Long Monday....

So today started out like any other day.. wake up at 6:45. Make it to class by 7:30... take an exam.. You know how that goes. lol. Well after I had gotten home and fed Bob, Darrell and I started working on getting some school stuff done. He wasn't able to register for a class that he needed so we had to figure that out. Also, there is a course showing up that I had gotten out of at the beginning of summer.. it just showed up recently and I'm not supposed to have it.. So I don't know if I'm going to be charged for it or not. Well while we were both on hold FOREVER with a few different people we decided to just go up to the school and get it taken care of. The lines aren't long at the moment because everybody just calls - and gets put on hold lol.

So, we load up the dogs and take off for what we thought was going to be a short trip to the school. Well, technically the office we went to first was a short trip, however, they couldn't help us and sent us to another office. They semi-helped us and then sent us to another office - its hot by the way... Well we go to this other office and meet Darrell's advisor along the way.. we still need to go to this office but she told us that we never needed to go to any other office at all.. just have to click some buttons and then reregister him for the course. Well ok - that takes care of Darrell's problem. More office going for my problem though.

Bob was doing pretty good throughout our little hike of the school. He needs some more work on his most recently learned finds though. He did pretty well after a little refresher - he is still reluctant to sit at his finds though - he'll go to them stand there and look at me like "where's my treat"? He is supposed to sit at all of his finds and he does most of the time, but his down steps are the hardest... I can just hear him thinking "What's the point? We're just going to go down them anyways...." lol turd. Well, we'll work through them... His pulling is getting a bit better too.. he doesn't so much pull anymore but does put more tension on the leash than I would like.. just gotta keep working lol! Well, here are a few pictures of our day at school.

Bob finding a stair case at the school. 

Bob at a down step - he was getting hot by this time lol.

Now, Bob getting tired on walks has its ups and downs - on one hand he walks slower and pulls less earning him more praise. On the other - his finds start to really go down hill.... After a while I would ask him to find me a seat and he took me to the trash can.... I asked for the trash can and he took me to a water fountain haha... Well, after we stopped by the office I needed to go too (Darrell had already gone to the car - no point in him following me around the school.... ) we stopped and Bob got some water - he was a bit better after this but kept trying to get the collapsible bowl that I had stuck in my purse - I don't think his thirst was completely quenched lol.

Bob's first bowl of water - he drank it all in about 2 seconds lol. 

Bob's second bowl of water he didn't get up to drink - look at that long crazy neck haha.

So, after the school and after a short break Erin asked if we wanted to go to Chili's - so we went :) haha. Nothing special on that trip - just normal. But he did get to work on leave-it with a french fry lol.

Bob doesn't quite fit under the chairs - ever - he's a stretch out kinda dog...  

See what I mean? I'm pretty sure he's incapable of curling into a ball..

This french fry threatened trouble.. we handled it though. 

Bob got a bath a few hours after we got home - he stank... I think it's his feet.. Darrell says he just stinks lol.

Close the shower curtain!!! Dang! 

7 months and some change...

Sorry it took a while for a new posting.. my summer classes require a lot of homework plus I had a test, plus it was mine and twinny's birthday so yeah.. lots of stuff but here is Bob's 7 months and another post-op update.

So, first off it has been pretty un-eventful on Bob's frontier... he is stuck in his cone until he gets his stitches out, which will be on Sunday so yay. He'll be able to go to class with me on Monday and Wednesday and then my other two classes on Thursday because I have a test Tuesday. Yay me. Oh - on that note, Michelle worked her magic and Bob is now 'allowed' to go to all my classes! Ok, now you may be wondering why he has to be stuck in his cone for so long.. basically its a rule at GDTx that the dogs stay in cones until their stitches come out.. doesn't matter if they notice them or not its a precaution just in case they decide to rip them out. So yeah, stitches = cone.
Speaking of this cone - it has caused quite some mayhem in our apartment... First, I have confirmed my professional diagnosis that Bob has Pica... Why? Because he has slowly been eating away at his cone and even though that is probably normal I'm sticking with my diagnosis! So yeah - in order to stop him from continuing to chew/eat that yummy plastic we decided to put packing tape on his cone where it has been chewed and broken. Yes broken because Bob just hasn't realized that his head is now 5 times the size that he's used to, and this boy has a pretty big head so that can't be easy to adjust to... poor kid.

