Happy Birthdays! (Again)

I've realised something in the past months. All of my puppies with the exception of Marco share birthday months. Freya and Quinn even have the same birthday! I suppose it makes things easier for me to remember. Haha!

So, Happy Birthday to my March babies!

My fur-ever girl HILLY turned four on the 23rd of March. I have to say, I'm so ready to stop having to spend birthdays away from my Sweet Bean. I'm ready to wake up to her pushing me off the bed everyday. I'm ready for early morning walks everyday. I'm ready be able to call her really and truly mine. I've always held that these dogs go where they are needed most. Hilly could have been a Guide if she wanted to, but I think she knew that I needed her more. What can I say, she's one of two dogs I have formed such a strong bond with in such a short time. She is one of my "heart" dogs. I said my last good-bye to her in January and I'm ready to be reunited for good in August. Four more months Bean!

Hilly super happy at a baseball game this past summer. Gotta love Dog Days. 

And Sweet Dulcie Doodle Doo turned one on the 14th of March! She got to spend her birthday with Mary but then went back into season so is finishing up another two weeks of "spa treatment" just now. One year marks a time when recall is just around the corner. Dulcie has been given the title of PPP (practically perfect puppy) by the great and powerful Jim. An exalted title to receive. She's an absolutely stellar puppy and I know that she will do great things! We're hoping that she become a breeder because she's just such an awesome puppy, but if not she will be one amazing Guide. Happy Birthday Doodle Bug! I'll see you at your graduation because I'll unfortunately not be home in time for your recall. Keep making Mary and me proud.

Dulcie at a meeting in January with one of my homemade fabric flowers on her leash. 

Wordless Wednesday

Photo Description: Dulcie lying in the "frog leg" position in hot pink "feminine hygiene" pants.

Dulcie Pictures

I've gotten a couple of pictures of Dulcie recently and I tell you, she just doesn't get any less cute. I hear that she's still doing well even though she is getting into her teenage years. Golden teenage years can be hilarious, but can also be frustrating. But I think she's going to be just fine. I do miss her, but if all goes well then I'll be back home in 6 1/2 weeks.

Dulcie at 7 months old

Dulcie in her pink cowgirl hat at the Responsible Pet Owner Fair

Dulcie in her pink cowgirl hat

Dulcie in her Yankee Doodle Dandy Halloween costumes

Dulcie in her Yankee Doodle costume

Dulcie in a witch's hat at the Lathrop Fun Day

Dulcie at the Pumpkin patch

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. 

Back to Scotland

I've been absent as of late. Mostly because blogger has been in a poopy mood and that has made me frustrated. And I'm not terribly productive when I'm frustrated.

My last two weeks with Dulcie went well, but went by far too quickly for my liking. She really is just a stellar puppy and I know that she is going to go far in her life. Luckily, she is still with Mary and my puppy group back home. I'm very happy that I'll get to go home to my littlest golden girl when I go home during the winter break. Though, I won't say that it wasn't hard to leave her. I do miss my pupperdoodle. And on the 14th she turned 6 months old! She's a whole half a year old now. To celebrate, some pictures! I took these pictures a day or two before before I dropped her off with Mary, so about 2 weeks before her 6 month day.

Dulcie lying in the grass outside with her puppy jacket

Dulcie sitting outside with her jacket

Dulcie sitting outside with her jacket

Dulcie sitting outside with her jacket

Head shot of Dulcie with her jacket

My last 3 weeks with Hilly went by equally too fast. I really love that little black lab and there isn't a day that goes by that I regret my decision to adopt her as my pet...even when her food costs nearly $100 a bag. She has started to feel much better since being on prescription food and medicated ear flushes. Luckily, the last time we went to the doggie dermatologist there was no more bacterial fluid in her ears...just gunk. So she'll have to have flushes for a while and will continue on the prescription food until we can find an over the counter food that she can tolerate. She's allergic to poultry so that might be a challenge since chicken is a cheap protein which you can find in almost every single over the counter food whether it's actual chicken or a byproduct of it.

Hilly outside with her Ambassador scarf

Hilly got a new hedgehog and she loved it

Hilly lying on her back on the couch

Hilly lying on her back in her favorite spot between the fireplace and the writing desk

I definitely miss these two and my old golden girl, Arwen. Hilly and Arwen were definitely unhappy when they saw the suitcase come out. I guess there won't be many more times that I have to take out the suitcase and make them unhappy.

So, new term here in Aberdeen and a couple of new puppies. One of which is an 11 month old yellow lab/golden cross named Quinn. He's a transfer puppy and, from what I've been told, a very sweet boy. I was going to wait until I was fully adjusted to the time zone to take him for a little, but my friends needed to go out of town (they are picking up one of their puppies who has just retired from Guiding) so they are dropping him off tomorrow evening and I'll keep him until Sunday. I'm excited to meet him!

