Hey! Where's my lunch?

My routine when feeding the dogs is that I tell Hope to "get" her bowl, meaning go pick up the food bowl in her mouth and bring it to me. It's one of those commands she learned when she was in Advanced Training.  I never have to bend over to get her bowl with her around...

Nick will eat 3 meals a day until he is about 6 months old, then we switch to twice a day.  I guess yesterday was the first time in a while that Hope has seen me giving him lunch (as we are usually at work when he gets his lunch).  As he was eating his lunch, she kept looking at me like, "Where's mine?"  After a few minutes of her staring at me, she went over to her food bowl and picked it up in her mouth and brought it over to me trying to get her message across.  It was too cute...

Here's a picture of her holding her food bowl for me...


And, speaking of food...it seems that Nick is turning into a typical lab pup....that is, eating FAST! In fact, he eats so fast that I let Hope finish about 3/4 of her food before I give him the "ok" command to tell him its ok for him to eat. So this weekend, I took out the "brake-fast" bowl that I bought when I had Zucchini. The bowl reminds me of a giant lego, with three prongs sticking up in the bowl that is supposed to slow down the eating as the dog has to work to get to the food. When I put Nick's meal in the bowl he actually took longer to eat than Hope. Here's a picture of the two dogs eating this morning...you can see the brake-fast bowl on the left...

Our houseguest for the week

Hope and I have had the company of another CCI pup for the past week, Gerrit, who is about a month older than Nick. He and Nick are quickly becoming best buddies since I hang out with Gerrit's puppy raiser a lot, we go to KPT class with him, and Gerrit's puppy raiser and one of my co-raisers work at the same place so they get to see each other on a regular basis. It's cool that they will get to grow up together.

Gerrit has been a lot of fun to have around, in some ways, its like having Zucchini back. He's a of fun, always smiling, tail wagging (even when he eats, just like Zucchini). He's also a lot of fun to work with because he's so enthusiastic. 

Hope has been having fun playing with him, but at times she doesn't want to be bothered by him either; I guess it's a sign that she's growing up and maturing. Honestly, I never thought I'd see the day, she used to be like the energizer bunny and would play, play, play and get in trouble for being too rough with other dogs. We used to call it the "H-factor" as a few of her littermates were just like her.

Gerrit has gotten a lot of attention at work too. It's funny how much more attention the yellow dogs get, its been extremely evident over the past week. I've gotten stopped a lot more than when I have a black dog. Oh well, poor black dogs. Well, I only have one comment, the black dogs look better than the yellow dogs in the new scarves I just got them -- no offense Gerrit, we still think you are pretty darn cute though! ;-)

A Lazy Weekend

Mostly because it was HOT, HOT, HOT...like 100+ degrees HOT. The hot weather just seemed to sap all the energy out of me, so we basically did NOTHING all weekend, other than a few chores (inside the house!) and running a bunch of errands.

I am watching a friend's CCI pup and even he and Hope didn't seem to want to stay outside much. I took the pup with me on Saturday to lunch with a friend, but it was so hot out there, I ended up taking him home so I could run the rest of my other errands I needed to do.

This was the first time I actually spent a bunch of time in the pool this season. It was also a very sad reminder for me that this is the first summer without Molly in many years, I still miss that dog a lot. She just loved to swim and would swim forever if you kept throwing stuff for her to retrieve. I do have to admit though that it IS easier without her. She was impossible to swim with in the pool as she just wanted to be near you and it could be dangerous. Once, she made a nice set of scratches down my back trying to get close to me, not on purpose of course, ouch, that certainly hurt. She would also bark incessantly if I kept her in the dog run and wasn't letting her swim, so I always had to put her in the house or lock her in the garage while I was out by the pool. Oh, and the hair, I don't miss that hair, she shed so much it was actually pretty gross to go swimming after she had been in the pool, you could just see it floating everywhere, even underwater. It would take hours of filtering to remove all that hair. Of course, I'd sacrifice it all if I could have her back and see her doing what she enjoyed the most.

Hope was more than happy to take her place this weekend and was happy to get in the pool with me to chase her tennis ball. We just need to teach her how to dive in and not jump out of the pool every time she gets her ball (and take half the water with her). There was still a lot of hair in the pool, but not nearly as much as there used to be with Molly. Her CCI training certainly comes in handy too. Since I was in the pool, I could just tell her "get" to pick up her ball, have her come to me with a "here" command, and tell her "give" to give me the ball back so I could throw it again for her if she dropped the ball outside the pool where I couldn't reach it. I didn't even have to get out of the pool at all!

Sometimes its good just to be lazy....and that's what we were this weekend, LAZY...

A Matched Set

When I found out that Hope's pink paw print scarf was available in other colors, I went to Wal-Mart to pick up a matching scarf for my new favorite boy, Nick. He and Hope were nice enough to pose for a few pictures last night...don't they make a nice matched set? Perfect colors to complement the black dogs...


Last night I took Nick over to a friend's house and he got delivered to his other mom today via what I call the "Underground Puppy Railroad". My friend lives about halfway between us and also works at the same place as one of Nick's other moms; so he spent the night with her last night and she took him to work with her today. This works out nicely on those weeks where we don't have puppy class, especially with gas approaching $5 a gallon!

Hope and I will have some company while Nick is gone because I came home with my friend's pup, Gerrit, her 4 month old pup who Nick is becoming best buds with. Gerrit went to work with me today and everyone went crazy over him as they are used to seeing me with only black dogs. Those yellow dogs certainly generate more attention than the black ones...

It's all about heart

Just had to share this cute picture of Nick I took tonight with one of his favorite toys. This heart toy was a gift from one of my friends for Nick when he first arrived.  It looks like any other dog toy, except that it has a little recorder thing in it with a human voice that says, "I love you" over and over and over and over and over, as long as the dog squeezes it in the right place. It's rather irritating, but the dogs love it. Hope loves to tease Nick with it when he's napping and Nick loves to have Hope chase him while he's carrying it in his mouth.

