HRH Berkeley

HRH Berkeley's Six Week Portrait of Her Sitting in the Harness.
HRH Berkeley's Six Week Portrait of Her Sitting in the Harness. 
Her Royal Highness Berkeley, also known as HRH for short, was our second puppy in training and an amazing and sweet puppy to raise.  She also had a few annoying traits as well.

HRH sitting in a flower bed.  She has her coat on and the flowers are a bright purple, very regal.
HRH sitting in a flower bed.  She has her coat on and the flowers are a bright purple, very regal.

You can't tell from this endearing little photo of her sitting in a flower bed, but HRH was very particular where she went to the bathroom.  Only the perfect grass, of a certain height and softness would do.  She very nearly had a heart attack when we took her to the desert for vacation (no grass at all!).

HRH in her harness when she went in for training. She turned into a lovely girl.
HRH in her harness when she went in for training. She turned into a lovely girl.

HRH eventually was dropped from the program because she failed her canine good companion test because of stranger fear.  The test is performed so that the dog is with her handler and a test subject enters the room.  HRH was fine.  Then the test subject leaves and reenters with either a hat or sunglasses or something on that alters the way they look.  HRH didn't like that and reacted either by raising her hackles or barking.  That is called stranger fear and isn't permitted for a guide dog or for public service jobs.

So, HRH is now living the life of luxury as a pet with her adoptive owners who have two other labs.  The last photo we received seemed to show that HRH had kicked one of the older labs out of his bed so that he was sleeping on the floor and she was in the comfortable bed looking very regal.  The other lab looked a little confused about what was going on.  I think she had just managed a coup d'etat.