past pups cont.

Polaris male golden lab cross (7/8 golden 1/8 lab) pup # 8 transfered still a P.I.T
Medford a male golden lab cross (3/4 golden 1/4 lab) pup #7 breeder
Sweetie female yellow lab pup #6 cc'd for being distracted now living as a pet with my leader in bakersfield

past pups

Baron Male yellow lab pup # 5 working guide in CA
Lobo Male yellow lab pup # 4 cc'd for health now living as a pet with my parents

Fabrica female black lab pup #3 cc'd for dog distraction lives with family friends

Pascal male golden pup #2 working guide in texas
Wilbur male yellow pup #1 worked in georgia now retired and living with my parents

Here are pictures of my past pups i raised

answer to questions day 1 con.

Ok so another question I was asked was what it is like raising a puppy in college. To start I have not had a baby puppy while attending college due to the fact of where I live it would not be safe to have a baby puppy. The reason being it is pet friendly and all the dogs share the grass so since I do not know if all dogs have had all shots it is safer not to have a baby puppy. I would say raising in college is not easy but it is not hard either. As long as you have a puppy who can settle for classes and has a good bit of confidence where it can handle big crowds its not that hard. The best thing to do is plan your class schedule around your puppy. I always leave at least an hour between classes so I have time to relieve the pup, eat if I need too, and allow the pup to stretch. If I have a class that overlaps with the dogs dinner I pack the food in a container and take it to school with me so I can feed the dog before that class. So far I have had no issues with my professors about having a dog in class. Having a dog on campus has been great it has allowed me to meet to meet new people, educate others on how to act around a service animal as well as educate people with disabilities about the option of having a service dog. The one down side is it does somewhat limit what I can do. I did leave medford home sometimes for a couple hours so I could enjoy myself. If I am going to be gone for a very long period and can't have the dog with me I try to find a puppy sitter in my guide dog group to watch the dog. Taking random trips is very limited since unless the dog can go it can be hard to find someone to watch the dog last minute. Over all I would say even with Medford I had a pretty normal college year last year. I still got to hang with friends and do normal things sometimes with and other times without Medford. Granted I live in an appartment so things are different then if I was in college renting a house or condo that had a yard where I could have an outside pen allowing me to leave a dog little more often then I did with Medford.

