Farewell

Well, the original six pups, Nura and Natura, Melville and Neutron, Miranda and Maureen have all moved on to their new lives from Washington State to Texas.  They are all terrific creatures, each and every one.  But as we all know, only a few of all the pups that start out as future guide puppies fulfill that promise.  We're happy that one of our original pups is serving a blind person for Guide Dogs for the Blind and that a second round of great dogs are with us in North Texas.

So eventhough our first dogs are off on their own new venture and this blog has been retired, please feel free to read back through the exciting first year and a half of the great pups of the Lone Star Puppy Raisers. 

All the Best!!

Temple Grandin - What Brilliance!!

"Of course animals have emotions!  There are thousands of pages of studies that have been written about it!"

That was just one of the many pearls of wisdom from one of TIME Magizine's 2010 Most Influential People during her forty-minute talk to a crowd of over 600 attendees at SMU's McFarlin Auditorium last night.

Whether about horses, ferrets, cows, pigs, future guide dogs or autism, Dr. Temple Grandin delivered a fact-filled presentation that left numerous question-answer participants clammoring for more.

Dr. Grandin has a fully-packed schedule of speaking engagements during her four-day tour of North Texas, from Sulphur Springs to Fort Worth.  We're just thrilled that she made the time to wow our crowd on behalf of Lone Star Puppy Raisers Thursday night.



Puppy Grandin meets the good Dr.
Photo Courtesy of FR8Dog Photography

 The event ended with a touhching video compilation of photos of a puppy named in honor of the good doctor followed by a presentation to her on stage of puppy "Grandin."

What Brilliance!

GEICO Gecko Partners with Lone Star Puppy Raisers

He's a cute little fella, that GEICO Gecko.  Smart too!--we're still trying to figure out where he carries his wallet and smart phone.  Only 11 years old, he's become one of America's most beloved Ad Men.

That's why Lone Star Puppy Raisers is very happy to announce that the Regional GEICO office in Dallas is supporting our "Evening With Temple Grandin - Animals Make Us Human" by sponsoring at the "Independence" level.  Indeed, all the proceeds from this event will go toward providing independence to blind Guide Dog recipients.

It will be a terrific evening getting to hear Dr. Grandin's wonderful stories of animal human-ness and human humane-ness, so please come out and join us.  And if you'd like to support Lone Star Puppy Raisers, please consider joining up with the GEICO Gecko and becoming a sponsor for the evening's event.

Our sincere thanks to Michael Shaw and the entire team at GEICO, Dallas for their sponsorship of "An Evening with Temple Grandin - Animals Make Us Human."



About GEICO and the Dallas Regional Office:  Earlier this year, the Dallas GEICO office hired 100 new employees into a team of over 1,350.  September 9th this year, GEICO celebrated its 75th anniversary.  GEICO handles auto insurance coverage for 10 million private passenger auto policies and insures more than 16 million vehicles.

GEICO:  "Ensuring a Better Community for the Communities We Insure."  http://www.geico.com/

"Day Break" WFAA Channel 8

Day Break Hosts Cynthia Izaguirre and Ron Corning  with 'Iza' and 'Ron' 

"Day Break" hosts Ron Corning and Cynthia Izaguirre got big surprises from Lone Star Puppy Raisers on this morning's show.  They came at the end of the show and after an earlier spot about LSPR and Temple Grandin's visit next month to speak on our behalf.

Group leader Dave Adams was surrounded in the studio by a cadre of raisers that make up LSPR along with puppy 'Fred', poster boy for National Guide Dog Month.

The surprise came out on the mall when pups were presented to Ron and Cynthia.  Ron actually knew about it all along, but Cynthia's pup 'IZA' (pronounced 'eeezah') was the surprise that was up Ron's sleeve.

"Oh, she looks just like me!" Cynthia beamed.  Ron joked, "yeah, I think she peed on my leg earlier!"  That Ron has a great sense of puppy raisin' humor!!

                                Donna, David and Ron Corning with Puppy 'Ron'      Lindsey and Cynthia with Puppy 'Iza'     

Puppies Ron and Iza are being raised by Donna and David Wright and Lindsey Amos, respectively.

Little Ron and Iza are the newest pups to join our group and we all couldn't be happier about it.

Thanks WFAA Channel 8!  You'll see us out on the mall when the pups get just a bit older...

National Guide Dog Month

National Guide Dog Month Poster Boy
Lone Star Puppy Raisers
FRED

Could they have picked a better poster boy?  Pretty smart, those Natural Balance folks.

They've teamed up with PETCO and independent Pet Stores to Celebrate National Guide Dog Month and raise money and awareness for guide dog organizations across the country.  Throughout September, shoppers at PETCO can also "round up" their purchases at the register to donate the difference to the cause.

If you would like to help celebrate National Guide Dog Month, you can make a direct donation to Guide Dogs for the Blind by clicking here:  https://secure2.convio.net/gd/site/Donation2?idb=1835610813&df_id=1680&1680.donation=form1&JServSessionIdr004=kipl0ebmu3.app202b 

Be sure to support Fred and specify TX Lone Star Puppy Raisers, #10-06.

Enjoy National Guide Dog Month and look for Fred on the special bags of Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance dog food.

The Last Goodbye...

“So many hands did guide me, and love me along my way.