Bed

In CCI lingo, the "bed" command is used to direct the dog to a bed, mat, or other object, lie down on it and stay there until released or given another command. I was working with this a little with Nick last night in my bedroom before putting him in his crate for the evening.

After I put him in his crate, I had a few extra treats left over. I told Hope to "bed" and instead of going onto the dog bed, she jumped up on MY bed (yah, the one I sleep on...not the dog bed on the floor!). I couldn't stop laughing as I corrected her a few times and gave her another "bed" command and she would repeatedly jump on the bed. Finally, she got it and went to her dog bed. The funny part is that I don't use the "bed" command for her to jump on the bed with me, I say "jump" and she knows she's not allowed up unless I invite her first, so who knows why she was even confused in the first place. Silly girl...

Hmm... I think she's spoiled sleeping on the bed with me now that she is allowed on the bed! And, to be honest, she did go on the bed, so I guess she wasn't entirely wrong even though that's not what I meant when I gave her the command! ;-)

Hope says...

"Hey I kinda like the new little guy..."  

(This morning while I was cleaning up the kitchen, the dogs were playing in the family room with a squeaky toy.  Hope finally gave up and went to sleep on her pillow, guess who joined her?)

"But, see what happens when you get up, they take over!" 

"You give them an inch, they take a mile...that is supposed to be MY pillow!"

(That other dog is Maddy, my friend's pet dog who we are watching this weekend...)

An afternoon with the dogs

Nick and I met some friends for lunch yesterday, another first for us as it was our first time in a restaurant, and he did great! We sat outside at a BBQ place in Folsom and he remained calm and fell asleep under the table like a good CCI dog. Afterwards, we took the dogs to the school yard (where we are having our KPT classes) to let them play.  Since Hope and Carlo are COC (change-of-career) dogs and aren't allowed in public any longer, we left them at my house while we had lunch and then picked them up afterwards so they could play with the pups.  Both Hope and Nick were down for the count after we got back so it actually allowed me to get some household chores done.

Nick sporting his new "big boy" cape...


Here is a picture of Siena (who is littermate to Sergi who visited us last month from Oceanside, she is a half-sister to Hope), Nick and Gerrit. We told the dogs to do a "down" (which Nick and Gerrit are still learning...). Well, Gerrit did a down...right on Nick. Too cute!

Nick and Gerrit practicing "under" under the table at lunch...

Posing for yet another picture...these two boys are gonna be best buds!

Nick also had his first (and hopefully not last!) breakthrough last night too.  After dinner, we were in the living room watching TV and he was chewing on a bone, all of a sudden he got up, walked to the patio door and stood at the door...I immediately took him out and he peed and pooped! Yay, one step closer to being housebroken! This does NOT mean that he's housebroken by any means, but it IS a step in the right direction. Ahhh, the things that makes us puppy raisers happy!

Heee's Baaaaack!!!!

And Hope is so happy he returned!

Tonight we had KPT puppy class at the school by my house. I can't believe how big Nick got in the week he was gone, holy cow! He's growing up so fast. He did really well in class tonight; its nice because most of the pups are around the same age so we are all at about the same stage in our training. Poor little guy...the dogs were hanging out in crates after doing a "crate games" exercise and apparently a bee made its way into his crate and he was moving around trying to get away from it. We got him out of the crate but couldn't tell if he got stung, but he was holding his paw up. He seems fine but I'll keep an eye on him just in case. Poor guy....

Nick was happy to play with his buddies in the school yard after class (its nice since its fully fenced). The pups all had fun chasing his brother Spencer, a cool little beagle he lives with at his other home. We also got a chance to say hi to Carlo who just came home from Advanced Training and is living with his puppy raiser. Carlo gave us one of his trademark smiles. It was so cute because Nick started hanging out with Carlo while the other dogs were running around; Nick and Carlo aren't the fastest kids on the block so it was nice for them to hang out together.

After class when I got home, Hope was right there at the front door ready to greet us. She was soooo cute, she immediately play bowed to Nick, picked up a toy in her mouth (an obnoxious (to me anyway, the dogs love it!) stuffed toy heart that says, "I love you") and tried to get him to chase her. Of course, he happily obliged. They played for a while and he eventually just collapsed and fell asleep on the floor.

I think Hope will be happy she has someone to play with for the next week....well, and so am I! :-)

Reappearing water bowls

One thing that Hope likes about not having Nick here is her water bowls have suddenly re-appeared, on the floor, where they should be.  When I have young pups in the house, the water bowls live on the counter so I can control the pups' intake until they are more reliable and don't have accidents in the house.  This is especially important with Nick as he is a little tanker, he will probably drink a whole bowl of water if you let him. And, what goes in, must go out. 

When the little guy is here, I get these looks from Hope wondering what she did to deserve this. She sits where the water bowls are kept and just stares at me..."Hello...can I have some water please?"   

Some day the water bowls will be back on the floor for good, but Nick has to earn that privilege first. And unfortunately for Hope, she has to put up with that until he does.

Oh my darling, Clementine

Oh my darling, oh my darling,
Oh my darling, Clementine!
You are lost and gone forever
Dreadful sorry, Clementine...

Have you ever had a song stuck in your head? Well, I did today. I was planning on taking Hope hiking this weekend and when our original plans changed, I ended up taking her up to Auburn to check out a trail I wanted to check out a while ago but we just never made it up there, until today that is. And, can you guess the name of the trail? Yep, you got it, the Clementine Trail, that's why that song is stuck in my head. It was an almost 4 mile hike up and back; we climbed from the river at about 500 ft. to 1000+ ft. where we stopped and had to turn around.  It was a pretty easy uphill hike and we had shade a good part of the way which was nice.  I'm glad we started out early because on the way back, the trail was much more crowded with hikers and mountain bikers.

