Humdrum

Things haven't been overly exciting these past couple weeks.  No major outings or activity BUT take a look at how handsome I'm getting!

I'm pretty fearless of most everything EXCEPT FOR SMOKE!!  I'm not sure what happened to me, it's like I turned back into a BIG BABY (a cute baby) but a BIG BABY!  My family(s) are working me through it though.  They have spoke with their club's leader and CFR (Community Field Rep) and have received feedback on how to work me through this.  Seems as though part of the process is to give me lot's of food reward so I'm pretty sure I'm going to get passed this fairly quickly!

When I'm with The Mom and The kids I have to go to work with the mom, which I'm sure I've mentioned is BORING.  She has all these 6am, 7am, 8am meetings.  Don't they realize that's my time to sleep.  UGH, when they talk in the meetings it's like they are speaking another language, I have no idea what they are talking about.  I'm in the meeting room, I'm being awesome and good and sweet and PROFESSIONAL  (I mean I'm practically wearing a suite jacket) and yet none of the conversation is about ME!  Boo!  So I just try to sleep through it.  The Mom has had to nudge me a couple times because I'm snoring too loud!  Ooops!

The mom tries to take me out for a quick "lunch break" if possible, to stretch my legs and do a little work.  She sometimes takes me to Target or Fred Meyer but yesterday she took me to PetSmart.  She made sure I noticed all the hamsters and rats and cats and fish and birds but really it wasn't that big of deal.  I liked seeing the other dog that was in the store but the mom worked with me to not focus on the itty-bitty-weiner dog.

Things are good, my evaluation went well and life as I know it is pretty Humdrum.  My family(s) love me dearly, most people at The Mom's work love me dearly and of course everyone at The Grandma's daycare loves me dearly.  I feel the love every day and I hope they can feel me sending my love right back to them!

Until next time, wish me luck!

Truckee (6 months old)

KEEP PORTLAND WEIRD...

Last weekend we headed downtown to see the Grand Floral Parade Floats and the ships.  This was a big test for me.  There were dogs and people and kids and smells all around.  I had to use all of my will power to focus on being a working dog.  I finally got into a groove and settled into my task of focusing on my handler and ignoring the distractions around me.

After we saw the floats we headed over to see the Navy ships!  They were awesome, we didn't go onboard but we saw them docked at the Portland Waterfront.  The Grandma had The Mom and I pose with a service man from the Navy.  He loved me and was more than happy to take a picture with us.  The Mom and Grandma thanked him for his service.  I got the feeling that this man has an important job as well.

After we saw the ships we ran into a man playing a clarinet.  He was playing a lovely tune but when he saw me he quickly switched the song to "How Much is the doggie in the Window".  Everyone thought it was pretty funny but I was VERY interested in the noise that was coming out of his instrument.  As it turned out the man's sister raised Guide Dog puppies and he knew quite a lot about how the program works.

We decided to end the day by going to Voodoo Doughnuts, none of us have ever been.  We were told the wait was about 10-15 minutes but it turned out the wait was more like 40 minutes!!  So we decided we didn't need doughnuts that bad!!

It was a fun morning in Portland!!

Last week we had our Guide Dog Club Meeting which was a mock "Theater".  We watched Frozen, which let me just say, I AM SO TIRED OF THAT MOVIE AND THE MUSIC!!!  I wanted to plug my ears.  The Girl listens to the CD when I'm at her house and The Grandma plays the music MULTIPLE times a day for the Daycare kids!!  Ugh!  Anyhow, we watched the movie and the raisers ate popcorn and drank water.  Of course The Grandma had to really test me and throw popcorn down right in front of me, but whatever, I don't fall for those tricks!

This week I have a Club meeting as well as my evaluation.

Wish me luck!

Truckee

THINGS JUST GOT REAL...

Now that I'm 8 days away from being 6 months old, things have started to get real!  I am now a full fledged-gettin'my-groove-on-must-pay-attention-goin'-everywhere-guide-dog-puppy-in-training!
I mean BIG-TIME!

I went to a very important doctor's appointment with the whole family.  See, The Girl is having some tummy issues and she needs to see a specialist up at Dornbecher's at OHSU.   In order to get to the hospital we have to ride this thing called a TRAM.  It's a metal, oval type contraption that takes us CRAZY HIGH up into the air.  It rocks back and forth, and there are ALOT of people on board.  I did pretty darn good if I do say so myself!  While in the waiting area I was mauled my lot's of children.  The Mom said I was Fabulous and so patient with all the little ones.  Also, while we were waiting, an actual Therapy Dog came into the waiting room.  He was super cool and did all sorts of tricks for the kids.  The Mom left me with The Girl so she could go chat with the Therapy Dogs handler.  The Therapy dog was cool but I was getting loved on so I really didn't pay much attention to the other dog.

 Every morning we take The Girl to school and walk her in.  She is in charge of me from the point of  getting me "geared up" at the house, to loading me into the car, unloading me and walking me into the school, signing in and then walking to her classroom.

Sunday, The Mom wanted to get me out of the house and do some work so we headed to the Mall.  There we worked on Loose Leash walking, distractions and surfaces.  They have these "fake" people that I guess you call "Manikins" The Mom finally got me to realize that they aren't real but it took me a little bit!!  Of course The Girl, The Dad and The Mom thought it was funny...so they made me sit with them!

Finally, we went to lunch and on the way there, we encountered all sorts of different surfaces I had to walk over.  Man holes, grates and decorative surfaces.  They didn't even bother me, I could of cared less!

Things are going pretty darn smooth so far.  I have one more week with The Mom, The Girl and The Boy.  Then I head back to The Grandma's for 2 weeks.  Every day we work on my walking, my sit, down, stay commands and "Go To Bed".  I'm getting it, slowly but surely.

Next week we get to have "Movie Night" with our Guide Dog Club.  They are going to set up a mock movie theater and watch a film while eating pop-corn.  But I've already been to the real deal movie theater so this should be a piece of cake!

Until next time, wish me luck!

Truckee (Almost 6 months)