Good Morning World

Saxon and I in shadow, with a green background light.

This morning Saxon went with another raiser to a doggie first aid class. We got to her house bright and early, much earlier than I am used to waking up now that I'm back in school. There was enough time for Saxon to get a quick run in the backyard and through my groggy eyes I watched Saxon zoom at top speed around the yard, jolly ball in tow. Here I am, impressed with myself for being dressed and out the door before 9 AM, the thought of physical exertion many hours from sounding like a good idea, and Saxon is running his brains out, so blissfully happy for the opportunity. Aren't puppies great at teaching us to live in the here and now? Boy do I love my puppy.

Worldless Wednesday

A formal portrait of Saxon at 13.5 months

Worth the Wait

Happy Tail in Downtown LA, originally uploaded by jonesaz.

Saxon and I went for an adventure on Friday - took the light rail from the beach to downtown LA and back. My puppy club hosts an event every summer where all the So Cal puppy clubs ride the metro for a day with their puppies, but Saxon needed more time to mature before taking on such a big challenge, so he skipped it this summer.

Being a responsible puppy raiser means recognizing your pup isn't ready for an adventure quite yet, and trusting that he'll get there with time. There really is no need to rush anything, ever - puppy raising is more a marathon than a sprint, anyway. (And yes, even I need to remind myself to slow down on occasion).

So mature Saxon and I conquered the light rail with no problem, then walked the zig zag through downtown LA to our destination. I shot a 20 second video so you can get a sense of the sights, sounds, and surfaces a "city dog" has to deal with on a daily basis - and how Saxon just plods along, happy to be there.

You will see Saxon blew his coat and it lost most of it's wavy, haphazard tendency. I am hoping it comes back, but so long as he keeps his curly, happy, bouncy tail, I guess I can live with anything. :)

Lobster Dog

I don't know if this is normal or not, but... sweet Saxon has a serious set of eye whiskers.

looking down on Saxon's whiskers

I tried to get some pictures but do you know how hard it is to get a camera(phone) to focus on something less than a centimeter in diameter?

a sideways view of the whiskers

So here are some funny pictures of Saxon obliging to my awkward attempts to capture the hairs growing haphazardly out of his eye balls. He is such a good boy. :)

Saxon squinting because his mom shoved a camera in his face. Sorry about the eye booger. :)

I See You, Buddy

Saxon giving me a sad look while posing between black labs Delancey and Calypso

My puppy club had a big meeting today and we tried to get some group puppy pictures - key word tried - we have four puppies under four months so the wrangling was not easy. Looking through my pictures tonight, I couldn't help but laugh at this one - Saxon is giving me the saddest, sweetest look as his buddies Delancey and Calypso - these three represent the club's "big dogs" - are moved into place beside him. Have I mentioned lately how much I love my puppy? Because I think he's the sweetest guy ever.

COLLEGE

Saxon and I started a new adventure last month - graduate school! It's been so weird walking around on a college campus, all the random free time during the day, no money, staying up late, the HOMEWORK. I had my first quiz today in like six years. I did my undergraduate work way across the country too, so it's a little strange to be in the same time zone as my family, to drive from the beach to my classes and back, to have a GDB puppy with me at all times. I love it, and Saxon loves everything about his new life except for the cold classroom floors, which make him look at me like this the entire 4-hour classes:

Saxon, master of the puppy dog eye, strikes a uncomfortable looking pose on the hard ground of a classroom.

I tried to special order a required text book at the campus bookstore today (note to schools, if you have 20+ people enrolled in class, you should order more than 5 copies of the book to sell, ugh) and the gentleman at the customer service desk told me "no dogs allowed" and then "only real guide dogs" were allowed in the bookstore.  Legally, he is right... kind of... but what he said next made me cringe - when I said Saxon comes with me to all my classes and has been accepted all over campus, he very rudely asked me if I planned to pick up after him if he pooped in the store. Ooof did that just hit me the wrong way! I decided to cut my losses, thanked him for his time, and left the store. I ordered the book on amazon and gave my puppy a big hug because's he worth the trouble.