We parked at the confluence (where the North and Middle Fork of the American River meet) and headed up the Clementine Trail which basically followed the North Fork of the river. For the most part, the trail was nice and wide, which made me happy because there was less chance of those nasty ticks attaching themselves to Hope! We even found a geocache that was hidden off the trail, icing on the cake!

We passed underneath the Foresthill Bridge, holy cow that bridge is way up there! As we were walking underneath it, I kept thinking to myself that it would really suck to be on that bridge if there were ever an earthquake, you wouldn't have a chance of surviving!  

After passing the bridge, Hope and I climbed down a little side trail to an area known as "Clark's Pool", apparently this is a popular swimming hole. It was weird because as fast as the river was moving in most places, in this area the water was very still, making it a perfect swimming hole. You could tell that the water was very deep here. I found Hope a nice big stick and she swam for about 10-15 minutes or so and we had the place to ourselves! That's the Foresthill Bridge in the background.

After continuing down the trail to the end, we started hiking towards Clementine Lake. However, halfway down the road about a 1/4 mile from the Lake, we were stopped by some State Park Rangers. They told me that dogs weren't allowed at the lake and that I would have to turn around. Bummer, I had hiked this trail because I also wanted to check out the dam at the Lake; I could barely see it, but that was the only view we'd get of it today unfortunately. Oh well, it was still a nice hike and Hope got to go for a swim, so she was a happy girl...

The dirty feet of a tired hiking/swimming/geocaching dog... 

It was a great day....

Missing the Zucchini-girl

Now that Nick is away, today was the first Saturday that was more routine and it was the first time that it hit me how much I actually miss not having Zucchini around anymore. She and Hope would play while I read the newspaper and had breakfast and then we would watch the Animal Planet dog shows together and I'd usually take them for a walk or go to the schoolyard to play. This morning it was just Hope and I. It was nice, just different.  

To top it off, Z's matriculation picture arrived in the mail today. That made me miss her even more. I keep wondering how fast I will receive the "call" on her, I keep predicting it will be before her first report comes out at the beginning of July. Her littermates have not done all that well, I think 4 have been released so far (they all turned in last February). So we'll see what happens...

All Alone

Last night we had puppy class and Nick's co-raisers took him home after class, so its just Hope and I for the week. Hope is so funny, I think she has actually gotten herself attached to the little guy! Last night as I was sitting at my computer, she kept looking at me like, "Where did the little puppy go?" She would disappear and come back with a toy in her mouth (something she rarely does) and look at me like "I wanna play, but there's nobody here to play with!" 

I'm actually really liking this co-raising arrangement as I am looking forward to a lot of 1:1 time with Hope, she is simply nice to have around to hang out with.  It also allows me to still be able to take her to Sutter to do our hospital visits on the days I don't have Nick. I have a co-worker who used to watched Zucchini at work for me when I took Hope to the hospital, but since Nick is still young, I'm not comfortable leaving him with anybody quite yet.

I'm changing my work schedule around a bit by working at home in the morning for a few hours (because I have to be able to talk to some team members located in India - gotta love working for a global company - NOT!) from about 6-8am and then going into the office after that. Today, I took Hope to Sutter on the way into work and brought her into work with me after that, it was nice having her at the office since I didn't have Nick.  

We had a nice visit with 3 patients today.  The sad part was that one of the patients we visited a couple of times over this past year passed away. It sure brought home a huge dose of reality to me today that no matter how hard life gets sometime, there are people out there dealing with a lot more than I could ever imagine. Can you imagine spending the rest of your life in bed on a respirator? Today's visit put things into perspective...

There is a young girl in the unit who we generally visit with each time we go. Some days she is "there", some days not...today was one of those days when she was. As Hope got on the chair next to her bed and I had Hope put her head close to her hand, she smiled and I saw her make the effort to move her hand to reach Hope's head. Hope just remained right there while she touched her without moving, I was so proud of her! This young girl got the biggest smile on her face when she touched Hope.  The funny part is that Hope's tail wags so much on our visits, which is not a normal behavior for her as she is not really a "waggy" type dog. Guess she is doing what she is meant to do and is happy doing it, and I'd like to think that Hope brightens the day for some of these patients...what a girl!

Lessons learned

I can't believe how fast Nick is growing, it seems like every day he looks bigger than the day before! I know puppies grow fast at this age, but still! It's getting hard for me to lift him into my car (it's a two door) and get him in his crate, so today we worked on him jumping up on the car into the backseat on the floor and I'm still hoisting him into the crate (which is in the hatchback area with the backseats folded down). One step at a time...

Today, when I got home I tried to get him to jump off the cargo area onto the rear seat floor (it's a small car, its not that far), but he was hesitant. And, that's where Hope comes in. I got her to jump into the back seat with him and had her get out of the car, and he got so excited she was there that he followed her right out. We'll see if we continue to do this that he'll figure it out that it isn't that scary to get down off the seat on his own. That was Lesson One...

Hope seems to be warming up to Nick a little more each day and plays a lot more with him now. This makes me happy as she does a good job wearing him out. Well, he got a little rambunctious as they were playing together and how do I put this?...starting humping her...on her head, no less! Well, she was having none of that, she snapped at him and he screamed like a girl and she sent him sliding halfway across the floor (well, maybe not that far, but he was flying across the floor!) He promptly laid flat as a pancake with his head and chin down on the floor and didn't move as if he were saying to her, "I'm sorry Hope, I don't know what got into me..." I was laughing so hard, I was almost crying. And that, my friends, was Lesson Two for Nick today! Good girl Hope, you rock!

Our first outing

Ok, this really isn't about Hope, its about Nick, but she said she doesn't mind if he posts on her blog every once in a while.

At just about 12 weeks of age, Nick took his first big outing with me today. We met Nick's friends, Gerrit and Idelle at the "Build-a-Bear" store at Arden Fair Mall. We were a day late, because the store was donating $1 to CCI when you bought a certain type of stuffed animal, that ended yesterday, but we still went anyways as we thought it would be fun to take the pups there.

