Guide Dog Puppy

That's the Spot

2012-01-18T17:50:00.000-08:00

Saxon enjoys close attention from a group of Kindergarten students

Saxon had a busy month full of the ups and downs of every day life - we said hello to a friend's new kitten, and goodbye to another friend's former dog puppy, gone much, much too soon. We had a visit from Ginger, and my mom had her knee replaced so we've shifted gears to help her recover with that. Through it all, Saxon has been absolutely wonderful. From sitting calmly while surrounded by many 5 year olds (some of whom decided to draw on him with chalk) to playing nurse in the hospital - he's done it all with poise and the professional attitude I'd expect of a future guide dog.

Saxon poses by the therapy dog portraits at Torrance Memorial Hospital

So now that he is perfect (I can say that, right?), it is almost time for him to leave. Puppy raising is almost like surfing in that way - so much work to catch a wave for just a few seconds before it's gone, then paddle out again with the next pup.

Tonight Saxon went to a local kennel for a three night stay there, something our club requires and of all pups and funds as well. Stupid me, I left this requirement for the very last minute. There is a strong possibility that Saxon could return for formal training next weekend, and he will spend the next three nights away from me. Oh well. I keep telling myself that it does not matter in the long run - three nights, but right now it kind of feels like an eternity.

Khaki Graduated; Here Are Some Pictures!

2011-12-17T15:42:00.000-08:00

Saxon's best buddy Khaki graduated as a guide dog last weekend. We had a wonderful weekend trip up in San Rafael supporting Khaki's puppy raisers, visiting with Khaki's new mom, and staying with Cassie, John, Dagan and Scooter. City dog Saxon got to see cows and experience life outside of paved streets and driveways of Los Angeles. Here are some pictures from the weekend:

Sleepy Saxon in the car on the way up north

Saxon visiting with Khaki the guide dog (in the background) and retired breeder Elsa, also raised in my club.

5 month old Scooter poses with Saxon and career change Dagan

cuddles with off-duty Khaki. I think she remembered me :)

Morgan Watkins give his last graduation introduction as Guide Dogs' acting CEO during the last graduation at Guide Dogs' current dormitory stage. This was the last class to graduate from this dormitory before remodeling - quite a day.

Khaki, raiser Pat and handler Fran on stage during Graduation

Retired breeder Elsa in the audience at Khaki's graduation. Khaki's raiser also raised Elsa.

Female black lab Snug and her trainer demonstrated guide work for the crowd

Sleepy Saxon watching a 4th grade basketball game after graduation.

Saxon and Scooter pose in Rohnert Park, Ca at Weaver's Winter Wonderland. They have a LOT of Christmas Lights!

Cows staring at Saxon. This isn't Los Angeles, pup.

Saxon and Scooter posing by the Christmas decorations in downtown Petaluma - a train and a nutcracker

And that was our trip! Hope that was enough pictures!

Guess who Won This Time?

2011-12-06T20:21:00.001-08:00

It's not the puppy, that's for sure. Good job, old man Hero. The puppy can sleep on the ground.

November 30, 2011

2011-11-30T23:45:00.000-08:00

grown up Khaki sitting in my old office

Just looked at the clock and realized I'm cutting it a bit close on the very last night of National Blog Posting Month, a post every day for the entire month of November - hard to believe it's already over. Saxon has given up on the month and asleep in his bed. Hero is sporting his Christmas collar, and we are ready for California winter to start next month. There just one more thing to do today, and that's to say whoopee! Saxon's best buddy Khaki has been matched in class and will (fingers crossed) graduate as a guide dog early next month. We are working on a way to be there to see her weapon-tail in action once again. She is such a good girl!

11-week old Khaki sprawled out on the cool kitchen floor

Time to Start Pulling Your Weight, Saxon

2011-11-29T17:28:00.001-08:00

Check out what this dog in China has been trained to do. The best part of this video is that the dog's favorite foods are sausages and ice cream. (Me too!)

Saxon has a lot to learn!

Expect Saxon Underfoot

2011-11-28T18:15:00.000-08:00

If there is one way to describe Saxon's house manners it is this: whatsoever you are doing, expect Saxon underfoot. Cooking, studying, talking on the phone, working in the garage, blow drying your hair. Saxon will be there, happily supervising. He especially loves to be blow dried, as evidenced by the picture below.

Saxon sitting ON my feet and yawning with squinted eyes while I blow dry my hair - or rather, while I blow dry Saxon's hair.

More on Training

2011-11-27T22:06:00.000-08:00

The videos from yesterday showed some of the goals of the puppy program, but how do we get there?

GDB puppy raising manual's current edition

All guide dog puppy raisers receive a Puppy Raising Manual that spells out everything you ever wanted to know, and what to expect as the puppy grows up. We also have a local support network of volunteer puppy raisers and Guide Dogs for the Blind staff members who meet with us regularly and are never more than a phone call or email away.

Our puppy club provides raisers with How to Be the Leader of the Pack by Patricia McConnell. Dr McConnell specializes in the evaluation and treatment behavioral problems in dogs and she's a big proponent of positive training methods. The book lays out what every dog owner should know about owning a dog in about 15 pages of text. Her blog, linked above, is just as wonderful as her books. If anyone asks me training questions about their problem dog eating pillows, attacking other dogs, or having an irrational fear of the dishwasher, I will direct them towards Dr. McConnell's books as a starting point.

baby Saxon in his puppy pen on his first days at home - starting his area small helped him learn how to act appropriately in a home environment.

As guide dog puppy raisers, we are taught to go slowly with our puppies and practice patience, praise and consistency. Easy, right? We also talk about the word access a lot. Access access access. It means so much in puppy raising that I can't believe I've written this many posts without talking about it!

The best way to explain this is to say that as a raiser, I take full responsibility for my dog's actions, so it is my responsibility to set him up for success and only give him access to places/things/opportunities where we can have a successful experience. It's also a way to evaluate things that don't go our way, like when the puppy eats things it shouldn't, or pees on the carpet, or jumps on a visitor or... the list goes on with puppies. If we can say, why did the puppy have access to (insert thing pup did "wrong") and how can we set the pup up for success, it's a progressive process of learning instead of one of escalating bad behaviors.

Is it a perfect science? Nope. Do I still mess up, 14 years into the puppy raising world? Yep.

Cancun holding a toy AND a sock... could this be an "access" issue? Or did he really just catch it on his tooth? Hmm... (He may have caught it on a tooth, but he was pretty darn proud of himself, carrying it around. He did drop it when asked, though, after we took pictures and had a good laugh, of course.)

You just have to hope that now that you know all of this you get a puppy like Saxon who seems to have read the books too and understands everything you ask of him from a very early age, and you'll look like a genius puppy raiser and dog owner, and you can focus on actual training commands and behavior. Phew!

If anyone has any other questions... feel free to ask!

Answering a Question

2011-11-26T23:06:00.000-08:00

Earlier this month, Mary said, "I'd love if you posted some explanations of how you train saxon to do/do not do stuff as you desire."

What a great question! For starters, here are some videos produced by Guide Dogs for the Blind from 2009 showing what our pups will do when they leave us and enter formal guide dog training. There are three videos that each show a different phase of training from the beginning all the way through the very end. This is what we prepare our pups for, and what's expected of them when they leave us. There's about 20 minutes of video here and if you are short on time, watch the third one.

100th Post!

2011-11-25T20:17:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been two years and seven months since my very first post on this blog but I've finally reached my 100th post here.

That was then:

Terence cuddling up in April 2009

and 99 posts later, this is now:

Saxon headshot, October 2011

Thank you all so much for reading of our adventures! Here's to the next 100!

Thanksgiving Tradition

2011-11-24T13:17:00.000-08:00

Saxon in a pilgrim hat...and a necklace... for the occasion

Every Thanksgiving morning we wake early and head for the local turkey trot. Afterwards we invite our friends back to my mom's house and enjoy a gigantic breakfast - which totally makes sense because it is Thanksgiving and there's not a big dinner later or anything...

Hero looking out the front door as turkey trotters return from the run

But it is a great time to catch up with friends who are home visiting for the short holiday weekend. We had about 20 or so people come this year, and Hero and Saxon had their friend, retired guide Tompkins, over too. Tompkins made everyone laugh because he walked through the house, out to the backyard, and right onto the first step of the frigid pool, where he stayed until he was called to leave.

Looking out the back door at Saxon and Tompkins standing on the top step of the pool.

Hero walks by as Tompkins stands on the top step of the pool (still)

I am thankful for this family tradition, silly dogs, and that the rain held out until after the run and breakfast. Have a wonderful, happy day with your families!

Tompkins jumping out of the pool

Wordless Wednesday - November 23, 2011

2011-11-23T12:19:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving kitchen (not-so-much) helper edition.

Turkey Preparations

2011-11-22T20:18:00.000-08:00

Judey working on the turkeys

This morning Saxon and I headed north along the coast just a few miles to help with turkey preparations for Thursday night... only, these weren't the brined, basted, roasted kind of turkeys... These are the Oreo cookie kind of turkeys from this site.

Oreo turkeys

We had so much fun making a huge mess with these little turkeys that I'm already looking for the Christmas equivalent. Saxon had a blast visiting with resident girl dog, Scruffy (resident boy dog Riley has retired to a life of leisure and doesn't involve himself much with the puppy).

A blurry picture of Scruffy - an adorable terrier mix - she's just a bit camera shy

Scruffy and Saxon have a wonderful relationship going - she LOVES to stand and bark while he runs and runs and runs in the backyard.

Happy Saxon, always willing to pose for a picture

After a few minutes they settle nicely together.

Saxon and Scruffy, looking out on the backyard.

Days like this are so wonderful and relaxing to spend time creating something so adorable. Saxon has been asleep since just after dinner, proof he had a great day too.

close up of some of the Oreo turkeys

Love, love, love, says Percy

2011-11-21T17:59:00.001-08:00

an unrelated picture of four month old male yellow lab guide dog puppy "Rio" from last April when I was in Salt Lake City, just because he's cute!

Late last week, Pulitzer prize winning author Mary Oliver posted a link on her facebook page to one of her Percy poems, number ten in the series of thirteen (I think) - as a wonderful representation of the spirit of Thanksgiving.

I Ask Percy How I Should Live My Life

Love, love, love says Percy

And hurry as fast as you can

along the shining beach, or the rubble, or the dust.

Then, go to sleep.

Give up your body heat, your beating heart.

Then, trust.

If you have a moment and you've ever had a dog like Percy, take a moment to read all of them - you will be happy you did. And while you're at it, read the rest of her poems too. Look on youtube for her readings... obviously she is one of my favorites!

So here are a bunch of links: Percy poems one and two, three, four and five (those ones are a bit sad), six and seven, eight, nine, ten is above :), eleven, twelve, and Percy (2002-2009) . Enjoy.

One Year Ago Today...

2011-11-20T11:25:00.000-08:00

I said farewell to Cancun, who started his formal training

Cancun moments before getting on the puppy truck.

and Hello to sweet Saxon.

Saxon fresh off the puppy truck and licking my face

A rainy day filled with much sadness and joy, saying goodbye to one best friend and hello to another.

putting Cancun in the kennel - one last chin scratch for the road

It seems the longer I raise guide dog puppies, the more pictures I am in, looking sad and holding an adorable puppy, even though it only lasts a moment. Next time I will remember my sunglasses!

holding Saxon just after giving up Cancun

Happy One Year, sweet Saxon. It sure has been fun!

close up of tiny Saxon, and my smile

thanks to David for all the pictures, as always.

