The Puppy Raising Roller Coaster

Welcome Puppy # 8

2011-06-26T00:22:00.005-05:00

Introducing Warsaw! He is a male black lab and so wicked adorable! He came home about noon today and we have been having a great time ever since. Heres a pic and we will have a better update later ( when Ive had some sleep...maybe but so far so good!)

Warsaw giving his sleepy serious face

O and I not only have one puppy I have TWO! I am watching another raisers new pup for the night til she can come and pick him up. The boys enjoy each other so its no big deal. They are so cute!

Storm

Getting the boys off of the van :-)

W Puppy

2011-06-20T14:32:00.002-05:00

Well I have been matched with a specific W pup! I am so excited! My RM will be bringing the puppy back with her on Saturday when she comes back up from the school. So my dear blog readers you have until Saturday to participate in the puppy name game. You can guess name color sex and breed! If you have already guessed and want to change your guess you are more then welcome to. I can tell you that no one that has guessed so far has gotten it 100% correct so feel free to guess again!

Its that time again...

2011-06-01T17:46:00.002-05:00

For the Puppy Name Game! I took a bit of a break after Kilroy's release to get him all settled in to the routine of being a pet vs being a PIT. I am now happy to announce that I have my name on the list to receive puppy number 8 who will be ready to go in about 20 days! So now my blog readers (if there are any of you left) it is up to you. You are able to guess breed (lab, golden or shepherd), sex, color and name! The litter letter is W. There will be a prize for whoever comes up with the most correct response. Good luck! I am interested to see what W names you all come up with :-)

The End to a Journey

2011-05-26T20:57:00.004-05:00

Kilroy came to the end of his journey as a Puppy in Training in April. Those of you on facebook already know that. He has a medical issue that does not allow him to become a guide. Disappointing? YES! So much potential! Such a willingness to please and a drive to work. He was a star when we were out places. Heartbreaking? NO! As now Kilroy and I get to start a new journey! One in which we get to put his willingness to please and drive to work into practice in new ways. I have lots of plans for our new journey together and he is already enjoying some of the perks of being a pet dog like sleeping on the bed and playing without the hindrance of a long line :-) I LOVE this dog and am so glad that his place in life was to be right here with me forever!

Kilroy got to spend his 1st Birthday on Tuesday playing outside chasing his tennis ball and got to have a special treat! Hes such a spoiled little man :-)

Its All In The Name:

2010-07-30T11:17:00.006-05:00

I dont know how many of you have seen or heard of the old "Kilroy was Here" doodle that was made famous during WWII. I had heard of it but had no idea of the whole meaning behind it. Some one was kind enough to send me an email which explains the whole "Kilroy was Here" thing. So here you go:

" Anyone born in the mid thirties knew Kilroy. We didnt know why but we had lapel pins with his nose hanging over the label and the top of his face above his nose with hands hanging over the label too. I believe it was orange in color. No one knew why he was so well known but we all joined in! Kind of a war story and now we know!

KILROY WAS HERE!

A carving of "Kilroy Was Here" found on the Washington DC WWII Monument

Who the heck was Kilroy?

In 1946 the American Transit Association, through its radio program, "Speak to America," sponsored a nationwide contest to find the REAL Kilroy, offering a prize of a real trolley car to the person who could prove himself to be the genuine article.

Almost 40 men stepped forward to make that claim, but only James Kilroyfrom Halifax, Massachusetts, had evidence of his identity.

Kilroy was a 46 year old shipyard worker during the war who worked as a checker at the Fore River Shipyard in Quincy. His job was to go around and check on the number or rivets completed. Riveters were on piecework and got paid by the rivet.

Kilroy would count a block of rivets and put a check mark in semi-waxed lumber chalk, so the rivets wouldn't be counted twice. When Kilroy went off duty, the riveters would erase the mark.

Later on, an off-shoft inspector would come through and count the rivets a second time, resulting in double pay for the riveters.

One day Kilroy's boss called him into his office. The foreman was upset about all the wages being paid to the riveters, and asked him to investigate. It was then he realized ehat had been going on.

The tight spaces he crawled into to check the rivets didn't lend themselves to lugging around a paint can and brush, so Kilroy decided to stick with the waxy chalk. He continued to put his checkmark on each job he inspected, but added KILROY WAS HERE in king-sized letters nest to the check, and eventually added the sketch of the chap with the long nose peering over the fence and that became part of the Kilroy message. Once he did that, The riveters stopped trying to wipe away his marks.

Ordinarily the rivets and chalk marks would have been covered up with paint. With the war on, however, ships were leavin the Quincy Yard so fast that there wasn't time to paint them. As a result, Kilroy's inspection "trademark" was seen by thousands of servicemen who boarded the troopships the yard produced. His message appearently rang a bell witht he servicemen, because they picked it up and spread it all over Europe and the South Pacific.

Before war's end, "Kilroy" had been here, there, and everywhere on the long hauls to Berlin and Tokyo.

To the troops outbound in those ships, however, he was a complete mystery; all they knew for sure was that some jerk named Kilroy had "been there first." As a joke, U.S. servicemen began placing the graffiti wherever they landed, claiming it was already there when they arrived.

Kilroy became the U.S. super-GI who had always "already been" wherever GIs went. It became a challenge to place the logo in the most unlikely places imaginable ( it is said to be atop Mt. Everest, the Statue of Liberty, the underside of Arc De Triomphe, and eevn scrawled in the dust on the moon.)

As the war went on, the legend grew. Underwater demolition teams routnely sneaked ashore on Japenese-held islands in the Pacific to map the terrain for coming invasions but U.S. troops ( and thus, presumably, were the first GI's there). On one occasion, however, they reported seeing enemy troops painting over the Kilroy logo. In 1945, an outhouse was built for the exclusive use of Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill at the Potsdam conference. Its first occupant was Stalin, who emerged and asked his aide (in Russian), "Who is Kilroy?"

To help prove his authenticity in 1946, James Kilroy brought alon officials from the shipyard and some of the riveters. He won the trolley car, which he gave to his nine children as a Christmas gifr and set it up as a playhouse in the Kilroy front yard in Halifax, Massachusetts."

