Fun Day part 3

So this post is pretty late but you will have to forgive me as I was on a few trips so I didn't have my computer which meant no blog posting. Part 3 about Fun Day is actually not about Fun Day but rather the trip my Fresno group takes to pier 39 the day after Fun Day. Saturday July 13 we had a long day at Fun Day and were up late with some friends. At this point it was only my friend K, her pup Warren, Pinnacle, and I staying in the hotel room. Sunday we had to be up bright an early and eat quick in order to drive over to the ferry terminal. 

Once at the ferry terminal we bought our tickets to pier 39 and met up with raisers in my Fresno puppy raising group. I was a bit nervous about how Pinnacle would do. The reason I was nervous was because he hated walking on anything metal and we had to go up a metal ramp and metal stairs on the ferry. However, Pinnacle decided to shock me and went up the ramp and stairs with no issue. I was also nervous about him possibly drooling or throwing up since he had never been on a moving object without being in his crate. Again he shocked me by not drooling or getting sick but rather laying down and going to sleep. After what seemed like forever we reached the dock and got off the ferry. Again Pinnacle did great. Once off we took the pups to a parking lot and let them go potty before making the long walk to Pier 39. Pinnacle was a bit distracted and pulled quite a bit. It was a bit difficult to regain his focus since he decided not to want his food that day. However, after many corrections he finally got the hint and pulled a lot less and got himself focussed. We worked with him going over metal objects and he concurred his fear by the end he loved going over metal flooring.

Pinnacle and his friend Warren on the ferry

Pinnacle with the ferry in the background

Once at Pier 39 we all walked around for a bit before deciding to go eat some clam chowder. Pinnacle was worn out from the walk and fell asleep right away under my chair. After eating we walked around some more and even found some stairs that played music when you walked on them. Pinnacle could have cared less that the stairs were making noise which made me proud of him. The one thing about Pinnacle is he is a very confident puppy which can be a good thing. We checked to see if any sea lions were out but there were none. Then it was time to head back to the ferry. We managed to get a bus to take us all back to the ferry dock. We still had some time to kill once we were at the ferry dock so we all went across the street to where they had a fountain you can walk under. Now if you remember my post about the Jelly Belly factory you will know Pinnacle hates water so I wasn't sure if he would go near the fountain. At first I got him to walk up to the fountain water but he refused to walk under it. We decided to have another Guide Dog puppy go in front of him to see if he would follow. He did follow but his face said he wasn't thrilled about it. We got about half way and there was a sharp corner poor Pinnacle missed that stepping stone so his backend fell into the water. We all had to laugh at him cause he had the look of horror on his face that he was all wet. After letting the dogs dry off some we walked to a hotel that has a glass elevator and had the dogs ride up to the top and back down. Pinnacle enjoyed looking out at the view. After we rode the elevator it was time to head over to the ferry and head back to our cars. 

Pinnacle and I on pier 39

Pinnacle and I in front of some flowers on pier 39

Pinnacle and Wilton taking a break to get a drink

Pinnacle was disappointed there were no sea lions

Pinnacle in front of the fountain we walked under

Once back at my car K and I decided to go to dinner at BJ's. Both boys did great and slept while we ate our dinner. After that we went back to the hotel to watch movies and go to sleep. 

Lots of Catching Up To Do

A lot has happened since I last posted, so this will be a longer post. To start of last week I got a call from my leader saying I needed to call her back right away. Once you have raised for a while you know that is never a good sign and usually means bad news. I called my leader back right away and braced myself for whatever she had to tell me. She broke the sad news Malcolm had been career changed from Dogs for Diabetics, and would need to decide what I wanted to do next. He had been dropped for alert barking and alert growling in the home so any other service dog option was out of the question. One of my friends knows a family who had 2 of her golden career change dogs but one had passed away from cancer few years ago and were hoping to get another career change. We explained to them that Malcolm was career changed for having a cataract, alert barking, and alert growling and if they were ok with these issues we would consider placing him with them. They were perfectly fine with these issues, so Friday Malcolm will get off the puppy truck and go home with them. They will do a week trial to make sure it is a perfect match before I give them the adoption papers. If they do adopt him he will be one spoiled boy.