The Problem wih Guide Dog Puppies Is...

2011-11-19T15:33:00.001-08:00

... that they learn routes, they remember where they've been and how to get there. Saxon knows how to get to my classes, where my house is, where his food is kept, where the ice cubes are, where the vending machine is.

a picture of the offending men's room, the women's room is down the hall.

Unfortunately for me, Saxon also remembers the time I accidentally walked into the men's room instead of the women's room and now he always turns in there. Yes, the problem with Guide Dog puppies is that they have a sense of humor about it all...

Happy Friday!

2011-11-18T12:17:00.000-08:00

Last night in one of my classes we talked about guide dogs. Believe it or not, the professor had me do a lot of the talking about the subject. There were a bunch of great questions, and one of them that was tough to answer in front of such a big crowd in such a short time. A classmate wondered if - without knowing anything about the program - the process of training guide dogs was 'military like' and dogs are forced into a job they don't want. Not wanting to take up three hours of time on the subject, I explained how much these dogs love their jobs. That they are trained primarily using positive reinforcement and do their jobs best when they love what they do. If they don't love it, they don't become guides. A very simplistic answer to a very difficult question.

This morning as I watched Saxon play with his toys until he passed out on top of them, I had a hard imagining anyone thinking his life is something to be pitied. I'm rather envious of it.

chewing

passed out on top of the goughnut

Another Exhausting Day

2011-11-17T21:18:00.001-08:00

An overview of the room as we set up for 100 third graders

Today we had yet another school presentation - this time to the third graders at an elementary school in Northridge, California. We arrived to a group of students learning Frosty the Snowman, which I've had stuck in my head ever since. Saxon impressed everyone with his awesome off-leash recall in the enclosed auditorium surrounded by kids.

Saxon poses after the presentation with his new fan club

After the presentation the kids all got a chance to say hello and pet him. It is so funny to see how differently the students choose to interact with Saxon - some barely run their hands over his back and quickly pull them back, others go in for a hug. The kids wanted to pose for a picture, seen above. There was some discussion before the picture was taken over who would get to hold the leash, but it all worked out.

the white board in the auditorium reads "proffessor poopy pants" (obviously)

Wordless (ish) Wednesday - November 16, 2011

2011-11-16T10:42:00.001-08:00

, originally uploaded by jonesaz.

no video description needed for this one, just turn up your volume and hit play. This poor dog does this constantly whenever its owners aren't home.

Giving Blood

2011-11-15T21:05:00.001-08:00

blood donation swag: dont even get me started on that button. Pragmatics! Grammar! ugh. (it says 'Its my first time')

The week before last I noticed a mobile Red Cross Donation bus thingy on campus, but had to run to take a midterm before I had a chance to check it out. Today when I pulled up to school with some extra time to spare and saw the bus parked in the same spot, I headed there first. For various reasons including the fact that I'm kind of a wuss, I've never given blood, but today - I was determined.

Saxon relaxing while I relax and eat snacks

Unfortunately for me, the nurses couldn't accommodate Saxon in the mobile donation station - there was no room in the tiny mobile donation station for him to sit while I donated. The nurse apologized and directed me to any of the permanent donation places (they're BIG and guide dog puppy friendly!) and since I had the time and there's one close to my mom's house, off we went.

Saxon relaxing (again) right before I started and they yelled at me for moving too much.

It was a painless experience, and I'll definitely be back since there are free snacks afterwards. I wish I could say the same about Saxon - with 56 days until I can donate again, there's a decent chance he will be back up on Guide Dog campus, learning how to be a guide dog by then. How can something at once seem far away and too soon?

Saxon works on toy distribution at mom's house after "working" all day with me.

And The Winner Is....

2011-11-14T10:53:00.001-08:00

First I would love to thank random.org, without which I might still be writing names on strips of paper to draw out of a hat.

Anyway, random.org picked the winner of the braided leash giveaway as.... Erin at puppiesintraining.blogspot.com, formerly known as Training Trump... which was formering Raising Rob. Congratulations, Erin!

There were a few people who asked about commissioning leashes - I will be emailing you, if you left an email address in your comment. If anyone else is interested, check out my etsy store, and if you don't see something you like there, email me at mandy at doyourbusiness dot org.

This was fun, I'm sure I will do another giveaway in the near future!

Just a Few More Hours

2011-11-13T17:16:00.001-08:00

To enter the braided leash giveaway. Saxon and I are excited to see the results!

Extending the Contest

2011-11-11T11:36:00.001-08:00

No pictures, just a quick note that I am extending the entry time for the Braided Leash Giveaway until Sunday night at midnight... Drawing will be done and posted on Monday. No reason, really, other than I just want to do it this way and since it is my blog and my contest, that's what I'm doing. If you haven't entered the contest yet, there's still time. Have a great Veterans Day!

Dreams

2011-11-10T21:57:00.001-08:00

A group of third grade students cover their eyes with their hands as part of learning about the different kinds of blindness.

Today Saxon and I joined members of my puppy club in a presentation about guide dogs, puppy raising, and blindness to a group of third graders at a local elementary school. After the program, we invited the students to ask questions, since there are usually a lot of them. One young man very carefully asked - if you are blind, how do you know when you're awake or asleep or when you're dreaming or not dreaming?

The adults in the room looked at each other and mustered up the best response we could, but the question has lingered with me all day, and likely will stay with me for quite a while. How do we know we're not dreaming? And does it even matter?

Deep thoughts from eight year olds.

Wordless Wednesday - November 9, 2011

2011-11-09T09:36:00.000-08:00

One shelf from a bookshelf in my room.

Monday Night Football

2011-11-08T09:14:00.001-08:00

Here's what I did during Monday night football last night - made some leashes.

Video description: camera is set up to take a picture every 10 seconds, the video plays them back at a rate of 5 frames per second; it covers just about an hour of time at 51 seconds. The video shows the second part of the leash making process, cutting the leather and weaving it into position. Saxon can be seen snoring in the foreground of video for the majority of the time, then gets up, says hello to me, disappears momentarily and comes back with a toy to chew.

Don't forget to enter the braided leash giveaway!

Old Man Hero

2011-11-07T09:43:00.000-08:00

Hero basks in the sunlight coming through the open doorway.

I wanted to save this post for wordless Wednesday, but Hero doesn't get a whole bunch of attention on the blog and he is more than deserving of a few words. Earlier this year my mom moved into a new house and we were really worried about how Hero would do with the change - he doesn't see or hear or move as well as he used to, and at 13 years old, the stress of a new environment is multiplied. That stress manifest in Hero's digestive woes for a few weeks, making him feel awful and worrying us to bits but they finally settled and everything is just fine.

In fact, he's no longer taking pain meds for his arthritis and he's more active than he's been in years - so active that we've had to up his food intake. Last night, bold Hero stole a piece of bread off my dinner plate - something he hasn't done since he was a young guide dog puppy. I couldn't even be mad at him, I just had to laugh. Yes, I'd say he's doing just fine.

Robot Guide Dogs

2011-11-06T12:16:00.000-08:00

Japanese engineers are working on a prototype of a robotic guide dog for people with visual impairments, the video of which is posted above.. I had to laugh watching and listening to the video, just thinking about how many people would run screaming away from it if they saw it and heard it coming towards them and how incredibly cumbersome the robot's movements are - I have a visual of about 10 real-life guide dog teams flying over the staircase in the time it takes for the robot to navigate one step. Can you imagine the commute to work when navigating 4 stairs takes 2 minutes? Better leave now! Read the article here.

Still... this is way cooler than anything I can make, so it's worth watching. And your daily reminder, if you haven't entered the Leash Giveaway, go check it out!

'Tis The Season?

2011-11-05T16:47:00.000-07:00

The lunch table at today's puppy meeting with something for everyone. I made the non-store bought cookies. :)

Actually it's not quite the season yet, but, you wouldn't know it from all the food on the table! Whenever my LA based puppy club meets for our monthly business meeting we have a pot-luck style lunch. There are always turkey sandwiches, and then whatever everyone else brings. We all fill our plates and sit down to talk or look at pictures of the club's activities over the last month. As part of our meeting we always have a go around - what is new in your life?

Retired guide Tompkins and 4 month old puppy in training Ricki curl up on the travel bed

I am so grateful for this part of our meetings and the camaraderie it creates within our club; it is so important. Most members of our club have known each other for many years and it's amazing the topics covered - tech news, flying, travel, kids, school art - and if we get talking long enough... poop. :)

Don't forget to check out the leash giveaway posted yesterday!

Braided Leash Giveaway

2011-11-04T16:43:00.000-07:00

"In a world filled with mass-produced goods, it’s nice to have something made with care by someone."

— James Partch

close up of the "business end" of the leash - the bolt snaps

In honor of (slowly) opening my etsy store, I'm hosting my first ever leash giveaway. This leash is super awesome and I made it today. It's a convertible service dog leash like the ones puppy raisers use, only this one is tan and braided all the way up to the second ring - which amounts to about half the leash - instead of just once or twice like the standard leashes. I use this style of leash every day lately and get tons of compliments - even from non-dog people!!! So I'm giving one away, and here is your chance to have one too - for free.

on overview of the leash

There are three ways to enter:
1. leave a comment on this post (and a way to contact you if need be)
2. "Like" my puppy club's facebook page
3. Post a link to this giveaway on your blog/facebook/twitter

If you do 2. or 3. make sure you comment to let me know. If you already like my puppy club on facebook, just let me know in the comment. Contest is open until Friday, November 11 2011 at midnight PST. Good Luck! :)

close up of the braiding, just because it's pretty :)

Unplanning

2011-11-03T22:36:00.000-07:00

My phone rang this morning just as I was about to get in the shower and suddenly last night's plans for the day were gone. So I packed up my stuff and headed out to enjoy my newly unplanned day in downtown LA with Melissa. We walked to the farmer's market in (matching) shirt sleeves, waited in line among all the people in suits, then sat on a low wall to eat our shared lunch.

Saxon poses by the fruit stand at farmer's market in downtown LA

Saxon rode the bus for the first time and we passed a film crew on our way back home to play with guide dog Anya. For an unplanned early November day in LA it was spectacular and exhausting. I think Saxon had fun too, because this is what his face looked like after we got back:

typical smiling Saxon, happy after playing with Anya - this picture just makes me smile!

And if you're still reading at this point... Saxon has a fun post planned for tomorrow that I hope everyone will like. No hints, though, okay Saxon?

The leash draped over Saxon's head is not a hint. Definitely not a hint. :)

Wordless Wednesday - November 2, 2011

2011-11-02T10:42:00.000-07:00

Saxon lounges in the waning late afternoon sunlight in Mom's backyard

How To Help With Grad School

2011-11-01T14:24:00.000-07:00

According to Saxon

There's really just one thing to remember as a guide dog puppy, when your puppy raiser is in grad school. Whenever she is studying, writing a paper, reading a book or a journal article or whatever:

Saxon asleep on my lap, even on top of my arm.

Climb in her lap and fall asleep. Snore loudly and sigh excessively whenever she moves her hands, legs, or attempts to do something productive that interrupts your sleeping. It's the only way to make sure she doesn't forget that you are here to help.

