Journeys

It's always amazing to me how resilient a dog is. The eighth week of a CCI puppy's life is a good example. The pup is separated from its litter and mother for the first time in its life. It is transported to a kennel environment at CCI NW in Santa Rosa where it is vaccinated, tattooed, examined and handled by a variety of strangers. After a day or two, it takes a couple hour car ride to the San Francisco airport, is loaded into an airplane cargo hold and is shipped to some other part of the US where it is again picked up by another stranger, taken to a different kennel, bathed and handled by more people. Hopefully, within a few hours, the puppy will meet its puppy raiser and be taken to a home where it will live for the next 14-16 months before being sent back to the kennel. And that's just the beginning.

During its first year, the pup will be asked to learn English and how to behave and react to and around all of the different noises, sights, textures and critters that abound in its new world. And a puppy will do all of this with a wagging tail and a joy of life that continues to make us love them all the more. If only people could deal with change and the unknown as bravely and temperately as a dog!

Because I also volunteer with CCI to pick up puppies at the airport and bring them back to the facility, I was allowed to go get Sergi myself when he flew in from Santa Rosa. I loaded Pryde, half-brother to Sergi and my soon-to-be-turned-in CCI pup, into the car and off we went to meet our new addition. I could hear Sergi right away, yip, yip, yipping in his crate as they brought him out of the holding area. My friend, Celeste Kennedy, who is also a CCI volunteer, met me at the airport to help and take pictures of Sergi's arrival. We took him out of his crate for a short while, cleaned it and him up, and soon we were on our way to CCI SW in Oceanside to get him checked in, bathed and fed.

Sergi wanted to be sure I knew he was around, so he continually barked in his crate during the entire drive from San Diego to Oceanside (uh-oh). We stopped briefly in Del Mar to take a few photos with Sergi's half-brother, Hefner. Hefner, Pryde and Sergi are from the same mom, Toddy, but all have different dads. I couldn't resist getting a few pictures of puppies from her first, third and fifth litters while I still had Pryde with me. Sergi was less than cooperative during the photo shoot as he had absolutely no concept of holding still. But we got one or two that were acceptable and we soon were back in the car, on the way to SW where Sergi was about to meet his namesake.

Ken Sergi, one of those people who always greets you as if you were the one person he'd been waiting all day to see, has been working and volunteering with CCI for years. In October, Breeder Caretaker Pam Flanagan emailed me about Toddy's latest litter and asked me if I had any suggestions for names. The puppies would all receive names beginning with the letter "S". It only took me a couple of seconds to come up with the name "Sergi" as a possibility, it seemed a fitting honor for one who has done so much for so long. Pam wrote me a week or so later to say that the name had been accepted by CCI, and they were working on getting that pup assigned to me. I was delighted at the news, particularly thinking I would have some GREAT pictures to look forward from the original Sergi!

When the two Sergis met, it was a joy to behold. Puppy Sergi, still covered in gobs of green ink from his ear tattoo, loved being cuddled and held by Daddy Sergi. It was as if there were already a bond between them. And then, of course, came the pictures. And more pictures. And more.

The following Saturday, as I was preparing to turn in Pryde, Puppy Sergi was at center stage in front of the camera lens of Daddy Sergi. Puppy Sergi even had his own camera attached to him, just in case he wants to follow in Ken's footsteps. Let's see...will that be a new CCI command? Sit, Pose, Smile, Shoot!

Many of Puppy Sergi's photos can be seen online at Daddy Sergi's Shutterfly link: http://www.shutterfly.com/pro/KenSergi/puppysergi

Let's hope their server will be able to handle the uploads during the next 14 months!