clovis fire station

today we had a fun meeting. We got to take the puppies to the clovis firestation. There we walked the dogs around the fire engine while it was running, have the puppies go up to a fireman in the full gear and mask, and got to walk inside the firestation. All the puppies did really good. Some were not to sure about the truck, but all like the fireman in the gear. Medford did great and had no fears. He walked around the truck with no fear at all. He really could of cared less about the fireman in the gear he said a quick hi and was back at my side looking at me for his reward. At the end as we were leaving the firemen got a call so we got to see them go lights and sirens. Again medford wasnt to bothered by the sirens, prob since we hear them alot where i live so he is use to it.

wilbur update

well its official guide dogs called my mom to inform her that wilbur would be flying back to the west coast on march 11! he will be flying with a guide dog rep from the campus in Oregon back to the Oregon campus. If the puppy truck hasnt left the oregon campus when he gets there then he will be loaded on to the truck to head to the san rafael campus, if the truck has left then he will stay at the campus in oregon and we would have to drive there to get him. If he gets on the truck to go to San rafael campus then we will either pick him up at the ca campus or if the truck is stopping in bakersfield or fresno we will get him off the truck. Either way he will be home by the 18th of march. I can't wait. I would like to thank Guide Dogs for helping us get him back here. So let the count down begin!

Guide dogs act as eyes for the visually impaired

Guide dogs act as eyes for the visually impaired

here is the interview done on my bakersfield guide dog group. sorry they did not include the video they did.

ready, set, and action

Well yesterday was a very fun day for me and medford. We decided to stay in Bakersfield till Monday night, so that we could attend the Guide Dog meeting that night. The meeting was little bit different for us, since we were being filmed by 17 news. We decided to seperate the big dogs and the puppies since we were working on different things. Medford was a good boy and was behaved and did all his commands like he should. They got some film of me and medford together. lol of course medford looked at me like really mom another camera i already have enough cameras taking pictures of me in fresno now bakersfield too. We do not know yet when or if they will air the film. Hopefully they will cause I think it will be cute.

meeting/ new addition

Well today was our weekly meeting, and we did something new. We normally do outings for our meeting, but today we instead went to one of the raiser's in the group work where we did lots of activities with the dogs. We had 4 stations set up. one was a distraction course where we had food and different toys to distract the dogs. Medford did great! Second station was meeting with our leader to discuss any issues our puppies have and to see how the dogs weights are. third station was a obedience rally course. Medford did really good. The final station was a go to bed station. We put some xpens up to block the pups, and then we would each go with our dogs and do go to bed few times. Unfortunally the floor was slippery so medfords bed kept slipping when hed run to it so he got little nervous, but by then end he was fine and doing it perfectly like he normally does. After that we had lunch (costco pizza and cookies, brownies, etc.). From there we went in pairs to walk our dogs by traffic. Medford is use to this from us walking to school last semester, and from us walking on campus so he was a pro.

Now for the exciting news. I just received a call from my first puppy i raised, wilbur, partner. She informed me that he has now been retired, and........he will be coming to CA to be my forever dog. I am sooooooo excited i've been waiting for this day. So now we have 4 dogs. My cc'd lobo, my sister's yorkie princess, my guide dog puppy medford, and now Wilbur will be joining us soon. We have not decided totally if he will stay with my parents in Bakersfield or join me and medford along with my roomate and her chihuahua in fresno, but im sure hell end up in fresno with me. So now the count down begins. Oh and Wilbur is a male yellow lab now 8 years old and very big should be over 80ib.

Bath time!

Medford needed a bath so I got him in my tub and gave him one. Pictures are of him after he got his bath. He did pretty good.

best dog ever

I know everyone says they have the best dog, but I have to say I really do. He is very loving and knows how to cheer me up when I am down. I recently learnd that my grandma passed away, and Medford was there with me to give me love and comfort. In his silly way he tried to sit on my lap and give me kisses. He even tried to snuggle up with me, however 75 ib golden/lab cross laying on someone is not very comfortable so I had to make him move. Today I also found out that the funeral is to be held in pitsburgh the week of my finals, which means I can't go. Of course yet again Medford was there with his love and support for me. Now i know why they are called mans best friend. And I can say I have the best dog cause I know he will always love me and be there for me whether I am happy, sad, or angry. I love you Medford you are the best.