Good Morning World

2011-10-27T12:32:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-26T22:59:00.000-07:00

A formal portrait of Saxon at 13.5 months

Worth the Wait

2011-10-23T12:58:00.001-07:00

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

2011-10-17T16:15:00.001-07:00

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

2011-10-08T19:44:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-04T21:36:00.000-07:00

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.

That's A Good Boy

2011-09-20T23:53:00.000-07:00

An unrelated close up of Saxon's face, head and ears wet from standing by the pool while "the kids" were playing

Saxon is twelve and a half months old and tonight, he did something for the first time: he stayed by himself in my apartment, but not in his crate - just free in the apartment! Guide Dogs tells puppy raisers that teaching our puppies to stay by themselves in a room or a few rooms is an important part of their development, and helps them to become well rounded companions ready to go into any home. This is always one of The Hardest things for me to do - I would just so much rather leave a puppy crated and know he is safe there, won't eat anything, won't poop on my carpet, won't somehow escape.

So although Saxon's house manners are impeccable and he has successfully stayed home alone for short times in my mom's house since he was 7 or 8 months old, this was the first time he wasn't under the watchful eye of veteran Labrador puppy raiser Hero.

And because he is sweet Saxon, he was a perfect gentleman for the circa 20 minutes he was home by himself, and happily waited at the top of the stairs for me when I got home. Whew, another milestone reached!

But...Sax and I are going to have to talk about using the garbage disposal properly because it was working when I left him home and now it's broken. WHAT were you doing, Saxon? The dishes? Oh okay, good little service dog puppy.

Well, Hello Saxon

2011-09-13T21:39:00.000-07:00

Looking down at my feet, Saxon on my left looking longingly into my eyes for a kibble.

Part of Saxon's training involves GDB's specially designed food protocol, which means I wear a bait bag whenever Sax and I are out in public and use kibble at certain times to perfect Saxon's... awesomeness. :) As you can see from this picture, Saxon is a model student, eager to please and ready and willing to take his kibble treat whenever his behavior so warrants. Sometimes we'll be walking along and I'll look down to see this exact face staring up at me. "Mom, I get a kibble now?" And all I can do is laugh. I sure love this puppy and he sure loves his kibble.

Saxon and The Breed Standard

2011-09-07T15:55:00.000-07:00

happy, adorable Saxon smiles at the camera

There is no doubt in my mind that Saxon's temperament is a wonderful representation of the Labrador breed. He is sweet, loving, goofy, eager and willing to please. His house manners are excellent, he is appropriate with all people and dogs. But sweet Saxon is often pegged as a mixed breed dog - mixed with what, I don't know. Maybe a golden, or a yak. Or even an otter. AKC breed standard describes the Labrador coat like this:

"The coat is a distinctive feature of the Labrador Retriever. It should be short, straight and very dense, giving a fairly hard feeling to the hand. The Labrador should have a soft, weather-resistant undercoat that provides protection from water, cold and all types of ground cover. A slight wave down the back is permissible. Woolly coats, soft silky coats, and sparse slick coats are not typical of the breed, and should be severely penalized."

Here's a closer look at Saxon's long, wavy, dense coat:

close up of Saxon's haphazard coat

I just have to laugh looking at this picture and reading that paragraph. My favorite part is 'a slight wave down the back is permissible.' The hair down Saxon's back, I don't even know how to describe it best. Turbulent? Electrified? It is distinctive, and I love it. Now if only he didn't shed so much...

A close up looking down Saxon's back, fur going in every possible direction.

There's No T in Saxon, but...

2011-09-06T13:54:00.000-07:00

My fist time holding sweet Saxon, right off the puppy truck.

When this little fur ball came into my life he was handed to me and introduced as Saxton - S-A-X-T-O-N, with a T. It confused me beyond belief because no two active guide dogs/puppies could have the same name at the same time, and I knew for a fact there was already a puppy named Saxton - he was named for a fellow raiser's family. So my friend Kim's Dad held up his bag with his name: S-A-X-O-N. No T. It took a while for me to process the difference. Ok, Saxon. There is no T in there. I guess that's different.

Since that rainy November day, Saxon has amassed his fair share of nicknames. There is Sax, and sometimes Steve Sax when his Dodger fan raiser feels baseball-like:

source

Or Mr. Saxobeat, complete with theme song:

Then there is Saxony, Saxo Bank, Sax-o, Saxy, or my brother's nickname for him: Raxon.

But... he is Saxon, like the Germanic Tribes, or like the band.

Saxon shows off his Saxon Rockin' America t-shirt

and he is full of Saxon pride.

Saxon posing in front of a local high school's sign - their mascot is the Saxons! Woo hoo!

Oh, I am so glad there is no T in his name. Just nobody tell him he was actually named after a math book, okay?

And while there may not be a T in sweet Saxon's name, there is one in BIRTHDAY, which is what we're celebrating today: HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY SAXON and to your siblings Skyla, Salsa, Stockton, Stanton, and Sporty too. May there be many, many, many more happy healthy birthdays ahead of you.

Saxon poses in jacket on his first birthday

Dogs.

2011-08-30T23:09:00.000-07:00

Saxon and I have had such a blast this month and there is lots to share - lots! But for now, here is something fun. Saxon and I were up visiting with my mom and Hero while the floors were being cleaned and at some point I walked out of the bedroom to see this:

Saxon the goofball resting on a folded-up carpet AND carpet pad, happy as can be.

Mom and I just shook our heads and said oh, what a silly puppy. Fast forward 15 minutes or so and I walk by the half folded carpet again and what do I see?

An older, wiser Hero in the same dang place as Saxon - on the folded up carpet half!

Mom has fancy dog beds, plush fancy carpets and what do BOTH dogs choose? A throw rug folded in half with the non-slip pad on top. Good grief, Labradors.

Can I Check Your Eyeball For You?

2011-08-02T21:20:00.000-07:00

[Saxon sprawled on the ground, with little kid hands all over his head]

A few weeks ago Saxon and I stopped to pick up dinner for my mom and her moving crew when we met this curious young man. The boy's mom and sister didn't speak much English - if any - but the 3 or 4 year old did a great job pointing at pretty much every part of Saxon's body and naming it looking for reassurance. Eye? Nose? Tail? He was brave and touched Saxon's ear. In the picture above, his little fingers are just about poking Saxon's eye out, but Saxon didn't mind one bit. The boy's mom kept laughing and reaching down to pull up his shorts which were just a little too big. The whole thing was quite silly.

When my mom and her hungry crew texted to ask where the heck I was with their food, they got this picture text message in response. Meaning - I am still waiting for your food and busy supervising what's going on. I squatted down next to Saxon after sending the text and the boy saw his own picture on my phone, even though it was the teeny tiny picture preview. Man, kids these days - they don't miss anything! So we looked all through my pictures and then poked Saxon some more before parting ways when our food arrived. Just another day with Saxon the Guide Dog Puppy.

Saxon's Family

2011-07-28T22:40:00.000-07:00

[Half the S litter and mom]

Lots and lots and lots of changes going on in our lives right now, but here's one constant: Saxon is still wonderful, goofy Saxon.

Last weekend was Guide Dogs for the Blind Fun Day, so here is Saxon with his brother Sporty, sister Skyla and mom Darice. Had I not been there for the picture, I don't know if I could pick out Saxon. Can you? Hint: he's the happy looking one! (Helpful, I know). It was so nice to have so much of the family together and to meet Sporty's raiser. I am hoping some spies get pictures of brothers Stanton and Stockton and sister Salsa at next weekend's Oregon Fun Day.......

Khaki Pants

2011-07-05T20:50:00.000-07:00

[Khaki poses in her puppy coat in the alley]

Our club's oldest puppy is female yellow lab Khaki, pictured above. Khaki and I have spent a fair bit of time together recently and other than her yellow hairs all over my newly detailed car with black interior and my brother's feeling that her weapon-tail will knock over our TV (it won't), she is an absolute joy to have around.

Tonight we went to the mall (since that's what girls do, right) and met a sweet family with a girl and a boy who very politely asked if they could say hi to Khaki. Sure, I said, but she needs to sit first. She sat and the kids said hello and asked her name and is she a Labrador cross? I could tell that they are Australian.

In the world of guide dog puppy names, Khaki lucked out. She has a cute, easy to recognize, silly, unique name. So when I introduced her, I wasn't expecting the blank, mortified looks I saw on the faces of the kids in front of me.

You know, I clarified, like Khaki pants, and pointed to my jeans. Dad chuckled and mom stepped in and explained to all of us. She pronounced it like "cock-key" and the kids nodded. "cock-key" pants. And she turned to me and laughed: "Cack-key" sounds too much like "shit." Ah, today's cultural lesson.

The kids asked great questions about guide dogs, and I learned that Khaki's name is more interesting than I thought, and that some parents do indeed swear in front of their children and their kids seem to turn out okay.

Say What?

2011-06-30T20:50:00.000-07:00

[Saxon posing on the beach, head tilted slightly and looking at the camera]

Tonight was the first night in about a month that I had nothing planned - no baseball games to watch, no conference calls, no soccer games, no swimming, no dinner plans... nothing. What a blessing. Saxon and I took advantage of the freedom and weather and beautiful day and headed to the beach for a long walk.

We stopped in front of the 90210 beach house and watched these dudes play frisbee - how and why are people so good at frisbee?

A jogger veered over to us, took out his headphones and sincerely thanked me - and Saxon - for doing what we do. Thank you, so much, for training those guard dogs, he said. His eyes sparkled with admiration for us and I didn't have the heart to correct him and so I smiled and said it was my pleasure and gave Saxon a pat.

We headed home after that, and I beamed from the unexpected thanks and laughed a little to myself at the thought of sweet Saxon guarding anything at all.

Pawtographs Available

2011-06-12T21:40:00.000-07:00

[Close up of Saxon's goofy face right after he came off stage]

A group of local Girl Scouts chose to promote Guide Dogs for the Blind in their Bronze award project and Saturday was the big event - an info session and short play about blindness and what guide dogs do. The girls broke into committees, some manned booths educating attendees on the causes of blindness, adaptive technology, and guide dogs for the blind, while others wrote, produced, and starred in a play that followed puppy "Juno" from the time he came to his puppy raiser to when he graduated. Saxon and his easy going demeanor were cast as "Juno" as he's ready to return for formal training. He played the part well and I had so much fun watching the girls do such a great job!

[Saxon as "Juno" on stage, his puppy raiser saying goodbye as he heads off for formal harness training]

The girls set out to raise enough money to cover the cost of one guide dog harness, $300 and they brought in nearly twice that!

[donation jar by the front door, guarded by Chloe the life-sized stuffed black lab puppy in training]

Just some of the booths the girls put together...

[the Guide Dogs booth full of pictures, equipment, and information!]

[Learning how to use the Perkins Brailler]

And can I say how much I love this puppy? In his own quiet way he has turned into such a stinking heartbreaker. At one point I looked down and there is Saxon on his side with about 10 pairs of little hands on him, enjoying every second of attention.

[Group picture with raisers and girl scouts on stage with working guide Anya, retired guides Glee and Tompkins and Saxon stuck in the dead center like a ham]

And that's just another day with Saxon.

Mexico, Canada....Korea?