Interesting stuff! I have also found that his name means: Son of Gilroy (red, young). The red and the young part fit just fine...son of Gilroy not so much! We are very mcuh looking forward to our adventures together and yes we plan on leaving little notes saying "Kilroy was here!" as we go along :-) Our version of the old doodle

PRESENTING!

2010-07-25T18:29:00.004-05:00

KILROY!

Kilroy is a Male Golden Retriever. He is the first born of 8 puppies. He has 5 brothers and 2 sisters. I actually got to go to Guiding Eyes and pick him up! It was a great trip! I brought back and delivered 9 other puppies to their raisers! Puppies inclueded Joel and his brothers and 2 of Kilroy's siblings. What a fantastic experience! Kilroy is settling in great! He is quiet in the crate and has been sleeping ~5 hours give or take (mostly take) and will go potty and come back in and go back to sleep. We are doing really well on sit (for food and doors as well as just plain sit) and walking on a loose lead. He already has stairs ( a full set up AND down) under his belt which is quite impressive for 8 weeks. He is such a fun little man. I am so honored to be able to watch him grow!

The winner of the name contest is Megan and Picassa! She correctly guessed the sex and the breed and she also correctly guessed a sibling name. Since no one correctly guessed Kilroys name and I had multiple guesses for male Golden to determine a winner I added sibling names too. Congrats Megan! I will be contacting you shortly :-)

Off we go!

2010-07-19T22:53:00.002-05:00

The car is packed...well its full of crates of various sizes. Suitcases and supplies will be packed in the morning then it is off to GEB!!! I am so excited I can hardly wait!! Thursday is the big day. I will be picking up my next puppy ( and a few others that are hitching a ride with me =] )and headed home to start the journey again. Keep your guesses coming guys. I have a few outside people with guesses too. Cant wait to meet my new little one. See you all soon!!

We have a letter!!

2010-07-14T18:33:00.003-05:00

Puppy Number 7 will be arriving next Thursday! Litter letter is K so let the name guesses begin. I am going to try and get a prize for the winner (who ever comes closest with name/breed/sex). So keep guessing the breed and sex as well as names that start with K. You have until I post Thursday or Friday next week so have fun! GEB people: you can guess you just wont get anything for it as you have an unfair advantage :p

Its July!!

2010-07-03T10:09:00.002-05:00

Well it is officially July. Happy 4th of July tomorrow everyone!!! In just a few short weeks puppy #7 should be arriving, if everything goes as planned. To say im excited is an understatment!! Anyway, since arrival is rapidly approaching I thought I would open up the comments for guesses of breed, color and sex. I will give you a letter for guesses soon!! Your breed choices are lab, golden, shepherd and glab (what we at GEB call golden lab crosses). Happy Guessing!

Long Time No Blog

2010-06-10T23:40:00.005-05:00

Well it has been a while since the last blog. Its hard to keep up with blogging when you dont have a dog to blog about. So quick update...

I have been in contact with Indiana and his new family. They are thrilled with him and he is settling in very nicely :) They have invited me to come and visit when I am in the area. He is proving what an awesome dog he became. I am so proud of him and how far he came. He has a wonderful family and an excellent begining to a fantastic life. I cant wait to see what adventures are instore.

Glacier and Anna have been a team for a year now. They are doing fantastic! I hear from them at least once a month. It warms my heart to hear the stories and know that Glacier is doing what she was born to do. They are woderful together. I know that I have said it before and I am positive I will say it again but I could not have asked for a better match.

In puppy news...I am hoping to get puppy #7 in July if things work out as planned. I am super excited. It has been a long 6 months since Indiana has left. I am thankful for the break but am definately ready to get back into the world of raising. I will keep everyone informed and as time gets closer I will let everyone guess breed sex and name :) I think that is all for now.

Happy Family

2010-03-31T11:05:00.002-05:00

Thats right, Indiana has found his new family and they could not be happier (neither could I)!!! He is settling in well and enjoying his new life! I have talked with his family and will get to keep in contact which is awesome! Good Luck Indiana! I will always love you but you definately found exactly where you belong.

Playing catch up...

2010-02-21T15:49:00.004-05:00

Lots of stuff to cover so here we go: Glacier Glacier has been working for almost 9 months and I could not be happier with her and Anna. I get emails and updates quite frequently. She is doing really well and knows all her routes. Some of you know that she had some skin/ear issues and at this point they seem to be gone which I am so relieved about. Im happy that they are doing so well. She is such a special girl and loves working and being with her person. what more can you ask for? Indiana Indiana left for IFT on January 3rd. He passed his IFT test on the 5th and was being looked at for breeding. After about a week or so they decided that they were not going to use him as a stud so they sent him to the training school to start his harness training. Wednesday he was released from training for distraction and cats. He is going to be adopted through GEB. As much as I want him back I just cant with all the things that are going on at the moment. I am disappointed but knew deep down that guide work probably wasnt a good fit for him. I am very proud of how far he came. He overcame a lot of things medical and other stuff so in my mind he is a success! I will keep you in the loop as I find out more about his placement in the next couple of weeks. Life Dog Life So after indiana went IFT I decided to take a break from puppy raising. I am trying to focus myself. I am still really active in GEB. At the moment I am puppy sitiing Galaxy who is a Gretchen baby (Glaciers sister) while his raiser recovers and gets used to life with a new baby. He is AWESOME! I have also had a rotating door to puppies in region that needed a sitter for the day so I have also had Galaxy's sister Goldie and a few other puppies just for quick day outings. What happens after Galaxy goes home...well at the moment it is up in the air. Im not sure what I am going to do. My break plan was to take 6 months to a year off. I dont know if that is going to work I have been looking at litters but have held strong on not putting my name on a litter lol. Wren is still Wren she is doing well. She is starting to get grey which makes me sad. I keep plucking random grey hairs lol I also have threatened chalking her. Poor Wren haha. Varsity is still working. I havent heard anything from him but I will know when he retires which hasnt happend yet! Good boy! I hear for Yellsea's people about once a year and she is also doing well. I have a letter to Morks new family havent heard anything on him yet. Other Life What is other life lol. Like I said before Im trying to get things back in control. I am trying to figure out exactly what I want to do. I am debating a few different things and so far so good! My family is doing well. My younger brother is competing at States for diving this week and has qualified to apply to nationals which will be held next month and is waiting to hear if he is has made it in. The youngest brother is doing well in his first year of college...I feel old haha! I am staying in Syracuse for a while with my grandmother will see how that works out. I think thats about it in news. I hope that I have covered everything. I am hoping to do more on my blog in the future so look forward to that :)

Indiana Quick Update

2010-01-06T23:40:00.002-05:00

For those of you who don't know...

