Category Archives: Yakira

Pupdate

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Black Lab Clifford, Yellow Lab Dune and Black Lab Zodiac

a Dune sandwich – Clifford, Dune and Zodiac

It has been a few weeks since I actually got a pupdate post written. Zodiac and Dune are doing good. It looks like Zodiac probably won’t be returning to Guide Dogs for the Blind on the next puppy truck in May. There are 25 dogs older than him and the truck only holds 19 dogs. I’m glad to get a few more weeks with him.

We were a three dog household for the last three days. My sister’s career change, Clifford was here. The three of them had so much fun together. Clifford looks very like Zodiac so it takes careful observation to know who it who.

The other great news this week was an email from Yakira and Diane. It sounds like they are doing great. Here is some of what Diane had to say:

My orange tree is in full bloom complimented by the newly opened scents of my roses freezias and lilacs.   From many other gardens the sent of jasmine contributes to the spring ambiance.

Today Yakira and I took an absolutely delightful 5 mile walk.  This has been a bit of a struggle for Yakira but she is finally demonstrated a willingness to walk decent distances at an excellent rate of speed. Honestly I would call our walk today a 10.  Before to long I can see that we will be enjoying a routine walk of 9 to 10 miles.

I have recently taught Yakira to drink from a safe water bottle.  Our walks are long enough and the weather will be warm enough that she needed the compliment to her food rewards of, of course, a portion of her daily food ration, as well as teriyaki beef jerky from Costco.  My retired Guide, Bettyjo, enjoyed the jerky as a reward and so I anticipated that Yakira would also find this an excellent motivation when developing new behaviors.  I am looking forward to also incorporating apple slices into her food rewards.

I absolutely love giving Yakira water from the cute little 8 oz water bottles.  She is so cute that everyone who passes by while she is drinking uuus and ahhs about her.

Yakira and Bettyjo get along famously and the cats have come to accept her as a member of the family too.  It is really nice to see all of them getting along so well when we are not working.

I have to say that Yakira is the best shopper I have had.  We walked along the arcade here yesterday for the first time.  She did a really amazing job in stopping at each open door to determine whether or not the store was the one I was looking for.

Yeah for news from one of our puppies! Yakira sure has an awesome life with Diane.

Yakira Book – Cover & Title Page

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Yakira – Cover
(photo by associate of Lisa Thompson)

In honor of Yakira’s recent graduation and since I finally have her puppyhood book finished I decided it was a good time to do a series of post on her book. This is the fifth book I’ve done for the puppies we have raised. You can see Apex’s, Banta’s, Casey’s and Waffle’s books by following the links on their names. (Oops, I’ve never posted Apex’s Book. I’ll have to put that on my to do list.) I designed Apex’s from scratch and then made a template based on it for all of our black dogs. Then a tweaked the coloring for all of our yellow dogs. I customize for each one by changing the font for their name etc and the accent colors for that font. Using the template really helps in speeding up the time it takes to put each book together. I also like the continuity that it brings to the series. Beside using the template for the layout, all the books text is based on the concept of taking their initial and finding words that start with the same letter to describe their personality, trait or memory of that puppy. Yakira was a challenge because of that. If we succeed in getting an “X” puppy someday, I think I’ll have to adjust that guideline and find words containing the letter x.

Yakira Book – title page (photo by Lisa Thompson)

Pupdate – Yakira

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Diane & Yakira – getting their official portrait on graduation day

We got an email from Diane and Yakira this week. Their flights home went pretty good. Yakira needed a little reassurance during take off. But that’s not bad for her first time flying. Here is some of what she said.

Both Yakira and my other animals are getting along well.  (Actually she and the cats have a mutual agreement to ignore each other but it’s not necessarily a bad plan.)

We have been taking two trips into the community daily to expose her to all the new sights and guide work issues.  She is a remarkably quick learner and we will shortly be enjoying ourselves more than adapting.

Besides the two cats (Sleepy and Aurora), Diane has her retired guide, Bettyjo (also a black lab but much larger than Yakira). It is so much fun to get a quick update from Yakira!

Graduation Day – Yakira

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Yakira at Diane’s feet

We left Friday morning for Yakira’s graduation, after dropping Dune off at my friend’s for puppy sitting. The roads were great but the trip was long. I’m always ready to be there after about an hour or two of driving. It really is a pretty drive but 12 hours is a long time in the car. Zodiac is an excellent traveler and was very patient and willing to get back in the car even when we could tell he was tired of it. We finally got to Gresham and settled into our hotel for the night.

