Distraction Training

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

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



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

Swimming lessons

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

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

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

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

Nick and his assistant swim instructor, Hope:


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

Escape to the Folsom Lake

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

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

It was a nice escape this afternoon.

It's all about perspective

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

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

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

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

Happy "H" Sisters

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

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


A profile shot...

Not just any old stick...

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


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

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

Gone but not forgotten...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

River Walk

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

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

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

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

Family reunion

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

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

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

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

Hope says, "When can we play?"

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

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

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

Just another day at the office

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

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

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

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

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

Calorie-free dog treats

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

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

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

Happy 4th of July!

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

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

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

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

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

Here comes the fire truck!

Watching the parade go by...

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