Raise a Puppy, Change Lives

05/11/2025

I was pretty surprised to open the GDA newsletter and see an article about our Valoo! He's doing such great work at the Wichita Children's Home and we're very proud of him!

04/10/2025

We have bittersweet news about Wallaby: when he was a wee lad, just 9 months old, a routine x-ray detected mild hip dysplasia. It was so mild and he was so young that it was hoped that with care, exercise and maturity, the issue would lessen with time and not preclude him from service dog work. Unfortunately, the follow-up x-ray that was performed after Wallaby went in for training a few weeks ago showed that the condition hadn't improved enough for him to be allowed to continue with service dog work, and he had to be released from GDA|TLC's programs. This is of course very disappointing to Mike and me after 16 months of working so very hard to prepare Wallaby to work as a service dog.

However, for nearly that same amount of time, two of our friends who are pastors at our church have watched Wallaby interacting with the church's families & marveled at how he has a way of knowing what they need (especially the children). They called him "Pastor Wallaby" and said that if anything happened that prevented him from working as a service, that they would like to adopt him, so they had contacted GDA long ago to get on the adoption waitlist (which is quite lengthy). Imagine Mike's and my surprise & pleasure when we found out that our request that Wallaby's adoption by our friends had been approved.

06/20/2024

This handsome young man is now 9 months old! He recently had a spectacular evaluation by the GDA|TLC trainers, AND won 2nd place in the obedience trials at the annual Open House - WOW, WAY TO GO, WALLABY!!

04/24/2024

Happy International Guide Dog Day to Elphie, the first guide dog puppy we raised!

04/21/2024

Today Wallaby got to visit L.A. County fire station 154 in Covina with our Inland Empire puppy-raising support group. He and his fellow service puppies-in-training learned about firefighters and their equipment. They all did SO well, choosing to check out the equipment, getting up close with a firefighter in turnouts, and jumping on a fire engine. Way to go, Wallaby and friends!

04/21/2024

04/12/2024

While Wallaby was at the kennel, his puppy raisers borrowed nearly-9mo female yellow lab Paisley and headed out for some training and fun! We went to Exposition Park in LA, visiting the California Science Center, the Natural History Museum and the Rose Garden. It was a beautiful day! However, I have never in my 8 years of puppy raising been around so many children who needed training in how to behave around a service dog (helpful beginner tip: calling out "DOGGIE DOGGIE!" is NOT appropriate). In my experience, usually the kids know that a working dog shouldn't be approached and it's the adults who are poorly behaved but that was not our experience today. Paisley took it all in stride, thankfully. Good job training her, Jenny Thomas !

After eating our lunch, we headed to the La Brea Tar Pits and walked around to look at the outdoor exhibits. So interesting and an ever -changing landscape! We took the scenic route through the Hollywood Hills, got dinner at In 'n' Out, then headed back to GDA to swap out puppies. What a fun day!

04/11/2024

Wallaby is having his first kennel stay! Such a big boy. The guide dogs in training were having a pool party to the left, so Wallaby wouldn't look at me for the photo! 😀

03/05/2024

We were surprised and pleased when a supporter sent us this link to a video made about Valoo and his service dog handler. We're so proud of him!

Kim Pennington works for a non-profit organization that offers the only emergency, temporary, and residential care for children in their community. They are ...

02/21/2024

We're so proud of Valoo living out his purpose!

02/20/2024

Wallaby is 5 months old! He towers over his update board now. He'd like to thank his sponsor, MIA, and wish a very happy birthday to his littermates .waffles .umma .world.gda , Waverly, Whisker, and Wookie!

First photo description: Wallaby, a yellow lab, sits next to an update board. He's several inches taller than it is now.
Second photo description: an update board that says Wallaby at the top, his age as 5 months old, his weight at 41.2 lb (a 10.2 lb increase since his last weigh in). His current focus is confidence and novel environments and impulse control. His favorites are Raven, Navi, and relaxing with his family. At the bottom it has our Instagram account address and says thank you to his sponsor MIA.

.tlc.inlandempire