Halloween brings out the crazies..

At Walmart that is. So, before I tell you about that though, this is the perfect opportunity to tell you about Darrell's blog that he just started today!!! Not that I'm bitter or anything but he already has 3 followers and it took me at least a week to get one! But whatever lol.

Anyways, Walmart - fun stuff.. Since Darrell has already written the entire story on his page you can just go over there and check it out. He's so excited at his instant popularity so why not go over and make him feel good and comment on his crazy hour in Walmart. Here is a link to his page > Click me! Have fun reading it!

From request of the mother

My mother that is... She has been reading my blog and, though she has left no comments ;) has requested that I post pictures of Darrell and Egypt actually working. So, I carried my camera around to a couple stores with us and to school and got some good action shots lol. So here you go, hope you enjoy.

P.S. thanks momma, it was a good idea :)

Here is Darrell just getting off of the cross walk - He just told Egypt to start turning to the right after she stopped him at the curb.

Here they are walking into the store, she is supposed to stop him at the doors and wait for him to give her direction.

Here, they are heading back to the car using the cross walk. Egypt will stop at the curb of the street and only go when she and Darrell think its ok to go. Darrell has to listen for traffic and then if he thinks its clear he will tell her forward, however, if she doesn't think its safe, she won't go. They call this intelligent disobedience.

This is at school where Egypt is showing Darrell that a stair case is starting, you can see Darrell's left leg probing out to find the edge of the steps.

Here is Darrell trying to find the door. The reason he is a little off is because he knows this door swings from his right to his left. He gets nervous because he doesn't want to hit Egypt so he stops working her when he hears the coke machine thats right next to him. If you look closely you can see a girl's hand coming into the picture there on the left. She rushed up to help him with the door.. she probably thought I was terrible for standing back and not helping, just snapping pics lol. Oh well.

Here is a better picture of Darrell probing for the top step of a different stair case.

And last but not least

Darrell and Egypt finding a seat so they can wait until they can get into class.

So yay, pictures. I feel bad because I don't have more to write but no real news so yeah. Hope everyone has a fun halloween. I will be studying all day so yeah. Wish me luck on my physics test.

Puppy Training and Big News!!

So, yesterday I had my very first puppy training meeting. It was very interesting.. I wasn't the only one there without a dog, one other lady there had applied a few months ago so we stuck together the whole time. It was a lot of fun, I enjoyed meeting everyone, they were all very nice. The raisers learned how to get the dog to tuck in and sit in between your legs (so if you're on a bus or something they aren't out there in the open so can't get stepped on). They also worked on dog distractions and then everyone played and ate. I look forward to next time and here's the big news! The main puppy lady told me and the other girl (puppy-less people) that she is trying to get us each a golden retriever male by Christmas!!!! I'm so excited and I hope she can pull everything through. The facility doesn't have a breeding program yet so they go through other breeders and sometimes we get some from the program up in New York. So, wish me luck in getting it soon (hopefully not during finals week tho!)

Here are some pictures from the training.

Here the raisers had to get the dogs in the hoola-hoops and get their dogs to sit nicely. Then they would all switch hoops which helped work on passing dogs and getting your dog back and focused on you.

This is where they learned to get the dogs to sit in-between their legs. I like this picture because it shows just about every dog we use. The labs, shepherds and mixes (the labradoodle and the golden mix)

These are our two prison pups, they are so good but need extra help with socialization (for obvious reasons) the guys get to go places to work with the puppies tho so thats good.

Sorry about the bad pictures.. I brought my old small camera because I didn't know exactly what we would be doing so I didn't want to risk the big one..

Cooking for "Clients"

So, the other day I get a call from Annie the secretary lady of Guide Dogs of Texas. They needed a volunteer for Friday to come and cook dinner for the Employees who still have to do their blind day thing. First I guess I need to explain why they are having a blind day. Apparently all the employees at the facility have to have a day where they go blindfolded for 24 hours. They stay at the facility and spend their day with a dog and going through the normal training experience. I guess they do this to feel what it is like to be one of their own clients. Very interesting to witness. So, about the whole cooking part.  The school doesn't have a staff that cooks for the clients so they ask for volunteers. We can either cook at our place and then bring it, or they have a full kitchen for us to use if we prefer.. It's very nice there, very homey. Anyways, so I cooked chicken-n-dumplings, dinner rolls and white-choc macadamia nut cookies. We (Darrell and I) went over about 5:15 and sat for a while and just chatted. The two ladies doing the thing seemed to be really enjoying the experience. Neither were too stressed out.. they said they started out that way a little but after a while they were ok. The most I heard them complain was the masks were too itchy lol. Well anyways. That was about it. I thought it was interesting and wanted to share. I can't wait till I have  real clients to cook for lol.

By the way, tomorrow is my first training day with the school!! Can't wait and I'll write more about it tomorrow :)

Ok, so...

Alright.. I have realized that pretty much every single one of my posts starts with "Ok, so" or just "So,". Not sure what the relevance is of me posting my realization.. just thought I would share my discovery with the rest of you :)

PETCO Hamster Derby 2009!

Ok, so this Saturday at 2:00 I got to judge the Petco Hamster derby. My sister works there so I'm kind of a big deal ;)

Here is a slide-show because there are too many pics to post all of them.

New Do's and New Toys

Ok so, pretty much just some pics.. First things first, Egypt and I got make-overs!! yay!! So, since this is a blog about dog's she gets to go first..

She got her nail painted!!! lol I leave Darrell alone with Erin for

5 minutes and the things they do... Well, She wouldn't sit still because it was after

she got her nails clipped and was pissy so yeah.. thats why there is only one

She also got a pretty little pumpkin thing from the groomer, she also smells like

pumpkins now but unfortunately I don't know how to take scratch and sniff

pictures yet so you just have to use your imagination!

Now its my turn!!

I cut all my hair off!! This isn't the best pic but it will do :)

Here is the other side..

Here are her Egypt's new toys!

She got a new Nylabone ring thing and a Nylabone bacon flavored corn-cob thing

We also got her some greenies.. had to by the low cal ones because she's getting a

little too round...

Well, thats about it for now.. No word yet from the puppy raiser lady but I did get a call this morning because they needed a volunteer for Saturday.. apparently no one else responded so the volunteer guy was told to call me :) I'm happy because I'm showing them they can count on me, but I don't really want to wake up that early lol.. Oh well, sleeping in isn't healthy anyways...

I'll write again when i have more news :)

Oh and here is a cute pic of Egypt playing with her kong.. good action shot don't you think?