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Monday, July 19, 2010

Rocco's Genealogy

So, I've spent the afternoon looking up Rocco's genealogy. It's going to be a lot harder to get it all on here because I could go more in depth with Rocco because his parents are younger. I got a whole lot more. You know what else I found out? He's got Golden on both sides, but they were bred to labs and another golden never entered into the scene. But that might be why he has little itty bitty feathers and a long tail and long fur.

PEACH'S FAMILY
Alexander(Dark Gld)&Benyan(YLF)=Lena/ Ferris(BLM)&Jalisa(YLF)=Wallace/ Darien(YLM)&Natoma(YLF)=Hattie
Nagel(YLM)&Lena(YLGDX)=Karla/ Wallace(BLM)&Hattie(YLF)=Leona/ Roddy(YLM)&Pageant(YLF)=Faust
GEB's Niles(BLM)&Karla(BLF)=Buck / Leona(BLF)&Faust(YLM)=Dia
Buck(BLM)&Dia(YLF)=Peach
ATRUS' FAMILY
Kraft(YLM)&Mimi(YLF)=Ricotta / Les(YLM)&Dancer(YLF)=Astro / Archer(LightGld)&Louise(YLF)=Hannah
Tex(YLM)&Ricotta(YLF)=Tiburon / Astro(YLM)&Hannah(YLGLDXF)=Darcy
Tiburon(YLM)&Darcy(YLF)=Atrus
Atrus and Peach=Rocco
Do you know what all this mean?! Freya and Rocco are (distantly) related! Peach would be Belle's niece once removed. That's pretty cool. :)

Freya'sGenealogy

A big thank you to Amanda and Kyle who taught me how to look up my puppy's genealogy. I have spent this morning looking up Freya's Genealogy. Did you know that Freya is also Mesa's Great-Great Niece? Maddie was Mesa sister, Maddie's daughter was Vail, Vail's son is Dylan, and Dylan is Freya's father. Small world huh?



Braemar Brando(BLM) and Jaylene(YLF)=Maddie
Sprig(YLM) and Julianne(BLF)=Thompson Drifter(BLM) and Maddie(BLF)=Vail
Thompson(BLM) and Vail(BLF)=Dylan

Ferris(BLM) and Jalisa(YLF)=Wallace / Darien(YLM) and Natoma(YLF)=Hattie
Nagel(YLM) and Regent(BLF)=Flannery Wallace(BLM) and Hattie(YLF)=Lenoa
Flannery(BLM) and Leona(BLF)=Belle
Dylan(BLM) and Belle(BLF)=Freya(BLF)

The Terrorist Fromerly Known as Two

So Two has come to visit again. Only Two is not Two anymore. She is know Luke. I suspect the name change his to cover her tracks from the SPCA. LOL! Really though. Luke is a little dachshund that we occasionally pet sit when her owner goes out of town. Two was the first number of her "cell number" so that's what she was called until her owner found a more fitting name. I think this is good for Rocco. I've noticed that he's more interested in small dogs on our walks than big dogs. Right now Luke is kicking his butt. It's pretty funny to watch my 55 lbs lab being beat up by a 1 lb little dog. :)

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Green Leash Giveaway!

Hey Guys! Have you met Meghan, Picassa, and Paris? Well, I think it's about time you did. Why you ask? Because Meghan makes these really cool service dog leashes. They're different colours! I know! It boggles my mind too, but I'm uber excited about her latest Green Leash Giveaway (<- Click here to a link to the post about the giveaway) because I didn't win last time. *tear* I know y'all are feeling for me out there, but I hope to win this time. But I feel like I should be fair and give you a chance too. So head over and meet Meghan with her two awesome dogs!

See? Isn't that just Gorgeous?

Did I mention she makes them in different colours? Look at Paris sporting her amazing blue leash.

Poop Bag Woes

Ok guys! It's time I talk to about a serious matter. This may be more serious than global warming or child hunger. Alright, maybe not that serious, but pretty serious. Now how many of you were told when you became puppy raisers that there are two very important things you always need to carry. You must always have paper towels (for accidental peeing) and what's that other thing you must always carry? Every one say it at once now. POOP BAGS!!!!!!!!!!

Wow you guys are smart. That's right, we are all suppose to carry poop bags just in case our puppy has an accident in a public place. Since they're puppies the occasional accident is very expected. Now I carried paper towels and poop bags when I had Freya when she was very young because she actually had a relieving problem until she was about 6 months old. But even when she hadn't had an accident for months I still carried poop bags and paper towels just in case. And they always came in handy if another puppy had an accident and no one had paper towels on their person. Since I've had Rocco he has never had an accident while out. Once he peed in Mary's office, but she admits that was partly her fault for turning back before she let him out to relieve. Even though he's never had an accident out what have I always carried? Yes, poop bags and paper towels and antibacterial wipes.

