Introducing....

Alright everyone! Thanks to everyone who guessed on my name game! We made our goal of 100 comments! Thank you to The Puppy Raising Roller Coaster (I'm sorry, but at the moment I cannot remember your first name) for posting the 100th comment.

I bet you all are excited about learning the new puppy's name. I know we all were when they were doing the raffle and silent auction winners. We were all on pins and needles, but the time finally came for the new little guy. So, please welcome...

Oh wait! Before I do that, let me tell you something cool. Candie, my other leader, was the one who passed him off the Mary and Brenna. I think that's really cool that she was able to do that for them. What? Oh, yes...the name.

So, again, without further ado, please welcome to Puppies with a Plan...

LANCE!!!!!!

Lance is International Breeding Consideration. Very cool! Now, I'm hoping he gets over to Scotland at their Guide Dogs for the Blind school so I can be his Breeder Keeper while I'm in college. :)

Anyway, you all made wonderful guesses, but only one person got it right. And that is...me! Lol! I did guess Lance as soon as I heard that he was an "L" puppy, but since it's Mary's puppy and she also guessed Lance I'm going to give the prize to her. Also, a big congrats to Meghan, Picassa, and Paris who correctly guessed the name of Lance's brother, LINK!

I'll have to think of a fitting prize for you Meghan, since you already have pictures of your two girls. As for Mary, she will receive a picture of her new little guy who is adorable and heavy. He was the biggest male. Oh! Biggest male! That reminds me Meghan and Mary both guessed largest male as well. But Lisa, Ellie, and Hosta and The Puppy Raising Roller Coaster also said largest male, so a drawing must be done. Give me one second....

It was a fair drawing done by not me, Brenna, Mary, Colorado, or Lance. :) But Mary said that since she's already getting a prize she's giving this one to Candie. So Candie is going to get a picture of Lyric. Lyric is a Smooth Coated Collie who was Kobe's (her other CC'd Collie) mom. Kobe was with GDB and made it all the way to 10, but he made it obvious that he didn't want to work. :)

Congrats to all and there will be more on little Lance as I am determined to steal him for a day before I leave.

Here

So, our drive was long but we're hear.

I was a little crazy trying to pack my little mini cooper with two crates and a puppy and two bags and a computer bag. But I managed. Rocco got to sit in the passenger leg room. He never gets to do this but I think he really enjoyed it. He gets direct air conditioning there. When we first set off I realized I had forgotten my curling iron (I have short, curly hair and I forgot my straightener in LA), but I was only down the street so that was no problem. Then, when I was all the was to Merced I realized I had forgotten something else; the Pictures! That's right, I forgot the pictures for Meghan (Picassa and Paris) (also check out her other blog So Perfectly Paris), Dottie (Zack), and for Ken and Nancy (Falla, Freeway, and Freya)! But, never you fear! One of my leaders is coming up tomorrow and she's agreed to pick them up from my dad on her way out of town tomorrow. I love my group! Besides all that drama nothing else but traffic happened. It was a pretty boring drive, but Rocco did great!

I'm totally ready for Follow the Trainer tomorrow! Poor Rocco has to board at GDB, but then he gets to come back and play with Amici!

By the way guys, the Name Game closes tomorrow at midnight. We're only 2 comments away from my goal so keep those guesses coming. Added to my board at home in the past few days are Laird, Larse, Lando, Lathrop, Livermore, Labrador (wouldn't that be funny?), Leandro, and Lockjaw.

Fun Day Preparations

Yesterday Rocco and I had a pretty busy day preparing for Fun Day. Since we're leaving early this afternoon we wanted to make sure that everything was prepared the day before. This included taking Rocco to his first Full Service Car Wash. He's been to the outside car wash but he's never gone with me to get the inside of my car cleaned...mostly because I've never had the inside of my car cleaned. But I thought it was about time that I did because there was dog kibble in between the seats and some dried beans from our group's Fun Day last May. That, and I have black seats and it was like a sea of white dog fur in the back. So, we sat there watching them struggle to get the fur all out and Rocco had his goughnut to keep him occupied. Well, he likes to throw his toys and his toys and he accidentally shot it out into the area where the cars were being cleaned. Luckily a nice, young man (I'm wondering if Rocco did this on purpose to give me a fighting chase at flirting with him, he's a great conversation starter and he always seems to be naughty just when there's an attractive guy that I would like to talk to walking around) reached under the car he was working on and got it for him. As soon as our car was finished I threw a blanket in the back seat so now Jude (that's my car) is protected from the worst of dog fur.