A second thing that has occurred was poor Agent getting very sick. He spent pretty much all last week with severe diarrhea. He started having it Wednesday and by Friday he was so sick we had to take him to the vet and leave him there so he could be treated. The vet ran a bunch of tests and it showed no poison or parasites were in his system. Our guess is we bought a new bag of food on Tuesday and so there might have been something wrong with the food. The poor boy was so sick his butt is now raw and so is his muzzle from licking to try to clean himself. The vet says Agent is doing better his stools are back to normal and he will come home today. He definitely gave us a scare and we are glad it was nothing very serious.

Finally an update on Pinnacle. Pinnacle turned 4 months old yesterday, and has been going to some new places. To start he went to his second dinner. We took him to the country club we belong to. He did pretty good the place has carpet and there was different food smells all around so he took a while to settle, but once he settled he did great. Everyone there loved him and loved his name since there is a golfball brand called Pinnacle. Pinnacle also had his first long trip and first Fresno meeting this past weekend. Pinnacle and I drove to Fresno on Friday and he did excellent in the car. He just chewed his bone and slept in the crate. Once we got to Fresno he explored my apartment and kept me busy by wanting to chew on everything. After dinner time though he calmed down and fell asleep. Saturday we got up and went to my Fresno guide dog group's meeting. The meeting was at a bowling alley so this was another first for him. He really wanted to play with the other dogs and took a bit to focus. All the Fresno raisers loved him and his goofy personality. Once in the bowling alley he was confident and had no issue with the noise. He was a bit interested in the bowling ball so we will be working on that. Other than that he did great. After the meeting we drove home and he slept the entire 2 hr drive. Yesterday was father's day and my dad wanted to go to Mass. I agreed to go and take Pinnacle with us. When we got there it was packed and we had some difficulty finding a seat but finally did. Pinnacle did great he went under the bench like he was suppose to and pretty much slept. Only time he acted up was when someone put the foot part down and poor Pinnacle got squished once it was put back up he settled back down. He got tons of compliments on how good he did. The Father even came over to us and said how much he loved Pinnacle and did a blessing on Pinnacle so that was fun.


Besides all this craziness we have been taking it easy and working with Pinnacle on being in the car and on his commands. Sorry there are no pictures but with a lot of stress I haven't gotten any good ones to share. Pinnacle has his eval with our CFR today so hopefully that goes good.

Fossil Discovery Center

So I had hoped to have this great story of how Andrew and I went to the Fossil Discovery Center in Madera, CA. Well we did go, but it was not what we expected. The Center was nice and allowed me to bring Andrew thre to look around. Now when I had looked at the website I had figured it would be small but thought there would be maybe 5 rooms to look through. Well I was wrong it was only 1 small room with a couple of fossils out. Main reason I had gone was it was extra credit for my geology class im taking this semester, and I figured it would be nice to turn it into an outing for Andrew. Andrew did great he really wasn't into the bones like i thought he would be. So since it was small once we were done we went with my two friends to check out one of my friends new appartment. We walked around the complex and andrew got to see some ponds with ducks in them there. After that we went to the mall to eat dinner, and went to good will after that to see if they had a desk for my one friend(they didn't). Andrew is now a worn out puppy.

Andrew and I in front of a mammoth fossil at the entrance to the center

Andrew found a long lost relative

Andrew with fossils

Andrew wishing the video on fossils would hurry and end already

spring break

Sorry this is a little late. Last week Medford and I headed home to Bakersfield for spring break. We both had lots of fun. To start on Sunday my dad and I took medford to the kern county museum to walk around. We got an extra bonus of a huge car show there that day. There was lots of people, loud music, and bunch of distractions. Medford handled everything perfectly. From there we went to go look at some trailers for camping. After that we went to the mall to have lunch at red robin medford was a very good boy and went to sleep under the table. He was a big hit and everyone kept saying he looked like a big bear cub lol. We then ran to petsmart and got things for the new puppy. Medford was a little confused why we bought all these bones and he couldnt have them. We then spent the rest of the day by the pool relaxing. On monday we met up with my bakersfield guide dog group. After the meeting me and one of the other raisers took our boys to cold stone. we then traded puppies to take home till wednesday. Her puppy is young so it was good practice for me to have a young pup, and it was good for the other dogs to get use to a puppy again.On Wednesday me and the raiser traded back dogs. boy was i happy to have Medford will go back in May or June.

