Dog Service Project

This weekend we drove to Ipswich, MA to a farm where they raise Great Danes to be service dogs that help people with mobility problems. My coworker Sandy volunteers here each weekend and she invited us to check it out. Berke was a bit terrified of the 165 lbs dogs he was surrounded by. There were at least 25 dogs roaming around, many in the house and they thought they were humans, consuming most of the couch space. They really were sweet and gentle and oh so lovable.

Below is Lindsey, Sandy's dog. She is a retired dog who use to breed dogs for the project.

These two cuties are just a year old and are getting ready to go to work. The one on the right will be going with an 11 year old girl who hasn't been able to walk on her own, but with the help of the dog was able to walk the entire length of a mall; what a sweet miracle!

Lucky for us there was a new litter of puppies that were just 9 days old. They were so cute!

Berke was freaked out by the puppies as well, not sure why. Here is little Oliver, as it looks like he has an olive on his head. Sooo cute! You know how I love me some puppy breath!

Here is the farm donkey, Mary.

Berkeley was not afraid of her at all surprisingly, however Christian was not a big fan. Mary was a very sweet and kind donkey who loves hay, carrots and apples.

The highlight for Berke were not the dogs at all, but the Hen House! He got to go and pick his very own egg out of the hen house, and was so excited about it. The look on his face when he later dropped and broke the egg could have just about broken your heart.

Berkeley helped Sandy fill up the water bucket for the chickens.

(notice the little egg in his hand)

We were all super excited about Chicken Bingo, we bet on number 150, if the chicken poops on your number, you win. Sadly, it takes all of 10 seconds to happen and Berke and I were in the potty when it all went down. Clearly my son is more Gentry than Taft as he loved the chickens way more than the dogs; eat your heart out Grandpa Gentry. He did start to warm up to the dogs and enjoyed petting their soft ears, but it was not the highlight of his trip by any stretch.