Catch Up Post #5-Running in the Yard

Earlier this week we had a Sushi Party at my parents house (My dad spent 2 years in Japan and can make some of the best Asian food ever.) It was so yummy, afterward we let the dogs blow off some steam in the backyard. They had a great time.

[Picassa running across my tramp, most of my dogs avoid the trampoline but Picassa didn't care in the slightest.]
[The three dogs running in a row, black lab Moose farthest from the camera, GSP Boone in the middle, and yellow lab Picassa at the front.
[Follow the leader. Moose made a tight turn and the other two followed him this picture looks like they are running in a circle with Moose in front, followed by Boone, and Picassa in the rear.]

I love this one!

[Picassa making a leap while running to all four legs and spread like superman in flight. She is such a bouncy dog, it makes me laugh.]

Catch Up Post #1-Settling into the New House

We got our Internet installed today! It's great to be connected to the outside world again. I have quite a few posts to put up, so here is the first one. We are just getting settled into living in an apartment and Picassa is doing great! Here are some random pictures around the house during our first week here.

[Picassa preparing to toss the wishbone into the air.]

[Picassa running toward me with the wishbone in her mouth.]
[Due to lack of internet my roommate taught me how to knit, Picassa likes to try to help and usually just ends up tangled in my yarn. Picassa with yarn around her nose.]

[I am so glad Picassa is slowly learning to settle sometimes, it's hard to keep up with her constant motion but here she is in a rare moment of silence sleeping in her corner. You can only see her head and feet sticking out from the side of the couch, but she looks so peaceful.]

[Picassa chewing on a NylaKnot. It's one of her favorites. Her head is tilted to the side, her mouth is open wide and she is looking off to the left.]

[Picassa learning to settle on tie-down next to the TV stand. She is laying down using her puppy eyes to try and get me to come and release her.]

[Picassa helping me organize my movies. . .I was alphabetizing my movies and Picassa kept coming over and resting her head on my stack of movies. It wasn't really helpful, but it was cute.]

[Picassa and my roommates dog Boone touching noses. He is a brown German Shorthair Pointer with a white chest. He seems to be warming up to her. He was really confused when Paris left and I came home with Picassa.]

Day at the Lake

Today we had family dinner like always but afterward we all decided since it was such a nice day, to go down to the lake. We all piled into the van and headed over to Utah Lake. While in the van Cannon (my uber cute nephew) kept telling Paris to give him a kiss. He kept grabbing her face and pulling her toward him and would give her a kiss, usually on her nose but occasionally on the top of her head. It was really cute! I love my nephew so much, he is pretty much the cutest kid on the planet. Here are some pictures from the ride:

[Cannon with his hands around Paris' face all puckered up to give her a kiss on the head.]
[Cannon with his hands around Paris' muzzle giving her a big wet kiss on the nose. I love his chubby little fingers wrapped around her nose and both of their eyes are closed, it kinda makes me giggle.]

Not a single one of my dogs has gone in water willingly, it's weird how un-lab-like they all are. Of course Paris wouldn't follow in their paw prints. She is not one for conforming. I was ready to start coaxing her to get in the water. We walked up to the edge of the water, I asked her to sit and then I said okay and she charged into the water as fast as she could. She spent the rest of the time racing in and out of the water. She had a blast! I was very happy with her. Finally a lab that enjoys water. ;)

[Paris' path of destruction into the water. ;) She ran full speed into the water making a big wake behind her and a huge splash of water in front of her.]

[Paris jumping out of the water on her way back to the shore. Her front have is bounding out of the water and her bottom half is under.]

[Paris bouncing around in the water. It was so funny to watch her bounce in and out of the water.]

[Paris deep enough that she had to swim. She is a very good swimmer.]

Paris had a great time and got a well deserved bath after. I have never seen so much crud come off my dogs in a bath, it was nasty. I am just glad I didn't have to get in.

Here is one video I got of the Paris running in and out of the water. She met a couple friends there and enjoyed following them around.

[Video Description: Paris running into the water after a friend and then chasing him out of the water.]

Some Free Time

Last Saturday my guide dog leader put me in charge of the meeting. I planned this really fun scavenger hunt around the mall. We split into two teams and whoever got the most points won. The teams were Spike, Paris, and Peanut against Meade, Moseley, and Christina. We did tasks like going out to someones car and practice getting in and out, getting a drink at the drinking fountain with your dog in a calm sit, go into a dressing room/bathroom stall and have your dog settle, go to the Disney Store and walk around the sparkly floor, and other stuff like that. I did bonus points too, you got a bonus point each time someone asked if it was hard to give up your dog and a bonus point each time someone asked to pet your dog and your dog acted appropriate while being pet. Anyway, I didn't take a bunch of pictures because I was busy checking on everybody but here are a couple. ;)

[Paris standing inside a large log that is in the kids play area. (It's a big rubber log that is on it's side and hollow so the kids can crawl through it.)]
[Moseley sitting so nicely waiting for everyone to show up and start the fun.]
After the meeting me and my friend (who has started coming to puppy meeting and should be getting a puppy in fall) went out for lunch. Since I was puppy sitting Moseley he went inside with us.