Bob has also been banished to the living room because his cone makes me cranky.. it does this because every time he moves around in his crate his cone scrapes against the bars and it sounds like he's trying to blow the thing up.. at least thats what flashes in my head at 3 in the morning when I'm woken up from it. So yes, he's in the living room and keeps forgetting that whenever he is told to go to his bed - he automatically runs for the bedroom when I have to remind him. Once he sees his crate though he remembers and charges in - most of the time hitting his cone on the top and being flung backwards but hey - a little whiplash is good for a growing puppy right?

On a much happier note, we have been using this down time to further set in Bob's obedience and to work on his heel - which is now great and would be better if he didn't slap me with that darned cone on his turn-around. Yay Bob! He has also started automatically waiting at doorways (to outside) without me asking everytime, now I can't test this out yet but hopefully it will transfer over easily to outside work too. Yay Bob!

Also, not that its really necessary to tell but since I want to - here ya go, I made cake balls for mine and Erin's birthday :) Darrell helped, he rolled out all the little balls. It took me a couple tries to get it right but once I changed from cake balls to cake pops it went much smoother lol. Basically I just stuck a lollipop stick to all the things and then dunked them. Had to let them dry in some foam but it was worth it :) I have a few pictures of the process on my facebook so if you follow that link up in the top corner (the picture of Bob laying down on brown tile) you should be able to access that album. Just incase you wanted to see ;)

Oh, and his 7 things: Hmmmmmmmm..... We'll change this up and add some future things in there too...

1. His down stay will hopefully improve greatly with the help of my lab class that I will be taking him to every Monday and Wednesday. He will be tied down in a corner for the entire class period, its chemistry lab so he can't be under my table - too dangerous. I hope to get him to the point where the tie down is not necessary, we'll see. lol.

2. I have no idea how he is going to handle being at school for such a long straight amount of time every Tuesday and Thursday. Hopefully it won't wear him down too much - I know I feel like poo when I leave for home those days lol. Maybe its just mental strain... hmmm

3. His house manners have greatly improved since he has been stuck inside - yay Bob!

4. I still think he has Pica.... lol just kidding... kind of

5. He is settling down so much quicker lately.. he gets excited about things like normal but it doesn't take him as long to just chill you know?

6. He really likes fetch - with bones... I don't like fetch with bones.. I exchange for kongs and he finds another bone after a while.. we need a yard lol.

7. He really really really likes the smoked knuckle bone Michelle gave him for his... well nothing special really.. Michelle just hearts bob :) But seriously.. he's obsessed.

Ok so on to the real pictures that you were all waiting for - I wasn't going to post them because the wacky tape job on the cone is just embarrassing but you convinced me so ok.

Please try to ignore the damage and focus on the cuteness inside :) 

Ok, now you can focus on the damage ;) 

I heart that face :) 

P.S. Did you know that the hair on the tip of his tail swirled? P.S. did you know he has 2 black spots all the way on the back of his tongue? P.S. Would you believe me if I told you the leg in the background is not mine?

He has the prettiest eyes ;) That blob of stuff covering the bottom of his face are his legs by the way. 

P.S. Did you see that really cool picture of the bird taking off from a tree branch? I took it this morning :)

It's too quiet..

I dropped Bob off this morning (at 7:30 AM!) my summer brain didn't like that but it will get over it... Oh - dropped him off at the vet's office for his operation - now its too quiet here lol. Everyone wish him luck!

This is us at the Vet's office.. the car was parked and he got all excited to get out of the car - its funny because when he's on the floor in the front (too much stuff there right now lol) he wouldn't get up until I opened that other door - in the back he gets up when the car turns off.. funny kid. 

Also, wanna hear what happened with the whole school thing?! Well I got another e-mail asking me to contact another person because they wanted to verify that I was an actual volunteer associated with an actual organization..... Because bringing a big hyper 6 month old lab to school is just soooooooo much fun :/

Also, please note that I had shown each one of my professors my GDTx ID card, written down the laws and Michelle's contact info for 1 professor, sent an email with the laws and Michelle's contact info to another lady (the written information was supposed to be given to her btw). So, to get another email telling me that (my translation) no one read my information and no one believed that I actually do what I do - really irritated me. So, I tried to call lady #2, she didn't answer, I left a voicemail. Got mad a second later and decided to email her - so I did... basically I didn't want to have to be nice again so I said Hi, gave my name and then gave Michelle's information (this is the 3rd time - maybe it will work this time..) and sent it... 

