O is for . . .

ORLEANS!!

On Thursday I picked up puppy number 12. She is an absolutely adorable Golden/Lab mix and her name is Orleans! I really thing I won the lotto with her name because I am not a huge fan of her sisters names. :)

Here is Orleans coming off the truck.

Giving me kisses!

Isn't she just the cutest little thing ever?

Me with Orleans and Snickers in front of the truck

Orleans playing with her sister Osaka.

We had four of these little fuzz balls come to Utah. From left to right is: Osaka, Omsi, Orleans and Onessa. There were two other siblings on the truck who are now in Colorado a male named Oscar and a female named Olema.

Orleans on the way home.

Just a cute picture of her in my driveway

Her first bath. Since they pups travel on newspapers they are pretty dirty when they get here, so all my pups get a bath first thing home.

Orleans meeting her big sister Paris.

Orleans meeting Snickers

So far she is a super puppy. She likes the sound of her voice and screams all night and anytime she is in the kennel but she is already improving on that. She loves to be held and just melts like butter in any one's arms. I love how sweet she is and still super confident. I am so excited to spend the next year with this sweet little girl. Oh, and interesting tidbit, I just realized she is my first baby girl since my 2nd puppy. All my girls since her have been transferred to me, so I am even more excited to have this sweetheart! :)

Little "T" has arrived!

I picked up my new puppy yesterday. My mystery "T" puppy is a Male Black lab named Tartan! I already love and and besides his need to kill all foliage is doing pretty well. Here are pictures:

The truck pulling in.

Our club received four new pups yesterday. The first off the truck was male black lab Roscoe!

Roscoe has the cutest face!

My puppy came off next

Tartan giving his new mom a kiss.

The third pup for our club was male yellow lab Athens

And the last one is male yellow lab Mozart.

Mozart and his new family.

Love his eyes!

This is Athens, he is really white and has tons of wrinkles.

The four new pups and their raisers. Mozart, Roscoe, Tartan and Athens.

Me and Tartan

This is Clyde a pup from our club who was transferred to raisers in Colorado. We wish him luck and will sure miss his presence at puppy classes. He is a stellar dog!

Tartan tries to play with a black lab named Russia but ends up on his back.

I just love Tartans dopey face!

Tartans first meal. He's definitely a lab and really loves his kibble.

Trying to get Tartan to relieve. It took until almost 12 hours later for him to go.

Tartans first bath. The pups are on beds of newspaper on the truck so they are usually pretty grimy.

Shake, shake, shake

That's it for now. I'll have more up later-ish. :)

30 for 30-Day 6 (How Did This Happen?)

How did this 10 lb puppy. . .

Photo taken: August 12, 2010 2 months old

turn into this 35 lb monster?!?!

Photo Taken November 3, 2010 5 month old

Okay he's not really a monster, he's about the best puppy ever! But I do not recall ever telling him it was okay to grow up so fast.

Finally Some Chocolate I like

Those who know me well know my hatred for chocolate. People often tell me I am very strange because I don't like it, but I have a good reason. . .my first guide dog Prudy got into 3 of my sisters Halloween candy and ate it all, they decided it wasn't important enough to tell me. Needless to say that was a VERY messy night involving my room being plastered in a not so pleasant substance. To this day the smell of chocolate makes me very nauseous. I can still eat the occasional brownie if it's moist and Peanut M&M's are my favorite but other than that there really isn't much in the chocolate category that I can eat on a regular basis. Why am I telling you this? Well, I am sure by now you've figured it out. ;) Today I received some chocolate that I will never get sick of!!

The Puppy Truck Story

This morning I woke up at ridiculous o'clock in the morning because I couldn't force myself sleep any longer and figured I'd just get ready. After I got ready I still had several hours to kill before I could actually leave. I sat on my bed and twiddled my thumbs for a while, tried to read a book but got to antsy, and then played on my computer for a while. Finally it was time to go. I picked up a couple other raisers and headed off. We met a few more raisers at Subway and got some lunch and then staked out at the hotel that the puppy truck stops at. We ate and chatted for a long time (we were super early so we sat there for about an hour and a half) while more and more raisers started showing up. Then the puppy truck started pulling in. Everyone quickly ran over and gathered around the door anxiously waiting for all the adorable puppies to come off.

