Yakira in the birthday bandana

This week marked Yakira’s first birthday. This is a big milestone in a puppies life. Now we switch her over to adult food. So I got out a bunch of small storage containers and measured out all the food for the next week so that she can make a smooth transition without any digestive upset. I like to do it this way instead of trying to keep track of how much of each food she is supposed to eat each day. Plus it makes it easier for Bill, who usually feeds the pups their breakfast. Usually we are also finishing off the last of the puppy food so then once it is all measured out I can tell when to actually start the transition and not end up with a bunch of puppy food to store until we get the next puppy. With Zodiac here I didn’t have to worry about that.

The other side of Yakira’s birthday is that her time with us is coming to a close. She will probably head back to guide dogs in two months. It could be longer depending on the timing of puppy trucks and what the needs of the breeding department is. Last year Casey’s return was delayed a couple of months because the breeding department had too many dogs to evaluate already that they didn’t want her yet. Yakira is a sweet and wonderful dog and she is “very well put together” as the CFR (Community Field Representative) put it when she evaluated her in July. Because of this she sent a note to breeding to keep an eye out for Yakira. That put together with her diverse lineage from outside of GDB, I’m guessing they would really like for her to be a breeder if she passes all the other tests.

So we have entered the final leg of raising Yakira. I’m sure the time for her to get on the truck will be here too soon. At the same time I always look forward to finding out what the future brings for our dear sweet Yakira. Plus in many ways I am looking forward to being a one dog household again.