Phase Report

Wow, I have been really bad at posting the phase reports! Part of this has been because we had only one dog in training.  But now, 3 more dogs have gone back and I thought I should probably start doing it again!

Weston Graduated a few weeks ago!

Harlene is in phase 8, just waiting for a match!

Bev is in phase 0

Brayden is in phase 0

Ruby is in Breeder Evaluations!

If you have any puppies you would like me to post on here as well, you are welcome to comment with the name(s)!

Wordless Wednesday: Sleepy Dogs



Sleepy Carrie

 

Frankie sleeping in class



Sleepy Hanalei

"Why are you taking pictures of me?"

San Francisco!

Yesterday was a really big day for Carrie!

My friend, Emily (You can see her blog HERE), invited us to her group's annual San Francisco trip!

Emily's puppy, Keith

So we got up early and drove down to the Pleasanton BART station with a fellow group member and her puppy Bev:

Bev on the SF trip

This was actually Bev's last outing as she is going back to Guide Dogs for her Formal Training today! Good luck Bev!

When we got to pleasanton we were met by Emily and several members from her club as well as some members from the Fresno puppy club.

When everyone was there we all took BART to San Francisco! (There may have been a small hiccup where a few people got stuck on the train- but everybody got back safely! Lol.)

Carrie on her first BART ride

Once we were in the city we walked the mile it takes from the BART station to get to Pier 29.  It was great for the dogs to be able to be exposed to all the sights and sounds of San Francisco.  We got a lot of traffic work in and Carrie showed no reaction to any of it which was great!

A shot of the group

 When we got to Peir 29 we all split up to walk around and go out to lunch. Emily and I traded dogs so Carrie got to experience being handled by someone else...

Carrie looking up at Emily

And I got to work with Keith! (Who, by the way, is the happiest, sweetest guy!).

I think Keith and Carrie liked eachother!

We took them to see the Sea Lions as well! They were making funny noises and the dogs wanted to get as close as possible so they crammed their noses into the chain-link fence. Haha.

Keith and Carrie were great at lunch too! At one point the waitor dropped a fork that almost landed on Keith! The silly puppy didn't even open his eyes!

After that, Emily and her sister stayed in San Fran while we left with the rest of the group. 

On the way back, we got a chance to meet and talk to a Guide Dog and Handler team!

Tessa

Tessa was a 9 year old golden retriever. We learned that Tessa is an official French Citizen (She has been issued a French Passport!) and has traveled the world with her handler!

This was an amazing trip and I really hope that we will be able to do it again sometime! Emily and I are hoping to go again in June!

p.s. I hope it was okay that I used some of your pictures Emily!

At the Puppy Sitter!

A puppy raiser in my club asked if she could take Carrie for a few days!

Her puppy, Bev, is on the recall for this weekend and she wanted a dog to come have a playdate before Bev has to go back.

So Care-Bear has been having some fun play time!

Bev's raiser is really nice and has been sending me pictures of the two of them and I thought I would share them with you!



Bev (Left) Carrie (Right)

Little stinker bending the rules



Bev and Carrie on a jungle gym!



"What's that?"



Pretty girlies!

Bev's raiser's daughter and the girls. Carrie looks like a giant to me in this picture!

Tired after a long day!

  

13 Reasons Why I LOVE This Dog

Wow, I cannot believe that in just one more month, Carrie will be old enough to be recalled for her formal training. To celebrate her 13 months here are 13 reasons it will break my heart to let her go:

1. Carrie is a spooner! We literally have it down to where I just lay down on the ground with a blanky and she turns in a 1/2 circle so her back is against my tummy and her head is resting on my arm <3

2. I love how Carrie is a "good" kisser. Okay, this one sounds funny! But seriously, she is great at giving those quick kisses that don't have any tongue ;)

3. Carrie's likes to show people how wonderful she is for having her toys! She is a total toy parader and likes to grab a toy and do a full body wiggle- or her "Happy Dance", as I like to call it.

4. Now combine #2 & #3 and you get Carries absolute favorite thing to do: Give kisses with toys in her mouth! Now this one can be a little dangerous and we try not to praise her too much for it. But she has so much fun we let her do it a little! (Just as long as the toy in her mouth has no sharp edges haha)

5. Carrie has the most loving gaze ever!  Part most of this probably has something to do with all that wonderful food I carry around with me but she has this "gaze" that just melts my heart.  One of my teachers once told me "Everyone should have somebody to stare at them like that" lol.

6. She thinks that getting her ears cleaned is the best game ever! (Weird, I know).

7. Carrie trusts me. She knows that I make decisions that are best for her and is trusting enough to change her attitude towards things that might be scary.

8. I love how she is a good listener. We have a very large fenced area for the dogs to run around in.  Carrie has an amazing recall and will literally leave skid marks in the grass when she hears the word "Come".

9.  I love how she has a little bit of OCD and has to have her blankies perfectly alligned before she can lay down on them.

10. I love her happy-go-lucky personality. Having her with me is exactly what I need to brighten my day. And school is made approximately 1000Xs better!

11. I love how incredibly strongly I have bonded with her.

12. I love her silly smart bump. 

13. And I have loved  every single second I have had with her.  Even the ones that smelled bad ;)

Guess Who's Here...

She has black fur...

And a droopy face...

And the biggest feet you ever did see!

That's right! It's Hanalei!

This weekend, Hanalei's owner asked us to watch her while she goes camping.

So Miss Lei-Lei gets to spend some time with us!

Yay!!

