11 Things at 11 Months

Today is Picassa's 11 month day!! So here are 11 Things about Picassa.

1. Picassa's confidence is getting SO much better. She used to have meltdowns on a daily basis when something would scare her (i.e. The A/C, sizzling food, the dishwasher, fans, Wal-mart, and pretty much anything that makes noise (except the vacuum and my hair dryer. Weird, I don't know why those weren't scary to her when so many other random things were) It's been a little over 2 weeks since her last meltdown. At her eval last week my CFR explained that her first raiser was a retired lady and their outings were to fabric stores and other quiet places like that so it makes sense, but I am so relieved I can take her out without worrying too much about her. :D

2. She is so much better at settling down too. She would get uber stressed out when I would walk away and do this leapy thing to get attention, it was cute the first time but then got really annoying because it was constant. She still does it but not nearly as much as she did. She is much better on outings too, when we stop she doesn't constantly pace she is able to lay down and wait until I start moving again. I took her to her first movie (Prince of Persia, very good movie), I was nervous because it's an action flick and I knew there would be a lot of noise but she was perfect and barely moved. She doesn't go to sleep when we stay in one place for a long time so she just watched the movie. It was kinda cute.

3. Picassa loves to tease her big sister Paris. Whenever she has a toy she rubs it in Paris' face because she knows Paris will try to take it and then she will spin in tight circles so Paris will chase her but can't actually get the toy away from her. It's kinda funny to watch. The look on her face while she is trying to entice Paris is pretty awesome!

4. Picassa goes absolutely batty over food. She spins in circles and jumps straight up in the air and does these flip things. It's crazy, I am trying to get her to be calmer but the progress on that is slow.

5. Picassa is earning more freedom. Today I left her loose in my bathroom (after putting the garbage can up on the counter, (one of her weaknesses) and taking the TP off the dispenser (another weakness) I've come into my room to find she has unravelled half the roll all over my room.) I was gone for about 4 hours and she was perfect, I still had a bathroom when I got home! I was extremely proud of her!!

6. Picassa loves me. She is finally starting to give me eye contact when I talk to her and she checks in when we go for walks, she will even come over when I sit on the floor and sit next to me and give me kisses. She really is such a sweet dog!

7. I am starting to think she actually has brains. When I first picked her up I thought she was the dumbest dog ever, but her intelligence is coming through now as I have watched her problem solve in a few different situations and pick the correct way to do something.

8. I love how she lays down. She will lift her left paw and then slide into her down on her right foot and tuck her left paw under herself.

9. Her puppy push-ups are fantastic. I love how fast she does them, it makes me giggle.

10. I love watching her pick out the toy she will chew on. She makes a pile of three or four toys and then picks them up and tosses them around before choosing the one she will chew on, then she settles down and chews her perfect bone for a while.

11. I love her tiny ears and her stubby, fat tail.

I should have Picassa until October which is longer than I thought I would have, so I will enjoy the next 4 months with my girl.

Here is a picture of Picassa laying down at the dentists office. I debated whether or not to take her but finally decided just to go for it and she was great. Each time the technicians walked by they petted her and told me how well behaved she was. Whew, thank you for not making me look bad Picassa. :D

Puppy Truck

The puppy truck came through Utah yesterday and since a new raiser in my club is out of town I was able to go and pick up her puppy. It was very exciting because I haven't actually picked up a puppy off the truck since Sherman (over 3 years ago) even if the puppy wasn't mine it was still fun to be able to go and get him.

[The puppy truck driving past the hotel with the drivers waving.]

Mr. K the puppy I was picking up was first off the truck. His name is Keiko (Key-co) and he is a Black Lab and his parents are Samuel and Nell.

[One of the drivers handing Keiko to me.] Such a cute puppy! Here he is giving me some kisses. And getting his leash attached to his collar. Me and Keiko standing in front of the truck. Since his raiser is out of town I get to keep him until Saturday night. I have really missed having a puppy around, it's been a long time and the beginning is my favorite part. So, it's been fun. (Even though I got absolutely no sleep last night)

Our club also got another puppy yesterday. Here she is coming off the truck. And her name is Julimae! She is so adorable with all her head wrinkles and she sure is a tiny little thing. Mitch will be her raiser for the next year. Mitch holding Julimae.

The new Utah County puppies in front of the truck. Me and Keiko with Mitch and Julimae.

Three other J puppies came off the truck too. Here is Julimae with Mitch and two siblings Jakota and Joe. Joshua also came to Utah but wasn't there for the picture.

One of Keiko's siblings came off the truck too. Her name is Kay and she is pretty adorable. Here is me and Keiko standing next to Kay and her raiser in front of the puppy truck.

