Distraction Training

Nick and I took a field trip to Lee's Feed in Shingle Springs this morning. Since he had his final set of shots last week, he's now fully vaccinated, so its time to start taking him out to more places now. This is a great place as this feed store has a room of noisy birds and cages of little animals.

Here's a picture of Nick checking out some "chicks" :-)



We also stopped by a busy shopping center on the way home and walked around a bit and he did well there. Poor little guy was exhausted when we got home, he slept for a couple of hours...

Swimming lessons

We have to strike a balance with our CCI pups in teaching them to swim as we don't want them to get so obsessed with the water that they'd rather go for a swim than work (imagine the consequences if they were working for a person in a wheelchair and the dog was water-obsessed, not a good thing!). In my case, I have taught all my CCI dogs how to swim mainly for safety since I have a pool. I want them to be comfortable in the water so that IF they were to fall in, they know how to get out by going to the steps. You would be surprised, but that instinct does not come naturally for most dogs, lots of them will try to climb out the sides and are unable to get out.

So far, I'm 50/50 for my CCI dogs..Marisa & Rolie went in, but only because I made them, they never really had a desire to swim for fun. Hope loves to swim. Zuleika enjoyed swimming at the lake, but wasn't always interested in the pool. We'll see what happens with Nick...

I started off by getting in the pool with Nick and coaxing him to the top step. He wasn't too sure about it, but he didn't panic either. Once he got the idea, I sent him off towards the middle of the pool and he immediately went and swam around the edges and came back to me at the step. He reminded me of an alligator, with his head barely sticking up on the surface of the water.

True to his nature, he wasn't overly excited about going in, but the mellow fellow didn't panic either. Not bad for his first lesson...he doesn't seem to be the kind of dog that will obsess about the water.

Nick and his assistant swim instructor, Hope:


Nick practicing the "dog paddle" or is he really part alligator?

Escape to the Folsom Lake

I have a personal aversion to working on the weekend, but today I spent about 4-5 hours working to get caught up on some stuff that I need to have done for work. After I was done, my back was sore, my eyes hurt (because I was staring at my work computer, which is a laptop), so I decided to escape to the Folsom Lake with Hope for a few hours.

We drove to a nearby parking area at Folsom Lake State Recreation Area and had a nice 2-3 mile hike and I let Hope swim for a while, which she really enjoyed. This is a funny shot of her I got shaking the water off her body after bringing me a stick which I threw for her in the water.

It was a nice escape this afternoon.

It's all about perspective

Today, Hope taught me an important lesson about perspective. Things are just crazy at work right now, I was in the office by 5am and worked at a feverish pace non-stop all day. I was supposed to take Hope to Sutter Hospital at 10am, but got stuck on the phone and the time came and went.

Finally, at about 3:30, I gave up, I was brain-dead and couldn't think anymore. I felt bad that I missed taking Hope to the hospital as I had gotten her all ready last night (bath, brush teeth, dremel, ears cleaned, you name it) and she came into work with me. I decided I would take her to see one patient that I wanted to see as I had brought her a picture of a litter of puppies from the CCI breeder who we go to Sutter with.

Hope is always so happy to visit "her" patients. The patient got the biggest smile on her face when I gave her the picture of puppies. She asked if Hope could get on the bed with her, so Hope was happy to oblige...her tail was wagging back and forth the whole time. It was so cool to hear the patient say how much she likes when Hope comes to see her and that she must like coming here because her tail says it all because she was wagging so much. That really brightened my day and the craziness at work just didn't seem so important anymore. Seeing Hope on that bed doing what she loves made me change my mind and we actually went and visited a couple other patients.

Sometimes, it's all about perspective....

Happy "H" Sisters

I was downloading more pictures off my camera tonight and didn't realize I had missed these pictures of Hope and Hika from Saturday. They sure look alike, but its easy to tell them apart in these pictures (well...for me anyways!), it wasn't so easy when they were out there playing!

Hope is on the left, Hika on the right...


A profile shot...

Not just any old stick...

In honor of Molly's birthday yesterday, I bestowed upon Hope the honor of swimming with the special stick that belonged to Molly. I have been carrying this stick around since Molly was about 2 years old; which means its about 10 years old!  


Molly found this stick when I first started taking her out to Folsom Lake to swim and just made it hers for whatever reason. Its one of those sticks that wash up at the lake from the river flows. The great thing about it is it very buoyant and you can actually throw it out pretty far. I can't tell you how many tennis balls we lost at the lake, the stick makes a big enough splash that Molly was always able to see where it landed when I threw it in the water for her. The other great thing about it is that it is what I call a "two-dog stick"; meaning two dogs can easily grab it and bring it back in together. I used to take Molly's golden retriever friend, Luke, out to the lake to swim and they'd spend hours swimming back and forth with it!

Hope was very proud to chase the stick in honor of Molly! :-)

Gone but not forgotten...

(NOTE: Hope says she doesn't mind if I hijack her blog today; in fact, she insisted....)

Twelve years ago today, a litter of Golden Retriever puppies was born.  

