Graduation

I know... I know... It's taken me forever! Mostly because I don't like uploading a million pictures all at once. (I'm sure you couldn't tell by how many pictures I sometimes bombard you all with.) So... here's the story:

Saturday morning we woke up, grabbed some breakfast at Black Bear (best OJ EVER!), and went to Saturday Market. Saturday Market is basically one of my favorite places in the world and screams "Portland" to me... I knew we only had a short time so we got there right as it opened and walked around for a minute. We had to leave by 11 to get to Boring by 11:30- unfortunately I didn't factor in that I had to take King to the Kennel Kitchen to be boarded. By the time we got there, raisers were already in the dorms so we dropped Erica off and ran to drop off King. By the time we got back to the dorms, Sharon and Placer had already made their way to the common room and had found Erica. He was excited to see everyone... I'm pretty sure he was the most excited to see my husband (which is funny because he was definitely my dog.) This is probably one of my most favorite part of puppy raising:

Placer seems excited to see us again

He can't decide who to say hi to next.

Placer's happy to be graduating...

Erica (my fantastic co-raiser) and Place

 He seems a little bigger, fluffier, and a little darker now- it could be because King is small, white, and has short hair. The rest of the day went really fast. We gave him his "Man Toy" from when he was a puppy. (If you're familiar with the Boo Boo Bear Protocol, Placer used a Boo Boo Bear for about a month- only we felt like that didn't sound manly enough, so he had a "Man Toy"- a Fleece rope with tractors on it.) Once we gave him that, he was much more interested in reuniting with it than us. We also gave Sharon a "Golden Survival Kit" as he is her first golden. She mentioned on the phone how different he is that her previous lab- so we have her a pocket lint roller, some HandiWipes (in case he gets something in his fur), and some hand sanitizer (for the golden drool).

After graduation was over we were able to take Sharon out for dinner at the traditional Oliver Garden. It was so great to see what a fantastic Guide Dog team they are and hear more about what he will be doing.
Again, it reminded me of what a great job GDB does at matching these dogs...

It was such a great trip and fun to see Placer again... even if it was completely exhausting for everyone. King was definitely ready to come home by the end...

Erica and King sleep on the backseat on the way home...

King learns to swim

Okay... So its not really swimming, but if you knew this guy's dad, it basically is. That dog wouldn't tough water with his paws for anything... This is really good. King even kind of likes it a little. He was super thoughtful the whole time. Trying to figure out why I was allowing him to step in the giant water bowl- and why I kept throwing his toys into the water when he had to snorkle them out. It was pretty funny.

Hey Jude

It was Judith's birthday yesterday. I can't believe she's 12 years old now! She still acts like she's 5 most days. We feel so lucky that she got to come live with us for the last almost-year.

In the last year, we have gotten "reacquainted" with the sweet black lab that stole our hearts 12 years ago. She's gotten quite a few new nicknames, and a few old ones have resurfaced ("Hey Jude" being a recent nickname, just try not to break out in song.) She's learned that while she is only allowed on the couch when she is invited, really she can't let an empty couch stay empty while we aren't home. She's also figured out all my hiding spots when playing "Hide and Go Seek" (Her VERY favorite game).

We love her happy wagging tail that greets us every time we walk in the door.

We love how excited she gets when she gets to go on a car ride, and how she fools people at puppy class into thinking she's a little old lady that doesn't ever wake up.

We love how when you get close enough to pet her she rolls right over for a belly rub... and if you stop she will "gently" remind you with her paw.

We love how if you aren't giving her enough attention, she will remind you and nudge her nose onto your lap.

 I got an email from Judith's person, Ruth yesterday. It was so sweet and possibly made me get a little teary eyed- okay, A LOT teary eyed. I feel so blessed to have gotten to know Ruth over the last 10 years. This is one of the reasons I raise... not only does GDB give a blind person independence, but they change so many other lives- Mine included. Thank you GDB for doing such a great job, and this is an example of how you are changing lives:

Dear Judith    

Today is a special day for you as it is your 12th birthday.  You have been a special dog all your life.  First you learned your obedience and socialization from Mickelle and she sure did a good job.  Then you went back to GDB to learn to be a guide.  You did so well they chose you to be a breeder which is the best of the best and they sent you down to San Rafael.  But you must have decided you didn't want to be a breeder so never did come in heat again.  When you were about 2 years old they sent you back to the Oregon campus to be a guide.  A month later I was ready to graduate and they chose you for me.  It was love at first site.  We worked as a team for 9 fabulous years and then it was time for you to retire. 

