Bob, other dogs and new people

So my last post I mentioned that Bob had a training walk with Larry Gelvin, the Puppy Program Manager. That walk went really well, we had gone to a nice, older neighborhood in San Antonio. Bob got the opportunity to work more on crosswalks and street noise. Once, when we were stopped at a curb a big delivery truck passed right by him and he didn't even flinch. We also learned a new left turn technique to work on with Bob. His pulling has improved dramatically, just a few tiny reminders at the beginning of the walk and he's golden!

Larry had invited along two of GDTX's newest employees to go with us and observe and try out a training walk themselves. Hillary, who is Gelvin's new assistant and puppy program supervisor got a chance to walk with Bob after about 10 minutes of him walking with me. I'm sorry to say it but he tested her like crazy. He didn't pull too much, which made me happy, but he didn't really obey any other commands given - at least not the first time it was given. Next was Rene, the new Breeding and puppy acquisition specialist. His walk went a bit better but Bob was completely unfocused on working and just focused on the treats that he knew were in Rene's pocket. Bob started to focus a bit after he figured out he wasn't going to get all of those treats immediately but still wasn't on his game anymore - a lot of that had to do with him starting to check out as he got tired. We need to work on Bob's stamina.

The issues Hillary and Rene had with Bob have all happened to me multiple times but I gotta say, it was very interesting to see him just 'switch' like that. It really reinforced the importance of having a connection with a dog and making sure that he/she knows that you are the one in charge. I love learning more about doggy brains and that was a really good learning experience for me. I suppose it was for them too so it all works out for the best.


We also had a training day at GDTX on Saturday with all but two puppies in the program. There were a few older dogs there for the boarders to learn some new info so all together there were at least 13 dogs there. It took Bob a few minutes to get over the fact that he couldn't go play with all of his friends (there were 2 dogs there that he had spent time with while we were moving) but once he settled down he did very well. We went over some basic stuff - the A-litter puppies are on their way to turning 6 months so we worked on the correct way for people to greet the puppies, and the four important things all puppies must be able to do when they get into formal training. Head up, tail wagging, straight line walking and straight sits. There were a few other little lessons but they were mainly for the younger puppies, such as 'going busy' on command and potty training stuff. GDTX is getting really close to breeder evaluation of the new litter so I'm excited to see who they choose.

Sorry there are no pictures from the training days, I forgot my camera both times. So instead here is a picture of Bob from this weekend. Just so you can see his happy face!



Here is Egypt because I know you love her too ;)

Back to being a good blogger :)

So - there hasn't been much going on since finals stopped but there has been enough so here goes!

First off - Bob has been progressing very nicely these past couple weeks with his work and his pulling. Its strange how you can see that semi-big kind of tiny change in him that comes with obvious maturity. He's still a little crazy but only really at home. He's starting to behave himself without being told to on walks and he's getting really good at notpulling all the time. He still gets a little over excited when asked to find things so there is a lot of re-working with his finds - not because he doesn't know what he's looking for but because he's just way too excited to get there lol. We had a walk with Larry the other day and it went really well compared to our last walk, which was just a month ago. I thought this one would go kind of terribly considering it was about 3 days after my last final. That means Bob hadn't had as much work as he usually gets but I was pleased with the results. He even got to meet one of the several horses that pull the cart things around in downtown San Antonio.

Well hello very big puppy.

This was actually the second horse that Bob passed, there were four in a row, the first one he was cautious of but passed with little problem. This one however, the second one, had its head turned around and was looking at him - that spooked him a bit so he tried to turn around and get away from him. So after getting Bob a little more under control we were allowed to introduce him to it. He was ok, cautious but also curious. Overall it was good because next time we passed them he wasn't as crazy as he was the first time. Anyway, it was a pretty good walk. Now that its colder he is getting more work outside so it will be good with his distractions.

Oh, and also, Bob has kind of made up a new game for himself. He had a bath the other day and when the tub was filling up I had him step into it - he's getting big and I'm not into lifting him unless I have to ;). Anyway, after the bath I had him hop out of it and I dried him off - all normal. Well then he had those crazy funny hyper moments after bath time that most dogs do. During his crazy time he decided he would start throwing his bone into the bathtub - watch it flail around helplessly and once it stopped moving would hop in, grab it, hop out and run around the apartment with it. He did this at least 3 times and finally wore himself out enough to go crash on his bed. Well apparently he thinks its a lot of fun to hop in and out of bath tubs... He's done it multiple times since then and even has gone to my sister's bathroom and played in her tub.... he's gone a bit crazy I guess. I even found a bone on edge of the tub against the wall the other night... that one must not have been as much fun as the others...