Indiana left for Guiding Eyes on Sunday Jan. 3rd. He took his IFT yesterday and he passed. He is being looked at for breeding. Good Luck Indiana!

Glacier the Guide

2009-06-10T17:06:00.004-05:00

So on Saturday Glacier graduated from Canadian Guide Dogs for the Blind. We ( my mom my dad and I) left my grandmothers house in Syracuse at around 10 oclock and drove up to Canada. The border crossing went well. PHEW! We arrived at CGDB at 1:30 early (graduation started at 3). We took the opportunity to walk around the campus and take pictures.

In front of the sign

The School

While we were out walk the trainer came out and talked to us for a bit. We decided to go find some lunch and come back. We got back real close to 3 and went in. We went in to the lounge and the trainer went to get the graduate. We got 2 hours to spend talking and getting to know each other. Glacier was excited to see us. She jumped all over me and licked my face then proceded to pass out. She was so lazy it was cute! Her graduate is AWESOME!!

They are a great pair and I wish them the best!

The graduating class was little with only 4 dogs total. According to Glaciers graduate (Glacier is her third dog from CGDB) class sizes are between 4-8 students. So it is really small compared to our graduations but normal for them. I like the small class it makes everything seem so much more personal. It was a change though!

Abby

Kristy

Lars

(He was so little compared to Indiana....hes 18 months old!)

It was cool to be able to be there and the trainer and Glaciers graduate where very thankful that we made it (I dont think very many US raisers are able to get to graduation). Good Luck Glacier! I love you!

Quick Post

2009-06-06T22:46:00.001-05:00

Just a quick note to say that I just got back from Canada. I got to go to Glaciers graduation today. :-) Im so proud of her. I will do a better post later with pictures of course!

Guess Who Turned One Yesterday!

2009-05-13T21:12:00.008-05:00

Ya its had to believe that my little (read pony-sized) German Shepherd turned one! I cant believe it! He is such a hansome boy. He had a good day with Lots of treats and fun play times as well of lots of hugs & kisses from those who love him. Birthdays are such a bittersweet moment. Up until that point it seems like you have forever left with them they are still offically puppies after all but that birthday is momentous and time seems to fly by after that. Hopefully time doesnt go by too fast!

Indy in his coat

Indy and Wren height difference!

I love my GSD!!

In other news: I found out today that this cute little yellow lab

Is in class and slaited to graduate for Canadian Guide Dogs for the Blind in June! Im soo excited! I cant wait and will keep you all posted! YeY Glacier!

An Update...YEY!

2009-03-05T12:37:00.006-05:00

So here we go. Indiana is doing MUCH better. He gave us all a scare. He had to go to the vet and we were on pins and needles for a week until the test results came in. He is all good now. He was on a couple medications and seems fine now. He is at my RC house for a week on a switch so I am dogless which is a very weird feeling...I havent been dogless since the short break I took between Yellsea and Mork. Indiana is a good boy. He got hormones for Christmas so we are combatting with those and his "Im not listening stage" but overall he is doing well with his commands. He comes to work with me almost everyday and is doing great playing with other dogs and practicing commands with dog distractions while off leash (in a fenced yard obviously). he is pretty good at all the basics but we are still working on some of the harder ones. He wil be 10 months old this month. WOW! Here are some pictures that were taken January 23rd at work. When I get him back I will post more recent pictures. Promise.

A cute face shot in the Daycare Room

Indy and Calea one of the Daycare dogs

Playing out in the Daycare Yard

He has a ton of fun!

Waiting for me to throw the ball for him.

Now for the Glacier news: As you all know Glacier was released from GEB's Training program after completing her fianl phase of training and aiting to be matched with a graduate. Her darn medicals had caught up with her and she couldnt go anyfarther with us BUT because her medicals were not too severe she was accepted into the Canadian Guide Dog training program. They are going to switch her food which should take care of her issues. She and her roommate Yasha also raised in my region and released the same week headed up to Canada to be evaluated for thier guide dog program. I am so excited. She is a great girl and her trainer at GEB was so pleased with her work pattern and guide ability so I am glad taht she still has a chance to be able to put her skills to use. I havent heard any news yet on how she is doing but no news is good news at this point. They have a "graduation" that all puppy raisers are invited to attend. I hear it is a ton different then our graduations. It is more like a formal tea party type get together where raisers meet the graduates but I am not totally sure how it works. I will keep you updated on her when I hear. Good Luck Girls!!

Yasha and Glacier in the kennels at GEB

Glacier in Community Run at GEB

In other news...I don't know if I offically said anything but Glacier's Sister Gretchen raised by my RC was accepted into GEB's breeding program and had her first litter on December 22nd. They were the G408 litter with 6 girls and 4 boys. We have one of her puppies now being raised by Westons raiser. His name is Galaxy. He is a tiny black lab and oh so cute. Another Glacier sibling BrookLynn is also a breeding dog for her school and had her first litter on January 8th. They are also the G litter. How cool is that!! They are wicked cute too!! Jeanette, Indiana's half sister, went in for her IFT at the end of January and is being looked at by the heads of GEB to become a Breeder for the program. I think that is it for news.

Gretchen's Brood Photo

Gretchen and her G litter

Baby Galaxy

Pretty BrookLynn

BrookLynn and Her G Litter

Jeanette's Last Day in Daycare with Friend Max

Quick Update

2009-02-04T21:21:00.002-05:00

So I know that in the last post I said that I was going to be back with a vengence but alas things never work out how you plan. Indiana is having some medical issues that we are trying to work through/ find answers for. He has a vet appointment tomorrow. I dont really want to go into details about it until I know what is up for sure and maybe not even then. Uggg! Such is life. I promise another update as soon as I get more info on Indy. Fingers crossed! O and good Glacier news to come next post as well!

