Evals and B-days

Shermans eval went really well today. Sherman was such a gentleman and behaved himself perfectly. While we were waiting for our CFR a little boy (maybe 5-6) came up to Sherman and offered him a green gummy bear. I was so proud when Sherman turned his head away. Then the kid dropped it and Sherm didn't even look at it. I eventually threw it away because I didn't want too much temptation. :) We had our eval with two other labby boys from our group and all of them did really well. We started with trying to relieve the dogs on the street, Sherm didn't need to go so I didn't try. Then we went up some stairs and into a build-a-bear store. Our CFR grabbed one of the noise maker things that sounded like a cat and none of the dogs reacted to it. YAY!! They handled all the surfaces, heights, noises and stairs wonderfully. I am so proud of my boy, all of the boys in fact, they did marvelous. Also, Sherman has upgraded to the large jacket. YAY! (He is my first pup to fit in one) The medium was looking a little snug and now the large looks huge. :) Oh well, at least he doesn't have to suck in to fit in it. lol My boy is growing up, it is so sad.

Also, today is my 3rd pups 2nd b-day. My little Glennie is two, I can't believe it. Happy Birthday Glenns!!

Such a cutie. I miss this beautiful little girl. :)

Big day in Salt Lake City

Today me and Sherm had a big day. We met up with an old friend that I haven't seen in forever and her 2 1/2 year old son. We were going to visit our other old friend who we haven't seen in forever at the school that she teaches at and have lunch. It was really fun to reminisce and talk and catch up. She works at Jordan High School so after a few hours (she has a free period after lunch so we had plenty of time) me and Suzi (friend with the 2 year old) left to go home. We passed by the entrance to the UTA Trax (a train that goes to Salt Lake City) and decided spur of the moment to go to Salt Lake and explore fora while. It was good fun. Her son and Sherman had both never been on the train before and they both had a good time.

Sherman and me on the train.

We got off and went to the Gateway mall. We stopped at the fountain and watched for a while. The water is choreographed to music and is fascinating to watch. Before we knew it Shane had ripped off all his clothes (except diaper, thank heaven) and was running through the water. After Suzi corralled him and wrestled his clothes back on, it was most amusing to watch. :) We snapped a quick pic of me and Sherman. (who was also fascinated by the water, but didn't strip and go running off into it) :)
We stopped in a kids museum of some sort and I couldn't help myself. They had these little bell bracelets. Sherman was not as amused and didn't like walking with it on and tried to keep his foot off the ground. It was pretty amusing!
I got WAY to exited about this mailbox. It is R2D2, just about the coolest thing I ever saw. I had to have a picture. :)
Only Sherman could manage to get his toy stuck in his mouth. He will usually pick up a toy and come show it to me before settling on the floor to chew. Well, he brought it over and then went to set it down and it wouldn't come out of his mouth. He started freaking out and shaking his head before I grabbed my camera snapped a pic and then helped him get the toy out of his mouth. I was laughing so hard!! I can't believe he fit it in there!!
Sherman's "little sister" This is my friends puppy Tilly. She is a six month old border collie/blue heeler mix and I am puppy sitting her for the next few days. She is just as sweet as can be. She and Sherman seemed to hit it off and are liking having each other around. It is good for Tilly too because she doesn't get much socialization. She is really enjoying the attention from the family and from Sherman.
So that is pretty much it. Except that Sherman has an evaluation tomorrow. I am a little nervous but know that my boy will do great. More on that tomorrow. Hopefully all goes well and he shows off the wonderfulness that he is. :)

My boy is back!!!

My boy came home today!!!!! He was such a brave little guy. He was so happy to see me, he went crazy in the lobby of the vet when he saw me. He got lots of hugs and kisses from me and I think he is feeling much better. The vet said he is still quite swollen but it has gone down a lot. I think my biggest problem is going to be keeping him still for the next week. The first thing he did when we got home was run for his gough-nut. (the green toy in the pic) It is his favorite and then he ran around the room flipping it around. Not the behavior I expected from puppy who recently went through surgery. He also has some bad diarrhea, but I am assuming that is normal. Hopefully that goes away soon. It is the first time that Sherman has had it and frankly, I didn't miss it. :) I am just so happy to have my boy home.
Yesterday, I got the call from my vet saying that Prudy's stuff was back. This is her paw print. It turned out so cute. It isn't anything like I thought it was going to be, but it is so much better. I love it!!

Oh, great. . .