Here they are

Jannet with new pup Tippin

Trish with Arden and Kim with Shawn

Medford and Arten in the car

Trish with Arden and Me with Shawn and Medford
The short lighter color one is Arden the tall darker color one is Shawn
Guess Medford thinks he is being replaced by Shawn

Puppy truck

Well I just got back from the puppy truck where 7 puppies came off.
For Bakerfield the names were
1. Shawn a male yellow lab (funny part is my dad's name is also Shawn whats the odds of that. He went to my friend kim).
2. Tippin a female black lab
3. Ardin a male 3/8 golden 5/8 lab cross
4. Voyager a male yellow lab
For Fresno Farsighted we got
1. Tippit a female black lab
and for the other fresno group
1. Teesha a female black lab
2. Stewart a male yellow lab
I will post pictures later today

improving

Well i hope im not jinxing myself by saying this but Medford and i had a great day at school today. As I have mentioned before Medford has developed this issue about wanting to chew on his leash and get wiggly in class (ecspecially if he has the gentle leader on). Well today he was a perfect puppy, and slept through both of my classes. I wasnt shocked that he slept through my 7am class since he doesnt like to be up that early unless he is going to get to play with my cc'd Lobo, and it was pretty cold today so he really wanted to curl up to be warm. My second class he is sometimes good and sometimes wiggly. Luckly today he was very good, which was good since I had a math test today. I was really shocked he slept through it though since I had left his gentle leader on. He was so sound asleep that when we got up I realized he had drooled some on the ground. Hmmm guess he was dreaming of food. Hopefully this is a sign that he is passed that I dont want to sit still in class stage.

On a second note a puppy van is coming tomorrow to drop off 7 puppies. I cant wait for the puppy breath. 4 will be going to bakersfield (names begin with a,v,s, and t), my fresno group fresno farsighted is getting 1 puppy(letter t), and the other fresno group is getting 2 puppies (letters s and t). It will be a fun day!

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

meeting

Well today we had our weekly Saturday meeting, and this weeks meeting was at downtown Clovis. We all met up in a parking lot to work on obiedience. Medford did ok he was not his normal self today, which i admit got pretty frusterating since I know he is a very good dog. For some reason when we did down and were told to stand over him as soon as I would go to walk over him he would freak out and stand up and back away from me. Normally he just lays there with me over him with no issue. So I took him aside and worked with him on it giving him food reward when he did good about me being over him. After a while he was lot better about it. After doing obedience we all walked around to expose the dogs to traffic. Medford did good he was little pully but not to bad. After walking around we stopped at a ice cream store to eat I wasnt to hungry so I sat there and chatted with everyone. Medford was very wiggly and did not want to lay down for the longest time, however by the end he settled down. Looks like i'm going to have to work even more with him. Hopefully, it was just an off day. Fingers crossed, because besides his wiggle issue he doesnt really have any other issues, and if he gets over this phase he should have a good chance of graduating.
I am hopefully going to meet up with my leader on Monday afternoon to take our dogs to a park to see the ducks. Medford has seen many animals, but I don't think he has seen ducks before. Also next friday I might be going with another raiser and her puppy in training to the snow. So we have some exciting things ahead of us.

update

Well today Medford did a lot better about being good in class. He slept through both my first two classes (second class is a lecture hall and the way he was laying when hed stretch in his sleep his head would fall over into the next row. everyone who saw got a good giggle out of it). The third class of the day he didnt do as good as he normally does in that class but he still did good. We were in class for 2 strait hrs, and the last 20 or so min he got wiggly. I cant blame him 2hrs of sitting still and i was getting restless to even though i enjoyed the lecture.

also we got our phase report today
for my bakersfield group I found out Diablo (he was raised by a first time raiser named LeaAnn) is in phase 6 and Fanta ( a female yellow lab) has been tentatively pulled as a breeder. Congrats to both dogs and their raisers.
for my fresno group we have no dogs up in training right now so there is no news.

wiggly boy

Well today I only had one class (4-650pm) and Medford was somewhat wiggly. To start before we left for class I let him run around my appartment for over an hr hoping to burn his energy. We went to class and did the new thing where we take the gentle leader off before we go into class. He had done great yesterday and settled down. However tonight he wasnt the same and was wiggly. He slept the first bit of class but then he got wiggly. I normally feed Medford after this class, but since he keeps acting out next week I am going to try and feed him before class and see if that helps. Fingers crossed.

crazy day

Well today did not start out as planned thanks to my alarm clock not going off this morning. I have a 7 am class on tue and thur so i get up at 5am those days to get ready and take care of medford. Well since i didn't wake up till 6am things were rushed. As a result Medford had to stay home during my morning class(i did feed him before i left). After that my 7am class i came home and let Medford play then headed to my afternoon math class. Now I have been having some trouble with Medford settling down cause he is constantly trying to get the gentle leader off, so my leader is having me try something new. We walk to the building where class is with the gentle leader on, once we get to the building I take the gentle leader off of him until class is done and we are outside again. I am also rewarding him with his kibble when he is laying there like he is suppose to. It seems to work he settled right in and went to sleep. Fingers crossed he keeps it up. After that we had to go buy my parking pass for the school semester, and he did great waiting in the long line. Once we got home i let him rest for a bit then brought him out to work on his "go to bed command" he seems to get it, and also seems to enjoy this command. Its amazing how far he has come since I got him.

Waiting for class

bored in math class

tired of waiting in a long line