Updates!

Guide Dogs must have heard my plea... We called this afternoon and they said they've decided to do a test breeding! Yay!

So... He'll be bred to a female and after the first ultrasound at four weeks, if there are puppies, he'll be made an official breeder- if not he'll be put back in training.

Cross your fingers for him-- Place needs a new little brother!

In other news... Poor Placer has lost his ability to be a breeder. He got his neuter note and was in the vet last Tuesday. He's feeling great and is back to normal. We sure love the fluffy guy!

Dear Guide Dogs,
Please hurry up and decide what job Phoenix will have because we want to get our own puppy, and if he's going to have little Phoenix Jr.'s, we need to plan our life. The end.

Mickelle.

Happy 6 Months!

Place is just turning 6 months... he's pretty happy with his gift:

A new YARD!

We finally have had mostly good weather and he got to run outside. He's kind of in love with the fact that he can go outside with his Jolly Ball and run with it- instead of just playing tug in a small apartment.

Also, he's finally starting to look more Golden-y again. He went through that awkward, hairless stage. He didn't have so much hair and he had the long legs with a skinny body... he's turning into a handsome guy. Looking a little like those pretty "J" goldens.

I think we'll keep him... at least for the next several months. :)

Crates

We're moved! Yay! Now we have room for Placers XL wire crate, which means his plastic crates are going in storage for when we have two dogs... Place wasn't too happy about this and wouldn't let me put them away.

Phoenix "Downdate" and Moving

Yup... nothing. We called yesterday and GDB said they still didn't know, a few more weeks. They have a few dogs they're deciding on, and have to have some meetings before they can decide. Yes, We're one of "those" puppy raisers that call every few weeks, just so they don't forget to call us the second they decide. We do try not to be creepers, but they might or might not know us by name. (Okay they really don't but I'm sure they get tired of the calls every 2-3 weeks) The dogs that went back with him, are now in phase 8. They did say he's going to another foster home that will most likely become his "keeper" home if they do breed him. Guess we'll see...

We're also in the process of moving this week. Placer isn't quite sure about the move... he wasn't too happy when we packed up most of his bones and food and left it at our new house.

His hurt feelings were much better when we came home and we let him play with his new Jolly Ball. We bought it the other day at Lindsey's and Cobb helped him to break it in. He was pretty proud of it and I'm sure it will be much more fun to play in our big, new yard with it. We're excited to have some "outside" toys that he can play with, right now all we have is a big black Kong and his new Jolly Ball. Wish us luck over the next few days... Moving is no fun, but it's definitely worth it.

Cookies and Trains

How awesome are these cookies?

Very. We made them for our clubs appreciation dinner a few weeks ago. Thank you Michaels for having a dog cookie cutter last minute.

In other news....

Last week, Placer had his first public transportation experience. He got to ride The Frontrunner train all the way to Salt Lake City, then board TRAX and do it all over again on the way home.

Over the next year, he will become very familiar public tranportation- busses, trains, and taxi's. It's how he will get to work when he starts going to work with my co-raiser and her husband...

Good thing he was a pro! We walked in and he layed right down. He was even perfect while we went to dinner and a short planetarium show. I love this boy!

Phoenix update: We called last week and they said he's doing VERY well in his foster home. They will be doing his final test on Tuesday and we can call Wednesday or Thursday for the results and they will go from there. I don't think I've ever heard of a dog being in the breeder black hole this long... They did say that they think Phoenix will do well in whatever they decide to ask him to do- and He really will. He's just one of those dogs...

Phoenix updates...

I just realized. I haven't updated about Phoenix! We called 2 weeks ago and they said he's passed all of his testing except one more sperm analysis (TMI, I know) but they had to wait a few weeks to do it again. Soo... This means he's in foster care for a few weeks then they said they will probably breed him and see if it works out. If it does, he's good to go, if not, its back to training for him.

Hopefully we'll hear soon... They said ABOUT 3 weeks so... We should hear sometime in the next month or so... Sometime... 

"Getting Bigger" Pictures

Placer-puppy is growing. At his weigh in a few weeks ago he was at almost 30 lbs and I'm sure he's over 30 lbs by now. He's definitely a silly, goofy golden, but is the sweetest puppy in the world and is doing so well. He loves "Go to Bed" and is perfect at it. He loves to go out-- as long as he doesn't have to wear his headcollar. Poor guy, but what puppy DOES like their headcollar. He'll get over it :)

Because of this growing up business, here are some attempts at capturing it on camera... it proved to be difficult.