I got up early this morning to go pick up Sherman from the vet. I really missed him yesterday. I didn't think one day would make me miss him that much. It was really quiet and I kept reaching to pet him and he wasn't there. Well, while I was driving to get him the vet called and said that Sherman had some swelling and bleeding from the scrotum that they were worried about. So they are keeping him another night for observation. So, I didn't get my boy back, but will pick him up tomorrow. (of course this would happen with all the anxiety that I have had over his little operation. HMPH!!) Maybe it is for the best because I have to work tonight and didn't want to leave him alone his first night back. But tomorrow I don't have school or work so I can stay with him all day. :) I just don't want him to be hurting or anything, I feel bad for him. Hopefully he is okay and can come home tomorrow. I really miss my little guy!
Megan (the Shermanless)

Growing again!

At last Sherman has gained some weight. He has been exactly 41.3 pounds every time I have weighed him since he was 5 months old. I took him to get weighed yesterday and he is now 46.7 pounds. He has officially passed Adelines pre-heat weight. YAY!!! I really think those hormones are getting to him too. :( He is definetly testing me. But, he is still sweet and a cuddle bug when he wants to be so that makes up for all the hormones. ;) Nothing much has happened lately. Life is pretty boring, he is still doing great at school and work. He is not liking the heat, neither am I, we can't wait unitl winter when it cools down a bit. I am sure he will love the snow. Winter is my favorite season, I love it. I am getting a little worried about his neuter, he is going in the day after tomorrow. I know that boys take it a lot better than the girls do but the last dog that got fixed while they were with me was Prudy and she stayed at the vet overnight (I think most vets do this) and then after she came home her spay site bled for two weeks before I got permission to take her back for an exam and her sutures were infected. It was nasty. :) I am sure Sherm be fine. Wish us luck. :) That's all from here. But I will leave you a picture of my little "teenager". :)

Just in Time

Sherman has never lifted his leg while relieving, until today, while I was sitting at my desk working on my math (ugh) Sherman came over and started sniffing the chair I was on. Then what did he do? He lifted his leg and peed on me and the chair. (he had just relieved about 20 minutes before so he didn't need to go.) I jumped up and grabbed his collar and he stopped. I was so mad at him and put him on tie-down while I cleaned up his mess. He sulked for the next hour, the little brat actually tried to make me feel bad for him. HA, it didn't work. :) This was his first accident since I brought him home so that was frustrating, I guess we had a good run but it had to end sometime, right? I have never been peed on before and it was definitely not something that I want to experience again. :)

Anyway, on Saturday I got his neuter letter, so he is getting snipped next Monday. After our little incident today I figure it is just in time. :)

Puppy Parents

I decided to follow in Brittany and Emily's footsteps and make a parent post. I have been trying to get a hold of all this pictures for ages and the only one I am missing now is Klondike who is Prudy's dad. He is quite hard to locate, but oh, well.

Flower + Klondike = Prudy
(Prudy in her fat days before getting those pesky 20 lbs off) She looked much better after the diet I promise. :)


Davida + Jessel =
Tahoma

Paula + Astro=
Glennie

Vonnie + Kinsey=
Adeline

Yolette + Norbert=

Sherman

(Norberts pic is not very good. I took a picture of the picture in the breeder book at Fun Day)

It is fun to look at all the similarities. I like seeing where my pups get thier looks from. :)

My two and a half hour trip to Wal-Mart

Yesterday my watch broke. I can't stand not having a watch on, it drives me crazy, so I went to Wal-Mart, Sherman in toe, on a quest for a new watch. Little did I know all of the events that were going to occur. What I thought was going to take 5-10 minutes ended up taking 2 1/2 hours!!

I walk into wal-mart and head for the watch section, which is right at the front. I look for a few minutes decided on a nice analog watch with a sports band and then my phone rings. I pull it out of my pocket, look at the caller ID, and it is my mom. I answer and she asked where I was. I told her I was at Wal-mart and she said she was too and to meet her in the deli because she needs to talk to me. So, me and the Sherm head over to the Deli, on our way we are stopped by a lady asking about guide dogs. We chatted for a few minute before heading on my way.

