New Puppy for the Group

Hey all! As some of you might know GDB had a lot of older puppies in the kennels and asked for volunteers to get start a puppy for someone waiting for an older transfer puppy. One of the families in my group volunteered and got their new starter puppy yesterday when the puppy truck came through town to pick up Mr. Colorado for formal training.

So Please welcome to PWAP...

LUTHER!!!!!!!

Now, they were suppose to get a female Lab/golden cross Letter "F" (of which I now all but one of the names), but the poor dear got sick so they ended up with Luther. Great name if you ask me. My group is due for a bad name and I think I'm the next one to get a puppy in the summer when I get back from school...gulp!

Anyways, Luther is a Taylor/Butterfly Puppy. He was born on July 10, 2010. This means that he is 11 weeks old. He definitely needed out of the kennels. Taylor is a white Golden Retriever and Butterfly is a Black lab. So he is a Lab/golden cross. I know some of his littermates are black with big patches of white on their face. Look at the flickr littermate list. They're so cute.

Luther meets big brother Kendrick.

Pictures of Luther and his new Fam.

I hope I get to meet the little guy when I come back, but who knows, maybe he'll be gone to his other raiser. I don't know though. Maybe they'll want to finish him.

Mostly Wordless Wednesday (It's back)

Freya and Mr.L recently went to a Blind Golfing Retreat...

That girl has no shame.

My Special Visit

So the Wednesday before I was expected to be in Scotland for school I left my friends and family to go see someone very specialy. For those of you who remember my post long ago when I said something then we've already guessed who I visited and for those of you who are my friend on facebook you might have already seen a few pictures. Are there any of you who still haven't guessed who I went to go see when I left California at 6:30am last Wednesday?

FREYA AND HER NEW FAMILY!!!!!!!!

That's right people I went to go visit Miss Freya with her new partner and his wife. I've said it before and I'm sure I'll say it again, but I am so pleased with the match the Guide Dogs made for Freya. They are absolutely the best couple out there for her and you can tell she absolutely adores her person. So, let's start off with some airport pictures.

When I first arrived I knew I would have to wait a little because Mr. L doesn't get out of work until 5pm and my plane was set to arrive about 4:50pm. Well it arrived at 4:35pm so I had a little more time to wait and wash a little of the plane ride off of me in the airport bathroom. When did arrive to pick me up Mr.L and I headed towards each other. He mouthed "Ignore her." so I did and we both just walked right past each other. He wanted to see what Freya would do and guess what! She didn't recognize me at all! I'm so proud of her, she treated me like an obstacle. Well, she did until we faced each other and he said, "Freya, who's that?" She starred at me for a second with an almost confused look on her face and then her whole face lit up and she was clearly saying, "OMG! IT'S YOU!!!!" So she jumped all over me and when I said something like, "Weren't they suppose to teach you how to be a Guide Dog?" Mr.L said that something like this just overflowed her with emotion and she had to get it out. I was happy when I heard him say that.

See? All over me. That crazy girl.
I think Freya was very excited to see me. In this picture you can tell she's a little overwhelmed and that she's not too sure who to go to.
Mrs. L fed me some very tasty pasta and bread and then Freya helped me open a few presents they had for me. Amounst them was an Alabama T-shirt, two magnet pictures of Freya, and a Helen Keller necklace. They said the necklace was very fitting for someone like me.

The quote on the necklace:

"The Best and Most Beautiful Things in this World Cannot be Seen or Even Touched, They Must be Felt with the Heart"
Then Freya wanted to play (surprise, surprise) so I played with her.

And played...

and played some more.

I love the way that he new family puts it. "This is all you." Haha! It's ture. I take full responsibility for how crazy Freya is. I take responsibility for the "grasshopper jump" she does towards you if you let go of the rope while she still wants to play (which is all the time). I also take responsibility for her being a bunny stuck inside of a dog's body. She still jumps straight up into the air. Haha! She really hasn't changed a big since I had her except that she's definitely a little more mature when she's working, but she's always been focused as soon as she knew she was working.

After dinner, presents and playing we took a walk around the apartment complex. But not before I gave Freya and Mr.L their present. See if you can tell what it is from the next few pictures.

