Dillon Beach & Turn-In

Where does the time go? Seriously! It wasn't until I started puppy raising that I realized how fast time flies. It seems like just yesterday that I got a sweet little lab/golden pup named Marisa to raise. I didn't know what I was doing, but she matured into a sweet girl who would eventually graduate with her little boy named Jason, who is not so little anymore. Then came Rolie, who was almost a "no-brainer" to raise and who graduated as a Service Dog after 8 months in Advanced Training. After that came Hope, the huge puppy who I thought would grow into a huge dog, but turned out to be my smallest at only 50 lbs. She of course, is now my "forever" dog, my constant companion, and her new career is that of therapy dog. Then there was Zuleika, the sweet wigglebutt who put me through such heartache and pain, but also joy as she was my favorite pup to train and had the sweetest personality. She too, was released, but has a great life with her family in Grass Valley.

And, finally there's Nick, my first male, who I co-raised with good friends, another first. Like Rolie, he was relatively easy to raise and is everything I want in a dog. Sweet, cuddly, affectionate, the list goes on and on. But like all the others before him, it's the end of the line for us, and the start of something new as he enters the next phase of his life - Advanced Training at CCI's campus in Santa Rosa.

The graduation this time around was a little different, instead of being held on a Saturday, the ceremony was taking place on a Friday. A group of us decided to go camping at one of our favorite places, Dillon Beach, for the weekend. Because we were going to have our pet dogs with us, we couldn't go to the ceremony so we had a nice day at the beach instead.

A friend and I drove up on Thursday afternoon and met some other friends who were already there with their RV. Dillon Beach is the best place for the dogs, huge sand dunes that the dogs love to run on one side and a great beach on the opposite side. The night we arrived was really windy, so it was a bit challenging to get our tents up. After dinner, we played a few rounds of Mexican Train, then headed back to our tents to sleep. Well, I didn't sleep at all - I think my mind was spinning thinking about turn-in and how much I was going to miss Nick. Luckily, Hope was there to keep me company...my therapy dog...this time for me!

The next day, more friends arrived. Nick's best buddy Gerrit, Carlo and Gerrit's puppyraiser arrived. They were going to camp with us after turn-in on Friday night. Gerrit was ready to play, so we headed to the dunes to let the them run. Here's a picture of Carlo, Gerrit, and Hope posing for a picture.

And a video of them playing, what fun!

Right as we were returning from the dunes, Nick arrived with our co-raisers. So it was back to dunes with the two best friends, Nick and Gerrit. Here's a video of the boys playing...

Shortly after that, more friends arrived...Idelle, Mason, and Idelle's puppy raisers. They were going to head to Monterey after turn-in as Mason (their release dog) was competing in a dock diving competition. Here are a few pictures of the turn-in dogs...

From left to right, Nick, Gerrit, and Idelle...

Nick on the left, Idelle on the right, and Gerrit posing in the dunes...

Getting some last minute cuddle time with my black dogs. Nick may be almost 70 lbs, but he is the biggest cuddler in the world.

After a fun day of playing and enjoying each other's company, the dreaded time arrived and we couldn't postpone it any longer, it was time to go to CCI. As I was changing my clothes, Nick came into the tent with me and laid down on the bed where Hope had slept the night before...the first tears started flowing as he laid there and cuddled with me for a few minutes.

Hope and I drove with our co-raisers to CCI, this is Hope and Nick during their last car ride together. I also made a promise to Hope that I wouldn't leave her at CCI since she had already done her time there. :-)

After playing in the play yard at CCI, we borrowed a friend's matriculation cape (we didn't get one since we didn't go to the ceremony) to take a few pictures of Nick in an official matriculation cape. Such a handsome boy! After that, we headed back to the turn-in room for turn-in. We gave Nick a hug, told him to be good, to listen to his trainers, and that it was all up to him now. Like all my dogs before, after we handed his leash to a trainer, he walked off and never turned back. Bye buddy, we love you and miss you! Lots of tears flowed and hugs followed soon after, this is the hard part of puppy raising and it never gets any easier. If it were not for the great group of friends I have, I'd never get through this.

Nick's Village, the best co-raisers and I with Nick holding each other up...

Our handsome boy, he has matured into a wonderful dog...

