Category Archives: Zodiac

My Guide Dog Song

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I made up a song this week about the stages of life of a guide dog. It was inspired by and is sung to the tune of the “Gilwell Song”. We learned it this year while we were at Wood Badge, a leadership training put on by the Boy Scouts of America. We had a Wood Badge reunion this week and it got the song stuck in my head again. So I think this was an attempt by my brain to move on to something else. Here is a link to the tune. Gilwell Song. You can sing along if you are brave enough to try.

My Guide Dog Song

I’m just a little puppy, but a good old puppy too.

And when I’m finished growing, I wonder what I’ll do.

I love my puppy raisers, but there is so much more,

So I’m going to be a guide dog if I can.

Back for training, happy land, I’m going to be a guide dog if I can.

———

I used to be a puppy, and a good old puppy too.

But now I’ve finished growing, I wonder what I’ll do.

I love my puppy raisers, but there is so much more,

So I’m going to be a guide dog if I can.

Back for training, happy land, I’m going to be a guide dog if I can.

———

At last I am a guide dog, and a good old guide dog too,

But now that I am guiding, I have so much to do.

I am not old or feeble, so I can guide some more.

And I’m going to help my handler if I can.

I am guiding, happy land, I’m going to help my handler if I can.

———

I used to be a guide dog, and a good old guide dog too,

But now I’m finished guiding, I don’t know what to do.

I’m growing old and feeble, and I can guide no more.

So I’m going to take a nap if I can.

Back to sleeping, happy land, I’m going to take a nap if I can.

———

Zodiac is so funny. When I start singing this song he gets all excited. He runs up to me and usually jumps on me too. I just can’t help but feel happy when I sing about my pups and he is very attracted to happiness and anything that might be fun.

Do you ever make up new words to songs or with your own tune and lyrics? I did one once while I was walking Casey when she was young. But I didn’t write it down and most of it has been forgotten.

Puppy Pool Party

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Lotus swimming

This week was the annual puppy pool party. Every year about this time our puppy raising club makes arrangements for the puppies to get a chance to go swimming. Most of the years we have raised puppies, the party has been at Gael’s house. Her daughters have raised three puppies. Right now she is being a puppy sitter. For most of the pups this is their only exposure to swimming. You would think that with a bunch of labs they would take to swimming with no trouble but for puppies in training the norm is not that at all. It is rare that any of the pups really take to the water and enjoy themselves. I’m sure with enough exposure over time that most of them would learn to love the water. But since swimming isn’t part of their formal guide dog duties that doesn’t happen, at least not as puppies.

Bill and Zodiac

We have been puppy sitting Lotus this week, while his raiser is at girls camp. Zodiac went to Lisa’s for the week so that we could take Lotus. Lisa has puppy sat Lotus before so this gave him another experience. So Bill took Yakira into the pool, I had Lotus and Lisa had Zodiac. Yakira was the best swimmer of the three. She was probably one of the best of all the puppies there but not by much. Bill eventually took all three puppies swimming. I think all the puppy raisers ended up with at least a few scratches and bruises from flailing puppy paws and claws.

pool party fun

Gael generously also provided pizza and soda, while Karen brought some fresh fruit. It was a fun day. The pups had the most fun running around the outside of the pool. We were all exhausted by the end of the night.

puppies having fun outside of the pool

Sony and Yakira after the pool fun

 

 

 

Zodiac’s Littermates

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Pomona with Zulu, Zodiac and Zenith

One of the things that Guide Dogs for the Blind does for puppy raisers is the littermate photos. With each litter of puppies they take photos and a couple of videos when they are a week or so old and then again a couple of weeks after that. With Yakira they had the photos uploaded to their Flickr site before we got Yakira but Zodiac’s litter was posted not long ago. Today I finally had a chance to go and look them up. I was also able to look up the names of his siblings in this year’s Fun Day book. The yellow lab in these photos is Zodiac’s sister Zulu and the other black lab is his brother Zenith. Sometimes I think I can tell which one is Zodiac but I don’t think there is a way to be sure. Correction on that, as I was just looking closer at these photo I realized that Zenith must be the one with a small white spot on his chest. Zodiac doesn’t have a white spot. Yeah! I’m really excited that at least in some of the photos I know which one is Zodiac. Anyway, I enjoy seeing how they looked when they were just tiny little things.

March 13, 2012 Video (Zodiac is the one hidden under the newspaper)

March 27, 2012 Video (zodiac is the black one not moving around much)

Zodiac

Zodiac and Zenith

Zodiac or Zenith

Zodiac or Zenith

 

The Revolving Puppy Door

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Yakira and Zodiac

There have been lots of coming and going of puppies in the last few weeks and more to come in the next few weeks. Zodiac has been on puppy sits two weekends in May because we went to Wood Badge. He also had two weekends in June. The first because he was too young to go with us to Casey’s graduation.

