Taxi is definitely not mellow yellow...

Haha, well sometimes. It's probably my fault though, my parents and little brother came to visit for a bit today and I think all the new people just made him go a little crazy. Next time they will have to take turns meeting him in my room until he's allowed to come out and actually say hi to everyone all at once. Also, he's a little obsessed with the toys but that might be due to Egypt taking them all. It's weird, I have never really seen her be possessive over her toys but this is also the first real dog to come into her 'territory'. She and Darrell are gone for the night though so when I drop him off I'll have to ask what we can do to fix it. Or do some dogs just not like others? I think maybe he just plays to rough for her. She doesn't like getting jumped on too much. Hopefully she likes the puppy... Anyways, after everybody left (Darrell went with my parents for the night to hang out with Dad and brother) Taxi settled down very nicely.. and then he saw a cat outside. lol. It took a while to get him away from the windows and the patio door but he settled after a minute or two. He's been a normal crazy dog for the most part though. I just hope with the dog we board more often that Egypt gets along with it. I could tell Darrell was getting a little stressed out with Taxi's energy... He's just used to mellow Egypt, he didn't grow up with inside dogs and isn't used to their normal puppy craziness. Well.. we'll just have to see what happens.

Here are a few pictures from today. This is my first time using Alt-Tags so you screen readers better let me know if its working! That means you Ro's Alex!

Is there something in my teeth?

Get that Kong!

Does my butt look big?

Can you throw this please?

Lets finish this thing so you can play with me.

How to board a Taxi

With Guide Dogs of Texas they use volunteers to board the dogs that are in formal training. Well guess what I get to do?!?! I get to board a crazy Golden Lab mix named Taxi. He's very pretty, kind of crazy and I don't think Egypt likes him too much lol. They want each others toys and I haven't seen a play bow since he got here. Usually she's pretty good with other dogs but maybe he's just too much for her. Maybe tomorrow will be better.

Anyways, more about the boarding. What happens is the dogs that are in formal training sometimes need places to stay other than the kennels. So they come to "sitters" but it's kind of different with them. We don't get to take them out like puppies in training. They don't allow this because we could possibly hinder their normal training. Well I get to keep him tonight and tomorrow night. I'll return him to the facility early Wednesday morning. They told me that I probably won't be boarding him too much. They have another one planned for me. But anyways, here he is. Sorry there is no more information, he's only been here a few hours so probably more updates tomorrow. Here are some pictures of him! Hope you like

He is a brown rusty color with brown eyes. Here he is sitting nicely.

Here he is playing with one of the kongs.

Here is a close up of his pretty face.

Give away!

Well, not mine but Domestic Diva is giving away a "puppy package", click the name to go to the post and enter her contest. Here is the info.

• A small Kong toy
• A package of small ziggies for the Kong
• A $10 Petsmart gift certificate
• A package of natural puppy treats that I have to buy at a speciality store, but Max LOVES them
• A paw picture tree
• A cute little toy
• A package of rawhides

Christmas Blanket Song

This weekend I attempted to make a blanket for Darrell.. here is how it went. Sing it in your head to the 12 days of Christmas lol.

12 broken/bent pins.

11 yards of fabric.

10 hours of online T.V.

9 meals while working.

8 breaks to relax.

7 puncture wounds.

6 bobbin refills.

5 different fabrics.

4 squares for design.

3 days to complete.

2 spools of thread.

1 broken machine needle.

All this to make one fabulous blanket for Darrell. He doesn't like the couch throw because he gets fuzzy stuff up his nose lol. The design of this fabric is somewhat quilt like, I cut out 120 6 by 6 inch squares  and made into a pattern with four colors on top and one solid on bottom. So, for his blanket I wanted it to be very tactile so I got 5 different types of fabric, all in darker boyish colors. I like the idea of Darrell being able to feel which color is which. So there is a deep red that is a soft wool fabric, a blue denim, khaki colored cotton fabric and a dark forest green that is a burlap type fabric.. should have gotten something else but I liked the way it looks... not too harsh on the skin but hard to work with. The bottom of the blanket is a very soft navy blue flannel - it feels like a baby blanket so he'll like it. I tacked little X's into places so the blanket doesn't get all tangled. I also stitched in a border.. nothing fancy just to make the edge more secure. It was just a zig-zag pattern about an inch in from the edge. So, here is the picture of all my time spent to keep off boredom.

For you screen readers out there, let me know if you need more of a description or if you have any questions.

2010 better come soon *Revised

So guess what happened today. Today, I got a little message on Facebook today from our puppy lady, Michelle, telling me that she has a puppy for me to sit in January. Oh, I was so excited, I didn't even know what to say.. all I wrote back was "Yay!!!!" haha. She said its a baby doodle (or labradoodle) so I'm not too sure who it is. The only new labradoodle I'm aware of is Alfie but I don't know if he's still considered a baby or not. There might be a new one that I just don't know about so we'll see. Well anyways, I'm excited because stuff is actually happening now and I'll get to go and learn how to actually do things. Now I just hope that whoever this little doodle's family is doesn't change their plans. Ok, just had to share my excitement. Hope I get started soon!