I had to go back to the Oregon Campas to train for a new puppy.  I brought home another little black lab named Kalissa, but I called her Lissa.  I tried so very hard to keep both of you but it was more that I could do.  So I had to make the hard decision to let you go.  I was so happy when Mickelle wrote to me and said she wanted you back.  It would be full circle, you began and would have your retirement years with your puppy raiser.  What a blessing for you and for me too to know you would be with someone who loved you as much as I did. 

Now you have been with Mickelle for one year and you are 12 years old now.  Mickelle tells me you are doing wonderful and that you are assisting her as an assistant puppy raiser.  What a full and complete life you have lived as a GDB puppy, as a guide and now a retired lady still doing your job well. 

You were my heart dog, Judith, and you will always be in my heart forever. 

I love you precious Judith,

Ruth and my little Lissa

We sure love this special, sweet little black lab.

A friend said that this is Judith's "come hither" look.

Driving home

Graduation was great.

Seeing friends and family in Portland and Seattle was great.

And now the trip home.

King looks just about how we feel right now (sorry for the quality)... Only a few hours until we are home in our own bed.

Visitor

Here's Kai.

Another one of our visiting club dogs.

He's a 13ish-month-old cross and very sweet. He is slightly immature, but you can only expect that with half of him being golden retriever. ;) One more day with this guy and yea back home, and Judith will enjoy a little break until we get back from graduation and King comes home.

Planning

Yesterday we got the offical email.

The Goldog gets to be known as "Team Sharon and Placer" from Shawmut, MT. It's only 9ish hours from here... Not too bad, right?

Planning this trip is kind of crazy. It sounds like we will be caravanning (is that a word??) up there with another raiser who will give my co-raiser a ride back to Utah while Rick and I do the tourist thing in Portland and Seattle.

It will be fun... Although I'm sure King will be EXHAUSTED by the end.

We can't wait though!

The Call...

We got it.

The Call. 

Today was dog day in Oregon and some lucky person got told they were getting a Male Golden Retriever named "Placer".

I hope they already know how special Placer is- and he's shown them his stuff!

April 27th!

Congratulations and Good Luck to the new teams! We are crossing our fingers they all do well!

Vinnie

It's taken almost a year to be able to write this post. Everytime I think about writing it... I can't.

Last October my mom called me and said she didn't think Vinnie was going to be around much longer. He'd had diabetes for about and year and been doing great but the last few weeks had been having seizures about once a week. For a while everytime she thought he was done, the next day he would wake up as happy, normal Vinnie. During that time, I went over to visit him as much as possible and treated it like the last time I might see him... Just in case.

This day was a little different. He had started seizing at about 1 am and they kept going throughout the day, every few hours. He wasn't getting up, and he was ready to go. I was able to go over, pay down next to him, and give him one last pep talk... Tell him to save me a place near his house. Where he is, I want to be. (Augh! 6 months later and this story still makes me cry!) 

Dr. Summers has been his vet since the beginning and is basically the best. When we brought him in, she layed on the floor with him and cried. We gave him one more hug and said one more goodbye. I never thought I would have to do this... My big yellow lab was supposed to live forever. He knew it was time though and he told us.

Resisting the puppy face

Over the last several months, King has learned how to stay home in the crate while Rick and I are at work. (When I have students to work with in the classroom, King doesn't get to go to work.) Lucky for him, this is soon coming to an end... Classes end officially next week, and then the dreaded Finals Week. After that King gets to start being the office dog again. He is probably one of the "clingiest" puppies I've had, so I'm sure he will love getting to be with me most days. Sometimes that quality drives me crazy, but Marnie loves it because she always knows exactly where he is: right at her feet. He loves to follow me around the house and if I stop somewhere for longer than 30 seconds, he's as close as he can possibly get to me, without getting right in my skin...
...And sometimes when he does this, it's so hard to resist not letting him up on the couch. Don't worry, we always reluctantly resist. (I pushed him off after I took the picture.) Are you sure you're not part golden, King?

Thursday updates

Pilgrim was pulled out of class :( He still has hopes to graduate as a guide. Maybe he just felt bad leaving his siblings behind. He rejoined Placer and Primrose in phase 8, while Pryor was placed in class in San Rafael!

Keep going P dogs! You can do it!
Class starts next Monday. Crossing fingers and paws their new partners come along soon!

In other news, King is doing very well on getting over his body sensitivity issue. He doesn't fight so much and gets out of the car willingly now! Yay!

Here's hoping for another week of positive things happening with the pups!

Thursday again

Another Thursday and another report...