Also tomorrow is the big day Mr.P arrives!!

long overdue updat

Sorry i haven't posted for little while life has been crazy. Well last thursday I got real lucky and had the day off, so I was able to go to the fresno city college disabilities awareness fair. Our group had a booth set up to talk about puppy raising, but also mainly so some of the kids could see the dog. It was a great experience for both us people and the dogs. I was able to take both wilbur and medford with me. Both boys were well behaved and enjoyed the attention they got. After that we left for Bakersfield for the weekend. Both boys enjoyed being home. However, since Medford and wilbur have issues being loose together they had to stay seperated except when on leash or tie down. Wilbur's way to let everyone know he was back was to steal my moms cheeseburger from her plate. After we ate Medford and I went with my dad to join my mom in watching my sister play in school's powder puff game. He did great and slept pretty much the whole time despite it being real crowded. Saturday was another busy day for us. First my mom and I took medford to the vet. He had something wrong with black part around his eye and a small lump on the inside of one of his ears. The vet thinks its just a scratch that is healing on his eye and is unsure what the lump is we have medicine to put on it and have to make sure it doesnt get bigger. They also discovered that he was starting to get an ear infection so we have medicine to put in his ear. Poor guy just falling apart lol. After that I had my hair appointment. Then Medford and I met up with another raiser Kim and her pup shawn and went to John's incredible pizza. Both boys were very well behaved and were not phased by the noises or crowds of people. We were there for a couple of hrs. We got our hands stamped so that we could leave and come back in if the dogs needed to potty. Yesterday Medford and I returned to fresno. Wilbur stayed behind, since he and medford were not getting along it was to difficult to have both. He will get to enjoy running in my parents big backyard and sleep with my sister and her yorkie princess(hope he doesnt squash poor princess). Also yesterday I got word that there is a good possibility I could be getting my new puppy April 30. fingers crossed. Unfortunally i will be on a trip that day with my fresno guide dog group so I wont get to see him soon as he gets off the truck but ill get to see him the next day. so if all goes as planned 25 days till the new guy comes.

take me out to the ball game

Last night Medford and I did a first. We joined my guide dog leader Mary, her husband, and her guide dog puppy Preston at a Fresno state baseball game. Medford did really good he was little excited at first because he saw Preston, but after a while settled in. He really enjoyed putting his head on the seat in front of us and watching the game. Both dogs were a big hit at the game, and got lot of attention.

feeding the ducks

Today I didn't have classes (i dont have classes monday and friday this semester) so my leader,Mary, picked Medford and I up to go to a park to feed some ducks. Medford has never seen ducks before so this was new for him. At first he was interested in trying to figure out what these weird creatures were, but then quickly lost interest in them. He sat perfectly calm as I fed the ducks. My leader's golden Preston did great to. Preston was more interested in the ducks then Medford was. It turned out to be a great day to go. We had great weather, and there were lots of people there.We did some obedience with the boys, and both acted like pros. After the park we stopped by a library to pick some books up the my leader had being held at the library. Both boys were on best behavior. From there we stopped by petsmart to weigh the boys since neither have been weighed in a while. They were little wiggly as expected so it was hard to get an accurate weight but it is estimated Preston at 10 months weighs 70ib and Medford at a year old is now 73-75ib. What big boys. Medford is worn out now.

Medford in front of duck pond

video of me attempting to get medford to look at the camera for a picture

A weekend full of firsts

This past weekend I was able to go home and see Medford. He is healthy now so he got to do a lot of firsts with me. He got to go to the puppy truck for the first time, since he didn't come off of the truck. He got to see one of the dogs in our group Stanton leave to go for formal training, and the raisers got a new puppy. They got a male black lab named Eaton. Medford also got to see my last puppy i raised get off the truck since she was career changed. She is now living with my Bakersfield leader. He did very well at the truck. He then went to Jonny Rockets for his second time. He went under the table and slept till we left. On Sunday he had a few other firsts. He went to the store for a quick trip. Medford also went to his first movie. As soon as we walked in people asked if they could pet him and take pictures of him. We saw the Last Song. He was very good. He made everyone laugh when in the movie Miley started singing he let out a big moan for everyone to hear. Medford is continuing to grow and at 13 weeks already is in a medium jacket.

Medford

Baby puppy group photo pups from left to right are Viking,Medford,Eaton

Medford waiting for movie to start

waiting for movie to start