answers to questions day 1

Ok so I recived some questions today and I will do my best to answer them the best I can. One question was have I ever blogged about my other puppies. The answer is no I have not blogged about my previous dogs Medford was my first one. However, I did mention Wilbur my first pup in some of this blog. Here is a little about each pup. My first puppy was Wilbur a male yellow lab. I received Wilbur in 6th grade. Wilbur was a loving boy, but we did have some issues with him while I raised him. To start he had tummy issues and would often have loose stools making it difficult for the longest time to be able to take him places. He was about 8-9 months old when he finally got over that issue. He also suffered from ear infections alot too. His biggest issue though was his love to steel food. He went on to graduate as working guide in Georgia. He is now retired and living a spoiled life as a pet with my parents. My second puppy was a golden retriever named Pascal. I received Pascal the same day I returned Wilbur. Pascal was coraised by me and my sister since at the time I had lots of homework in 8th grade which made it difficult for me to always have time for him. He was a good boy when working. His only issue was if left alone he would bark like crazy. Pascal got to attend my week long 8th grade graduation trip as well as go on stage with me when I graduated. Pascal went with me the first month or so of high school before he returned for his formal training. Pascal graduated as a working guide in texas. We received notice a few years ago that he had been retired for unknown reasons, but a year after retiring was reinstated as a guide to the same person(this was a first for guide dogs for the blind). My third pup was a female black lab named fabrica. Fabrica came to me my freshman year of high school. She was very interesting to raise since she was my first female. Fabrica attended school with me almost everyday once she was old enough. She had an issue of being dog distracted and chewing up things while loose in our home(yes she chewed up one of my mom's cell phones). She was career changed while in formal training for dog distraction. I was very sad that I was unable to keep her since I was attached to her, but I had to decide to keep her or keep raising and I chose to keep raising. She now lives with family friends who live near us so I do still get to see her and sometimes watch her if they are gone. After Fabrica came Lobo a male yellow lab. Lobo was still a pup (about 6 months old) when he was career changed. He was career changed for a health issue though vets can not say exactly whats wrong all we know is no long walks for him or hell start to limp. He is now a pet living with my parents. He and my dad are best buds. After Lobo I waited about 1-2 months before getting my next puppy. We wanted Lobo to settle into pet life and we were deciding if we could handle two dogs. My fifth puppy was Baron a male yellow lab. Baron started out a very easy puppy very mellow and easy going. However, not long after getting him he developed loose stools. We would get him better then as we would put him on his food the loose stools came back. After few months of this guide dogs had him go to the san rafael campus, and they ran test and found nothing wrong. We believe that we might have bought the wrong food, and that upset his tummy. When we got Baron back he had hit his teenage years so he became a little stuborn and would get distracted easly. As a result he was put on a food proticall where i rewarded him with a treat for focussing on me and not the distractions. Well despite being a lab he really was not food motivated. He would put food in his mouth suck on it then spit it out even hot dogs and cheese didn't work. In the end about a few months before his recall we got the letter to get him neutered. After that he was a lot better about working. He graduated as a working guide in California. I have not heard from or seen him since his graduation. After Baron I got Sweetie a female yellow lab. Sweetie was quite the puppy. From day one she had lots of energy. Sweetie was a very hyper dog so she was very limited on being able to go to school with me. As a result we decided to coraise her with my leader in Bakersfield. We coraised her till I left for college. When I left another raiser who I am friends with finished her. Sweetie was career changed for being to hyper and unable to focuss. She now lives as a pet with my leader I coraised her with. After Sweetie I received Medford who I had been blogging about. I also started a puppy named Polaris who I transfered a few months ago. I am now waiting on a transfer puppy to raise.

something new

Ok well since I do not have a dog to blog about at the moment I have decided to try something new for now. I have decided to answer questions that you as bloggers might have for me. So feel free to leave any questions you have for me in the comment box, and through the next two or so weeks I will try to answer them. Feel free to ask me anything about puppy raising for Guide Dogs for the Blind, what it is like raising in college, about any of my past dogs I raised, etc.

puppy sitting

So what is one to do while waiting for a transfer puppy to come? Puppy sit!! This past week I had the joy of getting to watch guide dog puppy Shawn. For those who aren't familiar puppy sitting is when a puppy goes to stay with another member of the guide dog group while their raiser goes out of town. Shawn was a good boy. He was a great dog to take to class so my teachers could get use to the idea of a dog in the class. All my teachers love him. He just went under my desk (well under as best as a huge 10 month old puppy can) and slept. It was really hot this week so I limited the outings we took. It was really nice to have a leash back in my hands, and I look forward to the next time I have a puppy.

p.s. pictures will be posted of shawn once i get on my own computer.

update

sorry this update is a little late. As I posted before Medford is now a breeder. I was informed that last week Medford went to his breeder keeper family. After I got the call from Guide Dogs for the Blind I also got an email with the name of the family he will live with, where they live, and how to get in contact with them. I sent an email to his new family on Monday introducing myself. I haven't heard back but I hope to hear back soon. We also found out that Medford was being bred this past weekend. We are hoping to get a puppy from this litter for my parents to start for me. In the meantime I am hoping a transfer will come up that I can finish while I wait on a Medford pup. So far no news on a transfer. It has been weird not having a dog with me at school. This was the first time besides my first year of college that I started school without a dog with me since I started raising guide dogs.

