My name is Sandi and I'm a female golden retriever. I was born September 3rd 2005. I was adopted by Myra (my human) in July of 2006 from the Maricopa County Animal Care and Control. Yes that means I was pound puppy.

My human had no idea what she was getting herself in to when she took me in. I was a hyper active, slightly spastic puppy with separation anxiety issues. As she also learned I had a tendency to chew on everything I could reach. I was eventually banned from the living room after tearing the sofa cousins up not once but three times. I also peed on the living room carpet a few times due to my anxiety at being left home alone. I was not kennel trained and feared being locked up. So much so that my human feared I would injure myself.

It took time and a remarkable amount of patience (7 months) on my humans' part but she finally taught me not to fear the kennel or pee (4 months) when she left me home alone. We took the PetSmart obedience classes together; all of them plus the Click-A-Trick class. In fact she had me enrolled in those classes within 4 days of adopting me.

There were times when my human feared I would never become a well behaved dog, let alone a service dog. She came very close to rehoming me on several occasions but lucky for me she stuck with me and continued to work with me and learn from the dog trainers she was becoming friends with. When she dives in to something she jumps in with both feet and bought books on dog training and dog behavior. She watched videos on dog body language and eventually learned to speak my language. She had to; obviously I wasn't going to learn her language.

My human and I have become very good friends and work well together even though I am very strong willed and a very dominant dog. We still clash from time to time but she tends to win.

I have a very comfortable life now, I know my job and she respects my need for doggie time. After all I am still a dog and I will sometimes stop to lick myself in public. She arranges play dates for me and from time to time my favorite boy toy "Raine" will stay with us for a few days. He is her friends' dog who was also my trainer at PetSmart. Raine, like myself, is a service dog and because of this she'll put both our vests on and take us everywhere she goes.

I like to think that because of me she has met many wonderful people, and it's true. I have many doggie friends, most of which are also service dogs or service dogs in training. We venture out most every Saturday in the spring to all the various dog friendly events that happen around the valley.

My favorite things: Tennis balls, compressed rawhide bones, my rope toy, my humans' dinner *evil grin*, plushy squeaky toys, rolling in the dirt, stomping in the mud and tracking it in the house, my dog friends, my humans friends, food, ice cubes, long walks, working with my human.

My least favorite things: Being out in the rain, pools, lettuce (it isn't food), any toy I can't tear apart within a few days.

My Education:

PetSmart Beginner Obedience	07/26/06 – 09/13/06
PetSmart Intermediate Obedience	09/30/06 - 11/18/06
PetSmart Advanced Obedience	12/11/06 - 01/15/07
PetSmart Click-A-Trick	01/21/07- 02/25/07
Canine Good Citizen Test	01/12/07
Public Access Test	02/04/07
Service Dog Training	11/14/06 – Never Ends

My Job Skills: Fetch items, remove socks and help with slacks, open and close doors, turning lights on and off, pushing buttons (elevator & power doors), give credit card to cashier and then return it to my human, bracing my human, helping my human up from a chair, put laundry in the laundry basket, retrieving my dropped leash, open and close drawers, guarding the house, plus many other small handy skills that are modified versions of the skills listed above. Plus I do all the skills any dog would need to do in order to pass the Public Access Test. Actually I think the Public Access Test my human designed for me is more difficult that others. She can be a real slave driver.