Mostly Wordless Wednesday

I told you guys she had a black spot at the back of her tongue.

Hilly yawning so big that you can see the large black spot right at the back of her tongue.

We're off camping today. See you in a few days!

Hilly's First Baseball Match

Ok, I actually don't know if this was Hilly's first baseball game but it was definitely was her first with me. I think she had a really fun time. Believe me she wasn't as bored as she looks in this picture. She really was very, very good and very entertained.See, she watched the game.

Now, every Friday there is a Firework display after the game. If I take my puppies to a Friday game I always make sure to drive myself so that we can leave before fireworks. But for some reason I can't ever remember that during the Star Spangled Banner there are three little fireworks that go off during "...and the rockets red glare!" They just shoot into the air with one bang and no glitter (I suppose that's why I never remember them). Luckily for me I've had such wonderful pups that handle them with maturity and grace. Hilly was laying down sleeping before, during, and after the the Star Spangled Banner (or, maybe it's the fact that I've had such confident puppies that I don't remember them).

She slept through almost the whole thing. She worked like a pro when we were walking around near all the food. Her work was so good in fact that no less than four people thought I was blind. This really was our first big outing together as a Puppy Raising Team and she impressed me so much. I loved her already and have been pleased with her work, but Friday night she blew me away. During her eval with Jim I told him that I think she would be a good guide and that night she completely proved it to me.

Now...to get over her dog thing....

Hilly was very interested in this fly that kept bugging around us...she ate him.

I had to continue to tell her that she was far too young to have a sip of my dad's beer.

An Inspiration

Apparently I am an inspiration. We were awarded this "Inspiration" award by Elijah and Dembre over at Miraculous Journey. Thanks guys! It's great to be recognized, especially by other service dog organizations. Right, so I'm suppose to award this to 10 other blogs. Hilly's going to help me try and make it to 10.

Our Inspirations

1. Becky and Cricket at Cruisin' with Cricket: In the blogging world these two are seriously my #1 inspiration. I don't know how she does it, but whenever I'm on a downer Becky seems to post a little quote or something from a conference that makes me realise how good I actually have it. The quotes and what not kind of put me back on track and help me keep a positive outlook on life. Thanks you two!

2. Dagan at Dagan's Dogma for teaching us how to do it career change style.

3. My good friend tchristine1029 (not her real name) at Dream.Explore.Discover for smacking us all in the face when we think we've got it figured out. Sometimes, I need that.

4. Amanda and Rio (and Kyle) at Snips and Snails: A Puppy Dog Tale for the great stories about her boys in the class. Hilly likes those.

5. Officer X at Parking is Such Street Sorrow. Really guys, check out this blog. Officer X reminds us all that when we get a parking ticket, it's our fault.

6. Rudy at Rudy's Life...as a Guide Dog in Training. Hilly likes that he's so calm around other animals. She says it inspires her to try and be calm too. She's really rooting for Rudy up at formal Training.

7. Ian and Renton at Tales from the Dark Side. Ian is a blind news reporter from Scotland. I started following his blog while there this year. He makes me laugh and his Guide Renton is a gorgeous Shepherd. Before he became a reporter he was an artist. Definitely an inspiration.

8. Rebecca, Ely, and Joe at The Journey of a Southeastern Guide Dog Puppy because Joe is such a good boy. Good Luck at Formal Training next month!

9. Kim at Great Things about Being Blind for her upbeat attitude.

10. Madison at New Miracles because she and I went off to school at the same time and I think have a lot of the same feelings.

Woohoo! We made it all the way to 10! I think I could give this award to everyone out there (because I follow mostly puppy raisers of all organizations and we're all inspiring in my opinion).

15 Things at 15 Months

Today Hilly is 15 Months old! I can't believe that I just got her and she's already 15 months. Both Freya and Rocco were recalled shortly after they turned 16 months. Luckily for me, Hilly still has some work to get done before she's recalled for my ultimate goal is to at least get her on a recall list. If she decides in training that she would rather try and play with every dog she sees then that's fine, but by gum she's going into training! :D Determination.

Right, so since all you bloggers out there really don't know Hilly all that well I though this month I would do "15 Things You Should Know about Hilly" (aka: what I love about her).

15 Things You Should Know about Hilly

1. She's adorable. Seriously. She has the sweetest face and the cutest looks. She has a different look for different moods.

2. She is uber stubborn. Really and truly. When she came to me she...well let's just say she didn't have great relieving protocol. I ended up have to walk her around in a circle and then she'd out the breaks on. After a week I got her to circle more or less as long as I wanted to her to. Still, it was a struggle at times.

