What About Bob?: March 2010

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Awards!

Sorry it has been forever since I updated but after Spring break I have had test after test after homework and all kind of crazy stuff! Anyways, remember back on the 20th, you know like a week and a half ago... Well that day (Saturday) was Guide Dogs of Texas' annual Volunteer appreciation day and Bob and I were invited! We saw all the puppies that are growing up right now! There were Bob's two 'sisters' and Alfie was there and there were so many German Shepherd puppies that I couldn't tell you who was who! There were a few speeches from certain members of the staff; one that I remembered the best was made from our Puppy Raising Manager Michelle where she awarded me a special certificate for raising Bob! I even got a little trophy :)

Throughout the speeches we learned that puppy raisers alone volunteer about 26,000 hours. Or something like that lol.. its a lot!

So anyways, there's more! Mr. Bob-O and I received another award this week - we actually got it from two different people! We received the Happy 101 award from both Pompei's Raiser Erin and from Beth and Alfie!

Picture of the Happy 101 award. It looks like a pink recipe card that has cupcakes in the background and Happy 101 across the top. In the bottom right corner it has a tabbed page that says Sweet Friends, Add Kind words, mix in Sweet thoughts Enjoy good times. The tab says thank you.

So the rules of this award is to list 10 blogs that make you happy and 10 things that make you happy! However, I think 10 is just a little too much for me to handle so I'm going to have to cut those numbers in half. Sorry :/ lol. So lets start with the blogs!

1. Alfie's of course!

2. Pompei's - I have to return it!

3. Cabana and Mimi!

4. Ro and Jayden!

5. Hosta and Ellie!

Ok I guess there can be a 6...

6. Darrell and Egypt - even though he never posts!!!

As for things that make me happy!

1. When Bob-O is perfect in class ;) - well anything Bob really...

2. Soup :)

3. My Camera!

4. The Office - best show ever!!

5. Having a fiance that is taking care of all the wedding research and things!

P.S. The reason he is doing this is because we are thinking about having our wedding on a cruise - so yeah, he's taking care of all the calls and emails!! For now at least!

Monday, March 29, 2010

Paw it Forward Update

Ok ladies! Got the stuff - still studying, will send them out on Thursday!! Just so you know I haven't forgotten about you!!

They Share ;)

close up ofBob and Egypt, both are facing the camera and holding opposite sides of a nylabone, Egypt's eyes have connected with the camera. From the angle it looks like one of Bob's is looking at Egypt and one's is looking at the Camera.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Bump.

There's a lot of stuff I would like to blog about at the moment but I have to study soooo.. here's a picture :)

Bob in a pop up red crate, it has mesh sides and he is looking at me through the top slash side of it. All you can see is he top of his head his eyes through the mesh side.

Bob knocked the pop-up over... lol

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Wordless Wednesday # 2

Ok - I decided that I don't completely like wordless wednesday so its now going to captioned. Just one sentence and its not going to be long.. I just don't like wordless.. but it will still be titled as such lol. Enjoy.

Bob and Egypt both laying down facing each other, they have the new tug toy and are playing with it. Each dog has an end in its mouth, neither are tugging, just laying there holding it.

The most vigorous game of tug I have ever seen.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

4 Months

So I guess this is the 4 things in 4 months post.. I forgot to do 3 months so here ya go!

1. Bob is really long and lanky and refuses to gain weight lol.

Bob and Egypt running in a yard, he is running toward me with his legs out straight so it makes him look super long.

2. He likes to play rough.

Bob and Egypt trying to bite each other in the face, Egypt is facing the camera and you can see all her teeth, Bob is facing away but you can tell he's got her. Darrell's drum set is in the background.

3. He forces the cat into hiding under the couch.

The cat under the couch, all you can see is her face and her right front paw next to it. She looks slightly peeved. You can see her orange toe and her soft paws on in.

