Category Archives: Puppy Books

Books about the puppies we have raised for Guide Dogs for the Blind

Yakira Book – Yearn

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Yakira yearns for heat and warmth. In the wintertime she would lay right on top of the heat vent when the warm air was coming out. When Bill had his space heater on she would settle herself in front of it and bask in it’s warmth. She would also seek out the afternoon sun as it came through our west-facing window.

When I filled out Yakira’s project report I made sure that GDB knew of her love of heat. And they came through for her with a new home in southern California. The perfect spot for our heat loving girl.

 

Yakira Book – Year-long

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We had Yakira for full year plus one full day a two partial days. She came on the puppy truck on October 13th in the afternoon and left on the puppy truck the next year on October 15th early in the morning. She came to us 2 days past 8 weeks old and left us the day before she turned 14 months old. We almost got a couple more weeks but guide dogs needed her.

Yakira Book – Yawn

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I don’t know that Yakira yawned more than any of our other puppies but when you are trying to find words that start with “y” for her book you don’t turn away a word like yawn. I don’t think she loved having her photo taken and so we did catch of few “stress” yawns.

A book I read about dogs said that yawning is a calming signal. They could be trying to calm themselves or they could be trying to calm someone around them. Yakira has a quiet kind of confidence so it could be that her yawning was all about helping those around her calm down.

Yakira Book – Yakka

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When Yakira was about three months old we went into the mountains for our annual Christmas tree cutting. I was concerned about how she would handle the snow and if it would be too deep for her. But she was a trooper. She only got cold once and after I warmed her up on my lap she was good to go.

Yakira also loved the biggest toys when she was little. The jolly ball was a life saver because she could attack it and get out some of her extra energy. She never let the size or weight of anything stop her from picking it up and carrying it around.

Yakira Book – Yabber

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Yakira’s dad, Pike, is from an Australian guide dog school so it seems fitting to use a couple of Aussie words in her book.

From a very young age Yakira was a talker. Especially when she was playing she would vocalize with all kinds of noises. Some were happy sounds and some didn’t sound so happy, but I think they really were happy most of the time. She was just pretending.

Once in a while those not so happy sounds would shift just a little and you could hear her frustration. Yakira was patient with Zodiac but sometime she just had enough of his little puppy ways and she let him know politely.

 

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)

Waffle Book – addition

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Below are the additional pages I added to Waffle’s book to include her time in the high school program.  The first thing I did was to rework the Claraliz page to include the basics of what happened to Waffle after her transfer. Then I all the photos that Claraliz sent me plus a few of my own from Waffle’s first birthday visit and the five days she came for an evaluation. The bit of text on these pages is based on an email that Claraliz sent me when I asked her for memories and stories of Waffle. I ordered the book today, taking advantage of Blurb’s 25% discount code. I’ll be sending this book to Waffle’s new partner for Christmas. I hope she enjoys getting to know more about Waffle’s growing up time.

On September 30, 2011 Waffle was transferred to Claraliz Fernandez to finish raising. She was part of the Salt Lake Tech Guide Dog class for high school students. The students work hard in this class and have to attend for a year before they can get the opportunity to raise a puppy. Waffle remained with Claraliz and was apart of her life and family though out the school year.

Then in July of 2012, it was determined that Waffle wouldn’t be happy being a guide dog. She was evaluated to be a K9 buddy for a blind child but Waffle was too energetic for the kids that needed companions at that time. In August the perfect place was found for Waffle.

Waffle Book – Claraliz

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On September 30, 2011 Waffle was transferred to Claraliz Fernandez to finish raising. She is part of the Salt Lake Tech Guide Dog class for high school students. These students work hard in this class and have to attend for a year before they can get the opportunity to raise a puppy. Waffle will remain with Claraliz and be apart of her life and family though out the school year. Then in June of 2012 she will get on the puppy truck and return to Guide Dogs for the Blind to complete her training to become a guide dog for a blind or visually impaired person.

Waffle Book – Wonderful

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After all is said and done Waffle is a wonderful girl. She can be sweet and cuddly or she can be willful and frustrating but we love her just the same. She is a bit of a daddy’s girl and listens for the sound of the garage door opening that signals that Bill is home. Then Waffle watches and waits for him to sit down on the floor so she and Casey can get their nightly dose of snuggly papa time.

Waffle Book – Woeful

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Have you ever seen a sadder looking face. Waffle has a way of using her favorite “woe is me” look to get strangers to talk to her. With her pouty lower lip and her long coppery red eyelashes and her sad puppy dog eyes she knows how to look pathetic. It is kind of funny because she is actually a very happy go lucky kind of pup other than not always being sure about new or different situations.