Now, if we are taught to do this before we are allowed to get a puppy why don't pet owners go through a crash course on what to carry if your dog is a known "walk reliever"? Here's the thing. I live around a large lake. I live in a small sub circle within a large circle. I love taking my dogs for walks around the lake because it's two miles of activity a day. Even if we do nothing else they have had plenty of exercise. But do you know what takes away the happiness. Irresponsible pet owners who have no idea how to work a poop bag. It's like they think that they have to touch the poop so they don't want to use them. Now, I know what some of you are thinking. Erin, how can you be so unforgiving? Isn't it possible that it was a one time deal and they don't have poop bags because their dog has never relieved while walking before? Yes, I am fully able to understand if that happens, but there is no way that there can be that much poop everyday if it is all one time deals. We have a lot of dogs around here, but not that many. I counted, one walk, the number of poops on the side of the street I walking. 58 is the number people. Say there were that many on the other side and you get 116. Too much I say! I was fully prepared to be understanding about the not having poop bags thing because they are expensive. I was, until the lake counsel started providing poop bags and trash cans all around the lake.

My plan to solve this problem is to create a cute Dr. Suess type rhyme to ask people to please pick up their pups pooh. I will print parts of the rhyme on separate sheets of paper and post them on light posts in consecutive order so that you can read the entire poem. The last one will say "Poop Bags Here!" and have not only an arrow pointing to the dispenser but picture instructions on how to use the poop bags. When I think of the rhyme completely I'll post it.

These poop bags are FREE people! Am I the only one who gets excited about free poop bags? I grab one every time I walk by even though Arwen doesn't relieve on outings (she's leash shy) and Rocco doesn't either (he's just good).

Guide Dog Talk at Private School

I give talks all the time abut my job as a puppy raiser. Most of the time it is out on the street when some random person asks me about my dog or some little kid it really interested in Rocco (previously Freya) or any other puppy I happen to have at that time. But sometimes they are scheduled events. Right after Freya left and before I knew what litter I was getting from I took Royalty down to my mom's house in Burbank (Royalty is actually the reason why I wanted an Atrus and Peach puppy. Before I knew that we were actually get an Atrus/Peach puppy I was hoping for one because he would be related to Royalty). I went with her to school one day (she teaches Spanish at a Private school which, contrary to popular belief, does not pay any better than a normal school) and took Royalty. I made my rounds to most of the younger grades. I went to two kindergarten classes, two second grade classes, a third grade class, and a fifth grade class. I told them what my job was when the puppies are with me and how important it is for them to not disturb a working dog. It was fun and I think Royalty had a good time. Anyway, tomorrow my group is giving a talk at one of the local private schools and I'm trying to get Rocco ready. I'm going to give him a bath and brush him and make sure he looks pretty.

I have a question for you guys. It's about time that he is put into his Big Boy collar. I've tried it on him and it fits and it would be easier for me to give him a solid correction with the Big Boy collar than the puppy collar. Right now the corrections made with the puppy collar don't do much. I was planning on putting it on him on Tuesday when he is 6 months old or, at least the day before Fun Day at the latest. I'm not sure I'm ready to do it, but should I put it on him a day early and get it over with so he looks grown up for the private school talk?

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Pictures

Have I said recently how happy I am with GDB? I love that they found the perfect match for Freya and for myself. I couldn't have asked for a better person for her and I think if I had tried to match her myself I wouldn't have done half as good of a job. Here are some recent pictures of Freya that he has sent to me.

Here she is wearing the DAV (Disabled American Vet) hat. She attends monthly meeting with her partner so I suppose she's a member too. :)
I love this one. She's always been interested in statues and she's sniffing the dog statue's rear end! I find that really funny.
She actually went through a month long phase where she was scared of statues of people. Not of anything else, but people. We worked though that.

It's good to know that she hasn't changed much. Besides from being a bit more focused now she's still seems like the same curious dog I raised and dropped of in February. You know, I recently found out that there was about two days after I had already been told she would be on February recall that they were considering pushing her recall back a month. At first I was little sad because I could have had her until March and she probably would have graduated with Falla and Freeway on the June 19th Graduation. But then I remember that she probably wouldn't have been paired with Mr. L and I think it's one of the best matches GDB has made so it doesn't bother me anymore.