On the mend...

Don't know why it happened, but for reasons unknown, Hope got sick last week with several days of vomiting.  I did take her to the vet where she had to spend a day on IV fluids today as she was getting dehydrated from all the vomiting.  We still have no idea why it happened as her blood work, fecal tests, and x-rays didn't pick up anything unusual or abnormal.  So for the next week, I'll be monitoring her closely and keeping her on a bland diet of rice, cottage cheese, and turkey (which she loves).  Hopefully, she's over whatever she had.  Unfortunately, due to this issue, we had to cancel our visit to the hospital last week - bummer.

Here's Hope sporting a neon pink bandage on her shaved leg that matches her collar...at least she has style...

Hiking with Hope

I couldn't pass up the great weather to enjoy a nice hike with Hope today.  I decided to go back to Cronan Ranch in Pilot Hill to check out some of the other trails I'd seen the last time I was with her here.  And, believe it or not, even though I took my GPS, I didn't do any geocaching. ;-)

My original intention was that I didn't want to get Hope too dirty because we have our reading program tomorrow and since she just had a bath on Thursday, I didn't want to have to give her another bath.  Well, that all went out the window, we did stay on the trails, but it was dusty and muddy and I let her swim in the river for a bit, so she ended up getting dirty anyways. 

We hiked for about 5.5 miles, the weather was beautiful, we hardly ran into anybody, and she didn't even try to eat any horse poop at all.  She was happy to be off leash and pretty much stayed by my side the whole time.  Not too shabby for a dog that had terrible recall as a pup.

About halfway through the hike, we made it to the South Fork of the American River, so I let her swim and chase sticks.  My heart did skip a few beats one time as my aim was not too good and I threw the stick out a little further than intended and she got caught in some of the swift moving water a bit, but I was able to call her over and she made it back safely.  After that, I made sure I only threw the stick in the eddy (calm part of the water).  Phew....

It was a great day even though I had to give Hope another bath!

HOPE Meeting/Training

This past weekend, Hope and I went to our first HOPE AACR meeting in Costa Mesa with our friend Mary and her Hope dog, Mason (also a CCI released dog).  It was a long weekend with lots of driving.  We drove to Oceanside on Saturday and spent the night at my friend's house.  On Sunday morning, we drove about an hour to Costa Mesa for our meeting/training session. Then home from there.  All that way for a 4 hour meeting!

It was nice to see many of our classmates from the certification workshop at the meeting.  A handful of them got to put the training we went through into practice during the fires that were raging in Southern CA shortly after the workshop ended.  Many of them visited the shelters and fire camps and said the training was extremely helpful when it came to going on an actual call-out, so that was good to hear.  It was also fun to get to meet the dogs of many of the people I met at the workshop who were helping out as they didn't have their dogs during the training.  

While most of the dogs are labs and goldens, there were also some other breeds: a pharoh hound, australian shepherd, a couple of standard poodles, a pug, and a greyhound.  In all, there were maybe about 20 dog/handler teams in attendance.  We had a general meeting first, then that was followed by a few hours of training.  A professional trainer was brought in and lectured on topics I've heard before, but even so, it was a good refresher.  After that we went through some training exercises with the dogs which was fun.  That was followed by a potluck where we stuffed ourselves before leaving for home.

In our workshop, we had a huge Newfoundland named Oz in our class that Hope was deathly afraid of.  He was the most gentle creature, but at probably 150lbs, he was huge and hairy and Hope would always hide behind me if he approached.  We finally got her to go up to him from behind by the end of the workshop.  This past weekend, I finally was able to let her get up a little closer to him from the front.  It was too cute....one of these days, I'll have to get a picture of them together!

All in all, a good weekend...an added benefit was that it was 85 degrees!  It was soooo nice to have warm weather and sun for a bit!

Hope's goes to Rehab...

Before you jump to any conclusions...NO,  that does not mean that Hope is an alcoholic, nor is she addicted to drugs!  She is going to rehab, but not THAT kind.  She is going to Sutter Rehabilitation Institute as a therapy dog.  

The facility is part of Sutter Roseville Medical Center and has two in-patient units:  brain-injured patients and spinal-injured patients.  The patients here have stabilized enough to start a rehabilitation program after their medical issues have been treated at a hospital. Patients may have suffered strokes, been in a car accident, or have neurological disorders (Parkinson's, MS, etc.).  The Recreation Therapist requested pet therapy visits through the WAGS program (the Sutter program I volunteer with through the hospital) to help the patients as they recover.

