Good boy

So ive seen in the past posts about having your dog sit or down stay while you spell their name with the kibble. i decided today was a good day to do that with andrew so i had him down stay while i spelled his name. He did great he stayed down he sniffed at the food some but soon as i said no he left it alone. He got an ice cube as reward for doing good

Medford's pups

So now that all of Medford's pups have gone to raisers I can now say the names. As of now Medford has 5 litters of pups. Guide dogs is now waiting to see how his pups do before deciding if they want to continue using him as a breeder or not (they do this with all the males they breed them alot then stop to see how the pups do). If he stays a breeder then they will use him when needed, but not as often as they did when he first became a breeder. If they decide not to use him anymore one of two things will happen. One he will be neutered and enter formal training, or he will be retired and just become a pet. Hopefully soon we will know whats decided. So now for the list of his pups

1st litter (mom pilar)
athena
astor
apricot
andrew
amara
allstar
akron
adora

2nd litter(mom damsel)
graham
georgia
garfield
garbo
gallagher

3rd litter(mom belize)
triton
trix
tori
tommy
tomales
tatum
tabouli

4th litter(mom malou)
stanton
spartan
sony
skyla
siesta
shimmer
scott
schroeder

5th litter (mom azul)
Brianne
brewster
brando
blaine
bishop
bernardo
benson
baylor

first 2 days of school

As I mentioned in my last post school has started up again, and this semester Andrew gets to join me. This week was a trial run to make sure Andrew could handle being in a classroom, since this week we only had three days of school it has been the perfect week to give it a try. Yesterday was our first day of school. It started out with me getting up at 9:15am to get me ready I also took care of Andrew, and let him play some. At about 11am it was time to head over to school for my first class. I had left an hour early since I wasn't sure how parking would be. We quickly found a spot to park and I got his jacket on him and then headed over to class. Since I was early I gave Andrew one more chance to go potty to make sure he was all empty. Then we headed into the classroom. Once there I found a seat in the front I like to sit in the front for two reasons. One I can see better being short it can sometimes be hard to see over people, and two the front gives the dog more room since there isn't another desk in front of us. Class was only 5 min long (yay!!!). All we did was walk in sit down wait for the teacher to mark who was there and then got  our syllabus, and then we were told we could leave. Andrew and I then headed back to my apartment where he got to play while i ate lunch. At 2:30 pm it was time to head back to campus for my next class. Again parking wasn't bad and we didn't have to walk far to get to the classroom. This classroom was on the second floor and the staircase in this building can get real crazy with students so I took the elevator. While in the elevator I had a teacher turn to me and say how sorry he felt that my dog had to wear a muzzle. I politely explained it was not a muzzle, but rather a halti and he could still open his mouth it was just so he wouldnt pull while walking. The teacher really didnt seem to care what I said and said he still felt sorry for the dog. Another person in the elevator then said so he can still bite.

soap box moment (really wanted to say this to them but bit my tongue): One of the things as a raiser that is very offensive to me is when people call the halt/gentle leader a muzzle. I know some people do not know what a gentle leader/halti is, and I understand that but once I explain what it is I really do not like people saying comments like "so he bites" or "can he still bite". To me saying that sounds like you think I would be rude enough to bring an unsafe animal into public. I know sometimes people are joking, but as I have explained to my friends the problem of the joke can be if someone overhears that comment they might actually think my dog bites and ask me to leave or might cause an issue for someone else with a service dog. I wish people in public would realize these pups are being raised for a special reason, and are friendly and DO NOT BITE.

We then went into class where Andrew went under my desk like a good boy. I was lucky cause in that class and the class I had after that my teacher was actually one of my friend's dad and I've had him before. He told the class that I had a guide dog in training and to not step on the dog or bother the dog.After that  class and before the next I had a short break so I  took Andrew down to go potty gave him some water and little of his food since my class somewhat cuts into his diner time. Then it was back up for my third class. We were done about 615 pm and headed home where we both crashed from being worn out.

