Category Archives: Waffle

Utah State Fair

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Waffle and the sheep

The Utah State Fair was our outing today. This was Casey’s second time to the State Fair as we took her and Banta last year. She handled everything very well but couldn’t care less about the animals. Waffle was a different story. She found the animals very interesting and some of them were equally intrigued by her too. She did great with them and remained very calm. The rest of the fair was a different matter. Waffle had several panic attacks where she would bolt to the end of the leash with her tail between her legs and spin around when she got to the end. We couldn’t pinpoint what was scaring her but after a few moments of having her just stand quietly she would be ready to move on. Our best guess is that it was some kind of sound she was reacting to. We didn’t stay too long after Waffle started having trouble because it was clear that she had had enough.

Healing Fields

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Waffle and Bill walking through the Healing Fields

Today we took the girls to the Healing Fields in Sandy. It is right by Bill’s work and it is a fun opportunity to expose the pups to lots and lots of flags. Plus it is a neat thing to experience all the flags, each one representing a person who was killed on September 11, 2001. This year each flag had a tag attached to it with the name and a short bio of each person. The flags were also group by the location where they died.

Swiss Days Outing

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We packed up the girls this morning and drove up to Heber Valley to attend Swiss Days. I thought it would be a good opportunity to experience some new things. We park at an area they had set up in a field and rode a shuttle bus to the festivities. There were so many people it was amazing. We brought Apex here a couple of years ago but it wasn’t nearly this crowded. Casey did great but Waffle had a couple of fear reactions. One was walking by the bus. But mostly she did just fine.

Freedom Day

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Casey resting her head on Bill’s knee

Waffle resting her head on Casey

We got permission for Casey to be out and about one day early so she could attend a multi-club puppy meeting with our CFR today at the Career and Technology Center. It was so nice to be able to take booth girls out. Lindsey said that she needed to have a bath first to help her not smell so interesting to any intact males. Casey got to meet her brother Crosby after the meeting. As we were chatting with his raisers we found out that Crosby is an ear sucker just like Casey. Isn’t that funny. We talked to Barb about Waffles fear reactions and got permission to start her on food protocol. I’m so glad, I think this will help her immensely.

Dinner at Karen’s

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Jacob and the chickens

Today we, (Bill, Waffle and I) went to fellow puppy raisers house for dinner. Casey had to stay home because she still has a few more days on her confinement. The Johnson’s were there too. Karen put this together because the Johnson’s adopted her career changed puppy, Clifford earlier this year. It was a fun evening. Karen’s parents live on a little farm with a big garden and goats and chickens and even a turkey. Danny and Jacob seemed to enjoy the animals. Karen’s neighbor has an emu that we got to say hi too also. Too bad Casey had to miss out. She would have enjoyed it too.

Emu next door
Happy Waffle in Karen’s backyard

Casey Recall Reprieve

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Bill with Waffle and Casey

We got news today that Casey will not be returning to Guide Dogs for the Blind on the next truck. They have more dogs in Breeder Evaluations than they need and training needs more dogs. So since Casey was the youngest puppy scheduled to go on the truck and she is in consideration to be a breeder she will not be going back until the next puppy truck to Utah which is expected to be in October. I didn’t see this coming. Casey is ready to go back but we sure will enjoy having her longer. I think for Waffle it would have been better to have a month or so as an only dog before she is transferred but that is not to be. We have canceled Casey’s Farewell party to be rescheduled when we have a new recall date. Another good thing about the change in recall date is that Casey doesn’t have to go back just a few days after she is released from her confinement from being in season.

Cub Scout Day Camp

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Clifford and Waffle near the bottom of the falls at Battle Creek

Today we all went to Cub Scout Day Camp. I’m the Cub Committee Chair for our local pack and as part of that I end up in charge of our annual day camp. As part of camp we drove to Utah county and a beautiful little canyon called Battle Creek. It has a water fall a short hike up the trail that makes a great hike for the boys. Casey had to stay home, of course being in season. But Clifford is staying with us for a few days while the Johnson’s are out of town so he kind of went in her place. The boys loved Clifford especially because they could take turns holding his leash on the hike. When we got to the falls the water flow was much higher than I’ve ever seen it due to the snow pack and the wet spring so we didn’t get to play at the bottom of the falls that we usually do. But we had fun anyway. After the hike both Waffle and Clifford were exhausted and conked out when we got back down the trail.

Waffle and Clifford after the hike

Playing Dead

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Waffle “playing dead” on her favorite dog bed

Waffle is such a silly girl. She loves to sleep on her back with her legs spread way out wide. She is totally relaxed but she looks more like a dead dog than one that is actually asleep. She does this all the time. She even did it the first Sunday that she went to all of church. I’ve heard that dogs only sleep this way when they are feeling very secure in their environment. I guess this means that she is well adapted to being part of our family.

Chuckwagon Breakfast and ATV Rodeo

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Clifford and Waffle at the ATV Rodeo

This morning we went to the park for the annual Chuckwagon breakfast put on the city. The lines weren’t too long and we sat across from some policemen who were taking a break from working security for the festivities. Then we met my sister and her family on the other side of the park for the ATV Rodeo. Waffle drove me a bit nuts on the way over there because she kept messing with her head collar trying to rub it off on me or the ground. Silly girl! Clifford came with my sister too so it was fun to get to see him again. Jacob just loves Waffle. Of course he loves Clifford too. My nephews enjoyed seeing how the ATV Rodeo worked as their family recently purchased a couple of ATV’s and they boys are learning how do drive them.

A Walk in the Park

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Casey and Waffle happily enjoying a rest on the cool grass

Today Lisa and I took the girls for a relaxing walk in the park. It was pretty hot so we stuck to the shade as much as possible. We all enjoyed ourselves especially when we just hung out in the cool shade for awhile. Casey and Waffle are so cute together. I can’t help but remember when Banta was the grown-up dog and Casey was the little one.