Fullerton vs. The OJ Jug

I love how he plays with the OJ Jug. Enjoy!!

Fun Outing

Last weekend I took Fullerton out to his first movie and restaurant. We went to see Marley and Me. (Which is a GREAT movie and had me in tears, and I don't cry at movies.) We got there a little late and the theatre was a bit packed (I thought that it had been out long enough so that it wouldn't be as popular . . . I was wrong) Anyway, we had to go all the way to the back of the theatre and we sat on the end. The lady in the row in front of us turned around and told me she used to be a raiser and had raised two pups for GDB. We chatted for a while until the previews started and I let her pet Fullerton (he has had some people greeting issues and he did really well, I was very proud of him, he only broke his "sit" once) Turns out I kinda knew her, well I remembered her last dog but not her. She actually raised in my group, so she asked me about leaders and I went through the list of all the leaders we have had, turns out we have had four leaders in our group since I started raising, hmm . . . anyway, she knew my first leader and I told her what she was up too. It was so fun to talk with her, I haven't ran into a "past raiser" in a long time. Her last dog left a couple weeks after I started going to classes and became a Breeder. Her first was cc'd and he still lives with her. The previews started and she wished me good luck with Fullerton, after telling me how gorgeous and well behaved he was, thank you very much. :D Fullerton was awesome! For those of you that have seen it there is a lot of barking and loud noises and the only time he got up or stirred at all was when the next door neighbor girl screamed, (and that is not even very loud in the movie) but he settled right back down for the rest of the movie. He did great in the crowd of people when we were leaving the theatre too, he didn't try and sniff anyone, just kept his head aimed straight ahead.

After the movie me and my sister decided to go out to eat. I thought that it would be a good chance to introduce Fullerton to restaurants. I have been working on food avoidance with him, so it was time to put that to the test. It was 3:00 in the afternoon so we were there with like three other people, which was also nice because we could avoid the people distraction part. We went to Bajio (if you don't know what it is, it's a Mexican place kinda like Cafe Rio, or Costa Vida) We went through the line and Fullerton was great and stayed right with me as we went. After we had our food and drinks (Fullerton got a little excited when I got ice from the ice machine, I started giving him ice cubes a couple weeks ago and he LOVES them) we went and sat down. I had Fuller do a "down" next to my chair, he was good for a little bit until he noticed some food on the floor, and started to crawl for it, so I gave him a little correction and after that he was perfect until we left. Below is a picture of him in the restaurant, I love the hanging vines and pottery tile they have all over the place. It is really cool.
Then on the way home. My sister broke her sunglasses, so I put them on Fullerton. Too cute not to share. (I hate that you can see my reflection in them though. *sigh*) :D
Happy Weekend everyone!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday to a VERY special pup!

Well, my very special little boy turned 2 today, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHERMAN!!
I was blessed to have this little man in my life. He has taken quite a large chunk of my heart and it will be his forever. I loved being able to raise him and shape him from

Crazy, maniacal little trouble maker :)
Into a calm and hard working little boy
I was witness to his crazy moments, and his sweet, soft, gushy side.

We laughed, we cried, we got angry, we did always agree but the one thing that Sherman always showed me was love. Sherman could love like no other dog. :D

So, again Happy Birthday Shermie, and while you didn't exactly take the path I was hoping for, I am so proud of you and the path that you chose for yourself. You have many years of service ahead of you, and I know that you can do it. You are an amazing dog and I love you dearly. Work hard and keep your new partner safe. Boy do I miss you, hope you had a GREAT birthday!

Growing, Growing, and more Growing

My boy is getting so big. He has been here for about 2 1/2 months now, boy has the time flown by. When he got here at 8 weeks he was a mere little 9 pound boy, today at 4 1/2 months he is a whoppin' 30 pounds. :D He is certainly getting big. So, here are some pictures of his growth so far.
^Fullertons day of arrival in his little crate. 8 weeks

^Fullerton in his little crate yesterday 4 1/2 months. When Dax leaves tomorrow he will get upgraded to the big kennel. The small one is a little cramped. :D

^ Fullerton in his small jacket at 11 weeks.

^Fullerton in his MEDIUM jacket at 4 1/2 months. Yes, at our last puppy class he got his medium coat.