Parker at Rockaway Beach

Next my friend Lisa had a family reunion to go to. Her dog Parker needed to come to our house to be puppy sat because he had some anxiety issues and was most familiar with us and our house. Parker and Lisa went with us to Casey’s graduation. So Zodiac went to Karen’s and Parker came here. Instead of Parker going to Karen’s. Osaka, Karen’s dog was in season and her house isn’t approved for an in season female. Another puppy sitter could take Osaka for about a week but then had committed to puppy sit someone else dog. Yakira was still on house arrest from being in season herself and they don’t like us to have three puppies in training in the same household. So that meant that Zodiac had to go off again. That meant that we had Yakira and Parker for a few days.

Osaka

A few days later Parker went home and Yakira was cleared to socialize again, so Osaka came here and Yakira went to Karen’s and Zodiac came back home. Osaka was a good girl but she is a lab golden cross (mostly golden retriever) and she has that soft golden coat. Soon after we got her I noticed that she had mats behind her ears. She had been at another puppy sitters before we had her and they have a swimming pool. Osaka must have gotten the mats while there, maybe from getting wet in the swimming pool. Well I didn’t have a clue how to get the mats out. I tried but with no success. So Karen came back to our house toward the end of that week and brought some golden retriever type grooming tools. Plus she worked for quiet some time getting the mats out from behind Osaka’s ears. Goldens certainly need more grooming than labs. Well Karen was nice and let us keep Yakira for the weekend. We stretched the three puppy rule but it was fun to have her home. All three dogs got along very well together.

Finally we got Yakira back home early this week. We have had Zodiac for about two months and he had only gotten to go out and socialize with Yakira a couple of times. By the time he earned his jacket, Yakira was in season. Then she swapped with Osaka. I’ve really had to think hard to keep track of which dog I’m talking too. A couple of times I just couldn’t come up with the right name in a timely manner.

This next week we are headed off to Martin’s Cove for a short pioneer trek. We had originally planned to take the dogs with us but it is so hot that we decided it would be better not to have them there.  We will be home less than 48 hours before I head off for Girls Camp all the following week. Bill is helping out the first day so two more puppy sits are in the works. My friend Lisa’s dog Parker went back to Oregon for formal harness training yesterday so she will thankfully be available to puppy sit both dogs. Summer is crazy with puppy raisers going every which direction. She will take Yakira and Zodiac while we are in Martin’s Cove and then while Bill is helping us get up to Girls Camp. Then she will take Zodiac while I’m gone the rest of the week. That way Bill won’t have to come home from work in the middle of the day and a puppy won’t have to spend the whole day in the kennel.

That should take care of our puppy swapping around for a while. We want to take a trip to Colorado toward the end of the summer to visit Banta. But I think we should be able to take both puppies with us on that trip.

Puppy Photo Shoot

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Yakira and Zodiac by Lisa Thompson

A few weeks ago Lisa Thompson, did a photo shoot for the puppies in our club and this week I got a cd with the photos. She was our club leader until a couple of years ago and she has access to a photo studio through her job. So once or sometimes twice a year she invites the club to come and she and a friend of hers take wonderful pictures of our pups. I have a wall about our stairs where I hang the “official” portrait of each of our GDB puppies. All but Apex’s are from Lisa’s photo shoots. I have them printed on 10″ x 10″ canvas at Pixels, where she works with their name and the year they were born. I’m so excited to get Yakira’s and Zodiac’s images up on our wall.

Now I just need to pick which pictures to use. I’ve narrowed it down to these. I thought it would be fun to see if any of you have opinions of which image you like for their official portrait. Just comment and let me know what you think.

Yakira #1

Yakira #2

Yakira #3

Yakira #4

Zodiac #1

Zodiac #2

Zodiac #3

Zodiac’s New Jacket

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Zodiac in his new jacket

Zodiac got his official puppy in training jacket this week. It is a big milestone in a little puppies life. The important thing is to start socializing slowly and carefully, paying attention to how the young puppy is handling new situations and places.

Our first official outing was to the library to pick up some books and audios that I had on hold. With all the craziness around here lately I haven’t worked with Zodiac adjusting to his head collar like I should have. We started out with just his flat collar but he got way too excited before we even got up the library steps. So we stopped and worked on putting on his Gentle Leader using food rewards to make it more positive. With that accomplished we made it up to the front door. Our library has automatic doors and Zodiac didn’t know what to make of those. He stood on the threshold for several moments, not sure he wanted to go in. Then he saw a woman inside. I explained to her that it was his very first outing. When Zodiac saw her he decided that going inside would be a good thing after all.