Its been a while...

2009-01-15T18:40:00.004-05:00

So I readily admit that I have been absent from the blogging world for a long time. I have missed a lot! The coming of new puppies, IFT's, the heartbreak of CC's, and the warm welcome of dogs coming home/ finding their forever home. Not to worry I have plans to be back with a vengence. I don't have any good excuses for you but here is what has been going on. I moved in with one of my friends and started a new job at a boarding kennel/Doggie Daycare. I mostly spend my time in daycare but do help out in kennel or in the front when the need arises. Its fun. Indiana is doing well. He is growing so fast! He surpassed Katie (she is 4 months older then him) in height and length at 5 months and surpassed half sister Jeanette (she will be 19 months old soon and headed off to IFT the end of the month :-( Im gunna miss my girl.) soon after prolly around 6 and a half months. He is going to be a really big boy and hopefully will start filling out more soon. I swear all his food goes to his legs and his back! He is doing wonderful in his work. He are still working on loose leash walking when on a 6 ft leash but when he is off leash or on a long line he is excellent. We are working on stays. They are our hardest thing to overcome. He is very much of the mind set that he should always be with me no matter what. Silly shepherds. lol. Indy, Jeanette and her raiser and I met up with Sarah and MK and Caesar just before Christmas and took on NYC. That was a blast and overall Indy did well for a 7 month old puppy! He is such a good boy and I really cant get enough of him even when he is at his most frustrating. lol. I got the heartbreaking phone call on Miss Glacier this afternoon. She has been released from training for medical reasons. I haven't decided yet what is in her future but no matter what I'm sure it will be a bright one. She was one special labbie and Im so glad for the time we shared. Mork is doing excellent! I got to see him in October at GEB's annual Walk-a-thon. He is such a hansome boy and is doing so well in his work. His partner is an absolutely amazing man and I am so glad that he and Mork are together. They are the perfect pair. Wren is Wren. She is kinda on the back burner for a little bit but we will start up doing competion work with her soon. We will be hopefully doing Obedience and Agility with her and possibly Rally-o. We are also working towards her theropy dog test. She is a sweety and doesnt mind being out shined but the puppies as she get her revenge by being able to sleep on the bed, be off leash all the time and eat people food. LOL!! Updates will be more forth coming now that life has settle somewhat. Pictures will be added soon and I will make sure to let you all know how Glaciers story plays out.

Award

2008-09-20T14:08:00.003-05:00

Thanks to the Miss Irie for nominating this blog for an award! Here are the rules: 1) The winner can put the logo on his/her blog. 2) Link to the person you received your award from. 3) Nominate seven other blogs and put links of those blogs on yours. 4) Leave a message on those blogs you've nominated. The hard part is choosing other blogs for nomination since there are soo many good ones and I only get 7 choices!! Here are my picks in no particular order:

Madison and Andros

Natalie

Amy, Kongo and B puppy

Robbin Nessie and Paxton

Anna

Bill and Amy with Emmy

Kelsie, Jillian and Puma

Ok so now those of you that I nominated feel free to pass the award along. I love everyones blog but tried to nominate blogs that I didnt see nominated already.

To Tide You Over...

2008-09-09T16:39:00.009-05:00

Here are some pictures and videos (its my first try with videos) I took today of Indiana and Wren out in the backyard. Sorry they arent the best but they will have to do till I get an update ready to post. Enjoy!! Good Sit Indiana!!

Look my ears are sorta straight when I lean my head back. *wink* Whats that? Wren and Indy in the grass

Video Time: Charge...Indiana trying to get Wren to play with him!

Wren finally plays with Indy...for a little while

Back and Forth

2008-09-03T15:25:00.001-05:00

Im back from the fair but I leave for camp on Friday. Look for an update probably monday or so.

Really quick update

2008-08-21T01:22:00.002-05:00

Ok so I was hoping to get a really good post out before I left for the New York State Fair but I guess that didnt happen...just way too busy! I am in Syracuse now and will be manning the dog booth in the 4_H building for two weeks. Unfortunately Indiana is too young to go so he went to a sitter while I am gone. Fortunately I am not dogless and was abole to steal Miss Jeanette. She will be great! Ill try and post some update/pics while Im up here but don't count on it. See you all in two weeks!

Glacier Update

2008-07-29T09:40:00.005-05:00

Hi all,

Just wanted to do a quick update on Glacier. As you all know I brought her to the kennels last Thursday (picture post to come soon!). They like to have them in the kennels with plenty of time to adjust to the new life before testing them. Yesterday Glacier and the 3 other Southern Tier dogs took their IFT test and all four passed with flying colors! I am so excited that Glacier is now in training. One hurdle complete fingers crossed for the rest of her journey how ever it ends up! I will explain the IFT test once I recieve it on DVD.

Good Luck Glacier Girl! I love you!

Introducing...

2008-07-28T18:25:00.006-05:00

Indiana!!

This is puppy number 6. Congrats to MK and Lisa who both correctly guessed his name.Congrats to Erin who guessed his breed corectly. No one guessed his color correctly tho. He is a Sable GSD. A very oddly colored sable at that! I picked him up yesterday morning. He was excellent on the ride home from GEB maybe 2 minutes of whining total. I will do a better intro with more pictures soon!

Update and Goodbye

2008-07-22T09:26:00.004-05:00

Well the last month has just flown by. We had a ton of lasts throughout that month including her last class and her last puppy switch. Glacier's last class was also the last class for 3 other Southern Tier puppies ( Weston Yasha and Gretchen). At class we did a pairs walk and practices dogs in front and dogs behind as well as side by side. We did some distance command work ( verbal and hand signal) watched a previous dogs IFT test and did some work on the Go Place command. At the end of the night we got our certificates of completion and our puppy bars ( we get a pin for our first puppy and then each puppy after we get a bar with the number of puppies raised on it so this is my 5 puppy bar).