"Just because I'm sitting on the floor, doesn't mean you need to come give me love."


"Almost a stay... almost"


If taken quickly, the picture is proof... that he's growing (and that I really need Photoshop.)



He definitely knows how adorable he is.

Phoenix news? Not a whole lot. We did talk to GDB and they said they were probably going to be making a decision on Monday when the breeding manager gets back into the office. If they do pull him though, we've decided that Placer needs a cute little (hopefully Black) baby brother from his first litter. We'll see what happens though... cross your fingers for him!

Why I love freshly bathed goldens...

The 80's permed ears.

P.S. Thanks to Laura for the picture of Phoenix on her blog!

Vinnie update

Thank you for all your thought and prayers. Vinnie is now home and doing better. They found that Vinnie does not have cancer, but enlarged lyphnodes because of Diabetes. (Sad but still a Big sigh of relief that it's not cancer!) Although, he's still not feeling 100% himself, he is definitely on his way there. He will be on a strict diet, insulin shots twice daily, and lots of walks- short ones because of his stiff joints, but walks nonetheless.

The things we do for these dogs... we love them a lot.

We are so glad he is doing alright and he sends everyone lots of tail wags. We will be over to visit him this weekend and will give him lots and lots of hugs!

In other news, Placer is now legal and got to go to work today for the first time. Lucky guy.

He was perfect and will be visiting the office as frequently throughout the next year. :)

This past weekend Vinnie, my 11 1/2 year old career change dog (and first GDB puppy) that lives with my parents, hasn't been feeling well. He's getting slower in his age and has a few fatty tumors that have been removed and grown back, but other than that he's been the same since he was 2.


We called the vet on Monday, and luckily someone was there and told us it sounded like a UTI and he would be fine until Tuesday. My mom took him in this morning and after a few tests, they found his blood sugar level over 500 (normal for a dog is about what's normal for a human between 75 and 120). The vet decided to keep him overnight to give him the glucose shots and for observation. The vet thinks he has developed Diabetes... They are also testing him for Lymphoma. I pray he is alright and gets to go home tomorrow. He's a huge part of all of our lives and it's sad having him away even for a night-- and I don't even live there.

Since we're in the process of getting a house, I've been thinking about how I really want a pet dog soon that is just *ours*, but going through this today makes me think... why would I want to do that to myself?

It's tough watching your dog get old.

It's sad seeing them get slower.

I don't know that I can do it again after watching my Vinnie go through it...

Please keep Vinnie in your thoughts and prayers.

Sometimes...

Sometimes I really miss Phoenix...

Then I get to cuddle with this guy and it makes it better.

Oh Placer... I'm really glad you're so darn cute and extra sweet?

My dog is a pig

One of the funny, quirky things about Placer is the sounds that he makes.

Mostly in the morning when he gets out of his crate, he will lean up against me and start making this deep low noise...

at first we though it was a growl-y "Good morning"...

Then we though it was a little purr... (he does live with 2 cats at his other house)

This week we realized it sounds just like an OINK.

My dog thinks he is a pig.

From this discovery he has earned several new nicknames- "Piggy" and "Wilbur" among them.

I tried to get it on video, but it doesn't quite work out... I'll work on it though.

It's hard to capture the true Placer in a video- or even in a picture. Such a sweet guy, with a lot of fun personality. He's just starting to get out more and does really well. He went to church for the first time last week and did GREAT- especially considering we teach the 9-year-olds. He went right in and fell asleep. What a good puppy...

Road Trip

I heard last night that Phoenix made it safely to San Rafael yesterday with 2 other Breeder Eval dogs. It's not much, but every bit of information is ridiculously exciting for me.

Leaving you with a little bit of a ghetto picture of cute Placer.

Retired

I got another email today about one of my other puppies...

Sweet Judith.

Judith was my 2nd puppy I raised and she was the one in restored my faith in the fact that I could DO IT. Vinnie was one tough puppy- he was my first puppy and he was an intact male and no he's a marshmallow I know. But Judith saved me from having to convince my family to do it again. She was the one that made me fall in love with Female Black Labs... after her I raised 4 more FBL's (until I fell in love with the Males... I would LOVE a Male Black Lab- best of both worlds)

We all fell in love with Judith and were so happy when she graduated with the most amazing woman from Oregon.

Over the last 8 1/2 years we've kept in contact every few months. She will tell me how little Judi is doing and I tell her now my newest Guide Dog puppy is.

