Monthly Archives: December 2011

Christmas Packages

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Yakira

Today I sent off Christmas packages to all of our pups except Casey. We don’t have a way to send anything to her right now. We will have to give her a gift at her graduation. Each puppy got the same thing, a nylabone wish bone. All of them loved their wish bones as a puppy. Well with Waffle it was hard to tell because Casey was always the one actually doing the chewing on Waffle’s nylabone. Along with the bone a sent a large jingle bell with a red and green loop that I wove on my inkle loom. I hope they all enjoy their bones. I also have a wish bone for Clifford too and one for Bill’s brother’s dog Jazzy. Those we will deliver in person next time we see them.

No Ski Trip Out West

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Apex and Sue have been hoping to take a trip out here to Utah this winter to go skiing. Well we got news today that their trip is going to have to be put on hold. Sue is having surgery on her right shoulder right after Christmas to remove a growth that is impeding the movement of her shoulder. She said the surgery team about fell off their chairs laughing when she asked if she could be released to go skiing in February. I sure hope that the surgery goes well and that she will be able to recover quickly. At least the right should won’t mess with her ability to use a guide dog.

Spelling Lessons Needed

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We got the following email today from Apex’s handler. Part of her job is helping with a grade school. Emails like this just make my day!


GoodAfternoon,
Ijust returned from working in the K-4 class where “your son” sat in the lap ofa child.  The child knew he was a LAB (he has one at home)  and toldApex that “he should know how to spell by now.  He was not a LAP dog andto get off”.  Needless to say – the adults in the room roared and Apexlooked as if to say “What?”  (we- the class- had been working on aspelling lesson)
Tooprecious…

Couldyou please provide spelling lessons in the future?

On to phase 4

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Casey in a gold Christmas bow (photo by Lisa Thompson)

After staying in phase 3 last week I was relieved to see that Casey has moved on to phase 4! Keep it up girl! Here is an outline of what Casey is learning in phase 4:
Phase 4: Intelligent Disobedience
Formal Harness Training

  • Working past challenging animal and food distractions continues.
  • NEW! After preliminary testing, more extensive work inside buildings begins.
  • Notable Accomplishment – Traffic Conditioning (Exposure)

Body Handling Acceptance

  • Continues as in Phase 3. . NEW! New handlers are added to assess the dog’s comfort and willingness with strangers.

Physical Agility Programs

  • Obstacle Course Progression – Intelligent Disobedience Training Begins
  • NEW! Some clearances now require a stop. 
  • NEW! Addressing errors is now introduced for basic clearance work.
  • NEW! An overhead clearance is any obstacle that is above the dog’s head. 

Socialization

  • Extra socialization assignments are done with individual dogs as needed. CWTs focus on additional relaxation sessions for all dogs as training progresses. These sessions could include one or several of the following activities: community run time, kennel enrichment programs, grooming, individual play sessions, office time at staff desks, and relaxing campus walks.

Bad Bitie Day

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Yakira with mini black Goughnut

Today Yakira and I had a bad day. I guess the stuff we have done so far this week just haven’t been enough to drain out her energy. Monday we had puppy class at the Murray Library and stopped at Costco. Tuesday we went to the vet for her shots and did a 15 minute walk. This morning she woke up ready to go and wanted me to do something about it. She nipped at my leg and ripped a hole in my jeans. We went on a 30 minute walk and that helped but it just wasn’t enough. I’ve never had a puppy that used their mouth the way she does. I hope that we can figure out how to help her with this. Yakira is a very smart puppy and somehow I’m not sending her the right kind of messages about this biting thing. One thing I’ve got to do is to make sure she gets enough socializing and exercise everyday so that she isn’t bored and looking for trouble.

16 Weeks!

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Yakira with Christmas tree in the background

Today was a big milestone in a young puppies life. At 16 weeks they get the last of their puppy vaccinations. Now she is fully immunized against all those yucky puppy diseases. The restrictions are now lifted on going to parks and other high traffic dog areas and having to carry her into the vet. I’m looking forward to taking her down to the Jordan River Trail in the next week or so. I know she is going to love it.

First Sleepover

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Yakira went on her first sleepover this weekend. Lisa has been wanting to take her and show her off at church so she took her for a few days. She was a good girl on Friday and on Sunday but Saturday she was a real challenge to handle. Now Lisa knows some of the challenges we are facing with the spunky little girl. It was good for Yakira to have her first sleepover. We went to Lisa’s tonight to pick her up. Lisa kind of wanted to have her stay another night but I just wanted her to come home. It is so good to have our little black monster back home.

Trip to "Our House"

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Our local cub scout pack has a tradition of going to a local nursing home called “Our House” each December to decorate their Christmas tree and sing carols with the residents. As part of my job as the cub scout committee chairman for our pack I go along. So Yakira came with me. We all had a good time singing. One of the boy’s mother is a rather talented piano planner and I put together carol books so we would know the words. The funniest part was when one of our boys picked “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer” to sing. I had never really paid attention to the words before. So there we are singing about Grandma being dead with a bunch of old “grandmas”. They seemed to enjoy the song anyway. Maybe they enjoyed the humor of the situation.