Bark City Updates

No, I haven't moved to the Unitas, been kidnapped by a pack of hungry dogs, or decided to join a commune.   I am alive and well (mostly, but who doesn't have a few problems) and just enjoying summer.

We have gone from freezing temperatures (literally 3in of snow on the ground 10 days ago), to really, really, lets go swim in the creek, hot!  Park Silly Market has started, the flip-flops have come out of the closet, and I finally pulled my ski rack off my car.  I think I am going to get Marley a kiddie swimming poll for the summer, since he has taken to laying flat out on the driveway in the shade very chance he gets.  Dante has finally gotten hot enough to pant (that saying something for a breed the originated in Mexico) and went for his first dip in the creek.

Hugo going for a final run in the snow.

I went up to Oregon for the Guide Dogs for the May graduation.  I went up with my club leader, who went to see her twentieth puppy graduate.  He is part of a very successful litter; out of 5 pups, three have been pulled as breeders, one (Bernstein, my leaders puppy) has graduated, and one is finishing up his formal training.  Their sire, Royal Guide Ralph, was expected to do good things for  Guide Dogs, and it looks like this litter may be the key! 

Bernstein relaxing in harness.

We only went up for a day, leaving Friday night, and coming back Saturday night.  It was a very moving day, with may inspiring moments.  When Bernstein saw his raiser, who he hadn't seen since November, he was so happy it made me cry.  However, after he settled down, it was evident how much he cared for his new person, who is a very kind man from Texas.  He assured my leader that they would have many adventures together, alot of the in Walmart, and she only ever had to call if she wanted to see how Bernstein was doing.  We also got to go on a tour of the campus, but not in the kennels, which I was a little disappointed at.  All in all it was an awesome trip.

One of the new guides going back to the kennels; his new partner had to leave a few days early for an emergency, and they were going to be reunited later that week.

150 dogs eat alot of food.

And of course need alot of bowels to eat that food from.  (I know, I know, everyone takes a picture of the bowels, but, look at it!)

And the best part of these last 5 weeks?  Sterling has stopped hating his puppy coat!!!!  He even wags his tail some of the time, and will go on outings.  He has really started to look to me when he is unsure, and is overcoming many of his previous avoidance issues.  I think he would make a sweet, and cuddly guide for a very lucky person if he keeps this up.  

We had a very fun puppy meeting at the local college, and went walking around the grounds and indoor pool.  It was the last meeting for one of the first time raisers in our group before their dog, Moses, went to San Rafael for formal training. 

There is a picture of this raiser, right before she put her puppy on the truck, that makes me want to cry all over again.  It is also a small preview of what I will be going through when Sterling goes back.  They got other puppy the same day, and said it really helped.  I know I want to raise again, but I don't know if I could be happy with another puppy when Sterling goes back.  I wonder how much harder it is to get back into the routine of a baby....

Here is a link to the story about the dogs going back for formal training.

http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,700232928,00.html

That all my updates for now.

Updates

Well, it is time for some long overdue updates.  

School is over for me, for the summer at least.  Only 1 real semester left, and then I am done with undergrad!  Time to start looking a grad school possibilities. 

I have started working at FOA full time now, and it is so nice to come home after work and not have to worry about homework.  Sterling is slowly and steadily improving.  He wears his vest day and night, only really taking it off so he can relieve himself.  I have not really taken him anywhere lately, and if I do it is usually without even his bandanna.  I am hoping that after a nice and mellow summer, where e only associates his vest with normal doggie life, he will be ready to start going back to school with me.

We have been doing some skiing with the dogs at the resorts up here, as they are all closed.  The dogs love the skinning up part, where we get to where we will ski down.  However, when anyone starts to ski away, Hugo goes nuts!!!  This is partly from his search and rescue training, he always gets excited when we do any scenario work, and a person going away from him means that he needs to go find them!  That means alot of frantic barking!

We went to Colorado this last weekend to go to a party out at one of Tom's friends ranches.  It was awesome!  I even got to shoot my first gun.  We mostly hung out, helped and and did some horseback riding. Marley and Hugo went with us, and loved it!  Marley has even been invited back permanently if we ever needed to find a different home for him.  They both really impressed me out there: even with lots of other dogs, horses, and people around they remained calm, mellow, and under control.  There were over 100 people there, and Marley and Hugo were the dogs that everybody seemed to know or want to ask questions about.

I also went to my first agility trial and dog show, and decided I would love to get into the sport!  Agility or rally looks like so much fun, and seems like it would build a close bond between me and my dogs. (Tom doesn't need to do it with Hugo, this morning the said he loves Hugo as much as me!!!)  

Tom had an arthroscopic knee surgery on Tuesday, and Hugo has defiantly been the dog that has been there for him.  The devotion displayed whenever Tom and Hugo are together is really incredible.  His recovery time has been amazing! Much more so than anytime I have had surgery; he didn't even have any nausea coming out of the operation.  Lucky.

Our raising group is getting ready to say goodbye to our oldest dog in June.  They will be getting a new puppy the same day, but they are first time raisers and it looks like it will be really hard on them.  The recall date for Sterling's group is already staring to come up.  Some think that since they were Nov truck pups, that they might go back then.  I personally am hoping for April, as I would love to have a well trained pup to go through my last semester with me, and I just love this dog!

My sister is bottle feeding some kittens from my work, and the dogs were really interested at first, but it turn out they just want to lick the kitten formula off of them!  Marley in particular is very patient with them, letting them crawl all over him.  Dante and Hugo try to play with them, and Sterling just looks confused!