2011-06-09T16:30:00.000-07:00

I was uploading a video for work today and came across the video below that my friend Ginger made.Ginger is one of my closest friends and has known Cancun as long as I have. Late last year, six foot tall, blonde haired blue eyed Ginger got an awesome job teaching kindergarten at a brand new international school in Songdo, South Korea and moved an entire world away. She was desperately hoping she would get back to California to see Cancun before he left for formal training but it just didn't work out that way. Feeling like she was missing something, she put together this video with pictures and videos from Cancun's flickr stream and the wonderful enthusiasm of her kindergarten students. It is priceless.

Every time I watch this video I am taken aback at the grand scope of puppy raising for Guide Dogs for the Blind and how a little black puppy named for a Mexican city, living as a guide dog in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is well known by a small community in South Korea and can make the world seem so very small. You can hear Ginger and her students talking about Cancun, learning English words like "chair" and "leash" and you may hear them discussing Logan, a little stuffed black lab puppy in training watching over Ginger in Korea.


[Logan is a stuffed animal black lab with a green puppy in training cape on. He is posing next to a letter written to him by one of Ginger's students. The letter says "to logan, I love you. your the goodest puppy in a hole wide wolrd! Thank you for visting us. from Anna Thak you Ms. Puffer]

Thank you to Ginger for making this, and making my day, especially with that bit of Korean pop music at the end.

A New One

2011-06-06T13:35:00.000-07:00

[Saxon sitting by a sign that reads No Pets Allowed Except disabled assisted pets]

Sir Sax and I have both been feeling under the weather recently but sometimes that's how life goes. Saxon has been a trooper with doctor's offices and appointments and pharmacy runs, and all the Kaiser employees are ever accommodating of his presence. A few weeks ago one of the nurses thought I was blind and very graciously asked me if I needed help onto the scale. We had a laugh and a lesson. Today we went to pick up a prescription and I noticed this sign and laughed again. I am still not exactly sure what to make of it!

Saxon the Land Dog

2011-05-13T15:30:00.000-07:00

My friend Tim told me today he was waiting for my "swimming" post. So okay Tim, here it is - although as you can guess by the title, Saxon is not yet a water dog.

[Holding Saxon in the pool]

Guide Dogs for the Blind does not selectively breed for swimming ability in their labs as it is rather difficult to perform guide work and doggy paddle at the same time, however all my guide dog pups have LOVED the water - all except my first puppy. Her name was Atlantic. Go figure.


[career changed Hero stands on the edge of the pool in his younger days, willing a tennis ball out of the pool and into his mouth.]

[career changed Hero watching puppy in training Clement swim]

[career changed Terence swims in Baja California]

After our club meeting last weekend, I introduced Saxon to the water with the help of Trason, a GDB pet ambassador: half lab, half golden retriever, 100% swimming machine. It turns out the only swimming related Trason picture I have is of his wet, curly hair, mid post-swim bath:

[Trason's curly, soapy coat]

So you will have to trust me when I say that he is an amazing swimmer. Trason is very comfortable in the water, and he set a good example for Saxon, who warmed up a little to swimming, but not a lot.

Sax and I will have a few more swim dates this summer in hopes that he learns to love the water, but in the mean time here are some of my own tips for teaching your puppy/dog how to swim:

1. Go SLOW and never force your dog to swim. Don't throw your dog in the pool and expect him to be OKAY with swimming (or you) afterwards. Just ask Maggie, one of the weimaraners I had growing up - she never forgave my brother.
2. Use a mentor dog. if your pup sees his buddy jump in the pool, he's more likely to try it himself.
3. Keep a line on your pup and teach him how to find the steps in the pool, or how to find the shore - this is very important and could save your dog's life.
4. Be IN the pool when you teach your dog to swim, it makes life a lot easier!
5. Expect to be scratched. :)

What other tips do you have?

"Kennel"

2011-05-06T15:00:00.000-07:00

[A tired Saxon sits in the car]

Kennel is what we say to our pups when we need them to get into a confined space - a car, a crate, under a desk. Sometimes I even use it when I want a pup to jump on something like a bench or a low wall - another way of saying yes I actually want you up here, no I am not tricking you. For most pups, the action of jumping into the car doesn't come naturally for months, and then if you have an SUV like I do, you might also find yourself lifting a 55 pound dog's back end into the car because he only puts his front paws in the car and turns around looking help.

[Saxon does his best "kennel" in the pop-up crate in the office]

This week, however, something changed. On Monday I opened passenger side door and gave Saxon the kennel command as usual. He approached the car, stuck his head inside, then turned and walked towards the back of the car. At first I thought he might be scared? Of the car? I was very confused, and kind of just stood there to see what he would do next. When he reached the end of his leash he turned again and with great purpose and resolve ran towards the open door and hopped right into the car. He was looking for a running start. I just about fell over laughing.

[Saxon's butt as he jumps in my car after a running start]

All week I've enjoyed watching this happen, even brought some of my coworkers outside to watch him run and jump in the car - always with the same technique. Check out the car first, then back up and run and jump. My little adorable pup and his problem solving skills - how can you not love it?

Rough Day

2011-04-20T23:07:00.000-07:00

Saxon's roughest day ever today: Neuter Day. I picked him up around 5:30 tonight and he came home so happy that he picked up his toy, chewed for about 30 seconds then promptly fell asleep, mid-chew. Lucky for the blog, my camera was nearby. He stayed in this exact position until our laughter woke him.

DID YOU SEE WHICH HAIR TIE SAXON IS SPORTING? It's the Green And White hair tie! And he loves it, partially colorblind as he may be. Thank you all for all your votes. It was a close call between Green & White and Black & Blue swirls.

More Perfect - Cancun's Graduation Post

2011-03-28T22:01:00.000-07:00

When I was young, a teacher had forbidden me to say "more perfect" because she said if a thing is perfect it can't be more so. But by now I had seen enough of life to have regained my confidence in it. - Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It

This is a long post, and I'm sorry for that. But it's a good story and I hope you enjoy it.

Last September several people from my local puppy raising club traveled north to Guide Dogs for the Blind National Headquarters in San Rafael, California for a Homecoming event. Cancun and I sort of tagged along, but now that I look back on that trip I'm even more excited we went because we got to meet Katrina, her husband Joe and see her guide dog Pastora again - Pastora was raised in my club.

[Our table at Homecoming, me on the left con cerveza, Joan to my left, Katrina, and Joe]

Although Katrina and Pastora's puppy raiser stayed in touch over the years, Homecoming was the first time Joan had seen Pastora - who is 8 - since graduation in 2004. At dinner on Saturday night we all sat at the same table and had fun talking - Katrina is from Australia but lives in Canada and Pastora was her first guide dog. Joe is a doctor and left his native Vietnam for Canada at a very early age - they met while backpacking through Europe and shortly thereafter she moved to Canada too as those things happen as Katrina says.

[Joan, Katrina, and Pastora pose at homecoming]

Shortly after Homecoming in September, 8 year old Pastora decided she was ready for retirement from guide work. Katrina filled out an application to receive her next guide dog and when she called Pastora's puppy raiser to let her know about her upcoming guide dog class date, Joan joked - hey, maybe you will get Cancun!

[Cancun relaxing on Graduation Day]

When I found out on Monday, March 14 that Cancun was matched in class, it seemed too perfect that it could be with Katrina. I didn't want to set myself up for disappointment when the real focus should be the excitement of his graduation, so I tried to put the thought out of my head - there is a lot that goes in to matching a guide dog with a new handler and the chances were just too slim that they would be matched together.

[A close up of the card Gail made for our club's donation in Cancun's honor. It says Dear Training Department With thanks for your guidance, clicker treats, patience and the Perfect Match From "Cancun"]

On Wednesday I got a call from my leader while I was at work, "did Gail (Cancun's starter raiser) call you yet? She got the graduation announcement in the mail." I called Gail right away and through much excitement she told me: of all the dogs available for placement, the trainers felt that Katrina would be best matched with our Cancun. We talked for a few minutes but I was already in a blur and that's where I've been for the last two weeks - chilling out on cloud nine, trying to figure out who is the luckiest, Katrina, Cancun, or me.

[Cancun helps Gail, Katrina and I exchange presents on Graduation Day]

In my surprise over Cancun's placement, I am utterly not surprised. Cancun has exceeded expectations in every way the whole time I've known him. He would cheat the system, his trainer would love him so much that she made a special graduation collar for him, he would be placed with someone already part of my Guide Dog family. That's just the kind of experience it's been raising him, and I can't think of anything more perfect than this.

[A close up of Cancun's special handmade collar]

If there was any doubt of Katrina's feelings about the situation they went away the second I called her, as the first words out of her mouth were: HOW COOL IS THIS?

[Katrina scratches Cancun's head as I look on, Cancun in harness]

So I knew Saturday's Graduation ceremony would be a wonderful day and it, of course, exceeded it. Cancun and Katrina and I were so excited to see each other, and seeing them work together was unreal. They are a wonderful match, both serious, calm on the outside with an ability to let loose when the time is right. I also got to see Cassie and Foley, Mimi (sans Cabana :( ), April and Hailey with Saxon's sister Skyla and mom Darice, and many, many other familiar faces. I got to share the graduation day with a good portion of my puppy club and three of my friends who joined me for the weekend.

[Katrina and I were all smiles on the Graduation stage and I hand off Cancun, not pictured - then we rocked our speeches!]

If I had to pick an absolute favorite part of the day, it would be when we were sitting down to dinner, exhausted, and I began to describe the place settings for Katrina. Napkin in the center where your plate will go, and your knife pointing at your water dish. Katrina caught my error immediately, "water dish, Mandy? Do I have to lap it up too?" We both broke down into a happy, tired laughter, Cancun asleep below us under the table. Nothing could be more perfect and I didn't want the day to end.

[Regal Cancun in his harness]

What an amazing, wonderful experience this has been, and it's only the beginning. Kudos for Guide Dogs for all of this - I couldn't have dreamed this if I tried.

[Now there are three - Katrina, Joan, me, Cancun and Saxon too]

I will stop gushing, for now.

I got the coolest call today

2011-03-14T21:05:00.000-07:00

Cancun is in Class!

Wahoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo I am so excited.

He was matched today with his new handler and they will train together for the next two weeks at Guide Dogs' San Rafael campus. This is the nervous time where we cross our fingers, toes, and paws and hope for smooth sailing for this new guide dog team. Graduation is March 26 and yes, I will be there. Hope to see some of you there, hopefully I will not cry on stage, ha.

Hunter's Jolly Ball Commercial

2011-03-12T16:13:00.000-08:00

This is Guide Dog Puppy Hunter:

Isn't he cute?

He is my club's oldest puppy (he's 15 months old) and today I got the chance to play with him.

It more or less consisted of me taking pictures while Hunter ran round the backyard with his jolly ball.

Hunter LOVES the jolly ball.

And he loves to run.

Here is Saxon next to Hunter. Just when I thought Saxon was getting big, Hunter is QUITE the reality check! Look at his head! It is HUGE!

And we are still deciding on hair tie colors, in case anyone is reading and hasn't voted yet.

Important Input Needed

2011-03-01T21:25:00.000-08:00

[Saxon in a bow tie at a "red carpet" Oscar party this weekend]

Guys - it is time. It is "big boy" collar time. Saxon turns a whole six months old this weekend and he is nearly 50 pounds already. His baby collar is starting to look a little silly around his increasingly large neck and in the next few weeks it will need to be retired.

