Monterey

This is coming late but it was such a fun trip I figured better late than never. On January 31 Pinnacle and I traveled up to Monterey to meet up with some other raisers. There were 9 pups and 12 people on this trip. We all met up in a parking lot then made the walk to the Monterey Aquarium. While walking Pinnacle got to work on ignoring tons of distractions and also not being in front of the pack of dogs. He really likes to be in front so I have been working on him slowing down and not always being in front. He was a good boy and ignored all distractions. He did pull some to try to get into the front but once he realized that wasn't going to happen he stopped pulling. I'm sure we were quite the sight walking down the street with our big group of pups. Once inside the aquarium we all walked around, practiced commands, and took pictures. Every single pup was well behaved. People kept telling us how well behaved our pups were and also kept wanting to take pictures of all our pups. I would say my favorite part was when we went to see the penguins. While there I took Pinnacle up to see the penguins and he ended up having a staring contest with one of the penguins. Well this one penguin decided to play with Pinnacle. So while Pinnacle was sitting there being good the penguin came up and spit water at the glass in Pinnacle's direction. Everyone had a good laugh.

Pinnacle sitting in front of one of the tanks at the aquarium

Pinnacle sitting and smiling in front of a water tank that has water flow over you

Pinnacle sitting and smiling with the ocean in the background on the aquariums outside deck

Pinnacle in front of the jelly fish sign

Pinnacle laying in front of a fake jelly fish

Pinnacle doing his"frog dog lay" in front of the kids area sign

Pinnacle laying down inside a fake clam

Once we were done at the aquarium we all walked over to Bubba Gumps for lunch. It was a tight squeeze trying to get 9 dogs under our chairs and table, but somehow we did it. The food and service was really good. While eating I enjoyed talking with the other raisers and swapping stories about our pups and past pups we have raised. It's so nice to swap stories and realize that every pup no matter how good the dogs are they always will have some little thing to work on.

Pinnacle in front of Bubba Gumps after lunch

After eating we had some time to kill before we had to all go home so we decided to take the dogs down to the ocean and let them burn some energy. Once we got on the sand we took the dogs jackets off so that they knew they could play, but kept leashes on. Pinnacle was so happy to be able to play with his friends. I tried to see if he would get into the ocean but he decided he preferred the dry land. He really isn't much of a water dog. While he doesn't mind the rain and tolerates getting a bath he is not one to go swimming which is fine with me. After all that fun it was time to head home. Both Pinnacle and I were worn out and happy to get to bed.

Pinnacle playing with another guide dog puppy

Pinnacle sitting in the sand with the ocean behind him