Things went much smoother after that. In some ways it is too bad that Yakira is still on “house arrest” (she has 7 more days) because she is in season. I’m sure that with Yakira along Zodiac would have waltzed right into the library without a second thought. At the same time it is good for him to do things on his own. Yakira won’t always be there.

Today Zodiac went with Bill to work, just for the morning. He did just fine, though he still needs some more work on adjusting to his head collar. We worked on it this week but that work isn’t done yet. By the way, doesn’t he look so cute in his jacket. I don’t think there is anything cuter that a young puppy in a training jacket. And when you see them walking through some public place it is the cutest thing. They are so tiny and so curious about the world. Plus there is a bounce to their step that is most adorable.

Lots of Puppy News

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Life has been crazy the last couple of weeks with everything going on, especially Wood Badge. That finished up yesterday, so now I’m trying to get caught up on the rest of my life. In the meantime lots of fun stuff has happened on the puppy front.

Apex and Sue are off to the Northeast for a family matter this week and Apex turned 4 years old on Thursday. I want to send him a present but it hasn’t happened yet.

I shared news about Banta last week.

The biggest news is that Casey is in class and will be graduating on June 2nd. We have been waiting since January for this news so it is extra sweet. Casey will be living with her handler in Victoria, British Columbia. This is extra neat because in about a year we are going on a cruise to Alaska with Apex and Sue and we will be with in a couple of hours of Victoria. So we will have to figure out a way to visit Casey either before or after the cruise. Casey also had a birthday this last week. On Wednesday she turned 2 years old. I’m so happy that she was partnered by her birthday.

I got a call from our club leader recently about Waffle. There was some concern about her from her last eval with our CFR (Community Field Representative) and she wanted Waffle to go to someone else for a few days to see how she is doing. So we got to pick up Waffle on Wednesday and take her to Wood Badge with us. Then Claraliz’s family and a big gathering today so she will be here until tomorrow. It was fun to take her to church today. Lots of the kids remember Waffle and enjoyed saying hi to her. When she was younger she hated when someone tried to pet the top of her head. She has grown-up and was very tolerant of all the head pats she got today. Waffle also turned 15 months old today. She will to return to Guide Dogs for the Blind on June 10th.

On the evaluation side of Waffle’s visit, she is doing good. She lacks some confidence but she handled the intensity and newness of Wood Badge very well. We didn’t see any reason she should be career changed at this point.

Next on our puppy list is Yakira. She went to Wood Badge with us the week of my birthday and she did really great. It is a noisy and busy environment with not much of a chance for the pups to really let loose. Well on Saturday afternoon an hour or two before we finished for the week Yakira went into season. So she is now on “house arrest” until 16th. This meant that Yakira couldn’t come back up to Wood Badge with us and we had to find a puppy sitter for her. There are only a few households in the club that are cleared to have an in season pup. One was going out-of-town and another is just a new puppy raiser. The last one was already puppy sitting another puppy, Pierre, so we made arrangements to swap Yakira and Pierre around. Pierre is intact so we were careful while dropping off and picking up Yakira. I made all these arrangements before I new that we were going to take Waffle with us to Wood Badge so we ended up with two dogs at Wood Badge, Waffle and Pierre.

Finally we get to Zodiac. He is really doing great. He has caught on to the relieving thing and Yakira has been a great mentor to him and teaching him how to behave. But our club leader said he was too young to go to Wood Badge. And after we got up there last week I was glad that he wasn’t there. It would have been really hard for a puppy that young. Zodiac was a one puppy sitter last week. A new raiser who is getter her first puppy on June 7th. Then for this week’s Wood Badge he went to another raiser who is also getter her first pup on the next puppy truck. When we made arrangements originally they were for Zodiac to be there until the end of Wood Badge Saturday but then we realized that it would be best for Waffle to stay with us for a couple more days. Three puppies in training is too much for one household so it worked out for Zodiac to extend his stay until Monday. We plan to pick him up late morning and get some photos of our “W”, “Y” and “Z” pups all together. It isn’t often that a raiser can have three of their pups together at one time.

Because we have Casey’s graduation this next weekend both Yakira and Zodiac will be going to puppy sitters again. Yakira will be returning to the same place as this past week but I don’t know where Zodiac will be. I’m guessing that our club leader has a spot picked out for him. Yakira’s timing on being in season was not helpful for our club leader. She was planning on Yakira being puppy sat by many of the new raisers in our club. It looks like Zodiac is getting that privilege instead. What an eventful last week or so in the puppy side of our life.