Here is Keiko after we got home having his first meal. He is pretty slow and takes his time, it's pretty cute. He is looking up at the camera with water and kibble dribbling out of his mouth.

After I fed him we loaded all the dogs into the car and headed over to Mitch's house to let the pups have a play date. We let the two new ones first to run around and check out the pool. It was pretty funny, I love how uncoordinated young puppies are.

[Keiko and Julimae in the little kiddie pool. Julimae loved it but Keiko wasn't a fan.]

[Keiko and Julimae running around the yard. I love how Keiko's ears and sticking straight up.]

[Julimae standing in the pool looking at the camera.]

[Keiko looking rather unimpressed while standing in the pool.]

Julimae running toward the camera with Keiko following behind.]

The big girls got to come along as well and I was really impressed with how well they did around the puppies and making sure to be careful around them.

[Paris in the pool. She loved it!]

[Picassa in the pool. She didn't like it so much, she liked to just drink it a whole lot better.]

Keiko tried to play with the big dogs and kept up pretty well. I really enjoyed grabbing Paris by her tag bag and playing tug. She seemed okay with it.

Julimae kept up with the big dogs too. Here is Picassa, Paris, and Julimae playing with a bottle.

All the crazy pups in the yard. Picassa, Paris, Boone, Julimae and Keiko. They were all great together.

Here's a reverse Oreo picture. Paris, Keiko and Picassa all laying on my floor next to each other.

Keiko chose the biggest bone I have to chew on, it looked so funny because it's the size of his whole head.

I will be sad to give him to his raiser tomorrow, I have really enjoyed having a baby around. I was also really happy to see how Paris would react to a puppy. She gave me the confidence that she will be a marvelous example and co-raiser. :D Guess that's all for now. Have a good weekend everyone!

The last week

The last week has been pretty busy, so here are pictures from the week.

[Paris and Picassa on their first walk together. They both did really well]
[Picassa running in my parents backyard. Her tail is curved to the right and her ears are flapping in the air.]
I bought a new car after my old one blew up on the freeway (Not a nice experience!) but the new one is a little hatchback (that is actually cute and more SUV-like) so the girls can ride in the back. It's a bright red car and I love it! Still trying to think of names for him though.

[The girls in the back of the car. I put down blankets now so they are more comfortable and put in tie downs. I love not having them all over my seats.

Rub a dub dub two pups in the tub. Picassa had an eval with our CFR on Thursday so of course she got a bath so she would look as good as possible. Since Paris decided to run through mud puddles in my parents backyard she got one two. It was surprisingly easy to get them both bathed together.

[Paris sitting while Picassa stands in the tub, both of them are all soaped up.]

[Picassa gives Paris a kiss on the face while Paris turns away from her in the tub.]

Can't forget the after bath crazies. I love how Picassa rubs herself all over while Paris lays calmly on her bed. Silly dogs!!

And, why do I love the Furminator? Let me count the ways.

[Picassa lays next to a pile of hair that is almost as tall as her.]

Picassa eval went well. Our CFR did distraction tests with a little toy dog that barked and did back flips. Picassa wasn't very distracted by it so that was nice. After the eval I went inside Cabella's with Amanda and Hannah and their pups to go see all the animals. Here is me and Picassa kneeling in front of a big deer.

[Picassa, Sugar, and Kyle sitting in front of a bear.] None of the pups cared at all about the stuffed animals, what good puppies. :D

Yesterday a friend of mine came up from Utah County to hang out for a while. We ended up taking trax to the mall and had dinner and walked around a bunch. We went over to this fountain that has water shoot out of the ground. Picassa went a little nuts and wanted to run into the fountain but after a few minutes she settled down and watched all the kids run through it. Here's the back of Picassa's head while she watches the kids.

Then we went and found a waterfall fountain and got a picture of Picassa in front of it. I am so glad she is growing into her head and doesn't look quite so weird anymore. :D

I am really proud of the progress that Picassa is making. She is such a sweet dog and I am really enjoying raising her.

Picassa has a big sister

When I decided to adopt Paris I was a little worried about how the girls would react to each other. But they hit if off right away and get along great! They are a little jealous when I give attention to the other and will try to butt in to gets pets and love too. Hopefully they learn that they both will get attention and getting in the middle isn't necessary. They are not used to sharing mom though. :D I've let them play a little bit and Paris gets a little too rambunctious so I usually have to end it pretty fast. She does a few things that she never did before going to GDB like grabbing legs and shaking them. I'm afraid that she is going to snap poor Picassa's leg. Hopefully after a few corrections that will stop. She also gets really vocal while she is playing and she makes very intimidating sounds. (I've never heard her bark or growl before so it's weird.) Other than that they are doing wonderfully!