Placer is still hanging out in phase 8 along with Primrose.
And Pryor is in phase 7 still.
And..
Pilgrim is in class!! (Way to show your siblings how its done!) Congrats to him, his new handler, and his raisers :)

It's kind of funny, sometimes I feel so superstitious when I have a dog in training. I worry that looking at graduation dates too early or looking at the report too much will cause a CC or something. According to my superstition... I think I might have jinxed myself this week.

I have a friend that is moving to Portland and couldn't fit all her stuff in her car so I told her I was planning on going for a guide dog graduation up there soon and could probably take a few boxes. I told her I didn't know when, but she could pack 2 or 3 small boxes that she wouldn't need immediately and I would get it up to her in the next few months. Way to go, Mickelle... We will just cross our fingers, throw some salt over our shoulder, and say a little prayer for Placer ;)

Old school

Don't worry guys, I'm not rebelling. There is a reason we have an old puppy coat on little King.

At 8-months-old, King has decided that his life is scary. He would rather not wear his puppy coat or get out of the car when we go places. So, to remedy one of these issues, our CFR has recommended he an old style puppy coat around the house for body sensitivity. (If we go out he still has to wear his regular uniform.) He seems to really not mind it at all... In fact, I think he minds it less than his smaller, regular puppy coat. He will now put his head through both coats if I have food on the other side of the neck hole. Yay!

He also seems to be doing a little better at getting out of the car. We've been using some good suggestions from our CFR and it's definitely bend helping. It used to take about 15 min to get him out (without forcing) and when we went to puppy class the other day it only took about 7 or 8. Little victories... Little victories. Needless to say, we do socializations just for him instead of doing something we need to do and he just happens to come along.

Hopefully, this is just a temporary thing. King is a very sweet boy and I think will make a great guide dog for someone. We sure love him!

Today's the day...

Today's the day we tackle the backyard.

You know how all winter it's basically impossible to clean up the yard because of the ridiculous amounts of snow?

Yeah, worst day ever is when it comes time to clean all that up after the snow melts.

Wish us luck...

Go "P" Dogs

Now starts the weeks of waiting for class. I'm fine waiting for class... although every time I hear about a dog getting CC'ed from phase 8, I have a mini-freak out. I feel like there should be like phase 8.5 or a "Class Ready" next to a dogs name that shows the dog has passed all tests and is clear on health- just waiting for a match... and maybe I'm asking too much.

This week Palm has disappeared from the reports. Does anyone know what happened to her?

So... we have all in phase 8: Pilgrim, Placer, and Primrose
and in phase 7: Pryor.

If all 4 graduate, that's pretty good for a golden litter of 10. Cross your fingers for them!

Here's to at least another few weeks of waiting... next class starts the 18th.

Puppy swap

This is Lotus. He's a very large 11-month-old male yellow lab. Sweet little King went to Lotus' house for the weekend, while Lotus gets to play here.

Judith is not fond of this arrangement. Lotus is a *very* intact male and doesn't quite understand that Judi isn't that kind of girl...
We have made some progress with Lotus, but I think Judith will appreciative King much more now.

Puppy-in-training vs. Retired

This is a day in the life of King: 

Getting comfortable at the hockey game

Watching the game seemed like more fun...

Waiting by the dressing rooms while shopping

Shopping at Scheels

Riding the train home...

A day in the life of Judith:

Sleep

A walk around neighborhood with 5-year-old, Aunt Ali

Life is good...

Phase 8!

Whew! Good boy, Placer! You did it!

Now you just have to finish up your final testing and wait for your perfect match!
I'm so proud of him and how well he has done... I can't wait to see him again- hopefully in the near future at graduation!

Good job, Goldog!

Other P pups:
Pacer CC'ed for "Wet Mouth" (Drooling)
Palm 1
Pilgrim 8
Placer 8
Primrose 8
Pryor 7

Phase 7

Phase Report day!

Scrolling down the list of P goldens:

Pacer 3
Palm 0
Pilgrim 8
Placer 7
Primrose 8
Pryor 6

These "P" dogs are rocking it at GDB!

Only one more phase left until Place is ready to meet his new partner. We are cheering for him! Here's hoping he doesn't have to wait much longer!

King of the bed

Sometimes King has his bossy-pants on.

Usually when it comes to the dog bed, he's got them on. It's a little funny actually because he hasn't done anything except try to scoot onto the bed while Judith was already laying on it.

He acts like he's willing to share, but Judith definitely is not so she gets up and moves to her blanket on the other side of the room.

Last night as I was observing them, I noticed that King no longer has to "try to share" he just walks up tp the bed, sniffs Judith, she does her little "Go Away"growl and he will sit and stare at her. After about a minute of staring she will get up and walk away to her blanket and King will happily take his "rightful" place in the middle of the dog bed.

