We've chosen a hotel

The Homewood Suites nearby 4 Paws is offering a variety of "perks" for 4 Paws families to stay with them. They are affordable ($130 per night for a suite or 2 rooms) and they will be donating to 4 Paws for each night one of their families stay. They offer kitchenette's in each room and also offer free dinner Mon-Thur, and breakfast 7 days a week (which I've heard is great, and they aim to please). The meals and kitchenette could really save us some money! They have even dedicated a portion of the hotel for 4 Paws families so that there are no other pets in the same section of the hotel (which I guess can be a problem).

If you would like to help us with our hotel stay, here is the link to the gift certificate page for the hotel. http://homewoodsuites.hilton.com/en/hw/promotions/hw_guestcertificates/index.jhtml?adId=HWGuestCerts,featoffer&cid=OM,HW,Guestcert,Specoffer

THANKS! We'll be setting up our reservations soon.

Added Links

I have been adding links to the sites of other 4 Paws families. Some are fundraising, some are going to training soon, some already have their Service Dog at home. The children suffer from a wide variety of disabilities. The links are toward the bottom of the right hand column, please check them out. There are some amazing stories, and you may want some Kleenex handy if you're a crier.

Update

Sorry its been a while since my last update. School started, Dallon broke his arm, and we've had a stomach bug! So far we've raised $144 for our travel expenses plus the 2 United Airlines tickets.

We only have a little more than 2 months to come up with the rest we need. If you know anyone who would be willing to make even a small donation, please pass along Dallon's information.

Thanks for all the support, and we're getting really excited for our service dog to finally come home with us--and for Christmas too!

Travel Expense Donations

OK, so I've got a bank account set up just for our travel expenses. It is at US Bank and under mine and Dallon's names. It is a donation account (like one for medical expenses) and you can make a donation at any US Bank branch, or by mailing a donation to a branch. If you go into a local branch, get a deposit slip, fill it out with Dallon's name and our address (if you don't have our address email me and I'll get it to you--I don't want to post it on the web). The teller will do the rest.

THANK YOU to Chris' mom and dad for donating 2 US Airways tickets for us to use. We'll book them as soon as we are able to book all of our flights at the same time so we'll be able to better coordinate travel if we have to use more than one airline or airport to save some $$.

Things are looking great! We're getting excited for school to start. The next 3 months are going to fly by! And then before you know it, 2008 will be over and we'll be getting ready for Kindergarten 2009. I still can't believe how close it is.

December Class here we come!

I just received confirmation that we are in the December training class in Ohio. Class runs Tuesday December 2nd to Friday December 12th. With a late Thanksgiving, that means we'll be traveling Sunday or Monday after Thanksgiving. Its a little daunting to think about holiday travel, but I'm sure it will work out.

I just thought I would share the good news!

Travel Expenses

Now that the fundraising for 4 Paws is so close to ending, we need to start raising funds for our travel expenses. We've estimated that we will need approximately $5000 for travel expenses related to training in December (we are assuming we are in the December class because we have not been told otherwise, but have not gotten final confirmation yet.) The funds will cover our flights (our flight to Ohio will most likely fall on Thanksgiving weekend which makes it a little more expensive and more difficult to book), hotel stay, food, training supplies (leads, vests, treats, etc), and rental car for the 13 days and 12 nights we'll be in Ohio.

Just to make it clear:

Donations made for travel expenses do NOT go to 4 Paws, and because we are individuals receiving the donation it is not tax deductible. This phase of fundraising is seperate from our funds for 4 Paws and money sent to 4 Paws in excess of our $13,000 goal cannot be forwarded on to us.

So any money donated for traveling expenses needs another place to go. I will be setting up a savings account for this purpose, and I will post the information here when I have done so. I have also set up a paypal account for travel expenses. Not only can we receive transfers from other paypal accounts, but we can pay for some of our reservations that way also.

The email address for Dallon's paypal account is dallon4paws@yahoo.com .

I will post here about our progress toward our travel expense goal.

Any money that we raise which is not needed for our travel expenses will be donated for 4 Paws.

Our Furry Friend! Meet Bianca

This is Bianca, and she is a black lab born in April '07. She was rescued from an animal shelter in Ohio and did the Rover Rehab Program. Karen at 4 Paws says, "Bianca is a phenomenal dog who was WELL loved at the prison. She is so good in fact that they moved her to beginner handlers so they would have it easy."

Bianca is a special needs placement dog. When an otherwise great dog who has almost completed training has a mild health issue, they are offered to the currently fundraising families as a special needs placement. If you are willing to accept a special needs placement it can dramatically speed up the process of receiving your dog. Everyone who is willing responds, if the available dog is a match with your child, you are partnered and go to the training that corresponds with the dog's training. We will likely be going to training in December for Bianca, but we have not had a final confirmation on our training date yet. This will cut approx 6 months off of our waiting time. And Dallon will be getting his friend for Christmas (and his birthday which is Dec 26th). However this does cut our time to raise travel expenses dramatically.

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Bianca has mild hip dysplasia which means the head of the femoral bone is not fully covered by the hip. Typically mild hip dysplasia does not affect the dog through their life until senior years with arthritis. This is especially true now with the supplements that help increase joint health. Since she has been diagnosed so early, we will have a big head start on the supplements and joint health--making it even less likely that she will be affected, there is only a 12% chance that she will be affected during her working life.

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When I replied about the special needs placements that included Bianca I felt very strongly that this was the route we should take. Getting Dallon's dog accepted into the school system will take some time, and this way we'll have more time before he goes into kindergarten in 2009. I love that she is a rescue dog and that she did the Rover Rehab Program. She is a beautiful lab, and I've heard that she is outgoing. She is perfect for Dallon.

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So we are now starting to plan for our travel expenses. It is going to be more expensive than I originally thought (mostly becaue of airfares). December training class starts on Dec 2nd and goes until Dec 12th. We will need a hotel room for at least 12 nights. The flights may be difficult because we will be flying out just after Thanksgiving. We will also need to rent a car big enough for us and a dog. We also need supplies for Bianca and Dallon--vests for tethering, brushes, leashes, a crate, toys, etc.