I figure Yakira might be a bit Yiddish because her name is Hebrew and her mother came from to Guide Dogs for the Blind from a school in Holland. I know it is a stretch but because I’m working with “y” words I was a bit liberal.
Tag Archives: Alphabet theme book
Yakira Book – Yabber
Yakira had lots of mates while she was growing up but two stand out from the rest. Clifford and Zodiac.
Yakira and Zodiac became great friends once he grew up a bit. It was neat to see how well they got along and how they were often snuggled up together on the same dog bed.
They shared so much that Zodiac mourned when Yakira left for training.
Clifford is my sister’s dog. He was career changed from being a guide dog because of cataracts but he is the perfect dog for their family. When Clifford came over, Zodiac would be forgotten and the two of them would romp together. Clifford still perks up when he hears Yakira’s name.
Yakira Book – Yellow
It is traditional that when I knew puppy is coming we find out the first letter of their name along with their breed, color and gender. Yakira was supposed to be a YLF (yellow lab female) with a “Y” name. So I was a bit surprised when she came off the truck as black. We didn’t really care what color she was but it was funny.
Yakira Book – Yearn
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
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
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
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
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
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)
Lots of Pupdates
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.
telling family tales 