No wonder Judith likes it when he's not around...

Phase 6

Only 2 more to go Goldog! Keep going!

Pre-matching happens this phase... Here's hoping his perfect match comes soon!

Phase 5

Only 3 more to go! Go, Placer, go!

Routes are getting tougher.

He's going to start working the town.

I hope he loves Portland just as much as I do. (I lived there for 18 months for a church mission.) One of my favorite cities!

Keep going, goldog!

"King, Kennel"

This is one of the best things King does. He's practically perfect at this from anywhere in the house... Sorry I couldn't figure out how to flip it...

King in the Snow

  

In the last week, we've have about 2-3 FEET of snow dumped on us... King doesn't mind. In fact, he likes it, quite a bit! In this video, you can see a little bit of why we call him "King-a-roo".

You would never know his dad was "Aquaphobic"... :)

Phase 4

Yay! He's moving along! Way to go, Placer!

Half way through... You can do it, Place!

"P" goldens are slowly trickling into training... Primrose- who went back before Place is in phase 7, Pilgrim-who went back with Place is in phase 6 (I'm pretty sure he's in a different string, he's been in different phases since phase 1), Pryor- is in 3, and Pacer is in 0. I know at least Patriot and Peanut were CCed in puppyraising, but not sure about the others.
We met Palm at Fun Day, but didn't stay in contact... We shall see if we see the rest show up on the reports....

Phase 3

I usually check the phase report at 6:30 a.m. on Thursdays, but that's only because I would be distracted at work wondering where he is.

This morning there was a little "3" next to his name. Yay! He doing some preliminary testing this week! Good luck, Buddy! I know you can do it!

Bark for $1

The other day I was at the craft store check out line (I have an addiction to the craft store... maybe because it's right across the street from my office.) and as I was getting my wallet out King stood up so I told him to "sit". The cashier looked at me and very seriously asked "Oh, is he not ready to start learning how to count money yet?"

What?? I looked at her very confused and said politely "I'm not sure what you mean?"

She replied "I heard since blind people can't count their money, they teach the dogs to do it and they bark for how much money they have."

Not Kidding.

Not even a little bit.

I tried hard not to laugh as I responded "Nope. Each blind person has their own system to knowing what denomination of bills they have- usually they fold it differently or ask someone who is with them."

Then I slid my credit card.

Will you train my service dog?

Warning: This is a "soapbox" post. 

My least favorite thing about raising Guide Dog Puppies- which really isn't all that bad- is the fact that EVERYONE thinks we are experts on dog training and specifically, how to train a service dog.  I don't mind giving people advice on dog training. That doesn't bother me at all... it's usually the ones that ask the "service dog" questions.

All the time, I get:

"My Aunt just bought a beagle puppy and wants to make it her service dog. How do I do that?"

"Do you know how I get one of those coats for my dog? He's really good and he would be really good for my son."

"I'm going to go adopt a dog and make it a service dog for my niece. She is autistic... I think? But really likes dogs."

My favorite:

Random person: "Guide Dogs for the Blind Puppy in Training... Oh I train Guide Dogs!" 
Me:  "That's cool. What school do you raise for?"
RP: "Just for myself. I have 3 kids with multiple disabilities so I train the dogs for them. We should get together and do some training."
(To her credit I have met one of her several "guide dogs"- aka service dogs in training (...that are 3-years-old... and she has had since they were puppies... when does the "training" stop?)- and he seems like a good dog from what I have seen.)

Great.

Here is my confession:

I'm not service dog school. 

I have been raising GDB puppies for 13 years now and have been in leadership and taught puppy classes for a good portion of that. I feel like I am a good raiser, meaning I can teach a puppy to sit and come. I can teach a puppy not to jump on people or pull on leash. I can even teach a puppy to not pick food up off the floor...

 But,

 I don't teach my puppy to retrieve things off the floor, I don't teach my puppy to open doors, and I don't teach my puppies how to pull wheelchairs. (All which have been requested of me.) I'm sure I could teach that... but I don't and it should be left to someone who does.

Don't think I'm uncaring. I usually will ask "Well, what exactly do you want the dog to do?"

If it's more of a therapy-type job I will refer them to find a good dog trainer in the area, get a CGC, and tell them that Therapy animals aren't considered a service dog so they are more of the "stay home most of the time" with a few special privileges.


 If they haven't gotten a dog yet, I will have them check out CCI's website to see if they qualify for something under them.

Usually people say, "I don't know. Come with me everywhere."

Awesome.