And there will be another puppy too! But I will post on that tomorrow. Just to keep you guessing.

Where Did the Time Go?

In two weeks I'll be dropping off Little Dulcie Doodle Doo with Mary. Can't believe that my time with her has almost come to an end. She's such a good puppy. I'm definitely going to miss her. Guess the only thing to do is make the most of the time I do have left with her right? *heavy sigh*

And in three weeks I'll be stepping on a plane to return to Aberdeen for my final year of undergrad. Seriously, where did my summer go? Guess it'll be time to get back to reality soon. Can't really imagine leaving Hilly for another year.

5 Months Old

Well, Dulcie turned 5 months old yesterday. It comes as a reminder as to how little time I have left with her and how little time I have left back here stateside. It makes me both sad and excited. I'm ready to be done honestly. But I am pretty excited to see what this last year of undergrad brings.

Since this is my dog blog, this post is meant to be about Dulcie. Dulcie is my easiest puppy so far. I thought I would be really bored with an easy puppy, but she is proving to have her own challenges while still being very easy. And she's got a great personality. She's stable and very eager to please. 

I would definitely call her a confident puppy. Nothing like Freya, but definitely confident. Confidence doesn't mean "not scared of anything". Confidence means being able to shrug off what does scare them and be able to work past it with grace. And that is Dulcie. She isn't startled by much, but when she is she shrugs it off and easily works past it. And it's not even for food which I love. She looks to me, sees that I'm ok and then starts to prance again with her big, goofy grin. I sometimes feel like, with our softer puppies, we pump up their confidence with food alone and for me, if a puppy needs food to be happy while working then they shouldn't be working. And I sometimes feel like we have come to be far too dependent on food. So, I absolutely love that I don't have to fill her full of food. She's such a great, little worker.

She also has a lovely, golden personality. She isn't too needy, but definitely needs her attention sometimes. And she definitely has the "I will be whatever you want me to be" attitude. She loves to please.

So, I suppose it's time for one of those "5 Things at 5 Months". Happy 5 Month Day to Dulcie and the rest of the "D" Goldens!

1. I love her focus. She is very observant of her surroundings, but when I ask for her attention to be back on me, she gives it. She notices things like birds and other dogs, but that's about all she does. There are rare occasions that she is too interested in the other animals, but it is definitely rare. I love that I have an observant puppy, but not a distracted puppy. Of course, this may just be because I have had super distracted puppies in the past and she is a breeze in comparison. 

2. I love her smarts. Now, I really love goldens. They are my favorite breed. But, most goldens you meet are a little...you know...ditzy. I guess this might go along with her focus, but she's one smart cookie. She picks up on things pretty quickly and doesn't often forget them.

3. This might be superficial, but I love her color! I love dark goldens or white goldens. I'm not much for the in between colors. But any dark golden out there can steal my heart in an instant. She's also got absolutely lovely eyes. She has dark eye-liner instead of that pinkish kind. She's actually such a pretty dog and you can tell that she knows it.

4. I love her happy, little personality. She's always just so happy! She has such an expressive face which tells me exactly what she is thinking. When she sits, she looks up at you and smiles like "Did I do good!?"

5. She is such a cuddler. For any of you who have ever met a golden retriever before you know that they can be a little very needy. I have one of my own and you have to pet her until she says she is done being petted...which could be anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour at a time. But Dulcie really isn't all that needy. She does love her attention, but she also likes her alone time. Truly, Hilly is more needy towards me that Dulcie is.

Really, I love this golden girl. I know that I am really going to miss her when I have to go back to school. The good news is that she will be staying with the group! I was worried there for a second that I would transfer her and then never hear from her again until graduation. I'm so happy that I can get constant updates about her while I am across the Atlantic. Here are some pictures of her at our fire station meeting this past Tuesday the day before she turned 5 months old.

Dulcie and Samar (aka Sam) sitting on a fire engine

Dulcie sitting on the fire engine

Dulcie lying down outside around the fire trucks

Duclie (with Galloway) very interested in the truck that was driving around 

Dulcie lying in her frog leg position 

Dulcie being very excited about meeting a fully dressed firefighter

Fun Day 2013: Part 2

Getting up bright and early Keno, Dulcie, and their two humans went down to the lobby for breakfast. It was just a continental breakfast so it wasn't fantastic but at least there was food right? We got out of the hotel a little later than we intended but got to the parking lot in time to try and catch a shuttle over to the campus. Unfortunately, they weren't using the shuttle buses like in previous years but the training vans they use to take students and their dogs out to routes. So only about 4 or 5 people could fit in one at a time and there was a crowd of people waiting and they were only running them every 10 minutes. So, we decided to walk. One of the people said it would take us 20 minutes because it was 4 blocks and I looked at him and said that I had done the walk plenty of times and it never took me more than 5. Low and behold, it took us 5 minutes to get to campus.

