Saturday, July 7, 2012

Pool Party!

Yesterday, our group had our annual pool party/ice cream social! 
I took like a million pictures
Partner after getting in to pool!
Ashland
Ashland
Fiddler wants to get back in!
Loomis was afraid of the water
Lipton 
CC'd Shawnee
Wes
Liton
Party!
Wes
Shawnee on the diving board
Wes
Fiddler in the pool

Spruce
Retired Guide Ricardo
CC'd Douglas
Loomis
Ashland
Ashland
Future raisers with Lipton!

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Phase Report!

This week Carrie is in phase 2!

By now, Carrie should have, for the most part, adjusted to life in the kennels.  She should be used to wearing and working in the harness.  The instructors are going to begin to allow her to make her own decisions when it comes to her guide work and correct any mistakes she makes.
They will begin to increase the difficulty of her distraction work and continue her pattern training!

Groups Dogs:
Bev is in phase 8!
Bradyen is in phase 8!
Ruby is in phase 5
Ventana is in phase 5!
Loomis will be recalled next weekend and is going in for breeder evals!
Cameo will be recalled next weekend and is going in for breeder evals!

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Monday, July 2, 2012

Updates!

Wow, I have fallen soo behind on my blog! 

A quick update on what we have been doing:
Partner is getting big!
At his vet appointment on Friday he weighed 30lbs! He has officially had all of his shots!
On Saturday we attended the Jelly Belly Fun Day hosted by the Solano County puppy raisers! Partner did amazingly well considering he was the youngest puppy there! (Pups under 20 weeks needed CFR approval- Partner is 16 weeks but we were able to get approved just before the outing).
Partner at Jelly Belly
I am really impressed with this puppy! So far, he seems to have the ability to relax on outings while still being able to get up and go when its time. 

He has already been to the movies, monster mini golf, regular mini golf, and bowling (Along with less stressful outings such as the grocery store etc.) I usually try to wait when it comes to such exciting socializations but Partner has handled everything that comes at him in stride so far! He hasn't appeared at all stressed out by what we are doing. I always make sure that we will be able to leave an outing if it becomes too much for him but so far I haven't had to.

I have heard that Goldens are often the opposite of labs- They start off super easy and can develop issues later on. I am trying to expose Partner to as much as possible in a positive way in the hopes that these issues don't come up later on. I guess only time will tell if this is the right approach or not.

The one thing we are really working on right now is separation. Partner does not like to be left alone for very long! He is fine on a tie-down, in a crate or in an X-Pen while you are in his line of sight but the moment you leave the little brat comes out! He starts barking and crying and he has a long attention span!
It is so hard to put him in a cage and then listen to him cry forever! 
Oh well. Just one of the many things puppy raisers have to do in order to raise a well behaved doggy!

Now for a Carrie update...
Carrie is officially in phase 1 of her training! 
They learn a ton in phase one!
She is learning:
Clicker training
Formal obedience
Body handling acceptance
How to wear a harness
How to use a treadmill
How to focus around distractions
Pattern training
How to stop at curbs
Food refusal
How to back up
How to load in and out of the van for socialization

Wow! She must be a busy girl! I know that she is having the time of her life right now! 
Carrie has always loved to learn and I felt a little bad because, as puppy raisers we aren't supposed to teach any tricks. Carrie had to watch the Diabetic Alert Dogs learning new and exciting things and you could just see her thinking that she wanted to learn too. Now she gets to and I'm so happy for her! Hopefully she is behaving!

I also got an update from Emily telling me that she knows someone who saw her a while ago! They said that she had a roommate (Something I was thrilled to hear because I know they don't all get one) and that she looked super happy!

Group's puppies:
Brayden is in phase 8
Bev is in phase 8
Ventana is in phase 4
Ruby is in phase 4