Graduation Day at Canine Partners For Life

Only four more days until I fly to Miami to start the ride. The number of things I need to do to get ready for the ride at home and at work is astonishing! The family is getting short shrift, but except for Hank, they will fly out to Denver for a few days when I get there. I think we'll have fun.

Twice a year Canine Partners For Life graduates a class of dogs and people. It's quite an achievement because it takes 2 years to raise and train a dog, and then 3 more weeks with its person.

Today I went up to a graduation. I had not been to one since my nephew's graduation several years ago. Darn, I forgot to take the camera. But I did have a beautiful 2.5 hour, 90-mile warm-up ride from home to the CPL farm in Cochranville, PA on my green Vespa ET2 scooter.

Graduation was long, but amazing and emotional. Many of the graduates spoke of what their dogs are already doing for them. CPL graduated a class of about 12 today. This makes a total of 200 dogs placed with people during the 18 years of CPL existence. The kennel where dogs are raised is the cleanest and most spacious I have ever seen. It's nothing like the mall pet store! It's cleaner than my kitchen. The dogs seemed so happy, too. Every single one was curious and eager to meet people. Most are retrievers. They have obviously been carefully selected.

I met many people and put names with faces: the founder Darlene (who graduated with her own dog today), Jennifer who raises funds, Susan in administration, and Kim in special events. Jennifer was happy to receive the first batch of checks that I delivered. Thanks everyone, you know who you are! Lots of checks have come in, but I need to get corporate sponsors to make my ambitious goal.

We scheduled a kick-off gathering in Baltimore for this Thursday evening before I go. I'll be busy packing but I need the moral support from friends.

Tomorrow I have an interview in the morning with a reporter for the local paper, and a really busy day at the office.