Here is a side view of the puppy truck. It has a picture of six little puppies on the side.

There were nine puppies that came off the truck and of course mine was last so I got more and more anxious as I watched each adorable puppy come off the truck. My club got three new puppies today. The first of the three to come off went to the most awesome lady ever. She is a first time raiser and her enthusiasm is so contagious. She was so excited to get her puppy! I love the huge smile on her face in this pictures as Female Yellow Lab Antigua (An-tea-gwa) was handed to her. Antigua is a Forte/Dale puppy so she is my Fullertons niece. I am so excited to have her in the group! Little Antigua is in good hands with her new raiser.
The 2nd puppy for our group came off next. He is his raisers 2nd puppy and is an adorable Male Black lab named Clyde. I love his name and his sweet face. His raiser is going to have so much fun with him.

Finally after watching 8 other puppies come off the truck my name was called. I stepped forward to meet my little fuzzball and was handed Male Chocolate Lab. . . SNICKERS!! He is just over eight weeks old and is a Forte/Arizona puppy. Which means he is also Fullertons nephew. That made me super happy! He is the cutest little puppy ever and I am already so in love with him. He is a rather special puppy as he and one sister are the only chocolate labs in GDB's program right now. GDB hasn't had any chocolate puppies in about 16 years. I am honored for the opportunity to raise this unique little guy!

Here he is coming off the truck and being handed to me. It looks like I am about to take a bite out of my chocolaty morsel but I was just saying "Hi" to him. ;)

Me with a huge grin on my face holding Snickers.

The three new puppies in our group. It was fun because our club got one of each color lab today. Me with Snickers, Antigua and her raiser and Clyde with his raiser.

Me giving Snickers a kiss on the cheek.

He has the most amazing eyes ever! They are a bright green and contrast so well with his brown fur. He also has the stinkin' cutest face ever. I love his liver colored nose too.

I didn't get to hold him much at the truck, which was okay. Everyone wanted a chance to hold the little chocolate boy so he got passed around quite a bit. He has quite a fan club forming already. :) He did get a chance to meet Paris and already loves her. Paris was really nice and gentle with him, she is going to teach him a lot over the next year.

Paris and Snickers giving each other a good sniff.

Amanda with Kyle let me borrow Kyle's jacket to show what Snickers has to grow into. I love this picture of me holding Snickers in front of the truck with Snickers wearing Kyle's jacket. He looks so tiny in it.

Snickers sitting in the grass wearing the huge jacket. It had slid all the way down his back because he wasn't big enough for it.

Snickers got to sit in laps on the way home until I had dropped everyone off then the last little bit of the drive was just me and Snickers. He quickly made himself comfy by laying down on my seat and resting his head on my bag. Silly puppy! Unfortunately, I had to move him onto the floor but he was okay with that too.

He didn't lay down, he sat on the floorboards with his head rested on the seat and then he fell asleep that way. It was adorable.

Snickers sitting in the grass at his new home.

Of course I had to give him a bath to make him fresh after his long puppy truck journey.

He was so good during his bath and didn't seem to mind it at all. And now he smells good and is so clean.

I am absolutely in love with this super mellow little guy. He will happily collapse wherever I place him and is so content chewing on his tiny little bone. Right now he is curled up in a tiny ball sleeping, although he looks a little silly on the massive puffy green dog bed. I am so excited to see what adventures Snickers and I have over the next 14-ish months. He is a stellar puppy!

There was a tie in my name game and so I decided to draw names for the winner. Congrats to Emily & The Labradors who guessed his sex, color and name. Send me an e-mail and let me know what prize you want. ;)