[Big Boy collar, hair ties]

I talked a little bit about GDB standard issue equipment in this post where you can see Saxon's big boy collar. GDB's collars are versatile and sturdy, but at their smaller settings the tongue of the collar can stick way out and curl outward which looks kinda... unprofessional. Several years ago a raiser in my club put a black hair tie on her pup's collar to keep the loose end down and guess what - curly collar problem solved. Since then it has been standard procedure in my club.

[Terence, his teal hair tie, and his sister Tiki]

Of course when Terence got his big boy collar I could not find any black hair ties so he got a teal one. It was subtle enough not to detract from his Guide Dog Puppy uniform but distinctive enough that I could spot him in any picture.

[Cancun and his red hair tie on Stinson beach]

When it was Cancun's turn I wanted to continue the tradition so he got a red hair tie.

Now it is Saxon's turn and of course - I need help deciding. I *may* have gotten a little carried away at the store today picking out hair ties, but anyway, here are Saxon's options:

And if you have a screen reader, that picture is alt tagged with an exhaustive list. Only rules are... can't be red or teal and while I'm sure Saxon is comfortable with his manhood enough to wear a girly color, I do wanna save some colors for any girly pups I end up raising.

Leave a comment with your vote for what color Saxon should wear for the next year!

He Waits for No One

2011-02-19T17:43:00.001-08:00

Taken on Today's Not-So-Sunny Hike at the End of the World

before the rain turned the whole trail to mud.

Cancun Update

2011-02-17T22:45:00.000-08:00

This morning I missed a call from a blocked number and when I listened to the message, I heard my guide dog group leader on the other end saying what she always says at the start of important information: "Hi Mandy, I have my leader hat on, please call me when you can."

This is exactly how she started the conversation when she called me to say Terence was released from formal training, and so I knew I needed to call her right away - something's up. I stepped outside my office and stood on the little porch as cars wooshed by on the busy street in front of me. I was shaking with excitement as she started talking, "I just wanted to let you know that Cancun is in PHASE 8!" Jeez, my heart skipped three beats and then leapt up into my throat. WOW, he's all done.

So for those readers unfamiliar with Guide Dogs' training program, once our pups leave puppy raising homes they enter formal guidework training that consists of 8 phases. By reaching Phase 8, Cancun has mastered all levels of his training, has proven himself capable, intelligent, trustworthy and brave. He is a Super Dog.

Now, we wait for word of what comes next, to hear who will be lucky enough to keep him for the rest of his life. I am so excited for him I could burst.

A Puppy Trainer

2011-02-08T20:23:00.000-08:00

[Watching the waves with Khaki and Saxon]

Early Sunday Morning Saxon and I joined puppies Delancey, Calypso, Hunter, Khaki and their raisers for Jim's 8th Birthday Party. Jim lives down the street from one of our puppy raisers and for his 8th birthday he asked his friends to donate money to Guide Dogs for the Blind instead of giving him presents.

[Saxon eating sand, surrounded by adoring fans]

When Jim's friends arrived at the beach they met our puppies and we thanked them (and their parents!) for helping our mission so generously. It was a beautiful day and the boys had a blast running around like 8 year-olds. While the boys played games on the beach, Jim's dad gave each puppy raiser an envelope that looked like this:

Inside, Jim had written each of us a message:

How cute is that?

Afterwards we walked down to the water where Delancey dug a hole, Saxon ate [more] sand, and Hunter was the only pup brave enough to venture in the water. Such is Winter in Southern California.

[Hunter got a bath after this!]

Well, Goodness

2011-02-01T21:29:00.000-08:00

This morning I woke up finally feeling "okay" after more than a week lost to a really nasty cold that kept me on the couch and in bed. In between naps I checked on my blog and watched the comments and followers trickle in as the blog was featured first on foursquare's twitter, then blogs of note, then GDB's official blog. As of this writing I have almost 350 followers, an astounding number even when I consider probably a good half of those 350 followers are spam-bots. Saxon and I are so flattered; thank you all.

Today I noticed a woman with a familiar looking petite black lab walking by my office and I stepped outside to talk to her. She looked surprised when I said, "hi, is that a guide dog puppy?" And asked me how I knew because her puppy was not wearing her green puppy coat and looked just like any other dog. I laughed, and sheepishly pointed out her leash and collar! All Guide Dogs for the Blind puppies wear the same black collars specially designed for GDB, and almost all puppy raisers use convertible service dog leashes - they are dead give aways. (see below)

Saxon, GDB collar, convertible service dog leash (made by me!)

She laughed too and we talked about our puppies for a while before remembering to introduce ourselves by our names and not just those of our dogs. It turns out of course we knew of each other which made the encounter even more special. There are two local puppy clubs that pull from the same areas of Los Angeles and she is the group leader of the other club and is moving into an office building just down the street from mine. It was a fun conversation and I enjoyed making the connection with another raiser in the GDB family! It is such a small world in such a big city.

That's not how you wear it, Sax.

High Tech Puppy Raising!

2011-01-19T20:48:00.000-08:00

Saxon and I are very excited to discuss our new favorite puppy raising topic - puppy raising technology!

Ah, the funnest part of puppy raising - monthly puppy reports! When I raised puppies in high school my dad used to write my pup's outings on the calendar at the end of each day and I easily compiled the data at the end of each month. As an adult - for years I was the worst at remembering where puppy and I had been over the last month. I would get to this part of my puppy report:

and be like, well hmm. I would go through my online banking records, pictures, talk to friends, try to piece together my month of outings. It was a three hour process to fill out a report and I dreaded doing it every month. Somehow, I managed to get through filling out the reports, but their accuracy was not ideal and the reports were usually late. I know, I know, bad puppy raiser.

Then last year I jumped on the foursquare bandwagon, or rather, Cancun did. What is foursquare? It's a social networking site where users earn points and badges for "checking in" to different venues - anything from parks to restaurants to homes to movie theaters. Sometimes there are even secret discounts/freebies for foursquare users. It is very similar to facebook's "places" feature, but I like foursquare better since I wasn't looking to broadcast my exact location to all of my friends at any given time and foursquare gives me that option. One of my coworkers lives and breathes foursquare and because of his expertise I now have a new way to track puppy's outings. I keep the foursquare icon right on my iphone's home screen so I never forget:

(And incidentally as you may notice if you do leave me a voicemail there is a good chance I will never listen to it.)

All I have to do is open foursquare and it uses the gps in my phone to locate the places nearby. I click from a list, check in:

and foursquare tracks outings for me. At the end of the month all I have to do it pull up my history page on my iPhone or online and I can fill in puppy's outings in 5 minutes. It has made my puppy raising experience so, so much easier. Now if only I could get foursquare to pick up the dog poop.....

What sort of technology do other raisers/grads use?

Merry Christmas from Hero and Saxon (and the peanut butter kong, too)

2010-12-25T14:50:00.000-08:00

Hero enjoyed a peanut butter stuffed kong on his twelfth Christmas and Saxon got a new jolly ball and some nylabones. He wasn't impressed by Christmas and fell asleep in the other room while we were laughing and carrying on while opening presents. It's about what we expected from a very calm relaxed puppy. He loves everyone and takes everything in stride.

Hero's left eye has been pretty droopy for a number of months now - the vet said, "huh" when he saw it. It may be Horner's syndrome or he may have had a mini-stroke. It doesn't slow him down and we love him just the same.

Merry Christmas everyone, what a great day to remember just how fortunate we all are.

C.I.N.

2010-12-01T20:45:00.000-08:00

Saxon got his twelve week shots yesterday, weighed in at 24.8 pounds and the Doc said he's a keeper. He checked his ears and Saxon sat so calmly while he got his shot. Doc enjoyed my diagnosis of C.I.N. - Cuddle Induced Narcolepsy which I explained means if you hold him, he falls asleep.

We will not be seeking treatment, although the Doc said he'd grow out of it eventually, of course. Boo. :(

I'm Just Going to Call This....

2010-11-24T21:30:00.000-08:00

Adventures in Potty Training

starring Saxon

No words needed

2010-11-21T12:13:00.000-08:00

Good Luck, Cancun. Welcome, Saxon.

Lasts? Or maybe not.

2010-11-11T11:20:00.000-08:00

Today is Thursday, November 11, 2010 - Veterans Day. In five days - November 16th - the recall list for the next recall date - November 28, 2010 - will be finalized . Because November 28th falls on Thanksgiving weekend, the puppy truck headed to So Cal is pushed up a week - November 19th and 20th. Cancun is on the short list, but there's a chance he won't go. And so I find out after the 16th if I have three days or five weeks left with Cancun. Three days! I don't even know what to do about it.

What would you do with your five weeks or maybe three days schedule? I've been calling it our "lasts, but maybe not." It's strange.

Pictures from September's Meeting/Evals

2010-10-17T12:58:00.000-07:00

My mom is allergic to cats and the only cat I knew well growing up belonged to my best friend and she was a piece of work. Sarah was a beautiful cat but she never let me pet her and seemed to spend a good deal of her time eating plastic Ziploc bags. As a kid I based my opinion of all cats on Sarah's life experience and came to the general conclusion that they added little to a cat owner's life. My best friend and I would have arguments - and still do - over the merits of cats vs dogs as pets, with me failing to see any of her points because hello? Her cat ate plastic bags and threw up on her rug and her mom got really mad. As if I had a valid argument... I grew up with Weimaraners, one of which would go into the study on a daily basis, shut the door with her nose, then scratch furiously to be let out. One day, we came home to find her on the roof. Clearly dogs are better?

But I digress.

My good friend Kim has an awesome cat, Jack. Jack is fearless, patient and engaging and must think he's a dog. He has helped both Terence and Cancun get used to being around cats, so at a club meeting in September, Jack (and Kim) made an appearance. For many of my club's puppies, this was the first time they've seen a cat in a long time!

Oh, and - all pictures in this post were stolen from fellow puppy raiser David. Thanks David.

Puppy in training Rivers meets Jack

Jack teases puppy in training Khaki

Me holding both Cancun and Jack - both leashed, both ignoring each other - this picture makes me laugh.

Jack walks between guide Anya and puppy in training Rivers.

After the business meeting we had evaluations with our CFR Rick at our local dog friendly mall - Sparkle's last evaluation and possibly Cancun's last one, too. All the dogs did wonderfully and as usual we drew a lot of attention.

Cancun poses at evaluations - I love this picture too.

my club walks in formation followed by Rick - puppies in training Cancun, Khaki, Sparkle and Hunter.

Rick works with Hunter on "down" and Hunter snuggles up to Rick. Sparkle looks on.

New puppy Delancey and her puppy sit.

You'll Never Guess

2010-09-30T09:15:00.001-07:00

Which Approved Toy is Cancun's Favorite!

Shortly after the partially eaten rings were put back in their drawer (not sure why I'm saving them but I am...) and I uploaded these pictures, I looked again and found Cancun on his back, toy in his mouth, front leg through the middle of the ring.

The boy LOVES his nylarings.

2010-09-27T18:10:00.000-07:00

I've been trying my best to avoid complaining about the Indian Summer we're having, but the truth is I am now sitting in my apartment, sweating. It's really hot and I don't have the energy to do much other than go swimming right now and since the pool doesn't open for lap swim until 8:15 I decided I should probably update Cancun's blog. Plus I saw Mimi this weekend and she mentioned I hadn't blogged much recently, so, here I am.