Besides that I had a hair appointment. Rocco loves my hair Salon mostly because everyone in the salon loves my puppies. Freya would get all excited when she saw that we were heading to Salon D because she knew that the rules were out the window and she would greet my hair stylist and flop to the ground for a belly rub. My hair stylist even said that my puppies could come in without their jackets some time. I haven't done that yet because I want them to behave which I'm sure they wouldn't as some one started to pet them if their jacket was off.

Then he came with me to pick up the pictures for Meghan and Maddie. They look amazing guys! I also picked up my own pictures that I had ordered before my contest. :) I love the one of Rocco.

That was pretty much out day, but of course, no day is complete without baseball. So we went to a game last night.

Can you guess where are seats were?
That's right! Front row!
You know you're jealous.

It was a pretty slow game, but that really didn't matter to me because we were literally right in front of the players as they warmed up. They were so close I could have touched them. So imagine this. Nice looking, athletic, muscular young men stretching and running right in front of me. Was I happy? You bet you're boots I was! That, and there were a few times John Bowker was less than a foot away from me. It was a good night. And Rocco was quite the trooper. We ended up going into over time at 10:00 and he hadn't had his dinner yet. So I made the decision to leave after the 9th. But we won! 2-1! YAY GRIZZLES!

Today, before I head off to yoga class, I'm going to give him a short, simple bath just to get the night's grime off of him. I want him to be extra pretty for Fun Day. Then when I get back I'm going to load up the car and head out. Hope to see you guys there!

Phase Report and Name Game

Ok guys we are so close to my goal of getting at least 100 comments on the Name Game not including mine. I have posted 10 comments myself so we only need 11 more. Head on over there if you have a brilliant idea for an L male name!

Also, anyone out there know what "phase 0" is?

Best Dog Ever

You all know that I'm going away for school in about a month and a half right? Well, my room is in a bit of a disaster area. It look like a tornado hit my room and nothing else in the house. Does the fact that I have to spend a lot of time doing this make Rocco sad? Of course not! He's doing exceptionally well with having to sleep and stay in my room as I sort, pack, and throw away.

Here are some pictures of what my room looks like right now.

And what is Rocco doing during this whole thing? Pretty much this.

He's such a good boy and he's not getting into anything. Not clothes, dirty or clean, scraps of paper, and gum wrappers. He's just sleeping on his bed. I'm hoping to be pretty much done with the sorting by tomorrow afternoon and have my room clean enough to vacuum Thursday morning, but we'll see how that goes. Rocco's being good, but he still needs some attention.

Dog Toys

For those of you who went to the Jelly Belly Fun Day you'll recognize these felt toys. I decided to make a whole bunch the other day. So I went to the fabric store and bought 3 ft of four different kinds of felt. I got a green, purple, white with dog paws, and blue with dogs paws and bones. All you do is braid them together. The Solano county puppy group is donating the bag that was made by puppy raisers and interested parties to the GDB puppy kennels. And since I have more than enough I might do the same. Except I'll donate them to a local shelter so the unfortunate puppies have something fun to play with.

Anyway, I've been experimenting with different kinds of toys. I did the simple braided version. Then I did a braided version with a knot in the middle too. I tried using all four fabrics but it didn't go quite as planned. Then, when I ran out of three different colours I just tied a whole bunch of knots in two strips.