Mount Hood

On Saturday, we woke up to blue skies. I was so excited. I’ve been to Oregon for 3 other graduations and never had a glimpse of Mount Hood. But this time it was perfectly clear. We drove around the area a bit before graduations trying to get a photo. We got to Guide Dogs for the Blind’s Boring, Oregon campus a little early so we could take Zodiac on the “Oregon Trail” that goes through the natural vegetation on the back edge of campus, before he had to go in a kennel in the kennel kitchen. You can’t have a puppy in training with you while you are presenting the dog you raised during graduation. He loved the walk but wasn’t so happy about going into the kennel.

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video of seeing Yakira for the first time since October

Finally the time came for us to see Yakira and meet her new partner. It was kind of funny because Yakira was a little slow in figuring out who we were. But once she realized she was a happy girl. Bill was holding her leash and she started doing some crazy labby loops and got away from him and looped off to say hi to one of the other pups in class. Yakira looked great and very happy. Her handler, Diane, is a great match and we enjoyed getting to know her. She still has her retired guide, Betty Jo so Yakira has a buddy to hang out with at home. It was so nice to just hang out with Yakira and her partner and get lots of puppy loves. I was hoping that Yakira would move somewhere warm and her new home is in southern California so that is perfect for her.

Yakira giving Bill a kiss

We got a chance to meet Yakira’s sister Yumi’s raisers at graduation. She said that Yakira is just like Yumi except she is black instead of yellow. I also got to meet another of the graduates who I know from a guide dog user/puppy raiser email group I’m on. Her partner, Tyra is Yakira’s half-sister.

Yakira looking up at Diane

After graduation I got Zodiac from the kennel kitchen and we took him and Yakira out to the paddock behind the dorms and let them romp for a few minutes to get reacquainted and then went out to eat afterwards with Diane and Yakira. GDB has made another great match for our girl. She is going to love her new home in southern California and her new life as a guide dog. Yakira was not Diane’s original match on dog day. But it soon became clear that this first dog just wasn’t going to be a good match for Diane’s career. She recently got her masters and will be working with disable college students to make sure they have the accommodation they need for their disability. This first dog will make someone a wonderful partner but she just didn’t settle quickly enough after interruptions for Diane’s job situation. The trainers brought Diane two new dogs to try and she choose Yakira.

Yakira & Zodiac under the table at dinner

The hardest part was decided it was time to take Yakira and Diane back to the dorms. There is this moment after you drop them off when the puppy you raised realizes that you aren’t staying. You can see them processing it in their minds. It isn’t that they don’t want to go with their handler. They are happy to do that. I think they would like it if we could be around too. Even more than the formal graduation ceremony, that is the moment, for me, when they truly move on to their new life. It was a great day but very exhausting.

On Sunday morning we went back to campus to pick up a career change dog named Pauletta. Pauletta has arthritis in her lower back and so her puppy raisers are adopting her. She was recalled a few weeks ago for breeder evals but the arthritis changes everything. They were trying to figure out how to get her to Denver. She wasn’t cleared for air travel after her spay but it was fine for her to travel by car. So we brought her home with us and they got up super early Monday morning to pick her up and then headed right back home. It was fun to watch that reunion. Pauletta will be certified as a Therapy Dog and do great things with her life even though she won’t be a guide dog. GDB is so full of wonderful people. It was nice to be able to do something to help Pauletta get home to her family faster. Below is the video I shot of Pauletta seeing one of her puppy raisers for the first time since she went back to Guide Dogs for the Blind. You can hear Zodiac barking in the background, unhappy not to be part of the reunion.

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Pauletta watching out our front door

Road Trip

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Yakira and Zodiac – photo by Lisa Thomposn

We are off to see Yakira and her partner this weekend. Graduations are so much fun and this one promises to be a great one. Zodiac is going with us and Dune is gets to go to my friend Lisa’s to be puppy sat. I hope she doesn’t get too noisy in her kennel. We will be bringing a career changed dog named Pauletta back with us. She is going back to her raisers who live in Colorado. The will be driving to Utah on Monday to pick her up. She has arthritis in her lower back so she can’t become a guide dog. I’ll catch up on my posts when we get back. I hope everyone has a good weekend.

