Name Game: X Names

We're down to the last bit of the alphabet and believe it or not I actually have a few "X" names. There aren't as many as the other letters because X is a funny letter. So there won't be 4 names of each, but please still vote.

Female Names:
1. Xantha
2. Ximena

Male Names:
1. Xander
2. Xanthos

New Pool

I bought Rocco a kiddie pool Today because summer finally came to the valley! I can't believe how hard it was to find a place that sold little kiddie pools. At first we went to Target then Lowes and then Walmart! When I fell in Walmart because of a large puddle I decided to call it a morning and go home. Rocco did really well when I fell though. I have a "bad hip" because of a car accident I was in last year so when I landed on that hip I had a little trouble getting up. Rocco came over to me and didn't try to lick me or play with me. He just stood there and allowed me to use him and a support to get up. If he decides not to be a Guide Dog he might be a great candidate for a Companion Dog. Anyway, pictures for you. I tried to upload a video, but it wouldn't load for some reason.

He needed a little coaxing to get in the pool at first. He thought it was going to be a bath.
After he got used to it he loved it. He walked all around the pool in circles.
Arwen didn't really have much interest in the pool besides getting a refreshing drink.
He would paw the water to get his kong and his jug. I think he really loved it.

He's sleeping now which is good for me because I have yoga tonight. He can't go, not because the teacher doesn't like him. It's quite the opposite really. The only reason he wouldn't be allowed is because she was worried that someone might be allergic.

Oh Happy Day

Why am I showing you a picture of Rocco in his crate? Because this morning, just now, when I left the room to get a drink of water Rocco decided to go into his crate himself. When I came back into the room I was pleasantly surprised by the fact the Rocco was lying nicely in his crate. He was curled up, just looking at me. I was so proud of him! But of course He decided to get up and come over as soon as he saw the camera come out.

Name Game: W Names

I love the letter W. Why? Well, I'm not too sure. It could be because my grandpa(also known as Pawpop) pronounced it "doubleya" or it could be because no matter the name it looks like two v's not two u's.

Female Names:
1. Winifred
2. Waterloo
3. Welsh
4. Wednesday

Male Names:
1. Westminster
2. Wiremu (a Maori name. You all remember how much I love Maori names?)
3. Wilson
4. Winston (yay Winston!)

Name Game: V Names

Down to V names are we? We're getting down to the end of the alphabet. So keep posting those names for me! I'm still trying to convince my step-mom that Rosie is an overused name so I need spectacular suggestions.

Today's Letter: "V"

Female Names:
1. Vera
2. Vibrant
3. Veni
4. Valentine

Male Names:
1. Valor
2. Viggo
3. Vince
4. Valiant

Baseball

Hey guys. This post is coming late in the day I know. I was going to post it in the morning, but I had to let Rocco digest his food because the poor boy just got to eat his dinner about 30 minutes ago. Why? Because we went to a baseball game! I LOVE baseball so I was very excited when my leader said I could take him as long as there were no fireworks. And since fireworks are only on Friday nights I could definitely take Rocco tonight. Seeing as I'm a little tired and ready to go to bed this is basically going to be a picture post. Let me just say that Rocco was AMAZING!

This is my player, John Bowker.

Yeah, he's amazing.

Love my boy's smiling face.

Especially love this picture.

I can't believe this shot. You can tell his tongue is always going.

Such a handsome boy.


Such a happy boy even in the heat.

I love his tongue. It flops everywhere.

Though sometimes it does stay in his mouth.

I just can't get over how handsome he is.



He's all smiles.

The Next star Grizzle? I don't know...

But he does look handsome in his hat.

Luckily no one was sitting next to us because Rocco wanted to stretch out in the heat. I snapped this picture then moved him because I didn't want his face to get stepped on.

Just sort of showing off how great my puppy is. Look at him ignoring those Garlic Fries. There was a point where he was facing them and it could have been easy for him just to jump at them, but he slept on. I'm so proud of him. Though the people moved them because they said it was tempting. I said he was more interested in the flies around it (flies and ants will be his downfall) they said that he might get them when I'm not looking. Did they think he wasn't on a leash?

Well, we ended up loosing pretty badly. We played well all through the game until the last two innings. The team seemed to loose hope or spirit or something. Oh well. It was still fun. AND since I know Rocco does so well we'll definitely be going again this summer.

Wedding

Hey everyone! Last night was the wedding ceremony and Rocco did awesome! He was part of the processional and he laid down in the grass and behaved (mostly) through the whole ceremony. He did try to rub off his Halti as my brother was doing his reading and of course he waited until I dropped the leash and stepped on it to do this. He did great at the reception too! He laid next to me and ate his dinner as I ate my dinner and downed a few virgin Margaritas. I'm not a big drinker, but my brother makes some killer drinks. He's a bartender. I was actually a little sad that I was unable to partake in the margaritas...and the wine. We grow some great grapes for wine here. But I pretty much stood around eating cupcakes and ended up waking up with a sugar hangover. So I guess it all balanced out if you know what I mean.

