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

Welcome Partner!!

This morning I drove down to San Rafael to welcome my 5th Guide Dog puppy, Partner!!

He was born March 9th, which makes him 11 weeks old. He weighs 18lbs and is a little fluff-ball! He has a white spot on his head and white splotches on one of his back feet and the chubbiest tummy!!

Turns out, he is actually from both Guiding Eyes for the Blind (GEB) and Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind (GDF)! His father is GEB's Onslo and his mother is GDF's Sue.

Cuteness overload!!

Partner

Because everybody loves a puppy butt ;)

"What's that?"

So far (A few hours lol) He has been super good! He slept the whole way home and has pottied every time I have asked him to! 

I can't wait to spend a year with this little guy!!

Bev Comes to Visit

Last night we recieved a phone call from our leader asking if we could puppysit one of the dogs in our group.  Apparently the couple that has been watching her for the last week is "no longer able to have her in their house" (...?). So, since we can never say no to puppy sitting despite the circumstances, we drove to pick her up.

So far Miss Bev has been really good here! At first she was a little nervous coming into another brand new house- and this one has 4 other dogs! But she has already settled in and is having a blast playing with Carrie. 

If you can tell from these pictures, she is a tiny little girl! While Carrie weighs around 60 lbs, I would be surprised if Bev weighed more than 45 lbs.

And even though she is a few months older than Carrie she deffinately has lots more energy! We will be taking her on a good, long walk later today to try and wear her out.

Officially a "Big Girl"

Carrie now officially fits into her "big girl" collar:

This collar has a metal plate on it that says that she is a Guide Dog puppy and has her ID number, 53B4.

To celebrate her largeness (54.6 lbs), I took some pictures of the big girl :)

7 Things at 7 Months

A little late but a few days ago Carrie turned 7 months!  Last time I weighed her she was about 51 lbs.  It will be interesting to see if she grows much more.
So, in honor of her 7 month-day, here is a list of 7 interesting places she has been since we got her:

1. High School- Carrie has been coming with me to high school since she was about 4 1/2 months.  She has always handled it extremely well.  Each of my classes are between 1 and 3 hours- varying between days.  She is able to remain calm a quiet throughout my classes.

Carrie at school during my lunch break

2. The local hospital- My mom works at the local hospital as a nurse.  On days that she knows she won't be going into surgery she takes Carrie.  Here she is exposed to the different sights, smells and sounds of a hospital. 

3.  Hotels- When I was on my internship with Guide Dogs over the summer we stayed in a Hotel for 2 weeks.  It's good for her to be exposed to other living environments.

4.  Apple Hill-  If you have never been, Apple Hill is like a large Harvest Fair.  There are tons of people, lots of food, other dogs, ponnies, vendors and the occasional ride.  This is the perfect environment to work her with food and dog distractions and work her around ponies.

Carrie ready for the rally decked out in my class color- lime green

5.  High School Rally-  Last week Carrie experienced her first high school rally.  We sat near the door so that if it became too scary we could make a quick exit.  There was loud music, people in costume, drums and games where people ran in front of her.  She was very interested in the begining and then settled in and waited for the "Nice" that meant food was coming.

6.  Dog Class-  My mom takes her mix dog, Kenjii, to dog class on thursday nights.  If I don't have too much homework that night I like to take Carrie to get used to being around many different kinds of dogs.

7. Fire Department-  Every year our club goes to the local fire station to experience the smells and sounds commonly found in a fire department.  A fire man kindly suited up in his gear and breathing apparatus and went around to pet the dogs.  She was just happy that someone was petting her and didn't even notice that he might be a little scary.  She showed interest in the sirens but wasn't scared.

Carrie was spayed today!

     Today we took Carrie to the vet to be spayed.  She was a little excited when we first got in.  There were other dogs there and I couldn't use food protocol with her since she wasn't supposed to eat before her surgery.  She was able to calm down with calm praise though and you could tell that she really wanted to do the right thing!
     Once she had calmed down I weighed her, she weighs 49.6lbs.  I left after that.
     When I went and picked her up she was still kinda groggy.  When I got her home she walked inside like a little hunchback.  She keeps making super sad groaning noises and giving us looks like this:


Carrie giving her "what have you done to me?" look

 She's never had a very good tolerance for pain so I knew this would be tough for her.  I sure am glad we got this out of the way though!  One less thing to worry about for her when she returns for formal training (hopefully we will make it that far!)