Category Archives: Guide Dogs for the Blind

Phase 0

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Casey with a couple of her favorite ropes

We finally got the phase report for this week this morning. Casey is on it in phase 0. This is the phase were they do health screenings and kennel socialization. It probably seems pretty much the same as what she has been doing for breeder evaluations. For Casey she is probably just finishing her recovery from being spayed and is waiting to be assigned to a training string. She has probably been assigned a kennel mate by now. I wonder if she is sucking on her kennel mates ears?

Waffle Update

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Waffle in pink sunglasses

I was so excited today to see an email from Waffle’s new raiser. I not only got one email but Claraliz replied to all the emails I have sent her and she also send me three photos of Waffle! Yeah!!! She is doing good and seems very well adjusted to her new life. She is still having some fear issues but is making progress. Within just one week we have gotten photos of Apex, Banta and Waffle. What more could a raiser want? Well maybe a webcam that would follow Casey around so I could check on her anytime I wanted.

Beautiful Waffle in her Halloween Costume
Waffle sleeping on her back with her new siblings

Yakira is 12 Weeks old

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I took Yakira to the vet today to get her next round of vaccinations. She weighed 22.4 pounds. Just three weeks ago she was 15.6. That is some good growing girl. She has learned so much since we got her almost four weeks ago. She has lots more to learn but she is doing good. We also stopped by JoAnn to get some glue sticks for my candy project. She was so excited to see people and especially kids. Thank goodness for Gentle Leaders so I can redirect her without having to give her a big correction.

Yakira gets her jacket

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Yakira taking a snooze in her jacket

Big milestone today with Yakira, she got her jacket. We had puppy class at the South Towne mall today and so she needed her jacket for that anyway. But she did so good. We went to a quiet corner of the mall and all the dogs practiced recalls and go to bed. She did great on recalls and almost did as good on go to bed as at home. She did better on that than some of the older dogs. Nothing wrong with Yakira in the smarts department. She is plenty smart. The challenge is figuring out how to communicate in a way that she understands. She was so cute in he little jacket. And she walked through the food court like a little pro. I forgot to take my camera so no pictures. Today is the last puppy class where she will be the youngest puppy. The Millars are getting a second puppy on the truck on Thursday, a lab/golden cross with the letter “S”. There other puppy, Santini is now the oldest puppy in the group since Cobb got career changed. Santini is just a week or two older than Waffle. Boy they grow up so fast.

One Year Ago

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Banta and Prestwick

It was one year ago today that we put Banta on the truck for Guide Dogs for the Blind. So I sent an email to Mark and Banta to let them know I was thinking about her. Mark sent back such a fun message and pictures of Banta with his previous guide Prestwick. The two of them look so much alike in their coloring that I was amazed. She looks so happy and I can tell how much Mark loves her by the way he talks about Banta.

Here is some of what Mark said about Banta:

We went to a hospital today forblood work and another test.  Banta was very excited.  Banta wentstraight to the lab and cafeteria with no direction from me.  She got alittle confused on the way to the Dr’s office, but it is a huge hospital withmany connected buildings.  I was very happy she remembered since we werelast there in June.  She is so funny when she is remembering routes shelearned but does not do frequently.  When she finds something she startsdancing around wagging her tail like crazy, I’m sure the food reward she getshas no influence on her excitement.  People probably think I am crazybecause I am usually laughing and talking to Banta like she is a person on dayslike today.  My first 2 dogs would walk towards their target and then turnand keep going.  As Banta approaches her target she speeds up thensuddenly jumps and does a 90 degree turn in the air then takes off towards hernext target.  I can’t help but laugh because she turns her work into agame and has fun.

Halloween

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Yakira in her Halloween costume

Last year we had Banta’s farewell party on Halloween so I made a couple of orange and black ruffles to go around their necks to celebrate the season. So this year I pulled one out to put on Yakira for the day. It was big but it worked fine anyway. We set up a couple of x-pen panels so she couldn’t get to the door when the trick or treaters came. She so enjoyed waiting there to see the kids come by. Yakira got lots of “oh how cute” comments from the kids. It was a fun evening.

Not a Breeder

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Casey laying on our kitchen floor

I got an email this morning that Casey is being spayed and will enter training as soon as she is recovered. Of all the breeder evals that went back on the truck with her only one is still being considered and that one is a golden. I think Casey has what it takes to be a very good guide dog for someone with a calm kind of life. I can imagine her with someone older, kind of like my neighbor, Virginia, who Casey just adores. Now I just have to wait for her to show up on the weekly phase reports. It will be nice to get weekly updates on how she is progressing. Go girl, you can do it!

10 Weeks Old

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Yakira in Bill’s lap

Our little girl is 10 weeks old today! She is really starting to catch on to relieving. She has reminded me several times that she was ready to go out. We are transitioning to say the “do your business” command to just before she starts relieving. So that is a big milestone. Yakira still doesn’t make it through the night but that will be coming very soon.

He cold is pretty much better. No more runny nose and she only coughs once in awhile now. She has lots of energy between naps and sometimes it is hard to keep her from making me her chew toy. Yakira loves to snuggle in our laps when she is ready for a nap.

Big Little Girl

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Yakira chewing on a big nylabone stuck in the middle of a Goughnut Max

Yakira doesn’t seem to know that she is a tiny puppy. She loves to take on anything no matter what the size. When she is in one of her “I’ve got to beat up on something” mood I pull out the jolly ball and she pounces on it. She will take on the Goughnut Max and even the biggest nylabone that we have, left over from when we were raising Apex. She is a fun loving girl and ready to take on anything.

She hasn’t been perfect on the relieving but she had another dry day on Saturday and we are down to one trip outside each night. Not bad for a 9 and a half week old puppy.

First Dry Day

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Yakira on the stairs

Today was Yakira’s first day without an accident! Yahoo. On Monday and even Tuesday morning I was really wondering if we were making any progress on the relieving. She had not had an accident in her kennel at night since Sunday but she was still having accident in her x-pen and it was usually right after we had been out to relieve. No there is a little light at the end of the tunnel. Yakira isn’t sleeping though the night yet but getting up a couple of times isn’t so bad.

Yakira has mastered the stairs. I was amazed at how fast she learned to climb them. It only took a couple of exposures. Down was a little slower but that only took a couple of days. Now she can do them both ways and she is even starting to skip the bottom step and leap off. I had to take this picture because Apex use to sit just like this on the step. Yakira’s legs are so short they barely make it down to the lower step.