Happy Thanksgiving!! (and my house guest)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!
I want to start by giving a small (very, very small) list of things I am thankful for:

1. My Family (who have supported me through everything and put up with my weirdness and only abandoned me a few times when I sing to loud in the department store and then get my hair caught in a hanger. . . (so I may have had too much caffeine.) :)

2. My Friends (for similar reasons but I won't list the weird things that I do in front of them. ;) and BTW if you read this I consider you a friend. Because I also am thankful for my blogging pals, it is so nice to know that there are so many of us out there working toward the same goal of helping the blind gain independence.

3. My Puppies (who have taught me an infinite amount and have enriched my life so much. I am blessed to have had so many wonderful dogs in my life and have been honored to be the one to raise them, that's Prudy, Tahoma, Glennie, Adeline, Sherman, Spanky, and now Fullerton)

4. My Education (I really do enjoy school and I love learning new things)

Those are the main things but I am thankful for so much more, my health, technology, to not live in an age where I would have to wear a dress all the time. (I hate dresses!! WITH A PASSION!!) Anywho, I will stop there.

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. Not only do we get to celebrate all the things we are thankful for but we also get to have an excuse for a few days off of work and a day to gorge ourselves to bloatation with nummy, delicious food. (especially mashed potato's and gravy, stuffing and pumpkin pie. . . mmm. . . salivating already) but it is also a holiday and people go out of town. And when certain people go out of town other certain people are there to watch their guide dog puppies. So, during this weekend I have Myra. She is a sweet girl. The last time I had her she was much smaller and especially when I am used to having Fullerton she seems really big. But she is a sweetheart. Here is Princess Myra. (she is 14 months old now)
Here is Myra and Fullerton. They are really great together and don't seem to be distracted by each other at all. In fact, they haven't really tried to play or anything. It is really nice, this is Fullertons first time with another dog since he left his siblings at GDB and he is doing wonderful with her.
This is just too cute not to share.
Myra and Fullerton. After Myra got here she claimed the bed and Fuller had to be on the floor. After a while he crept over and did a little army crawl over to Myra and eventually he was right next to her. She didn't seem to mind though.
I felt so bad for Myra because Fullerton is a pretty squirmy puppy, he doesn't hold still for very long so he would crawl all over her while she was trying to sleep. (I think she would make a good mommy, she is very patient with him.)
Then he finally fell asleep. WOOT!!!

"My what big teeth you have. . . and stinky breath!"

And Fullerton chewing a big boy bone. I think all Fullerton really needed was a mentor dog. He is finally sleeping with her around and he is actually chewing on a bone. It makes me happy. Hopefully he continues after she goes, I am really happy she came.
It is also fun to have a big dog around. My family has a tradition of going to the movies every Thanksgiving morning and Myra is going to join us. It will be the first time I take a dog out in a long time. Hopefully she enjoys the movie. Apparently it is about a dog but I don't remember what it is called. And it is in 3-D. It should be fun. Too bad Fuller has to stay home. I think he would enjoy it. :) Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!

~~Megan, Myra, Fullerton & Spanky (in spirit, I really hope he finds his forever home before Christmas so he can spend the holidays out of the kennels.)

Can't think of an interesting title. . .

Fullerton had his first visit with the vet a few days ago. He got his 12 week shots and some meds for his diarrhea. He is finally back on kibble (YAY!!) and is actually gaining a little weight now that he is eating dog food. His diarrhea is gone, but we will see what happens when he is done with his meds. Hopefully it is gone for good. I have heard of raisers having diarrhea issues for months at a time. ICK!! He was a little squirmier than I had hoped while he was getting his exam (we will have to throw in an extra puppy handling session each day and work on that) but other than that he was great. (except getting his temperature where he screamed like a little girl) He will get his next round of shots next month and then he will be legal. Yippy! But, unfortunately he will be going to the puppy sitters the next day as I am going out of town for Christmas. *tear* this will be my first Christmas without a puppy since I started raising. But, he will have a great time at the sitters and they are so excited to have him. :)

Here is Fuller in the car headed to the vet.

And on the exam table.

Then my nephew came over and spent the night. He had a grand old time playing with Fullerton. (That is the remote to my i-home he is using as a phone. He is so funny, anything that is flattish and has buttons can be used as a phone)
And, Fullerton got some new head gear. He grew out of the Gentle Leader really fast. (I am glad his head grew he was looking a little unporportioned with his big body and tiny head. His legs have grown too, he is quite tall now) I swear it fit him one day and I woke up the next and I could not fit his nose in it anymore. So he now has a Halti. (I like Haltis better anyway, don't know why I have never like the GL) So here is Fullers new equipment. The strap that goes from the nose and clips on the collar is a little long though, when he walks he gets his foot caught in it. It is pretty funny, but sad at the same time.
Well, thats about it from here. :)