 

Charm Necklace – Yakira

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my Yakira charm necklace

In Gift Idea #35 I mentioned the charm necklaces I’ve made for each of my puppies in training. With Yakira’s graduation this weekend I thought it would be a good time for a post focusing on her charm necklace. Each charm is symbolic of something about Yakira.

The main charm on her necklace is a tiny treasure box. This was inspired by her name has Hebrew origins and means precious, dear or costly. We keep precious things in treasure boxes so I thought it was a good representation of her name.

I also have a letter “Y” charm to go along with her name and because I’m hoping to have just one puppy in training for each letter of the alphabet. Each of my puppy’s charm necklaces has something for their first initial.

Each necklace also has a heart because of course we love each puppy dearly.

Another common feature of all the puppy charm necklaces is a spot to put an additional charm while they are in training. Yakira’s now has a star representing that she is in class with her new partner. During the training stage, I have a charm with a number on it to represent the phase of training they are in.

I also put a charm on each necklace to represent their birthstone. Yakira was born in August so I have a green bead for Peridot.

Yakira has two more charms. One is a hand mirror to represent her beauty and the other is a horse. When she was still quite young we took her with us to the mountains to cut down our Christmas tree. Compared to her size the snow was rather deep. But Yakira was determined to make her own way. She got cold once and after warmer her on my lap she was ready to go again. From that early experience I knew that she was a hard worker. The horse charm reminds me of what a little work horse she is.

I have found that these necklaces really help me when it is time to send each puppy back to Guide Dogs for the Blind for their formal training. I think the same would be true for family members who are far away for school or work etc. or they have passed on from this life. I enjoy the process of finding the charms and assembling the necklace and then wearing it until their graduation. Saturday after graduation I will take off this necklace. Then the cluster of charms will be added to a larger necklace with the charm clusters from all the previous puppies. This necklace I where when we go to pick-up a new puppy from the puppy truck or the airport. I hang this necklace by my desk so I can see it any time I want to during the day.

all my other puppy charm clusters

Do you have someone you want to make a charm necklace for? Or do you have a similar tradition that helps you when loved ones are no longer near?

Pupdate – Yakira in Class

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Yakira – photo by Lisa Thompson

We got the call this week that as puppy raisers we work for. Late Wednesday morning we got the news that Yakira is in class and scheduled to graduate on February 2nd. Since Yakira was still in phase 7 last week on the phase report I didn’t think about her being matched up this week. I was just focused on the next phase report that comes out on Thursdays. So when our club leader called on Wednesday before lunch I thought it would be something about Dune. But she asked if we could be in Oregon for a graduation next Saturday! Dog day is on Monday but one of the students dog didn’t work out for some reason and Yakira was matched with that student. We are waiting for the official letter to get a name and address for Yakira’s handler. Maybe it will come tomorrow. It took me about a day to get over my shock at the news. I’m so excited to see Yakira again and meet her partner!

On a side note, Dune is doing great. She is an amazing little girl. More about her and Zodiac in a future pupdate.

Pupdate

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Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug (video of Dune sharing her opinion of the x-pen)

As if you haven’t heard enough about my puppies this week. But it is Friday, my traditional day to give update on my puppies. Forefront this week has been Dune’s arrival. We have had our trying moments since Wednesday but each day gets better. She finally pooped outside last night for the first time. And she learned to go down more than one step today and then surged ahead and took the flight of stairs all the way to the bottom. She is starting to really catch on to relieving outside. Tonight she went to the door but I didn’t clue in what she was telling me until she had a pee accident right there. Hopefully last night’s two-hour scream-fest will be the last. I think we have a tactic that helps her settle down and go back to sleep after she goes outside to relieve in the middle of the night. Tonight will be the test.

Zodiac went to work with Bill again today. Dune had her first “outing” she went to my sister’s house and got to meet her Career Change black lab Clifford. They got along very well. When Zodiac got home from work tonight they were both very happy to see each other and they played together for a few minutes. I’m very proud of the good big brother Zodiac is being.

The phase report came out yesterday as usual but Yakira was still in phase 7. The good part is that the rest of her string was in phase 7 too. So it can’t be that Yakira is having a challenge with the training. Maybe her trainer got sick or something like that. I’ll be very surprised if she isn’t in phase 8 next week.

Lots of Pupdates

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It has been a fun week in getting news on our pups. When I think about it I’ve heard something from all of our pups in one way or another so lets take them in order.