I was lucky enough to have one of those puppies add such joy to my life, a cute little fluffball who I named Molly.  

She was not perfect by any means with her alert barking, counter surfing, excitable greetings, etc. but she was my constant companion who always greeted me with her smiling face and typical golden personality.  She enjoyed doing what I loved to do: going on long walks during the week, hiking on the weekends, hanging out at the lake, etc. or she was just happy chasing a tennis ball, over, and over, and over again.

When she was about four years old, I began puppy raising for CCI. Little did I know what a good assistant puppy raiser she would make to all the puppies that passed through this house. She was so good about teaching the puppies when they crossed the line. Her bark was always worse than her bite, and she certainly got her point across to them, no doubt about that.

A couple of years ago, while brushing her teeth, I found a lump on one of her gums.  After surgery to remove the tooth where the lump was and to get the necessary tissue to do a biopsy, the results were inconclusive.  No cancer cells were found, but from all other indications, it appeared to be cancer.  Removing the tumor surgically would have involved removing a quarter of her jaw. I just couldn't do that to her as her quality of life was more important to me than extending her life.  Instead I took a holistic approach and put her on herbal treatment and other supplements. True to her spirit, it was the right choice, she lasted just short of two years after I first found the lump and enjoyed a great quality of life until shortly before I let her go when the tumor simply grew so large that it was impacting her ability to breathe.

We had a great last day together, something that is still so vivid in my mind that it seems like just yesterday, only I know that it isn't.  (http://pk-a-boo.blogspot.com/2007/12/bittersweet-day-with-molly.html)  I still think of her often when doing something or seeing something suddenly brings back some memory I have of her.

Happy Birthday Molly where ever you are, I miss you as much today as that day I had to say goodbye, rest in peace my sweet girl...

River Walk

Hope and I went for a nice 4-5 mile hike along the American River today with a friend and her dog Carlo. It was so nice to finally get outdoors after all the heat and smoke problems of the past several days.

There were a ton of people out on the bike trail today; in fact, we ran into a friend, who as he put it, was on "only" a 30-mile bike ride.  Well, I guess when you ride across the country on a fixed-gear bike (yes, one speed!), 30 miles is nothing.  We went off trail as much as possible to avoid the bikes, but boy there sure was a ton of poison oak out there.  

Here's a picture of Carlo and Hope by the river:

And, here's a picture of Hope after we got back (yes, she has couch privileges now...):

Family reunion

We had a nice get together with Hope's sister Hika today.  Hika graduated as a Skilled Companion dog last year and lives in the Bay Area with her new family.  Since her family went on vacation, her puppy raiser was lucky enough to get her back to dog sit her while they are gone, so we got the sisters together for a little playdate.  Hika's puppy raiser is also raising Siena, their half-sister, but she just went into heat this past week and is doing her time at CCI, so unfortunately she wasn't able to join us.

The two girls got pretty excited when they first saw each other, it seems like they remembered each other!  We took them to a fenced baseball field at a school in El Dorado Hills where Hika's puppy raiser works.  The girls had a blast playing together. Afterwards, we went and sat outside (since Hope is not a CCI dog anymore) at Bella Bru and had a nice visit while we had coffee and bagels.  The girls were so tired from playing and both immediately fell asleep under the table.

It's amazing how much they look alike, sometimes it was was hard to tell who was who when they were playing as we had taken their collars off to play.  Hika is still bigger than Hope, poor Hope, she is still a shrimp.  Both girls are turning gray under their chins, but Hika has way more gray than Hope has.  It's always amazing how fast these dogs grow up!

Hope and I arrived at the school first, here she is holding her toy in her mouth anticipating playtime.  Little does she know, she will get to see her sister who she hasn't seen in a year!

Hope says, "When can we play?"

Playtime, each with a tennis ball in her mouth! I think that's Hope in the front...

Hope says, "Chase me, chase me...."

Happy sisters! (Hope on the left, Hika on the right)

Just another day at the office

Yesterday, was just another day at the office for Hope.  She got to go to work with me as it was her day to "work".  Nick is with our co-raisers for a while.  I had two people who saw her, thought it was Nick, and said, "Wow, I can't believe how much Nick has grown."  And they had both just seen him a day before!  Oh well, I know they mean well and are just being nice, but come on! I always take Hope around to visit her "friends" at the office and they always say how calm she is. Haha, they just got used to Zucchini who was more animated and had a tail that didn't stop because now they are saying the same thing about Nick being so mellow.  Guess Zucchini certainly left an impression with them!  

We haven't gotten to do our hospital visits for a while as the last time I didn't have Nick, I was watching a another CCI pup so we didn't go that week.  Yesterday, we only visited two patients as one we usually visit was sleeping and the other one didn't want to visit (we have to knock on their door and ask first if they want a visit).  