I met my mom by the deli, we started talking and walking around when we got stopped again. This time by a husband and wife, the husband was holding onto the cart while the wife was pushing. They started passing us when the wife (later I found out her name is Shirley) said to her husband, "Hey Dave, it is a guide dog puppy in training." They stopped and wanted to talk. I then learned that the man was blind and had had two guide dogs from GDB in the past. He asked if he could meet Sherman. I usually say no to people in public because Sherman gets REALLY exited and bounces around and such, but I decided that it would be okay. I said "sure." The man bent down and stuck his hands out and I guided Sherman to him. I told him Sherman was a 7 1/2 month old Black lab and he was so exited because his favorite guide was a male black lab. He is between dogs right now because of some health issues but is hoping to put in an application again soon. We talked for nearly 1 1/2 hours about all of his dogs and experiences and all that. It was fascinating. I don't run into handlers very often. Only twice since I started raising. Sherman was the little model of perfection the whole talk. He was calm greeting Dave, and then layed next to me while we talked. About half way through our conversation a woman and her daughter stopped to talk to us. While we talked and answered the women's questions her daughter, who looked about two or three years old, was on the floor laying with Sherman, rolling on top of him, pulling his ears, pulling his tail. I was so proud of Sherman because he barely moved a muscle the whole time this little kid was on him. The mom kept trying to get the girl to stop but she wouldn't. After a bit they continued their shopping and me Shirley, Dave, and my mom continued our conversation. They had to get going so we parted ways and me and my mom continued our conversation and shopping. After another few minutes we ran into a lady with a little cocker spaniel/Poodle. We ended up talking to her forever. Her dog is a seizure alert dog. It was really fascinating learning about that program. She self trained her dog through a place in Salt Lake that certifies service dogs. We talked until her dog started barking at Sherman, so we said our good-byes and nice to meet you's and continued our shopping. (Sherman looked shocked by all the noise this little puff ball was making.) :) This is a first running into a dog in a store. Even with the 7-8 dogs being trained for GDB in the area, I have NEVER ran into a single one. It was really neat.

So my in-and-out trip to Wal-mart was anything but that. Can you ever do an in-and-out when you have a dog with you? I don't think it is possible. I was very proud of my boy though, he was so well behaved meeting people and dogs and walking around as much as we did. I think it was quite a successful trip and really shows how much Sherman has grown up and matured over the last few months.

A long overdue update

I have been in school for a week and a half now and am already so excited to have a day off tomorrow. My classes are alright. My math is going to kill me this semester. My teacher is this little Chinese woman who has such a thick accent that I can't hardly understand a word she says. (Math is a foreign language to me as it is) Needless to say I have been spending a lot of time in the math lab. My English teacher is way to giddy for a seven in the morning class. She is funny though and I like the class, seems like we will be doing a lot of writing too. There are some nice people in the class though, so it is nice to have people to talk to. Accounting is fun too. My teacher used to be a drama teacher, he taught for a few years before deciding he didn't like it, so he went back to school and majored in accounting. (quite the change) But he is a really funny guy and that really makes me enjoy the class. Sherman has been doing great at school. He already knows the routes to each of my classes and got so confused the other day when I went another direction because I had to stop by the bookstore. He is great in my classes and puts himself to sleep until class ends and then is up and ready to go to the next. He also does great with the crowds of people, and he gets around them really well. He doesn't like walking behind someone slow and will try to push past, but we are working on that. He has been handling all the change around here like a champ. He has adjusted to apartment life wonderfully. I still haven't really met my roommates, one stays in her room 24/7 so I haven't even seen her, another hasn't moved in yet and the only one I have met and talked to is moving out next month. Which is too bad because we get along great, I am trying to convince her to stay. He does get really excited when he sees my family, which is okay, I do too. :) I think he misses all the attention from everyone. I haven't been back to my house since I moved so we have been doing a lot of long line work. He really likes the chance to have a good run. One of these days I have to make it over to my parents house so he can run loose in the yard again. But, I am not quite ready for that yet. I don't think he likes being an only dog because I have more time to focus on him he doesn't get away with anything anymore. He gets a bit upset at me too, but that's okay, he is in those terrible twos. :) Everything is going great.

While moving furniture around in my apartment I took the mattress off my bed so that I could move it easier. Well, Sherman was in the way so I told him to move. He looked at the bad frame and then at me. I said "don't even thing about it." Before I had finished the whole sentence Sherman hopped on and made himself comfortable. Gave me the "it's not bad because there is no mattress" look. Of course after the picture I kicked him off. Then he went over to his nook and sulked for about an hour. Who ever said that dogs don't hold a grudge is an idiot!

Tired after his first day of classes. In my car headed home.

Sherman has a new buddy at work. One of my co-workers brought her little Min Pin/Doxie mix. His name is Rodacha (I hope GDB never snags that name. lol) He is about 1 year old and is such a good pup. Sherman didn't seem to care for him much though. Roddy was crawling all over Sherman and trying so hard to get him to play. Sherm just layed there and let him. It was so funny.

"Do you want something Sherm?"
The subtle hint of a hungry Labrador
And of course the bath picture. How can you not love that pathetic face?