4. When I sit on the floor he likes to curl up and sleep next to me.

Bob curled up in a ball right up against my leg, his ear is flopped over on my leg and his face is tucked into his belly.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Paw It Forward

So today I checked my mail and guess what was in it?!?! A Paw It Forward present from Tabatha and Tracker! Now, you might be wondering what exactly Paw it Forward is. Well have you ever seen that movie "Pay it Forward"? This is like that but dog related lol. You get a doggy present from another person on blogger world and then you have to give 3 other blogger world people a present. They don't have to be huge and extravagant just something little and thoughtful to spread the nice :)

I actually tracked it back through 8 blogs! The 8th being about a Great Dane named Murphy and had nothing to do with guide dogs lol. They had mentioned who had sent them the Paw It Forward present but there was no link so my investigation came to a close.. Oh and that present was sent at the beginning of December! 9 blogs in 4 months! Well, if everyone has sent their 3 gifts then it should be a whole lot more - I don't even want to do the math lol.

Anyways here is all the goodies we got from T-squared - that's their new name, I just made it up :) (original right hahaha).

We got a nice card and some note pads

(one that has a magnet for the fridge).

Some little stickies to mark pages and such in books

and notes that have little puppies on them.

A great picture frame with a picture of Bob in it.

Bob (and Egypt) got some Oregon-Made doggie

treats and a great tug toy (not in the picture).

Picture of all the stuff mentioned above, the pads and stickies are from the AKC and have cute pictures of labs on them. The picture of Bob is one in his puppy jacket, it is black and white photo and has his name on it with red hearts around his name

Here's the tug toy! right after I snapped the picture Egypt

ran in and knew exactly what that toy was for lol.

Bob in a semi play boy chewing on his tug toy. It's green and tan and brown - boy colors lol

Here they are waiting nicely for the dog cookies we got.

Egypt sitting nicely looking up at me on Bob's left side, Bob is laying on the floor looking up at me.

One second after they got them. I have no idea how they switched spots lol.

Both dogs standing with their heads down munching on their treats

Bob eating his cookie. He's so messy, he left crumbs on the floor

I had to point them out so he would finish them lol.

Close up of bob's nose down close to the floor, there are a few bits of cookie on the floor that he's working on.

If you would like to participate in the Paw it Forward program leave a comment with the word "Bob-O" in it. The first 3 people will get little presents from Mr. Bob ;)

If you're not one of the first 3 and still want to participate be sure to check the comments and check the other blogs that get mine and try for theirs! Or just start one of your own! Lets have fun with this!

Oh and I forgot to throw this picture in earlier - My favorite :)

This was taken on my phone as we came back to the

apartment from throwing the trash - they are too cute :)

Qena, Egypt and Bob laying in front of the patio door waiting for us to get back.

Best friends forever - maybe

There have been whispers around the dog park that Egypt and Bob are no longer at war... these rumors were confirmed over our spring break. On our second day at my parent's house, while Bob was "resting" in his pop-up crate in my room before his lunch he started whining really badly... we ignored it of course but someone else couldn't. Egypt got up and went into the bedroom and laid down on her bed which is right next to his crate. She stayed there with him until it was time for lunch and when he went back in so did she. He didn't whine at all when she was with him. I know he's supposed to learn to be alone and not freak so after that we began shutting the door so she can't go in and "coddle" him. But it is nice to know that the dogs are finally getting along. Even though all they do is play fight they still get along very nicely (and quietly) when they're tired out. Here are a few pictures to show them behaving nicely at home :)

Here they are kind of sharing a dog bed :)

Egypt on a brown striped rectangle shaped dog bed that is on the side of the couch. Bob has his back end on one corner of the dog bed and is playing with a small white nylabone. He is in the middle of grabbing it so his mouth is open so big it looks like he is also biting his back leg, which is where the bone is at the time.

Here they are sharing some sun.

Both dogs are resting by the sliding patio door, the sun is flooding in through the open blinds. Egypt has her back against the couch and is on her side, Bob is slightly curled up and is right in front of the door, there are a few bones laying around.

