February | 2011 | telling family tales

I got a call today from GDB breeding department with some unexpected news. The will not be using Banta as a breeder so she will be spayed and put into training to be a guide dog. Wow! I wasn’t expecting that. I had called earlier in the day to find out what was happening with her because we had expected to hear from them, after last weeks news that she was cleared to be a breeder, and left a message. It seems that this week she decided to react badly to having blood drawn and to wearing the sensitivity harness that they use on the harder to handle breeders. I can just imagine her deciding that she doesn’t like something and turning it into a battle. So I’ve come to the conclusion that Banta had everything they wanted for her be a good mother but she didn’t have what they need in a breeder in actually being happy in going through the whole process of being a breeder.

Banta

So what is next? She will be spayed in the near future and hopefully show up on the phase reports in the next couple of weeks. With her strong will we expect her to either fly through training and totally enjoy being a guide dog or Banta will be difficult to handle and hate training and be career changed before she gets to phase 8. So now we switch to watching for the phase reports each week. Go Banta!

When I got up this morning and check my computer the last email to come in said “Fw: 48W2 – Banta” in the subject line. I got so excited, finally some news on Banta! Here is what the email said:

DOG: 48W2 – Banta F\LAB\Yellow – BRD\BRD DOB:7/26/2009

LOCATION: SR

DISPOSITION: Breeder – No Keeper

NEW CURRENT STATUS: BRD

NOTES: Breeding clearances in – status change to BRD

For those not familiar with all the Guide Dogs for the Blind terminology I’ll translate it.

DOG: 48W2 – Banta F\LAB\Yellow – BRD\BRD DOB:7/26/2009

48W2 is Banta’s tatoo # and/or unique identification #

F stands for female

LAB for Labrador Retriever

Yellow is her color

BRD/BRD is Breeder/Breeder (not sure what all that mean) my guess is that the second BRD would change to retired or something when she is no longer a breeder

DOB: is date of birth

LOCATION: SR = San Rafael, California

DISPOSITION: Breeder – No Keeper

This means she is a breeder but does not yet have a home within 50 miles of San Rafael where she will live while she is a breeder other then when she comes back to campus for actual breeding and to have her puppies.

NEW CURRENT STATUS: BRD

This means she has just been changed to officially be a breeder.

NOTES: Breeding clearances in – status change to BRD

This means that whatever they were waiting for to confirm Banta as a breeder is all taken care of.

Banta

We should be hearing from the actual breeding department in the near future. Can’t wait to talk to someone who has actually been around Banta is the last 14 weeks since we put her on the truck. Also can’t wait to go to San Rafael for graduation and see Banta and meet her new family, whoever they will be.

Our Community Field Rep was in town tonight so we turned in our application for our “D” puppy. In a perfect world they will name Banta’s first litter with “D” names and we can raise a grandpuppy next.