Finals - just saying ;)

So, obviously I haven't posted in about a year - sorry. My last day of class was Friday (yesterday) and I have 3 finals coming up but only 1 in the coming week so yay for free time - yay for blog time. Lots of stuff has been happening lately - but this post will be about the A-litter Puppies. Last I left off they were three weeks old, since then I have visited them at 5 weeks, 7 weeks and today at 8 and half weeks old. These visits weren't just for fun though - much like the last one I had a job to do - guess what it was. I got to run the puppies through their 5 and 7 week temperament tests!! Sounds cool huh? Well it was, I learned so much about puppy brains I could write a book - it would only be half a page long but a book none the less, meaning I will print and bind it and sell it to people.. maybe.

So, bet you want to know what exactly I had to do in these puppy tests and what are they were for right. Well, the purpose of the puppy temperament tests it to rank the puppies sociability, soundness and biddability. Translated meaning we were testing how well the adapted to a new-ish environment, how the handled being startled and a crazy dancing penguin, as well as how much support they needed from the 'handler' (me) or if they needed any support at all. By support I mean if they would come to me when they were uncomfortable and if they were 'coax-able'  when I was trying to get them to do what I wanted (with verbal efforts first and food if needed). Well anyway, I didn't do any of the actual evaluation - my job was to actually walk to the puppies through the test / obstacle course. We had stations set up to have them go through.

pshhh no problem walking over this thing! 

This is a big part of the test, we did this same test both times (5 weeks and 7 weeks) but during the 7 week one we moved them out to the driveway because they were way too big by then. It was my job to get them to walk on top of all of them and then their reactions would be evaluated by Michelle and Tracy. There is also an orange cone there in the background, that is to test their reaction to a brand new object in their environment. Another thing you can't see is a crazy maniac singing and dancing penguin (who sang a very annoying version of the cupid shuffle). This was to judge their recovery time as well as their auditory sensitivity.

The flexi squirrel and penny can! 

So, whats going on in the picture above is there is the pink bunny and it is attached to a flexi leash, what happened with this is the puppy would see the bunny sitting for them nicely on the floor, and then when they go up to investigate it, it would be retracted in fast short bursts and then they would do it all over again in one long fast burst. This was to test their pray drive and (if they grabbed it) how willing they were to give it up. Also, see the can with the green tape on it - its full of pennies, this was also to judge their sensitivity but to a different type of noise/distraction.

The reasons we conducted the exact same tests at 5 and 7 weeks was to judge how they differed from the first one and if they did how much. So, after the tests were all complete we did get to play a bit - we had ourselves a little play session and photo-shoot (duh) so here are a few pictures from that.

Ummmm I think this should be the new header for the website - just my opinion lol

Miss Aspen peeking over the big log. 

We put Alice in the log - can't lie and tell you that she did it herself. 

These last ones were all from 5 weeks old. Then they grew up lol - these next ones are from after the 7 week test.

Big Aspen chewing on a branch

Big Austin chewing on dirt... :?

Alamo finding a nice place to rest. 

And here are the pictures from today: today was Puppy Hand Off Day - so today all the puppies went to their raisers. There was a news crew there for a bit and lots of picture taking with people and puppies and people and puppies.. and some people. Here are just a few of the pictures from today.

Poppy gets her fifteen minutes of fame. 

And a peanut butter stuffed dog bone. 

And the puppies with their raisers!!! From the Left going right we have Alamo, Alice, Aspen, Ava, Atlas, Allie, Austin and Poppy in the front :) 

Massive doses of cuteness here!!!!

Guess what I did on Monday?!?! Well, Darrell and I - we went up to Austin to visit the puppies again and take them to the Vet to get wormed or something.. yellow stuff went in the mouth thats all I know. We got to have ourselves a little play session to get them good and tired out for the Vet visit and then we brought them back to do a (shhhhh) Christmas card photo shoot. Yup - we put them in little christmas sweaters and made them sit all in a line and smile at the same time... just kidding lol. It was actually a lot harder than it seems - trying to get a good shot of 8 puppies that now can walk and semi run - that means they're fast, fast and squirmy - but we handled it. You won't get to see those pictures though for obvious reasons lol.

Back to the cuteness I promised - Here are some pictures of the play session and Vet visit.