They also like to share bones :) Well not really..

Bob and Egypt playing a form of tug, they are pulling on a bone but you can't see it because they both have half of it in their mouthes. They are facing each other but their mouthes are side by side so you can only see half of Egypt's head.

Here are just some pictures of Bob all by himself - he's too cute.

Bob on the couch shaped dog bed.

Bob laying on a dog bed that is shaped like a little couch, he is on his side with his head on one arm of the couch, the bed is kind of small so he fits perfectly and looks great on it lol

Bob with a knuckle bone, see Egypt in the corner?

Bob is laying in the sun next to the patio door he has a knuckle bone in between his front paws and he's looking up at me. Egypt's nose and front left paw can be seen in the bottom right corner of the picture.

Bob soaking up some sun - possibly waiting to go outside.

Bob sitting with his back against the patio door, he has his knuckle bone at his feet and is looking at me from an angle

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Spring Break!

Ok, its spring break and we're all at my parents house, the dogs have had a really good time running around in the back yard. Too bad I forgot the nail clippers because Bob was pretty worn out yesterday! Here are some pictures of their good time running around outside!

Sorry for the fuzzy pictures - had it on continuous so not too much time to focus. :)

I called Bob - He made this face and came running!

Bob beginning to run over to me, he has a funny face on like he tried way too hard to take off from standing. A really thick black mouth line and his ears are all wind swept.

I think his tail looks like a question mark!

Bob trotting over to me, his tail is straight up in the air and the tip is bent over to his right a little in the shape of a question mark

That poor boy's ears just get in the way don't they?

Bob chasing Egypt, on of his ears is flopped over on top of his head almost covering his eye, the other one is normal

He's trying to cut her off!

Bob chasing after Egypt, they are going at weird angle and if neither of them slowed down they would run into each other

He still can't keep up with her :)

Bob chasing after Egypt again, they have matching strides in this picture, all their legs are tucked unerneith them so it looks pretty cool

Egypt leaping up onto the deck ;)

Bob and Egypt are running and Egypt is in mid jump with her back paws still on the ground, she is jumping up onto the deck and you can see all her shoulder muscles really well, her ears are sticking straight up too.

Bob attempting to hide from big mean Egypt lol.

Happiness

Darrell hugging Egypt's head, he's got a little grin and Egypt has got a really big one because she just got done running around

Also, I'm one of the 20 finalists for a blog award from trainpetdog.com! Yay!

2010 Dog Blog
Award

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Vision Walk and Toothies

On Saturday San Antonio had its 2nd Annual Vision Walk - A fundraising walk for the Foundation Fighting Blindness. Last year I volunteered at it and this year I wanted to walk it with Bob, Darrell and Egypt. Its a 5k walk (3.1 miles) in the same park that we are training at so I used it as my daily exercise! We wound up with a fairly large group with us. Darrell's sister Erica came with us along with a friend of hers and Shelley, my friend from the hike came also with her friend (Tieg) and the friends dog. Sorry if that was a confusing sentence lol. Wound up with 6 total of us with 3 dogs; Egypt, Bob and the other dog Lazarus.

Egypt and Darrell waiting patiently while I registered
us.

Egypt in harness sitting next to Darrell. You can see part of his left leg and hip, He is wearing black basketball shorts and he's holding his hands in front of him. Egypt is looking over to her right. The sun is on both of them so you can see the color in her eyes really well, a pretty amber color.

Me trying to distract Bob from the little girl that

I'm positive was trying to slip him Cheetos.

Bob sitting on the ground next to Darrell's leg, he is wearing his puppy jacket and looking up at me. Part of Darrell and Egypt can be seen in the picture, they are facing the opposite way and Egypt is sitting in between Darrell's legs.

