A (not so typical) Day in the Life

I liked doing Fullertons Day in the Life post so much that I decided to do a day in the life post for Paris too. So I planned over the weekend to follow her day on Monday. . . little did I know how different yesterday was going to be. But here is Paris' (not so typical) day in the life.

I wake up at six every morning now and as soon as I turn off my alarm Paris is ready to go. I usually open my eyes to my little yellow girl staring at me.
[Paris looking at me over the edge of the bed]
Today we woke up to about five inches of snow. It was great I LOVE snow.
[A picture looking down my street and everything covered in white]

I took Paris out to potty (which she did wonderfully in the snow, some of my puppies have really not enjoyed going in the snow.) Then we went back in so I could get ready for school. At 7 we leave for school.

[Paris sits in the snow before we leave for school]

A friend of mine had stayed over the night before so I had to drop her and her dog Boone off at work on my way to school. So two humans, and two dogs piled into the car to take her to work. On the way I stopped at a red light and someone took a corner way too fast for the snow and slid into me. GRRR!! I was pretty mad but fortunately everyone was fine. It is really scary to watch a car sliding closer and closer and not be able to do anything about it though. I was pretty shaken up. There was also a cop car stopped at the light across from me so he came over and had us pull into a gas station and did all his stuff. My friend got to work late and I would not have made it to class so I didn't go to school either. Oh well. . .

[My poor red car with a big dent in the driver side just above the wheel]

So instead of going to class me and Paris went to my moms first grade classroom and helped them out for a while. Paris was excellent with all the squealing seven year olds. When we first got there my mom had us talk to the kids and tell them why Paris was allowed in school and then we helped them with their art project. They made little soldiers for Christmas. Paris didn't try to eat any of the paper scraps that littered the floor after the first graders where done with their projects I was so proud. Then I put Paris in a down stay while my mom did reading time with the kids and then I walked around with Paris to help them with math. It was a lot of fun and Paris was a big hit. The kids were so good and asked me if they could pet her as we walked around to help with math. Paris is so good with little kids.

[Paris sitting under the table with all the paper soldiers piled on top.]

[Paris' down stay while the kids all read their books. A couple ladies walked in and didn't even notice her until I got her up for math time. That is always a huge compliment.]

When it was time for morning recess me and Paris left to go home. While there I practiced "go to bed" and "come" She is wonderful at both commands. :D

Video description: Paris sits by a door and then I tell her to go to bed. She promptly runs to her mat that I have placed about 20 feet away and lays down on it. I say "nice" and she gets a kibble then I take a few steps back say "nice" again and she gets another kibble.

I think I am going to start giving her the command from another room and she if she still knows what to do if she can't see the mat. She is so good at this command, it makes me so happy!

This is Paris playing hide and go seek recall. I usually hide behind a couch or in a corner or in the bathroom and then I call her and she has to come find me. This time I hid in the hall and called her out of my bedroom and she found me really fast. What a good girl.

Usually all that time is spent at school. Here is a picture from last Friday.

[Paris sitting by a blow up Santa sitting in a green chair that is in our student center. Santa's arm waves too, it's kinda creepy]

[Paris walking to class on Friday as well. She is such a good sport]

After we practiced commands we went into my room and did puppy handling. Puppy handling is when we lay the puppy down and pet them all over, or we can do it in a sitting position too. Paris loves puppy handling, it relaxes her a lot.

[Paris falls asleep sitting down with her head in my hand, what a sweetheart!]

After puppy handling my boss called me and told me it was really slow and that I didn't need to come in so I got the rest of the day to play with my Paris. So, I took her out into the yard and let her run in the snow. She had a blast, although she really likes sticks, something that I continue to work on with her.

[Paris running in the snow with a long stick in her mouth, it looks like she is smiling, her ears are bouncing up and she has one foot on the ground and one kicking into the air. She really is quite graceful]

I took the stick away from her and then let her run around some more.

[Paris diving into the snow, she liked to faceplant, not sure why it seemed uncomfortable to me but she loves the snow]

After that I patted her down with a towel and we went on some outing. We went to the bookstore, grocery store, and a movie store. She was fabulous as always.

[Paris sitting in the grocery store waiting for me to pay]

Then I took my sister to her voice lesson.

[Paris in the car waiting for my sister to come out from her lesson. She has her head resting on the drivers seat.]

Usually we go to work where she spends a bit of time on tie-down while I am occupied or she roams around the back area with me. She has also made really good buddies with my friend/co-workers dog Boone. He is a 1 yr old German Shorthair and is such a nice dog. They are really cute together.

Anyway, after errands I did homework and then we settled in for bed and get all ready to start over again. :D So, there is a day in the life of a guide dog puppy in training.