To tell the truth, I was really nervous about taking Nick since he is still so young. But he did great. I made sure to not give him much water this morning and we agreed to meet as soon as the store opened when it was less busy. I was also careful to potty him (not only once, but twice!) before we went in. All three of the pups did really well considering they are all pretty young (the other two are about 15 weeks old).

Here is a picture of Nick with his new friend (who even comes with an "Assistance Dog" cape)...


And, here is a picture of Nick with all his new friends...gee, can you tell which ones are real?? Poor Gerrit was disappointed that there were no yellow labs, he says he was discriminated against!


When we were getting ready to leave, I told the others, I'm heading for the exit and not stopping to talk to anybody until I'm safely outside! We made it out, no accidents, no freaked out puppies, and best of all, no embarrassed puppy raisers... :-)

Hope was very curious to check out the little black stuffed dog when we got home, I paid extra to get the dog stuffed with a little box in its leg that when pressed, starts barking. As soon as she heard it, she started play bowing to the dog! Funny girl...

A weekend at home with Nick

This is our first full week with Nick since he arrived. We are switching back and forth on Thursday's at puppy class which is being held at Oak Chan Elementary School, a couple of blocks from home. I love that I won't have to drive to downtown Sac and scrounge for quarters the next couple of months, AND I have my Saturday's back! Yippie!

Nick had his 1st bath yesterday and he did great, staying still for the most part. He was a little uncomfortable with the blower (which is noisy and blows air), so I didn't dry him off all the way. We'll just take it a little bit at a time with that as it can be a little scary. Here's a picture of him in the bathtub. He and Hope played together in the dog run after his bath so he could dry off. Afterwards, he even let me dremel him, although by that point I think he was so tired he didn't care.

As far as Hope is concerned, she is hot and cold with the little guy, sometimes wanting to play, sometimes just ignoring him, sometimes teasing him with a toy in her mouth. The one thing that makes me happy is that she is playing nicely with him, remember this is the girl who spent her first month in Advanced Training on a leash in the playyard at CCI because of her rough play. She sometimes gets a little vocal, so I've been correcting her for that because I don't want her teaching him any bad habits.



All in all, I am pleased with how they have been getting along and think they will be just fine together. Hope doesn't even mind it when he comes to cuddle with her. I'm sure it won't be long until he is towering over her...

See what a good boy he is? Maybe one of these days I will even stop saying, "Good Girl" to him so much....



I swear everytime I look at this pup, I think he's grown!

Just you and me kid...

Well, today our houseguests left. So when I got home from work there was nobody here. It was actually nice to have Hope all to myself...we went for a walk for about an hour and she is just laying next to me as I'm getting caught up on her blog. I was wondering how she would react wondering where the other dog went, but she seemed happy that it was just the two of us now.

I'm actually thinking one of the benefits of co-raising will be that I will get to spend more one-on-one time with her on the days I don't have Nick. It will also allow us to do the hospital visits on the weeks I don't have him which will be easier until Nick gets a little older.

On the other hand, I can't wait to get Nick back and see how they do together when there is less activity and its just the two of them together. He's been such a good pup so far and I think she will enjoy having another dog to play with. I think this co-raising will be a nice balance for me.

I just love this dog more and more each day...and feel so fortunate that she came back into my life.

WAGS Therapy Dog

Hope and I were called last week to visit a hospice patient at a Board & Care facility in Citrus Heights. So yesterday afternoon, I spent a lot of time brushing her out (its shedding season!), doing nails, brushing teeth, cleaning ears (which she HATES!), and giving her a bath. Today when I called, the patient had changed her mind and didn't want a dog to visit after all. I had taken her to work with me, so she was all groomed with nowhere to go. Luckily, I was able to get in touch with Sutter's volunteer coordinator and received permission to visit the STARS unit at Sutter Hospital near work.

We visited about four patients today and she did very well. One of the patient's wanted her on the bed with her and I was so proud of her that she was able to get up gently on the bed (many of these patient's cannot move on their own and there's very little room for a dog on the bed, plus these patients are on respirators, so we have to be careful of the tubes), she even managed to relax enough that she was falling asleep as the lady scratched her on the head and on her chin. She even made little "kissy" noises at Hope and Hope gave her a little smooch with her nose which made the lady very happy. What a little miracle girl she is...

Normally, Hope wears a WAGS (Wonderful Animals Giving Solace) scarf that was given to us by Sutter to wear, but a friend had given her a scarf that is so perfect for her to wear as its pink and black with paw prints. So many times people think she's a boy, so this scarf is perfect as it makes her look more like a girl and is perfect for a black dog.

Here's a picture I took of her today sporting her new scarf!



It thrills me that Hope still has such a desire to work...this morning as I was getting ready to leave for work, I put on Hope's "working" collar. Even though our houseguest, Sergi, wanted to play, she was all work and just stood there without doing anything with him. Guess she knew she was in work mode now....

Geowoodstock VI - Geodogs

We went to Geowoodstock VI in Wheatland with a couple of friends on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. It was the geocaching event of the year with thousands of Geocachers converging on a little sleepy community outside of Lincoln. Nick went to spend the weekend with his buddy Gerrit since he is still too young to be hitting the streets because he hasn't had his shots yet. Because dogs were welcome, I was lucky to be able to take Hope with us. She was a good girl and people commented on how well behaved all of our dogs were.

Didn't know she could drive a bus did you? Another one of her many talents, she was even glad to have Skipper as her co-pilot...

See the scarves the dogs are wearing? They are actually geocaching scarves with a subtle geocaching logo on it. I told Skipper's puppy raiser that Skipper needed a scarf, since Sergi and Hope already had ones of their own. So she caved into the pressure and bought him one so he wouldn't feel left out. What good geo-dogs!