Dante, my co-pilot,

is starting to trim down now that summer is here and he can once again be outside.  Man, I love these dogs.

And I just couldn't resist.  We were passing by this car (parked, thank god!) and noticed this little guard dog on top!  How cute.

We're back!

We made it back from Colorado, 3 tired dogs, and two even more tired people, possibly covered in more dog hair than the dogs.  Note:  driving with the windows down will not suck the dog hair out the window, it only blows it around more, and ends up in your drink/on your clothes/in your mouth.

It was interesting to drive back with three, vs. driving out with two.  The jockeying for position, constant panting in your ear from the one who didn't score a window seat, and lots more potty/water/relief from panting dog stops were needed.

We took I-80 out to Colorado, it was quick, but cold and boring.  (The trip back we took I-70, which was longer, but much prettier and warmer.) Once we got to Boulder we meet up with Tom's mom and had dinner, and then headed up to Nederland for sleep.  In the morning we let the dogs run and have a great time (the house has a HUGE fenced backyard!).  I think they would have stayed there if we would have let them.

The boys enjoying themselves in the backyard.

After that we headed off to Denver to pick up Sterling.  We went into downtown Denver and walked around with Marley and Hugo.  

Here is Tom with the boys outside of the courthouse.

Hugo, the boy that never stops.

Boys at the courthouse.

True love!

Outside a really cool old church.

Tall buildings, which very much fascinated Tom!  Big mountain, no problem, but put him in a city...

Right after we picked up Sterling.  He loves Marley.

When we went in to get Sterling, he sniffed Tom, then me, and got really wiggly and excited!  He started licking my hands and dancing all around my legs; I was so glad that he remembered me.  There was a lot of excited whining when he got in the car, but the boys all quickly realized that they knew each other and settled back down to the important business of sleeping and/or looking out the window.

That evening we went to the Boulder Puppy raising group, where Sterling was welcomed with open...paws?  Or maybe lots of butt sniffing.  Anyway, he got to meet the very cute Angel and her wonderful raiser Emily, who had invited us to the meeting.

It was really cool to see the differences between how clubs run their meetings and interact.  This was a much bigger club than we are used to (ours currently has 6 dogs, that is big for us!).  They were covering dog-dog interactions, and I learned new things about dog behavior.  In particular, I did not know that there are different types of hackling!  It is not always bad, sometimes it just means they are really excited.  It can also mean anger or fear, depending on how widespread the hackling is, and if there is any vocalization.  

In the end, it was really cool to go to their meeting, and Sterling was a very good ambassador for Utah pups!

No Sterling!  Drop it!  (The things puppies find in mountain backyards!)

And......

Drum roll please......

Sterling's new custom Guide Dog's for the Blind puppy...bandanna!

He doesn't seem to hate it as much as his jacket, but it still seems to bug him.  For now we are not doing any outings other than going to work. (I have been warned that I will most likely get hassled anyway because of the bandanna, so why push it before I have to.)  I am just trying to let him settle back in.

I will try to take some better pictures of his vest, wait, no, bandanna, tomorrow.

Colorado

We drove to CO today, and quite forgot just how exhausting it is to drive that long.  So we have decided to stay an extra day, and drive home on Wed.  Sterling is waiting in Denver, and we will pick him up tomorrow, bandanna and all.

That is his new thing.  Instead of wearing his vest when out, we are going to try a bandanna.  Hopefully this will allow him to focus on being out, and not how annoying his vest is.  He will wear his vest basically all the time at home, eating, playing, sleeping, and will hopefully learn to re-associate it with good things!!!

It was a very long drive here, but the dogs got their reward of going to Nederland and running, running, and running some more in the woods and around the house (it is kinda in the middle of the woods!)  

Boulder is a little weird about dogs, it seemed like all the people on the paths we went on today were really surprised to see a dog.  Even driving around the city we did not see very many!  Definitely not "Bark City"!

Coming Home

Sterling has been in Colorado with my CFR for 7 days now, and we can bring him home!  Unfortunately plane tickets have gone up since I looked last week, so we are going to drive out.  We are planning on leaving Mon morning, and getting back Tues evening, by 6pm so I can make it to my last Wilderness 1st responder class.

If we drive we will get to see Tom's mom, and we can bring the dogs, but it will take a little while longer to drive than it would to fly.

Sterling is coming home!

End of Winter

It snowed again last night.  I am ready for it to be spring again.  Hiking with the dogs, haning out at the park.  Last summer we would hang out down at the park and let them play for 2 hours, just soaking up the sun and talking with other dog parents.  

The last day Sterling was here was a beautiful day that was very reminiscant of spring, so we went to the resort and took some pictures.  He loves the snow!  

After Sterling left, we went around Park City with Hugo and Marley.  There is a bench that all the tourists take pictures on.  Since Marley is becoming very good at going where ever I tell him, he hopped right on the bench at sat for some pictures.  He blends into the background, everything is brown right now.


He is really doing well on public access training.  He will maintain an off lead heel, keep attention on me, and doesn't spook when kids come up and grab him.  His one weakness is food.  

There is still a week and a half before I can go get Sterling.  I am deciding between driving out with Tom and the dogs, or just flying out myself.  

T-Shirt Ideas

I want to get shirts made for my group...and would like to put funny/cute sayings on the back of the shirts.  Does anyone have any guide dog puppy raising specific ideas?

Thanks!