Our Certificate

Goodbye Southern Tier dogs! l-r Yasha, Weston, Gretchen and Glacier (w/ Westons raiser)

Glacier went home with Gretchen's raiser and I took Gretchen home from class. They are sisters and in the above picture you can sorta see the similarities and differences. It was interesting to have gretchen they are alike in a lot of ways. They have the same really funny sleeping position ( I will try and get a picture of it posted here- my camera was broken when I had Gretchen so no pictures of her while she was with me), the same happy bounce and a ton of other similarities. Gretchen is bigger boned and redder. They were switched for a week. Saturday and Monday (the 12th and the 14th) was my county fair. We had quite a few GEB dogs that were at the dog show! They all behaved really well. It was cool that we had two of each (black, yellow, and GSD).

Southern Tier Group l-r Jeanette, Wren, Glacier and Olympia

Entire Group front: Wren back l-r Jeanette, Glacier, Olympia, Jillian, and Puma

Last Wednesday was Eval day. I went to help out and Glacier was there but there was no eval for her (she is too old) :-(. After that I went home with Faith for the week which brings us to now. Both girls are here with me so we have a house full of dogs... 7 total. They all get along great so it has been fun to let them all play in the backyard. I will try and get a picture of everyone before we leave. Wren is also experiencing life on the farm. lol. Glacier has been here before on a switch so the animals are no big deal for her but Wren is so interested in everything. There are 3 horses, 2 goats, 2 ducks and a rabbit and Wren is having the time of her life. (I will post pictures of everything when I get home).

I can't believe that we are working on hours left with Glacier instead of days or weeks. Tomorrow is her last day with me her last night in the ST region. Thursday we are going down to GEB for the annual Regional Coordinators Workshop and we will be bringing Glacier, Gretchen and Weston down with us and putting them in their runs to prepare for their IFT on Tuesday. I will be sad but am super excited that I actually get to take her to the school. We will be staying the weekend for the workshop and learning a ton so I wont really be saying goodbye goodbye till we leave GEB to go home.

On a happier note I get Mr. I on Saturday! I am super excited! This pick up will be a lot of fun. Workshop is a time whena ton of puppies go home. It reminds me a lot of GDB when the puppy truck hands out the puppies as it is a van with all the puppies in it and are handed out to the RCs to bring home with them. We are also bringing home a released dog with us and possibly another puppy depending on tests and so forth. I cant wait to get Mr. I. So here is my final clue for the new baby. His name has been guessed but the color guesses or the breed guessed have been incorrect! I will introduce him on Sunday (hopefully) when we get home!

Sigh...

2008-06-27T10:23:00.013-05:00

So Im in the mood I get into periodically, wondering why do I do this. Why do I work so hard and go through so much heartbreak with a puppy from the tender age of 8 weeks till they are are 16-18 months just to give them up at the point where they are almost the perfect dog and you can see your work starting to pay off. Sigh...I mean I know why I do this I've seen the result of all my hard work and it is the most wonderful reward in the world. I think I'm just getting sad that Glacier is ready to leave and I will have to say goodbye to her in less then a month. The uncertainty I feel towards her future is egging me on to feel this way in part. I have no doubt that she will pass her IFT test but what will her life in training be? My fingers are crossed that she will make it all the way through but I have my doubts that come through every now and then about certain things which is why I am so grateful to have Sarah and some other great friends that listen to my concerns. I think the doubts I have are amplified by the fact that I know that there is no way that I can take her back if she should not make it and it breaks my heart. I have really grown attached to my yellow tornado over the last 16 months. I also have another theory on why I feel this way right now...I miss Mork. Glacier is my last connection to him in a wierd way. She was here before he left and so my missing Mork is making my feelings toward Glacier stronger! Now, I know for a fact that Mork is doing fine as I do have contact with Michael and we talk and I have a ton of pictures of him but Glacier leaving kind makes me miss them both more. I dont even know if that makes any sense at all. Actually...typing all of this has made me feel a ton better! Having GLacier has had its ups and downs but I know that she is ready and that she will do what is best for her. No matter what I will be proud of my tornado! And now as promised, especially since I am in a way better mood now then when I started typing this post, I have another hint for you on the new baby Puppy #6! So far at least one person has guessed correctly but on which part Im not telling. The new clue is that the puppy's name is a place name. Remember that it is a male and the name starts with an I. So keep the guesses on breed, color and name coming! I can't wait to meet my new little man and go through the whole cycle again! I cant imagine not doing this!

On that note I leave you some cute puppy pictures!

Varsity

Wren

Yellsea

Mork

Glacier

Katie Lamar Amos maybe?

G506 Litter

Graduation Plus Goodbye & Hello

2008-06-17T11:15:00.011-05:00

So on May 18th I graduated from Alfred State College's Veterinary Technology program. Glacier was able to walk with me. She was so good. We had to stand back stage for about an hour before going into the gym. She just layed down and wasnt bothered by all of the people walking back and forth around her. She was also very good throughout the ceremony and was entertainment for the Vet Techs and the Nursing students in front of us through the horribly boring ceremony. As MeKalea and heels do not mix I was slightly nervous how walking would go but Glacier practiced excellent loose lead walking and I had no problems. Everyone was very impressed with how well she handled the ceremony and the after party. She had a very long day as we went out to dinner after the after party and then drove my grandmother back home to Syracuse. She was awesome and made the whole day that much more special. *more and better pictures to come soon*

Walking across the stage for my "diploma"

Returning to our seats

The after party with some of the VT Seniors and VT Teachers

My favorite grad pics of just me

The final step of this part of life is taking my liscencing exam on Friday!!! Its a 4 hour exam that determines wether or not I become an official LVT! Wish me luck. After that exam I don't have any idea what I' m going to do next but one thing is probable (going back to school) and one thing is definate; what ever my life brings I will have a dog with me.