Z’s First Week

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Zodiac

What a difference a week can make! Zodiac has made so much progress in the past week. The first few days were really rough, especially on the relieving.  But the first few days Zodiac peed and poop more in the house than he did outside. One thing he catch on to really fast was peeing in the kennel. He only did that once.Zodiac is now fairly reliable at relieving when you take him outside. He only has a problem when he doesn’t get taken out often enough or gets more freedom than he is ready for.

Zodiac in an x-pen

I like to use x-pens with puppies. They are bigger than kennel so pups are more likely to have accidents in them and we have carpet downstairs so we have a piece of plexiglass that we put under the x-pen to help with clean-up. I hate to haul kennels up and down the stairs so we use x-pens downstairs where I spend most of my time during the day. I like the x-pens too because it restricts their activity but given them a bit of freedom. I know they can’t get into anything and I can step out of the room for a minute and not worry. When they are older we use the x-pens restrict their access to a room or area of the house. I took Zodiac out before I started this post and he relieved perfectly. Now I want to give him some freedom but not too much so I’ve blocked off the area around my desk. He enjoys have more space and I know where he is. With each puppy we have found more ways to use the x-pens. I’d really like to find a couple more panels.

Actually relieving covers most the challenges were are having with Zodiac. Which is really good. He does struggle with whining and barking but as long as you don’t reward it that stuff takes care of its self. The first few days its was whining. Then when that didn’t get him what he wanted he tried barking. He started to bark saying, “hurry up with my food, I’m starving”. Each day it gets better so no real worries there.

Zodiac and Yakira playing in the backyard

We are really pleased with Zodiac. I think that Yakira has been a good mentor and he is learning the rules quickly. He seems to have a good middle of the road temperament and his stubborn side has not been a problem. We are looking forward to raising him and seeing how he grows up. At this early stage it looks like he will be a great dog.

50 for 50 #19 – A New Puppy

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All four of us on Zodiac’s puppy day – photo by Lisa Monson

My plan was to get a new puppy in August but when the opportunity came to get a “Z” boy this past Friday I somehow couldn’t say no. So the 19th thing that I did to celebrate turning 50 years old is getting a new puppy.

Zodiac is a fun mix of stubbornness and adventurer, with a bit of unexpected caution thrown in. He is happiest when he gets some freedom to explore his surroundings. Most of his complaining has been about being kept from learning about his surroundings. I told you about his stubbornness in last Friday’s post introducing Zodiac. Then there is his fear of his food bowl. It is stainless steel and when Zodiac is about 3/4 of the way through eating he has a tendency to step on the edge of the bowl, which flips it. This scares him so he backs off from the bowl. It is funny to watch him. He wants to go back to his food but he doesn’t trust the bowl to stay put. It helps to understand that in the puppy kennels they eat from a doughnut-shaped dish that they can step into. If you we hold the bowl he comes back to finish his meal. Such a silly boy.

puppies from the Tito/Denisha litter – Guide Dogs for the Blind flickr site

The first few days with a new puppy are the hardest. The whole relieving outside is new to them and puppies don’t have a clue what you are trying to teach them. But it gets better quickly once they start to catch on. In the meantime, I am getting up several times a night and making lots of trips out during the day. And there are still more accidents to clean-up than it seems possible.

A really bright spot is how well Yakira and Zodiac are getting along. She is being a good mentor and learning to play to his level. They are so very cute together. What a fun way to celebrate turning 50!

Welcome Zodiac

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Zodiac coming of the puppy truck

Meet the newest addition to our family, Zodiac! He is adorable of course, aren’t most puppies. He has kind of mid-range temperament, not too shy and not off the charts confident. He picked up his stainless still food dish and then dropped it and the clang scared him a bit. He got over it in a few minutes.Then while he was eating dinner he tipped his bowl and then he thought it was some strange thing and didn’t want to eat his last couple of kibble.

He enjoys exploring the house and sticking his little nose into the shoes in our closet. I got to see his stubborn side today. As he was exploring he headed into our spare bedroom. I grabbed the leash to stop him because we don’t let puppies go in this room by themselves. Our cat has claimed this room so we keep the door ajar. Well Zodiac had a fit! First of all he backed to the end of the leash. When I wouldn’t let him go any farther, he planted his feet and wouldn’t move. I just help firmly on the leash and waited to see what he would do. Zodiac stood there with his head down looking at me for several minutes. I didn’t move. Next he tried laying down. When that didn’t work he escalated things by whining. This went on for several minutes. He has amazing determination. Finally he decided to move out of the room and continue his exploring. The good thing is that he didn’t try to go back into the spare room.

We are going to have lots of fun over the next few days. I hope I get some sleep tonight.

Yakira and Zodiac