Tom or James?

Lots of people have commented on Sawyer's name, often making the joke, "Is his first name Tom?" Actually, the inspiration for the name Sawyer came not from Mark Twain's trouble-making young star, Tom, but from the TV show LOST's bad-boy heartthrob, James 'Sawyer' Ford, (although my dad, not a fan of LOST's Sawyer, insists that this is not the case). The name was originally my mom's idea over a year ago, when we first started looking into Helping Paws. The name clicked with me instantly since Sawyer has always been my favorite character on the show, and I had been waiting to get my Sawyer ever since. However, my mom recently commented that our puppy, whoever he's named after, has some remarkable similarities to Tom Sawyer. For instance, we can tell already that he'll be a big, blond boy, and he certainly loves adventure. So what do you think? Do we have a Tom or a James?

A New Home

It's been a bit of a tough transition for Sawyer from living with his mother and all 9 of his brothers and sisters to being the only dog in the house. The past two nights have included a lot of crying, (or so my parents tell me, I've slept fairly well) and Sawyer's definitely not interested in being left alone at all. However, it's also been a lot of fun having him here. He's already responding to the clicker, and he's made lots of new friends with the many visitors we've had so far.

As yesterday was the first full day we've had Sawyer living here, it was a difficult transition for us as well. We all anticipated that he would require lots of attention, but I'm not sure any of us were quite prepared for Sawyer's frequent bursts of energy followed by lots of short naps. My mom commented that he's a lot like a baby: when he's awake he's full of energy and curious about everything around him, but he wears himself out easily and crashes.

We all know that having Sawyer here will be a lot of work, but there's definitely so much joy that will come with it, and that makes it all worth it.

I know you all want pictures, so here are a few from Friday night at Helping Paws:

Two of the puppies playing














Me, Dad and Sawyer














The whole crew: Cheers and all her staff, the puppies and their new foster homes














Exploring the great outdoors














Ready for a nap

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to Sawyer's puppy blog! For those of you who don't know, I should explain a bit about who Sawyer is: Sawyer is a Helping Paws puppy in training and hopes to someday become a service dog aiding someone with physical disabilities (other than blindness or deafness). For the first eight weeks of his life, Sawyer was living with his littermates and his mother, Cheers, and was known by Cheers' "staff" as Woody (or Forrest Gump). But as of last night Sawyer has become an official member of the Helping Paws program and will be living here for the next two and half years until he completes his service dog training.