Finalized Arrival Date

We finally got a date for when little "M" will arrive! Hooray! Little "M" will arrive on November 6th! So you still have time to guess M's gender, name, and breed.

Just as a reminder you can guess the following breeds;

Lab
Lab/Golden cross
Lab/Shepherd cross
Golden
Golden/Shepherd cross
German Shepherd
Long Coated Retriever (or any of the crosses)

Can't wait to meet the newest little one!

Educating the Kids

Yesterday I was walking through the grocery store with Quinn. Some rain (and 'bad behaviour') disrupted our plans of spending some time in the park, so I figured I might as well go and get food while I'm out. And I noticed two things while I was there.

1. Children are ten times as observant as adults.

Since yesterday was Saturday the store was crawling with children. I mean, it was a weekend and raining so what else are you suppose to do with your children besides take the food shopping with you. Not that I'm knocking taking your children shopping with you. Quite the opposite. I believe it is important for the children to help pick out the food and cook it. But, that's a different story. Anyway, I heard "Look mummy! There's a dog in the store!" and it's many variations about twenty times in the half an hour we were there. Some of them really cracked me up because their language was very, very British. (I'm in Scotland so I guess that's the be expected, but it still cracked me up.) And a couple of time when the child noticed Quinn, the parent was confused until they looked around and finally saw Quinn. 

2. All the parents seemed fairly well educated on Guide Dogs.

Seriously, every single parent said "That's a helper dog." or "She's training that dog to help someone who is blind." It was refreshing to say the least. I don't know what it is about the States, but about half of the time the parent will explain to their child that my dog is in training to be a service dog and they can't pet him/her without asking and the other half will actually tell their children to just go and pet my dog or won't do anything when the child runs up to my dog and starts petting them. Here, every parent I encountered explained to their child what my dog was and kept them from petting him. It was...amazing. 

It's time like this where I feel I should start up a youtube channel or something about service dog education. Because this is really the only way we'll see a majority of people not try and love on the dog and we're walking; get to them young. 

What I really wanted to say with this post is Thank You. To every parent out there who educated their children with proper service dog etiquette I can only say that you are making my job easier and are helping to ensure the safety of any working Guide Dog team. And that's pretty big. So, thank you! We all appreciate it! 

What's in a Name: Dulcie Edition

Another edition of "What's in a Name" only this time, for Dulcie. Dulcie's litter has a bunch of great names. I think it's one of the only litters I've seen that has a mix of great names and "eh" names. They are all pretty cute, but some of them don't really attract your attention. One thing is for sure, Dulcie's name is the best name out of all of the females in the litter. And that's not just because she's my puppy and I'm biased. She really does have the best name out of all of the females. 

DULCIE

Name: DULCIE

Pronunciation: "dul-see" or "dool-see" 

Meaning: Sweet 

Nicknames: Dulcie Doodle Doo, Doodle Bug, Doodle 

Fun Fact: Dulcie is the second of my own puppies whose name I guessed correctly before she arrived. The first, was my first puppy Freya. (I guess technically I guessed that I was getting Hilly before I was told, but I didn't really guess her name...I already knew it). Dulcie fits her name perfectly. She's an absolute sweet heart and has the sweetest demeanor. 

What's in a Name: Frankie Edition

Ah, can't believe that I never did this for Frankie!

I love finding out more about my puppy's name. Normally when you get a dog you get to name it and that name means something to you. You don't get to choose your puppy's name when get a Guide Dog Puppy. And there are some pretty terrible names out there which means that not only to you not get to name your puppy, but you are stuck with a horrible name that you have to deal with and get used to. I've been lucky with my names so far. (Even though you may remember that I thought Hilly's name was the worse in the litter I really, really LOVE it.)

So, without further ado:

FRANKIE

Name: FRANKIE
Meaning: "free one" or "free man"
Nicknames: Frankie-boy, Frankenstein,

Fun Fact: Frankie was sponsored by Total Oil here in the UK. I can't remember exactly who he was named after, but whoever he was named after has a brilliant name. Right before his turn in date in March, Frankie visited Total Oil and the employees who helped name him.

Frankie Update: The Last

I just received word today:

Frankie is a Guide!

What a good job my little Frankie-boy! I loved that boy and I miss him a lot, but I'm super proud of him for making it all the way! I knew he could do it!

Quinn

Quinner Quinner Chicken Dinner. Quinn-B. Q.

Quinn in a bow position playing with a toy on a free run

These are the nicknames I have for Quinn. He's such a character while still being a mellow dude.

Quinn lying in the grass with a toy

He's a little on the softer side. I imagine that he would have been absolutely fine on the bus to work, but they cancelled the bus to and from work. There is a University Shuttle that I could take...but I have to have my student card to use it and unfortunately I can't find my student card at this point in time. And it seems to run at funky times. Anyway, we walked to work and while Frankie was calm, cool, and collected, Quinn needed a little more encouragement. He was fine perfectly fine in the end and even had a bounce to his step.

Quinn rolling around in the grass with his toy

He is absolutely stellar when out. I mean, he was darn near perfect at work. The only issue he has is some house behaviors. He got up on my bed quite a few times to get to a stuffed animal or my pajama bottoms. So, he got his household freedom privileges taken away. And he likes to play keep-a-way. For those of you who don't know, keep-a-way is a big no no.

Quinn in front of the flower beds in Seaton. Handsome boy.

Think about it. He goes on to be a guide dog and takes his person's socks or shoes and puts them in a different place or takes a piece of paper and won't give it back. Not good behaviors for any dog, but especially bad for guide dogs. He's working on it and I'm sure that he'll do just fine.

He turned a year old on Friday! So, turn in is just around the corner for him. I don't know if he and I will bond like Frankie and I did, but he's a good boy and I definitely like him.

Quinn on his walk near River Don