Then it was back to the beach...at least we all had our pet dogs to love on. Spaghetti for dinner, more mexican train, then sleep, and a few more tears shed in the privacy of my own tent. Sleep came easily that night, I think I was tired from not sleeping the night before and exhausted from the emotions of the day. I'm just glad Hope was there to cuddle with that night.

On Saturday, a few of us went into town for a photo shoot of the neat buildings/scenery in the area in the morning. I still struggle with photography, so I won't waste space with any of my pictures! Some other friends drove up for the day to hang out with us and the dogs. So we took a walk to the beach in the morning, ate lunch, played mexican train in the afternoon, had dinner, then took another trip to the dunes, and called it a night after enjoying some quiet time visiting around the campfire.

Here are a few photos of Hope at the beach...I love this shot of Hope that was taken by a friend in black & white. I was actually trying to get a similar shot of Hope, but never got her with all four feet off the ground!

And of course, we had to get a group shot...

And, a video...

Back to the dunes for one more romp. Here, Hollie surveys the area for birds...

Running at the dunes...

And, a little video of course...

The next morning we took the dogs back for one last romp at the dunes before packing up camp and leaving for home...

Other than turn-in, it was a great weekend. We had beautiful weather and I had a great time hanging out with friends, who could ask for anything more? A week later, I still find myself thinking about Nick wondering how he's doing and missing having him around. I know with time, it will get easier. If he makes it through all the temperament and medical stuff, it will be October before we know how he's doing. I think Hope is missing having a dog in the house too, she looks at me like she is bored. The wait begins....

Lasts

The week before turning in a CCI pup is almost just as hard as turn-in itself. It is a week of "lasts", last time going to work, last time shopping, last day at home, etc. Since I'm co-raising Nick with friends, my "last" came a week early as I wanted our co-raisers to have Nick the last week. One, because I thought it would be easier for me (it wasn't!) and two, I thought it would be better for Nick so I wouldn't stress him out due to my stress.

It was still a really hard week and this time around, it just came a week earlier. During our last week together, the weather finally started cooling down a bit, so I was able to take Nick out a little more during our breaks at work. Across the street from my office is the American River Bike Trail that leads to Willow Creek (where we put in our kayaks) and is a quick 10-minute walk. Here's a picture of Nick I took at Willow Creek.

For some strange reason, a force I can't explain pulled me off the trail on the walk back to the office. I took a walk on the side trail where I took Molly during our last few hours together. This trail is a special place for me, so I wanted to show it to Nick. I admit I shed a few tears thinking about Molly again and thinking of Nick - our last time together here for both of them. Here is a picture of Nick at that special place...

It always amazes me how in the course of 15-18 months, how much change these pups go through. They mature from a young 8 week old puppy who knows very little to a confident, mature pup ready to conquer the world. I try to remember to take pictures of my pups at work on my chair to see that transformation. Here's a picture of Nick on his first day at work with me and on his last day.

First day at work...

Last day at work...

And in front of the sign at work...

Another summer pool party

We were invited for yet another summer pool party at a friend's house. It was Nick's last day with us before he left to go back to our co-raiser's for his last week. Boy turn-in sure came out of nowhere this time around. :-(

In the morning, I decided I would make some dog cookies for the party and Hope and Nick were right there to supervise. So I gave them each a spoonful of peanut butter to enjoy as I was baking the cookies! Too cute...

And here is Hope, shocked at herself that Nick's excessive drooling is beginning to rub off on her!

The dogs had a blast at the party. Nick even joined in on the fun a few times and went for a swim now that he found his swimming legs. Here is the group shot of almost all the dogs at the party...

And a little video of the group picture...not so easy to get the picture sometimes...

Big Dog class and Najee visit

At the last minute, we scrambled to have Nick's brother Najee come up to Folsom on their way to Mill Valley. It was great for the boys to see each other again before they turned-in. Because I had to work, everyone arrived here before I got home and Najee's puppyraiser said he ran all over the house looking for Nick (who was at work with me). Too cute.

The black dogs and one lone yellow dog... (Nick, Hope, Najee (in back), Titian, and Emilio)

Nick actually went into the pool by himself to get a toy!

As we were stacking the dogs on the waterfall for a group picture, Hope found herself a nice little cubby hole to rest in and just stayed there for a few minutes even after we released all the dogs...it fit her little body just perfectly!