* It is Alfie!!!! Thanks Beth :) I Can't wait for the little fluffy dood :)

Reading Material...

Ok, so as you all know, when I got the puppy manual I was supposed to leave it alone and focus on my finals right? Well, if any of you know me at all, you know that didn't happen, haha. I didn't even last 2 minutes before I cracked it open. Well, I finished it in a day or two, it wasn't that long. I also had plenty of time to study for finals so no worries there. Also, over the course of finals season I received a book to read on how to raise a good puppy from the puppy guy Larry. This book was/is very informative and I have actually learned some pretty interesting stuff about puppies and how their little brains work lol.

Anyways, my main thing I wanted to discuss was the lack of stuff in the puppy manual. Now, don't get me wrong, its an awesome manual, I was just hoping to see more specific things. Not that there wasn't a bunch of stuff, because there was, I was just expecting to see a lot more you know. For example, there is a section that has some of the commands we will teach the puppy, however it doesn't say how to teach them. This is some of the stuff I really wanted to know lol. I assume they will teach me all of this in time but I'm just one of those people that has to read up as much as I can on stuff before I actually do it. Also, I noticed that some of the commands they teach, such as the 'finds' aren't in the manual. This might just be due to the manual being old because I have seen some discrepancies in the program vs. the manual. Such as sitting the puppy at all up curbs, they do this now, however it has different instructions in the manual. So anyways, thats my beef lol. I want to know everything and its all just not happening fast enough for me haha. Especially now that I only have one final left, and no plans until a day or two before Christmas... I'm going to go crazy with boredom. Maybe I can just go and intrude at GDTx and bother everyone there until someone snatches a dog off the street to give me just to make me shut up. Well, we'll see haha. I'm hosting for them Wednesday for lunch so that will get me in there to bother some folks lol.

Anyways, let me know what you think... For all you other raisers, were your manuals like mine or did they have a bunch of stuff in them? Not trying to spy or anything haha, I swear.

The above image is a clip art of a dog laying on its stomach reading a book.

Accepted!!

So I had my puppy walk today and it went great. I got to see this cute little German Shepherd dog Petey do his walk. I think he's almost 4 months old and he is full of fuzz. After about ten minutes  the puppy guy, Larry, asked if I was ready. My reaction was "What?" lol I didn't know he was going to have me try it out too. Well it went good, the guys were trying to help me and telling me about 8 different commands to give him so it was kind of crazy lol. Also, for a 3 and half month old puppy he is strong! Haha so I did ok, Darrell hung back with Larry and told me that he said I was doing good. That made me feel better afterward because by the end of the walk Petey was getting all distracted and crazy. lol. It was fun though, it was also raining and one of the guys told me that its worst when it rains because it stirs up all kinds of smells.

Anyways, after the walk, Larry followed us back to the apartment and we had our little home assessment, which wasn't even what I thought. He didn't look around at all lol. He did use the bathroom, maybe to spy lol. No, just kidding, we sat at the table and he went over the first 2 weeks of puppyhood with us. He told us that since our place isn't fenced that the puppy will have to use the bathroom on our patio concrete. They have to do this because other dogs go in the grass and if the puppy does too it could pick up stuff from sick or unvaccinated dogs. So until its about 12 weeks old we will be cleaning off the concrete a couple times everyday lol.

He also gave me my puppy manual and on the first page this is what it says - "Congratulations, you have just been selected to become a puppy raiser for the Guide Dogs of Texas." So yay, it's official!

So now I have to resist studying the manual until my finals are over, but I'm sure I can squeeze in some puppy study time, lol, my finals wont' be that bad this semester.

Below is a picture of Petey taken from one of the GDTx Blogs. The link is below that if you want to check out any of their other dogs

Petey is a very fluffy, fully black german shepherd dog, in this picture he has his ears perked up, head cocked to his left and his tongue is sticking out.

Petey is one of the pups in the Pawsitive approach program through Guide Dogs of Texas, here is their link if you would like to read more information on the program. GDTx

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Rescheduled...

One of the officers that was supposed to bring out the Pawsitive Approach guys called in sick so my puppy walk along has been rescheduled for tomorrow morning. Hope he feels better and it works out tomorrow.

Getting ready...