Today was day 2 of school. We woke up at 8:30 am and got ready for school. At about 10 am we headed over to campus. Parking was harder to find today than it was yesterday. We had to walk a bit to get to class. We had to cut through the main part of campus to get to class so he had to walk through lots of people. Once at the building where class would be I let him go potty again and then went inside for class. Andrew did great again this time though instead of desks we were in a lecture hall type of classroom so he had to get use to being under a seat not a desk. By 12:15 class was done. That was my only class I have on thursdays. Tomorrow I only have one class, and then Andrew and I will be driving back to Bakersfield where he has a vet appointment to have his eye rechecked. We will be coming back to fresno saturday since I have a guide dog meeting. So to sum it all up Andrew has had a great first two days of class.

10 months old

Cant believe andrew is now ten months today he got to spend the day going to classes with me and he did great. Since hes 10 months old i figured id share my favorite picture of him with my other two dogs wilbur and lobo ill let you guess who the clown in the family is as well as a picture from his first day of school.

Bath time

Since school starts tomorrow and andrew will be going with me he had to get a bath i took him to a self service dog wash place he wasnt happy about getting a bath but we got it done now hes all clean and smells good :)

Retirement is soooo hard

This is how wilbur spends his days of retirement i know such a hard life

More monterey aquarium pictures

Andrew and I about to go into the room with sea horses

Andrew with some decorations

Andrew and I on the look out deck at the aquarium

Andrew with the ocean in the back

Andrew on our way back to the car

Andrew had a great time

monterey aquarium

Yesterday was a very fun day for Andrew and I. It started out with us getting up and going to pick one of my friends up to drive to Monterey. Once there we found parking and let Andrew go to the bathroom. We then waited for a trolly to take us to the Aquarium. Andrew did great he got on and settled once on. He also got off perfectly. Once at the Aquarium we waited in a short line to give our tickets. When i handed my ticket the lady noticed I had Andrew. She then told me the rules of having a service dog there. I was told i could go anywhere except one small section cause it was a room you walk into that has birds flying around. As I started to walk another employee came up and gave me the same talk I did my best to not laugh. We then went through the entire aquarium. It has two floors with different tanks with different fish.This allowed us to work stairs and elevators. While there we saw fish, sea horses, jelly fish, penguins, sea otters,sharks, and pelicans. Andrew behaved himself and was fasinated by everything. Andrews favorite thing was the pelicans. He sat there watching them and tilting his head trying to figure out what they were. My favorite thing was the sharks to me they are so cool. We spent about 2 hrs in the aquarium. After the Aquarium my friend, Andrew, and I went and walked around a bit. We then went and ate at bubba gumps Andrew did pretty good considering we were sat outside on a wood porch with cracks in it, and birds kept flying by us. After lunch we walked back to my car to drive back home. It was a great day and had great training opportunities.

Andrew by one of the tanks

andrew wasn't impressed with the sting ray

as i took this picture a shark swam by

one of the sharks

one of the sharks 

andrew checking out the penguins

Andrew and I with the Penguins

Andrew by the sea otters

Andrew was fascinated by the pelicans

Andrew with the pelicans

day 3 & 4 of trip

Day 3: Day 3 was the big day, Fun Day. It started with us getting up and going to the lobby for breakfast. After breakfast we headed to the campus for Fun day. Once we got there we went shopping at the different booths and the gift store. It was then time to head over to the area where the opening ceremonies was being held. After my friend and I walked around some before heading over to the littermate meeting. I got to meet Medford's pups sparton and stanton they were both very cute. After meeting the two pups we walked some more we even went and saw the vet clinic. It was then time to go meet Andrews litter mates. His sister Amara showed up. It was nice to see her, since the last time we  saw her she was a baby. Amara was shorter and thinner then andrew, and she isnt as fluffy as andrew. We then did some more shopping, before heading to a presentation on the breeding program at guide dogs. It was ver interesting to see how the select what dogs become a breeder, and it allowed me a chance to understand what went on while Medford was in breeder evals. After the presentation it was time for lunch. We got to enjoy hamburgers or veggie burgers some chips and a drink thanks to the lions club. The food was yummy even though I didnt get to totally finish since andrew decided to act up since kids were running near him. I have found andrew does not like when kids are energetic around him. After we ate lunch we stopped by the booth where the cfrs put us through some different tests. The first test was to have the cfr check his weight and how his equipment fits him. I was little nervous about this since Andrew can get mouthy when others handle him, but he did great and wasn't mouthy and got and excellent report on his weight and gear fit. Then it was onto greeting people Andrew could have cared less he was more interested in watching a decoration blowing(such a golden) by but stayed in a sit. Then we did some different commands. At the end the cfr was impressed with him.Then it was back to last minute shopping. While waiting for the closing ceremonies I got a call that I had won a silent auction I had put my name down for. The closing ceremonies started with a graduation of 6 guide dog teams. Then it was time for the moment everyone looks forward to the puppy handout. My friend received her grandpup. He is a male black lab named Warren, and he is really small. After all that fun we headed back to the hotel. We invited a former fresno puppy raiser who moved to washington to come over and eat pizza with us. The pizza was yummy. Then we all took turns passing baby warren around and enjoying the puppy breath.

