Nashville

July 20th Novel and I got to attend a puppy raising workshop!

Can I just say that it was Wonderful? I learned SO much, met so many great people and dogs, and Novel and I both had fun through it all. I left refreshed, reinvigorated, and more excited than ever about the CCI cause. Admittedly I awoke the next day completely drained of all energy, but it was definitely worth it.

Yeah. He's just a mess.

 Novel and I carpooled over to Nashville (approx. 6 hour drive) the evening before with our own, friendly, neighborhood fellow puppy raiser and her puppy in program Puck. Novel and Puck had some fabulous times together on this trip, and actually shared toys quite nicely.

 When we finally got to Nashville, we drove around for probably an hour looking for our hotel. The GPS said that we were right. there. but we couldn't see the hotel anywhere. We drove up and down the road over and over again carefully searching both sides of the street for our hotel without success. It didn't help that it was a very business-y, lanscaped, parking-lot-y, confusing, long street, or that none of the signs were above tree level. We finally stopped at a gas station to ask where it was, and the man behind the counter suggested that we drive further down the street:

"The address you're looking for is in the 900's. You are only in the 300's. Drive down to the other end of the street and look there"

Well we took his advice. We drove way down the street without any iota of success. We drove back for another careful look at the spot where the GPS said it was and finally found it. It had gotten darkish by this time, and all the signs were lit up so we could actually see it. Wanna guess where it was? Just behind the gas station where we had asked for directions. We felt enormously stupid, but you can be sure that I was more than a little annoyed with the man behind the counter.

That was by far the worst and only bad part of the trip. Ok, maybe not the only bad part; Novel vomited in his kennel at the end of the day. Just another reminder that he might get released for medical reasons...which would really stink. But the rest was all puppies and roses. Literally. Ok, not the roses part. But we did have good food if that counts for anything.

One of my favorite parts of the trip was Finally getting to meet Hannah, Dante, and Moray in person!! It was kinda crazy...felt sorta like meeting a celebrity, but it also felt like I had known her, if not for years, for months at least :)

Da boyz.
Yes, I promise you, Novel IS in that kennel beside Puck.
He seems to like invisible mode.

See?

The adorable and talented Moray working with our regional PPM

The adorable and talented Dante being polite while Novel scoots his
rude little mug closer and closer and closer for a better smell.

Yeah, Novel that's just a little too close. You were kinda supposed to be in a down.

Now that's much better.

Novel, Puck, and Dante

I love the expression on Puck's face

The entire group of puppies, puppy raisers, graduates, and graduate dogs