A Partnership ends

It is very difficult to write this, especially after reading about the amazing class experience I had, and how well Jimmy and I did through class.
On Tuesday, November 1, 2011, Brian Francis and I made the difficult decision to retire Jimmy. We were concerned that the screet crossing issues and excitement would never go away, and that no retraining would really fix them. He thought that it was the safest and best thing to retire Jimmy and let me start the application process for a new dog.
Jimmy has a good home with one of my coworkers, and is happy in his new role as a pet by all accounts. It is so strange being dogless. Every day, I think I hear paws, and miss my dog coming to sleep on his bed, right as I go lie in mine. Every morning, I go to feed him, only to remember he isn't here. It's strange and lonely, but I'm doing the best I can. I've submitted my retrain application, and should get a new dog sometime in the spring.
I just can't believe that something so great went so wrong! I will keep you updated as I get a new dog, though will probably have another blog when I start training again.

A tough post to write

Well, it's been a while again, and I am coming with some difficult news. Remember how I wrote about Jimmy's street crossing issues during my last post? They got better for a while, but were never really cured. The other day he took me right into traffic, and I just didn't feel safe. I spoke to Beth, and we decided to send him back to GDB for a training evaluation. He's slated to sik back to California on November 9, and it remains unclear whether he will return as my guide, or our beloved family pet.
We will just have to wait and see what the trainers decide, but there are concerns about the street crossings as well as his crazy excitement every time he sees someone he knows. GDB have been great through this whole thing, and I have been really impressed with how it's been handled.
It's difficult, and I'm experiencing so many emotions richt now, especially when I read this blog and see how well we did in class. All I can think is what happened? How did we go from that amazing team to this? What went wrong?
I know there are no great answers here, I'll probably never find any, but it's just a tough pill to swallow. I will keep you all updated when I can.
Thanks for reading!

Liv and Jimmy go to Silicon Valley

So I know it's been for ever since the last update, sorry about that.
At the moment, Jimmy and I are in Silicon Valley on a business trip, and things are going well here. I have been here for about two weeks now, and he's doing fine. I swear he remembered the San Francisco airport when I stepped off the plane! He was so happy to be back here, and so am I. I am loving things here in Cupertino, and it will be kind of rough transitioning back into retail, that's for sure. One thing this experience has taught me, is that I certainly want to continue working for this company, and that I want to transfer to corporate as soon as the right job that fits my skill set and other requirements comes along. I thought this might be the case, but it's always nice to have something that you thought you might like to do be confirmed in reality.
These past few months have been good for Jimmy and me. We had to have a follow up visit from GDB in late February when he decided to veer into intersections while crossing streets, but fortunately Beth from graduate services was able to come out and fix most of the issues. She is fabulous! I can't say enough great things about GDB and the follow up. It's great to know that they're around if an emergency like that comes up. While Beth was out, we decided that Jim just didn't fit this dog's personality, so we unofficially changed his name to Jimmy. Jim conjures up images of this serious man, and just doesn't fit this crazy yellow boy, if you ask me! :)
Well, I must sign off, as it's time to go to bed here in Cupertino. I will try and update more often, I promise! Hope everyone's doing well!