Pre-Match Day

I have a very special group that I chat to every day. They are my rock, the people that I can talk to about anything. It's 5 other CCI puppy raisers and myself all in a group chat. We all live in different areas across the United States. We are all bonded by the fact that we all are involved with CCI. 

The past few weeks as Team Training was approaching I was getting more excited AND more nervous. Having gone through the Team Training Rotation Deal just 3 months ago and hearing she didn't make a match, I was nervous that this time would be the same end result. Every day my fabulous friends would listen to my excited/nervous talk.

The night of the 4th I was most nervous. The excited jitters had come and my friends who are all SO supportive were just about excited as I was for the phone call in the morning. I had trouble getting sleep  last night because when your dog is in advanced training for 9 months you miss them SO much and just want to see them really bad!! I finally got some sleep and woke up extra early. 

The minutes seemed to drag on as I sat around trying to keep myself busy until the 10 o'clock hour at which I assumed I would be called. Talking to my friends over chat, they gave me motivation and let me know that it was all going to be ok. To keep me busy my friends came up with a huge photo scavenger hunt they wanted me to do. Right as I was going to start the hunt, my Puppy Program Manager's name showed up on the phone. 

Surprisingly, all my nervousness went away as I answered the phone. I suddenly felt confident my girl had pre-matched. He then proceeded to tell me that Halo had pre-matched. My face lit up with a HUGE smile! I was so excited! Of course a pre-match is preliminary and Halo will keep working with HER person until next week. Things aren't final till graduation, but the final match call will be early next week.

Halo will always be my little girl, my first puppy I raised. I may sometimes refer to her as my girl in conversations in the future, but now Halo is HER persons girl now.How amazing is the process of puppy raising? I raised her up to help someone in need, and over 2 years of training later, she is going to be that. An AMAZING Canine Companion. I have come  up with so many scenarios of what they are doing at Team Training together. How things are working out… and I just can't wait to meet her forever person next week at graduation. ON Valentine's Day! So amazing. I will update again when I hear about her pre-match hopefully turning into a final match.