And finally, the group shot (Emilio, Nick, Titian, Hope, and Najee)

After dinner, we went to puppy class in Orangevale at one of our local puppy raiser's house for an Ice Cream Social and our last class. Here is a group picture of most of the dogs that will be turning in with Nick in a week. We really had a nice class this time around, and many of my best CCI friends would be turning in with us which always makes it a bit easier. It will be interesting to see how the dogs do in Advanced Training. The other interesting piece of information is that in this picture, there was a total of 65 dogs raised by these puppy raisers in our area, amazing.

There was even a News10 crew doing a little story on our class. They got some of the details wrong, but still a nice story...

Last hike with Nick

I ended up taking a day off from work to take Nick to CCI for his turn-in hip x-rays and was planning to take Hope for a hike while we waited for him to get his x-rays done. But, plans changed as CCI called me the day before and asked me where he was that day...uh, the x-rays are scheduled for tomorrow I said. Well, they informed me that they couldn't do them on the day I had scheduled. Oh well...guess they will have to do them when he gets turned in.

So instead of driving to Santa Rosa...Hope, Nick, and I went for a couple of nice hikes instead! It all worked out for the better as we got to enjoy a nice relaxing day with Nick. In the morning, I took them to the Salmon Falls area for a hike and a swim. And, guess what, Nick finally found his swimming legs...for the first time ever, he actually swam rather than hanging out on the shore waiting for Hope to bring the stick in for him to steal. Figures it has to happen a week before turn-in...oh well.

Here's a video of Nick and Hope on the hike....

And of course, a few pictures...

In the afternoon, I took the dogs to Folsom Lake for another short hike and a swim. The water at the Lake is so low right now, its amazing to see how fast and low the water has dropped since the middle of the summer. Kind of sad actually...but the dogs could care less. Again, Nick has gotten the swimming down and Hope finally gave up trying to get the stick as Nick would get too rough around her to get it. How times have changed :-)

Here's a video and a few pics of them at Lake; I took them there in the afternoon mainly so they could wash off their morning mud....

And more pictures...

It was a fun day and sure beat driving to Santa Rosa!

Nick's photo shoot

Since a bunch of us decided to go camping at Dillon Beach the weekend of Nick's turn-in, we won't be getting "official" matriculation pictures of Nick like we have for all the other puppies I've raised. Luckily, I have friends who are great photographers and one of my friends was nice enough to do a photo shoot of Nick for us.

Even though we won't have "official" pictures, I think these pictures capture Nick's personality and expressions. I realized this after taking a look at my "official" pictures of my other four CCI pups, they all look so serious and sad.

This is my favorite picture of Nick as it totally captures his true personality and expression:

Here are a few more favorites:




We even had a "peanut gallery" during the photo shoot...Gerrit and Carlo kept peeking in the door, it was so sweet. Finally, Gerrit went and got a toy and dropped it by the door, too cute! Here's a picture of Gerrit taunting Nick.

I'm so glad we got this nice shots of Nick...he has turned into such a handsome boy and these pictures prove it! :-)

Playtime with Hika

Hope's sister Hika graduated as a Skilled Companion for a young boy a few years ago and now lives in the Bay Area. When her family goes on vacation, Hika's puppy raiser is lucky to be able to dogsit her, so we got the sisters together for a little playtime at a school.

They were so cute as at first they didn't recognize eachother and then you could see the "light bulb" go off and I think they remembered each other and got wiggly. I don't think they recognize each other for being sisters, but more as playmates as they went to puppy classes together, did agility and played together a bunch.

Here's a little video and a picture of the sisters (Hika on the left, Hope on the right)....

A houseguest

Hope, Nick and I had a houseguest for about a week in July. He is Nick's "brother" from his other house and his name is Ethan. He is a retired service dog who is now living with our co-raisers as they took him back after he retired from service.

Even though he is now retired, he still is very savvy on all his commands. It was funny as he and Hope would have little contests when I asked them to "push" a drawer closed, open the fridge with a "tug" etc. Even though Hope did not graduate she still has such a desire to work and do commands for me, which has been fun. Here's a little video of Hope and Ethan showing Nick how its done...

