Happy Birthday Paris!

Well, my little girl is a year old today. I can't believe it! She has been here for 5 months now and I couldn't be more pleased with her. She is a great pupper and only gets better and better.

Today has already been quite eventful. We had puppy meeting at my house this morning and we decided to make it a birthday party because four of our clubs puppies turned a year old this week. My leader passed the torch on to me to plan and everything so it was fun. I am afraid I showed my more dorky side today but my club seemed to enjoy it. :D And as an extra special treat Paris' first mom, Sarah came too. Paris was so excited to see her, it was cute.

[Paris with her goofy birthday hat on. It is a round cake shaped hat with three candles on top that all of my puppies have worn.]

Here are the pupcakes that I made for the party. Each dog got one. They are peanut butter and honey cupcakes with blended cottage cheese frosting and carrot shreds on top.
What is a birthday party without games. We played tic-tac-toe first. It's where we have the pup down-stay in a square and if they move they loose the square. We split into a yellow dog team and a black dog team. The yellow dogs won in the end. It was fun and it works on the dogs stay and dog distraction. Paris did really well, I was very impressed with her stays.

[Paris starting the game in the middle square.]

[Paris and Mara staying in their squares.]

[The baby of the group Sugar not so happy about her birthday hat but staying in her square still. If the pups are under 8mo their raiser can stay next to them but if they are over 8mo the raiser has to walk away]

Paris and Sugar staying on one side with Rafferty in the middle.]

[And Mara goes between Paris and Sugar for the block. Everyone staying so well.]

[Got two yellows in a row (Paris and Sugar) and then Rafferty in the middle square.]

[And Meade blocks Sugar and Paris.]

After that we played musical chairs where we walked around in circles and had the dog sit on a piece of paper when the music stopped. Paris' brother Peanut won that game.

After that it was time for pupcakes. I think the dogs enjoyed that the most!

[Paris waiting. . . patiently for her pupcake.]

[Peanut sitting and waiting for his pupcake.]

[Paris scarfing down her pupcake. Mouth open with crumbles coming out]

[Meade eating his pupcake.]

[Mara eats her pupcake.]

[Sugar (a 3 mo old very white little golden puppy) was quite impressive with her pupcake, she gobbled it down in one bite.]

[Moseley (10 mo old yellow lab) took his sweet time and made a big mess with his]

After everyone left I got to chat with Sarah for a bit and she even brought Paris a birthday present. Paris loves her new Nylabone and is currently laying at me feet gnawing noisily on her new bone. I'd say she likes it a lot. Thanks Sarah!

And that was the end. It was a very fun party and I am so glad everyone came. I think people and pups had a grand time and I hope to be able to do it again sometime.

PS. There were human cupcakes too, just so you know. :D

Happy IWYPRS Day!!

Happy IWYPRS Day to everyone! Me and Paris had a great day and it was fun thinking of all the other puppy raisers/handlers that were wearing their shirts as well. :D

[Me kneeling next to Paris in a green collared shirt with the GDB logo on it.]

Paris' Chewbacca Impression

Paris makes some pretty funny noises in the morning when she is impatient to get her breakfast. She started doing it about a week ago and I finally caught it on tape. According to some puppysitters she has done this at thier house before but it's new to me. It makes me laugh. Enjoy! (Oh, and excuse my annoying yell I wasn't prepared for her to nose the camera.)

[Video Description: Paris sits for a minute and then shakes her head from side to side. She sticks her nose up into the camera and then she makes her noise, it starts as a yawn but then she yodels too. She looks guilty cuz she knows she is supposed to be quiet. I was horrible and said the "nice" word, oops, and then I tell her she is a good girl and she is happy again.]

Here is a link to the video just incase blogger doesn't work: (it tends to discontinue my videos after a couple hours...annoying!!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FX7Jv7QCTQU or click here.

The End of the Line *UPDATED*

[My first glimpse of baby Fullerton and his brother Forte through the bars of a crate at the airport. Both babies have their heads next the the window of the crate, Forte is looking at us and Fullerton is looking off to the right. All you can see is there cute red little heads] I got news about Fullerton today. I came back down to earth long enough to announce that FULLERTON IS IN PHASE TEN!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited! I have started looking at graduation dates to make sure they will work, there is no way I would miss seeing my boy in harness! It's not for sure and I don't want to give my hopes up but it's so stinkin' close. The next bit of news whether good or bad will come by phone. . . I will be eagerly waiting to see what path Fuller decides to take. I am extremely proud of the boy, and hope he finds a forever person soon.

[Me and Fullerton sitting in the training van on our last day together. Fullerton is sitting next to me looking my direction with his eyes closed. I miss my little red dog, but am so happy for him] Oops, I got so excited about Fuller being in phase 10 that I forgot to put the phase descriptions. Again he has skipped a phase, so here is what he did in phase 9 & 10. GO FULLER!!

Phase #9

• Final obedience testing, including on-leash obedience with the mobility instructor wearing a blindfold
• Off-leash obedience with distractions
• Workouts with unfamiliar or novice handlers
• Final traffic testing with instructor under blindfold and "real life" traffic situations

Phase #10

• Final guidework testing: city streets. Includes working a 40-50 minute route with the mobility instructor wearing a blindfold in downtown Gresham or San Rafael. The route covers nearly every aspect of guidework (curbs, street crossings, stairs, buildings, crowded sidewalks, traffic, etc.); obedience exercises are done along the way.
• Final guidework testing: inside buildings (malls, stores, etc.) Includes working escalators, elevators, stairs, etc. with the mobility instructor wearing a blindfold.
• Final physical exams.

A Visit from Clifford

Nothing much has been going on around here, just the usual school, work, and random boring outings here and there but on Wednesday we had Clifford, a five month old black lab, come over for a visit. It's been a long time since I have had a young pup around and it was a pleasure to have him, he is an amazing puppy and ridiculously good looking. Paris was a great hostess and they had fun romping around.

[Little Clifford on his back with a bone in his mouth with Paris standing over him.]
[They also enjoyed a cuddle. Paris laid down and Clifford went to the end of his tie down to lay his head on her legs. It was cute]
[Paris and Clifford laying next to each other on the dog bed]

[Paris sitting outside with Clifford sitting next to her. Clifford has his tongue out and a very cute blocky head.]

[A close up of Cliffords face. He has the sweetest warm brown eyes. I really enjoyed my few hours with this little guy!]

In other news Paris is turning the big 1 in two weeks, I can't believe she is almost a whole year old. I have heard that the next puppy truck is coming in mid-may and Paris is eligible to leave on it. Although there a lot more dogs ready for that truck than can make the trip so there is a chance she may stay longer, but I have a feeling with her lack of issues that she will most likely go then. She is awesome, I think she really has guide dog potential and I am so excited to see what her future holds. ;D