Becoming a Woman

Picassa went into heat while at the puppy sitters house, so I guess I am glad I left her behind. :) I had a strong feeling she would be going in soon. Now she has to survive 28 days of house arrest. I'll get to keep her until Saturday when my leader gets back from vacation and then she will keep Picassa through the rest of her season. I'll miss the girl but I've been promised visiting rights. Welcome to woman-hood little girl. and now some embarrassing pictures of Picassa in her diaper so she can be loose for a bit each day.

[Picassa lays on the floor with her silly denim diaper on.]
[She enjoys shoving herself behind the furniture, something she didn't do pre-season. Interesting. . .]
She's been pretty good so far, she seems to sleep a lot but is ten times more whinny and bouncy than normal. And since she is not allowed any rubber or soft toys (eg. gough-nuts, jugs & kongs because they are annihilated in about 6 1/2 seconds) I've had some trouble keeping her entertained. Any suggestions are welcome. :) Thanks!

Fun Day Trip-Part 4 (THE BIG DAY)

Fun day was as always. . . fun! I love walking around the vendor booths and chatting with other raisers and seeing all the dogs and litter mates. I got to meet a lot of blogger friends too, it was great to meet all of you. :) I didn't take many pictures at fun day because I got a little preoccupied but here are a few that I got.

[Little Janetta asleep in the grass with a cowboy hat and bandanna on.]
Kyle on the right with his littermate Kierney. Kierney is a little darker than Kyle and quite a bit crazier. It was fun to meet him. I like this picture because Kyle is looking up at me.
[Another picture of Kierney and Kyle sitting next to each other.]

I also got to meet Picassa's sister Pia. Pia is a lot calmer and more dignified than Picassa. They have the same face shape but Pia is really white and has really short hair. It was fun to meet her and her raiser.

We ran into a breeder named Sunset and talked with her breeder keeper for a while. While we were talking, Kyle and Sunset fell asleep facing each other. I just thought it was cute how they were so close to each other but not interested in the other one.

At fun day they did a Recall Relay and Kyle won second place out of all the dogs that competed. I was pretty stinkin' proud of him and at the end ceremony we got to go on stage and collect a prize basket for his second place win. Good boy Kyle!!!

After Fun Day we ran a few errands, poor tired Kyle took advantage of a lap while we were at a phone store.

[Kyle sits in a girls lap who is sitting on the floor.]

It was quite an exhausting week and all the dogs were great. I was really impressed with how well they took everything. I am looking forward to doing Fun Day again next year!

Fun Day Trip-Part 3

On Friday we went to the Follow the Instructor event. (Which would be more accurate if it was called chase the trainer or sprint after the trainer) Those dogs move fast! In the morning we dropped the dogs off at campus and since the kennels in the puppy raising department were full our pups got to go into the training kennels. They had much more room in them so I was okay with that. Then we headed to the park to meet the trainers. We got to follow three dogs in the different levels of training. The first was in phase 1 the second in phase 4 or 5 and the third was class ready. It was amazing to see what the dogs do in the different phases and how they are trained.

The first dog we chased was a female yellow lab named Puebla. This was her first workout and she did a great job and caught onto things really quickly. By the end she was stopping at curbs all by herself. The trainer used a clicker and a lot of food during her route and Puebla loved it.

[Puebla stopped at a curb looking up at her trainer after getting kibble for a job well done.]

In the beginning phase they use a soft handle to get used to the feel and pull of the harness. Puebla's handle was made out of a purple rope.

[Puebla crossing a street while her trainer holds onto the soft handle.] [Puebla getting praise from her trainer for stopping at the curb.] The second dog we chased was a big male black lab named Roscoe. He is halfway through the training and is starting to take on more responsibility. He was so fun to watch and totally loved his job. He held his head up and wagged his tail the whole time. He had to rework a few turns but other than that he was great! The trainer didn't use the clicker for him anymore but he diffinitely loved getting kibble for his good work.

[Roscoe getting praise and the beginning of the route.] The last dog we watched was another large male black lab named Connor. He is class ready and should be placed with his partner soon. He was so fun to watch and was basically flawless. He even did a traffic check while we followed him. Him and his trainer were crossing the street when a van cut them off. He stopped and backed up to get him and his partner to a safe place. It was amazing to watch.

[Connor gets kibble for stopping at a curb.] [Connor and his partner after walking across the street.] I really enjoyed follow the trainer and learned so much from it. The dogs were fantastic!

After that we went to go pick up our puppies. We asked one of the employees if we could use the play yard on campus since our pups were kenneled for several hours. She let us go over and the puppies had a grand time running around for a while.

[Kyle playing with a big plastic egg. He was hilarious pushing it around and pawing at it.] [He liked this holey ball as well and would race around while carrying it.][Four way tug. Rafferty, Kyle, Janetta and Elvis all share a tug toy.]

We left campus and headed off to the beach. The dogs had a great time running around in the water. Kyle was so funny because he would race around me in circles.