The puppies got some fish oil and Alamo got a little too excited - he obviously thought there wasn't enough on his side lol.

I think this one is little Atlas - please ignore mom's behind in the background :)

Darrell getting some luvin from Alamo. 

I'm pretty sure the smiling one is Ava but not sure which one is next to her. 

nom nom nom 

This picture is from the Vet's visit - we threw all the puppies into 2 laundry baskets (to make them carry-able) and loaded up the Guide Dogs Van. Darrell's job was keeping the puppies from escaping on route. The puppies are just about too big to be hauled around in the baskets.

see his little teeth!!! and tiny ears!!!!! ah! 

Ah! Ok thats all the photos for now - just know that Bob hasn't been living in a cave I just haven't gotten any good pictures of him lately. I did have a really cool experience with him the other day though. We went into a Petco that I have never been into before and our mission was to find the bathroom - the girl's room to be specific. Well we took an entire lap around the store with no luck - so we did it again and found the area at the back of the store. Now the mission was to find the right door. Bob first led me down a hallway to the employee's room - we quickly turned around lol. Then he found the area in between the boy's and the girl's bathroom - there he needed to 'work it out' and find the correct bathroom. He sniffed the bottom of the girl's door quite a lot and I thought he would stop and let me know he had found it but he just kept on sniffing and then he moved onto to the boy's door and seriously took the longest whiff I have ever seen/heard him take... I had no idea his lungs could expand to that much. After that one long whiff he went straight back to the girl's door - took another (shorter) whiff and stood there and looked at me like "Did I find what you were looking for?" We had a little party there in the hallway when he did this. I was so excited because I had never worked him with the boy's room and to see him actually work it out and find the correct one by comparison was exciting. They family he spent the month with in apparently did some good work with this find (thanks Ron!!).

Poppy's Puppies - 1 week old

Soooooo as you might have guessed a certain someone was allowed to go visit Poppy's puppies the other ay (Wednesday actually). I had to scrub, gown, glove, and foot booty up before I was allowed to even look at them. Well I was allowed to look at them I just wasn't allowed to touch or breathe on them.. well I could breathe I guess, if I really wanted to...

Its not very much fun petting a dog through a glove but oh well :)

You may be wondering why I was required to do all this - I mean, puppies are born everyday and their people don't put themselves in a plastic bubble so they can hold them, and sniff their breath.. and rub their tummies to make them potty. Yes I did that, I considered it a privilege thank you very much.

I can't even begin to tell you how cute I felt in these lol. I think I might steal a pair and wear them to the mall.

Well the reason for all this is prevention - see Poppy tested negative for the Doggy Herpes Titer immune thingy... basically she doesn't have the antibodies to fight it so she had not antibodies to pass onto her puppies. So what does all this mean? This means that anyone with a dog or who has come in contact with a dog has/had the possibilities of picking up the Doggy Herpes virus and if they then come into contact with Poppy or her puppies the whole litter could possibly die within 24 hours... not a good thing to happen. This is the process that anyone wanting to meet the puppies or Poppy has to go through for at least the first three weeks of puppy life. Once they are about 3 weeks they will be able to fight off the virus themselves but in the meantime - we get saran wrapped. We also had to make sure we were sterile for the 3 weeks preceding labor if we wanted to interact with Poppy, that is just the window.

Well hello mr. blue buffalo, this boy is the biggest one of the bunch... regardless though point of this picture was to show you the puppies sealed ears and to point out that their eyes are still sealed. I like his tiny ear.

Some might disagree with all of this but these are the precautions GDTX is taking in order to ensure their pups get the best care possible - I'm fine with it though because if that is what I have to do to hold them and help out its worth it ;)

Now on to our actual visit...

The pee party:

Come on Poppy, we gotta work together doing this! 

Above is where I had the privilege of helping each puppy expel all their urine, I had Poppy help me too of course. See, when puppies are new they don't know how to do this, usually the mom will help to stimulate this by licking their "special spots" which will make them expel their urine. Poppy however needs a bit of help (new mom and all) so we went through each puppy and she happily assisted me in the process, or is it the other way around? Who knows.. point is Teamwork! Well, Safety first then teamwork - wear shoes around the house! (Anybody can tell me the movie that quote is from I'll give you a star sticker - **Darrell can't play cause I know he knows)

Trying to do a photo shoot:

Puppy Pile! 