You'll have to indulge me for just a second while I show you some pictures of people.

This is Me, my Brother, and his Girlfriend. My hair is a little out of place but Astrid looks, as always, gorgeous. Darn Swedes. There here visiting. Unfortunately she has to go back on Tuesday.

That me and my cousin Thad. He's an amazing dancer. I love it when he teaches me how to swing.
Me and my cousin Pace. I've never actually seen the family resemblance between the two of us, but I kind of do in this picture. What do you think?
Me and Em. Emily was my hero when I was a kid...still kind of is. She's about 5 years older than me.

Ok, so now on to the doggie pictures. We had professional pictures taken as well. I'm hoping to get some on my computer so you can see the professional picture of me and Rocco. HAHA. Everyone was taking pictures with their dates and the photographer (a family friend) called me over and said he wanted to get a picture of me and my baby. :) I think he uses one of my head shots from about a year ago in his office, but I'm not sure.

There we are. Me in my bridesmaid's dress and him in his bow tie. Can you see it?

I really love this picture of Rocco! Now, if any of you follow Paris' (a recently CC'd Guide Dog Puppy) blog you have to help me decide something. I think this picture make Rocco look a little like Paris. What do you think?

Another great picture of Rocco! He's so photogenic. I'm so jealous.
That's my bouquet. Rocco wanted to eat it.
He got a little fidgety towards the end. It's like a child who gets really hyper when they're really tired. So we took a walk around Storyland. (see note about this at the bottom)
He even got to get on the dance floor with me.

Rocco really did great! I actually broke a lot of rules with him last night which is not something I do often. Ask anyone who knows me, I'm a stickler for rules. I allowed him to dance with me. Like, I held his paws and we slow danced. I also really wasn't strict about where he was supposed to stand or things like that. We even ran a little. But he did amazing. He was ready to go to bed when we got home last night. I can always tell when he's tired because instead of not wanting to go into his kennel he rushes towards it before I get the leash off. I think he enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere last night. He got lots of love and lots of complements.

Now about that picture on the little wheel. We didn't actually play on, but I thought it was a cool photo moment so I stuck him up there for a second. Now, I recently learned that I'm not supposed to let him on the playground meant for kids...oops. :/ That first time he went down a slide it wasn't by my choice you see. I was going to take him up the two stairs (not two flights, but two stairs) and then back down. I thought it would be good practice for Rocco because it was a weird surface. He loved it. In fact he's the one who thought, "Hey! Cool! What's this do!?" He went down the slide first, so I didn't force him. But I;m not suppose to take him on it again. I told him that he wasn't allowed to do it again and he really looked sad. Oh, well.

Name Game: T and U Names

Yesterday was pretty hectic so I totally forgot to post my name game. Though the comments on these have dwindled. Please, please, please keep adding names and voting. I really love to see what people come up with. And take a trip down to old Name Games and post comments there as well.

Today's Letters: "T" and "U"

Female Names: T
1. Tipper
2. Teagan
3. Tally
4. Tiffie

Male Names: T
1. Truman
2. Trever
3. Theo
4. Teddy

Female Names: U
1. Ursa
2. Ursula
3. Ulla
4. Umiko

Male Names: U
1. Ulysses
2. Utley (It's a family name)
3. Ubermensch (meaning superman in German. I think I might have misspelled it and I can't put umlauts with my computer.)
4. Ulrich

"Rehearsal Dinner"

Yesterday was a pretty busy day for Rocco and me. My dad and step-mom are having a wedding vow renewal today so yesterday was set up day. The ceremony is going to take place in Storyland. For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, Storyland is a child's playland that involves many nursery rhyme characters. It's also attached to Playland which is like a carnival without the swindlers. Anyway, a whole bunch of us headed over to set up twinkle lights that might not even turn on if we can't get enough power. But it was fun to untangle and put light all over trees and bushes. AND there's a small train that goes from Storyland to Playland and back again. We all got free rides because we're friends with the manager and Marion is part of Rotary. The Rotary Club here is what funds Storyland/Playland. I thought it would be great for Rocco so we went on too! He did great and wasn't the least bit scared of train "whistle."

He did great mostly, but he did try to eat a whole bunch of stuff off the ground.
But he mostly slept and looked up and me during the trip.
I think he had a lot of fun though.

