Tag Archives: puppy in training

Puppy Sitting Pierre

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Yakira and Pierre playing with the jolly ball in our backyard

We have had another puppy in training here since Friday, March 30th. Pierre will turn one year old on the 14th. He has been a very good boy and Yakira has loved having him here. The only challenge is that Yakira wants to play and Pierre is easily tempted. So we had to keep them separated much of the time. They got to play in the backyard most days plus a couple of romps in the house but it wasn’t as much as they wanted. The first couple of nights they had to sleep on tie down to prevent them from playing all night long. Then we tried just pretending to hook them up at night. Finally they just put them selves to bed. It helped when we didn’t tolerate any playing in the bedroom. On Pierre’s last night here the slept the night on the same bed. It was so cute! Today when his family came to get him, Pierre was so excited. He couldn’t calm himself enough to respond to a sit command. It reminded me of how our pups are when we see them at graduation after having been apart for several months. I expect to see Pierre graduating as a guide dog or a breeder before the end of the year.

Yakira and Pierre snuggled together on Yakira's bed

An Afternoon at City Creek Center

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The opportunity came up to see the new City Creek Center in downtown Salt Lake City today. So I packed up the pups, (we are puppy sitting Pierre this week) and picked up my friend, Lisa and her niece, Jessica. Lisa is an official puppy sitter for Guide Dogs for the Blind and so she can work with these puppies in training. Otherwise I would have had to leave one of the puppies home.

City Creek Center is an amazing place with lots of wonderful stores and so many people there today enjoying the spring weather. They had the retractable roof open. I’m really impressed with the design of the place. We didn’t go everywhere. We spent all our time on the upper level so I’m sure I’ll have to go back again in the near future and take a look at the creek that runs through the center. Both Yakira and Pierre did perfectly. They had lots of opportunities to meet all kinds of people and go in all kinds of stores. For the most part we resisted buying anything. Except I picked up a fun sweater at Macy’s for $13. Yakira got tired of going into stores near the end and wanted to stay outside in the sunshine.

Yakira’s Toy Trick

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Yakira and her toy trick

Yakira has a small tug toy that she really loves. We bought it a couple of months ago at our local IFA. Yakira and I went there just as an outing and discovered that they had some toys that were right for a puppy in training. They had the tug toy in several sizes and I decided to try the smaller one this time. I’ve had a bigger version of it in that past that all the pups have enjoyed. It is a great size to drop in a bag and take on long outings. She is a gentle enough chewer that it works good as a supervised chew toy too. Well today she was picking it up and enticing me to play tug with her and then dropping it again. Then she picked it up in the middle and the two ends folded in and the toy became like a spring in her mouth. It was so cute and had to get a picture. That was the hard part. She kept dropping the toy when I’d snap the photo. But I finally got a decent shot of her doing her toy trick.

Yakira and her purple tug toy

Yakira – Seven Months Old

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Yakira and her pillow

Our sweet Yakira turned seven months old today. When ever I think about the challenge she was and three months and even four months old, I am so grateful for the wonderful puppy she is becoming. Yakira got to wear the birthday bandana today. We had a quiet day at home with no outings other than a 45 minute walk. Of all the puppies we have raised so far Yakira is the first to really lay her head on a pillow like a human. Some of the other pups have enjoyed pillows but more for their shoulders but she lays her head on the patchwork pillow almost every night.

Waffle and Claraliz

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Waffle

Today we got to visit Waffle and Claraliz. On Monday Waffle will be a year old and I really wanted to see our little girl. We hadn’t seen Waffle since she transferred  to Claraliz the end of September. We didn’t want to do anything that would disrupt her training but I checked with our club leader and she said it would be fine. So we made arrangements to meet up with Waffle and Claraliz at her house. It was so fun to see our little Waffletta. She jumped on me after I got in the front door. I was glad that she was happy to see me. Sometimes when we were raising her it seemed that she was always happy to see everyone else but since I was there most of the time she didn’t seem to miss me.

Waffle

Yakira and Waffle got to play together and I made Waffle a tug rope that she really seemed to like. We also had a zip lock bag full of adult food left over from Casey that we passed on to Waffle. Yakira is still many months away from switching to the adult food. It will be kind of old by then. Claraliz made some yummy red cake for us and we got to meet her pet dogs and her dad and a brother. Waffle is doing really well. She is very grown-up and her nose is very pink. Waffle also still has her underbite. Didn’t really think that was going away. She is very happy and content in her new household. She has now been with Claraliz as long as she lived with us.