3. She does what I have termed Hilly's Happy Hop (alliteration sells). What she does is bounce straight up into the air and then bound three times in front of you and then look back with this expression that clearly says, "I'm very excited! Aren't you!?" I love it.

4. She loves her sterilized marrow bone better than anything. Unfortunately Rosie likes to steal it and take it outside.

5. She's a smartypants. She figured out the doggie door in two weeks being here and about 5 days of that was recovery from surgery.

6. She's very mellow. Oh, she'll play alright but when it comes right down to it she's a pretty mellow girl. She likes to sleep as much as she likes to play.

7. She's not the cuddliest of puppies. She doesn't want to sit on my lap and cuddle with me like Rocco did. And she doesn't want to curl up on me when I lay on the floor like Freya did. But, she does do her own form of cuddling. She'll lay her head on my feet and curl up under the desk when I'm working on the computer and she'll come over and lay next to me.

8. She has this funny way of playing. I don't think she quite knew how to play when she came to me. She's still learning, but she's getting better. At first though, she didn't know what Rosie wanted to do and she apparently got annoyed at her. She lifted one paw and smacked Rosie in the body. It was quite funny. And I still see some of her "I have no idea what I'm doing" when she sort of falls on Rosie.

9. She's so good when she's out in public. She'll just lay down and sleep when she's at a restaurant or at a movie.

10. She wiggles when she walks when she's happy.

11. She loves her people. When she wakes up she wiggles and wiggles and wiggles.

12. She's my first dog who isn't a licker. She doesn't lick often, but when she does she's very polite about it.

13. She likes smells. This is unfortunately something we're working on as her love for smells does not befit a Guide. But she's cute when she sniffs stuff.

14. Sometimes, she'll just stick her nose near your nose. She doesn't lick, but just holds the her muzzle there. It's like she's saying "I like you".

15. She's got a large black spot on the back her tongue. You can only see if when she yawns.

Fifth Phase Report

Rocco 4Y13 LAB M 3

Rocky 4Y14 LAB M 4

WOOT! Look at those boys go! We always knew Rocky was the more focused, less goofy boy. So proud of both boys (though if Rocco wanted to speed up a little I wouldn't mind one bit). Belle puppy EATON is in phase 1 this week!

Hilly's Eval

Yesterday Hilly had her eval with the All Knowing Jim. I'm proud to announce that Jim's exact word was "excellent." That's right! Hilly got an "E" for excellent. He said she was such a nice girl and worked really well in her gentle leader and just on a flat collar. I'm so proud of her! However, he did say that if there wasn't a significant improvement in her dog distractions then...well...you know the rest. The good news on that is that I've already seen such a great improvement in her distraction. I really think she can get over this.

In other news: we were kicked out of a subway last night after seeing a movie. Normally I calmly explain that she's a Guide Dog in Training, but you know that feeling you get when you just know that someone doesn't know about the ADA? Yeah, I got that last night when the employee said, "No dogs ever" even after I explained that she was a service dog in training and then asked if he wouldn't let her in if she were a real service animal. I ask that usually to make the point the service dogs wouldn't know how to behave in public without the exposure they get in the puppy raising home. It generally gets them to see that even though the puppy is in training, they should have the right to be in the store as well and if they misbehave I leave. This time though the response was, "No dogs ever." So...I might have gotten a little too passionate when explaining the ADA regulations about how, legally, service animals are allowed anywhere a person is allowed. I'll freely admit I got hyped up a little. It happens to the best of us I suppose. Still, the only reason I got so hyped up was because he kept looking at me with this blank expression and saying, "I dunno about that." I just wanted to shout at him, "I do! I keep up with the ADA regulations!" But I didn't. After realising that I wasn't making any progress I wouldn't I calmly said, "Check with your manager about it before you guys get stuck with a fine." and left. The thing that bothers me is that his manager didn't prepare his employees for service animals.

17 Things at 17 Months

So someone told Mary that I lost *cough* * cough* I mean...that my manual is taking a vacation. But that's alright, because she sent me the Recall Phases section. Hooray! That means that I can tell you 17 Things that Rocco has learned up at "Puppy College". He's come so far is such a short amount of time. Every week I'm even more proud of my Goofy Baby Boy. Now without further ado...

