Almost Through!

Suki in the van on the way to one of our many walks in town

Tomorrow will be the last day of the course! We have one more walk in the morning, followed by formalities such as a meeting during which we will sign the lease stating that we are taking our dogs on loan from the center. We also have to complete other formalities and forms. After that we will meet the puppy foster families who raised each of our dogs as puppies before they were brought to the center to be trained. In the evening we will have our final party, and the next morning we will leave after breakfast – Ami will drive Moshe and Liron home and Roi will drive me up to Ben Ami. It is strange to think about coming home and parting will be difficult but I imagine we will all meet up again sometime and sit down to coffee together in Tel Aviv with our three dogs and reminisce about the hours of SheshBesh in the lounge, the adventures of walking through the pouring rain in Rishon Letzion, riding on the train to Azrieli, and all the other in-jokes shared by three people who have lived together for three weeks. Each of us will go back to their own private lives, but we will now have a companion to help us that we did not have before.

It will be wonderful to walk through Nahariya with Suki and strange to be without Ami behind me with his constant help and coaching - "Good, follow her!" or "Leash correction!" or "Move inward, overhanging leaves!" Suki and I will now begin the process of learning to work together. I trust her implicitly, remembering the moment this morning when I began crossing a side street and a car suddenly turned into the street without warning and Suki stopped in the middle of the road, preventing me from moving forward until it was safely past. I know I can trust her. Our attachment can only grow stronger. It is now the end of our time in Beit Oved together, but the beginning of a long relationship. I look forward to it!