That's when I say... "You should probably figure that out before you start doing anything..."

Phase 2 and the morning before...

I love being able to check the phase report right when I get up. Points to GDB for thinking of moving it online!

Yay for Phase 2 this week! Hopefully he's enjoying his time and working hard. :)

On the homefront, King is not having a good day... This morning he woke up to no breakfast. This dogs LIFE is food! I think he just about died when we had to feed the black dog, and he was in the back bedroom. "Why does he not get breakfast?" You ask? Well... The other day King got his neuter note. Poor guy won't know what hit him... All he knows is he's not getting breakfast.

Phase 1

Yay! Placer finally moved up! It feels like he's been gone for forever...and should be in phase 8 by now...

...but probably not. He really has only been gone a month-ish and its been over the Holidays so I guess GDB has an excuse. I'm just not patient!

Every Thursday I get on the reports as soon as I can and search for his name... Every time I miss it and have a mini-freak out that he's not on there... Then everytime, I look carefully back through the "P"s and find his name "Placer M GLD 1". Then all is right with the world again... Here's to another week of Place working hard at guide dog school.

Warm

King does not like the cold. Poor guy came to the wrong state... Apparently he's a California boy all the way. (With a name like King, how could he not be!)

Yesterday he came to work with me and I almost had to pick him up because of the amount of ice melt and snow on the ground. He pushed through and made it to the nice warm comfort of my office. Good thing or her might not have been able to enjoy this heater vent when he got home...

She was jealous...

Puppysit

This is Beacon.

He's 9 months old and a pretty big boy.

He's adorable and super nice.

He will be joining our new club.

We've had him for the past few days, and he is a great puppy. At first Judith was not sure of him, but he has definitely grown on her and he understands the rules for each other...

Phase 0

It's a bad idea to get on Pinterest when you're missing your golden puppy...

Goldens are all over the place there.

I miss my boy...

Good news is, he showed up on the Phase Report!
Phase 0. It's not much, but it's something! He's doing his initial health stuff and getting lots of cuddles.

Good Luck fluffy guy!

In other news, cute King-a-roo got to come to work this week for the first time. He did well! I totally forgot we had a University Student Affairs Luncheon so he get to attend that. he did great and slept all the way through it.

Good boy!

He's such a sweet guy. So easy going and relaxed. Judith is finally starting to get used to him for the most part. She's such a patient girl but definitely enjoys her weeks off.

In the next month or so we will be starting a new adventure. We will be leaving our current club and getting to start up a new club in the Salt Lake Area. It will be a fun experience and I'm really nervous. I haven't lead a club without a co-leader... ever. I've always had a co-leader to help out. I'm sure I will learn quite a bit. If anyone has any advice or tips throw them my way. I could sure use them!

Only child

While we heard that Mr. Placer made it to Oregon safely, Judith may or may not have liked being an only child the last 3 days.

She's gotten to play her favorite games of Hide-and-go-seek and indoor fetch, (She doesn't like doing it outside for very long.), she gets carrots daily and doesn't have to worry about another dog trying to eat her crumbs, and she has shamelessly been up on the bed and the couch several times- all this without a tag-a-long trying to steal attention.

This morning she got a bath, which she was not fond of, but loved the rub down with the towel after.

Ahh... It's so nice having life back to normal.

Little does Judith know- King will be back on Sunday... Enjoy it while it lasts, little girl. It won't be long.

Placer's Last Days

For your viewing pleasure... I present to you Placer's last days as a puppy-in-training:

 

Brother's final outing together to the Live Nativity put on by the local Baptist Church. It was snowing and both dogs looked like they walked around in a freezer by the time we were done, but they did great!

Last day at work... who doesn't deserve a little cuddle in the corner on his last day?

He might have been a little sleepy...

We miss him already, but we know he will do well and can't wait to watch his progress!

Good Luck, Placer-bear!

Senior Pictures sneak peak

 Erica (Marnie's stepdaughter that has kind of taken Marnie's place with Placer) and I headed out today for Placer's final pictures with us as a Puppy in Training. The big gold dog is headed up to Oregon sometime next week for his formal training. We know he will do well at whatever they ask him to do, and will make us proud.  Here are a few of the pictures we took today... more to come.

I'm sure going to miss this boy by my side...

Thankful

For this:

Recovering

Whew! Glad things are getting better around here... Poor Placer had a weekend that we would all rather not repeat.