[Kyle running through the water]

[The dogs down the beach. Kyle, then Elvis and Rafferty all running down the beach.] Kyle running toward me while a wave washes out.] [Kyle takes a break and collapsed in the sand] [I love this one. Kyle is running in the water but has his back end in the air and twisted around.] After the beach we went to Mier Woods. I hear guide dog graduates talk about it all the time because they do training walks there while they are in class with their dogs so we all wanted to check it out. It was amazing and the trees were gorgeous. Its a redwood forest with a trail we can walk on. It was so fun and the dogs were exhausted afterward but it was fun to experience what the class dogs do. ;)

[The boys sitting in front of a huge tree trunk. Elvis, Rafferty and Kyle]
[After we got all the dogs posed. Elvis, Rafferty, Kyle and Janetta.]

After this picture we turned around and noticed there were about 20 people behind us taking pictures of the dogs as well. Kinda awkward but we all laughed it off.

We took a short break and Kyle collapsed on a stair. It was so cute I had to get a picture.

[Kyle sitting in front of a huge hollow log.]

We were almost to the end of the walk and Kyle fell asleep against my leg. It was so cute how he had his paws wrapped around his nose.

The dogs had a very long and tiring day and were so happy to get back to the hotel and sleep until the next day.

Fun Day Trip-Part 2

On Wednesday we headed out to play in San Francisco all day and had a blast! We walked around Fisherman's Wharf first to visit the Sea Lions.
[Kyle poses in front of some little yellow flowers on our way to the Sea Lions]
[Kyle and Rafferty stick their heads through a fence to see the ocean.]
[Kyle watches the Sea Lions. He was very interested in them, especially when they would bark.]

[Kyle facing forward with the Sea Lions behind him.]

After that we went to Alcatraz. We had to take the Ferry out and all the dogs did great. Kyle settled right down for the ride.

[Kyle laying down in the Ferry with Rafferty, Elvis and Janetta behind him.]

After the ferry started moving we went outside to see what the dogs thought of the moving water.

[Kyle, Rafferty, Elvis and Janetta sitting on the deck of the boat.]

[Kyle peeking over the rail to see the water.]

[Me kneeling on the boat deck with Kyle sitting next to me.]

The birds on Alcatraz were not happy about us being there with the dogs. At one point we all had to run away because about a hundred birds starting screaming and flying overhead. We decided it was in our best interest to vacate the area. ;)

[A ton of birds flying overhead.]

We found a cute background before we got in the jailhouse and as puppy raisers how are we supposed to pass up a potential calendar photo? So we stopped for a photo opportunity.

[Janetta, Kyle, Rafferty and Elvis sitting in front of a large bush of flowers.]

[Kyle sitting in front of one of the cells in Alcatraz.]

[Kyle laying down on the stairs in the rec yard.]

[Kyle laying on a bench with San Francisco city behind him.]

After we got off the island we took a break in some grass for a little while.

[Rafferty laying in the grass. He is such a handsome dog]

[I sat in the grass and suddenly had a dog plopped in my lap. Kyle is such a cuddly dog, I enjoyed our break together.]

I felt like a sideshow in the city we had a lot of people randomly taking pictures of us with our dogs and a lot of people staring. Here is a picture of the puppy parade navigating the narrow walkways in the city.

[Rafferty leads with Janetta and Elvis behind, me and Kyle were last but as I was taking the picture he wasn't in it.]

[ Elvis and his raiser in front of a Sea Lion statue.]

[Me holding Kyle up in front of the statue. It was kind of slippery and he didn't want to get on it so I helped him out.]

We also drove down Lombard street. The crookedest street in the US. It was fun. Here's a picture looking back up at it. You can only see the tops of cars facing opposite directions.

We had so much fun and the dogs were real troopers getting dragged everywhere. I was very impressed with Kyle's ability to take everything so well. He had no problem doing anything, it was great!

Fun Day Trip-Part 1

Last Tuesday I dropped my girls off at their puppy sitters houses and kidnapped Kyle to head out for Fun Day. We spent the night with Sarah and Rafferty and then Wednesday morning were on our way to California. It was a long uneventful drive but seeing as we had four puppy raisers and four puppies in the car we had no shortage of topics to discuss and we all had a great time.

[Kyle sitting at my feet in the car resting his chin on my knee. He is such a sweet dog!] About seven or eight hours into the trip we decided to make a detour to the Jelly Belly factory. It was a good chance to let the dogs stretch their legs and get out of the car for a while. We got there about 15 minutes before they closed so didn't stay long but it was still very crowded and the dogs did great navigating the crowd.

[Kyle sitting in front of a display of Jelly Belly jars and packages.][ The four dogs in front of a Jelly Belly sign outside the factory Janetta (5 month old black lab), Rafferty (11 months old black lab), Kyle (8 month old yellow lab) and Elvis (15 month old Golden Retriever.] [The relieving area at the factory made me laugh they had a hydrant with a sign that said "This hydrant is here for your dog's pleasure. Not a working hydrant."] We all got small bags of our favorite flavors of Jelly Belly and then hit the road again. The rest of the time we played "Guess that Jelly Belly" and in no time we were at the hotel.

[Kyle laying on the floor in the hotel chewing on a bone.] All the dogs did a great job during the trip, we hardly noticed they were there. :)