Can you see his bone at his feet?

Another scrap of news, Egypt had surgery yesterday - she had to have a broken tooth extracted. Apparently she got a slab fracture at some point. We noticed it because her breath was smelly and I checked and you could see the crack in her tooth. I snapped a picture with my phone but its not very good. Please ignore my fat looking fingers - the camera adds ten pounds remember. Anyway, she had her surgery and was really groggy yesterday but is much more herself today - hope she feels better by the time we go on vacation! She and Bob get to play in the snow in Colorado!!

The fracture was in her upper right dog molar, can you see the crack?

Bob's Training Walk

Yesterday Bob and I had a training walk with our puppy raising manager Michelle, she needed to make sure Bob was confident enough to take away all his testosterone :) He did great so the appointment is in June - I can't wait!!!! lol. Man hormones = annoying puppy, no man hormones = good puppy :)

So, here is our walk told to you through pictures of course - Michelle was the amazing camera person ;)

The first thing we did was cross the street so Bob had to find the button. 

Once we reached the other side, we walked all down the sidewalk making sure Bob wasn't phased by the traffic noise and stuff.. he didn't even notice.. Here Bob is leading me around the cardboard box":) 

This was me trying to get Bob to look up at the overhead obstacle.. his face was too cute though so I had to zoom in and crop me out :) 

Bob checking out that overhead obstacle - obviously he noticed it - after I shook it of course haha. 

Bob and I got really distracted by something - here we are checking it out.. 

 WARNING - IF YOU ARE SQUEAMISH DO NOT PUT YOUR MOUSE OVER THE NEXT PICTURE - JUST MOVE ON... 

Here is the distraction - sorry if it freaks you out.. If you would like to see the distraction just drag your mouse over the image. 

Another overhead obstacle - I got Bob to pay attention to it even with that distraction so close! 

About this point in the walk Bob started to get really bored... Michelle told me I need to engage him more and get him paying attention to me and constantly wondering what I'm going to do (not just walking) so here I'm doing puppy push-ups (the wrong way!)

You'll notice my posture - apparently Bob notices it too... and is a butt-head because of it and doesn't do what I tell him to do - Michelle told me I need to stand up straight and be more demanding, but still nice so I need to work on that lol. 

Me working on my straight up standing - I keep catching myself now - I'll learn one day lol. 

 Also, Michelle told me that I need to let Bob have more fun (It's not always work!). I'm too serious on our walks and just need to let him be a happy dog - that way he actually likes to go out and work - this I can do no problem though ;)

Here is Bob finding the next Button - I had him put his nose right up close to it ;) 

Me praising him and him working on chewing that treat lol. 

Funny story - the lady that is in that white car behind us at the light pole was apparently watching Bob find the button, well her light had turned green and the guy behind her honked at her because she was still watching us lol.

Here is us heading to Petco - he was getting very hot and burned out but still did the step ok (the second time lol) He blows the steps sometimes and goes on before I tell him to so we have to work on that with him. Lucky for me he knows "wait" :) 

Bob tired and panting in Petco.

I love this picture! lol.

And him getting a drink - note to self - don't use this water fountain anymore lol. 

5 Months, Training walk, and Finals!

So Bob is 5 months old today!! Yay Bob!

Just so you know, this is going to be a somewhat long post because its going to be the last for a while. I have finals and won't be posting much for a week or three lol. Wish me luck!

Oh, I have started taking my smaller camera places with me so I can get pictures of Bob working, the pics aren't the greatest of quality but they work :)


Ok - First off will be the 5 things at 5 months! 

1. He and Egypt are starting to get along very nicely - we can take them both out in public and not even have to worry about either of them messing with each other - well, him messing with her really. lol.

They heart each other :) 

2. His training is coming along great - I can confidently say he knows seats, doorways, steps (up and down) and how to target the passenger front door on the 'bus'. By bus I mean any vehicle we plan on getting into. He also knows all the basic commands that any good puppy should know.