Look at his little nails!! 

We did an individual puppy photo shoot with all of them but I haven't gotten all those in order just yet so maybe I'll show those in a different post...



The Collar Changing Party:

Well, I don't know if you can tell from the other pictures but their paper collars were getting torn up and too tight, so we got to replace them!

All their first little puppy collars 

New collars - we made one for me too :)

Sorry no pictures of the actual process.. don't know what I was doing... ? But here is the finished product :)

All their new little collars - they look so official now :)

Yay puppies!

Also, there is a naming contest going on if you would like to take part in naming of the puppies - they have to be A letter names and if you're my friend then they have to be Texas related lol...

Here are the ones I like if you don't have any suggestions but just want to help my names win :)

Alice - city in Texas where Darrell went to high school :)
Alamo - Please tell me I don't need to explain that one...
Abilene and Amarillo - other cities in Texas
Aggie - for Texas A & M University (even if you like UT better vote for it because B litter we can add Bevo! (all non Texaners that is the Longhorn's mascot name))
Austin - for the UT fans who are just really upset about Aggie :)
Andi - this one isn't a Texas name but its for Dr. Anderson who made a generous donation at the GDTx luncheon the other day (a blog post about that will come soon).

Here is the link if you would like to participate - Click Me!!!

Preview

More will come... probably on Friday night or sometime Saturday. I have two tests so yup - you will just have to be patient for a bit :)

P.s. this picture was stolen from my own camera!!

They're here! *edited with my goof...

That one is going to be super dark- the Dad's name was fire and according to genetics I don't think two yellows can make a black lol. Maybe its just dirty. 

Soo many puppies

Hi momma! 

Coreena won with 5 Boys and 3 Girls!!! Congrats Coreena! I'll figure out what you win later tonight cause I gotta go to class :)

*So Coreena, you didn't rally win because I got the sexes mixed up lol - it was 5 Girls and 3 Boys but you will still get a prize because you were the only person to guess that ratio :) Yay you! lol

So another winner had to be picked and there were three people that guessed the closest: Erica, Ro, and Lauren - I did a drawing to see who would win out of those 3 and guess who it is! RO!!! Yay Ro!

So, yall gotta tell me what you would like - some handmade stuff like jewelry perhaps? A leash? A Bag/purse? or if you're not into handmade stuff - Dog Toys? Dog Treats or Bones? Let me know and I'll do it - I like projects :)

Oh and I have no idea who I stole the pics from - thanks person :)

Euphoria

There are a few different ways to induce Euphoria... Some people exercise, some people do yoga and meditate - some people use opium.. Yeah, I said it - opium - the drug. Do you know where opium comes from? Poppy seeds. That is why they tell you not to go and eat a poppy seed bagel right before a drug test because you're likely to test positive. Opium induces feelings of euphoria when used but I know of a much better (legal) way to induce euphoria. All you need to do is get yourself a puppy - specifically  a puppy from Poppy's litter (one of Poppy's seeds *wink*wink* haha).

Poppy running in the GDTx grass -
I heart her face. 

So you may be wondering who this Poppy is that I speak of huh? Poppy is Guide Dogs of Texas' very first and at the moment only brood bitch (excuse the technical term/bad word...) and she's pregnant! They just found out yesterday!!! She had an ultrasound yesterday and no one has told us how many she has yet (they might not be able to tell at the moment) but apparently they are the size of a pencil eraser!

I heart this face too :) 

Anyways, GDTx is gearing up and ready for its very first litter. For all my out of town/state readers I hope you'll wish them luck and for all my in town readers or people who wish to help out - this is a big leap for GDTx and they're needing help more than ever now. As always, volunteers are always needed and now they are in need of puppy items if anyone wants to donate stuff.

Here is a (long) list of all the things GDTx is always looking for and would really appreciate - think of the puppies!!!! Grab a puppy and get those euphoric feelings revved up and help us out! I'll keep you updated on all of Poppy's news as it comes to me!

Well... I just searched for a good 20 minutes and I can't find my list... I'll get it up for you as soon as I get it emailed to me again haha. While you wait you can try to make out the inner workings of Poppy's uterus:

Does anyone really ever understand these things?

P.S. Poppy's uterus picture was stolen from Michelle's facebook page - just so she doesn't sue me for copyright or something ;)