Change of Plans

So, just yesterday I told you all that I had been assigned a puppy from a 7/8ths cross litter.

Well, today, I got home from school and had an email.  Apparently there has been a change of plans guys. 

I have now been assigned to a female full golden retriever from the Franklin x Pearl litter!  They were born 4-9-12 and the litter letter is "A".

I am not really sure how but I guess there was a miscommunication between my leader and our CFR. So now I am planning on picking this little girl up right on her 8-week-day on June 5th!

Here is a picture I found of daddy, Franklin:

Puppy #5 News!

I decided that I wanted to keep you guys updated on the next puppy with as much as I know soo...

Today I recieved some news on my next puppy! 

My leader told me that our CFR checked to see if any goldens would be available for me for my May 25th pick-up date.  She said there weren't any purebred golden retrievers born but there is a litter of 7/8 golden, 1/8 lab crosses!

So I have been (tentatively) assigned to an unknown gender (I asked to keep it a surprise) 7/8th golden puppy! They won't be ready for an extra week so, if all goes well, I will be picking him/her up beginning of June.

A lot can happen between now and June so lets all hope that this litter stays healthy and that one will be ready to come home with me in a couple months!

Frankie's First Day of School

Today was Frankie's very first day of High School!

In the morning when we first got there, he was very nervous. Much different than any of my GDB puppies!

He is a little uncomfortable in new situations. He was a bit unsure of certain people-specifically large people.  When tall people walked by he would sort of do a little crouching "I'm not okay with you yet" stance.

Surprisingly though, after just a couple hours he had completely stopped doing this and was allowing everyone to pet him.

In my first 2 classes he was fidgety and didn't understand the whole laying down thing.  I let him kinda wander on a short leash and was clicking (Yes, I get to use a clicker!) and treating him whenever he was relaxed.  By my 3rd class he was able to stay on a down for longer than a few moments and by my 4th he was able to sleep through the whole thing!

I am amazed at how quickly he went from being a scared little dog to a confident puppy. He is a lot more work than Carrie but it is so much fun!

From now on, it looks like Frankie will be coming with me every Monday and Thursday (The days when Carrie goes with my mom to work in the hospital).

I can't wait to take him again!

Such a happy guy!

My Blog is Expanding!

Please welcome "Frankie" to the blog!

Frankie is a Golden Retriever, Border Collie Cross and he has been selected to be a Diabetic Alert Dog.

One of the puppy raisers in our club trains these dogs to alert to blood sugar changes.  She asked my mom to help foster one since she is a liscened dog trainer and also a PR!

We are one of only 2 fosters the program has so far.  The way I understand it, the dogs are chosen from a local shelter based upon their ability and willingness to work as well as their general behavior. They are then boarded at The Local Bark where the trainers teach them scent discrimination and socialize them to the public.

Frankie is sort of a test dog for puppy raisers! We will be taking Frankie everywhere with us- just like the Guide Dog Puppies. We will also get the opportunity to teach him scent discrimination!

We will have Frankie for a few months while we work on exposing him to the world and training him to alert to the highs and lows in blood sugar that his next owner will experience.

So, my blog is expanding. I will try to keep you posted on Frankie as well as Carrie (Although I will still be focusing on Carrie).  We are still unsure if this will be a onetime experience or if we will be taking in another foster after Carrie returns for her formal training. If we do it again I will be starting a new blog!

Hello Brayden!

This handsome 13 month boy is Brayden!

He has been with us for almost 24 hours and is going home soon.

I am extremely impressed with how well he adjusted to our home.  He has been amazingly well-behaved and calm. He responds quickly to his commands and walks well on a leash.

Earlier, I had to take both him and Carrie with me to the grocery store alone. This meant 1 person, 2 dogs and a hand basket full of groceries! He learned how to walk calmly right next to Carrie in just a couple minutes!

I am sure that he is going to do really well in formal training. He is on the May recall so in just a few short months we will know!

Disneyland!

A while ago, Carrie got approved to go to Disneyland! So a few days ago we piled all 4 dogs into the car and drove the 6 hours to Disneyland!

Carrie was happy just to be going somewhere

But then she realized how long the carride was and decided to use Duke as a pillow

When we got there, it was late so we checked into a dog-friendly hotel and went to sleep.  The first day in Disneyland, we left Carrie at the hotel.  We wanted to get a chance to scope everything out and do some rides that we couldn't do with Carrie. 

Carrie was a good girl and stayed in an Xpen that I brought along.  We came back twice throughout the day to potty her and give her a good walk. 

 I think it was really good for her to stay behind. We don't leave her much so it was nice to know that she could handle being alone for so long.

The next day was Carrie's day! We took the shuttle over and the first thing we did was get her a Disney hat!

She looked super cute and everyone there loved it! She wore it on and off throughout the day!

After we got her hat, we did some fun Carrie things.  She got to go to Tom Sawyer's Island where we went into all sorts of cool caves and over some really neat bridges. To get to the island, you have to take a big raft and she did wonderfully both times we went on it!

After that we took the train! Carrie wasn't phased by it at all which was good. Then she got her picture in Dumbo!

After Dumbo we took her to that really neat futuristic place with the moving floors. She wasn't at all phased by the moving floors which was weird because even I was a little bit dizzy after walking on them for a while.  We also got to take her on a glass floor! No problems there either!

Looking back, I can't believe we got so much done in just 4 hours! Carrie did really really well.  I am very proud of her and look forward to hopefully getting the chance to take her again sometime before her recall!