I absolutely love this picture of Freya. She looks a little shy or something.

I also really love her sign. "Working Guide Dog: Please do not Pet or Feed" I think this is what we should replace on that spot where the Science Diet patch use to be.

Did any of you guess the present that I gave to Freya and Mr.L? No? Well if you look closely at the pictures you will see one of Meghan's green leashes. I asked her to make it for me (don't worry, I did pay her for her excellent leash that I LOVE) so that I could give it to Freya and Mr.L for Freya's second birthday which is coming up really soon. On the leash my father laser engraved it with their names and their graduation date. I belive Mr.L really liked the leash. He told me that when it breaks (eventually) or gets too worn to use then he already has a plan to cut out the part of the leather with their names and graduation date and put it in...like a shadow box with some pictures. That totally warmed my heart because after the great necklace they gave me I wasn't sure if this leash would be enough. But he really likes it. I also gave them a handmade geneology and pedigree for Freya and a copy of the picture of Freya at graduation that I had my friend draw for me.

Anyway, the walk was very nice. Mr.L allowed me to hold onto Freya's harness while he held onto my arms so that I could feel what Freya was like as a Guide. She's got an excellent pull and she's just so alert! I really enjoyed being able to do that with Freya. She stopped at curbs for us and gave a nice pace and rushed us across the parking lot and halted whenever Mr.L told her to and was just an overall excellent pup...dog.

Then it was time for me to heead to the hotel they were putting me up in (I was fine with waking up at 4am with Mr.L when he had to get up for work, but they insisted so I was fine with that plus the hotel was 5 minutes from Mr.L's office) and say good night to Freya. She's such a funny girl.

The next morning Mr.L allowed me to take Freya from him and take her for a walk around the post. I made sure he was absolutely fine with it when he offered and he said that he didn't really need her in the office and that he had a cane so that I should go ahead and take her. It was so nice to have a dog that walked my pace again. I LOVE Rocco don't get me wrong, but Freya and I always walked the same pace so it was just so nice. At first she stopped at every curb and stair and looked at me as if to say, "Look! Look what I can do!" It was so cute. So I gave her her "good girl" treat and gave her the command "forward." She was so great. I even tried "left" and "right" once or twice and she did it for me and looked back with the same look of "I'm showing off to you so you can see what I've learned". Mostly though I just let her lead. It was where she worked afterall so I knew she knew it better than I did.

I dropped off Freya around 10:00 and Mr.L called Mrs.L and told him that I was ready to be picked up so she came and took me back to their apartment and fed me again. HAHA! I love Mrs.L. She takes a lot of pictures (and I mean A LOT) so most of the pictures here are curtesey to her and she's so...blunt?...I don't know. I imagine that if Freya were a human she might be a little like Mrs.L...anyway she said stuff like "Erin, you have to speak up here. Do you want more food?" She was just great. Then she took me to the NASA Museum and I had a great time looking at all of the info on the Apollos. I have a lot of pictures from there too. :)

Then we went to pick up Mr.L and Freya. We went to the mall and walked around for a bit. Here's a picture of Freya and me from the mall.

Then as we were leaving Mr.L practically chants "Olive Garden, Olive Garden". I thought it was the funniest thing ever. So we went to Olive Garden for a late lunch/early dinner. Thank you again for the meal if you guys are reading! While we were there a manager came over and asked if everything was alright and then left. I was a little confused so Mr.L said, "He was checking out my dog." Then it dawned on me. Of course! All the times that had randomly happened to me had suddenly made sense! They were checking to make sure that the dog was ok to be there. With that done we had a lovely meal and I got so stuffed! Mrs.L and I shared a piece of Triple Chocolate (or chocolate chocolate chocolate cake as Mr.L likes to say). Oh it was so good, but oh was I so full.

After dinner we went back to the apartment and went on another nightly walk. After Freya got some dinner and ice cubes (Freya never really drank much with me and I hear that it stayed the same with Mr.L and he was worried about her. So now he gives her ice cubes because she loves them and he knows that she's getting enough water during the day. So, evey time you get ice for your drink you have to give Freya one cube) of course. And not before we did a little photo shoot. I told you Mrs.L loves to take pictures.