And they bowed their heads... in tears, and slowly walked away.
For they understood their purpose, and the gift they had to give.
And they loved enough to let me go
So that someone could freely live.

I'm standing here before you, no longer just a dog,
I understand my purpose, and the gift I have to give,
And I'll gladly take the challenge,
So that someone may freely live.”

Melville

Melville, I will miss the way you somersault in between people’s legs, how you make loud noises when you yawn, that your favorite place to play is in the bathtub, your free-spirited personality, and most of all - the way you love unconditionally.

You were the first of the original six Lone Star puppies to arrive and the last to leave. Sunday I am going to say goodbye and not farewell because down the road, I hope we see each other again. Goodbye my little sidekick, now go make me proud!  Lindsey

Maureen, Nura, Miranda, Natura all returned to San Rafael this week.  Melville returns this coming Sunday.  All special pups in their own way...we know they'll make us Texas Proud.
-Lindsey Amos




Oh What a Year!!

Miranda, Nura, Melville, Natura, Maureen
Off to College

It's been the most wonderful 13 months with our precious little future guides...to say the least.  This past Sunday, we celebrated our last meeting before we deliver our pups back to GDB for 'college' in a few short days. 

"Kindness is a language that the deaf can hear and the blind can see."   Mark Twain

What an emotional meeting it was!  Dave and Beth got our tear ducts going with this quote and expressions of appreciation and pride for what we've accomplished and for the support from our North Texas community.  GDB grads Chris Bowman (Ashby), Holly McKnight (Pollyann) and Laurel Wheeler (Stockard) then opened the floodgates, each with their tear-jerking stories about what having a guide means to them.  They turned half a box of tissues into mush for the nearly thirty attendees.  Kent Ladymon introduced a touching video tribute to our club with a beautiful remembrance of the year, produced by his wife Susan and daughter, Leigh-Anne.  'Nope, not a dry eye in the place.


Spellbound by the Year in Review Video


Beth and Dave presented a beautiful Certificate of  Appreciation and GDB Proud Puppy Raiser lapel pin to each puppy raiser.  Before the meeting ended, everyone at the meeting signed Texas Bandanas with well-wishes for each of the pups.

Texas Bandanas with Well-Wishes for the Pups

About the Year
We partnered with organizations like Lighthouse for the Blind, the Hope Center 4 Autism and The American Foundation for the Blind. We hosted Acting Guide Dogs President and CEO, Morgan Watkins who fired up the crowd at one of our fundraisers in Dallas.  We greeted thousands of troops at DFW and met Army Chief of Staff, General George William Casey.  The General liked the pups so much, he had the photo of him with the pups posted on the official U.S. Army website.  We visited retirement communities, talked to Brownie Troops and Boy Scouts, visited elementary schools, Lion's Clubs and even took the tour at Cowboy's Stadium--yes the pups got to play on the field. We went to Austin and visited the Texas School for the Blind and the Criss Cole Rehabilitation Center for the Blind, and even dropped in at the State Capitol to visit one of our State Representatives.  The pups visited the Austin Museum of Art and were entertained at a performance of The Nutcracker at the Eisemann Center in Richardson.  We raised funds for Guide Dogs for the Blind like we never knew we could.



At Criss Cole in Austin



General Casey












We accomplished all this and more, in addition to teaching the pups everything they needed to know and socializing them in preparation for their next phase of training.  We were rewarded with GDB's appointment of Sandi Alsworth to be our Community Service Representative for Lone Star Puppy Raisers--that put us in the 'big time.'

Here's more exciting news: Our little puppy poster boy "Fred" (being raised by eleven year-old, Hannah Nederhoff) was selected to be the cover shot of GDB's 2012 calendar.  Dick Van Patten's Natural Balance dog food loved Fred so much, he'll be on their dog food bags throughout September, during National Guide Dog Month.

As if that weren't enough, on October 6th at 8PM, Temple Grandin, PhD will be speaking on our behalf at SMU's McFarlin Auditorium about the incredible human-animal bond and her ground-breaking work across numerous fields. You've likely seen the Golden Globe, seven category award-winning movie, Temple Grandin.

The foregoing is all great, but the real story here is about 25.2 million blind people living in the United States (over 600,000 in Texas, the second largest blind population in the U.S., and more in Canada) that have the possibility of receiving one of these life-changing partners.

We’ve had a chance to meet some Texas GDB grad teams. Texans and their Guides like American Foundation for the Blind volunteer, Holly McKnight of Arlington and her Guide Pollyann, ALCON analyst, Chris Bowman and his Guide Ashby (watch this video: http://www.wfaa.com/news/health/Transplant-pioneers-reunite--128112338.html), high school student John Vickers and his Guide, Marcella, UTA student Laurel Wheeler and her Guide Stockard (Stockard understands commands in French) and Austin resident and interim President and CEO of Guide Dogs for the Blind, Morgan Watkins and his Guide, Will (Will understands commands in Texan)--all incredibly gifted people. THEY and the other 2,200+ guide dog teams in the U.S. and Canada and all that have gone before them and will come after them truly give us the passion for puppy raising.

Looking ahead, we see new puppies, new puppy raisers, new friends and supporters and all the new opportunities for our continued success.  It's been a great year.  We can't wait for the next one!