Cancun and I got back from Guide Dogs' Homecoming event in San Rafael late last night and I've been ruminating over the experience in my mind all day. I've been raising Guide Dog puppies since 1997 and have been to maybe half the Fun Days since then. I learn so much at Fun Day - it's a time to connect with littermates and raisers from far away, learn more about changes within the organization, but the day is packed with seminars and littermate meetings and new puppy deliveries and then it's over and everyone goes home and I wonder where all the time went.

With my puppy group I've volunteered with several local organizations that serve the blind and visually impaired, but I've never been in a room with 120 and 80 working guide dogs. I've never had to give more directions like "you are going to make a left out of this room and then take the first right, keep going straight past the restaurant and you will dead end at the bathrooms, the women's room is on the left" and think about my lefts and rights so much. I've never been more impressed with our pups, their partners, their matches, or the confidence their handlers have in GDB's dogs and training process.

On Friday afternoon I sat in the hospitality suite and for a while I was the only sighted guest in the room. Even though I've been a part of this organization since 1997, that moment in that room - that was a first, just sitting and talking with handlers about their experiences, getting to answer the question why do you keep doing raising puppies? to someone who hadn't been through it but could understand it intrinsically. In one conversation, we realized feeling of sadness I had placing my last career change dog was the exact same experience one handler had when she had to retire her last dog. It was a powerful day.

Not many raisers attended Homecoming, maybe a dozen in total - which is good since the event wasn't geared towards us... I tagged along with my friend Melissa who received a well deserved award for all the work she's done to promote the guide dog lifestyle.

So all in all it was a great weekend. Cancun got lots of attention and everyone loved him and his name. That's one of my worries, that someone will think his name is stupid and change it just because it's not Marley or Shadow or Bear.

Do other raisers worry about that too?

What's Up?

2010-08-19T20:54:00.000-07:00

Cancun and I have had a very busy summer with lots of new experiences and fun times too. I've missed his Birthday post! by an entire month and a day, even! Oh well.

Cancun is doing just fine and I'm getting to use words like impressive and reliable and trustworthy with him. He is ready to go back for training whenever he's needed but we have a pup 3 months older than Cancun in our club right now and she still doesn't have a recall date! So it might be a while! Anyway here are some pictures from the last month.

They are REALLY big and in no particular order because I didn't feel like sorting them.

The last picture though - that one's from tonight. And it made me laugh so I had to write about it here.

A close up of Cancun from Stinson Beach before Fun Day in California.

A close up of Cancun's wet, sandy feet from Stinson Beach.

Another Close up of Cancun's face from Stinson Beach, this time covered in wet sand.

Cancun's brother Chester from an event at the Hollywood Bowl last month.

A crowd shot from San Rafael Fun Day

Acting as a pillow for my club's newest puppy, Delancey.

Cancun's sister Colby.

A super close up of Cancun, taken during opening ceremonies at San Rafael Fun Day.

Club puppy Hunter pouts when he sees a headcollar.

My neighbor's daughter Bella came to say hello to Cancun as we got home tonight. After a brief hello Cancun plopped into a down as Bella's dad and I talked. Bella decided to lay on her back next to Cancun and so Cancun politely joined her. We had fun laughing at the two of them and their instant friendship.

Travels with(out) Cancun

2010-07-08T13:09:00.000-07:00

Happiness is getting a puppy fix while traveling without a pup! There was no shortage of dogs on the Islands and many of them were black labs - of course.

Posing with "Cherry" on Tortola in the British Virgin Islands last week.

This trip reminded me of the one I took to South Central Asia a few years back, where within 12 hours of arriving in India I ended up in a vet's office in Dehli, holding an 8 week old puppy to a fan because it was so hot. Story here.

Holding "Chestnut" to a fan in 100 degree heat in Dehli, India in 2006.

Someday (in my dreams) I will quit my job and travel the world to chronicle the lives of dogs and the people who love them.

...I think my brain is still on vacation...

All Packed

2010-06-27T14:05:00.000-07:00

Well another month with Cancun has flown by me. This puppy is a dream. Last night we went to the Hollywood Bowl with a group of puppy raisers and he rode the bus, worked through the crowd, and slept through the ABBA tribute band concert like he'd done it a million times before and made me look good while doing it.

There is something admirable in Cancun's approach to life; his resilience, patience, not to mention his charming personality. I am learning more from him than he is from me.

I'm heading out on vacation with some fellow puppy raisers tonight, and Cancun will be going to hang out with retired guide Tompkins and his family until I get back. Cancun's packed but I am not so I should get to that. Cancun turns a year old in less than a month and then recall just around the corner.

Media and Happy 12th, Hero!

2010-05-21T12:36:00.000-07:00

My second puppy Hero turned twelve years old on the 19th. I forgot to take a picture of him on his birthday but it's just as well. Hero has the thickest coat I've seen on a lab... or should I say, he had it until about a week ago when he started his biannual shedding fiasco which makes him look rather like an unloved street mongrel instead of the noble beast we love and is not ideal for a portrait. But I will work on it.

On his birthday I sat with him in mom's backyard and brushed him with the furminator for a good 30 minutes while Cancun danced among the breeze scattered tufts of hair, tried to eat a few, then ended up coughing them up. I love lessons that teach themselves.

This is what Hero looked like at a year, when he started to shed:

And it's only gotten worse since then. Thankfully Hero loves to be brushed and now after 12 seasons of brushing him it's something I look forward to every year. It means spring is here and summer not far off. What a wonderful indicator. Happy Birthday, Hero!

In the past month I had Hunter visit the office for some work experience. I chuckled watching him walk up the stairs to my office.

And then how easily Cancun did it a few days later:

Did I mention I met all of Cancun's sisters at the end of April?

Here are Canoli, Colby, the senor, and Capella.

And lastly...I also met Butler's brother Spalding again and remembered to take a picture this time:

Terence Turns Two Today

2010-05-14T21:34:00.000-07:00

Today is Terence's Birthday - he is two years old!

Terence's new family threw him a birthday party and invited all the dogs in Mulege. He got a new knucklebone, went for a run, and took a swim in the lake.

I think Terence and Cabana would be good friends. Hey Cabana, do you know how to fish? Terence can teach you; he's learned from his new doggie sister.

So, happy birthday to the Tiburon/Anista 5/14/08 litter, Terence, Tommy, Tim, Toby, Tiki, Tekoa, and Topaz, all of whom chose not to become guides. Life is good, eh pups?

Every Night.

2010-05-03T23:02:00.001-07:00

Dear Cancun,

You know your bed is big enough to fit all of you, right?

Just wondering,

Mandy

Clement!

2010-04-25T17:49:00.001-07:00

Today my third pup Clement turns ten years old! I received Clement the summer before my senior year of high school. Yes, I am that old.

I had a lot of fun raising Clement and he was a big part of my senior year of high school - a staple at my water polo games and swim meets and known for snoring through my classes, often on his back. He helped provide comic relief for my family when my Dad was diagnosed with Cancer and went through his first round of treatment.

I still remember getting the call from my group leader in the spring of my freshman year at Boston College to say Clement was in class. I put his picture on the front of my dorm room with a note announcing his graduation for everyone to see. My first graduate! I was proud beyond belief.

My wonderful, loving, generous parents even flew me from Boston to San Francisco in April 2001 so I could present Clement at graduation. I think the man sitting next to me on my flight from Boston to San Francisco thought I had a screw lose, flying all that way for a dog. He laughed and told me the dog didn't care. But he did, and I did too. My parents drove up from Los Angeles to meet me and to see Clement again. I am pretty sure I made my mom bake me cookies, too, so I could take them back to school with me.

My club had four pups graduate that day: Tamara, Quentin, Tommy, and Clement.

Clement went to a lovely woman named Angela who lived in Las Vegas. I kept in touch with her for a year or two and then fell out of contact; I came home for Thanksgiving my senior year to find a note from Guide Dogs that Angela had passed away, and Clement had been retired and adopted by a friend of Angela's family.

Clement and his new family were featured on the front of an issue of Guide Dog News - it seems his new best friend is a young boy with a visual impairment and cerebral palsy who, with Clement's help, stood up for the very first time. When I read the article, I cried. Then I called my mom, read her the story, and we both cried. That little puppy, the one who climbed in the dishwasher! Look what he's doing now.

Angela's legacy lives on through Blindconnect, an organization that provides services to the blind community of Nevada. You can read more about them here.

So, happy Birthday, Clement! I am so very proud to say I raised you!

Green with Envy

2010-04-15T22:20:00.000-07:00

Cancun turns nine months old this weekend and he is cruising. The biggest challenge for the rest of our time together will be finding outings that keep him entertained and I am just fine with that.

So I've just been enjoying Cancun's puppyhood. Last month we met Cancun's brother Chester whose head is even bigger than Cancun.

And shortly thereafter, I received something awesome in the mail - my very own handmade green leash!

When I started raising Terence I received a new leash from GDB because they considered me a new raiser - I guess that happens when there are eight years between two GDB pups. Just like the leash I got when I received my first puppy Atlantic, the "Terence leash" had sentimental value. It's what I clipped to him every morning and it was with us on every adventure we had together. Unfortunately, that leash was misplaced when Cancun went to a puppy club meeting with sitters earlier this year. My group leader was wonderful about it and let me go through everyone of her leashes to see if I could find it, and when I couldn't, she let me pick one from her collection.

I picked one that was close to the Terence leash but it was partially frayed and partially chewed, and only lasted a few weeks until it snapped in the middle of a game of cat and mouse...err.. dog... with Cancun's favorite feline friend Jack.

So that night I emailed Megan to ask where she got her green leash and learned she made it and she offered to make one for me when I told her what happened. I love my green leash, thank you Megan! And the best part about it is that no one will run away with my leash again! Woo hoo!

Tonight Cancun, the green leash and I went down to the beach by my house and took a few pictures. It was cold and Cancun gets a serious case of labby spins when he steps on sand but I think we got a few good pictures.

Wonder Dog

2010-03-26T12:51:00.002-07:00

Cancun Calling

2010-03-22T10:23:00.000-07:00

So....

Does this mean I will automatically? Come on! It says Cancun!

Softball Unleashed, Part II

2010-03-08T22:36:00.000-08:00

You may remember my run in with the man with the off leash Doberman at my rec league softball game last October and how aggravating the whole experience was for me. Tonight my softball team faced the same opponent, and he was there with his Doberman, sans leash.

I've had a few months to reflect on the October encounter and to plan for how I would handle the situation differently if I met the man and his dog again, and tonight all my thinking paid off!

Midway through the second inning, the man moved into the stands, directly into my line of sight - I'm the pitcher. In between batters I politely approached the umpire; I pointed to Cancun who was sitting quietly in the dugout, and indicated that he was in training to be a service dog and that the man's off leash Doberman was making me a little nervous.

The ump said no problem and turned around to tell the man politely to leash his dog, at which point the man, again, started to argue loudly to the point that he disrupted the game and made his dog nervous enough that he started to bark at Cancun.

I took a step off the mound (for effect, you know?) to indicate that he was still disturbing me, at which point the man and his barking dog were asked to leave. He continued to argue to the point that both my team, the other team, the ump and the league's commissioners got in on the argument, and then the ump finally told him he had two minutes to leave or he would call the game and his team would forfeit to mine. The commissioner threatened to call the police if he continued to yell.