Isn't that girl gorgeous!?

I'm so impressed with Freya. Mr.L can say "Freya find the mailbox" and she knows exactly which one to go to. And it's not like the mailbox out in front of your house. No, these are mail slots really in one big block. I don't know how she does it. We're thinking she can count.

Then came for Friday and my day to leave. So I took Freya on one more walk around the post.
She and I were tired right in the middle of it so we headed back to my room and I let her cuddle with me on the bed. Hey, her new family allows it so why not? This was of course after I got her some ice cubes from my fridge. She helped me do some last minute packed and we said a private good bye before we had to say good bye in front of everyone.

She's such a good girl and I can't imagine a better place for her to be.

One last good bye from Freya then it was off to the airport.

Freya was so funny while I was there. Whenever she saw me when she hadn't seen me for a while her eyes and body movement would say, "You're here again!" or "You're still here!" And she had to make sure I was coming when going down stairs so I ended up walking extra loud so that she would stop looking back for me while she was guiding Mr.L.

I absolutely LOVE her and absolutely LOVE the L's. They're such wonderful people and I really can't imagine Freya with anyone else. Though I did get a bit of exciting news that I'm not going to share right now. I dont' know if I will ever share it, but if it ever comes up again then I'll mention it.

I'm going to say again. Look at how gorgeous and grown up that dog is!

A Follow Up

I've had some really interesting comments and this is all food for thought for me.

Maybe if we made it harder for people to bring in their service animals it would be harder for the fake people to bring in pets. But then again, do we really want to make disabled peoples lives any harder?

I believe you are right Erin. I was intending that post to bash a ridicule a few people and those are the fake service dog users not the fake service dogs. The dogs can't help it if their people bring them into public.

Yes it's true that training schools can only retire dogs that they know have a problem and the student doesn't always report it I would like to bring into light the fact that A) service dog users have these dogs so they can get around easier and if it's harder to take their dog into a public place or it make them have to leave or just plain makes their lives harder the only reason they wouldn't try to get help from the graduate services is they are too attached to their dog. All the blind people I know LOVE, absolutely LOVE, their dogs but if they started to make mobility harder rather than easier they would say something to try to fix the issue...and B) everyone is watching. GDB gets numerous calls about people "abusing" their Guides when they were doing nothing but giving them a simple correction. People like to think they are helping so I imagine with the help of the public and the fact that the blind people need these dogs for mobility reasons only a couple misbehaved dogs slip through the schools' grasps.

A Serivce Animal? Really?

So, I tried to post something similar on Erin and Pompei's blog, but my computer was being stupid. So, since there is such controversy I thought I would start a little post myself.

Fitting for my 200th post no?

The Chiuaua that I saw in Ikea might very well have been a real service dog. I think he/she was actually because the thing was soooo well mannered and was very clean.

The dog that attacked Royalty in the mall was by no means a service animal. Here's why. He/she was pushed in a dog stroller (I'm ok with the lap, bag/purse, grocery cart thing, but not dog stroller), it was unleashed, had no jacket/harness whatsoever distinguishing as a service animal, and...well, it legitimately attacked Royalty.

Here are my standards for a Service animal. Well mannered and clean. That's all. I could care less if the dog is pretending to be a service animal as long as it is well mannered and clean.

What about if their owner is training them themselves? Well, then I believe it is the owner's responsibility to put somewhere "IN TRAINING" so that there is an explained reason for naughty behavior.

I am quite aware that some dogs from legit training schools go away with some dog aggression, but the clients and the puppy raisers are told to keep the dog on a leash at all times. If the person does not have enough sense to put a leash on their dog while they are "training" it, then I do not personally believe that person is responsible enough for a service animal. And I believe here at GDB if one of our Graduates starts showing signs of dog aggression they are retired immediately if the problem persists for more than two months or so.