Friday we took him into the vet for his diarrhea. They said he was slightly dehydrated, but nothing too out of the ordinary as far as diarrhea goes. They sent in a fecal test and gave us some anti diarrhea meds to try in the meantime... We arrive home, give him his meds and I fall asleep. 72 hours with no more than 45 min sleep does that to you. 2 1/2 hrs later I wake up and my husband says he noticed that Placers head is looking fat. I call Mr Place over and sure enough, allergic reaction. Awesome.
Fortunately, the vet wasn't quite closed yet so I call them up to let them know we are on our way back in. He gets a shot in hopes that his face will return to normal. That evening he decides that he really didn't want his dinner of rice and cottage cheese in his stomach and throws it up. Thank goodness for tile floors!
That night he slept better in regards to not having to go out, but poor guy had the itchies. He was shaking his head and scratching and chewing on his paws. The next day was the same. We tried to keep benadryl in him, but it didn't work as well as we hoped... Good news is, he slept a little more though. Over the next few days he has slowly gotten better... Yesterday we got the fecal results back and he somehow got a parasite. Awesome.

So, new meds, new treatment and we are ready to put this past weekend behind us. Placer is ready to get his groove back... Seriously. He's tired of being stuck at home. Now to figure out how to get rid of the "sick dog smell" even after 3 baths... 

The Sick One

Sometimes its hard to remember that I have dogs- not kids... Especially after being up every 30 min for 2 nights in a row. I think I've cleaned up more diarrhea to last the rest of the time Placer is here... And King for that matter.

Off to the vet...

Staying... for now

Well... after all that... He's not leaving after all.

Word on the street is that there were several dogs unexpectedly dropped from Breeder Eval so they can only take a few dogs back, and because Placer is the youngest one that is eligible, he's not leaving. They are thinking he might fly back sometime in the December or January.

I have mixed emotions about this.

I adore Placer (as I'm sure you know) and I really don't want to see him go. He is great to take out, easy to have around, and fun to play with. We really do love having him around. He's really just at that point we don't even think twice about taking him somewhere.

On the other side, he's ready. I worry about him getting bored and trying to pick up bad habits. I know that sounds silly to say that of a golden retriever, because they tend to be less mature, but he really is ready. I think partially because we expected him to leave, so we worked really hard to get him ready.

But, now that King is old enough, we do get to start alternating weeks with him too. This makes it so much easier to work with them individually...  So I think Placer will get to work on those little things more effectively- like relieving on hard surfaces or learning how to stop shedding... oh wait.

Here's to another few more weeks/months with the Placer-Bear... and being down to 2 dogs. :)

...makes the heart grow fonder...

I've been gone from home for about a week for work/vacation. Judith got to stay home and my sister came to stay with her, while Placer and King went to the co-raisers.

Although it's been nice to have this week without 3 dogs, I realized something...

I miss them! I saw a Dalmatian in New Orleans a few days ago, and I really just wanted to hug it, just for the love of a dog...I miss it. 

I miss Judith's wagging tail when I get home. (and I do mean WAGGING)

I miss a cute puppy King sleeping on my feet.

And yes, I miss Placer's unawareness at how big his tail is while he's looking for love... (needless to say, we can't keep things on our coffee table, at tail level.)

I started crying the other day because I thought about Placer leaving... among other things that I have yet post on. What made it harder, was the fact that I didn't have his fluffy fur to cry into. I'm sure going to miss that big guy. We got the unofficial list on Monday for November 11th.

I don't think I'm ready for this.

But he is, and I'm sure he will do great!

Puppy ears

I love this guy's ears!

They are big, floppy, and soft.

I hope they stay like this for forever like Vinnie...

3 dogs + 1 X-pen

I'm not going to lie.

3 dogs is hard.

It's not as bad as I thought it would be- but I don't think I'll ever do it again for longer than a few days.

The X-pen is our friend... our best friend. Although, it is not King's friend. He does not like it. He likes to tell us that it is not his friend. Placer likes to push it around trying to get "his" toys out of it- it doesn't work in case you were wondering.

It makes me laugh when I talk to them and they look at me like I'm making perfect sense to them and they are listening.

"Placer, please stop pushing the X-pen in on your brother." "King, you don't need to jump up the side of the X-Pen."

They prove pretty quickly after I finish talking that they really weren't listening to a word I said.

No worries...We have a whole week to teach them how to interact appropriately again before Placer goes back to our co-raisers... and King will start going to our co-raiser's every other weekend this week. (We will be co-raising with Marnie's 14-year-old daughter, McKale for King. We weren't going to because Marnie just had a baby- but 2 days after I got King, they called and asked if they could co-raise again. Yes, please!)

Life goes on and they WILL learn- or at least I will. :) 

One more

Sorry for the millions of brags on Placer lately... Basically, I'm pretty sure no one else wants to hear about it and this way you can skip it if you want. So here is your fair warning... more brags on the Goldog. 