Teaching the young-ins

Hope and I had some houseguests for a week between graduation and Memorial Day weekend, one of the two-footed variety, and one of the four-footed variety. In some ways, that made turning-in Zuleika that much easier as the house was full of people and dogs.

Our guests were my friend, Laurie from Oceanside and her 10-month old pup named Sergi who also happens to be Hope's half brother. They have the same mom, Toddy. Sergi also happens to be half-brother to Nick through their dad, Weldin. Yah, yah, everyone is related in the CCI world somehow.

The week Sergi spent here was a turning point for him that I hope will result in some changes for him that will continue when he goes back home. When he arrived here, he was busy, busy, busy, always wanting to do something, chewing toys with such energy and determination, and whining, whining whenever asked to be quiet and remain in a "down" or in a crate with any activity going on around him. There was lots of corrections and lots of what I call "bad dog water" (ie, spraying with vinegar/water) to stop the undesired behavior. Well, by the end of the week, he was a different dog...that edginess in him was gone, he learned to lay down and just "chill" and he stopped whining. I think Hope played a big part in showing him the ropes and that its ok to just relax and chill. It was so funny to see Hope teaching him, she would just "snap" at him and let him know he crossed the line, a few times making him scream like a girl. Because he is intact, there were times he tried to mount her, but she would just snap at him most of the time, so I encouraged the behavior with her when she did that to teach him a lesson.

Last Friday, Hope taught pups, Skipper & Sergi, how to swim. Sergi just followed Hope into the pool at home. And she taught another CCI pup, Skipper to swim at the lake. Unfortunately, I was working both times, so I didn't get to witness any of it. Here is a picture of Hope, Skipper and Sergi at the lake. (Yes, of course, the lake is fully fenced...)


And let's not forget the littlest pup, Nick, who at 10 weeks old, arrived home for the first time the day after I turned-in Zuleika. Hope was hot and cold with him, sometimes wanting to play, sometimes not. I think things were different with Sergi here, so we'll see how things go after its just the three of us. I'm counting on her to tire the little guy out before I have to leave for work in the morning! :-0

A weekend of goodbyes and celebration

It's been a busy couple of weeks that started off with the May, 2008 CCI NW graduation in Santa Rosa. It was time to say goodbye to Zucchini. All along I kept telling myself that her turn-in wasn't going to be hard as she's been such a challenge to raise. But a wise friend also told me that the hardest ones to raise, are the hardest ones to give up. That was certainly true with this pup. I think this was an especially hard turn-in because I know when she gets released I will not be keeping her, I will have CCI place her. So in many ways, this was truly goodbye as I will never see her again, making this turn-in especially difficult and unlike any of the others.

Hope and I had a good last week with her going to the lake and taking a couple of nice long walks. It just won't be the same to see how excited Hope is to have us home and her pal to play with and go to the schoolyard to play, even though Hope could never catch her!

A couple of good friends and fellow puppy raisers were my "designated driver" for the day. Since we had the earliest photo appointment, we had to leave early. I sat with Z in the backseat all the way to Santa Rosa and cuddled with her. After pictures, the dogs had a blast running at Gittinger Park, the huge playyard at CCI. Zucchini still remembered agility lessons and ran through the tire jump, across the dog walk, and through the tunnel there. She'd make a great agility dog because she is FAST! After taking a few pictures, we went out to lunch with a bunch of friends and then went to the ceremony.

Even though it was a sad day for me, it was also a day of celebration...A good friend of mine who I met several years ago through puppy raising when we were raising littermates (Rolie & Rubin as well as Hope & Hefner) came up to present her 4th dog as a breeder at the ceremony. He is a half-brother to Hope. Some other friends had dogs that were graduating. I was excited that Zucchini would be reunited with her buddy, Zane, who was graduating, but neither seemed particularly excited to see eachother after 6 months apart. Oh well...

After the ceremony, we headed back to CCI for the dreaded turn-in. Zucchini will have the same trainer that Hope and Marisa had. So 3 out of 4 of "my" dogs will have had the same trainer, what are the odds? We'll see how long she lasts, I predict I won't even make it to my first report. As usual, she walked off without a care in the world, I just hope she adjusts well to kennel life. Unlike my other girls, since she never went into heat, this was her first exposure to the kennels.

The one thing I've always been grateful for after turning dogs in is that I've always had a dog at home to greet me. I still remember Molly peeking into my car looking for Marisa after I got home from turn-in, and her running through the house looking for Rolie and Hope. Well, that's where Hope comes in (this is HER blog after all!)...it was WONDERFUL to have a dog to cuddle after what is always a difficult and exhausting day. She slept with me all night and was my pillow to cry on....

Here's to you Zuleika...whatever path you follow next, Hope and I will always hold a special place in our hearts for you....good luck.

Another walk along the Lake

I have been pretty good about trying to get out of work at a decent hour this week so that I can take the dogs for a walk. I took Hope and Z to Folsom Lake again, this time to Folsom Point. I haven't been out here for a while and it's amazing to see how much higher the lake is now. It's nowhere near what it usually is, but the past couple of years it has been pretty low.

We took a short walk along the levee between Folsom and El Dorado Hills and back, maybe only a mile or so. Tonight it was hot outside, but the girls didn't seem to mind. Since nobody was out there, I let them walk off leash. This picture isn't great as it was taken with my camera phone, but in the background, you can see a little "island". In December, I actually walked to this island because there is actually a geocache on it! That day it was a terrain 2, today it's a 5 and you need a boat!

Even though we probably only walked a few miles or so, the dogs were tired since it was hot out there. Between the two of them, they must have drank about a gallon of water. Well...maybe not that much, but it was a lot...

One last romp at the lake

The weather was so nice this morning that I couldn't resist taking Hope and Zucchini for one last romp at the lake. We went to Willow Creek, my favorite spot to put in our kayaks and was one Molly's favorite places to swim. We walked a mile or so on some of the trails off the bike path and I stopped at one point to let the girls swim. Lots of kayakers and rowers were out on the lake already and lots of cyclists were out on the bike trail.