^Fullertons first day, on the dog bed. 8 weeks. ^Fullerton on the dog bed at 4 1/2 months. You can really tell how much he has grown in this one. Look how much of the bed he fills up. *sniff, sniff* Can't believe how big he is getting. :)

^I also broke down and got him a Quiet Spot for his tags. It was really embarrassing when he would shake in the middle of class and make a ton of noise so I got one, in Camo, totally manly. Sure beats the hot pink one that I got for Adeline, I was gonna use it but decided that I would get more "oh, what a cute girl" comments than usual, so we stuck with something a bit more masculine. :) So far, I like it. It just came yesterday so we will test it in class on Tuesday. :D
And the boys doing synchronized "waits". I don't know why but I love when I can give multiple dogs commands and they both listen. It makes me smile. Ya, I am weird. :) Dax is leaving tomorrow afternoon, I will miss him, he is a great dog and the boys have really enjoyed their time together. Well, that's it I guess. Hope everyone has a good night.

No Interesting Title

Well, it's about time for an update. Fullerton is doing amazing! Don't get me wrong he is not perfect or anything I am just so impressed with him. He shows a real initiative and a willingness to work that I just love, love, love. He has a long way to go and I am so excited to get to be there to mold him and watch him grow. :) Anyway, last night was our first puppy class of the year, all the dogs were great. We worked on the food-induced-recall and dog distractions. (Which Fuller is great at, he isn't dog distracted at all, he would rather hang out with his momma.) After puppy class I came home with an extra puppy. I am very honored to have the opportunity to puppy-sit our clubs cross puppy, Dax. He is great, he is a very. . . "happy" puppy, but not over the top obnoxious. I really enjoy having him here. He is already making me think that having a golden or a cross to raise would be a lot of fun. :) Here are some pictures from Dax's first day here.
^Classic Dax playing with a kong

^Fullerton and Dax playing . . . sorry Dax, Fullerton was really frustrated that he couldn't get the toy so he started going for the ears instead. The play time stoped shortly after. The intense look on Fullertons face just cracks me up.

^The boys hang out in my room. You can really see the golden part of Dax he has a very Golden head (and personality, :)

^Dax playing in the snow (I am making this his new profile picture on my club website, it is so cute and totally shows his personality)

^ I really love Dax's head. It is so gorgeous!

^This is what the boys look like right this very minute. :) They are really great together. Dax is here until Monday and then his raiser will come and get him, but until then we are going to have loads of fun together. I REALLY like him (If I haven't made that quite clear yet, lol)

And of course a video of the boys playing. Fullerton was tired and tried to lay down and Dax kept trying to get him to play, Fullerton got sick of it and went a tad berserk before taking refuse under the bed. He makes me laugh. You will just have to see it. Oh, and when I scream it is not because Fullerton runs into me, I thought he was going to but instead he went through a six inch gap between me and the kennel to dive under the bed. He just gave me a bit of a fright, but all is well. lol

It's Called Self Control People!

Me and Fullerton had our first day of school on Wednesday. Fullerton was amazing. (Although we have to work on his people interactions, he gets a wee bit excited when people say "HI" and pet him) He was really great during my classes and waited patiently until it was over. I did have a really weird little experience in my Math class though. The room has four rows of Tables on an incline and I was sitting at the 2nd table from the back and had Fullerton laying down on my right side. About half way through class Fullerton started getting really fidgety so I reached down to give him a little correction. Well, I put my hand down and felt. . . another hand. It totally freaked me out so I pulled my hand away and looked down at him and there is a guy kneeling under the table behind me reaching out to pet Fullerton. Umm. . . WTF!?!? Come on man, have some dignity and get off the floor!! If you can't control yourself you are in the wrong place. I was a bit perturbed and really annoyed, but I didn't say anything, I just gave him a look and he got up. I avoid sitting in front of him now when I get to class. Why is it that I attract all these super strange little events? I guess all puppy raisers have their own "wonderful" experiences. Fun stuff. . .

And here is a video of Fullerton. I discovered that he goes a bit nuts when I would pour water, so I poured it toward him and well. . . here is the result. He makes me laugh!

Just so you know I don't do that regularly, this is the only time I have done it, it was just too funny.

Salt Lake City Outing

YAY!! I got Vladd (my computer) back, FINALLY!! He hasn't been working for over a month and I am so happy he is back. (Especially with school starting on Wednesday) So I can now put up my new pictures. So, about a week ago I took Fullerton up to Salt Lake to see the lights on Temple Square. He was so great in the massive crowds that are inevitable around Temple Square during the holidays. I was very proud of him.

Me and Fullerton by the SLC Temple. It is a freakin' gorgeous building.

My sisters, Fullerton and me on the steps of the temple.
I tried to get a picture of Fullerton with the lights and I kinda failed, I did succeed however in getting a picture of the inside of his nose. Oh, well, still cute. :)

Me and Fullerton and the lights.

