The Encounters

The last few days I have had some. . . well, interesting encounters with people I thought that I would share:

The first happened at a movie theater with my friend a few days ago. We were standing in line waiting to hand the ticket taker our tickets when the manager (who I had noticed staring at me for the last few minutes) walked up and said:

Manager: I am sorry Ma'am but we do not allow dogs in here unless they are guide d. . . (trailed off) Oh! (Finally spotted the bright green jacket on the yellow dog, then he stalked off.)

I looked over at my friend, we both were laughing. And I said: "Maybe he should have looked at the dog before opening his mouth and making himself look like an idiot!"

The second one I was by myself in the grocery store when this lady came up and said:
Lady: I didn't know we could bring our dogs in this store.
Me: Umm. . . he is not a pet dog he is a service dog
Lady: You don't look disabled
Me: I'm not, he is in training to be a guide dog for the blind
Lady: They use pit bulls!?!?
Me: No, he is a Labrador retriever (who looks absolutely nothing like a pit bull)
Lady: I didn't know they used labs. I thought they just used those big dogs with the pointy ears.
Me: German Shepherds? They do, but they also use labs and golden retrievers.
Lady: No those Great Danes
Me: (cricket, cricket)
Lady: Ya, those really really big ones, don't they have to be big to be guide dogs? (Sizing up my dog with her eyes.)
Me: Well, ya but not that big. My puppy is only six months old so he is still growing. (I think someone has been horribly misinformed)
Anyway that is how the conversation started, the rest I was trying to explain service and guide dogs to her. She eventually got it but I am not going to write the whole thing. :)

IWYPRSD and Today

I really enjoyed my IWYPRS Day! It was fun to get up and think that so many other puppy raisers around the world were doing the same as me. Well, our day started early me and Fuller got up and ready for the day and I picked out my PR shirt to wear for the day.
I chose my Fun Day shirt from this year. :)

Me and my shirt went to work and then school, BORING! Then after class I took my shirt, Fullerton and my little sister to a movie and dinner. We went and saw Coraline. (Weird movie, don't think I will ever watch it again and frankly I was surprised that it was on PG since there were a couple scenes that were. . . well, not for kids. I actually covered my sisters eyes during one scene) Fuller nicely tucked under my seat.

After that Shirt, me, sister, and Fuller went to the food court in the mall for dinner and Fullerton slept while we ate.

After dinner my sister insisted on getting a gumball and Fullerton was so interested and LOVED watching the ball roll down the little slide thing.

That was the end of my IWYPRS Day. It was a fun day all in all. And my shirt had quite the adventure.

Then today was our Utah State puppy Workshop. It was A TON of fun. What is better than spending a whole day with other guide dog people? This is Fullerton on the way up. There were five dogs and four people in the car, so. . . it was quite crowded. But we had fun, we joked that there was going to be a mutiny and the dogs were going to take over the car. :D

At the start of the meeting our CFR taught us the new "go to bed" command, which I am uber excited about!! (and as usual I am pretty sure Utah is the last region to learn the new command. *sigh*) But, Fullerton was the demo pup. He did so well and caught on really fast. That's my smart boy!
Getting the reward for sitting nicely on the mat. :D

One of our new raisers worked with Fullerton during the meeting while I worked with Barrymore. He is getting his first puppy in April and he will be an awesome raiser, he was so good with Fuller!

Fullerton's brother Forte was there too. They don't look much alike, Forte is much more blocky and quite a bit bigger. They do have the same eyes and mouth though, and color. Fullerton is a touch darker though. But personality wise they are a lot alike. Forte is so handsome and they are both awesome puppies. :D

Our group before lunch. Myra, Dax, Barrymore (he was honored to be a demo dog for harness walks. It was approved for some CC'd dogs that made it to the advanced stages of training to put on harnesses and walk with the raisers to give people the experience of working with a dog. It was so cool, I got to handle Barrymore, I would hold his leash while someone else held the harness handle. He made it to phase 10 before he was cc'd. It was fun and people were fighting over him, they all wanted to walk with him.) and then there is Fullerton.

Barrymore the happy boy in harness.

Fullerton outside during lunch.

That was about it, after lunch we worked with some blind children and walked them to different stations about grooming and feeding and K9buddies and there was a working guide dog panel that we could ask questions. It was so much fun. And I got to talk to Sarah with Millicent and just have to say, she is adorable! :) Anywho, I am absolutely exhausted and need to get some sleep so, hope everyone has a great weekend. :D

Happy Valentines Day to all our puppy friends

Me and Fullerton wanted to say Happy Valentines Day to all our blogger friends and their four footed pals. :D So, any of our female friends want to be Fullertons special Valentine?

