About Karma

The summer of 2013 brought tremendous challenges and changes, including Maya's unexpected death.

A silver lining appeared in August 2013 when, thanks to the support and assistance of Canine Companions for Independence, I was matched with Successor Hearing Dog, Karma. Born on April 29th, 2011 as "Kesha" to Canine Companions Breeder Dogs Yvette III and Kauffman, Karma was a petite, bright-eyed little yellow Labrador Retriever who resembled her great-great-aunt Maya down to her pink nose. She was spirited, smart, and sweet. Her littermates included, in birth order: Kos, [Kesha], Kipper, Kirkland, Kennedy, Kai, and Kenton.

Regrettably, our match was short-lived as Karma began to display some behaviors that are considered inappropriate for an assistance dog, such as barking in public (in the absence of a command to do so). The Canine Companions for Independence instructors were instrumental in helping me determine if there were effective ways to address these behaviors so that Karma and I could continue working as a team. Ultimately it was decided that it would be best to retire her, so that she could enjoy life without contending with some of the higher-stress situations that most assistance dogs readily adapt to. Karma is living with a wonderful forever family, and I am thankful to have developed a friendship with her terrific Puppy Raisers - they are such special people!

What are my next steps? The Canine Companions instructors have identified a dog that they feel would be a potentially good match, and invited me to attend the January 2014 Hearing Dog Team Training class at their Northwest campus in Santa Rosa, California from January 6-17th, 2014 to meet and begin working with my new canine partner. I truly cannot think of a more promising start to 2014!