I also thought it was kind of funny as Ethan and Hope have different methods for picking up their food bowls. Hope picks hers up so the bowl is facing up, Ethan picks it up so the bowl is facing down. Either method works, its all a matter of choice I guess...maybe Hope figures I will drop the food in her bowl faster if the bowl is facing up!

And, we spent some time going to the school to play...



Because it was one of our co-raiser's birthday...we also made her a sign to wish her a Happy Birthday, pretty cute, huh? Nick hasn't learned the advanced stuff there, so he was stuck in the middle just to look cute :-)

A picture of the brothers...Nick and Ethan

Since the weather was still so warm and we couldn't go out much, I took the time to start playing with my camera a little more...so got a couple of shots of Nick in the backyard. Here are a few of those...first a profile shot

And another shot...he's turned into such a handsome dude!

A field trip for Nick

We took Nick to "Big Dog" class at UCDMC (UC Davis Med Center) where we worked on commands inside the hospital went to the Pediatric and Neurology wards to visit with patients.

Here are a couple of pictures of Nick outside of the hospital. The pictures aren't great as these were taken with my camera phone...

And, here he is practicing working next to a gurney. The funny part of the story is he had no problem jumping on the gurney, but when he laid down, he laid down ON the patient! Oops...no harm done as the "patient" was one of us puppy raisers.

Nick was awesome with the patients we visited, he seemed very comfortable and was very gentle. We visited a young boy who seemed to enjoy his visit. His mom told us it was the first time her son smiled in two days.

Good job Nick!

Dog Days of Summer

July was a month of hot weather...several straight days of 100+ degree weather. During this time, it was too hot to take the dogs for a walk (too hot for their feet on the pavement), so we spent a lot of time just hanging out by the pool.

Ever since one of my friends got an underwater case for their Flip video camera, I've been wanting one as I thought it would be fun to get a video of Hope swimming from underwater. It finally occurred to me to try using the waterproof case I have for my GPS that I use when I kayak.

It was actually a little tricky to take the videos as it was hard to keep myself underwater AND hold my breath long enough to take the video. But here are the results of that effort:

And another...



I also spent some time working with Nick on swimming, mainly so he would know what to do if he ever fell in the pool, but also to see if I could get him to swim. He was happier just hanging out on the side of the pool and stealing toys from Hope as she would bring them in rather than swimming. I did get this video of him on one of the occasions where I put him in the pool with us...he knows how to swim, he just chooses not to! :-)

Hounds & Rebounds

In mid-July, we had a night out on the town with our pet dogs. Hope and her buddy Carlo, another Change of Career Dog, were able to go to a Sacramento Monarchs game even though they are pet dogs now. The Monarchs were hosting a "Hounds & Rebounds" night where you could bring your pet dog to the game and they would donate a portion of the ticket sales to a non-profit animal organization of your choice. I chose to give my proceeds to Lend A Heart, the therapy organization that Hope and I belong to.

Nick was with our co-raisers, and Gerrit was with another puppy raiser. So this night it was all about Hope and Carlo. They put us in the nosebleed section, but it was pretty organized and we still enjoyed the game, even though the Monarchs lost.

Here's a few pictures of Hope and Carlo outside of Arco Arena before the game...


And a shot of Hope inside the arena, see how far we are from the basketball court?

GO MONARCHS!

Another day, another pool party

The day after the 4th of July, we were invited to another pool party at a friend's house. Nick didn't go as he went home with our co-raisers after the BBQ, so it was just Hope and I. For once, it was not all labs/goldens at this party.

The other black dog is Guinness, a young CCI pup who had his first swim at the party. He actually did really well, just got right in and swam. Wish Nick would do that!

4th of July

4th of July??? It's August for goodness sakes! Well, I've been a little behind on blogging I guess. Sometimes life just gets in the way. So I'm going to attempt to get caught up on the blog...

For the 4th, Hope, Nick, and I hosted a casual bbq dinner with our co-raisers and their pet dogs Spencer (the beagle) and Ethan (a retired service dog who lives with them now) and our friend Jill and her dog Hollie.

The backyard is not very dog friendly, but as you can see, it didn't matter and they still had a blast with Spencer leading the way! We ended up coming in when the fireworks started as it was quite loud and we didn't want to scare the dogs.

Here's a video...