"You know, we'd rather chase the stick than pose for pictures..."


I guess this was probably the first time I had been back to Willow Creek since the day I took Molly out here on her last day with me last December. I saw the hiking trail off the bike trail where I had taken her to find a geocache that day, so I took the dogs down the trail. The area looked so different than back then when it was almost a flourescent green from the recent rains, today it was all dry and there was poison oak everywhere so we didn't stick around too long. Coming back here brought back a lot of emotions of that day back in December, but honestly, they were happy ones. Molly had a good last day on this earth and I was glad to bring Hope and Zucchini to this place that will probably always hold a special place in my heart now. I hope that wherever Molly is now, she is happy that I returned with Hope and Zucchini to this special place we shared together that day...

"Leaves of three, let 'em be..." say Hope and Zucchini

A week of lasts

Hope and I are now heading into our last week together with Zuleika, its hard to think she will be gone in a week. For me, the last week is one of the hardest times in the puppy raising journey. You go through a lot of "lasts", last week at work, last trip to the grocery store, etc. I was at REI last night and somebody asked me how much longer I would have her, it was hard to answer that it was only another week...

Today was the start of that...our last weekend together. I decided Zucchini deserved some fun, I've been working a lot of hours the past month since I started a new position and she has been a trooper at work. Today we went to Folsom Lake in Granite Bay, hiked out a mile or so, and found a nice secluded area for them to swim. They both enjoyed chasing sticks in the water. Like everything else, Zucchini beat Hope to the stick most of the times. Poor Hope, she is just too slow to beat Zucchini in anything that requires speed.

This is my favorite picture from today...(Hope is on the left, Zuleika on the right)


A wet, soggy, happy Hope!

A new job - assistant puppy raiser

Hope doesn't know it yet, but she has yet another new job...

Last night, puppy #5 arrived home from CCI, but not my home just yet! I'm doing things a little different this time around, getting yet another black dog, but this time trying a male out. The biggest change is that I'm also going to be co-raising with a couple of good friends of mine, Kathy and Gloria. I think it will work out nicely and they were good about taking him the first two weeks since I will still have Zuleika for another week.

Hope has some big shoes to fill since I no longer have my Molly to show the pups the house rules. I know I'll never have another dog that will be able to fill that role, but I hope she will have some good influence on Nick. I have watched a friend's young pup, Gerrit, the past couple of weekends and she seems to enjoy having a pup around, so hopefully she will like her new role as the "Big 'Sis".

The "little" guy is not so little; at 8 weeks old, he was over 16 lbs a week ago, so he's probably getting close to 20lbs! This is huge by my standards, Zucchini was 11 lbs and most of my girls were 12-14 lbs. He comes from a litter of nine pups, he was the last puppy born, so his collar color was orange (same as Rolie!). I'm just glad I moved down to the 1st floor at work, I usually carry my pups outside as long as I can to avoid potty accidents when they wake up after a nap. 20lbs is usually about my limit for carrying pups down the stairs. Knock on wood, I haven't had any accidents at work yet, although I have some close calls (like right outside the entrance!). Let's hope we keep our streak going with Nick!

Here's a litter picture that was taken last Sunday and a picture of Nick with his wonderful dog-mom, Niobe:





Isn't he adorable?!!!!!

Zucchini's turn-in has really started hitting me the past few days, so its nice to know I will have Hope at home waiting for me when I get back from Santa Rosa and Nick will come stay with me right after that too.

A weekend of fun

Yesterday was Zucchini's last "Big Dog" class, hard to believe she will be gone in a couple of weeks. It's such a mixed bag of emotions with this puppy. As much as she has put me through emotionally and financially over the past year and a half, she really is a sweet little dog who I have grown to love and much as I'd hate to admit it, I will miss that sweet little face of hers and that wiggling butt that wiggles like no other. I think Hope will miss her too, they have grown to be such good pals.

Our last class was held in Point Reyes, about a 2 hour drive from here where our CCI contract trainer lives. After class we had a picnic at Millerton Point, a great place to picnic and let the dogs run free. I went with a friend and her husband. All together we had 5 dogs, 3 of hers, and Hope and Zucchini. It was a full carload of dogs and people!

Unfortunately, I forgot my camera on the table at home so i didn't get any pictures of Hope at the beach. But, she had a great time running with the other dogs and rolling in the sand. Dang, I wished I would have had a camera to get a shot of her after her roll in the sand, half her face was full of sand and I think she got a mouthful of it too. Yuck! She (and Zucchini) were two tired (and filthy) dogs when we got home! I always worry about her playing rough with other dogs, but she did great, and even had a decent recall. That makes me happy because I have worked so hard with her on that as she had almost no recall whatsoever when I raised her as a puppy. Zucchini's recall yesterday on the other hand is another story...but this is Hope's blog so we won't get into that one! ;-)

Today, Sunday, I took Hope and Zucchini geocaching at Folsom Lake in the Beals Point area. We also found 6 caches! It's that time of the year when it's hard (and dangerous) to take the dogs because it is full of stickers, its tick season, and most of all, its rattlesnake season. For the most part, we stayed on the paved trails, but did have to venture off to find the actual geocaches. Hope and Z didn't seem to mind too much.

Here are a few pictures I took today (not very good quality) as they are from my camera phone:

Hope is laying down on the rock next the cache container...

Zucchini is in front, Hope in the back...