On Wednesday, we met with the Recreation Therapist to see what our dogs can do for the patients, decide on a schedule, etc.  She loved that Hope could do the retrieve, tug, etc. and she thinks we can utilize her skills in our visits; this is perfect as I have really been wanting to find a program where I could do this with Hope as she loves doing the commands.  We will be visiting twice a month with 3 dog/handler teams initially; the nice thing is that the visits will take place after work, so I won't have to miss work.  

Hope was the only dog that was able to attend the meeting and the therapist asked me if I would be willing to visit one of the patients even though this was not something we had planned in advance.  It was then that I got to witness the miracle of Hope that still has me beaming.  

The patient was a young man and was in a wheelchair that was high, so I had her jump on a chair and do a "lap" on him.  They said he hasn't spoken, was having trouble opening his eyes, and is learning to move his arms again.  Not only did he make deliberate movements to pet Hope, he tried to say her name.  Nothing came out, but you could tell he was trying.  We could also tell that he was trying to open his eyes to see her.  I was so proud of her because she just remained calm, laid her head on his lap on his arm and let him grab her foot.  He was actually squeezing it a bit hard (I don't think he had a lot of control), and normally she is not a dog who likes to be messed with like that, but she was not bothered by it one bit and remained calm and steady.  I guess I was concentrating so hard and didn't notice what was going on in the room when I heard some voices behind me. When I turned around I heard someone say that our audience was the patient's therapists who are working with him and were watching his interaction with Hope.  

It really was such a special moment for me to know how much Hope has to offer; I couldn't be more proud of her.  And she was so relaxed on his lap and her tail was wagging so I know she was enjoying herself too.  

In some ways, Hope was like a CCI Facility dog on that visit.  I spoke with the therapist about the possibility of them getting an actual Facility Dog as I think there could be so much they could do with a full-time dog there. So today, I dropped off some brochures as she seemed really interested in looking into it.  When I was there, she happened to see me and saw that I had Hope (as we had done our visit at the hospital right before) and asked if I would be willing to visit the patient we visited with on Wednesday.  Hope did another awesome job and this time, the patient's parents were there and were so grateful to Hope as they said how their son loves dogs. 

I can't wait until we start our visits later this month, I think this is a perfect fit for Hope.  Hope you ROCK!

All work and no play?

Last week I took Hope and Nick to the school to play and work on recalls.  I have been having fun playing with my new Flip Video camera I recently received. 

Here's a little video of Hope and Nick practicing recalls.  That's Hope coming towards me first, then Nick. I tried to work on him waiting to come until he heard his name.  What good dogs...

It was not all work and no play, here's a little video of Nick retrieving his Wubba toy (yes, that's what its called)....

Nick's Adventure in San Francisco

This past Saturday, Nick and I went to San Francisco with some friends. We drove to Concord and took BART into the city. It's been years since I've been on BART, but I sure don't remember the train being so shaky and noisy/squeaky. We got off of BART at the Embarcadero, walked through the Ferry Building, took a few pictures, and walked along the Embarcadero to Pier 39 (where we stopped for lunch), Fisherman's Wharf, and Ghiradelli Square and back. We got lucky and picked a beautiful day to go, it was sunny and warm (well, for San Francisco anyway). It was a great day.

Nick along the Embarcadero with the Bay Bridge in the background...

Skipper, Idelle, Gerrit and Nick say this is the biggest spider they've ever seen in their lives!

A day in the life...Hope at home

Well, I got yet another new gadget...a FlipShare video recorder, so I've been having a great time taking videos of the dogs. Here's a little glimpse of what Hope learned during her five months in Advanced Training, glad she listened to her trainers...

At mealtime, Hope picks up her food bowl (and Nick's too if he is home) for me to fill up. Nice that I don't even have to bend over to get the bowls now...

In the morning, Hope waits to close my bathroom drawers with the "push" command. Normally, I don't leave ALL my drawers/doors open like this, I just wanted to see if she could do it, she loves the "push" command.

Hope also likes to close my closet door with the "tug" command.

Hope knows how to open the refrigerator door too. Although in this video, she didn't get it quite right, after telling her to "tug" the door open, I told her to "hold" the rope in her mouth, but she let go which she wasn't supposed to do, oops....oh well, she's not perfect.

Hope also can open the patio door, something I never thought she would be able to do because that slider is so heavy. But, she does it. Good girl Hope!

And there you have it, a day in the life of Hope at home. I wouldn't make Hope "work" if she didn't enjoy it so much. But she really likes doing this stuff. Usually when I'm getting ready for work she will come over and wait by the closet or by the sink ready to close the closet door or close my drawers shut. If she is asleep in the bedroom and I call her she comes running. If I forget to have her do it, she sits there and stares at me with a look on her face like, "Hey, that's my job!"