Now for the Goodbye. As you can see to the side there Glacier leaves in just a little over a month. All of the puppies that are so much younger then her are leaving the same time! She will be almost 19 months old. She will be the puppy that I have had for the longest period of time. I will miss her a lot. She has turned into a fantastic dog with excellent obedience and social skills but still has her super crazy and fun side lovingly refered to as The Yellow Tornado side. Having her for this long is a challenge. There is only so much you can do berfore they get bored. So whats in store for the last of her time here is at least one puppy switch with her sister Gretchen, trip to the mall, trip to county fair, some agility practice and we have been invited to go swimming at Jeanette's house.

And lastly the Hello. I had told you all before that Faith and I would be co-raising Miss Katie but things did not work out for that. Her personality and our schedules just did not work out in her favor so putting Katie first we decided it was best that Faith keep Katie and I get my own puppy. So that is what I am going to do. I will let you all guess breed and name. Hints are that the puppy is a male and his name begins with an I. I do know the possible names so go ahead and guess I names. I will post more hints as more information becomes available. I am excited. He was born on May 12th so he should be puppy tested in the next few weeks and be ready to come home before Glacier goes IFT.

Quick Update

2008-05-14T08:06:00.005-05:00

So the stress of studying for finals is over but the stress of finding out grades will come soon. Then add on the stress of graduation on Sunday! O the joy! But I finally got the official ok (my advisor told me it was ok a long time ago) that Miss Glaze can walk with me at graduation! I am excited about that. Glacier is on a home switch right now and I have had the great luck to receive into my home a wonderful boy name Weston. He is grandpup to Sarah's Major and nephew to her Diego. He is such a love. He is high energy but settles fast and has the gorgeous big head I love so much on labs. We are working hard on a few of his minor issues but I absolutely love having him around. I realized that I haven't post pictures of Glacier lately so here are some from March Madness.

Dogs are (l-r) Jeanette, Glacier, Pekoe and Wrangler.

Southern Tier Pups Jet, Glaze and Wrang

Southern Tier Pups with Raisers

This is from a presentation that we did at the end of March for one of our young raisers so that she can bring her puppy to school with her when the dog gets old enough to handle it.

Dogs (L-R) Edwin- retired guide, Wrangler, Olympia, Jeanette, and Glacier

Update on Elijah- I finished his blood work panel on Friday and he was all clear. We brought him back to the Humane Society on Saturday and it broke my heart. I did cry when I left him in his run even though I knew it was only till Monday morning. He was adopted by the sister of the lady who adopted his brother. He will have a ton of land to run and play on and of course he will be reunited with his brother, Ethan. He went to Maine on Monday to spend the summer now that he is all clear. He will be rechecked in three months just to be 100% positive that we got everything. I am so glad that he is going to have a great life and hopefully I will hear about him in a few months. Good boy Elijah! Everyone at Alfred State wishes you luck!

The Big E!

2008-05-03T17:34:00.005-05:00

So here are some pics of Mr. Elijah, my project dog. The pics don't do justice to his gorgeous blue eyes but you can sorta tell. He is nearing the end of his month of heartworm treatment. I will be drawing blood in a week for his final chemistry panel and to check to make sure he has no more heartworms present. We did have one minor issue along the way, because his immune system was down he was more susceptible to other parasites and did have to be treated for hookworms. Ewww! I love this dog and am glad that I got to help get him ready for adoption. I will miss him dearly!!! Fingers crossed that his final results are good and he can get to the loving home he deserves soon!

Me and E-Man

I love this dog!

Looking to the future!

My Gorgeous E Boy! I love you! Good Luck!

Katie Pics!

2008-04-23T18:50:00.004-05:00

Here are a few pictures that I have of Miss Katie. Faith and I are co-raising her so Faith has her right now and I should be getting her for a couple weeks soon!

Faith and I getting Katie from the kennels. A Katie Kiss! In the van on the way home. It is a 5 and a half hour trip but she was soo good! My Favorite Katie pic thus far.

As you can see we have decided on bright neonish green for her at this point. We wanted different but not too girly. Any other color ideas?

Brief Update

2008-04-17T13:35:00.006-05:00

So I'll do a really short update now. I promise pictures and a more involved update soon. 1. I was put in charge of a unique project here at school on April 1st. I am treating/moitoring a heartworm positive dog name Elijah. He is the first one that we have had here at school. It is sad but cool also as I am in charge of everything from walking to administering medications to x-rays and talking to the vets about treatment options and protocols. So far he is doing well. Fingers crossed! I will post pictures of him and keep you updated on his progress. 2. Glacier went into heat Sunday the 6th. School has been boring without her. 3. I again went to Eye Clinic this year. It was a ton of fun! Got to see old friends and make new ones. It was quite a bit different this year so I will update on what happend this year a bit later. 4. Congrats to MK for correctly guessing that puppy #6 (sorta) is a FGSD. She is sister to Sarah's Keller. Her name is Katie. We picked her up on our way home from Eye Clinic. She is with Faith for now but I will get her soon! I will put pics of her up ASAP. 5. Evals was on Wednesday. They were Glacier's last! *sad face* She was such a good girl besides her crate barking issue which was amplified a bit by her being in heat and being clingy at the moment. I got to work with our RM on some new stuff we are trying with some of the more difficult dogs in the region. I think that is about it for now. I will update with pictures hopefully by Monday. Thanks for being patient with me.

Apologies

2008-04-09T19:09:00.002-05:00

As the title says I am apologizing to all of you readers for the lack of a real update. I did find out some news today that I can not share quite yet. I am going to GEB for the weekend tomorrow and when I return I will have all the info and more to share with everyone. Please bare with me I am as frustrated with the lack of news as you all are.

No News Today

2008-04-07T20:21:00.001-05:00

Maybe I will have the last bit of info tomorrow. I will post a full update when I get the news.

questions

2008-04-06T16:04:00.009-05:00

Ok so I have a real update to come....hopefully tomorrow I will have the final bit of news so I can share with everyone. Till then I will follow in the footsteps of many others of you and post my answers to these questions.

1. How many pups have you raised?

At this point 5 but soon to be 6!! Varsity-guide, Wren-CC'd, Yellsea-retired guide, Mork-s-guide, Glacier- PIT

2. Why did you start raising?

I really wanted a dog of my own but knew that my parents wouldn't let me because I was going to college in a couple of years. I attended March Dog Madness and learned about the Guiding Eye puppy raising program and thought that it would be a perfect option for me and luckily my parents agreed.

