A couple of weeks after we added Zodiac (puppy in training #6), Yakira went into season. Yakira was such a great mentor to Zodiac and I think that part of that was because the hormones made it instinctual for her to adopt Zodiac as her own puppy.

Zodiac learned so many things so quickly because of Yakira’s care. When Zodiac learned to do open stairs for the first time, Yakira was right there, helping him navigate the stairs safely by protectively curling her body around his as the descended the stairs. She did that kind of thing over and over.

Yakira came to us young. She got on the puppy truck the day she turned 8 weeks old. That is the youngest that GDB sends out puppies. But she was ready to take on life even though she was so small. Yakira learned to do the stairs very fast. Even going down, the hardest direction for a young puppy. She kept that trend going by returning to GDB young and graduating as a guide dog young.

Yakira has the perfect working partner for her. Diane and Yakira are a good team. They are both outgoing and friendly. They are both gentle in their interactions with others but there is a strength about them that will help them overcome any obstacles that life has thrown at them or will put in their path in the future. I am convinced Yakira will be well-loved and cared for by Diane for the rest of her life.

Yakira has what puppy raisers call “frog legs”. She is the first of our puppies to have the kind of hips that can do the splits out to the side or go straight back when she is laying on her stomach. She also does a pretty good “down dog” and “up dog” just like in the yoga poses so named.

Yakira loves to have fun. She will run around like a wild girl plus she can also hold her own when it comes to romping with the bigger dogs, which is most other labs since she just isn’t very big.

But a game she was always very fond of was tug. When you pulled out a tug toy or a rope or ring she was ready to go. Yakira isn’t super strong or super good at tug but she was always happy to have some fun and interact with the person playing with her.
Playing tug always got her vocals going too. She has the cutest little play growl around.

When I set Yakira down after she got off the puppy truck the first thing she did was go after my pant legs and try to bite them. She would also turn and try to bite your hand if she didn’t want to go into the kennel. Thank goodness she got over that in about a month.

As Yakira matured she became very moldable and tolerant of what you wanted to do with her. It was lots of fun to see if we could get her to cooperate with putting dog toys and different parts of her head. She was so patient with us. Yakira is such a good girl.

Yakira had lots of mates while she was growing up but two stand out from the rest. Clifford and Zodiac.

Yakira and Zodiac became great friends once he grew up a bit. It was neat to see how well they got along and how they were often snuggled up together on the same dog bed.

They shared so much that Zodiac mourned when Yakira left for training.
Clifford is my sister’s dog. He was career changed from being a guide dog because of cataracts but he is the perfect dog for their family. When Clifford came over, Zodiac would be forgotten and the two of them would romp together. Clifford still perks up when he hears Yakira’s name.

It is traditional that when I knew puppy is coming we find out the first letter of their name along with their breed, color and gender. Yakira was supposed to be a YLF (yellow lab female) with a “Y” name. So I was a bit surprised when she came off the truck as black. We didn’t really care what color she was but it was funny.