I found out the young girl we often visit is only 21 years old (saw it on her wrist band).  She seems much younger to me, but then again with all her health issues, I guess you just never know. It's sad that she's going to spend the rest of her life in a hospital on a respirator.  She was asleep when we first knocked on her door, but I tapped her on her hand to see if she would wake up as she seems to enjoy visiting with Hope.  She barely opened her eyes, but actually nodded when I asked if she wanted to see Hope, that nod was a first for us! Hope is like another dog when she's at the hospital, so gentle, so happy with her tail wagging, so attentive to the patient.  It's like she's in the "zone".  Because the girl was positioned on one side of the bed, I was able to get Hope to get on her bed almost all the way and she was able to reach down and pet Hope. She isn't really able to pet her on her own, I actually take her hand and lift it to touch Hope. The visit was a really good one, we got a lot of expressions from her (lots of smiles, a few nods).  Because Hope was halfway on the bed, I put the girl's arm on Hope's leg and she got the biggest smile on her face when I asked her if she liked holding Hope's paw.

The other patient we visit is an older lady who actually has the ability to talk despite the respirator, so we always have a nice conversation.  She just loves the visits with the dogs.  Hope actually got on the bed with her as yesterday there was enough room to get her on.  I'm always very nervous about this as there are so many tubes and barely enough room so when she is getting up, I hold her collar pretty tight so I can quickly pull her off if something happens.  This lady didn't care if Hope was partly on her and she asked if Hope could get on the bed with her. Hope snuggled up to her, it was too cute.  It was a nice visit.

It's days like this when I realize how much I just adore having Hope back.  I never knew if she would like doing this work stuff, but you can just tell she loves it.  She gets excited as we are walking into the hospital and her tail wags when she is visiting.  I always give her a cookie after we get back in the car when we are done to let her know how good she is.  Yesterday I forgot and she just sat in the back of the car looking at me, when I realized I didn't give her a cookie, I got one out, gave it to her and she laid down on the seat.  Good girl Hope and thanks for the reminder!...

Calorie-free dog treats

We are in the middle of a sweltering heat wave, made worse by all the smoke that fills the air from all the wildfires.  It was so hot when I got home from work, I gave Nick (& Hope) his first "calorie-free dog treats", AKA ice cubes.  I made both of them lay down on their pillow as CCI dogs are not supposed to eat off the floor. Well, when it comes to ice cubes, some things just cannot be helped, so I just make them learn that they need to stay on the bed to eat the ice cubes.  I also let the 30-second rule apply, if it falls on the pillow they can pick it up off the floor to eat it.  Just don't tell CCI and nobody will ever know ;-)

Hope is contemplating whether the 30-second rule is in effect for that ice cube that fell on the carpet, I told her since she isn't a CCI dog, that rule doesn't apply to her anymore :-)

Nick enjoyed his first ice cube experience...although, now that he's starting to lose some of his baby teeth, we may end up with more teeth falling out...oh, and speaking of losing teeth, I found an itty-bitty-teeny-weeny one yesterday in his crate...wonder what the tooth fairy will bring him! Maybe more ice cubes....

Happy 4th of July!

Nick and I walked a couple of blocks to the starting point of our annual neighborhood 4th of July parade. Its something I always take my CCI pups to if I have the chance as its a good training opportunity for them. At about 15 weeks old, Nick is almost fully vaccinated with one more set of shots to go, so it is safer to take him to more places now.

The parade is a fun event for the kids and parents who get all decked out in red, white & blue, decorate their bikes, and parade around the neighborhood led by a Folsom fire truck and police. Nick and I didn't join the parade but stayed on the sidelines first watching the police and fire truck go by, followed by all the kids and parents walking or riding bikes. This year a small classic fire truck led the parade, but its siren was still really loud as it went by and I was ready with a lot of good treats for Nick in case he got scared, but he wasn't phased by it at all.

I intentionally put him in his CCI cape, mainly to let others know he was "working". Its amazing how clueless some dog owners are...I can't tell you how many let their dogs lunge towards him or walked their dogs up to him saying stupid things like, "Oh its ok, he just wants to say hi..." Uh, no its not ok...oh well, I guess I have to look at it as a training opportunity. On the other hand, it was also nice to hear how many people knew he was a CCI pup, especially the kids, as the school in our neighborhood has a CCI facility dog.

I tried not to let any dogs come near him since he hasn't had all his shots yet (although around here most people are good about vaccinating their dogs), he did get distracted but I was able to get his attention back on me, so I was happy with how he did with all the activity going on. There was a small, yappy, chihuahua dog about 50 feet away from us who was constantly barking and lunging to the end of his leash at us, Nick stayed in a down the whole time and could care less. His biggest distraction was when a couple walked by in the parade with a beagle...he got all excited and got up, I think he must have thought it was Spencer, his brother the beagle who lives at our co-raisers house! Too cute!

I left Hope at home as I wanted to focus all my attention on Nick during the parade. So after Nick and I got back home and I gave him his lunch, I put him in his crate and took Hope out to the lake for a walk and let her swim. We haven't been out for a while because the air has been so bad from all the wildfires out here, so it was nice to go for a short hike with her. She was so happy to be out. No pictures today though as I forgot my camera... :-(

Here comes the fire truck!

Watching the parade go by...