Umm.. I'm hungry - can we go home yet?

3. His canines still haven't fallen out! But his other front teeth have and they are growing in all white and shiny ;)

I'll eat your face!

4. He makes this really funny noise when he yawns - not every time but at least his first 5 yawns of the day. Sometimes its a huge full out yawn noise, other times its just a little "ou-ah" type noise.

Ok, having issues uploading the video - will get soon promise :) 

5. He's very enthusiastic about his work - I actually have to work on him not pulling when I ask him to find something - But I'll talk more about his work in a minute ;)

Ok, I know he's not working here but that face just shows
you how attentive he can be ;) 

Bob's Training Walk!

Friday, Michelle, one of my friends and I went over to one of our malls to have a training walk with Bob. Well, I had never really been to this mall so it took a bit of searching to find Michelle. We knew we had to meet her upstairs in the food court so when we saw a staircase and a big walkway going into the mall above us we used it..

We actually took this elevator first, then realized we hadn't
gone up far enough. 

Bob, find the step!

Well turns out that staircase and walkway only feeds one area of the upstairs part so had to find our way back down... Here's where it turns fun. lol. We couldn't find an actual staircase to take us downstairs and didn't want to trudge back the way we came so we went ahead and took the escalator, however we did it a little different because Bob isn't allowed to use escalators. So guess who got to carry him and guess who ran down the stairs to take a picture haha.

Oh yeah - I can carry all 32 pounds of him!

Once we get to the bottom of the escalator we are approached by a security guard who wanted to make sure Bob was a service dog. Understandable question seeing as I was still holding him haha. The guy also told us that pictures weren't allowed to be taken in the mall (I guess because of merchandising and knockoffs and stuff but really? thats dumb) So we actually don't have that many more pictures to show.. Sorry :(

Anyways, after we met up with Michelle we sat and chatted for a bit, she had a funny story about how a customer of a PETSMART got mad at her because one of the puppies she had was barking... in a PETSMART. Haha. Ok, anyways, Michelle taught us how to find the 'girls' or ladies room (once Bob has that down he'll start learning the 'boys' or men's room).

He was sitting 2 seconds before the picture was taken - swear!

Once we found that we had to go inside and find the stall, specifically the handicapped stall so there is enough room for dog and person. Once I found that I was to find the toilet, sit on it and then flush it (its all about routine). Bob wasn't phased by the flushing which was really good, especially since it was one of those super sucker type flushing ones haha.

Ok Bob - now find me some toilet paper :) 

Once I was done with my potty break I had to ask bob to find the 'counter' in the bathroom - or mainly the sink area. However, counter will be used for things like the sinks as well as check out counters in stores, and they must have people behind them! Once I washed my hands I had to take Bob over the hand drier and run it. This one he was a little bit afraid of but recovered nicely - it was one of those air jets where they just use high powered air instead of air plus heat... so it made a lot of noise lol.

We found the trashcan once we were out of the bathroom - I had a random piece of trash, can't remember from where haha. Oh, I almost forgot - we also got to find the elevator and the button (the button will be used for elevators as well as cross walks) so yeah, I think thats about it lol. Anyways, all of those finds are pretty much the basis of all the finds Bob will do.  I think I got all of them in there haha. So yeah, once we were done all of us headed out to Michelle's 'bus' and got in so she could drive us over to ours haha. Bob then had one last little shot from the Vet's office and after a while attended my first ever Cardio Kickboxing class with me. That was interesting but fun lol. He was on tie-down over in a corner the whole time and did very well.. Hopefully thats because he's a good dog and not because of that shot haha.

Bob at the Disney store - working on distractions.
Stuffed animals = pretty big distractions - he kept trying to grab the purple
elephant that is sitting behind him.

Ok, on to finals! 

Basically - I have finals coming up and a ton of stuff to do so don't expect a new update until May 7th - which is my last final. If I happen to take any cute pictures or anything I might be able to squeeze them in but I won't really be able to write any extensive posts.. just so you know and so you don't miss us :)

P.S. Here is a picture of Darrell heading out to the car all by himself - the power of forgetting your I.D. and wanting a drink to go with dinner huh? lol. 

Yay Darrell! 

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!

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.