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Meet Jessie Jessie has been a pup-in-training for Canine Companions for Independence (CCI). His puppy
raising mom, Alice Johnson, who currently lives in North Carolina, just shared his story with us. Jessie
was recently turned in to CCI (August 1999). But, let's start this dude's story at the
beginning. Jessie was born on May 5, 1998. His Golden parents are Twister and Bass (known
as Samantha). And, his breeder/caretakers, until he was eight weeks of age, were Bud &
Neve Souza in Santa Rosa, CA. Alice received Jessie on July 17, 1998. An unusually
large Golden, he weighed 17 pounds at only 8 weeks of age. A laid-back little guy, nothing
seemed to phase him too much. Here you can see one of his funny moments. Jessie had gotten
stuck to a vent from the bathroom, and came out to mom Alice with it hanging
from his neck. You can see by his smiling face that he wasn't too concerned about his new,
although heavy, outfit! And, retrieving a stick would be too easy for this dynamo.
Obviously, the entire tree limb would be so much more like it. A fun-loving guy, Jessie loves to play Frisbee and ball.
An avid TV watcher, he even watched the movies when they went. When riding down the
country roads in the car, Jessie would sit up and look out the window. He just loved it as
Alice pointed out all of the grazing cows and horses. He especially loved watching
aircraft and in Newport News, VA got to see the Blue Thunder flyers, who were practicing
for an airshow. Standing in the backseat of the car, Jessie watched them fly across the
sky. He'd get so excited as they were so much faster than the planes that he would watch
go over their house. These Goldens reign supreme as canine comedians, always
loving to make us laugh. They don't mind looking silly, often dressed up for special
occasions. And, they give us so many laughing-out-loud stories. This is one of Alice's
favorites: "We
were outside and I was watering the garden. We had been playing Frisbee. Jessie had the
Frisbee hanging from his mouth and I asked him - Aren't you going to go 'hurry' while we
are out here? Jessie dropped the Frisbee, took a step forward and, of course, 'hurried' in
the Frisbee. When he then turned to pick it up to play with again, he smelled it and his
face was priceless. It seemed to say, 'like who did this -- I am not picking this
up!'" Jessie has been the light of Alice's life. He has done
numerous presentations with her and provided insight about CCI's work at several fairs,
fundraisers, etc. Jessie got to travel with Alice to her home in Houston, Texas, to
Orlando, Florida, and finally to New York, where he was turned in to CCI. As Alice has
some medical problems myself, Jessie was already getting practice picking things up for
her which she had dropped. He also could do a partial brace to help her.
When Jessie was turned in at the age of 14½ months, he
weighed about 84 pounds. But, Alice says there was not an ounce of fat on him! She is so proud of all of his
hard work, and is hoping that he will make it through the program. Here is part of Alice's winning
entry in the Healing Power of Goldens Contest, in which she
relays the happy ending for Jessie.
"Jessie was an amazing big blonde Golden who stayed by my side and did anything I
asked of him. In August 1999, it came time to turn him in for Advanced Training at CCI-NE
on Long Island, NY. I thought I would die. I had also lost our pet dog, Cinnamon, to
cancer while raising Jessie so I went home to an empty house. I wasn't so sure I could
stand that much heartbreak no matter how much I believed in the program but decided to
give it a try again. But the next time I had to turn in, I would be certain I had another
puppy to ease the pain.
Jessie went on to graduate as a Service Dog in May 2000. I attended his graduation and was
able to meet his new partner. What a feeling to hand over the lead at the graduation
knowing you have given someone an independence they might have never known."
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