Well we all got separated at the very beginning of the walk, Laz is a fairly new rescued dog so Tieg wanted to stay towards the back where there wasn't too many other dogs or people. He was a really well behaved dog but likes to pull when he wants something - he's a chow mix so pretty big and strong. So, Shelley, Tieg, Bob, Laz and I were pretty much at the back of the crowd, which was fine with me because with all those other dogs Bob was pulling bad. It was easier to pause every time he pulled when there weren't a lot of people behind us. He got it about 10 minutes in though - I felt bad because he kept choking himself but he finally settled and walked nicely.

Bob checking out a stroller - its funny how right
when the camera goes up they stop being good lol.

Bob and I walking in a group of people, Tieg and Laz are next to us on our left and there is a group on our right, the lady next to me has a stroller and Bob is attempting to get to it and sniff. I have my puppy raiser shirt on which is blue and a long sleeved pink shirt under it

Bob and Laz walking very nicely together.

A picture from my point of view of Bob and Lazarus walking side by side, you can read Bob's puppy jacket nicely from this angle lol. Laz is a big fluffy chow mix dog that has the same color markings as a siamese cat, he has tiny little ears that sit on top of his head and the little triangles flop over to the front.

The walk was a 1.75 mile loop that we were to do twice, I was happy about that just incase Bob's stamina wasn't up for the whole 3 miles but when we made the first loop he was still pretty into it. I was actually surprised that Bob was able to finish the walk - 3 miles is a long walk for 3.5 month old! I figured that since he wasn't lagging behind and still putting a bit of tension on the leash he would be fine. I made sure to give him plenty of water breaks too so that helped. I was also really proud of him because he never once attempted to go to the bathroom! With all that excitement around I thought for sure he would start sniffing halfway through but he just kept on trudging. I did give him a chance to go though once the race was over. It was a pretty good morning in my opinion. However Bob's stamina was not in anyway depleted with our walk - he slept in his hour before and after lunch and after that he was completely normal! Haha - I was hoping for a passed out puppy all day long. But thats one thing I have noticed about Bob - He's either awake or asleep, not in between - never sleepy lol. I have been wanting to trim his nails and was told to try it when he's asleep, well as soon as you touch him he's wide awake! I guess I'll just have to hog tie him or something haha.

Tired little Bob at the end of the walk, he's

panting but you can't really tell from

the angle, he got water right after this.

Oh, news! Guess who whistles while he barks?! Well not really but Bob's front tooth is missing!! lol His little hole is so goofy looking! Here's a pic to show it!

Me holding Bob's lips open, his top front left tooth is missing - he has a little pink hole where it goes. All the rest of his teeth are very tiny and there are really big gaps in between each one.

I'm not sure if that other front tooth is a new or old one, it looks new to me, maybe that't because it's tiny.. at least I got to see what missing puppy teeth looks like!

Picnic and Rocks

On Friday, Darrell a friend and I took a little trip up to one of our state parks - we decided to have a picnic out there and hike for an hour or two. Bob couldn't come because he's not fully vaccinated yet but Egypt was able to come. Theres not really much to say - we just hiked lol so here are some pics of our little trip :)

Some pictures from the picnic.

Our Picnic table and all our goodies ;)

Picnic table full of all our food, we brought sandwich stuff, chips, fruits and cheese cubes lol. You can see Darrell's elbow leaning on the table and my friend Shelly standing in the background - well the bottom of her white shirt and her purple shorts.

Darrell's nasty bologna and mustard

double layer sandwich.

Close up of Darrell's sandwich its half eaten and has mustard all over it

Fruit!

Egypt under the table - she had an apple with

some peanut butter - she left the apple lol.

picture of Egypt laying under the picnic table - she's looking up at me and you can see Darrell's legs behind her

Now pictures from the actual hike.

Egypt went as just a dog today but still had to do some work - she leash guided Darrell all throughout the trail and he avoided way more trips than we did.

Darrell, Egypt and I posing in the middle of the trail.

Picture of us posing in the middle of the dirt trail - even Egypt looks like she is smiling. Darrell is wearing a red shirt and light khaki shorts, I'm in a blue shirt and black yoga pants. Egypt is naked.