Rocco stole one off the couch as I was making them and since he's older than 4 months he's really not supposed to have felt toys. BUT! He doesn't chew them or shred them or anything. He pushes them around with his nose and throws them up in the air and runs with them in his mouth. So, I'm not going to take them away. The reason I started making these was because of the new puppy for Mary and my parents' new puppy. So I'll keep a few here, give a few to Mary for the puppy, and donate most of them to shelters and breeders. Whatever I have left I'm going to give to my group so that when anyone in the group gets a new puppy they'll have a toy to start off with.

Here's what they look like.
That one is Arwen's. I gave her one because she likes to carry things around in her mouth. She's loves it. You can see Rocco trying to steal it from her.
I have a lot of pictures of them playing with one, but I chose the ones where Rocco has a funny expression. That's the one that has all the knots in it.
I love this picture of Rocco.
It seems like Rocco really isn't sure how to hang on to these. He's almost gumming them.

I think his ears look so funny here. :)

Figure 8 Head Collar

So, since I'm picking up Amici from the kennels up at GDB after my "Follow a Trainer" walk, I went home from the Jelly Bell Fun Day with all of his stuff. This includes his leash, jacket, and figure 8 head collar. Amici is in a figure 8 because he would dive to the ground when he was little when he was wearing a halti. It was really adorable! But apparently it was a "no no" so he was switched to this figure 8 and he seems to really like it. Well, Rocco has decided that he wants to pull a lot on his halti. My hands have been hurting and he's not stopping his continuous pulling despite the sideways corrections. I don't know how this is worse than Freya, but it kind of is. It's like he really lunges or something and it just feels weird on my hand and I feel bad because I'm giving him really, really firm corrections in his halti. So, I tried the figure 8 on him while I have it. It was mostly because I needed to figure out how to put the thing on a dog (it's a little confusing at first), but I realized that he didn't squirm like he generally did when I tired to put the halti on him. So I let him keep it on the rest of the day. He seemed to be so much more responsive to the figure 8 than to the halti. Haha! Maybe it was my imagination. Or it could have been because his jacket was on. I might put it on him for his morning walk just to see.

Less than a week until Fun Day!!!!!!

Name Game

Hey Guys! I have a goal now! Rocco and I would like to get at least 100 comments (not including mine) on our Name Game! Please help us reach our goal and head over there. My list is ever expanding. Now added to my board is Liam, Link, Lemur, and Lemoore.

Tomales Tackles the Stairs

Ok, so as a puppy raiser you see all kinds of dogs. Even in my short 2 years and 2 months in being involved with GDB I have seen my fair share of puppies with issues. Heck! One dog when I first started was a yellow lab who was scared of other yellow labs. Seriously, he still is. Anway, as the title suggests this post is more about Tomales (Towsend's brother) than about Rocco. Tomales has this thing with open stairs; he doesn't like them. Since he's going back for formal training soonish it was high time he got over his fear of open stairs. I've always found it funny that he's scared of these stairs because he's "Mr. Ego" :) Anyway, Mary has been taking him to a few open stairs around town everyday. She has been letting him think that it's him that's deciding to go up these stairs. So on Saturday when she took Tomales I asked if Rocco and I could tag along. Rocco has never been up open stairs and I figure that it was about time that he got on them because I wanted to nip a problem if there was one in the bud before he goes off to another family. I shouldn't have been worried because he went straight up and straight down. I was worried that he wouldn't want to go down them because he used to hate going down stairs when he was little and these stairs were different. But he didn't mind at all. Mary said that it was good for Tomales because he saw "the baby" (Rocco's the youngest in our group) going up and down without a problem. He baulked once while I was there and didn't do it again. We even drove around until we found a new set of open stairs that Tomales had never been to and guess what! Tomales didn't have any trouble at all on these new and different open stairs. He just flew up them and flew down them. I took a few videos of him because we were so proud. I really adore Tomales even though he's a little naughty and has the biggest head (figuratively speaking). :) He's so funny. Anyway, I am sharing the joy with you.

Jelly Belly Fun Day!

