Puppy Raiser Christmas Party!

Wayne here,

Tonight, our group had our Christmas party at a restaurant here in Albemarle, North Carolina. This is where we all get together and eat, fellowship, see each other's dogs to compare and contrast them, and exchange gifts.

Our group has a tradition that we have been doing sine we branched off into our own small group from the once really big group. That tradition is to play the Secret Santa game. For those of you not familiar with this game, it is played like this: everyone brings a gift (up to $10 or so) and puts it on the table either wrapped or in a bag.All of the Puppy Raisrs who brought a gift pick a number out of a basket and we go in order allowing each person to get a gift. Here is the twist, if you are next in line, you can either steal a gift that you really like from someone or you can choose a new gift that has not been selected yet. The person that was number 1 is able to steal from anyone once everyone has had a chance to get a gift. It's a super fun game. You never know what you will end up with by the end of the game. Mom's gift tonight was a bag of dog cookie mix and a small lint roller. Now I can have home-baked treats and she can be dog hair free when I start shedding really really bad.

Doc and Emmy were at the meeting tonight. Doc and Emmy are both so big! They make me look small and I am a chunky puppy! Our puppy raiseers were exchanging  questions about us puppies trying to compare us together. We definitely are from the same litter. Since this is our one meeting for the month, all of the dogs were required to be there. We only have one meeting this month since Christmas usually falls when our second obedience training meeting is held and we know there will be people away visiting family at this time.

Our group also has a tradition that we do every year. The puppy raisers that have had a dog be matched in the past year (between last Christmas party and this one) gets something special at the meeting honoring thEm and the dog they raised. The puppy raisers all get a small stuffed dog that is matched to the best of the ability of the very special woman in our group who came up with this really neat idea. She orders a stuffed dog and makes a small leather harness to put on the dog representing it as a guide dog and names it the same name as the dog the puppy raiser raised. It is such a special treat when the puppy raisers have a dog be matched and are honored at this meeting. We had four dogs be matched this past year: Hugh (mom's 2nd dog that she raised. He is a Goldador), Duchess (Hugh's sister), Dave (Hugh's brother), and Dexter (Hugh's other brother). That's quite an accomplishment to have all of our littermates from one group be matched.

Pictures are coming up in the next post which is about 5 minutes from now...

Love,
Wayne