3. How long have you been a puppy raiser?

It will be 6 years in May!!

4. What is one thing you have learned in raising?

Many! First responsibility and the meaning of unconditional love. Second everything is better with a puppy. Third confidence in myself, how to interact with people and that I really do know some things!

5. What have your puppies taught you?

Varsity- To view everyday as a new adventure

Wren- Sometimes life has something different in mind for you so always go with the flow you may understand the reasons later on.

Yellsea- Different IS beautiful no matter what people say.

Mork- Its ok to wait for the right person and don't judge a book by its cover

Glacier- Just be yourself people will grow to love you in time

6. What is the strangest thing that someone has asked/ said to you about your puppy?

Either "how does he help you drive?" or "Watch her close or that lady will stuff her and put her on the wall!"- (some random lady at a festival that I went to about a taxidermist friend of mine)

7. Do you give out your puppies real name out in public?

Yep!

8. What is the most embarrassing incident that you've had with your puppy?

Either the time Varsity pooped in Walmart while walking so that I didn't notice in time or the time Wren got loose and noisily went to visit the dog across the street.

9. What is the most proud moment you have had with your puppy?

Varsity, the dog no one had faith in, made it all the way through training and is still working

Wren- when she was able to comfort a graduate at GEB who had just had to put her guide dog, another FBL named Wren to sleep after suffering with cancer...she then decided the next day to come home!

Yellsea- when she found her life calling by being best friends with one very special little boy and his family

Mork- watching him working with Mike and knowing that he was no longer my goofy little boy.

Glacier- the day I went in to the small animal lab at school and despite all the little critters (rats, mice, rabbits, birds, cats etc.) she willingly was able to make the choice to follow me back out of the room instead of chasing something even tho she was very interested

10. What advice do you have for newbie puppy raisers?

It is one of the hardest yet most rewarding thing that you can do. If you are thinking about it go for it! Don't be afraid to ask for help or advice. Hug your puppy often!

Happy Birthday!

2008-03-12T16:39:00.003-05:00

Happy Birthday a day late to my first puppy, Varsity! I can't believe that he turned 6 years old yesterday!! It seems like just a little while ago I was taking him to puppy class and just starting to learn about the Guiding Eyes program! He taught me so much while he was here. He is still out working with his partner. Happy Birthday, Buddy! Keep up the good work!

This and That

2008-03-07T08:06:00.006-05:00

*Not much has been going on here. Glacier has gotten back into the routine. She is really good at school. Last Saturday was my brother's State swiming and diving meet in Syracuse. Glacier was amazing and slept most of the meet. When we took breaks we pracited obedience and stairs. She got in so many good people greetings and food distractions were not a problem. Then Sunday she lost it all. O well she is back to normal now. *I got an email from my RC and we finally have a date for Glacier and her sister Gretchen. July 26th leaving and July 29th for the test. I know that it is a long time from now and that the date is subject to change at any moment but it is still sad that she is now on the list. *Ive been slowly coming to the realization that I graduate from college in 8 weeks!! Its kinda weird to think about. There is so much going on and I am not sure what I am going to do with my life after school. At this point I am just glad that Glacier will be able to walk with me (although with my luck she'll go into heat). *I am on the list for another puppy. I will let you guys guess the breed, sex and color! (Sarah you are not allowed to play) At this point the litter is already born and we are now just waiting on puppy test results! YEY! Hopefully everything works out. Fingers Crossed! * In closing I leave you with pictures of Mork.

January 2008 Class The two of Them

The three of us

Glacier's Back and Jeanette pics

2008-02-25T16:40:00.003-05:00

Glacier is home from her 2 week puppy switch. Her report was not as good as I would have hoped. A lot of the issues that she exhibited at the other raisers house were issues that I thought that we had overcome ie: crate barking and jumping. Other issues seen I haven't seen in her at all such as cat chasing and issues with kids and loose leash. The raiser reported having issues getting a connection with her which I completely understand since it took me FOREVER to get a connection with her at all but you couldn't tell by looking at us. lol. Overall she did really well but she did have her own mind set show through. *GRIN* She is a free thinker. She did amazing on obedience and she would kennel when asked! She did like her a lot and did have very good things to say about her. She even offered to have her back! I love having her home. I missed her very much but this report means many more home switches in her future so we can hopefully work out some of her issues. Sarah want a yellow visitor?? If these are all the problems she has then I consider myself lucky!

Her are some pictures of Jeanette on her visit with me. The pictures don't really show her full long hair coat but you can sorta tell. Enjoy!

Jillian and Jeanette Another of Jillian and Jeanette Jillian, Olympia ( one of my 4-Hers new puppy) and Jeanette Jet at my brother's swim meet Cause its cute: Jilly and Olympia

