Willie is a puppy I raised for Canine Companions for Independence. If you're interested in raising a puppy for CCI, you should read the puppy raising notes .

Of course, I have many puppy pictures of Willie.

Erla Hackett and Willie graduated from Team Training on March 26, 1994. Erla is a science teacher in a middle school in San Francisco, California.


Here we are just before the graduation ceremony started.

Helen Wirfel was also a puppy raiser for CCI; she lives nearby me in Walnut Creek, California. She raised Idgie. Idgie was accepted as a breeder. Helen is now Idgie's breeder caretaker. In February of 1995 Idgie had a litter of nine puppies. With CCI the dam stays home to whelp and raise her puppies. It's a lot of work for the breeder caretaker. Here are some pictures of them; they're about five weeks old here.


Here I am with my 2nd CCI puppy, Uriana (aka Anna Banana). She's 1/4 lab and 3/4 golden retriever. She's got the black lab color, but the coat of a golden. Some people mistake her for a flat-coated retriever.

Anna was released from the CCI program in early May 1995 for fear problems (which is what most golden retrievers are released for). She was placed as a pet with a couple in San Francisco.


Here is my current CCI puppy, Barney. He's all Golden Retriever. He's about 8 weeks old here.


Hey, I'm famous! Well, sort of. CCI has named a puppy after me; here's Rusty. CCI names a lot of their dogs after volunteers and donors. Rusty is my real name; it's what's on my birth certificate. So far my name has always been a more workable name for a dog than what CCI has given the dogs I've raised; Willie's real name was Wilhelm, Anna's was Uriana, and Barney's is Beisser. I didn't even know how to pronounce Barney's real name (until I received this postcard from Fred Beisser).


Rusty Wright
Internet: rusty@groan.berkeley.edu
Telephone: 510-643-9097

And for those of you of a more pedantic nature, you might be interested in the University of California at Berkeley Dog Genome Project , whose aim is to construct a genetic and physical map of the dog genome. Such a map will facilitate localization of genes involved in behaviors and diseases.

(Willie and Gregor were buddies, but Willie never came close to being as good as Gregor at catching the ball.)

I also have some pointers to other service dog organizations here.

And just so you won't think I'm some sort of hayseed, here's some annoying blinking text. (For those of you with an ersatz web browser, the previous will appear in a normal, bland manner, just like you'd expect text to appear.)