Another visit with Sierra

Hope and I drove up to Grass Valley today to deliver a scrapbook I made for Sierra's (aka Zucchini) new family.  The original plan was to have it done when we went to visit her the first time last month, but of course, I procrastinated and just recently finished it.  Oh well, it just gave us another excuse for a visit!

I think they really enjoyed seeing pictures of her as a puppy and some of the things she got to do as a CCI pup.  And, I have to admit, she was pretty darn cute since she was so little, only about 11 lbs when I first got her. I brought my laptop and showed them the videos I had taken of her as a puppy as I haven't had a chance to make them a slideshow yet.  It was a lot of fun to watch the videos again as I haven't seen them for awhile.  

Sierra was so cute when we first got there, I think she immediately recognized my SUV and when I opened up the back door, she immediately jumped in!  Of course, Hope was there waiting and they jumped out and ran around the property together.  It isn't until I see her in person that I forget how fast she is, she still leaves Hope in the dust!  And she still has that trademark wiggle!

She is still so sweet and cuddly and seems so settled and happy with her new life.  It really makes me feel good that things worked out for her, it was the one thing I worried about the most when I turned her in.  Well, no more worries there...

No pics today, I realized when I got there that I left my CF Card for my camera at home - duh.... :-(

Happy Thanksgiving

Hope says,

• "I'm thankful because I got to spend Thankgiving Day with my dog mom, Toddy and my friend Violet."
• "I'm thankful that us dogs were not forgotten while everyone else was pigging out on people food all day; we were given Frosty Paws for dessert."

Vi, Hope, and Toddy giving thanks...

Vi and Hope enjoying their Thanksgiving dessert:

It's been nice having Toddy and Vi stay with us for a few days, at least now Hope has some friends to play and hang out with for a few days.  It's especially fun having Toddy around, Hope is so much like her mom in so many ways...the snorting sounds they both make, similar facial expressions, sideways head tilts, "shark mouths" (grabbing treats roughly!), etc.  

The first night they all made themselves at home on the couch together.  Lucky for me, I put a blanket on the couch a few weeks ago after Hope declared the couch her own.  So much for the well-behaved dog who used to only jump on the couch when she was invited to lay on the couch...oh well...

Invisible Dog...

Hope and I were almost the innocent victims of a speeding car when I took her for a walk after work tonight. Geez, I can't believe how many people go speeding in the neighborhood. Since it was dark outside when we started our walk, I stayed off the trails (too dark and scary to be walking alone out there) and we were just minding our own business walking on the sidewalk. I'm always very careful at night as people are idiots, but as we were about to cross the street, a car came zipping around the corner and practically clipped us.  They came close enough that I hit their car with my hand to let them know they came a little too close...and let out a few choice words too.  

It was the same corner (which even has a crosswalk) that the same thing happened with Rolie and I a long time ago.  I guess I'm gonna have to dig up that blinking collar I bought after that incident and put it on my dogs at night.  

I hate Daylight Savings!  If only people wouldn't be in so much of a hurry. I think my heart has finally stopped pounding so hard...

Books & Barks

Hope and I joined another reading program called "Books & Barks" at Cambridge Heights Elementary School in Citrus Heights and today was our very first session. This program will work out well for us as it runs from 8am-3pm once a month. We can schedule our visit for a block of time that fits our schedule, so its perfect for us working stiffs who still have day jobs to do. Hope's buddy, Mason, and his handler were there at the same time that we were there.

Hope had 6 students from 2nd grade to 5th grade read to her today. Each student read to her for about 20 minutes. I believe there were about nine dog/handler teams coming in today and about 60 students participating. The teacher who started this program is so enthusiastic and excited about this program...she originally started it as a program for those students who were struggling, but now because there are so many dog/handler teams participating, she is opening it up to other students who just want to read to the dogs if there is space available. How cool is that?

Hope really seems to enjoy these reading programs, so I'm glad I was able to find another one for us to do since the Roseville Library program one will not have their next session until next year. She really nuzzled up to a few of the kids, especially the ones who were petting her as they read to her. She spent half the time rolled over on her back getting a belly rub and doing her trademark snort. So cute! What a good girl!  I also let each of the students give Hope a cookie after they were done, they seemed to like that.