Things were a little different. They weren't giving out littermate books this year which I didn't like and I know a lot of people didn't like it either. They sent out a PDF a couple weeks before, so I printed it out instead. They also didn't have name tags. I always really liked the name tags for some reason so I was a little disappointed that I didn't get to write my name with Dulcie's. Don't ask me why. 

The opening ceremonies were like normal. After you've sat through one you don't really want to sit through another and another and another. So, every other year I'll sit through opening ceremonies but this year we got there a little late and instead we wandered around a little. In my wandering I met Amici's breeder custodian! She said she would have him later on if I wanted to meet him, but I could never find her again. That was a little disappointed, but I guess I should have asked where I could find her later. Ah well. 

Since Dulcie is young her littermate meeting was right there at the beginning of the morning. They changed where the meeting spots were located this year and I had a little trouble finding them. I even asked someone if they knew where they were and they said they weren't near the vendor booths. They were near the vendor booths. *le sigh* But I got there and everything was good! Three other siblings showed up at Fun Day, which isn't my best turn out but is definitely by far not my worst (Freya had one other, Rocco had none, and Hilly had all that were still puppies in training). Something that I think is really cool is that Dulcie's brother Davenport was only a starter puppy and he was being transferred on Fun Day and he was transferred to Belle's puppy raiser! I raised one of her grandpuppies and now we are raising siblings. Pretty cool I think.

Davenport and Danube were fairly light while Downton and Dulcie were both pretty dark. So I guess it might be easier to pick out puppies from the litter photos that GDB posts on flikr.  

Littermate meeting - from left to right: Davenport, Danube, Downton, and Dulcie

Littermate meeting - from left to right: Davenport, Danube, Downton, and Dulcie

Littermate meeting; puppy pile. All the "D" puppies playing together.

Puppy pile. The "D" siblings playing together

Dulcie (back) with her sister Danube (front). They were best friends!

After the littermate meeting I really didn't do much else. This was the first year that our club did a booth so I really helped out the rest of the time. It was weird. There wasn't really much I wanted to do. There were tours of the new dorm, but I had already seen them and I didn't really want to walk through the kennels because Dulcie had just recently started to not react to other dogs barking at her. There were little games, but nothing too interesting. I almost partook in the recall game, but Dulcie and I hadn't worked too hard on that yet so I decided not to. Plus, Dulcie is still so young that I didn't want to overstimulate her. So, I just sort of hung out at our booth in the shade most of the time and spent far more than I meant to at the other booths. Oops.

But overall, it was a good day and I think both Dulcie and I enjoyed ourselves. She was dead tired afterwards and handled all the stimulus beautifully for a puppy of her age.

Dulcie showing off her purple leash (that I made) and the yellow flower for her collar I bought for her

Dulcie making an oh so funny grin at the camera

Dulcie and me on the bench out in front of the gift shop

Dulcie and me on the bench in front of the gift shop with our baseball gear on

I'm so bummed that I forgot to get a picture of her and me in front of the sign out in front of Guide Dogs for the Blind! I hope that means that I will be back before her recall so that I can get a picture of us then.

Fun Day 2013: Part 1

So, this post has been a long time coming but I've just haven't found the time to sit down and write in the past couple of weeks. Been a busy bumble bee I suppose. 

Fun Day is a big event put on by GDB for its puppy raisers, breeder custodians, graduates, etc. They hold one annually at both of their campuses. I have yet to make it to a Fun Day on their Boring, OR campus (in fact, today is the Oregon Fun Day) but I really hope to eventually. I hear the campus is absolutely stunning. Anyway, California Fun Day was a couple of weeks ago and of course Dulcie and I participated. 

Every year a committee puts together a Fun Day theme and this year was MVP. So, yes I wore my baseball jersey and yes I did put a hat on Dulcie for a picture. I only ever do it for Fun Day so there ya go.

Any good trip starts with a car journey. We don't live to far away from the San Rafael campus, but it's still a fun drive. And a drive is always better with company so I went with a friend and her 11 month old puppy KENO! Same friend I went with last year and again it was a lot of fun packing my little mini full of two dogs, two people, two crates, and all of our stuff. Especially since Keno is a little bigger than Hank. But we managed it just fine and were on the road. And luckily we didn't hit much traffic and made great timing. 

