Category Archives: Guide Dogs for the Blind

Yakira Update

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Yakira

We got news today on Yakira. She will not be reissued as a guide dog. I’m sad about that. We wanted to have them look for another service organization for her but her official paper works says she was dropped for scavenging instead of the puddle issue she was returned for. They are doubtful that another organization will take a risk with the scavenging history. I don’t understand the scavenging because she has great house manners, so it might be stress at being back in the kennels. We will probably never know. We could bring her home and keep her or place her with someone. Guide Dogs for the Blind will also place her with someone on the long waiting list for career changed dogs. I never dreamed that of all the puppies we raised this would be Yakira’s path in life. This is the downside of being a puppy raiser.

Pupdate: Banta & Zodiac

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We got pictures from both Banta and Zodiac this week. I love getting emails from our pups and photos make it even more exciting.

Banta and Mark

Banta was recently at a family wedding and she got a special outfit for the event. Not sure why a tie, but she looks cute in it all the same.

David and Zodiac

Zodiac is earning a little bit a freedom around the house and mostly using it wisely. He is still young and sure to test the boundaries a bit. But he is learning.

Pupdate: Emma

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Emma eating her lunch

Emma is 12 weeks old today and she got the next round of vaccinations today too. She weighted 22.8 lbs. That is almost 3 lbs. heavier than Dune was at that age. It isn’t our imagination that Emma weights more than our other girls. She is a cute little chunk of puppy. It is funny because her front paws are much larger than her back paws. She slept through the night after just three nights and most nights she puts herself into her kennel to sleep.

Emma is the easiest puppy we have raised so far. She has an interesting mix if energy, calmness, independence, and malleability. Emma is a super slow eater. I’ve started putting her food down first and then taking Dune out to relieve after she finishes eating. I’m usually back in time hear Emma finishing up her dinner. She still keeps me on my toes and Dune is being a wonderful big sister. Dune still has two more weeks of “house arrest” because she is in season. These two girls add lots of joy and fun to our lives.

Yakira Update

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Yakira – photo by Lisa Thompson

We got some not so good news on Yakira recently. Her handler has decided to return Yakira to Guide Dogs for the Blind. They ended up not being a very good match. Diane loves to talk long walks and hike in the mountains and along the beach. While Yakira did great guiding in stores and malls and her house behaviors were great, she just didn’t do well with the long walks on the bike trail. Plus she didn’t deal well with puddles and mud and ddebris from trees so she never dared take her on trails for to the beach.

We have been concerned for their partnership for several months but hoped that we were just not reading between the lines correctly. We are very grateful that Diane made this decision soon enough that there is a chance that Yakira might be reissued to another handler. She will be evaluated when she gets back to campus and they will decided if she will be career changed or partnered with a new blind person.

Yakira gets on a puppy truck headed to San Rafael tomorrow. When she gets there, someone from their Oregon campus will meet her and take her back to where she was originally trained. While we hope and pray that Yakira still wants to be a guide dog, we realize that may not be the case. Whatever her future brings, I’m sure that she will do something wonderful with it. If not as a guide dog than maybe as another kind of service dog. We hope to have an update on Yakira in a couple of weeks.

Clifford – 28 August 2009 to 13 September 2013

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Clifford – photo by Karen Fuller

This morning a beloved dog named Clifford passed away. He was raised in hopes that he would grow up to be a guide dog but when he went back to Guide Dogs for the Blind for training they discovered he had cataracts. Though a miraculous series of events Clifford was adopted by my sister’s family. From the first day Clifford brought so much happiness and peace to their household. He instinctively knew just what to do. Clifford had the right mix of fun-loving and being laid back.

Shortly after his fourth birthday Clifford developed an autoimmune disorder that attached first his joints and then his blood and other organs. Despite treatment, his platelets were so low that his body just gave out. Though Clifford’s time was short his impact was huge. He will be sorely missed by not only his family but the many others he crossed paths with along the way.

Pup “E” – Emma

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Bill getting Emma off the puppy truck

We picked up our eighth puppy this afternoon from the Guide Dogs for the Blind puppy truck and her name is Emma. Such a great name! There is always this little bit of worry that your pups name will be something awful, but Emma is wonderful. She is super cute, super tired, and super sweet. She just had her first meal at our house, peed outside (yeah) and then fell asleep in the x-pen. I’m looking forward to getting to know her. So far she has been wonderfully easy but I think when she gets rested and adjusted we will get to know her real personality.

I’ll post pictures as soon as I can.

Zodiac Time-lapse Project

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Back in May of 2012 I wrote a post about a cool time-lapse project. It inspired me to try my own time-lapse project with Zodiac. I did pretty good at getting a video clip of Zodiac most weeks while he was growing up. I didn’t get a chance to work on it before he left and it was on the back burner all summer until we got the news he was doing in-home training. That pushed it to the urgent category on my to do list.

Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug

click on photo to link to video

 

I’ve never done any video editing so I had lots to learn. I first tried to use the slide show software that I have but that couldn’t handle the project at all. I have a very old version of Adobe Premiere Pro so I installed that I started reading the manual. Premiere Pro was surprisingly intuitive and most of the basics was pretty easy to figure out. I didn’t try to get fancy with anything but it came out pretty good considering my lack of experience, the quality of the video (just shot with my basic digital camera) and the not so good lighting or set up I had.

I didn’t try to do this for Dune (which I’m kind of sad about) but I want to do something for Pup “E” coming next Friday. I’m just not sure how I want to do it. I don’t want to do it the same way. While I’m pretty happy with how it turned out, it isn’t really what I was hoping for. I want a way to capture how the puppies grow and change over the year that we have them. I’ve got seven days to come up with a plan. Anybody have any suggestions?

Zodiac Book – final page

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We have loved having Zodiac as part of our family for just over a year. He will always have a special place in our hearts. While we miss his happy outlook on life, we are excited that he has chosen to be a guide dog. With his exuberance we know he has a great life ahead of him. He has a good heart and Zodiac will effect all who come into his life in positive ways. At under 18 months at the start of his career, maturing is bound to bring out the best in this sweet boy. We look forward to hearing about all the new adventures.

Zodiac Book – Zero Hour (the second time)

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On August 5th I got the call telling us that Zodiac had been chosen for in-home training and would be leaving on the weekend. A few days later we made a quick trip to Oregon to see Zodiac before he left for Missouri.  We didn’t recognize him at first with all his new chest muscles but he recognized us. Zodiac had continued to mature in the almost three months since he left. It was so much fun to see Zodiac for a couple of hours. We walked around campus and on the Oregon Trail and he got to romp with Dune. My favorite time was the four of us just hanging out together in the paddock. The day was very different than a graduation day. It was strange to be sending him off to be a guide without having met his new partner.

Zodiac Book – Zenith

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Michelle Cliborn and Zodiac traveled to Missouri for Zodiac’s in-home training with David Pinkley. On Monday, August 13, 2013, Zodiac and David met for the first time and started their training together.

We were so excited when Toni (in her words),  David’s other half, sent us photos of their first route together. More photos followed and as we got to know David and Toni better the more confident we felt that GDB had made a great match for Zodiac. There is no doubt that Zodiac will be loved and well cared for. In return we hope that Zodiac will be a great guide for David, giving him the freedom to travel independently and to do so in safety for many, many years to come.