Today was Jelly Belly Fun Day in Fairfield, California. I have to say I've been looking forward to this for a while. I'm not a big fan of Jelly Bellies in general because I just don't really like chewy candies, but every once in a while I will indulge in them. But I didn't buy any Jelly Bellies, I bought fudge. :) Anyway, Rocco and I had to get up really early this morning because we had to leave at 6:30 in the morning. So, sleepy eyed and slow of feet we headed over to Mary's house where Candy was picking all of us up. We had three dogs and six people in the car. When we got there we went through all the different obstacles. We listened to a trumpeter play and Rocco wasn't really distracted. YAY! We went over different surfaces which has never bothered Rocco and there was a puppy pool which I let Rocco enjoy as long as he didn't get his ears wet. What really distracted him though was the basket ball at the toy section. Then we went on the factory tour which was a really good socialization place. There were lots of noises and people. Rocco, Colorado, and Amici did really well. Then we basically hung around until the silent auction was closed. Candy won a Jelly Belly basket and a basket full of Guide Dog stuff. She gave me the licence plate holder. :) But do you know what else happened? I met Ricki and Aime of Growing Up Guide Pup. You guys watch Growing Up Guide Pup right? No!? Well then click here for the Growing Up Guide Pup facebook page. If you're not on facebook then search Growing Up Guide Pup on YouTube. It's really amazing and Ricki is tiny! She looks bigger on screen. :) Some pictures for you.

Rocco in the car at 7:00am. You can tell he's tired.

Rocco and Amici got the back. They were really excited to see each other.

But they did settle down eventually.
All Three boys, Rocco, Colorado, and Amici licking each other. Boys are gross.
Rocco and Amici really like each other. I'm really happy I get to keep him for a night during Fun Day next week.
This is Candy's little niece. Rocco really likes her!


So, I accidentally forgot to flip this one. We all had to wear hats during the tour. Colorado didn't really like his hat. :)

Here's a few pictures of Rocco and Amici before we dropped Amici off.
One would look and the other would look away. Oh those Boys!

Hey! Recognize the dog on the left? You should if you follow Lauren and Don's blog. That's Don! Apparently that's who was taking Amici up to Guide Dogs for us. :) He's such a pretty boy.

After Amici left us we basically stayed up in the Guide Dog room.
Rocco and Colorado are so good together.

Well, sometimes they're good.

There's Rocco. Behind him is Colorado and a yellow lab named Nira. I really liked her.
This little cutie pie is Lita. She was a sweetie!

On the way home Rocco and Colorado were so tired.

Brotherly love huh?

They woke up when we stopped for gas.
Rocco's big brother Colorado is so good to him.
Well, most of the time anyway.

Anyway, that was our day. Do you know what today is by the way? No, not just my half birthday, but thanks for remembering. Today signals ONE WEEK until the Name Game closes! Keep those guesses coming! You've all come up with some great ones!

The Furminator

Does anyone else use the terminator voice when they say that? I do. :) Anyway, I finally broke down and bought a furminator. Well, my dad bought it, but I found it. It's one of the most amazing things I have ever encountered. I removed a whole bag of fur from Arwen in 30 minutes. And you know the best part? I didn't have to get pricked by those bristles as I tried to remove the fur from the brush. It has this handy little fur extractor. I'm in love with it. I got a pile, not as impressive as Arwen's pile, of Rocco fur too. Pictures you ask? Of course!

Here's Arwen before her Furminatoring.

Arwen during the Furminatoring. She LOVES to be brushed.

Rocco's not so impressive pile of fur.

That massive thing in the lower left hand corner is the pile of fur from Arwen.

Luke tried to attack the fur.