The parents and teachers are very enthusiastic about this program. It was so nice, since the session goes on all day, they had a table of beverages/food set up for us so we could grab a bite to eat/drink in between students.

I could have stayed there all day and I'm sure Hope could have too. Too bad we had to go back to work! I wasn't sure how Hope would do for longer than an hour as that is the average time we visit at the hospital and did the other reading program, but I think I'm going to sign us up for a bigger block of time next month as she could have easily done another hour or so.

Til next month...

Scavenger Hunt

Today was my day to deliver Nick back to our co-raisers.  We met a couple of friends at Capitol Park to do a Scavenger Hunt that we used to do in puppy class way back when.  Well, we kinda did it, we didn't follow all the rules of the hunt as we mainly wanted to work on our CCI commands with the pups.  It was such a nice day today, more like a warm spring day than a fall day in November!

I was so bummed as my camera battery died or we could have gotten some cute pictures. :-(  I took these pictures with my phone's camera instead, so the quality is quite bad.  

I liked the one of the pups doing an "under" command under the bell below (from left to right: Idelle, Nick, Skipper).  You can't tell in the picture, but they actually had to jump up on a platform-thing to get underneath the bell. Idelle is the "under" queen and immediately jumped up and did an "under" on the first command!  The boys, well...they both needed a little extra encouragement...

And, here is a first...you can actually see the black dogs better than the yellow dog in the picture, usually its the other way around!

Skipper, Idelle, and Nick posing for pictures in the park...

Mental Health Day

Today was a "mental health day"... not so much for Hope or Nick, but me.  I survived another fiscal year-end at work, which always means more work and lots of analysis and reporting. Yesterday, I finished up the last of that stuff so I asked my boss if I could take the day off today. 

As usual, I woke up early and took the dogs for a walk.  We even went for another really long walk later in the morning.  I just put the iPod on and kinda zoned out and before I knew it we had walked almost two hours!  It was actually kind of nice not having to think about anything, my head hurts from having to think/analyze too much the past couple of weeks. 

It was such a nice fall day, I did take my camera to see if I could get any nice shot of the dogs, but they weren't cooperating!  So this is the best I could do...

Poor Nick, he's got no stamina at all, he was just dragging at the end of the walk.  I had to keep turning around and encouraging him to keep up with Hope and I.  Where's Zucchini when I need her? ;-)

In the afternoon, we met a friend and her dogs at the dog park to work with our CCI pups around all the distractions there. I got there a little early so I could let Hope go in the dog park for a bit.  As usual, she had no desire to play with any of the dogs, she just wanted to sniff everything.  After we worked the CCI pups outside the park, we took the dogs to the schoolyard to play. They had a great time running around.

Another day, another dog biscuit

Hope and I did our visit to Sutter Hospital this morning. As usual, she was happy when we drove up to the hospital and parked the car. One of my routines is to give her a treat when we are finished with our visit and back in the car. Only today I was bad and had run out of cookies, oops. She kept looking at me from the backseat wondering when she was going to get her treat. Sorry Hope! I did give her a treat when we got back to my office, but I don't know if that made it up to her.

Just when I was going to start looking for more work for Hope, one dropped into our laps yesterday. A friend of mine forwarded an email from someone who was looking for Delta teams to participate in a reading program at an elementary school in Citrus Heights once a month during the day. Its the perfect situation for us since I won't have to miss much work as its only once a month and the schedule is flexible based on our availability. We go to the first session in a few weeks. Can't wait!

Hope says...

"HOPEfully you voted today!"

Sierra in action

I was downloading pictures I took of Sierra last week off my camera this morning.  It was so much fun seeing her again and best of all, finally getting to meet Kay and Cathi for the first time. I was going to delete this picture as its so blurry, but I just couldn't do it.  This shot captures Sierra's soul and spirit and her zest for life.  I have taken so many pictures of her like this her whole life, lot of blurry action shots.  Boy, that dog is still a speed demon!

Here's to you Sierra and your new life! Cheers...