Thursday, April 1, 2010

Bling Bling and a Baby

Bob got some new jewelry about a week ago. Jewelry you might ask.. how and why would a guide dog puppy want or need jewelry? Well this jewelry came in the form of a brand new collar! Not any collar however, this is a very special one lol. This one has a plate on it stamped with Guide Dogs of Texas' information. Now, GDTx didn't give me this collar, I ordered it all on my own.. You might ask your self why though.. why Natalie when GDTx gave you 2 perfectly good collars to use did you order one just because it has a plate on it? Well the answer is simple... well not really but with my logic it is. Well I'll get to the answer as soon as I give a little back ground info on our little Mr. Bob. I'll do it with a little story shall I?
I like stories :) 
Bob standing sideways to me in some grass, he's looking up like he's expecting a treat or something

So there we were sitting in class one day when Bob decides he wants to stand up and shake his head all about - apparently he had had enough of laying down.. Well, in the process of shaking his head his tags went jingle jangle jingle and made such a commotion I knew something must be done to stop this.. You see Bob has 3 tags, one plastic, 2 metal and they are just so noisy! So after getting him back in a down stay I turned google on and began researching tag silencers.. Well I found some that looked somewhat promising but after seeing that shipping and handling would bring this crafty little piece of Velcro-ed cloth to about 15-16 dollars.. I can make one for much less. So I got to looking to see if they had any at Petco or Petsmart, no luck. I wasn't too bummed however because I didn't like the idea silencing his noise completely, I just wanted to turn the volume down a bit. So I looked into those rubber tag silencers that just go around the perimeter of the tag and wouldn't you know it.. they don't make them in Oval or Texas shaped.. dang! So with some more research I happened upon a website www.gundogsupply.com. They make custom collars for not a bad price.. at least not a bad price compared to what I was almost willing to pay for a wrap around tag silencer.
Shiny
Close up of Bob's head and neck with the collar, the brass colored plate shows nicely on the black collar. all of GDTx's information is on the plate and there is a rivet on each side holding it onto the collar.


So, through their website I ordered a K9 comfort collar - 1 inch black leather. Which looks almost like the one I was given, just a stronger leather and it has the plate on it. My final price was $20.30. A little steep for a collar in my opinion (I could have gone with a cheaper one but wasn't sure about the quality of the leather..) But I can always turn around and recycle it on my next dog if I like or I can give it to the new owner whenever he/she will get Bob. I ordered a pretty generous sized one (Bob is currently in the first hole) so he has plenty of room to grow. Ok, so basically now Bob has a collar with one of his tags turned into a plate (the one with GDTx's info on it) and two hanging down (the plastic and the oval one) which make a subtle noise so Darrell and I (when he's behind the couch/in the dining area) know where he is without his tags screaming at us (or my class mates) at all times. I think it was a pretty good purchase all in all.. Plus its extra safety incase he ever gets lost and the others fall or get broken off. Darrell wants to order a Mahogany colored one to match Egypt's harness, she could stand with losing a tag or two lol :)

And now about the baby.
Here's a pretty ladybug - good transition huh?
Close up of a peach tree branch we found a lady bug in. It has two big white spots on its face that make it look like eyes.

Bob met a baby the other day and was a perfect little gentleman. Not much of a story here however, the baby is Darrell's brother's godson and is 1 year old. He is 'growing up' with dogs so wasn't afraid of Bob or Egypt. They both behaved very well around him. Bob wanted to sniff him of course but wasn't allowed to get up and chase after him.. just get some air wafts with the baby's million passings. So, here are some pictures, sorry they are hard to see.. they were taken with my phone... 

Here Bob is laying down stretching his neck 
out for his first real sniff of 'baby'. 
Bob stretching out to sniff the baby, all you can see is the baby from the neck down, he's holding a DVD cover in his hand

Here the little guy went walking past 
and Bob didn't even flinch..
You can see most of Bob's face on the right side of the picture, he has the side of his head pressed to the floor, baby legs can be seen heading out of the picture on the left.
Bob was over playing with the mommy while baby
held on to his leash lol.. then started chewing on it.. yeah
Picture of the baby with his toys surrounding him, he is holding the handle section of Bob's leash.
Both dogs behaving very nicely around 
stomping baby feet. 
You can kind of see both dogs in the picture, Bob's upper body and Egypts front paws and nose, the baby is walking next to his mother in the top left corner, one leg is lifted in the air next to Egypt's face


Also, Bob did an amazing job ignoring (after being told of course) all the fun, noise making baby toys that were laying around. Yay! 

8 comments:

Beth and Alfie said...

Way to go with the baby, Bob...and your new collar rocks!!

Natalie said...

Thanks! I was so happy he didn't try to bite the little guy's hand off or something, considering there was dried mac and cheese goo all over them haha! By the way, they have a tan one that would stand out amazingly on Alphie's coat! lol

Lauren said...

That collar looks great on Bob! GDB uses those kind with the metal plate IDs. It's nice to not have to worry about their tags falling off.

Bob, good job with the baby. You look so cute in those pictures.

Sarah and the Pack. said...

Cute pictures! It is so fun to watch these guys grow up. I must say Bob looks VERY handsome in his new collar. Gotta love those non-noisy IDs!

puppyluver said...

or you could have called this really cool puppy rasing program manager i know. SHe has drawers full of tag silencers :)

Not that Bob-o's collar doesnt ROCK, i'm just saying ;)

Good boy Bob for not licking all the mac and cheese goo off the baby! that's a good trick!

Natalie said...

Haha.. I didn't even think of calling you.. :/ lol.. Oh well, I think his bling bling makes him look purdy ;)

Sarah and Romeo said...

Ya know, I don't have you to my PR list. I'm Sarah and am raising my third pup, Vance,from KSDS!
Hope it's okay I added you :)

Lisa and pups said...

I like the bling bling!!! I want one now! :D