Tomales and Andrew by the welcome sign

Andrew by the Guide Dog sign

Andrew at opening ceremonies 

Medford pup Stanton

Medford pup Sparton

Andrew by some decorations

Andrew and his sister amara

baby warren sleeping in the hotel

Day 4: Not much happened this day. We woke up and loaded the car up. Then it was onto the 14 hr drive home. We kept stops very short since we had Warren with us. Yes we drove 14 hrs with 3 dogs in my car. We had two crates Andrew in one and tomales and warren in the other. On the way back we stopped in stockton again to buy 2 dozen glazed doughnuts from krispy kreme. All dogs did great and slept the whole time. We were very happy to get home.

Day 1 &2 of oregon fun day trip

So since our trip to oregon had lots of fun stuff i have decided to divide this post into to parts.

Day1: On day 1 of our trip my friend dropped her stuff and her pup tomales off at my house so that i could pack everything into my car and let the pups burn energy before a long drive. At about 10:30am i loaded the pups into the car and went to get my friend. We drove for about 4 hours before stopping in stockton to fill up on gas, get food to eat, and best of all get a dozen glazed doughnuts from Krispy Kreme. We continued on after that stoping for very short periods to get gas or use the bathroom. Once we reached oregon we made a special stop in Medford, Or. Ever since i raised medford I wanted to go there so i could say ive been to the place my puppy Medford was named after. After stoping in Medford we continued onto Roseburgh where we stopped for the night. It also happened to be where the puppy truck (truck that picks up and drops off pups) was stopping for the night. I decided I did not want to get Andrews crate out since we were only staying for one night, so for the first time Andrew got to sleep on a tie down. At first he wasn't sure what I expected of him, but soon as I turned the lights off he went to sleep. I woke up in the middle of the night and reached down to make sure he was being good. At first I couldnt feel him so i began to worry that he had chewed through his tie down. I then reached under the bed silly boy had decided to sleep under the bed.

Day2: The next day we got up bright and early. Once we got ready we went down into the hotel parking lot where we met some other raisers to play with pups that were on the puppy truck. They were so cute. Andrew wasnt sure what to make of these small things with sharp teeth so it was funny to watch him. We also had fun trying to guess which pup was the one my friend was getting. My friend had been starting tomales for another raiser while waiting for a pup from her pup shawn who had become a breeder. All we knew was he was a male black lab puppy name started with W. After playing with the pups we went back into our hotel room to pack our stuff. Since we had quite a bit of time till we could check into our hotel for funday we decided to go to multnomah falls. One of the puppy truck drivers had told us that it was a great place to take andrew and tomales to walk. We had a great time walking the boys there we even made it half way up the falls. Andrew did great at ignoring people and dogs, and walking slow on the way down since i didnt have the greatest shoe on. We did have some frustrating moments like people letting their dogs run up to andrew and tomales or petting them without asking first. I even had someone look at me and say, " i know im not allowed to pet him" and then proceeded to bend down and pet andrew luckily andrew was good and sat there. I was so stunned i didnt know what to say. After walking around multnomah falls we went to our hotel and checked in. After unpacking we rested for a bit and let the pups play some. We then went and met up with some other raisers who had invited us to dinner. Andrew did pretty good at dinner he got a little excited when a raiser gave their young pup a toy but once the pup was done with the toy andrew calmed down again. We enjoyed our dinner and getting to talk to other raisers. After dinner we went back to the hotel and crashed.