So, as Monday gets closer so does the home assessment. We haven't really thought much on it lately because the puppy lady (Michelle) told us that if home is good for a guide dog its good for a puppy. Well, what Michelle doesn't know is Egypt is kind of a freak of nature (No offense Darrell haha). She never gets into anything she isn't supposed to. Ever. I know this is supposed to be normal of most Guide dogs but I have heard some stories out there that defy that supposed norm. So anyways, point of the story, we feel the need to puppy proof the apartment at least a little. Most of our place is pretty much safe. We don't leave shoes everywhere, there are a couple by the front door but most go into the front closet. We have a small laundry room attached to the kitchen and thats where we keep the trash can so that is safe. We don't have any open storage so chemicals and cleaners are all put away. My main concern would be wires and stuff. Most are hidden but can still be accessible to a wiggly little puppy. So tomorrow we are going to go out and buy some wire covers just in case. Also the laundry basket might be an issue but I expect dirty laundry would be an issue with any puppy.

If anyone has any other suggestions about what we might need to do please feel free to comment.

Also, we don't have a fenced in area so the puppy won't be roaming free outside so no worries on issues out there.

Thanks a bunch!

"If names are not correct,

Language will not be in accordance with the truth of things" - Confucius

Some of you may not know this but when I first started blogging I hated the name of my blog. Still sometimes do. To me it sounds corny and its irritating. I usually put a lot of thought into names and titles and this one was just not one of them. I have certain guide-lines I set for myself when I name things. Guide-lines such as it has to be mysterious (meaning it can't just say what it is). If a complete stranger where to just read the title of whatever they are looking at I don't want them to understand. They also have to have at least some resemblance to whatever they body of work is. Like I'm not going to name a blog something random that has nothing to do with my post. You may now be wondering Natalie, what the heck are you talking about and whats with the ranting/rambling. Well to the what am I talking about thoughts here are some examples..

1. Darrell's blog - Egyptian Pawprints - I helped him think of the name and this is what I thought of. It doesn't shout out what the blog is but it still relates to it at the same time. I like that.
2. Some of the names of my iTunes playlists include "Happy meals" which is a playlist of songs from a long time ago. I don't like naming playlists by number or genre; I like knowing what is in there, not wondering which of my favorite songs I put in either playlist Rock 1, Rock 2, or Rock 3.
3. Animals - I have never had the pleasure of actually naming an animal all by myself - having lived with 2 out 3 brothers and my twin sister that opportunity just doesn't come around. And the hamster doesn't count because I was like 7). I even had my own cat once but twinnie suggested a name and I felt pressured so just said ok... didn't really matter though because she only came to "kitty"

Ok, point of the story, I have thought several times about changing the name of my blog but every-time I went to do it I couldn't think of anything. This is simply because I plan on changing it when-ever I get the puppy... I'll make it cool then, haha. At the same time though I kind of like having the word escapades in there - one of the definitions of escapades is "A wild and exciting undertaking." I like that, lol. As corny as the word sounds I like the definition so it might just be there in the future, we will see. But don't worry, I can't change the URL because of access permissions with mom's work (any non work related web addresses have to be approved over there and there's no point in making her do all the paper work again.) So yeah.. just some thoughts on that.

Another thought about names and such is the puppy's name. I know I won't get to name it but it is still fun to try and think up names for it. I actually don't know GDTx's method of naming so I can't even think of names that it might be, I just think of names lol. Even though I think you have to actually meet the dog and see its personality before it gets a name it is still fun to imagine. Here are some of the names I thought would be good and why.

1. Cane - I actually wanted Darrell's dog to be named Cane just because every-time we went somewhere he wound up cussing out his cane or calling it bad names - I just liked the irony in it lol.

2. Cairo - is going have to be one of them, simply because of Egypt.

3. Chi - Pronounced Kai (or like Tie) . This is a math term that is denoted by the squiggly X. It looks like a regular x but the arm going from left to right has extensions on the top and bottom. When we learned it I thought it was kind of cool looking. For those of you are not math nerds like me Chi-squared is used to test a null hypothesis. Which I think fits because in looking at any puppy in a guide dog program the null hypothesis for their out come would be that they will become a Guide dog. The alternative is that they will not. I don't know if that makes sense to you but it does in my head so yeah.

4. I had a lot more but suddenly had a brain fart and can't remember, guess they weren't that good, haha.

Well if I remember I'll just come back and edit the post. Also I think I am going to start labeling all my posts from now on. Just FYI.

Stuff is happening!!

So guess what? Can't guess? I'll tell you.. My puppy walk along is on Monday!! Yay lol. Also, the home assessment is right after it so I have to make sure and clean haha.

Ok, for those of you who don't know, a puppy walk along is kind of a training session but for me. Haha. The way it was explained is I follow along with another puppy raiser and supervisor and see how the training walks work. So basically I learn how to do training walks and what to do and stuff.

The home assessment will be after the walk along and basically the guy will come, check out our apartment and see if anything needs to be puppy proofed and stuff. I need to quit saying and stuff..

So yeah, I'm really excited and will be sure to post something as soon as its all done with.. unless it goes terribly wrong and then I'll probably break my computer so there won't be a post for a while haha. No just kidding.. but seriously.. if I don't post you know why... bum bum bum!!!!

Dang.. I'm gonna wind up jinxing myself.. I'll stop now.