Just ask the local police about her. One summer night she walked out the back door while my husband and I were walking our two other dogs. Someone who shall remain nameless did not notice her absence. Apparently she was following us when a kind soul picked her up and brought her to the police station. They looked at her tags and called Seeing Eye, who called and asked if we knew where our puppy was. We looked under the desk where we thought she was sleeping. No puppy. It was mighty embarrassing to have to bail Pauline out after her vanishing act.

On the other hand, Wilda Scisssorlips, our current, black Labrador retriever puppy, has managed to lock herself into rooms, notably the powder room in our house. Because she sometimes wears her leash around the house, and it is knotted in several places, if Wilda walks into the bathroom, which has a door that opens out, the knot will catch under the door and as she goes in will pull the door shut behind her. Then she has to wait until someone sees the leash sticking out from under the door. The few moments of panic at finding her missing (talk about a locked-door mystery) have not involved the police, so far.

They do have a few things is common. They are the kind of puppies who keep people busy, just trying to keep them out of trouble, and they are the most comical, which somehow makes up for a lot of their antics.