[Picassa and Paris playing tug with a green and white (well loved) rope toy.]
On Saturday I took Picassa to my bro-in-laws surprise birthday party. While there my nephew Cannon gave me a balloon and said, "This for Costco!" I laughed and said thanks, she loves it. He got a little upset and told me that I had to tie it to her wrist so she wouldn't loose it. I opted for the collar instead and she wore the balloon the rest of the party. I love my nephew he is so stinkin' funny and cute! Here is Picassa outside on the grass with the white balloon tied to her collar. She looks less than thrilled.
The girls on the way home from the party. Yes, I took Paris so my family could see her again and to show off all her new tricks. Unfortunately, she had to stay in the car since she isn't a service dog anymore, she didn't seem to mind though, and I went out about every 30 minutes to check on her. Paris has always settled well and will immediately will plop down and fall asleep instantly. Picassa is another story, she drives me crazy with her constant pacing and her inability to stay still for more than five seconds. It's something we are working on and she has made a little bit of improvement. (it was less than five seconds when she came. :D) Anyway, when we started heading home Paris assumed the position and was asleep before we left the parking lot. Picassa was all over the place and I kept telling her to down which she would and then immediately get back up. During her pacing she kept stepping all over Paris who didn't move a muscle. The last time I told Picassa to down she did so by crawling up onto Paris and using her as a pillow. They stayed this way the rest of the trip. Picassa is such a goober, it's a good thing she's cute. :D

P.S. Picassa has her first eval with me on Thursday. I am sure she will be just fine, but wish us luck anyway. :D Hopefully she doesn't embarrass me too much. And I heard from my leader that she is most likely staying until October so I have plenty of time to work everything out with her. YAY!

Puppy Class today

Once or twice a year my puppy club does a meeting at Discovery Academy. It is a school for troubled teens and I always love going there. The students really respond to the puppies and they always enjoy our visits. At the beginning we had a blind man from Salt Lake come down with his guide dog, Mariah, and he spoke to the students about blindness and using a guide dog. It was so fun. After he spoke we let the students pet and play with our puppies. Here are a bunch of pics from the meeting.

Me and my roommate are puppy sitting for Becky (Sarah's school puppy) and she got to reunite with her sister Breeze in our club. Here they are trying to play with each other.
[Breeze enjoying some pets from a student. I love how her eyes are closed.]
[Becky getting some pets while laying down in the grass.]

[Kyle laying in the grass with a student laying next to him.]

[Big handsome man Spike standing next to his raiser while she speaks with the students.]

[Picassa playing tug with a student. She loved playing tug with everyone and the kids loved playing with her too.]

[Picassa playing tug with a student sitting in the grass.]

[Christina plays tug with a student.]

[Sugar sitting nicely while her raiser talks to a group of students.]

[Spike getting pets from a student.]

The dogs were really hot after a while and they school let us use their hose to water our dogs. Meade was a pro! Here he is slurping water from the hose.

[Kyles cute little face.]

[I hosed down Picassa so here she is all wet and feeling much cooler. Poor dog thinks she is a black lab, hot weather is not okay with her.]

[Kyle enjoying pets from a student.]

[Breeze and Becky playing. Breeze is under Becky who looks like she is standing on her head.]

[Becky biting Breezes leg while Breeze gets ready to retaliate. I love how different they are. Breeze is more stalky and Becky is slim and tall. Breeze is also really white while Becky is more carmel colored.]

[Picassa kept biting Meade's tongue while he panted. Yep, my dog is really weird. After I got a picture I made her stop.]

After puppy class me, Gabby, and Karen took the puppies out for lunch. They were all sacked out after such an intense puppy class. Here is Picassa passed out under the table.

[Becky behaved beautifully for such a young pup. Here she is sitting in the restaurant. The waitress loved her!]

Then we went home and everyone got a nap. When we woke up we let Picassa and Becky play a bit. They were really funny and Picassa was so gentle with the puppy.

[Becky grabbed a big bone and ran around with it for a while.]

[Becky took a running leap and smashed into Picassa's side, it was hilarious, she is a spunky little pup and can sure keep up with the big dogs.]

[Becky also enjoyed running under Picassa.]

[Becky running toward the camera with the big bone in her mouth.]

[Becky on her back with Picassa standing over her.]

[Picassa on her back with Becky standing over her.]

It's been a good day! Becky has been a joy and it'll be sad to see her go tomorrow. :D