We had his final eval today. We had it with Sandi- who is not our regular CFR but because our CFR is out on medical leave, she is filling in. I think she is great. Very personable and you can tell she knows her stuff when it comes to dogs. She met us at the local mall and did the normal Q&A. 

Does your puppy do well in the crate?

How is his relieving habits?

Is your puppy on food protocol?

Not too bad. 

Then came "The Walk". I don't usually like this part because I get all nervous. I know... after 12 years  of raising- AND being a leader for most of those years- I still get nervous. I know that must transfer to my dog so I try really hard to just relax and do what we normally do.  I like to think that it works. I think I was even more nervous this time because I didn't know Sandi and I wasn't sure what was going to happen. Anyway, it was time and she had me take off his headcollar (weird) and she walked him to the corner of the food court and did a few handling things. We got to watch and he did excellent! That's my boy! There was even another Service Dog in the food court and he did great. She then walked him out of the food court and out of sight... 

I felt like a mom waiting for her kid to get out of the ACT/SAT. 

About 15-20 minutes later she came back... with a very happy Placer. She said he did great! He was a litte nervous when she first had him, but once she walked for a minute, did was fine. He walked by some traffic outside and was great and did a lap around the mall. Good Boy! 

She said he's super nice and especially for a 12 month old Golden Retriever, did really well. We are super proud of him and can't wait to see how he does in training! We will be so sad to see him go... my co-raiser started tearing up a little when she started thinking about him leaving- which is bad news for me! I still try not to think about the sad parts of Placer leaving. I know he will do great and make us proud whatever he decides to do!

The "K" puppies are...

We got our letter the other day that had the official names of the "K" litter. There was a name change with the other male, of which we were exited because they used one of our names.

Without further ado... Introducing... The Phoenix and Mamie "K" litter:

King

Kipper*

Katyjo*

Kelty*

Kilda

Kyla*


*The names we submitted.

Kipper and Kyla are in California, Katyjo is in Washington, and we heard Kelty was donated to a school in Canada... so we're just missing Kilda.

Phoenix's next litter with "Aqua" is getting ready to go out soon. 8 pups. 6 male blacks, 1 male yellow, 1 female yellow... Remember how I always say I'm going to ask for a Male Black Lab? I'm not doing so great on that am I? One day we will have the same color hair floating around the house... one day.

Growing up...

Placer reminds me all the time of how much he's grown up. This last weekend King went to my co-raisers house while Placer got to stay here until Sunday night. Because puppy was being taken care of- Placer got to do some fun things this weekend- First, after my last post I started thinking about how I think Placer really COULD stay home alone longer than 30 minutes... With Phoenix we tried doing it once-- and it didn't work out so well (Good bye to a song book from my church mission, several magazines, and a basket that held them all.) so with Placer I've been a little nervous. With this in mind I nervously left Placer free in the house this morning while we went to church for a few hours this morning. I made sure all the doors were shut and toys were out and left. About half way through the service I realized I forgot to take the garbage out. I had some strawberry tops and banana peels in the garbage and was pretty sure they wouldn't be there when I got home...

This is what we found:

The happy guy hanging out in the hallway with a bone.

A happy Goldog and the garbage safely... still needing to go out- Fruit intact. What a good boy...


His other adventure was a trip to Salt Lake. Our puppy club rode the train, ate lunch downtown, then went to a show at the planetarium. Placer proved that he's going to show the trainers at GDB his best!

Under the seat on the train.

My brother with Placer on "Mars".

...and Aden and Placer on the "Moon".

I just can help being so proud of this guy and how well he is doing...

The last year...

I forgot to post about Placer's birthday... with all the craziness happening the last week... the Goldog decided to turn ONE on September 7th!

Placer got to go swimming in a pool about 3 weeks ago. He LOVED it... as long as he could touch the bottom.

We don't have him this week... but he did get lots of love for his birthday. We heard that he will most likely be leaving for formal training November 11th on the truck. Having King around has made that a little more real. We will be so sad to see him leave, but he's a really great dog and we think he will do great in training. Whoever gets him will definitely have to be a special person.

King is a pretty nice puppy (He reminds me quite a bit of Phoenix) but he definitely has brought back memories of how far Placer really has come. Placer has always been a pretty nice puppy- easy to have around, willing to please, and fairly confident... but he has had his "quirks". Here is a little look back at where he was... and maybe some brags on where he is now:

Placer was one of the hardest of my pups to get to sleep in the crate... now he LOVES his crate and we can say "Kennel" from almost anywhere in the house and he will run to his crate and wait for us to shut the door. Before he would cry and cry... now we will hear a loud "sigh" from him every so often- but for the most part he crashes.