It was awesome. Vindication! Finally! You have no idea how happy I was in that moment. I had a hard time pitching and walked the next batter but I did not care!

He got the point and walked away, but of course moved his car so that Cancun and I had to walk right by him after the game. I just kept my head down and told Cancun what a good boy he was and he never said a thing to me.

We may have lost the game but I scored a huge win, at least for tonight. And I couldn't be happier!

Good Boy Cancun!

Birthday Post

2010-02-23T20:47:00.001-08:00

My birthday, not Cancun's!

Yesterday was my birthday and because Cancun had evals I took the day off work, yay. Cancun continues to be a great little guy and in spite of the fact that he charmed my CFR, still loses his manhood tomorrow.

One of my friends from high school gave me this mug yesterday, I am guessing she took it from her parents based on the early-90s coloring, and I'm guessing her parents haven't used it in the past, oh, 15 years based on the heavy layer of dust inside.

I cleaned it off this morning and filled it with coffee. It's one of my favorite presents, ever. I mean, how many other puppies have anything nearly as awesome with their names on it?

(Ahhhhh) Capella

2010-01-31T11:25:00.001-08:00

Cancun got to meet up with his sister Capella yesterday. She lives with her raiser in North Orange County, California.

In spite of a lifetime's experience that's taught me that boys are generally bigger than girls, the size difference between these two surprised me.
He towers over her, and her dainty features make everything about him look masculine and hulking. He's a handsome oaf, though.

Our Los Angeles based group sent its first ever puppy in training to Guide Dogs' Oregon Campus. Polo will join So Cal dogs Stockard and MacGregor in Oregon, where we secretly hope there won't be any snow the rest of the winter so our warm weather dogs have an easier transition.

Our group welcomed new puppy Hunter, a male yellow lab out of Neo and Lania.

Relieving in the Rain

2010-01-21T21:25:00.000-08:00

It is no surprise that puppies raised in Southern California are absolutely spoiled when it comes to rain, snow, hail... or rather, the lack thereof.

But it's been raining in Southern California for like a week now. I LOVE it. Cancun, however, does not. I mean, he doesn't hate it, but normally he's a wonderful reliever and will do his business whenever I ask him and on whatever surface is available. But when it's WET it's like he's not exactly sure what to do. Instead of popping a squat at his favorite relieving spot at my office, he wandered into the bushes today to do his business.

Then he took refuge under the overhanging vines, which dripped all over him anyway.

But man oh man does he love to be towel dried!

New Arrival

2010-01-12T17:58:00.001-08:00

Trason, originally uploaded by jonesaz.

My puppy raising club, LA Southwest Guide Dog Raisers, is expecting its very first HUMAN baby next month. In celebration, we turned our last meeting into a bit of a surprise shower for mom, and her Pet Ambassador Dog Trason, who is pictured.

I didn't make the meeting (was in snowy, snowy Indiana) but I sent this graphic along to be included in a book of words of wisdom on parenting.

My parenting experience being substantially limited; I wrote what I do know.

Quotation is attributed to Robert Benchley.

Non-Standard Service Dogs?

2010-01-01T17:00:00.000-08:00

I recommend reading this post I found on my google news feed alert for guide dogs from someone's blog which is all about the validity of psychiatric service dogs vs service dogs for the physically disabled.

Before I read this article from the NY Times Magazine's New Year's Eve '08 Edition (a year to the day before the previously mentioned post), I had very strong negative feelings towards psychiatric service animals, so called "comfort animals," or, if I'm being perfectly honest, against any sort of service animal not bred, raised and trained under the supervision and guidance of an accredited organization such as GDB with high standards health/temperament as well as exceptional handler training and education.

I feel a little differently now for a variety of reasons, and am now guardedly optimistic about the eventual integration of psychiatric service animals into US society as long as they are held to the same standards as any dog produced by an accredited organization, however I am sensitive to what is already a touchy world for those trying to maintain access with dogs trained to help them with recognized disabilities, for lack of a better term. (Please note that link opens a pdf of a legal document that details why a ferry company was allowed to ban a woman and her guide dog from one of the ship's private rooms). With the annoyance and trouble caused by those who already abuse the system, there seems to be a need for some clarification, regulation, or consequences for those who choose to abuse the system; which is clearly a huge priority for the American Government. :)

While I'm still not sure about the guy with the service snake mentioned in the NY Times Magazine post, these links make for some excellent food for thought, and a good read for a holiday weekend.

Enjoy and if you don't have a google news feed for guide dogs, make one. Just know that you will get about 15 emails a day!

Happy New Year!

Feliz Navidad

2009-12-24T14:19:00.000-08:00

From the bottom of my heart!

An End and A Beginning

2009-12-11T08:23:00.000-08:00

Last weekend brought an end to my time with Terence.

After 3 weeks of fostering him (read: spoiling him completely) I took him to my leader's house where we met his new mom, T.

She walked in the backyard where Terence was running around with a toy, saw him, saw me, and burst into tears. She gave me a big hug, gave Terence a big hug, and whispered to him that she'd been waiting for him for a very long time. I knew at that point that I had made the right decision to place him with her, as much as I wanted to keep him. I miss him a lot but he's exactly where he's meant to be.

My leader not only agreed to let us meet at her house on Sunday morning, she also made us breakfast and before I knew it, the majority of my guide dog group had trickled in to say hello and goodbye. Some stayed the whole time, others just popped their heads in, but I was taken aback by the support and love I felt on Sunday. I am so lucky to be a part of this group!

T asked me through tears how I could do this so many times and I looked around at the faces of my fellow puppy raisers and told her - this is my family, this is what we do. She knows a part of it, now, too.

I didn't exactly leave my leader's house empty handed. As of Saturday morning, I officially took over raising Cancun, or Senor Cancun as he prefers to be called. It's exciting to be a raiser again! He is a wonderful little guy and has settled right in to my busy lifestyle. Even after just a week he's shown he's more comfortable in his own skin than Terence ever was as a guide dog puppy, and I really didn't realize how much of Terence's behavior I tried to rationalize as he matured, and how I wrote off his insecurities as part of different fear periods in his development. It looks like Cancun won't have any of those worries.

And so, here we go again. Cancun's almost out of puppy teeth, he's learning rainy days do NOT mean he gets to skip his potty breaks, and headcollars are a part of life.

Guess we will be working on that last part.

Thankful

2009-11-17T20:25:00.001-08:00

A year ago, we looked like this:

And then a lot of things happened, and now we look like this:

Terence is back from Training for just a few days. His forever family is out of the country for another week and it didn't take much convincing to get me to agree to foster him until they are ready. Cassie and her husband John were lifesavers and broke Terence out of the kennels last Thursday and brought him down to Fresno on Friday night so I drove up and picked him up Saturday morning.

I'd just like to thank Cassie again for doing this - it never ceases to amaze me just how wonderful it is to be a part of the Guide Dogs community. While we all have a singular mission to raise guide dogs for the blind, the puppy raising community is extremely powerful as a cohesive force in its own right and it is an honor and a privilege to be considered part of it.

Terence will be off to his new home in just over a week where he will bring another wonderful family into the guide dog community, and then Cancun will be here just a week later. I will report more later on my 2 weeks with 2 career changes, but there is cuddling to be done and the clock is ticking!

Highs and Lows

2009-11-07T08:20:00.000-08:00

It's well known to those in the guide dog community that these dogs can make or break our days. We celebrate their successes and share in their difficulties as well.

You can well imagine my elation on Thursday when my leader called to share the wonderful news - after six whole weeks of phase reports showing Terence in phase 1 of guide work training, Terence jumped all the way up to phase 5 - halfway through! Whoop! It was quite a relief to know he was working his way through training after all, and not stagnant.

Finally I had a reason to go through my puppy raising manual and read about all of the phases of training, something I hadn't allowed myself to do - don't want to count my chickens before they hatch, you know? Phase five consists of preliminary guide work training where the pup is asked to demonstrate all the commands it has learned thus far. I knew there was a lot at stake.

I guess it wasn't a total shock when I got a call from my leader yesterday. I knew as soon as I saw who was calling: Terence has been career changed.

Oof.

As a pup in training, Terence had many many GREAT days where he rose to the occasion and was flawless. Easy to handle, responsive, confident. A raiser's dream. But there were other days wherehe would balk at things; startle at noises that he didn't bat an eyelash at before. If something startled him, he was on edge for the rest of the outing. He had ongoing intermittent fear of children - like his brain could not process the fact that some humans are small and have tiny hands and high voices and they can look you straight in the eyes because they are just your height. On some days though he would reach over and lick a child in the face, tail wagging. I knew with his inconsistencies he may have a hard time with the responsibility of guide work, but at every evaluation his good side shined and he continued in the program. It helped that he was a wonderful goofy happy bright boy and highly food motivated. He did like to work.

When it came time for guide work testing, though, it was his sensitivity that put an end to his working career.

I'm so proud of him for making it this far. He will have a wonderful life as a pet, playing FETCH apparently! I can't say I'm not heartbroken that my time with him has finally come to an end - but this is the right decision for him.

There will be no more bad days and his raiser I couldn't ask for anything more.

Thank you/Five weeks

2009-10-25T21:38:00.000-07:00

THANK YOU first and foremost to everyone who read/commented on my anger-fueled rant from earlier this week. I definitely felt the internet's collective love from your responses and I really appreciate that! I can't wait to run into Albert the Doberman owner again but it will most likely have to wait another week as I'm missing tomorrow night's game.

I'd also like to say THANK YOU to Heather and Carrie whose stories in response to my request for creativity from two weeks ago are highly entertaining. If you haven't read them, go here and enjoy. And if you want to add your story, by all means go ahead.

Terence is still holding strong in phase one! Five weeks now - he must be going for some sort of record. Lindsey said that Edie was in phase 1 for seven weeks and she's now in phase 10 of 10. We'll see if he holds out to take the phase 1 record from her...

Here's a random picture of Terence and (now cc'ed) pup "Mollie" on the day I met him:

And here's a quick recap of what I've been up to during Terence's phase one tenure:

I attended many Dodgers games and then they lost to the stinking Phillies in the playoffs, boo.

I went to Denver to visit Kimmie and got to meet Cohen, my friend Laurie's newest adition. I heard I had been assigned a male "C" puppy shortly after Cohen was born so of course Laurie and I had fun thinking of what would happen if the pup's name was Cohen too. I've heard stories of raisers who receive pups with the same name as parents/spouses/children and everything tends to work out but it still lends itself towards potential hilarity. In our local club we have both a raiser and pup named Janice and their names have to be supplemented with their respective species in common conversation when confusion is possible. Janice-the-person has puppysat for Janice-the-puppy several times, in fact, which I actually didn't remember until I started writing this. How funny!

After I got back from Denver I had the immense pleasure of puppy sitting Sparkle for a few days. Sparkle is Spike's sister and has the same exact eyes as her mom Courtney who was raised in my club:

Sparkle is above, Courtney is below...

After Sparkle I had adaptable energetic Alisa again for a few days - she is quite striking with her light brown eyes.

After Alisa I went to Chicago to visit my mom's family including my Grandma who will turn 93 in December. My cousins Brett and Luke (whose births I both remember and so the fact that they're both in college now makes me feel incredibly old) and I went to visit Grandma and while they pulled out all her photo albums looking for vintage pictures of her '78 Chevy Impala which they are currently restoring, I looked through the same albums and saw pictures I'd never seen - of myself, my dad, brother...pretty much everyone in my family. The best moment was when I found a picture of my mom's first boyfriend and my grandma instantly told me all about him - smart boy but too scrawny for my mom. Ha. Lots of fodder for teasing my mom.

