Graduation

I know... I know... It's taken me forever! Mostly because I don't like uploading a million pictures all at once. (I'm sure you couldn't tell by how many pictures I sometimes bombard you all with.) So... here's the story:

Saturday morning we woke up, grabbed some breakfast at Black Bear (best OJ EVER!), and went to Saturday Market. Saturday Market is basically one of my favorite places in the world and screams "Portland" to me... I knew we only had a short time so we got there right as it opened and walked around for a minute. We had to leave by 11 to get to Boring by 11:30- unfortunately I didn't factor in that I had to take King to the Kennel Kitchen to be boarded. By the time we got there, raisers were already in the dorms so we dropped Erica off and ran to drop off King. By the time we got back to the dorms, Sharon and Placer had already made their way to the common room and had found Erica. He was excited to see everyone... I'm pretty sure he was the most excited to see my husband (which is funny because he was definitely my dog.) This is probably one of my most favorite part of puppy raising:

Placer seems excited to see us again

He can't decide who to say hi to next.

Placer's happy to be graduating...

Erica (my fantastic co-raiser) and Place

 He seems a little bigger, fluffier, and a little darker now- it could be because King is small, white, and has short hair. The rest of the day went really fast. We gave him his "Man Toy" from when he was a puppy. (If you're familiar with the Boo Boo Bear Protocol, Placer used a Boo Boo Bear for about a month- only we felt like that didn't sound manly enough, so he had a "Man Toy"- a Fleece rope with tractors on it.) Once we gave him that, he was much more interested in reuniting with it than us. We also gave Sharon a "Golden Survival Kit" as he is her first golden. She mentioned on the phone how different he is that her previous lab- so we have her a pocket lint roller, some HandiWipes (in case he gets something in his fur), and some hand sanitizer (for the golden drool).

After graduation was over we were able to take Sharon out for dinner at the traditional Oliver Garden. It was so great to see what a fantastic Guide Dog team they are and hear more about what he will be doing.
Again, it reminded me of what a great job GDB does at matching these dogs...

It was such a great trip and fun to see Placer again... even if it was completely exhausting for everyone. King was definitely ready to come home by the end...

Erica and King sleep on the backseat on the way home...