[nagdu] Not sure I've introduced Farva

[Nimer Jaber]

Farva = Precious in Persian... and she definitely fits the name.  I 
actually couldn't stand the name when I first got her, mostly because I 
couldn't pronounce the blasted name... but that's slowly gotten better.

A few months ago, I had to make the decision whether or not to retire 
Donald Duck due to a rare disease called Addison's.  My Vet said he 
could work if he was on meds for the rest of his life, and the school 
said they didn't recommend it.  I did my own research on Addison's, and 
most of what I read was that it was a very rare thing for a dog of 
Donald's breed, age and sex to get it.  I did find out though that it is 
set off by stress, and as I couldn't guarantee that Donald would have a 
totally stress-free working life, I decided not to chance that he would 
collapse or have a seizure while out working... I made the difficult 
decision for him to retire.  He is now living with my Vet and his wife 
and five kids.  He loved kids, so this is a great fit for him.

I went back to the Seeing Eye after debating with myself on whether or 
not this was the right choice to make.  Ownership is an important deal 
for me, and I considered other schools, including Guide Dog Foundation.  
They unfortunately do not have an accessible application, so back to the 
Seeing Eye I went.  I got paired up with a Yellow labby that was even 
smaller than my last two... about 40 pounds or so, and about 20" tall.  
She is slightly slower, definitely less pull unless she gets excited, 
and a pretty decent worker on the whole.

Not sure if I've done this introduction, but something another member of 
this list said to me made me think that maybe I had not. I am getting 
over eye removal, and will be going back to get the other done here in a 
few weeks, and am extremely busy at work putting together a database and 
running a summer camp, but if you have questions, feel free to message 
me off-list and I will respond when time permits.

Cheers.

Nimer and a sleepy Farva