Placer didn't quite get any of his commands very quickly... Now he's a pro. It took him a while- but now that he knows them- he's on top of it!

Placer used to run and hide when we pulled out his head collar- and by association- his puppy coat... now he runs to the door every time I grab my keys. He willingly will "help" put on his puppy coat and head collar  by putting his head/nose through it and doesn't try to itch or rub it off. He loves to go out and if I don't take him, he's not too happy. His favorite place is going to work...+

Placer was a garbage mouth and a counter surfer as a "teenager" (8-10 months)... now he's allowed to stay loose in the house while we leave him home for short trips. I haven't ventured to leave him longer, but I'm sure he would be fine. It's mostly me that is paranoid... he's always a perfect gentleman and is usually asleep when we get home- or at the door waiting for us with Judith.

Placer had some instances of relieving on walks when he was younger... and now he's reliable on long walks and will relieve on command. (I will admit- I'm terrible at keeping my puppies relieving on cement/asphalt so that is something we will be working on before he leaves because it's been a few months since we've done that.)

 Placer has grown up so much over the last year and we can't wait to see how he does. I love watching these puppies start as silly, energetic puppies... then turn into sweet, focused companions.

Here's to another year of growing...

9-week-old, King

Roll out the Red Carpet....

...Mr. KING has arrived.

 

He looks just like his daddy...Check this link out. They look like twins!

 

He's super sweet and does pretty well during the day... Yesterday I pulled weeds in the backyard and he just hung out with me. He even fell asleep in the gravel.

 

Night time, however, is another story. He's not so fond of the crate and thinks that crying for long periods of time opens a magic portal that will get him out... hasn't worked yet, but he's still trying. He probably has the smallest bladder of any of my pups which makes us VERY glad our house is tile and wood floors for the most part.

He is super sweet though and we sure love him already. Placer met him yesterday and will be coming back to stay with us this afternoon until Tuesday- then we'll be back to our normal trade offs on Sundays next week. He has some of Phoenix's characteristics and it's fun to notice them... it's hard not to compare. One of my favorite things- that I thought was REALLY weird about Phee- is that when he doesn't know what to do, he will just sit. If he's bored- he sits, if he's tired- he sits, if he's excited- he sits. Phoenix's breeder keepers said they noticed that about Phoenix- and now apparently his little boy is just like him.

Hopefully he starts to sleep at night soon- I don't know how much sleep deprivation I can do...

Tomorrow!

Tomorrow is the day!

Baby crate is clean.

X-Pen is clean and dragged... to the back door (it will be inside tonight when I get home).

Baby puppy toys are out, but in the secret hiding spot so Placer and Judith don't get to them. (the puppy crate)

Buying more puppy food tonight.

Yay for baby "K" puppy coming.

Crossing our fingers that it's cool enough for "K" to fly in at 7:15- if not it won't be until 9:30.




Okay, I'm kind of ridiculous...

Yes, that's right, 3 dogs at our house

It's finally hitting me that maybe I'm a little crazy.

I keep telling myself that 3 dogs really isn't that bad- especially because I'll still be co-raising Placer so really it will only be every other week- And assuming he goes back the beginning of November- that's really only 5-ish weeks with 3 dogs.

It doesn't seem that long- but at the same time- I'm still a little nervous.

I think a lot of the nerves are because I don't like to have "doggie" stuff out in our living space and with one more dog- it's going to be a necessity. (It's probably a psychological thing. I don't want people to avoid coming to our house because it smells like dog, dog hair is everywhere, or dogs are just underfoot all the time. Any Psychologists out there want to analyze that?;) ) I don't mind the toys, and Placer/Judith do have a wandering dog bed- sometimes it's  hidden in the laundry room with the rest of the dog stuff but, sometimes it's in the Living room and sometimes it's in our bedroom, sometimes it's in our piano room, and it even went camping with us this weekend, but for the most part, everything is in the laundry room. I think I will have to accept the fact that to stay sane- at least for the first few weeks- I will have to drag the X-pen in the kitchen and have a baby crate in our bedroom. Sigh...
  
Anyone have any other suggestions? Especially to help limit the jealousy- although I'm pretty sure Placer gets jealous when I even look at another dog.

I think it will be great. It will be nice to have a pup that will be ready to go out when Place leaves... and we got pictures of them this weekend. They sure are cute! The males are about Phoenix's color, but the girls are a darker red. I'll post them sometime next week... Is anyone's club getting a "K" pup soon?