[Moseley and Paris laying down and fast asleep after an exhausting meeting. They are under the table of the restaurant being perfect puppies.]

[Moseley really wanted to share the bed with Paris. He snuck really slowly over until he was sitting on the bed and then when he tried to lay on the bed next to Paris she started nibbling his foot, it was quite funny. Paris is not good at sharing her puffy princess bed.]

[Moseley tried again with more success, he is mostly on the bed with a little of his fanny hanging off. Paris is looking pretty shocked but let him. It only lasted a few minutes until Paris scooted him off.]

Yesterday I had a lot of time between classes so I took Paris around campus and took some pictures. I only have two weeks left and I am done with this school forever. I am so excited to move on. I got accepted into the TVI (teacher of the visually impaired) program at UofU so I am Salt Lake bound the beginning of June. Lots of fun changes and I can't wait. Anyway, it's been really nice here lately (it's about time Utah acknowledged Spring!) so the grass around campus is so green and things just look really nice.

[Paris sitting in some green grass in the middle of our schools courtyard. There are big steps behind her with a strip of grass at the top of each one.]

[Paris sitting next to a big statue of a man holding a backpack in one hand and a jacket in the other. I put Paris' leash into one of his hands. She is always so intrigued by the statues around campus. It's funny.]

[Paris sitting on the upper level of the school with the courtyard below and all the layered concrete and red brick buildings behind her.]

[We started walking to our class and I started snapping pictures of her walking. I liked this one taken at her level, it was hot so she's panting and you can see her big brown eyes, she looks so happy. She loves her work and going out everywhere.]

[Another one, a close up of Paris' face. She has a big grin on her face and is looking up at me. She is such a lovely dog.]

[Paris crossing her paws and licking her nose while laying on her bed.]

I am puppy sitting my friends goldens again so I've got a full house right now. Moseley left on Monday and the goldens got here on Wednesday. Everyone just had a romp in the yard so they all have their tongues out (and you can see Paris' black spot that I have never been able to get a picture of it) From left to right is Ginger, Chelito, Paris, and Boone. They are a good group and they all get along really well.]

That about does it on pictures, I also have a couple videos of Paris practicing GTB. I have started sending her from the next room and she is doing really well.

Video description: Video from inside my room you can see me and Paris outside the door. I tell Paris to "go to bed" and she charges into my room, rounds the corner, jumps onto her bed turns around and lays down. I say "nice" and the Paris gets her treat.

Video Description: This one absolutely cracks me up. Me and Paris are further away from my door. I say her name but not the GTB command and she being the smartie she is takes off toward her bed without the command. She races to her bed and lays down. Then I lean over and give her an ear rub. Please excuse my laugh, it is so annoying!!

Hope everyone has a good weekend!!

Some News and Paw It Forward

Well I got the news today that Paris will be returning for formal training on June 25th. I will sure miss her but she is definitely ready and I know she has big things ahead of her. :D

Also, I have been puppy-sitting Moseley this week. He came on Sunday and I have him till next Wednesday. He is a good boy definitely has his own opinions of how he thinks things should be but he is starting to realize that I am in charge. He is a super cute pup too. I love his big, block head. Here are a few pictures of Moseley.

[Close up of Moseley's face. He is a light Yellow lab with really dark eyes.]
[This one just makes me giggle. It's still a close up of his face but both his eyes are closed and his tongue is out and touching his nose.]

Also, today me and Paris got a Paw It Forward package from Natalie and Bob. Paris loved it. I showed her the box and she knew it was for her. She bounced around and followed me to my room where I opened it. Inside was a baggie of treats that are really fancy, a sterilized knuckle bone, a Kong Wubba and a card with a pic of Paris on the front and Bob on the back.

[Paris sitting in front of all her new stuff. It took me a while to get a picture of her head up because she kept nosing everything.]

[Paris gnawing on her new bone. I'd say she loves it a lot!]

[Paris eating one of her fancy treats. This one is in the shape of a star and has brown frosting on it.]

[Paris sharing her Kong Wubba with her buddy Boone. It was a big hit the pups went bonkers and played with it for a long time.]

Thanks Natalie, the Paris loves her new stuff.

Anyone else wanting to participate in Paw It Forward just leave a comment saying "falafal" and the first three will get a present from Paris and I.

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.