Meeting Miss Gretel

As SSD Winston aged, I knew his working days were near an end. I began to accept that soon, I would have a new partner by my side in public. The search for a successor SSD was off to a rocky start.
The beautiful and noble SSD Lucinda was my first match, back in late May of 2007. She was a wonderful and hard working girl, but had severe alarm barking (and lunging at times). When the decision to discharge her was made, I was offered my 2nd in the running, match, SSD Steele.
We trained together for about two months. He was an intense and again, hard working dog. During this period of time though, SSD purchased a discharged dog from Guiding Eyes For The Blind. Upon meeting her, the training staff now recalls thinking that she was "perfect" for me. I had not met her because I had been battling pneumonia and was hospitalized for a significant amount of time. Before returning back to work full time, my faithful and loyal boy, Winston passed away. It was an unbearable time in my life, and I wasn't sure i'd ever love another dog as wholly as I did him.
Upon my return after the hospitalization, I was confronted with a choice from the training staff. Before I had a chance to listen to their proposition, a gorgeous, lively, yellow girl bounced across the training room and tossed a tennis ball directly into my lap. As it landed, she focused her eyes on me, and cocked her head to the side. For the first time in weeks, I felt something that was honest and beautiful. As I played with her, she was introduced as GEB Gretel. As the trainer spoke, she explained that they decided that Steele was probably not likely to be a good forever match with me, and that she wanted me to meet Gretel. She immidately offered for me to leave that day with her, to see how we meshed.
I went into work, thinking about the interaction with little Gretel. I thought about how she looked at me, and seemed to talk to me in her own way. I knew at once, that she was trying to say something important.