Today I got an email that said Judith is ready to retire. She will be working until a new dog is ready to take over the duties, then she'll enjoy the life of luxury in her retirement.

We've always said we would take Judith back in a heartbeat if we could, but over the years we've gotten the chance to see her a few times and I know she's in the right place and there's no where else she would rather be, than with the person that has taken such good care of her for the past 8 1/2 years and I know she will take great care of her in her retirement. I just think- am I really this old that I have a dog retiring? Have I really done it this long? Apparently so.

Happy Retirement, Judith!

One Quiet Weekend

It's kind of weird not having puppy for the weekend. But it's good. We get to sleep past 6 a.m. ;)

A lot of people ask how co-raising works for me and the answer is:

FANTASTIC!

We love it. My co-raiser is Marnie... and family. Her house includes a husband- Willie- who is equally involved and takes the puppies to work when they are old enough, 4 girls, 2 cats, and a working Guide Dog.

In the beginning I usually will take the puppy more because it's harder for Marnie and Willie to tell if puppy has an accident unless their girls are home. So they get puppy on the weekend (Friday-Monday) and I get him during the week. As puppy gets older, we start to trade every other week- switching on Sundays. We live pretty close to each other so it's not hard to trade.

We both have our strengths and fit together really well.

Marnie is really good at working on "Come" because that is really important for her to have a dog with a good recall that touches her so she knows he is there.

I'm in charge of teaching "Go to Bed" since Marnie can't see to treat him at the right time.

It's fun to show each other what puppy has learned in the days that we have him- and it's fun to see how much puppy has grown since we last saw him.

Also we both have such different home lives that puppy gets used to lots of different things.

Marnie lives in a house- we live in an apartment (not for long though! We're getting ready to close on a house soon! Yay!),
Marnie has lots of kids and dogs- We don't,
Marnie works in Voc Rehab and Willie owns a Cafe- I work at the University,
Marnie and Willie take the bus or a cab everywhere- We drive a small Toyota and a Suzuki with a hatchback.

Pretty much co-raising is great and if you ever get the chance to co-raise with someone great- I recommend it.

Greetings from Guide Dogs...

"We are writing to thank you for your puppy raising contribution and to inform you that Phoenix has been selected for evaluation as a breeder.

Breeding stock selection is based on the results of training evaluations, health screenings and the needs of the breeding colony in terms of pedigree and temperamental type. While the breeding department evaluates Phoenix potential as a breeder, Phoenix will undergo additional health examinations. These include orthopedic x-rays, cardiac ultrasound, and a pre-breeding physical. As we wait the approximate four to six weeks for the results of these examinations, Phoenix will remain at Guide Dogs’San Rafael or Oregon campus or in an approved foster care home.

Once these additional health examination results are finalized, a breeding department staff member will notify you of the results by telephone. If Phoenix meets Guide Dogs’ breeding criteria, Phoenix will then be placed in a qualified breeder keeper home within a 50 mile radius of Guide Dogs’ San Rafael campus...

By raising a dog that becomes a breeder, you have contributed to continuing Guide Dogs’ services and making it possible for future generations of working guides to assist the visually impaired. All puppy raisers of breeders are invited to present the dog at an upcoming graduation and we will work through scheduling details as the time comes.

Thank you for your hard work and dedication as a puppy raiser..."

YAY for Phoenix! Good Luck...

We always said that if we could clone Phoenix we totally would. Watch for more updates in the next few months...

Placetraz

Here's Placer and his (future) BFF Alcatraz. One day they'll learn to.be friends... For now they just ignore each other

He loves his bowl...

Not because it has food in it... But because of the water.

I have my water lover.

One Week Update

Pretty sure we have a pretty great puppy...
He's just a nice boy and we can't wait to raise him.

This week he's learned:

...How to walk up and down the stairs outside our apartment (5 open,grated steps)

...To crate himself when he's sleepy

...His raisers don't know what his name REALLY is- Place-er/Plass-er... we decided to go with
"Place-er" unofficially because too many people called him "Plaster"-- but we will make sure
he knows "Plass-er" too :)

...The basket of toys is the best thing in life

...Leaves are not good things to pick up

...Life as a guide dog puppy is going to be great!

I saw his brother, Pilgrim yesterday and he's just as nice as our boy. Hopefully they stay this good :)

Phoenix update? Nothing really- I do know they made a few cuts from Breeder eval and Phoenix wasn't one of them... So cross your fingers for him.

You know you all want cute, nice Phoenix babies. I know we do! (But he would be the best Guide Dog ever!)