Rocco's 17 Things at 17 Months (What He's Learned at College)

1. Clicker and Food Reward Training (phase 1): Rocco has been introduced to clicker training. Clicker training uses operant conditioning. The clicker when reinforced with food is a wonderful training tool. (Note: unless otherwise instructed no puppy raiser for GDB should introduce their puppy to a clicker. This is to insure that the puppy has a "clean slate" when going in for training.)

2. Obedient Responses (phase 1): Rocco has also been taught about collar responses. This means that he should respond to even slight tension on the collar.

3. Focus around Distractions (phase 1): This is part of the Obedient Responses. What this means that the dog should respond to pressure on the collar when around distractions.

4. Formal Obedience (phases 1&2): As a puppy Rocco learned "sit," "down," "come," and "stay." Now he has been taught to "sit" and "down" and "stay" in precise positions next to his handler. He's also expanding on the puppy raisers' "come" protocol to learn his new verbal command of "heel." Distractions are used during obedience training along with higher value food rewards if needed. In phase 2 the verbal command "over here" is introduced. This taught Rocco how to move behind his handler from the left to right side so that the team may safely pass through a door that opens on the left.

5. Food Refusal Protocol (phase 1): Rocco has learned how to take food politely from his handler as a reward and when to reject food given from anyone but his handler. He has also been taught to ignore food on the ground or on easy to reach tables.

6. Van Rides and Crate Training (phase 1): Rocco has learned to jump in and out of the GDB vans used to take the dogs into the city for training. Before actually jumping into an actual van a "mock" crate is set up to correctly teach them how to get in and out.

7. Body Handling (phase 1): Rocco has been taught how to accept all forms of body handling in proper ways. He's not suppose to run or jump into people as this could cause problems with his visually impaired partner later on.

8. Intro to the Harness (phase 1): Rocco was introduced to a harness back in phase one. Initially, he stood around and walked without pulling in the harness. And he would wear it in relaxed settings so that he would come to accept it calmly.

9: Treadmill Training (phase 1): Rocco's been on a treadmill! The treadmill is used to teach the dog how to pull in harness and how to maintain lead. Verbal commands are introduced while the dog is on the treadmill while the dog learns to pull with a straight body position. Also, a comfortable gait is accurately identified for each dog. Dog will have at least two treadmill sessions before starting "Pattern Training". (Note: Raisers (at least with GDB protocol) should never take their puppy on a treadmill or on an escalator.)

*The next few are all lumped under what GDB calls "Pattern Training". This is a way to introduce guidework to the dog in a calm and very positive manner. At this point (phase 1) the instructor corrects the young dog so that they complete the exercise with no mistakes. The dog will learn to make his or her own decisions in later training. In phase 2 the dog is given more freedom to make decisions and mistakes. Though, at this point, the handler still correct for major mistakes to decrease the possibility of the dog getting into a habit. Also at this point, advanced environments such as heavily crowded and loud areas are avoided. *

10: Stopping at Streets (phases 1): Rocco has learned to stop at streets regardless of whether it's a wheelchair ramp or a curb.

11: Clearing for the Handler (phase 1): Rocco has learned to clear for his handler on the left, right, and above the dog's head.

12. Crossing Streets (phase 1): Rocco has learned to cross streets in a straight line that will efficiently and quickly get him and his handler to the "up curb" on the other side.

13. Maintaining Pace (phase 1): Rocco is learning to maintain a consistent, comfortable pace with the verbal cue "forward".

14. Verbal Command "Hopp-Up" (phase 1): Rocco learned how to correctly respond in different situation to the verbal command "hopp-up" whether it's resuming or increasing pace, moving closer to a stopping point, or refocusing.

15. 90 Degree Turns (phase 1): Rocco learned how to lead his handler in a 90 degree turn to the left or right and pick up a new line of travel.

16. Curb training (phases 1&2): At first Rocco learned to target curbs via clicker training. Then in phase 2 he was taught the verbal cue "curb" as a command to move up on the curb as efficiently as possible.

17. Agility Training and Obstacle Course (phases 1&2): Rocco was introduced to an agility course to increase confidence and develop coordination for stair and escalator work. This agility training continues in phase 2. He also is being taught to back up efficiently. In phase one he was introduced to an on campus obstacle course. His handler taught him to move past the obstacle safely. In phase 2 there were more obstacle and the pace was increased.

Bonus! Planned Distraction Route and Responsible Lead Session (phase 2): Rocco was set up in a planned distraction route so that his handler could see what decisions he would make around certain distractions. He also took part in his Responsible Lead Session. This is where his guidework training would be reinforced. As in the planned distraction route this included set-ups to see what choices the dog would make.