In 2016, my parents decided that they wanted to get a dog. My father loves dogs, and my mother already had her cat, horse and some pet chickens, so it seemed fair for my father to get a pet too. My mother talked to her vet about what type of dog would be the best for a family - I was still 10 at the time, my brother was only 7 so it had to be a dog that was suitable to be around children. The vet suggested a labrador, so my mother decided to call The Blind Foundation. She didn't want a puppy, and The Blind Foundation often rehomes dogs that don't meet the requirements of seeing eye dogs. We were put on a waiting list. While we were on the waitlist, my mother had a conversation with one of her friends, who turned out to be a dog handler for Ministry of primary industries, and whose partner was a dog handler for NZ Customs. As luck would have it, the partner had recieved an email that morning about a two year old labrador who was being retired from cash and drug work. This was because the dog had some anxiety issues when it came to flying in planes, which made him unsuitable for the job. My mother had a converstation with the people who owned Kane at that time, and soon we were offered Kane on a two week trial to see how he would fit in with the family. However, my parents didn't tell my brother and I that we were trialing him, they pretended that we were looking after him for a friend who was on holiday. At the end of the two weeks, we were so attached to him that we were making plans to hide him so that his "owner" couldn't come back to take him. Given the trial went well, we adopted Kane officially, and he has been with us since that day.