Fullerton was wonderful. Much better than I anticipated, which was so nice. He was a bit of a butt during the walk to and from Temple Square. We parked about four blocks away and then walked there. He was not a huge fan of crossing the street, after a bit of coaxing he was fine. We will add that to our list of things to work on. :) He wasn't afraid of the cars and trucks and stuff that went passed us, just didn't like crossing for some reason. Anyway, I will count that as one very successful outing. :D Good boy Fully!!

Baby Pictures!!!

Fullertons mom's raiser (did you follow that, kinda confusing) just sent me pictures of the litter that she got from when they were born. I was so excited to see little tiny Fullerton and his brothers. They are adorable. First this is what she had to say about his mom Saga:
"Saga's personality is gentle, but has spunk to it with occasional brattiness."
That sounds about spot on regarding Fullerton. I think Fuller is a tad more "energetic" we will call it. :) Anyway, first you can look at this picture (I am pretty sure that is Forte and either Filby or Flamenco) and this picture (That is Forte and one of the black pups, but you can see Fullertons fanny in the corner) that was posted by GDB on their website.

Here is Fullertons mom Saga at her breeder Graduation.
Here is Miss. Saga while she was pregnant with the "F" pups.
Here is the ultrasound of the "F" pups. Look at those little puppy blobs. :)

Saga with the 2 day old "F" pups. Fullerton is the closest one to Saga's head. Aren't they cute little pudge balls. :D

Here they at 1 week old. Fullerton is the one at the top of the picture then either Filby or Flamenco and Forte at the bottom.

And 2 weeks old. Fullerton is the one closest to Saga's head again and the other three boys as well. :D

And Fullerton again. I am not sure how old he is in this pic but he looks a bit older than the two week picture. :)

And my boy again.

I am so happy to have all those baby pictures of Fullerton and his brother. They are so very cute.

A Review of 2008

Well, 2008 definitely had it's ups and downs. It was a good year though. Here are some of our adventures from 2008. :)

January:
on the 20th of this month was my boy Shermans first birthday. Other than that nothing too exciting happened, well Sherman learned how to honk my horn when he was sick of waiting for me. That made for some pretty entertaining experiences while putting gas in my car.

February: Sherman had some evals this month that decided which recall list he was on. We also had blogger pal Hobbs come for a few days.

March: Was the month that I found out that Sherman was leaving in June. It was also the month that Sherman made my Nephew, Cannon love dogs. :)

April: We went on a lot of fun outings like to the kids discovery museum, and the airport. Sherman also made it into the Community Connections Newsletter at GDB.

May: I found out that I got a job at Camp Bloomfield, I also learned that Sherman was going to be Mr. September for the GDB calendar. It was also my last month with Sherman. Tahoma (my second puppy) turned four. I was also supposed to get a baby puppy (MBL Texas) this month but since I was going to camp decided to get a transfer pup instead.

June: It was the month that Sherman was leaving for training. I received my sixth puppy Spanky. I also left to go to camp for the summer. Later that month I found out that Sherman was cc'd and was devastated that he would not be a guide and hoped he would find another job. And Spanky turned 1!

July: Spent all month at Camp which was such a blast. Spanky taught kids to walk dogs and about dog care. I turned 23 (AAAHHH!) and I found out that Sherman was accepted into Dogs4Diabetics!! :D

August: More time at camp, went to Fun Day in San Rafael, found out that Spanky had a recall for October. I also got home from camp and had to start doing real world stuff again. :) I was able to go to an agility competition for Adeline and saw Sherman at Fun Day.

September: Nothing really happened this month. I got a job at a jr high, which I like but can be overwhelming at times. (Jr High kids are just cruel sometimes!!) And had my last month with Spanky (so I thought)

October: Spanky was cc'd after an eval with our CFR. I kept his as a pet for three weeks before GDB could pick him up and I enjoyed every minute of it. Found out that I was getting a MYL "F" puppy the end of the month. (So I though) Took Spanky to the puppy truck ready to say goodbye but then returned home with him anyway. :)

November: I had to actually say goodbye to Spanky. Finally met my new puppy Fullerton. Found out that Sherman was placed with his partner and am still waiting for him to be official.

December: Well, you guys know, Had tons of snow, went to Mexico, found out Spanky had a forever home, Fuller continues to learn and grow and all my dogs are happy, what more can I ask for. :)

Here is to a fabulous 2009 with hopefully a few more ups than 2008 had to offer. :) Happy New Year Everyone