Tag Archives: guide dog for the blind

Yakira and Waffle News

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Yakira – photo by Karen Fuller

I got the official news today. Yakira will be returning to Guide Dogs for the Blind in just 12 days for breeder evaluations. It has been a bit of a roller coaster. First she is going in October, then no I think we will wait until November. But now it is real. I thought that the date was the 14th but we have an extra day. This is good because we like to do a farewell party for our puppies and Sunday is the easiest day to do that. She has to be to the truck very early in the morning so if her recall was the 14th we would have to do her farewell party this Sunday. I’m glad to have an extra week to get ready and to spread the word about her party.

Waffle – May 2012

Now for the really good news! Waffle was placed on August 31st with a middle-aged woman with special needs. She shares her home with two other mature women. Waffle goes nearly everywhere with her new partner, including on plane flights. The two of them are continuing their training with private session with a GDB employee. The adopter is VERY happy with Waffle. It is standard procedure to wait about a month to make sure that everyone is happy with the placement before the let the raiser know. I’m so happy that our little girl has her forever home and that she gets to be a service dog! Way to go Waffle!

 

Zodiac’s Big Bad Day

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Zodiac and the cone of shame

Today Zodiac went to the vet to get neutered. It is kind of funny because he was scheduled to do this last week on Monday. But Bill forgot and feed him so we rescheduled for the next day. Then when Bill got to the vet, the total came up to much more than the $200 Guide Dogs for the Blind is willing to pay for a neuter. So Zodiac got a second reprieve. Now we needed to find another vet and with the trip to visit Banta coming up on Friday we decided it would best to wait until this week. But today the inevitable finally caught up with him.

When I went to pick him up, he was very happy to see me. But walking with the cone of shame on and still recovering from the anesthesia, he had some trouble actually navigating to the car. Zodiac isn’t doing so well with the cone. If he runs into something he just stands there and doesn’t try to move. I finally got him to lay down with my help. He is still kind of out of it and started to do pathetic little whines so I took the cone off for a while. But I have to watch him very close because he wants to lick his stitches.

Zodiac stopped cold by the desk leg

Poor little boy. I’m sure he will feel better soon but he has never experienced anything like this before. Yakira doesn’t quiet understand either but she seems to be catching on that he isn’t his normal, “I’m ready to have some fun” self.

 

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

 

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.

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