CAYDEE August 4, 2003 â€" February 11, 2013 A Celebration of her Life CAYDEE was our first Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and our inspiration for wanting to own and breed this very special breed of dog. It was her abundance of love to share and her caring attentive nature that made us fall in love with her. We brought Caydee into our home and life in October 2003, then a 9 week old puppy so full of life and ever so special. As time passed and Caydee grew she also showed us her ability to provide a calming and comforting affect to so many she came in contact with. I eventually realized that Caydee and I were destined to become involved in pet therapy work, so we started basic obedience classes when she was only 8 months old and completed our training in July of 2004, at the age of 11 months. We continued to train on our own until June of 2005 when we enrolled in a training class to prepare her for taking her AKC Canine Good Citizens test. On August 11, 2005 Caydee†s first litter of 6 beautiful ruby puppies arrived. She was a wonderful attentive mom and loved to roll on her back on the floor holding one of puppies in her paws as she played with them. Out of this litter, two of her puppies, Annie and Levi, were destined to become companion service dogs for their owners. Abby, Tara, Lizzy and Bernie found wonderful forever homes with their families. In October of 2005, only six weeks after the birth of her puppies, Caydee earned her AKC CGC certificate. I was so proud of her â€Ã��â€Ã�� and we were on our way to becoming a pet therapy team. She and I continued with our training and on May 27, 2006 Caydee and I took our evaluation with The Delta Society and passed. YEAH!!!!! We were officially now a registered pet therapy team and ready to start our pet therapy work. All our persistence and hard work was rewarded. Only one week later on June 3rd in the wee hours of the June 4th Caydee delivered her second and last litter of 4 gorgeous ruby puppies. Bailey, went on to become a service dog for his owner in Ranch Cucamonga, Gus, who is so lucky to live with Annie (from 1st litter) here in Lake Arrowhead, Stuart Little who lives in Oregon, and Sophie who lives in Riverside, all with their fabulous forever families. On July 12th, Caydee†s first pet therapy event was the Procedural PAWS event at St Bernadine†s Hospital in San Bernardino only 5 weeks after giving birth to her second litter. She wasn†t to sure about being away from her puppies for too long that day!!! Caydee and I started visiting patients at Mountain Community Hospital in Lake Arrowhead on a monthly basis. She enjoyed laying in the patients beds or sitting on their laps while they visited with her. She brought so much joy to them which was so apparent by the big smiles and hugs that they so willingly gave to her. In the summer of 2007, a new adventure came along for Caydee. I decided to register with Reading Educational Assistance Dogs in Utah, and we started going to the after school reading program at VOE elementary school in Crestline. She loved sitting with the students while they read to her and really look forward to our weekly trips to the school. In June 2008 at the close of the 2007- 2008 school year, I retired Caydee from the Delta Society and her pet therapy job. At that time she decided to let Rudy and Zack take over for her while she had the chance to stay home and help Miss Ellie with her 2nd and 3rd litters of puppies. In June 2007 something very exciting came along. Caydee and her 2nd litter of puppies were chosen to be acknowledged and pictured in the †original†dog whisperer†s new book, The Puppy Whisperer. Paul Owens, the author, is good friends with our very first obedience trainer, Christine Lee. Christine asked us if we would be interested and of course we said yes, and she sent him many pictures for his consideration. What an incredible honor bestowed on Caydee and her puppies. Thank you Paul and Christine. Caydee loved riding in the car and she also loved playing in the freshly fallen snow from the night before. She especially loved all of our 5 grandchildren. She was so excited when they would come to visit and loved just sitting with them on the couch or in the recliner while they watched TV, stroking her soft silky fur and giving her big hugs from time to time. Caydee†s love for food helped Thom to teach her to say †I Love You†over and over again in hopes that she along with the rest of her cavalier family, would be given a treat. If her big round brown eyes did not do the trick, then she would automatically say †I Love You†and that brought out the treat bag. We miss our Caydee girl terribly and even though we will never know exactly what took her from us, she is now free of pain and suffering, running and playing just outside of heaven at The Rainbow Bridge. RIP our sweet Caydee â€Ã��â€Ã�� until we meet again. Thom and Peggy Rudy, Miss Ellie and Zack