DENVER -- April 27, 2008

As usual on Friday night, we went out to dinner with some of the other puppy raisers.

This was a fun night because there were a bunch of CCI dogs (Zili, Tommy, Ren, Alette and me) so the puppy raisers spent a lot of time looking under the table and telling us "NO!" and "DON'T!"

See, we like to play a little game called "Pester the Puppy Raiser." We wait until someone has a mouthful of food and then do something obnoxious like eat something off the floor, steal a napkin, play with another puppy -- you get the idea. First one to get his or her puppy raiser to give up eating and ask for a "go box" wins! Ren won as usual, but she has an advantage because she's the youngest. I should mention that Alette is Stefani's actual CCI graduate dog, so she doesn't play per se, but she does egg us on.

After dinner we walked over to a place called Build-a-Bear Workshop. Marianne pulled out her camera, and I knew something was up. Turns out that Build-a-Bear introduced a new stuffed toy that day, a black Labrador! As you might imagine, Tommy was very pleased. The rest of us hope they introduce a yellow Lab in the near future. AHEM.

Anyhow, the nice young women working at the store said that there was a long line of people waiting to buy the black Lab when the store opened that morning! And the best part is that when you buy any full-sized Bearemy’s Kennel Pals® friend from now to May 31, $1 will be donated to Canine Companions for Independence through the Build-A-Bear Workshop Bear Hugs Foundation. How cool is that?!?

It was Stefani's birthday so her mom chose a black Lab for her. I was a little disturbed when I realized that the toys start out as empty "skins." The puppy raisers kept calling them "carcasses," which I thought was even creepier. They looked so.....lifeless. *shudder*

Anyhow, once they chose the toy, the salesclerk took it over to a huge machine that somehow pumped it full of white stuffing. Marianne wanted to watch, but it was really loud and all the fluff was whirling around so fast I got a bit dizzy and had to sit with my head between my paws for a minute. When I looked up, the clerk was done sewing up the toy, and I felt a bit better.

Then they chose lots of accessories like a cape, leash, toys, and even a food dish!

This place has EVERYTHING, which would be fine if the stuff was just for the toys. However, I became alarmed when I overheard the puppy raisers giggling about dressing us in the hats, tiaras, sneakers, bunny slippers and sunglasses. "RUN!" I tried to shout, "RUN AWAY!" Marianne thought I was barking inappropriately and told me to hush, but the other pups understood and started edging toward the door. Fortunately, it was late and the salesclerks politely indicated it was time to close the store. Whew -- close call.

Anyhow, we love the Build-a-Bear (wonder why they didn't call it Build-a-Dog?) Workshops for supporting CCI and other worthy charities. You can find more information at www.buildabear.com. Tommy says if you get one of the black Labs, you can name it after him.

Chow for now!

Parker

Would you like more information about Canine Companions for Independence, or how to become a puppy raiser? Call 1-800-572-BARK or go to www.cci.org for details.

Questions or comments for Parker? Send them to Call7ForHelp@TheDenverChannel.com.