Last night at the library :-(

Last night was our last night at the library for the reading program as the next session won't be until the fall. Hope did her normal thing of rolling on her back getting a belly rub. Since it's Spring, no matter how much I brush her, she is shedding like crazy, it's just that time of the year. I was laughing as the first child to read to her was giving her a belly rub and holding the book with her other hand, she went to turn the page with the hand that was petting Hope, and then all of a sudden, there was gobs of black dog hair in the book and the poor little girls pants were covered with hair! Oops, I kinda apologized but she answered back that it was ok, she had a lint brush at home. She then brushed all the hair out of the book. Some things just don't matter. :-)

The second girl who read to Hope brought a book that she was reading on her own (rather than picking out a book from the table of books the library provides). It was what I thought a very advanced book with lots of hard words, I had to contain myself from busting out in laughter as she accidently thought the word "diamond" said "diarrhea"....haha, but it is not the handler's job to correct the child. Hope was enjoying her belly rub so much, she didn't notice the slight mistake made either....

Since this was the last night for a while, each dog was given a little gift bag containing dog cookies and a magnet with their picture (that was used on the bookmark given to each child). That was really nice...

Therapy Dog

Hope and I also volunteer in the WAGS (Wonderful Animals Giving Solace) program at Sutter Hospital in Roseville. We started doing this late last year after we received our Delta certification. The program is run by the Volunteer Coordinator for Sutter's Hospice program. In order to start volunteering, we had to complete four days of Hospice training, another evaluation, and vet check for Hope.

We are volunteering at Sutter's STAR (it stands for Sutter Transitional and Respiratory Services, I think) unit. We have been visiting patients who are essentially permanent hospital patients on respirators. It took a few times for Hope to get comfortable visiting these patients. I generally have her jump onto a chair next to the bed so that patient can reach her. At first, she was reluctant to jump on the chair. Now she jumps on the chair like its nothing. She seems to enjoy it too, her tail is wagging. If we can bring some joy to these people for only a small portion of their day, its all worth it. At some point, we will also visit the Oncology ward or may be called on to do a visit with a hospice patient.

Reading Dogs

No, they don't read, but they do get read to...

Hope and her buddy Mason (another CCI release dog) were reading dogs in Roseville Library's "Tales to Tail" program that we joined this month. On each Tuesday night in April, we participated in a reading program where kids from the 1st to 5th grades sign up to read to the dogs for 25 minutes. We do two sessions a night. It's been really enjoyable and Hope seems to love it, its funny but she spends practically the whole hour on her back getting a belly rub from the kid that is reading to her. Parents are not allowed in the room, its just the child, dog, and the handler, so there is no pressure on the child, just the unconditional love from the dog. At the end of the session, the child is handed a bookmark with a picture of the dog they just read to. On the back the bookmark, it says, "Thanks for reading to me today, Hope" The kids seem to really love the bookmarks.

The library gave Mason and Hope their own special scarf and nametag. You can see the bookmark they made with Hope's picture by her foot. The hardest part about this whole thing? Trying to sit on the floor for an hour without my legs falling asleep, boy, do I feel old! I think I need to start taking yoga again...

Here's a link that explains a little more about the program: (there a cool little video clip on the page too): http://www.roseville.ca.us/news/displaynews.asp?NewsID=1034

Helper girl

One of the things Hope learned in Advanced Training was the "tug" command, where the dog has to grab something in their mouth and walk backwards; its mostly used for opening doors I think. I have a leash tied to many of my doors at home and have Hope open the door. I never thought she would be able to open the sliding door to the backyard as its kind of heavy, but this girl is determined and learned to open it. Now if only I can teach her to unlock the door, she could let herself out all on her own!

It actually came in handy yesterday, I was watching a friend's young puppy who I was carrying to take him outside (I didn't want him to pee on the floor as he had drank a lot of water and had just woken from a nap); since my hands were full, I gave Hope the "tug" command and she was able to open the door for me! My little helper...

In the morning when I am getting ready for work, I have her open and close my closet door. She also likes the "push" command to close my bathroom drawers. Sometimes I even have her help me remove the dog towels from the dryer using the "tug" command. In the morning if I forget to let her push one of my drawers closed, she looks at me like, "I wanted to do that!"

She also loves picking up her food bowl before meals. Sure saves me from bending over, might come in handy in my old age....I'll have to get a video of that someday.

Picking up after herself

Last year, Hope celebrated her 2nd birthday a few weeks after she was released. I let the dogs enjoy Frosty Paws to celebrate her birthday. Here she is showing off the "get" and "hold" command she learned in Advanced Training to pick up the Frosty Paw container and drop it in the garbage can. It's cool to see what she learned during the 5 months she was gone (I love the little tail wag at the end).

Delta Dog

Once I made the decision that I was going to keep Hope, I decided that Hope still had a lot to offer and would enjoy working again, this time as a therapy dog. I attended a one-day workshop in San Mateo for Delta Society and signed us up to take our certification test in April, 2007.

Hope and I drove to San Mateo for our test. Lots of driving for a test that probably only took about 30 minutes or so. I was a little concerned about how Hope would do as we were testing at the San Mateo Humane Society on a hospital-type floor similar to the floors she was having trouble with in Advanced Training. But she did great! In fact, she did better than I did. On each of the tests, they score the handler and the dog separately, the team then gets scored based on the lowest score whether handler or dog. Well, in most cases, Hope outscored me. I do have to admit I still have lots of test phobia, so I was very nervous. I'm glad Hope did well despite my nervousness!

After you are done, you wait outside while they tally up your score and you are told whether you passed or not. Yay, we passed...in fact, the lady said we did really well and that Hope seemed very comfortable. After passing the test, we had to fill out an application packet which included getting a vet exam for Hope, a written test, etc. Our certification will last for two years.

She's a Keeper!

Hope came home in February, 2007.

Physically, she had changed a lot. I would say that even though it was shortest time (5 months) that I had seen any of my dogs from when they turned in, Hope had changed the most (Marisa was gone 6 months, Rolie was gone 8 months).  She had finally grown into that big head of hers! Her chest had totally filled out and she just looked so much more mature.  I may be biased, but I think she is a beautiful girl!