It's official

It is official my baby Medford is going to be graduating as a breeder for Guide Dogs for the Blind. We will present him to his breeder keepers October 8 at the Guide Dog graduation. It is a big honor for a dog to be selected as a breeder. We are sad that we wont be getting him back, but happy that he will be doing what he was born to do. We have decided that if a transfer dog does not come up in the next 2 months we will apply to get a Medford puppy to raise. We look forward to seeing our boy again in October, and seeing him become a daddy to some great puppies.

funday photos

my friend kim puppy shawn worn out after a long weekend
puppy pile

polaris' dad taylor

Polaris in his "nothin' but a polaris dog" shirt

Polaris and 3 of his siblings

polaris/ funday

This past weekend was funday at guide dogs. It started out with me, polaris, my friend kim, and her puppy in training shawn all driving up to san fransisco area. Once we got there we checked into our hotel room at novato oaks. After checking in we rested and let the dogs play some then drove to Tiburon to meet my Bakersfield group for dinner. When we got there we realized that there was a street fair going on and that they were shooting guns off for sailboat races. Poor Polaris did not like all the noise so I ate quickly and then went and sat far away from the noise as I could till the others were done. The next day was guide dogs annual funday. We started out by going to polaris' littermate meeting where we met some of his siblings phillo padma and palero. After that we went to the fresno booth to help sale some stuff for an hour. After our shift we were able to do some shopping. Polaris started to show signs of stress so we left him in a crate at the booth and continued to shop. We then went into the kennels to look around. I managed to get a glimpse of medford. I was behind a wall so i saw him but he didnt see me. After that we went got the lunch they were serving and continued to look around. At 1 pm we went to a syminar they were holding on the new training they were doing with the dogs. 2 dogs I knew were demo dogs. The next day was my fresno group annual ferry ride into san fransisco. We rode the ferry into san fransisco then got off and walked to pier 39 where we were able to do whatever we wanted for about an hour. Some of us went to eat lunch during that time. after the free time we regrouped and went over to work the dogs near a fountain and then in a glass elevator in a hotel. Polaris had to miss this day since it would have been to stressfull.

Now for the news on polaris. As you might have noticed polaris is a very soft temperment puppy. It was decided on funday that polaris would be transfered from us to a new raiser. The reason he was transferred was because of being soft temperment there was worry he would notbe able to handle college with me. Our leader took him to his new raiser yesterday. However, the new raiser is only able to keep him for a month. our CFR has told us if he looks like he has made enough progress my Bakersfield leader could take over polaris for a few months then if he is ready for college I could get him back. He could also get ccd at any point too. We also have the option to say to transfer him again to someone else after the month is up and get a different puppy transfered to me. We havent made any decisions and are taking it day by day for now.

I will post funday pictures another day

medford update

I just got an email today about Medford and hes been....................




tentively pulled as a breeder!!!



They are waiting on the results of the last few tests. If he passes he will become an official breeder for guide dogs for the blind. He will go live with a family as a pet and go up to guide dogs when he is needed. Unfortunally we don't live in the required distance to keep a breeder so he will live with someone else. We are happy and sad about the news. We are sad that we wont be getting him back if he passes since him and I were so close, but happy that if he makes the final cut he could be having pups that will change many lives.

polaris update

Hey sorry I haven't posted in a while life has been crazy, and I haven't been doing to much with polaris. So far we've taken a trip to the jelly belly factory where a club was hosting an event there. Polaris did great. We were able to spend a lot of time working on his issue with children's toys.By the end he was doing great and would go up to them. Other then that we've taken him on small outings. Mainly I have been taking him to the mall to work with him on crowds, different noises, etc to help prepare him to go to college. This weekend Polaris got to go to a puppy sitter in Fresno while I was on a trip. He got a good report. I missed him a lot while gone. It is hard to believe he will be 5 months tomorrow. He is still pretty small ecspecially compared to the others i have raised, but i've always wanted to raise a small one so it's interesting. We are looking forward to Fun day (for those who aren't with GDB fun day is a huge event for puppy raisers that gdb has. Its a great time to meet other raisers and puppy sibs.).

Medford update he is still in breeder evals. Hope to hear some news soon on if they are going to pull him as a breeder and complete the last few test, neuter him and put him in phase training, or cc him. I am sure hes having tons of fun up at gdb.