After we worked we went off to lunch and Rocco fell asleep on the cool ground of the sandwich shop. My Aunt and Uncle and Cousin were all really impressed with him. My Cousin met Freya once when he was heading through California, but no other member of my family has ever met one of my puppies. So this weekend is pretty exciting for me. After lunch my brother's girlfriend from Sweden, Astrid, and I went shoe shopping for tomorrow. This was Rocco's first time in a high activity mall. He did great. Most of the time I didn't even need the Halti on him. Even in the shoe store where there were a lot of kids who were absolutely fascinated by him. He walked right by them and looked up at me for a treat. This is great progress for a puppy who used to seek out people to love on. After the mall we went home to get ready for the dinner last night. Astrid and I ended up going over together because we took a little longer to get ready because of our adventure through the mall. Right when we were about to leave the house I found Rocco in a very interesting position taking a nap.

He's so cute. He usually sleeps behind or under my chair when I'm at the computer.

You can tell my room isn't the cleanest right now. I'm in the middle of serious cleaning and deciding on things to give away before going off the school. But Rocco is loose in my room all the time and he doesn't get into anything. I once found him in the middle of a pile of papers and other crud fast asleep. He's such a good boy.

We finally made it down to the club house and ate food and had fun. I really enjoyed talking to all of my relatives because we hardly get to see each other.

It's hard to get pictures of yourself and your puppy.
But I think these turned out ok.
He really did amazing during the dinner. He just sat under the table real still.
Everyone was impressed by how well mannered he was and everyone said that he was one of the most handsome boys they've ever seen.
It was right about here that I realized that I realized he was bored. So we took a little walk.

There's this great little kid play jungle gym near the clubhouse so we went there. He got very distracted by some kids playing basketball, but he is a lab so chasing balls is in his blood.

Here he is on the jungle gym. I love this shot. It's like King of the Jungle status.
Here he is checking out the slides. And down he goes.

He actually really liked going down the slides so we kept going back up and doing it again.

Another King of the Jungle picture.

I really wish I could have got one of him trying to climb back up the slide. You know how we all used to try to go up the slide instead of down when we were kids? Well that's what Rocco tried to do. He tried so hard, but he just couldn't do it. It was cute and I think that shows that he has some intelligence in there. It was problem solving right?

Today is the actual ceremony so I'm going to try to get pictures up first thing tomorrow.

Name Game: S Names

Wow, almost finished. I've loved coming up with these names.

Today's Letter: "S"

Female Names:
1. Sally (I really, really want to name the puppy this)
2. Sabrina
3. Sage
4. Shiloh

Male Names:
1. Setter
2. Shaman
3. Saber
4. Sheldon

Postcard from Freya

Hey Everyone!

My partner and I just got back from a four day business trip to Pennsylvania. He says that everyone at the site was impressed with my good Guide Dog manners.

The return trip was hard though. Our flight was delayed for 2 hours because it was late getting in from Buffalo. Then it broke down after we taxied (yeah, I know flight terminology now) away from the terminal but, thankfully, before we took off. When it was determined that the plane couldn't be fixed the airline announced that we were now going to be boarding on a plane that was arriving in Terminal C. We were in Terminal A so we had a long was to go to get to our new plane. Now, I wanted to get there first so we walked fast. Everyone around us was using the moving sidewalks and escalators, but my partner and I used the regular floor and stairs. We still got there first. I got a treat from the bait bag for being such a good girl. I was glad when the whole thing was over though. Let me tell you, as soon as I got to a place to go potty and my partner let me I took it. 10 hours without a potty break!

I've started to sleep in the bed with my partner. At first I waited until he was asleep until I got up because I wasn't too sure how he would like it. I don't think he minded too much because he kept letting me do it without putting me on a tie down at night.

This is a picture of me and my partner at the army site we were inspecting. I'm really enjoying travelling with him.

I love my job as a Guide Dog. GDB made a great match for me because he loves my serious, good manners but he also allows me to be silly. And he likes to sit on the floor with me.

That's all for now!

~Freya

Helping Bring a Puppy Home

Today I met my CFR, the all mighty and knowing Jim, at a gas station off the freeway so I could help deliver a puppy back to her raisers. This puppy's name is Fanta and she is a consideration for international breeding. She's a gorgeous, sweet, yellow lab. I really enjoyed the 30 minutes I had with her before I dropped her off. Jim said she was "busy", but after having Freya I wouldn't consider Fanta "busy" at all.

Here's Fanta being a good girl in the car. All she did was lay there and play with the goughnut I keep in the car.

She's such a happy, good girl.

I really, really liked her. In fact, I almost stopped by my house first and got Rocco to see if they wanted to trade.

You can sort of tell from this picture that she's small. She really was. I would have to say that she weighed the same if not less than Rocco.