Hope had developed some behaviors that I was concerned about while she was gone.  Even as a puppy she was always a rough player, but when she came home, she was even more rough and I would say bordering on aggressive.  She was also forging (ie, pulling forward on leash). I worked with her for the next several weeks on these issues as I was concerned about keeping a dog with this type of behavior because of the impact she could have on my CCI pups.  After a few weeks of diligently working with her on these things, she showed signs of improvement and these behaviors improved.  Maybe the behaviors surfaced due to the stress she was under while in Advanced Training.  In any case, things got better with her over time.  She will probably always play rough, but at least she doesn't act like the angry dog I saw when she came home.

My other concern was for how she would adjust to being at home all day.  Luckily, she had Molly to hang out with.  I could see how their relationship just blossomed, they played together a lot (something Molly normally didn't do, she didn't like the "bratty" CCI pups).  Hope also was a nice bridge for Molly, since she played with the CCI pups, this was nice for Molly as she didn't have to deal with the bothersome puppies anymore as they would play with Hope.

With each day that passed, things became clearer and clearer.  Hope was home and she was meant to be mine.  A few months later, I made it official (in my mind anyway), I was keeping her.

Fate or "Fortune"

When I received the call about Hope's release, I was just about to go out of town to visit a friend in Oceanside for the weekend. I felt awful to leave her there longer, but I asked if CCI could keep her there until I got back from vacation. I just didn't want to bring her home for a few days, then leave her with someone else even if it was only a weekend. Thankfully, CCI didn't have a problem keeping her until the next week.

As disappointed as I was, I still managed to have a good time in Oceanside. My friend and I went out to lunch one of those days at a Chinese restaurant. Of course, as is customary in a Chinese restaurant, we were given a plate that contained two fortune cookies. My friend grabbed one of them and handed me the plate to take the second one. I couldn't believe it, this is what the fortune revealed...

The words on the front of the fortune said,
"Hope is the most precious treasure to a person."

On the back of the fortune was the following Learn Chinese lesson:
"Miss You", Xiang-nian ni, and the expression written in Chinese.

I got all teary-eyed, was this a sign telling me what I was supposed to do with Hope? It was totally fate that I received that fortune...my friend could have easily gotten "my" fortune cookie but she picked up the other cookie from the plate...that fortune was meant to be mine that day. Can you hear that Twilight Zone music in your head? ;-)

The fortune lives on my refrigerator as a reminder of how fortunate I am to have Hope back in my life...

The "Call"

I have had the good fortune of having the first two dogs I raised, Marisa and Rolie, graduate so when Hope was released, it was the first time I had to ever experience the "call" from CCI telling me my dog was released from the program.  The NW puppy program manager first called me on my work phone, but I happened to be on a teleconference, so I just saw my red message light blinking and didn't think anything of it.  Of course, when I then heard my cell phone ring and saw the number was a Santa Rosa number, I knew immediately this was it, the call that Hope was being released from the program.  They never tell you your dog is released when they leave a message, only to call back as soon as possible, but you know what it is...

It was no surprise to me that Hope was being released as her prior reports had shown the surface issues, I just had hopes that her trainer could work her through it.  But, it was not to be. Of course, when I returned the call to CCI, they confirmed it, she was being released.  

After I hung up, I immediately burst into tears, the dream of her graduating was over.  But in another sense, I also felt a big sense of relief.  Hope's first report was just awful and didn't sound like her at all, the 2nd report was a complete turnaround and her training seemed to be going well, the 3rd month was when the surface issues started and continued into the 4th report.  The sense of relief I felt was knowing that she no longer had to endure the rigors of the training environment anymore, she was probably very stressed from having to live in the kennels and living the life of a training dog, an environment where she just was not happy.  It stressed me out that she was not happy, so she needed to come home, whereever that might be.

I knew I would bring her home, but at that point, I wasn't sure what I was going to do with her, keep her or try to place her with someone else.  Most of all, she just needed to come home to a familiar place and chill out for a bit.

There was a lot for me to consider if I were to keep her and that's why the decision was not easy for me or something I could make a decision on with any certainty: 

1. Would Hope adjust to being home all day as she was used to going to work with me everyday, especially since my current CCI pup would be going to work with me, would she handle that?

2. This would mean I would have 3 dogs (Molly, Hope, and Zucchini) so could I handle it all on my own and give each dog the attention they each deserved? Lots more dog hair, more poop to pick up, dogs to groom, etc.

3. Could I afford having 3 dogs?

Welcome to Hope's Blog!

The other day somebody asked me why I didn't have a blog for Hope. Heck, I don't know, why not? So, here you go Hope, this one's for you!

Hope is the 3rd puppy I received from Canine Companions for Independence to raise. She was born on March 19, 2005. She just turned 3 years old in March, wow time flies. After five months in Advanced Training, she was released from the program for surface issues (ie, not wanting to walk on different surfaces, shiny floors, etc.) not a very useful trait for a Service Dog.

For a long time, I was so disappointed that she didn't graduate as she has a very strong work ethic and her skills were so good, especially since I never saw any things she was released for several months. Well, a few months ago, she showed some issues walking into an elevator at a hospital where we do pet therapy. It made me realize that her release was for a reason...

I also believe she came home for a bigger reason...to be my "forever" dog since it was only a matter of time before I had to say goodbye to my best buddy Molly, my golden retriever who was dying from cancer. It made me feel good that Hope and Molly got to be buddies after she was released and that she kept Molly company during her last days while I was at work. We said goodbye to Molly in December, 2007 and I was so worried about how Hope would adjust to life without Molly, but she seems to have adjusted just fine.

Hope has become a great pal to my 4th pup, Zuleika (aka Zucchini). In some ways, I think she will be a little lonely without her playmate when Zuleika turns in next month. But, we will be getting another puppy, so she will have another pup to play with. Hope will never take the place of Molly who was the true alpha dog and a great puppy raiser who put all my pups in their place, but I hope she will be a good influence on puppy #5, who we found out this week is named Nick.

That's it for now...more later...