First Ear Infection

Rocco's got a bit of a yeast infection in his right ear. Last Wednesday when I was still at my mom's house I noticed that Rocco's right ear was all brown and funky. When I got home from puppy meeting Thursday night I cleaned out his ear and used THREE cotton balls. It was pretty disgusting. Since I clean my puppies' ears once a week I though this a little weird. So after our preschool talk on Monday I had Mary check his ears. They were pretty funky again even though he had just had his ears cleaned so she told me to take him in to the vet. While there we saw this dog who had a bad infection in both of his ears. He kept shaking his head and breaking my heart. Then we saw a purple poodle. The vet's office I'm going to for Rocco also does grooming and apparently someone wanted their poodle to be purple. :/ Anyway, when we went in he was weighed (a whopping 52.8 lbs) and the vet told him he was a handsome, big boy. :) Then they stuck one of those long cotton swabs in his ear and pulled out more brown goop. It was quite disgusting and this is coming from the girl who used to work at an animal shelter in the isolation unit. :0 So he's on drops twice a day for seven days. I feel so bad for him. He doesn't shake his head and hadn't the whole time, but any time I would touch his right ear in puppy handling he would flop his head to that side and rest it on my shoulder with this look that said "My ear hurts Momma." It breaks my heart. But for a lab it's pretty good that this is his first ear infection.

Additions and Pictures

Hey Everyone! You only have 1 week and 3 days left to guess the new puppy's name. Remember to swing by the Name Game and make your L Name Guess. Added to my board yesterday were Lucky and Leopold. I thought you guys might enjoy these two pictures of Rocco and Rockford from yesterday's talk at the Private School.

Rocco(L) and Rockford(R)

This is one of the only pictures you will ever see of Rocco(L) and Rockford(R) being this good while they're this close together.

Hi Blogging Friends. It's Rocco and guess what! I am 6 months old today. That's right. I'm a whole half a year old today. Did you know that Momma's birthday and my birthday are only 3 days apart? So her half birthday is on Friday. Isn't that cool? Anyway, just like on my 5 month day I am going to give 6 things that I am amazing at, 6 things I still need to work on, and 6 of my favourite things in the whole world.

Six of My Best Traits:
1. My "That's Enough" command is amazing! Momma says that it's the best she's seen in a puppy.
2. I get really excited when my jacket is on. Momma says it's a good thing I love having my jacket put on me because it means I love to go out. Well, of course I do! People pay attention to me and tell me that I'm such a good puppy when I'm out.
3. My "stay" is pretty amazing.
4. I'm a cuddle bug. Or, at least that's what Momma says. Can I help it if I love to lay on her lap if she's on the floor with me?
5. I'll sit whenever she tells me to do so. I mean whenever. No matter where I am if she says "sit" I'll sit.
6. I don't bark or whine at all in my kennel anymore. In fact, I kind of like my kennel now.

Six Things I Need to Work on:
1. Down. I'm getting a whole lot better at it, but Momma says that I need to go straight from sit do down. I can't move over to be right next to her when she tells me "down."
2. Puppy Push Ups. I am getting better about these too, but I just don't like having to get up from the comfortable ground back into a sit all the time.
3. Cats. I'm not supposed to chase them but I really, really want to.
4. Little dogs. Momma says I'm pretty distracted by little dogs on our walks. I'm also keeping focus around them more, but really! How is the thing that's the size of my ear a dog!?
5. Rolling Trash Cans. Contrary to popular belief I am not scared of those things. They just look like so much fun to chase! But, I'm not suppose to.
6. Licking. Momma says I should lick everything I see, but I can't help it.

Six of my Favourite Things in the World:
1. My kong! I love my kong because it's fun to chew on and it'll bounce any direction.
2. My jolly-ball. A ball and a rope in one! What more is there to say?
3. My bed. I absolutely love my bed in Momma's room. It's nice and soft and it smells like me! But Momma says that she has to wash the cover soon.
4. My wishbone. That thing is so much fun to chew on.
5. Scooby Doo. You may find this funny, but whenever Scooby Doo is on I'll settle down and watch TV with Momma.
6. Food. What lab doesn't like food? But I really, really like it.

Now for your entertainment, here are some pictures of me in my new Big Boy Collar. Momma put it on my this morning after our walk and breakfast.

A nice close up of it on me.

I know I don't look happy, but that's only because Momma kept taking pictures of me.

A super close up.

It itched a little when she first put it on, but I really like it.

Momma says I'm a handsome boy.

Do I look grown up?
If you look real close you can see my ID number, 4Y13.
I think it looks very good on me.
There's me saying good bye to my puppy collar.

I can't believe I ever fit into this little thing.