Last Friday, our club had a booth at a local doggie daycare facility. They have had us before and its always great exposure for the dogs and people. There is usually a pet photographer that will take free portraits of the dogs that attend. Here are my cute puppy's pictures:
This is cute Kite. She came with Lana on the puppy truck and was originally intended as a starter pup for her family. So far, they are planning on keeping her until recall. She's a nice girl- very female golden-y if you know what that means, but her raisers have done a good job with her.
We will have her until Tuesday and Lana Lou gets to come back for the day then to the co-raser's house. Hopefully Kite stays this nice for us... her only fault so far is she sounds like a barking toy puppy at 3 am for about 15 minutes then goes back to sleep. She will learn...
King doesnt mind sharing... but in the bottom picture Judith was laying on her bed making sure Kite didnt get to it.
Meet the newest addition to our Guide Dog family... Lana. I know I've introduced her before since she's been a puppysitee, but we are officially co-raising her now. She is currently 5-months-old and adorable! Her daddy is the same and Placer (Franklin) so that will be fun. :)
She is my first girl in a really long time so we will see if there really is a difference (Since Monet- 5 years ago!) I really jut love that the boys tend to be more cuddly and more forgiving. We just decided we'd better take advantage of the chance to co-raise with Marnie again because a) she's an awesome co-raiser and b) we are going to have a 2-legged baby in July! We are super excited, but I couldn't see myself getting a brand new puppy in May then having a baby 2 months later. I know I'm crazy but I try not to be too crazy. :) Any help or suggestions on raising a puppy and having a baby would be greatly appreciated.
Lana will be 10 or 11 months old by the time the baby comes so that will be a good age. :)
Welcome, Lana Lou!
(100 points if you know what movie the title came from.)
I know its been 2 weeks since he's been home.
Life has gotten crazy between holidays, my grandpa passing away, and prepping for the new semester...
School starts tomorrow so hopefully we will be as normal as we can be right now.
:)
King is enjoying his new life as a couch potato. (As you can see from the pictures.) We are puppysitting 14-month-old FYL Dune for a few days and he has been great with her. She's a little bit of a higher energy dog and King will get the energy out with her outside and come inside and lay down on the dog bed when he's had enough. I'm pretty happy having him back... Judith is too. I was a little nervous because Jude is definitely an only child type dog, but she actually doesn't mind him and he is totally respectful of her.
We start officially co-raising Lana next week so we will see how that goes. Updates to come...
Well... Kingaroo decided that coming home would be much more fun that being a Guide Dog. The official reason was Relieving (surprised at that one) and Body Sensitivity (not really a surprise). We always said the body sensitivity would be what got him, if anything.
GDB checked into a few other jobs for him, but most required a jacket and we all know how that would go... so next week he's coming home.
We are sad he decided not to be a guide dog- but are so excited to add him to our family. We are hoping to do something fun with him like nosework, rally, or agility. He's a fun dog and Judith will be happy to have a brother she can boss around.
Where does that leave puppy raising?
Well, in January we will start co-raising Lana the golden. She's a super sweet girl- and just opposite of the Male Black Lab I was hoping for. Ha... oh well. Between King and Judi's hair- it won't really matter.
You're almost there King!
This phase is work in more urban areas... and pre-matching starts now. Here's hoping his perfect match is ready for the best Guide Dog ever soon!
Keep going, Kingaroo!
Remember how we took 3 weeks off of puppysitting? Well apparently its 3 weeks off = 3 puppysits. :) for the last week we've had Volt (10 month old Black Lab) and Lana (4 month old Golden) then for the next week or so we will have Yanni...
It actually wasn't super terrible- both Lana and Volt are super nice dogs and we just did the crate/tie-down trade off. We will see how Miss Judi fairs after all this... Yanni is a 15 month old pup so I'm not TOO worried. He's also a Phoenix pup so it will be fun to have him.
And this is why King's trainer is totally my favorite person right now!
They updated paperwork even with the holiday. Phase 5 is when he's really starting to make decisions and even gets to do a few blindfold walks.
Keep going buddy and we will see you soon!!
I think everytime I have a dog in training over the holidays, I remember why I don't like having a dog in training over the holidays.
Today King was hanging out in phase 3 again, which is fine, but I realized he will probably be stuck there for the next few weeks until after Thanksgiving. Then comes the Christmas holidays and it seems like they gets stuck in a black hole again.
I guess as long as he's there, no news is good news...
Keep going King!
This morning Kingaroo showed up in phase 3! That's exciting... I'm still crossing my fingers for him.
He gets to take his preliminary test this week with an instructor under blindfold. Reading about that in the phase descriptions reminded me of the workshop we just went to in Colorado a few days ago. We watched a few videos of dogs in training and how they train them... I thought of King while we were watching them. They used quite a few yellow labs about his color in the videos- adding to me missing him.
Just keep up this rate of training and I'll see you soon, Kingaroo. :)
Ving ended up hanging around an extra week. We found him a raiser in Utah and I'm sure he will do so well with her but she couldn't take him until today...
So today is farewell to the Lion Ving.
It will be nice to be down to one dog... and relax a little when I can't see a yellow dog. (If I can't see him- he's up to something.) We will be puppysitting over the winter- but I promised Rick we can at least have the next 3 weeks off. We will have black lab, Volt over Thansgiving. Stay tuned...
Yay! He made it on the report this week... even if it is 0, its good to see that GDB knows he's there. :)
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| Me and King-a-roo |
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| McKale- my co-raiser, and I |
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| Off to Oregon! (I mean California... and then Oregon.) |
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| Everyone asks if it gets easier... Although this picture looks like the answer is no... answer is yes and no. The days leading up to my dog leaving is easier. I don't cry hardly at all thinking of him leaving. I get excited that he gets to move on to the next step. Putting him on the truck is a different story. It's rough. |
This is Ving. AKA Ving-a-ring-a-ding-dong. He's our long-ish term puppysitee.
We've had him about a week while he waits for a ride back to a finisher raiser in Colorado at the end of next week. We kind of like him.
He's a naughty puppy, but so sweet and is getting better now that he knows we have rules. I've thought about keeping him because I really do love having him... but I think my spring semester is going to be nuts and I would feel really bad if he had extra crate time. He's kind of an energetic guy and he would not do well. Sad... but I'm pretty happy with his new raiser. She will do fantastic with him and I'm sure he will do so well with her!
Here's to one more week with the Ving a ring!
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| I love this one of him- totally his personality! |
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| This one is with my co-raiser. It was hilarious that this happened... |
I know I say that about all my dogs- but I do. All of my puppies are my favorite (its a sickness.).
The other day King was chilling at the gym, watching out the window, and I realized what an awesome dog he's become.
Yes, he's quirky.
Yes, he's weird.
And yes, sometimes his clingy nature drives me up a wall. But...
I just really like him.
As I got on the floor to stretch, little Kingaroo tried to snuggle up next to me. Poor guy got rejected and made to sit off of the mat. He still sat there and watched my every move. Made sure I was okay and when it was time for me to go- he was ready. He's so great. I'm sure he's ready for the big adventures that are coming up! (November 11th)
Dear Kings future partner:
You sure are lucky. Hes the best dog and for sure will take good care of you. Make sure you take good care of him- he deserves it.
Give him a big hug from us!
Mickelle, Rick, and Judith
