1 year

Instead of listing 12 things I like about Pinnacle I am going to describe what we did for his birthday weekend. It started out with me leaving him home loose for 2 hrs while I went to take a test at school. He was a very good boy and didn't touch anything in my apartment. Once I got home we loaded my car up and headed to Bakersfield. After I got to Bakersfield I unloaded all my stuff then Pinnacle, my mom, and I went to the country club and met up with one of my mom's friends for drinks. Pinnacle was a good boy and just slept right next to my chair. After enjoying a drink my mom and I went home to decide what to have for dinner. My parents and I decided on Baja Fresh so my mom went to get the food while I let Agent and Pinnacle run in the back yard. Once we ate I let Pinnacle out of his crate and worked on him being loose. He has never been loose with all our dogs so that took lots of patience.

The next morning I got up and got ready to go with my dad to take Pinnacle to the mountains. We drove up to Ponderosa area and happened to find some snow. Pinnacle has never seen snow so he was very excited to play and try to eat it. He was like a kid on Christmas day all excited over this new experience. I wasn't sure how he would do about going potty in snow since it can be cold but he had no issue at all. After spending time in the snow we loaded back up into my dads truck and drove to Kernville to meet up with some of my dad's friends.My dad's friends were camping so Pinnacle got to chill and experience a campground for the first time. He was very well behaved and remained sitting by me. All my dad's friends couldn't get over how good he was being. While my dad talked to his friends I took Pinnacle down to the river near the camp ground. Pinnacle enjoyed walking near the river. Once I was done walking Pinnacle my dad and I took Pinnacle over to Kernville's Whiskey Flats day. It is a major event in that town. People were all dressed up in old fashion western clothes, there were tons of motorcycles, and tons of people with dogs. The event was packed so we only stayed a short bit. I enjoyed seeing some of the booths set up and Pinnacle was perfect while there. He ignored all distractions and remained walking on a loose leash. It was a great event and he was a great dog to take there. We left after about 20-30 min of being there since we had to drive home and my mom was cooking a yummy dinner.

Pinnacle by the river

Pinnacle and I in the snow

Pinnacle walking in the snow

Pinnacle laying down in the snow

Pinnacle giving the "do we have to leave" face

Sunday was a calmer day. Most of Sunday was spent on me doing homework. We worked more on Pinnacle being loose in the house. He started to realize that my sister's 4ib yorkie is the boss of all the dogs. It was quite funny to watch her take charge over him. After homework was done we had to get ready for an engagement party. The party was at a restaurant called Hungry Hunter's. I decided to take Pinnacle with me so he could learn how to be good in a restaurant even if the table is very crowded. When my parents and I walked in the hostess at the restaurant wasn't to thrilled about Pinnacle and gave us a hard time. After talking and explaining some stuff about him she finally let us in so we could join the rest of the party. I said my hellos and took my seat at the table in order to get Pinnacle out of the way. We were at the party for quite a while and Pinnacle remained under my seat perfectly behaved. When it was time to leave I stood up and called Pinnacle out. People who came into the party after I sat down were shocked as they had no idea I had him with me. Even the person sitting next to me had no idea. I was very proud of him. Sunday also happened to be Pinnacle's 1st birthday. We gave him 2 new bones which he loved.

Pinnacle and I ready for the engagement party

Monday was a holiday which meant no school so I stayed in Bakersfield that day as well. Pinnacle and I helped my mom run errands. Now that he is a year old I am starting to work Pinnacle more on his flat collar instead of his gentle leader. During the errands I worked him on his flat collar behavior and he did perfect. He has really come a long way and is great on outings. After running errands with my mom  we had to take Agent to the vet to have his ears rechecked because he has had an ear infection. I decided to take Pinnacle with us as he has a fear of being at the vet. He was nervous at first but relaxed once he saw how much Agent liked being there. After the vet I met up with one of my friends to eat dinner and walk Pinnacle along traffic. After all that I had her work with him on commands some. Then we both worked on him ignoring food from people's hands (he is only allowed to accept food reward from the person holding his leash). Once we finished that we met up with the puppy raising group in Bakersfield. Pinnacle was excellent during the meeting, and behaved while being worked on his flat collar and gentle leader. After the meeting was all done my friend and I enjoyed some cold stone ice cream and chatted some. Then it was time to head home.

Pinnacle had a busy birthday weekend but through it all showed what a good boy he is. It is hard to believe my time with him is quickly coming to an end.

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

Winter Break

Well this post is pretty late but I thought I would catch everyone up on what Pinnacle and I did over winter break. Due to somethings I am unwilling to talk about I am back at Fresno State for one last semester.  I spent most of the winter break taking care of some headaches with the school so Pinnacle didn't do to much traveling. My sister's horse passed away during winter break too so we were also busy dealing with that. Pinnacle did get to have some fun though while we were home he got to go with my dad and I to the country club we belong to and watch my dad golf. He learned how to ride in the golf cart (aka not sitting or laying on the gas pedal), walk nicely on a loose leash on the course, and to ignore golf balls. He did really good and got tons of attention.

Pinnacle on the golf course

Pinnacle ready to ride in style

Golfing wasn't the only fun adventure Pinnacle had. We also got to go to one of Guide Dogs graduations. It was a special graduation as Warren who was raised by one of my friends was graduating as a guide. He is now working in Canada. Also one of Medford's pups Bishop graduated as a guide that day. My friend and I got there early so we walked Pinnacle around the campus and went into the gift shop. After all that we went into the dorm/graduation area to see Warren and meet his new partner. Pinnacle was a good boy and slept through the graduation. After graduation a few of us raisers went to eat at BJ's. All the pups did great and even slept through a fire alarm (there was no fire it just accidentally went off). After that my friend and I along with Pinnacle drove back to Fresno, and she continued back to Bakersfield.

Medford's pup Bishop

Warren 

Pinnacle at the Guide Dog graduation

Other than that our break consisted of going to stores, going out to eat, and going to movies. Agent stayed behind in Bakersfield and will come back to Fresno midFebruary that way I can spend some one on one time with Pinnacle to work on some things.