Well, I get an email back saying that she will have to verify with Michelle that I 'work' for them and then I should be good to bring my dog... Well thanks.. So, I started my reply email which pretty much said thanks, I appreciate that you want to check for that kind of thing (so 'illegal trainers' don't bring their random pets onto campus) however I was upset with the way that the entire process played out... I mentioned that I had shown my GDTx ID to each one of my professors and that I had given Michelle's information twice already and blah blah blah... Well right when I was about to press send guess who calls me back!?!? Dang it!!!! lol. So, I'm forced to tell her everything in my email but not as mean-ish because I just can't be like that over the phone / in person.... darn me! Actually my email wasn't even that mean, I just like to pretend it was.. Well, she tells me that she had no idea that I had an ID with GDTx and that all I need to do is come over and make a copy of it and I should be good....... Now I can't even be mad at her... whatever - *pouty face* lol.

So I run over to the lady's office before class and she makes a copy of my ID and says something about "We have never worked with GDTx before so we just weren't sure..." I want to say something along the lines of "it shouldn't matter who you're working with, just because you don't know who it is doesn't mean you can question it - do some research! (I gave the web address to everyone!) " But I never said that.. I just smiled and nodded.. told her they were here in San Antonio and around where and she got all excited that they were so close to her home (?) anyways - little rant is over I guess... just had to get it out..

Don't get me wrong - I do appreciate that they are trying to stay within the rules of their 'no pets' policy but that shouldn't have been that hard - which it wasn't.. mainly just a miscommunication I guess.. but still! lol.. maybe I just want to be mad at someone but now there isn't really anyone to be mad at lol.

Also - disclaimer about saying Bob isn't fun to take places - he is, I like going on training walks with him where focus is on him the whole time and learning and stuff - school however is not fun... mainly because I have to write down EVERYTHING or else I won't understand what is going on and he sometimes won't let me do that - but I know its good for him so I deal with it lol.. its not always bad... just if he doesn't get enough energy out before we go (which I know is my fault lol).. anyways.. yeah, thats my disclaimer - hope you enjoyed!

P.S. Does anyone want to make these for my birthday? If not I guess I will force Darrell to roll out all the little balls for me :)

Red Velvet Cake Balls - find the recipe here: Click Me! 

To learn or not to learn?

Ok with school starting next Monday there has been a lot of talk from all of you and whether or not to take the dogs on the first day of school. Well I am getting Alfie this Friday and will be keeping him through next Tuesday. So many of you have said you don't want to take the dogs on the first days of school. I wanted to know why? haha. That sounds a little rude but it's not meant to be lol.

Anyways, I need to talk to the Puppy Raising Manager, Michelle, she already asked me if I would like to take him to school and I'm all for it. I will ask her and whatever she says goes! lol. Anyways, I just wanted to know why ya'll do or don't want to take them.

I will have time in between all of my classes to go home if needed, especially the first days because most teachers don't keep us the whole time. Let me know what you think...

Here's a picture of Sammy for your viewing pleasure ;)

From request of the mother

My mother that is... She has been reading my blog and, though she has left no comments ;) has requested that I post pictures of Darrell and Egypt actually working. So, I carried my camera around to a couple stores with us and to school and got some good action shots lol. So here you go, hope you enjoy.

P.S. thanks momma, it was a good idea :)

Here is Darrell just getting off of the cross walk - He just told Egypt to start turning to the right after she stopped him at the curb.

Here they are walking into the store, she is supposed to stop him at the doors and wait for him to give her direction.

Here, they are heading back to the car using the cross walk. Egypt will stop at the curb of the street and only go when she and Darrell think its ok to go. Darrell has to listen for traffic and then if he thinks its clear he will tell her forward, however, if she doesn't think its safe, she won't go. They call this intelligent disobedience.

This is at school where Egypt is showing Darrell that a stair case is starting, you can see Darrell's left leg probing out to find the edge of the steps.

Here is Darrell trying to find the door. The reason he is a little off is because he knows this door swings from his right to his left. He gets nervous because he doesn't want to hit Egypt so he stops working her when he hears the coke machine thats right next to him. If you look closely you can see a girl's hand coming into the picture there on the left. She rushed up to help him with the door.. she probably thought I was terrible for standing back and not helping, just snapping pics lol. Oh well.

Here is a better picture of Darrell probing for the top step of a different stair case.

And last but not least

Darrell and Egypt finding a seat so they can wait until they can get into class.

So yay, pictures. I feel bad because I don't have more to write but no real news so yeah. Hope everyone has a fun halloween. I will be studying all day so yeah. Wish me luck on my physics test.