When picture's say 1,000 words, for the moment.

As you probably know now, our son has his diabetic alert dog! The puppy is probably not even what you expected, but our story is best told in pictures, within 3:12 sec below:

The song is "The Waiting" by Jamie Grace on her album "Ready to Fly." And waiting we have certainly done!

Back in 2012 we joined an organization that decided for us we would wait for a "finished dog". Just over a year turned into more years...We transferred funds and energy to a service dog organization to find a year old pup that had been obedience trained, etc, but one major thing lacked while Sean worked multiple dogs- BOND.

We learned so much between the two places, and do not regret our time or experience with either. I began writing a blog called DADs for Dummies to help newcomers, like myself, better gauge this whole world of diabetic alert dogs...

The industry was too new, and all we had were testimonials, photos, and scare sites on where NOT to go, or subliminal messages like "do your research" to which there wasn't any (at the time). In an attempt to be part of the solution, I networked with as many DAD orgs as able, and found some very positive information out there! I found "the flip side" of organizations and folks around the nation who are doing their very best to make Type 1 management successful and better through the use of DOGS. It's not an easy task. You have families that have cooky moms (ahem, I may know something about that), the fear-factor of this life-threatening disease, added with trying to find solutions, topped with the need for THOUSANDS of dollars.

So people network and ask around for help. Especially on Facebook. And as I've written, we left a few organizations along the way, so for us it wasn't perfect. But we didn't make a huge stink about it. It came up in my writing in nominal ways, but our experience can't be anyone else's, so what good would do being a loud mouth about it? It was a legit mess, and it was not fair (to us) but that does not matter in the big picture. Those orgs remain doing good work for happy families, and that's all that matters.

Yet, Facebook is a tricky place, I've come to realize. We are strangers really, but we feel connected to one another because of this disease and dogs. Do we really look at photos, read testimonials, and that suddenly builds a foundation of trust? It most certainly can and it does.

I've ended the above video with Flint at the vet with Sean. Just after those photos were taken, our pup got a list of diagnosis and treatments. He went on to get an x-ray two days later and is being looked after carefully. He came to us with giardia, and a round of pills for that. His breeder is top notch, and via the "Puppy Lemon Law" the breeder has reimbursed us fees related to his ongoing illnesses. (Flint has tonsillitis and a respiratory illness). As we signed our 4 page contract with the breeder promising Flint would be a service dog, (his blood lines are such), the Press Enterprise of Riverside County was interviewing them on their dogs and such... So illness happens, and guarantees and compensations can be contractually agreed regarding it. I could share it, or I could keep posting all the glory and cuteness of our near-week with this adorable fluff-ball.

I could have shared ALL the ugly of our experience from day one. What happened, who with, what "they did to us"...I vented that to select trusted Facebook friends; one I had met in person because of this "DAD world." What a mistake. The point of this journey is and was to share the positive, to go on forth with what is important and pertinent to share, that COULD make a difference in your journey, too. The moments that make a difference to donors and supporters, those are the moments to share. The struggles? Yea, some of those, too. Because you may be able to help from your own experiences. All we can do is share our photos and testimonials. Sometimes they are the full story, for just that moment only; because they are dogs, afterall!