Messes in stores. Look, we all raise puppies and have been there and done that a thousand times over. But we CLEAN up after our pups. The people who I see with "service" animals that relieve in a store who just look down and walk on (yes I've seen it before) are not responsible enough to have the service animal even if they are training them themselves. And yes, I think I am allowed to make that judgement when I see that sort of thing happen. I don't think people who don't clean up after their pets are responsible enough for the pet and their pet is relieving outside. If your dog relives in the store it is your JOB to pick up after it. I don't have any wiggle room here. But what if the dog has diarrhea you ask? Well, the poor thing can't help it. Just pick up after it the best you can with you poop bags and alert the closest store employee of the situation and don't leave the spot until you have made sure that the area is cleaned. Again it is your JOB to clean up after you dog. I forgot poop bags? Oh I've been there. I didn't realize that my poop bag dispenser, extra two bags in my bait bag, and the extra roll I usually carried in my purse were all out. It happens to the best of us even to this Poop Police. But as it is my JOB to clean up after to puppy I stood by that spot without moving until a store employee came by, I inform them on the situation with my puppy, ask them politely to bring me one of their store plastic bags so that I may clean up after the puppy, and if it is necessary a paper towel as well. This shows that I am responsible and that I care what my dog does in public.

You notice that I use the word responsible many times during this little rant. I honestly don't care if people bring their pet dogs pretending to be service animals into stores as long as they are responsible about it. Irresponsible people make me mad because it's not people pretending to have service animals that make my job hard, it's the irresponsible people who don't clean up after their dog or keep them on a leash or keep them well groomed that make it hard for all service dog owners. As long as the person is responsible then, again, I really don't care. But as soon as your dog attacks one of my puppies in training because they are off leash and untrained in a store I'm gonna call you out.

Oh, and I am fully aware that little dogs can be service animals too. Yes, almost forgot to add that.

What it comes down to in my mind is not whether or not the dog is a true service animal, it's whether or not the person in charge of the dog is responsible.

Thank you for your time. :]

*This post was not intended to bash or ridicule anyone out there. I just love controversy so please leave comments even if you want to bite my head off for saying some of the things I have*

Rocco's Transfer: September 13, 2010

It's easy to say that September 13, 2010 was one on of the hardest days of my life. I hated the idea of having to transfer Rocco to another person, but at least I loved where he was going and I liked the raiser. So some pictures of the day.

Before heading out, my boyfriend Ryan came over to say good bye to Rocco.

Then it was time for Rocco and I to head to Mary's house where we would load up the car with Rocco and Colorado and head down to Rocco's new home. It took us about an hour to get there, but we got there with no trouble. And I loved where he was going to be living. He has a giant backyard and lots of dogs to play with and two horses and two donkeys. He's just gonna have a blast there. He even has a pool. Though he didn't get in while I was there, I'm sure he's going to get in eventually.

While we were there we had a mini family reunion. Rocco's brother Rocky was just transferred to the same group. So Rocky and his raiser came over so that the two brothers could play. Rocco is a little stalkier and darker than Rocky.

That's Rocco on the right.
Rocky was the biggest water dog I've ever seen.
I almost snapped the picture in time. Rocky dunked his whole head under water because we put a toy that sank in the pool. None of us expected that.
If Rocco hadn't had gotten in the way you would have seen Rocky's whole face underwater.

This isn't Rocky and Rocco, it's Rocky and Toledo. Toledo is Rocco's new brother who was CC'd. Toledo was actually suppose to graduate with Freya.

A close up of Rocky. You can see the similarities and the differences. Rocky has a longer face that Rocco.

The two brothers again.Rocco in a bit of a time out because his paws started bleeding.

There are the two boys.

Me and Rocco and Rocky and his Raiser.
A few pictures of Rocco, me, and his new raiser.
There he is with his new family as we were leaving.

A picture of me and my boy.

I know that Rocco is having a whole lot of fun with his new people, but I still miss him a whole bunch. I hope that if he is CC'd (I don't think he will be except for his health) I get him back. Me and his new raiser will have had him for an equal amount of time and I would love that boy back if he decides he would rather be a pet. I never thought I would want a male dog, but I really, really got attached to Rocco. So, hopefully he'll graduate, but he's always got a home if he doesn't want to be a Guide Dog.

I miss you Baby Boy!