As many of you know, our family has been involved with many charitable endeavors throughout the years. From biking 300 miles for Make a Wish 12 years in a row, to running countless Red Cross Blood Drives, to coordinating several run and walk events for various charitable organizations just to name a few, we are always on the lookout for new and engaging ways to "make a difference". As many of you also know, chaos always reigns in the Sinclair household! It's pretty much never quite around here....so it seemed a natural fit for us to bring Cody, a little black lab puppy, into our lives last July at the age of 7 weeks. He fit right into our family and immediately stole all of our hearts.....except for Chauncey, our 10 year old labradoodle, who I think thought perhaps we had lost our minds brining this crazy puppy into our home!:) Even he was mostly won over in the end.
Our job as puppy raisers was to give him a good home environment, teach him basic obedience commands, socialize him in many different environments, and of course to give him lots of love! It was such a wonderful experience taking him out to "work"! We jokingly referred to him as Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde because when his LD jacket was put on, he knew he had a "job" to do and he had to behave well. At home, let's just say he was a tad more energetic and spirited!:) And YES....it was hard to say goodbye to him a little over 2 weeks ago, BUT it is super exciting to us to think that he could literally change the course of someone's life by giving them independence, mobility, and confidence that they did not have before!! It is truly humbling to be a small part of this amazing team of people(breeders, vets, trainers, puppy counselors, countless volunteers, LD employees) that makes this all happen!! It costs $35,000 to raise one of these dogs, once they begin their specialized training AND Leader Dogs for the Blind is in the middle of the largerst campaign in their history to turn the existing kennel into a state of the art Canine Development Center!!
So PLEASE join me as I raise funds for this amazing organization and help them continue their mission of empowering people who are blind or visually impaired with lifelong skills for safe and independent daily travel. Any amount will make a difference.......:)
For more information on the new Canine Development Center, please see the photo gallery and video below! Also if you are interested in puppy raising or volunteer, go to www.leaderdog.org for more information.