Puppy Class #2

Yesterday Fullerton had his second puppy class. It was at the library and our CFR was there. Fullerton was really distracted at the beginning. He would not settle down and I kept having to correct him. So. . . he landed himself in a gentle leader and man did he turn into a different dog. He immediately settled and then layed himself down for most of the meeting. He didn't seem to mind having it on. I don't think he really noticed it was there. I walked him around in it and he relieved in it and didn't bother it once. After the meeting he even walked all the way out to my car and didn't try to rub it or paw at it or anything. I was quite amazed, most of my dogs protest from the second it is on their face. :) But not Fullerton :P He is my youngest pup to have one, next to Prudy who got one at 12 weeks. :) It is so cute and TINY! Here is a picture of him showing off his new head gear. (Bright green of course, to attract as much attention as possible to thus be bombarded with thousands of questions about why I muzzle my dog. :) If you can't tell I am not looking forward to that part)
The meeting was fun though. We did some more long line work. There seems to really be an emphasis on that lately. It was fun and the dogs did great. Especially Dax our resident Golden/Lab cross. He was so funny. He would get the okay to go get a toy and then would prance around in circles showing it off the everyone. He is so goofy and entertaining to watch. The rest of the dogs did great. Fullerton didn't get to do it though. :) We also had a new family who thinks they want to raise. They were really enthusiastic and asking questions, and stuff. I hope they stick around and raise they seem like they would be really good at it. After class I talked with my CFR about his crate/diarrhea issues and she gave me some advice. (I didn't try it but Fuller was quiet again last night so I think we might be free and clear of that issue. YAY!) She didn't think that a food change would be a good idea at this point. So since he is going to the vet tomorrow for his 12 weeks shots (already?!?) she said to have the vet do a fecal test to see if there is anything else going on. So we will see where that goes tomorrow. AND, Fullerton earned himself a puppy jacket last night. I am so happy to have a jacket in the house again. It has been weird without one. (I turned Spankys in a month and a half ago) Fullerton looks so good and professional in it, unfortunately he thinks it is a fun chew toy. So we will work on that before we go out anywhere. So I have had him just wear it around the house today so he can get used to it. And there are pictures of him in his teensy little puppy coat. :P

IT'S A MIRACLE!!!

Last night I put Fullerton to sleep in the kennel he started his normal whining and I was thinking, "Oh, great! Here we go again." But after he whined about four times (no barking at all) I heard him plop down and he was quiet until he had to go out at 3am. And after I took him out I put him back in and he didn't whine at all. Just laid down and back to sleep. He was great until my alarm went off this morning. (He seems to think that is a sign to get up immediately, silly pup. lol) And then he started barking and whining in his usual form. I waited for him to be silent for 10 seconds and then I told him how good he was and let him out. I think he is starting to get it. Lets hope that he has more nights like this because finally getting some sleep has put me in a pretty good mood already today. :) My CFR is coming to our puppy club meeting today and I was going to ask her for some advice on his kennel issues (I probably still will, just in case) but I want to be optimistic and think it wasn't just a fluke. :) YAY FULLY BOY!!!!

Making Progress

Fullerton is definitely making progress, unfortunately not on sleeping during the night. I have tried feeding the leash through the kennel and correcting him and that just makes him scream worse, I have been feeding and watering him every time in the kennel, I have tried ignoring him and he just goes on and on. And then after he has screamed for about an hour he finally quiets down but he still wakes me up to go potty 2-3 times a night and after he goes I put him back in the kennel and the screaming starts all over again. Any suggestions? I am open. :) I need sleep soon!

Other than that he is doing great. He is a very sweet puppy and such a cuddle bug. I was always sad that Spanky wasn't a huge cuddler. He put up with it because he loved me but he would never approach to cuddle. Every time I sit on the floor Fullerton comes over and crawls into my lap and falls asleep, this is when I usually catch a few Z's. It is so sweet. Too bad he won't fit in my lap too much longer. :) When he came he was 9 pounds, I weighed him on the bathroom scale yesterday and he is almost 16 pounds. I can't believe he has gained 7 pounds in a week and a half. But, I can tell he has gotten bigger. He is also getting the hang of loose leash walking and staying right next to me. He isn't perfect of course at the sight of a leaf, a bug, a pebble, a dirt clod, a crack in the sidewalk, etc, he stops to investigate. He is getting there though. :) He is also doing "sit" on his own about 87% without me helping him. YAY FULLER!! Now we are working on "down" and "stand" I am sure they will take a lot longer. Especially "stand" I don't think I have introduced that to any of my pups when they were this young. So we will see how it goes. And he loves the "come" command. He is really good at it and it isn't even for the food. I just say him name and he comes running before I even get the "come" out. He makes me smile. He is such an active and spunky puppy that he hates being forced to hold still, but he is getting a lot better at being quiet and still when I am on the computer, or phone or any other time I need him to chill. He is a very smart puppy. Our next puppy class is on Tuesday and our CFR is coming to check out all the pups. So Fullerton is going to meet her then. I think it will be a fun meeting. I am hoping to ask her about the kennel issues then, maybe she will have some more ideas for me to try. :) And then he is getting his first set of shots on Thursday, hopefully, Fullerton has been battling some diarrhea for about 5 days. He has been on the rice and cottage cheese for 4 days so I added about 1/4 cup of kibble to the rice last night and he was up all night having to go outside. It is pretty sad, so we are back on just rice. He is acting totally normal though, which is good. But, I don't know if the vet will give him his vaccs if he has diarrhea. Hopefully it clears up soon because it is getting gross. :) It has been a LONG time since I have had a sick puppy like this. I don't think Sherman or Spanky ever had diarrhea when I had them, come to think of it I don't think Adeline did either . . . maybe a little when she was in season. But still, I did not miss it! But Fullerton is a great puppy, I am so glad I get to raise him. :) Oh, and he knows his name. It makes me so happy, he looks at me when I say it. I think it took Tahoma (she was my other 3 syllable name) until she was at least 4 months old to respond to it. I was expecting the same thing from him but after only a week he knows it. :P

Here he is after crawling into my lap.

"I'M CRAZY!!!"

He is SO sweet when he is sleeping!!

And the Fullerton head tilt. So cute. I love when he does it!

And Videos. I find myself taking more videos of this dog than pictures. He is just so darn entertaining. The first one is him responding to his name, and then shows my goofball in action. He is so silly. The second on he is playing with a toy and then it shows his "come" too. The last one is him sitting. I am so proud of him, I think this is the earliest any of my pups has known sit reliably. That's about it for now. I will let you know how the meeting goes on Tuesday!