Tag Archives: Alphabet theme book

Dune: demanding & phase 3

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This week Dune has progressed to phase 3! Yeah! It was so good to see her progressing again. We will probably never know why she spent two weeks in phase 2 but on to bigger and better things for our girl. Here is the short version of what she is learning in Phase 3.

Phase 3

Looks like I need to add phase 3 long version to my to do list along with phase 2.

 

We knew right away that we had our hands full with our new puppy Dune. Maybe it was the trauma of flying in cargo but Dune was the noisiest puppy we have experienced. She knew she didn’t want to be in the kennel and she let us know.

The first few nights we didn’t get much sleep because she was so demanding. I just kept reminding myself that if we gave in now we would really have a battle on our hands. It was tough to tell when your message went from “I want out of here” to “I need to pee” or “I just pooped in my kennel.” I kept a flashlight by my bed and moved the kennel to the side of the bed so I could check on her without getting out of bed. The first night was almost none stop cacophony. But each night after that it got better.

Dune: delivery

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This week’s phase report came out this morning and Dune is still in phase 2. Not sure if this is a sign that she is struggling with the training, if her trainer didn’t report or if something else came up and she didn’t do much training this past week. The 4 other dogs who were in phase 2 last week all jumped to phase 4. So while I hold my breath for more news on Dune (no news until next Thursday is a good thing), here is another page from Dune’s puppyhood book.

“All the rest of our puppies have come on the puppy truck but Dune came via Delta airlines. It was January and winter driving makes puppy deliveries by puppy truck too unpredictable. There were an unusually large number of puppies born so Guide Dogs need to send puppies by air so they could get them to homes in the wintry states of Utah and Colorado. Dune traveled with another young puppy, a black lab male named Eagle.”

Dune: Phase 2 & “D” Puppy

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Dune is in phase 2, yeah! It is so good to see her moving right along. So glad that the wait is over and she is on the weekly phase report. If you want to know more about what she is learning in phase 2 go here. Looks like I haven’t done a detailed post on phase 2 so there is another thing for my to do list.

The Story of Our “D” Puppy

This is the story of our long-awaited “D” puppy. We got our first puppy to raise from Guide Dogs for the Blind on August 2nd 2008. His name was Apex. I thought it was cool that our first puppy’s name started with the first letter of the alphabet.

When we were awaiting news of our second puppy in training, I was secretly hoping for a pup whose name started with a “B” but I didn’t tell anyone. When our second puppy was named Banta I was super excited.

I took it as a sign that I should try to raise a puppy from each letter of the alphabet. So when it was time for our third puppy we requested a puppy with a “C” name and we got Casey.

Then we ran into a snag with “D”. GDB requested that we start a puppy for a high school student. I said fine as along as it started with a “D”. There were no “D” litters. I said, OK, how about a name with a “D” in it. We got Waffle. No “D” but it did start with a ‘double U’. (As a side note Waffle has a sister named Wednesday that went to Colorado. I don’t know why we didn’t get Wednesday.)

I thought all right, we will only have Waffle for her first five months, I can get my “D” puppy next. But we didn’t quite make it. The “D” litter when it was time for puppy number five was a couple of days too young. But they had a “Y” litter so we got Yakira. After Yakira we got Zodiac to finish off the end of the alphabet.

So for puppy number seven we tried again for a “D” puppy and finally we succeeded. Our club leader sent a pink balloon in the mail with ‘Female “D” Yellow Lab’ written on it to give us the long-awaited good news.

Dune: book & phase 1

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Title page of Dune’s book

Dune finally showed up on the weekly phase report yesterday in phase 1. Having been in breeder evals is the equivalent of phase 0, so it is what I expected. She is actually learning what to do to be a guide dog! Yeah. If you want to know more about what she is learning I have a post here about phase 1. For more details there is another post here.

the pre-story of Dune

I’ve been working hard on Dune’s book. Remember the plan I had to get a page done every week or so. Well I totally failed on that. I wanted to have it mostly done so I could send a pdf of it with her along with photos from her puppyhood on a DVD. But I just didn’t get it done so I just sent photos. When the dogs are in class with their new partner they will give them some information from their dogs puppy raiser include photos or CD’s etc. This give the new handler a chance to know something more about their new dog. Dune’s future handler will have to wait to get her book until graduation.

But I’ve got it done now except the couple of page that will be about her new career and graduation day. So I’m going to share Dune’s book over the next several weeks. I’ve done a book for each puppy we have raised. Here are links to their books (except I haven’t put Apex’s on-line yet, I should do that soon!):

I think Yakira’s book needs updating with some additional pages after she had a change of careers and location last fall. (Another thing for my to do list.)

I find making these books really helps me with the process of sending the pups off after having them for a year. People ask all the time “how we give them up and don’t you get attached?” I tell them we miss them but it is worth it. But doing things like the books for them helps me celebrate the time we have had with them and honors the impact they have on our lives even though they are only in our home for about a year.

I’m working on a slide show/video for Dune that should be done soon. I can’t wait to share it with you!

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.

Zodiac Book – Zoom

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Not surprisingly Zodiac loves to zoom around our back yard. We usually keep a Jolly Ball out there and his favorite game is to grab the ball and run from one end of the yard to the other as fast as he can. Once his mouth got big enough he started carrying it around by the ball and not by the rope. He has to crush the stiff plastic with his teeth to do it, but he is plenty strong enough. While he loves to run he isn’t the fastest dog around. He is built more for sturdiness than for speed. I love watching him run happily in the back yard.

Zodiac Book – Zonked

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Zodiac is great at being zonked. Especially after a challenging outing or in the evening. He is very content to curly up on a dog bed or stretch out on the floor. Usually he has an ear listening for anything interesting happening but sometimes when he is really tired it takes some real effort to get him up and moving again.

Zodiac Book – Zoic

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Well since Zodiac is actually an animal he certainly is zoic. He has just two siblings, Zenith (male black lab) and Zulu (female yellow lab). His brother Zenith has a white spot on his chest, while Zodiac has just a few white hairs between his toes called Bolo marks, named after an English dual Champion Banchory Bolo because he produced many of these marks in his offspring and future generations.