Everybody...and their dog

Here's what I have written about Marcella in her final report. I write in it regularly so i can remember and compare:

____________________________________________ 11 Weeks-10-18-05~ Marcella has been here for about 2 1/2 weeks. She is a sweet little girl with her own ideas. She is very smart and already knows sit, let's go, come, and her name- although we are still helping her and continue workig on them. She loves to "tell" us what she thinks of things such as the crate and tie-down but will fall asleep and snore loudly for hours. She loves to play, be pet (especially on her tummy), and just hang out. She especially lives new toys and will get bored with toys she's played wtih too much. As I said before she's such a smart, sweet puppy and will hopefully learn quickly to become a great Guide Dog. ___________________________________________________14 1/2 weeks: Marcella is a great puppy with lots of energy and spunk! She is a quick learner and is getting better all the time. Right now we are working on staying still for more that 10 minutes :) She loves to be up and walking/moving with me.________________________________________________________________4 Months- 11-23-05~ Marcella got her final shots today. Yay! No more carrying a 26 lb puppy around! She has improved so much cince I got her and hopefully will be soon able to join me at work. She made it through an hour of church last sunday- although she was wide awake the whole time- she sat quietly at my feet. She has become more responsive to corrections and is alot more responsive to praise. At first I was worries that she just didn't want to work for me- but she has proven me wrong. She has just today started to unerstand "down" and will do it to eat. Marcella really is turning out to be a wonderful dog.___________________________________________________5 Months- 12-25-06~ Marcella is turning out to be a great girl! She is getting her comands and is mellowing out. She loves to be near me and she loves to please. She is just starting to enjoy "come" again. (She "forgot" some for a couple of weeks :) Can't wait until she comes into heat and "forgets" things again.)I think she will be a wonderful dog as she gets older. She has been on a Halti for a ocuple of weeks and seems to do well. She corrects well but she needed too hard of corrections. I'm hoping this will doften her neck up for when she's bigger :) (Although I don't think she'll get much mroe that 45-50 lbs) She is really starting to do really well with my 3 year old and one year old brothers. They can climb all over her and no problems. I know Marcella has great potential. ____________________________________________________________-6 months 2/7/06~ Marcella is such a good girl. She has started on the FIR and loves getting food for something she already enjoys. Marcella does really well at work. She loves coming just to sleep under my desk. The people there LOVE her and enjoy having her around (she she enjoys the extra attention)She does well walking around the house but needs a draging as she will still "counter surf" every once in a while. Marcella is doing very well in her Halti and is very managable on her flat. Marcella has surprised me by how much she has learned and changed. She is a very loving sweet girl.
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almost 9 months 4/29/06Marcella came into heat in March and just recently came out. She did well but had a hard time staying home all day- she would much rather be out doing things. She is doing well and has been weaned off of her halti. She is great on her flat collar. She has very few issues (unless you count endless energy- she's ALWAYS ready to go!)She goes on a walk with me at least 3x a week that are at least an hour long- and is very good. She is not dog distracted- for that I am grateful.She is an itchy dog though- she was having problems with ear infections but not they are udner control with more frequent ear cleaning (about 2x a week) I really hope it is not allergies- she's a great dog and it would be so sad to waste that. Marcella weighed 56.5 lbs at her last weigh-in____________________________________________________________7/20/2006- 11 monthsMarcella has had quite a few adventures the last couple of months. First we moved back with my parents but we were only there for a couple of weeks before we headed off for housesitting at another raisers home for 2 1/2 weeks. She was good, for the most part and loved having 3 new dogs to hang out with. I was very impressed with how well she did. She then follwed me to another housesitting job- we've house sat there before so she is used to the routine. Towards the last day of that she started doing things that were very "Un-marcella-like" (Chewing things, jumping on counters, not listening) She went back on leash and is now just starting to be allowed on a dragling in the house (one room at a time- and not in the kitchen- she likes the garbage) and loose in my rom. She is a very smart firl and likes to see what she can get away with I've noticed that practicing obedience several times a day keeps her in check and reminds her who's in charge. :) She also got accompany me to graduation in Boring for my last dog. She was great in the car .Kind of antsy and pushy at the house we stayed at though. The next week was state Fun Day and after we put her on a training collar she did great! She also got to head to San Rafael for Fun Day. And she did SO WELL! She went to San Francisco and was great! I was very impressed. She has had problems again with ears but the GDB Vet thinks it's an infectin that never really went away. Hopefully that's it!Marcella has a great personality and lots of confidence.____________________________________________________8/7/06 One yearToday we worked on food Distractions because she has learned to sit under my 18 month old brother and wait for food. She I put her on a long leash and let her walk around. After one good corrections she gave up and started following me around. We will continue working on this and from her reaction today I think she will be over this soon!________________________________________________________________9/11/06One month to recall and Marcella can tell. She is due to go into season anytime now- it's always at the worst time. :) I know lots of people will miss her and are cheering for her to become a great Guide Dog. Her ears are doing great- she only has to have them cleaned 1-2x a week now and hardly ever bothers them. She still "scoots" on the ground (probably needs her anal glands expressed again) and flea bites/licks herself on her rear-end. (She isn't barbering though) but other than that she is doing great. I just changed her food so I'm hoping it will get rid of all the problems :) We are wishing her luck and crossing our fingers she will make a great Guide Dog!