Egypt would lead Darrell around

all these big rocks, she was really careful on

the difficult parts like this.

Egypt guiding Darrell through a bunch of rocks and gravel on the trail, there's trees all around and Darrell has my camera bag and Egypts water bottle hanging off his waste.

Some pretty cliffs on the side of the trail -

this is where we stopped and turned around

(marker 10 on the trail - just incase you ever go lol).

Picture of tall cliffs with trees hanging over and growing out of the side of them - the whole area was really open and pretty

Egypt got some refreshments when we stopped

to turn around.

Egypt drinking out of her waterbottle slash tray thing we bought from petco.

Darrell and our friend Shelly on our way back.

Front view of Darrell and Egypt and Shelly walking towards me on the path, theres trees behind and shade covering about half the trail.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Thursday's Theories (#1 I guess)

So Bob has started going to restaurants with us. I was kind of hesitant at first just because Egypt was still a new thing and I didn't want him to try and play with her - therefore pulling my arm off and making Darrell angry because his guide would temporarily be out of order due to crazy puppy.. Well after the training walk with Michelle I worked up the courage and we took Bob and Egypt to Olive Garden - they did very well! I have started noticing that when they are both "working" they don't really bother each other too much. I think it's mainly because Egypt's demeanor changes so much once she's in harness... She probably gives off that 'Don't mess with me' vibe and Bob doesn't! He doesn't even do that puppy noise in public when she's around (wish he wouldn't do it in class though!) Anyways, thats my little theory for the day.. Here are some pictures taken on my phone to show how he does under the tables lol.

Bob lying nicely under a table - i think it was comfy because there was carpet. My foot is holding his leash down

Bob and Egypt lying under a table - both of their heads are next to the leg of the table which is that big cross on the floor - we used it as a separator for them - Egypt is resting her head on one section and Bob's is up a little looking away from her

Bob at Olive Garden and then a mexican buffet place (oh he had fun that day haha)

He usually lies there very nicely and doesn't move too much.. however (see below)

Bob under a table, he is right in between my legs and lying on his back, his legs are curled up on his chest and his head is sideways making his ears flop up over the top of his head so it looks like they are sticking up

Sometimes he just needs to be a puppy haha.

P.S. Sorry for all the pics being 30% blue jeans - I just stick the phone under and push the button hoping I get a good shot lol!

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Wordless Wednesday # 1

picture of Bob walking along a sidewalk that borders a parking lot. There is a parked car right next to the curb. Bob is wearing his puppy jacket and it walking straight on my left side. From me he's about at 10 o clock and his blue leash is trailing out of the photo.

Friday, March 5, 2010

13.1 miles to November.

So there is a 1/2 marathon race in November called the Rock and Roll Marathon. Darrell and I are signed up to run/walk with the Guide Dogs of Texas team. The team has been made to help fundraise for GDTx, so we are going to be participating to help out and to get back in shape! We get together as a group every Sunday and we have homework that our trainer gives us at the beginning of every month. We started training on Sunday and will continue to train up until the marathon on November 14th. So if you would like to help us raise funds for GDTx you can go online and fill out a form to sponsor Darrell and/or Me. Here is the link you can follow to get to the donation site if you would like to help out. Click Me! If you would like to sponsor either of us you can use our first names and last initial, which would be Natalie F. and Darrell G.

Oh and I forgot to tell everyone - Bob went up a size in his puppy jacket so I wanted to post a before and after picture. The pictures aren't that great because I don't take my camera out with me on walks but I did get a new phone that has a pretty good camera on it so there should be more pics of him in his jacket ;)

Picture of Bob sitting on some concrete looking up at me in his puppy coat - it stops about half way down his back and says Guide Dog in Training on it. It's blue and the letters are in white.

Picture of Bob in his medium puppy coat, he is sitting on carpet and looking up a the camera, his puppy coat looks the same as the smaller one but bigger lol. It takes up about three fourths of his back and looks really baggy.