Apex: you may remember that we are planning a cruise to Alaska with Apex & Sue. Sue is a super organized planner and she is keeping us on track in make plans for this exciting trip. This week she sent us an update some of the little details of our trip.

Banta: She is in perfect health. Banta recently had her annual trip to the vet for shots etc.

Carrie and Casey

Casey: We got a wonderful update from Carrie and Casey about their holiday travels including photos from Invermere. Plus some stories about a “couple of typical lab incidents.” She had some trouble eating a fleece blanket and the stuffing out of her dog bed while in her crate. Thankfully she didn’t develop a blockage and all is fine there. The other one had me laughing because she pulled something similar when she was being puppy sat when she was young. Here it is in Carrie’s words:

One night, I was up extremely late preparing for two important presentations the next day. I had 3 hours of sleep in total. Sometime in those 3 hours of sleep, Casey got up and consumed half of the cat’s litter in his litter box! Gross! I was in my business suit and high heels, cleaning up large amounts of upchucked litter, wondering if I could take her with me to the courtroom and if she was going to throw up cat litter all over the place while I made my submissions! She looked a little green but I called the vet to make sure she didn’t need to go in again and they said she should be okay. That was a really rough day. Since then, Casey is now happily on tie down on her bed, and I’ve installed a door thing to prevent her from gaining access to the litter box. She is so sneaky and mischievous sometimes but it is hard not to resist her beautiful brown eyes.

Casey running in the snow

Waffle: Bill was going through some mail and found a card stuck between two other pieces of mail from Waffle’s new partner! This was our first direct contact with Carole! We didn’t even have her name. I’d sent a couple of things to her via Guide Dogs for the Blind. But with career change situations if is up to the new owner to decide if they will have any kind of contact at all. Carole offered to send photos, so I popped her an email and we got a few photos of Waffle in her new life. Here is a little of what Carole said:

Waffle has a busy life.  She travels with me for work.  She’s been to Boston, Arizona, Costa Rica, New York so far. When we’re home she’s with our elderly boxer, Tucker, and her best friend, Evie – a 2 year old black lab.  She still doesn’t swim in the pool but I’m planning to teach her this summer.

Waffle

Now I can do the last version of Waffle’s puppyhood book, including or career and a little about her home and family.

Yakira: Puppy #5 is continuing to move along through training. This weeks phase report has her in phase #7! She will most likely be class ready next week and a new class is starting in Oregon on the 21st so it is possible that Yakira could be graduating as soon as February 2nd. Of course it will probably take longer than that for her to be partnered but who knows.

I need to get moving on Yakira’s book too. I’ve worked on it a bit but I’d like to have it pretty much done by the time we go to her graduation. Coming up with words that start with “Y” for her book isn’t the easiest thing to do but I think I’m close.

Zodiac: Our current puppy is doing well. He is really starting to mature and he kept things lively around here and he probably makes me laugh every day. He is such a fun-loving boy.

Puppy #7: Our club leader said to keep next Wednesday open for a new puppy to come. It isn’t 100% for sure yet but it is the first hard info we have had on our new puppy. Thinking of a new cute little puppy always brings a smile to my face.

It is amazing to me that with seven different dogs involved that we could have some kind of contact or information on each dog within a week span. That makes this week extra special to me.

This Week’s Pupdate

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Yakira – photo by Lisa Thompson

I was so happy to see the number 6 by Yakira’s name on this week’s phase report. She made it through the holidays without missing a beat. On not so good news the other puppy from our club that was in for training has dropped off the report so he must have been career changed this week. I’m always sad when I puppy doesn’t make. They always have a good life ahead of them but it is still disappointing when they don’t have what it takes to be a guide dog.

On the home front Zodiac is doing really well. Thursday was his 10 month birthday. He is starting show more and more maturity. Just in time for a new puppy to join the family. We will probably find out when in the next week.Zodiac really enjoyed having Kai with us for a few days. He was better than I expected. Kai is growing up nicely.

Zodaic in front of the “official” puppy portrait wall

I finally got Yakira’s official portrait back from Pixels. The wall has seems kind of bare the last few weeks. I got it done before Christmas but the exposure needed to be tweaked because the lighting on Yakira wasn’t as bright as on the other puppies and she just looked like a black blob. They redid it for me but I told them I didn’t need it before Christmas. I still remember many years ago when we I was a picture framer and how crazy things got during the Christmas season.