We probably won’t get to see her again until recall day when she gets on the truck to return to Guide Dogs for the Blind. Claraliz is thinking about getting a new puppy this summer to raise. I hope she does. She is doing a good job with Waffle.

50 for 50 #8 – 2002 Winter Olympics

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Raelyn and Yakira

The Gateway

Today we went to the Gateway in downtown Salt Lake City. They was a party for the 10th anniversary of the 2002 Winter Olympics. We didn’t go to any sporting events 10 years ago but we say the torch as it passed a couple of blocks from our home in Provo and we made the trek up to see the Olympic cauldron after it was lit. We also enjoyed the ice sculpture contest and the Dale Chihuly exhibit. We (Bill, Yakira & I) rode Trax in and walked around to see what was going on at the Gateway and took some photos. Then we wandered around the Clark Planetarium and finally had lunch at Rumbi. After we got back to Sandy we stopped at Costco to get some groceries. It was a fun and relaxing kind of day though all three of us where very tired by the time we got home, including Yakira. She was a very good pup and handled all the people and situations with ease.

Happy Valentines Day and Almost 6 Months Old

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Yakira in a Valentine's Day scarf

Yakira turns 6 months old the day after tomorrow and since today is Valentines day I put a cozy pinkish scarf around her neck. She looks so cute in it. Well that is probably because she is cute. She doesn’t need a scarf or any other adornment, she is cute all by herself. It bugged her having it on for a couple of minutes and then she forgot all about it. We have had our little girl for 4 months now and boy has she made huge progress and grow so much. I’m proud of our precious pup. Yakira loves heat and one of her favorite spots is in front of Bill radiant space heater. She just lays there basking in the heat.

Yakira laying in front of the space heater

50 for 50 #7 – Walking Dogs for “Ski for Light”

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One of the working dogs I walked for Ski for Light

I forgot that I had walking dogs for Ski for Light on my list of 50 for 50, so I actually got two things done this week. I’m sure being ahead will come in handy in the next few weeks. When ever Ski for Light comes to Utah I jump at the chance to walk the guide dogs while their handlers go cross country skiing at Soldier Hollow. When I’m there I can’t help but remember the first time I helped. It opened my mind so much to what working guide dogs were really like. We were raising our first puppy, Apex, at the time and I had it in my head that Apex need perfect behavior in every to make it as a guide dog. Then I saw that these dogs weren’t perfect in every way. Many of them went after stuff on the ground just like Apex did when we were on walks. It was one of those Ah ha moments.

We were short-handed two of the three days that I walked dogs. The last day we were really short and my friend Tricia got to walk a Golden Retriever to help get the dogs done. That day Jeanne gave me several dogs that needed long walks so I really got my exercise in.

On Friday Karen, another puppy raiser, and I took our puppies in training (Osaka and Yakira) down to Provo to meet two of the women we know from GDB Lounge (a yahoo group). They really enjoyed meeting the puppies but their guide dogs weren’t so sure about two energetic and forward little puppies. It was a very fun but tiring week.

Dirty Johnson’s Dog Wash

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Dirty Johnson Dog Wash

Tonight for our puppy class we went to Dirty Johnson’s Dog Wash and all the pups got baths. I’ve never been to a dog wash before so it was very enlightening. Bill did the real washing while I took pictures. He said the nicest thing about it was not having to bend over. We have a pretty good set up at home with our hand-held shower head but the few times I’ve given the pups baths I have to admit that my back is killing by the end. At the dog wash they have the bath tubs raised up off the floor and a moveable set of stairs for the dog to climb to get into the tub. It was a pretty slick operation with a variety of dog shampoo available. There was even one just for black dogs that we decided to use on Yakira. She wasn’t particularly happy about her bath but she was compliant. It was very nice of Dirty Johnson’s to stay open late for us. I can see why dog owners like to use dog washes.

5 Months Old

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Yakira laying down by the kitty tower

Today Yakira reached what I call the age of accountability. She is no longer a baby and is much more capable of understanding the rules of her environment. She has grown up so much in the last month and a half. She is becoming such a good puppy and she rarely even mouths me anymore let a lone clamp her teeth down on me. Yakira is becoming a good cuddler, which I really love in my puppies. And her stocky little build or her babyhood is gone and she is much more lean and lanky looking. I’ve been letting her get away with a bit of cheating in the car when she puts her paws up on the console between the front seats. She doesn’t know it yet but her days of cheating are know over.