andrew ready for his walk

multnomah falls

a great view of multnomah falls

tomales and andrew by the sign for Multnomah falls

Tomales and Andrew on the bridge with multnomah falls in the back 

andrew with multnomah falls in the back

Andrew and I on our walk up multnomah falls

Andrew saying how much he loves the weather in Oregon

coming down from our hike Andrew had a blast

guide dog fun day/ferry ride

This past weekend was guide dogs annual fun day. Fun day is an event where raisers, breeders,guide dog users and all the dogs get together for a fun day. There are booths set up for clubs to sell things and people are able to learn what goes on at the campus. There is also set times where raisers can meet their pups litter mates unfortunately none of andrews were there:( . However, I did get to see some of the other medford pups. The best part of my day was when Medfords breeder keepers stopped by with Medford. It was so great to see him again. We managed to get pictures of me with Medford and andrew as well as pictures of medford with Andrew(1st litter) graham(2nd litter) and tomales(3rd litter). After visiting with Medford and his family i did some shopping at the booths. After some shopping it was time to head over to the grass for the guide dog graduation as well as the puppy handout. Our fresno group had one of our dogs,pelham, graduate that day. This was the first time ever guide dogs did a graduation the same day as fun day, and it was nice. After the graduation it was time to hand out baby pups to their raisers. The Bakersfield group i use to belong to received one of the baby pups that dad it was a male golden named vaquero. After all that fun we went with my fresno group to dinner.Throughout the weekend Andrew and my friend's pup Tomales did great.

Medford's breeder photo

pilar andrew's mom

Medford's T litter

Medford with Andrew tomales and graham

our groups fun day booth

new puppy vaquero

pelham the fresno dog that graduated

The day after fun day was my fresno's group trip to pier 39. It started out with my friend and I getting up taking care of the dogs and going down to eat breakfast at our hotel. It was nice to practice going through a buffet with Andrew, and he did great. We then loaded up into my car and drove to meet my group at the ferry in Larkspur. Once there we did some commands with the pups before getting on the ferry. The dogs did great. Once the ferry got to san francisco we got off and let the dogs go potty. We then walked over to a hotel that has a glass elevator, and took the elevator up and then back down so the dogs could get use to a glass elevator. Andrew could care less. We then walked over to a fountain outside that has stepping stones you can walk on. Unfortunately this year there was no water in the fountain but we still walked across the stepping stones. Andrew did great and had no fear going across them. After that we walked a long way to pier 39. Once at pier 39 we had free time where we split up. Me and some of the other raisers went to bubba bumps to eat. Luckily one of my friends works there so she sat us right away (yay for no waiting). We had 6 big dogs all under one booth, so it was funny watching the reactions once people realized there were 6 dogs under the table. All the dogs did great and slept while we ate. After we ate we walked the pups over to see the ocean and seals/sea lions(can never remember what they are lol). Most of the pups were interested in the seals but not afraid one of the pups was little unsure but was ok when he could hear them but not see them. After that we met up with the rest of the group to take a trolly back to where the ferry was. The trolly was very full so we had to make sure the dogs didn't get stepped on. One time when the trolly stopped a guy pushed his way on everyone tried to tell him there was no room to sit and there were service dogs on here so there also was no room to stand. The guy would hear nothing of it he shoved people out of the way all the while he was yelling at people and yelling that these fing dogs should get off so he could have room. People told him he needed to shut up or get off. He actually made one of our raisers move over so he could sit (there wasn't much room to move over and she had a 5 month old pup who she had to try to move over also). Once he sat he kept going on how the dogs should not be on here, finally one guy turned around and yelled for him to quit it or he'd make sure he was kicked off at the next stop. Once we got off the trolly we had to rush over and get on the ferry to head back. After a long day my friend and i picked up pizza and just chilled in our hotel room. This coming weekend her and I will be taking tomales and andrew to the fun day at the oregon campus.

Andrew on the ferry

Andrew with the ferry in the back ground

Andrew at the ferry gate

andrew at the hotel where we practiced riding glass elevators

Andrew in front of what is usually a fountain

andrew graham and carsey checking out the seals/sea lions