And our Valentine Photo shoot Outtakes!!

"Icky, I don't want this flower in my mouth!!"

"MMM. . . Chomp, chomp, the petals are yummy."

Happy V-day!!! (or Single Awareness Day to those of you like me with no special someone today. :)

Fuller and the Nephew

On Sunday my Nephew came over for a visit. Fullerton is so much better with him. He is a lot gentler and calmer it is nice. Anyway, Cannon helped me feed Fuller dinner, it was so cute. He watched Fuller eat and would giggle every once in a while. Fuller was great with Cannon all huddled over him.
He was even fine when Cannon tried to take the bowl away. Just kept eating. Cannon is so helpful.

Then Cannon kept crawling into Fullertons kennel. (See video below) and Fullerton was so confused why he was in there.

Random little tid bit: I don't know if I have mentioned it here before but I am going to be an aunt again. :D We just found out yesterday that it is going to be a girl and she she is due on Cannons birthday. How funny! Cannon is going to be an awesome big brother! Too bad I am going to miss her being born as I am going back to camp this summer. :( Oh, that's my other news I am officially going back to Camp Bloomfield this summer, I am super excited!!

Here is Fullerton being a good boy in my English class on Monday.

Yesterday me and Hannah swapped dogs. So I have Miss. Myra and Fullerton is at her house (hopefully being a good boy and not causing too much mayhem and destruction.) Myra is a lovely little lady. We are switching back tomorrow at puppy class and I do have to say I miss my boy. :) Here are some pictures of Myra from school today. I was bored waiting in the hall for my class to start so there ya go. :)

Myra resting her head on my legs. :)

Video of my favorite Nephew and my favorite yellow labby named Fullerton. :D

Long day

Me and Fullerton had a very busy morning. I needed to go get my car inspected (registration is already expired, oops) and re-registered, but alas, it failed the first time. *Sigh* so we had to go get new tires and a few other things fixed. While waiting for the tires me and Fullerton walked over to a pet store and walked around. He was really interested in the little rats, and this white one kept following him around the glass, it was so funny. They liked each other.
Fuller in the pet store.

After the tires were on we had to go to a car parts store and get a few thing. I fixed it up and then had to go to a mechanic to get something else fixed, he said he couldn't fix it. DARN! So, I looked at it and ended up fixing it myself, yay me! Anyway, we left this morning at 11:30 and just got back (it's now 5:41) so me and Fuller have had a very busy day, and we are both tired, but my car is all better. I hate car struggles so badly. Hope everyone else is having a good Saturday! :D

5 month day

Okay, okay so I am 2 days late. But my boy is five months old! He has been here for 3 months and is doing fantastic! I love this puppy, he is so goofy and wonderful with a real work ethic. He loves going out and is a joy to have in public. We are working out a few kinks, hopefully they will resolve soon, but other than that he is great. He weighed in this morning at 35 pounds. He is smaller than his big brothers, but he was the runt of the litter. :) He fits in his adult collar at the smallest setting, but the plate on it makes it a funny shape that rubs his neck in weird places, so we will wait a few weeks. :D

Fullertons bat dog impression.
On Saturday (Fullertons actual 5 month day) we had puppy class at Discovery Academy. It is a High School in Utah. Anyway, we did a presentation for them. We started as a big group and my leader spoke to everyone and showed a couple videos and then we broke off into groups and each raiser talked to and answered questions to the students. It was a lot of fun, and Fullerton got so many complements about how well behaved he is and how cute. Everyone said he was the cutest, and I totally agree. :D (Not that I am biased or anything) Fullerton was the youngest one there by about 8 months, so he looked pretty small. But he behaved himself and was a great rep for GDB.
I showed the students how the groom the dog, and they took turns brushing his fur and teeth. They had a good time.

More brushing teeth.

And playing tug with one of the students. I also showed the students some games we played like tug and come. They had fun and were giggling watching Fullerton come running to them. He is so goofy when he comes, he does this jack rabbit leaping thing and gets so excited. It was a great outing and all the dogs and students really enjoyed themselves. Fullerton was exhausted when we got home and slept the rest of the afternoon. That's about it for now. Ta ta everyone!