The trick for this year was finding a little something to eat. Normally on Friday we have pizza out by the pool with our puppy group and then we all go out to a club dinner on Saturday. This year there was a leader meeting that Friday evening so we all had to fend for ourselves. And thus we start on the funniest story of the weekend. 

We FINALLY decide to try and find this Thai restaurant so we load ourselves and the dogs into the car and put on the GPS since we aren't too sure of our surroundings in San Rafael. It turns out that it was in a little shopping center that was just at the bottom of the hill from our hotel that would have taken us about 10 minutes to walk to. Unfortunately we missed it on the first go around in the parking lot so decided drive out through the back and circle around. So, we get to the exit and there are no cars in the street and I think, Shoot, I can't actually remember which side of the road we drive on in the states. So I say out loud with the hopes that my friend will correct me if I'm wrong, "We drive on the left in America yes?" Getting no response I turn to drive on the left when all the cars start driving towards us and I quickly get over to the right. Apparently she thought I was joking. We both (and everyone else we told about it) had a good laugh about it. And we had our Thai and it was delicious! 

Then we went back to the hotel room, hung out by the pool, and relaxed for the big day ahead of us. Dulcie and Keno played very well with each other and didn't make too much noise or get too rough. Which is a good thing when you're in a hotel room. 

Dulcie in the hotel room with a silly expression.

Dulcie and Keno playing

Dulcie and Keno playing.

Dulcie and Keno playing

Dulcie and Keno playing

Dulcie and Keno playing

Dulcie and Keno playing

Dulcie and Keno playing

Part 2 tomorrow.

Dulcie in the Big City

*Warning: Contains a ton of images*

I suppose the title is a little misleading as Dulcie really never entered the "big city" as it were. Hilly, Dulcie, and I went to visit my mother and step-dad in the LA area about a week ago and since Dulcie was still not fully vaccinated and still very young she really couldn't go many places. But she did get to go to a few places.

As I said, Dulcie made her first trip to LA when she wasn't fully vaccinated and my parents' neighborhood is very dog friendly. This meant we had to get a little creative in exercising Dulcie. She couldn't stay cooped up in the apartment all week, but we wanted things to be safe and low key. For this, I choose Desconso Gardens. Minimal to no dog traffic and the dogs that do go through there are all service dogs as it isn't open to pets. It's also one of the less visited gardens in the LA area so there isn't a lot of foot traffic either which means it wouldn't be over stimulating for Dulcie. And to top it all of there are paved walkways so we could keep puppy paws off a grass. To be honest, it's probably safer than walking her in my neighborhood back home. Dulcie was a very good girl and got nice and tired. I carried her to the cafe area since she was so pooped (though my perfect, little girl didn't poop) and she had a nice nap before we got in the car to drive home. She slept the whole way back. 

Dulcie at Desconso in front of a flower bed

Dulcie at Desconso in front of a flower bed

Dulcie at Desconso in front of a flower bed

Dulcie on a bridge to the Japanese Garden

Another great outing was the Getty Villa. Again, minimal to no dog traffic with those dogs being service animals, paved walkways, and still low foot traffic though a little bit more than Desconso. The Getty Villa is a recreation of a Roman Villa with a museum. In accordance with her "classic schooling" she learned all about ancient Rome and Greece. I think she even picked up a bit of Latin. She did not disappoint at all. She was such a wonderful puppy and handled it all like a pro. And, the best part, she slept very well that night.

Dulcie at the entrance, it's in Malibu so you can kind of see the ocean behind her

Dulcie in front of the atrium pond

Dulcie ext to a column in the museum

Dulcie in the main garden, behind her is a long 'pool' with statues of maidens

Dulcie in front of a fountain with beautiful mosaic work

Dulcie and I hung out in the kinds room for a little for a rest and took this picture of us behind a screen. It made up into a silhouette which is suppose to look like something you might find on pottery from the time. 

The rest of her outings were pretty mundane. We went out to eat, went to the grocery store, visited a book shop, that sort of thing. She spent a lot of her time in the apartment playing and resting and having a grand old vacation. My parents absolutely fell in love with her and my mother almost didn't let her leave with me she was such a good puppy. Except for eating the cat's food. To be fair, he wouldn't come out from under the bed and he left his food there for a full two hours. I suppose it's a mistake that any puppy could make once...or thrice...

Hilly and Dulcie playing in the apartment

Hilly and Dulcie playing in the apartment

Hilly and Dulcie playing in the apartment

Hilly and Dulcie playing in the apartment

Now that Dulcie is all vaccinated her next trip to LA will be even more fun. We are looking forward to taking her to Huntington Gardens next time. 

Hilly also really liked her trip to LA, but I'll let her tell you all about it on her blog.