Later on the same trip I went to Louisville to see one of my favorite people in the world get married to his college sweetheart

Then made is back to California (that trip took me to 4 different Midwestern states by way of 6 plane rides, two of which were delayed, one of which had AWFUL turbulence, for a total of of 15 hours in a plane and several more in airports over the course of 4 days) to enjoy Cancun's first sleepover with me while his starter raiser went out of town for a night.

Cancun is an awesome puppy. He has an adorable reverse widow's peak thing going on - you can sort of see it in this picture - and it's very distinctive. I hope it stays as he matures because it's really cute. He's like Eddie Munster.

That brings us up to this week! I am puppy sitting for Janice for two weeks while her raiser is on vacation and with all the puppies that have been here recently I have occasionally run through all of them trying to find her name. Hero-Terence-Sparkle-Alisa-Cancun-whateveryournameis! "Sit" is surprisingly ineffective but Janice is a wonderful puppy and just looks at me patiently and does as she's told.

I'm going to spend the rest of her time with me daydreaming of ways I could convince her raisers to let me finish raising her but I think I have a better shot of winning the Boston Marathon while hopping backwards on one foot, ha.

I guess they kind of like her too.

Leash Laws? What leash laws?

2009-10-19T23:58:00.001-07:00

Well.

I had an interesting experience at my softball game today with a gentleman who comes to games with a male Doberman he lets wander around off leash. I've had one encounter with the dog before when I had Terence where I had to put Terence behind me and stand between myself and the dog before the owner called him off. (I know this is not necessarily what you're supposed to do in these situations if there's going to be a fight, but anyway, that's what I did).

Dobermans are considered a dangerous dog breed and based on other encounters I've had with "dangerous breeds," I'm not planning on putting my pup's future in danger just because some jerk can't leash his dog. I've seen dog bites end the careers of more than one guide - and it just takes one bite to potentially waste a year of my work raising a pup, 2-3 months of the trainer's work and donor money, and a month out of the life of a visually impaired individual to train at school with this dog.

I didn't have a dog with me tonight (thank goodness) but nevertheless the Doberman wandered over and started sniffing my softball stuff as soon as I sat down in the vicinity of his owner. I was there with a friend who was a bit apprehensive about the dog (seriously those things are scary looking) and so I politely asked the man to leash his dog as its the law and he was bothering my friend. He joked with me people wear leashes, not dogs! but when I insisted, his tone immediately changed and he seemed quite offended. He asked me where I was from - what kind of city grows a person like you?? And when I assured him I was raised in a city that also has leash laws, he stormed off after his dog.

When you envision all this happening, by the way, it would make my life a lot better if you picture this owner without a few of his front teeth. And maybe wearing overalls with a hole in the seat. I'm not saying he looked anything like this necessarily, just that is makes the story more gratifying. For me.

Anyway.

There was a young lady about 8 or 9 years old in front of me who must have known the dog and owner and tried to reassure me that his dog would never hurt anyone. I briefly explained that the law states (as do many signs in the park) that dogs must be on leashes as some dogs are aggressive and frankly it's inappropriate to let your dog wander into other peoples' business. She nodded a confused acceptance and turned back around.

I did call the local police department to let them know this was the second time I've had problems with this individual and I swear to you this was the infuriating information the dude gave me:
1. he could not help me because it was after 5 pm and all animal control officers had gone home.
2. if I was still upset, I should go to another park.

Helpful.

I walked back over to where my team was sitting and overheard the dog's owner talking to the young girl who had been sitting next to me and her friend, telling them not only what an awful person I am, but also that I am ugly and stupid.

What a class act.

At this point he'd leashed his dog and so I went over to thank him and make amends while the girls were still standing there. After offering my olive branch to him he accused me of hating animals, berating him in front of the little girls (well in all fairness he said debating, but who am I to correct him, being so ugly and stupid) and then said sweetheart why don't you go warm up for your game.

I thanked him for leashing his dog, introduced myself and told the girls that even though he said some not so nice things, he did the right thing in the end and that's what's important. I walked away from the situation as the bigger person and hopefully made him look like a jackass.

I'm still fuming, though, and feel absolutely powerless in this situation. It doesn't seem right - what exactly is the point of leash laws if law enforcement blatantly disregards them?

Signing off,

your ugly, stupid, animal hating correspondent Mandy - pictured with good friend Kim, who has, of course, been ticketed several times in Denver for having her labradoodle off leash near her house. Go figure.

Phase Report Thursday

2009-10-15T16:33:00.001-07:00

And Terence is in phase 1 for the 4th week in a row.

With the new fast track program, he should be close to halfway through by now! Most of the pups from his recall group are in phase 3..

Who can come up with the best story as to how he's spending his time not progressing through training?

Extra points for use of unexpected literary genres, magic realism, etc.

Spotted in Madrid

2009-10-02T16:08:00.001-07:00

You know your puppy raising has impacted your friends when they travel abroad and know exactly how excited you will be that they spotted a puppy in training from another country, so they accost strangers in foreign countries and take pictures of their dogs.

A friend of mine just got back from Madrid, where she spotted this pup, from Fundacion Once Del Perro Guia.

Isn't he cute? I don't know why but I think Future Guide Dog looks way cooler in Spanish than in English.

And I love that the basic style of the service dog leash is apparently standard worldwide.

.

2009-09-27T23:09:00.000-07:00

Well, now that it’s been over a week and I am still limping from last Saturday’s adventure in Terence’s recall, I suppose I can share the day’s story.

I slept at my mom’s house on Friday night before turn in – my mom has been an integral part of Terence’s year with me, always willing to puppy sit when I so nicely ask her if I she wouldn’t mind watching him while I go out and do puppy inappropriate things, willing to have him tear around her yard at top speed, even before he learned that ripping out her potted plants is a big no-no. (Sorry mom). Two of my good friends and my older brother and his girlfriend came to Mom’s to join Terence’s last vigil and turned what could have been a very sad last-night-together pity party into a fun happy evening.

Terence and I camped out on mom's living room floor Friday night, Terence stole my pillows and in the morning shoved his hard plastic jolly ball in my face and wagged his sail so hard that it moved his entire butt. He was excited to go to college.

After I gathered all of Terence’s things and fed him I went out to the garage to grab something cold to drink from the outside fridge. I felt something on the bottom of my foot and did what I usually do in this situation – I wiped the bottom of my right foot on the top ridge of my left foot to dislodge whatever was there. It felt funny so I looked down and was watched a brown smudge on my left foot quickly turn into a leaky faucet of blood. I’d stepped on the blunt end of a piece of glass and inadvertently sliced the sharp part of the glass across my foot.

I spent the next 20 minutes watching Terence play at Mom’s for the last time while holding a paper towel firmly to my foot to try to stop the bleeding, and I’ve spent the last week limping with every step because the cut is right on the ridge of my foot, where every single shoe known to man rests. A nice little reminder of Terence’s turn in day.

It eventually stopped bleeding and my mom, my friend Ginger (one of Terence’s best friends), Terence and I all hopped in the car to make the 45 minute drive down to the puppy-truck meeting spot.

We arrived early but not early enough to see all the pups handed out – apparently some raisers getting puppies arrived REALLY early, gee I wonder why! The rest of my group arrived and we posed for lots of pictures with Terence and Mathers beside the puppy truck and then we met Cancun!

And of course we had to line up in the same spot and take more pictures with the new little guy. I looped Terence’s leash around my left arm and held Cancun in front of me. As we were standing there, my left foot still throbbing, holding two black puppies in the hot sun, I felt a sharp pain in my left armpit and watched an evil little yellow jacket drop to the ground in front of me. The stupid thing stung me.

The day was trying to teach me a lesson in pain, emotional and physical.

Lucky for me one of our group’s raisers is a doctor and she quickly declared that I would live and suggested I take the Benadryl which another raiser had handed me in the excitement of the moment. I still have a nice mark from the sting, in case I should forget about the cut on my foot.

The rest of turn in was uneventful; Terence hopped right on the truck, fell in love with his kennel’s Nylabone wishbone, and just like that I became a part of his past.

Its been strange to be without him but all week, especially during the day to day stuff, like when I looked behind me at work before scooting my chair back only to be reminded that the ears which I so carefully avoided running over with my chair for the last year are now hundreds of miles away.

When I saw his name on this week’s phase report, my heart swelled. I’m just so proud of him!

Good luck, Terence, in whatever you decide to do.

The Past And Pending

2009-09-23T23:54:00.000-07:00

Terence, meet Cancun. Cancun meet Terence.

There is a decently exciting story to tell about Saturday, it involves heartbreak and blood and the death of small, annoying insects, and if you look on my flickr you'll totally see the whole story written in short form in the description of one of the pictures and ruin the fun of writing it out again, but I promise it is memorable, and that I will tell it in great detail but I just finished packing for my weekend trip to Denver and I'm tired and know I can appease the Internet with pictures of cute puppies and so here:

Goodnight.

Nine Nineteen Oh Nine

2009-09-17T22:05:00.000-07:00

Terence returns for formal training on Saturday morning September 19. I'm having a hard time believing the day is finally here! The last guide dog pup I turned in at recall (Clement) graduated as a guide in 2002 - I graduated from Boston College and moved back home to California before Rodney (GEB, whelped 11/04) was recalled - so it's a very strange familiar-yet-unfamiliar feeling to head for that puppy truck. For a lot of my LA friends this is the first guide dog pup they've known so I've been doing my best to accommodate everyone's wishes to see him one last time before he leaves but with a softball team, two soccer teams, coworkers, neighbors, family, and significant others of friends of friends of friends who all LOVE him... it's been exhausting and I've barely started to process the fact that he's actually leaving, nor have I filled out "fun things about my puppy." I guess there's always tomorrow.

A lucky little male Lab "C" pup will be joining our group on the puppy truck this Saturday when Mathers and Terence head back for training. Mathers' raiser will start Mr C and if all goes well I will take over mid-November. I can't wait to meet him.

Last Sunday, Saturna's raiser David took some amazing pictures of Terence (and Saturna and guide Anya as well), you can see more here.

I will miss sweet sensitive goofy Terence.

It's About That Time

2009-09-10T23:52:00.001-07:00

So, today in Costco, this happened:

Dude in Line: How old is your pup?
Me: Almost 16 months
Dude: Oh just a baby! How long do you normally keep them?
Me: About a year.
Dude: How long have you had him?
Me: About a year.
Dude: So how much longer do you have him?
Me: Nine Days
Dude (takes three steps back): OH.

Fun Day Bound

2009-08-12T21:40:00.001-07:00

Baby Terence at the Beach, originally uploaded by jonesaz.

Terence and I are leaving the beaches of So Cal tomorrow and heading north for a long weekend in San Rafael. I'm looking forward to seeing a lot of old friends and participating in Fun Day activities with my very own puppy. I haven't had my own puppy at Fun Day since my very first pup Atlantic in 1998.

Terence is excited for this weekend too but I'm pretty sure that's only because he saw me pack up a bunch of kibble and put it in a big bag to go out to the car. What Lab wouldn't be excited for food? Woo hoo food!