long overdue update

2008-02-15T15:06:00.002-05:00

Hey guys,

So here is what has been going on for the last couple of months. sorry that there are no pictures right now but I will get some for you soon. July26-28th I was invited along with my partner in crime, Faith, to accompany my AC to GEB to participate in the annual Area Coordinators Workshop. This workshop is a time for the AC's from all of the Guiding Eyes regions to gather at GEB and have time to get to know/reconnect with each other, get caught up on what's been happening in the program over the last year and to go over the goals and how to reach them for the upcoming year (whether it be new training methods or studies or whatever). We did a bunch of fun games the first night and spent the next few days in a workshop with Suzanne Clothier. The best part of the weekend was that I got to visit Mork in the kennels. The first day we got to watch community run and see them in the kennel area but the second day they actually let us go in the kennel with our dogs because we were behind schedule and most people went to lunch instead. Mork graduated in August. I went to the graduation and got to meet his partner. She's a great girl from PA and Mork was her second dog. She was very happy that he grew up in a college setting being as she is herself a college student. We took her to dinner and got to know each other as well as the puppy raiser for her first dog. While at GEB I got to visit with Sarah and Carrie as well as pet Mork's brothers in the kennel. And I also handed in paper work so that I could do my internship at Guiding Eyes Vet Hospital in January. August brought on my third semester of Vet Tech. Whew I didnt have any idea of how much work that we had to accomplish and how much we had to learn in the short few months that we had in the classes. Glacier of course accompanied me to my classes except for the labs. I also became the Secretary of the Vet Tech club so things got even more complicated. The months just flew by! I found out that Mork was returned to GEB a few days before Thanksgiving. I dont know all of the details but it was along the lines of second dog syndrome plus the fact that he was having some stress related issues and sicknesses. Christmas was excellent. We spent a quiet Christmas at home and I prepared to go to GEB the 4th of January for my preceptorship. Plans changed. My grandmother died on the 3rd of January and I spent the rest of my vacation in Alabama for the funeral. It was actually kinda fun. I got to hang out with all my cousins and met my baby (2yr old) cousin Kimora who absolutely adored me and spent most of her time with me or her dad ( my cousin who is the same age as me). I left Glacier at home the enitre time. She went to a friend of mine who was at the time on the waiting list to get a puppy. She actually got her puppy, Olympia, while we were gone. Glacier was great at both sitters houses and actually behaived like she knew what she was supposed to be doing. lol. When we got home I had in the mail my letter that said that Mork was in the January graduating class for the next saturday! I of course was super excited and decided right then that I was going no matter what...then the car broke down. Luckily it was a semi easy fix and we got to go. My Regional manager reserved my mom and I a room in the guest house so we went down Friday night and spent the night. The nesxt morning we went on the breeding kennel tour which was being run by 2 of my favorite people, Maria and Vicki. They are amazing. Maria is the breeding kennel manager and Vick is the Program Manager. They both gave me giant hugs and congratualtions on Mork's graduation. My mom finally got to see exactly how many people know me at Guiding Eyes because I was stopped by pretty much everybody. After that I tried to get my gift for Mork's graduate ready (I had started to make his partner a narrated CD of pictures but the computer crashed the friday night and it was corrupted somehow so I had to start all over again). We ended up being slightly late to the ceremony. We got there right as the graduates started to file in. Two of the dogs my friends raised, Enrico and Lava and a Yellsea half sister, Olympus, were in the January class as well. Mork was matched with a great guy named Michael who is a lawyer from California. Mork is his second dog and he was super excited to meet me. After the ceromony the raisers are invited to meet the graduates and say a final goodbye to the dogs they raised. I was about to go up and got stopped by Mike's family who were so happy that I was there and thanked me so much for raising Mork. Poor Mike thought that I didn't d come! He asked two staff memebers if I had come and finally my mom went up and told him that I had gotten stuck on my way to see him. My mom usually waits behind till I greet the graduate and dog since she feels she doenst have the connection that I have. We got our pictures taken and got to chat. I am really happy with Mike. I couldn't have asked for a better match. He was very upfront and kind about Mork being a regrad and was super happy that he had "come back to find his forever person". That night I went out to dinner with Sarah, Enrico's raiser and graduate, Lava's raiser and graduate and another friend that met up with us at graduation and her puppy in pre training, Harvey-who was the only dog as the graduates are not allowed to take their dogs with them. It was a wonderful night. Then I started school aggain. It is my final semester here at Alfred State. I will graduate in May as a Veterinary Technician! I dont know what I am going to do after school! Glacier is coming with me to school again this semester. I am only taking 4 classes but my schedule is super full!! I have the hardest two classes of my major this semester and they take over the scheduled period of time to finish everything envolved. Glacier is a huge hit in my speach class that I am taking just so that I can be up to full time. They get very sad when I dont bring her to calss with me. She is also a hit in my Genetics class that is a fun elective that Im taking. We are even going to talk about color genetics in that class because of her. Glacier is doing very well in training. She is settling down very well and doing excelent. We are working on some different shaping activities that we are doing with her. She is learning spin left and right and touch left and right as well as bow and find it. She is a super fast learner. She is again away on a puppy swap so at the moment I have Miss Jeanette who is sister to Sarah's Jo. She is a long haired black and tan and the sweetest girl ever. She has amazingly settled in the house and is excellent with obedience. She does have some issues, like Jo, with traffic but not so severe. She works well except for when there are big trucks. We are also working a lot with stairs and working when it is warm. You may be asking how we can work on being in warm to hot places when we live in western NY were it is 5 below outside not counting the wind chill. Well my brothers are swimmers so we have gone to the pool and worked on doing things in the heat. Being long haired she is not so thrilled with the heat but has been doing progressivly better and better. While here she also got to play with her sister Jillian at my 4-H meeting. Jeanette will be staying with me till Wednesday when we will switch back. That is all for now. I will hopefully be more available for updates soon. Check back for pictures as well.

Quick Note

2007-08-17T21:45:00.000-05:00

Just a quick not to let you all know that I am headed down to Guiding Eyes to see Mork graduate tomorrow. Im soo EXCITED!! I will fill you all in when I get back.

Yellsea pictures

2007-08-13T16:33:00.000-05:00

I was going through pictures making sure that I had all the good pictures of Mork ( well not all of them but as many as I could) out for his photo album and I came across a few more cute pictures of Yellsea while she was with me. Enjoy!

Yellsea (bullseye butt) and Ozzie playing

Yellsea Matilda and Ozzie

Yellsea Pumpkin!

Halloween Costume!

Yellsea Me and Kev Yellsea Kevin and I Ar'nt they ADORABLE! Yellsea at March Madness You can see her tan! What was that??

Happy Birthday!

2007-08-03T16:24:00.000-05:00

Happy 4th Birthday Wren! It seems like it was yesterday that I was welcoming home my little black bundle of puppy fur. It was a very sad day when I had to put her back on the truck to GEB but I knew that she had a job to do. I said my goodbyes planning only seeing her again for her graduation. It was with sadness and happiness that I received the call saying that Wren was released. She had completed her task ( she comforted a graduate whose Guide Dog Wren had just passed away from cancer) and was ready to come home. Now I could not imagine life without my girl. She is awesome to have around and does a wonderful job teaching the puppies all the things they need to know. She is an agility dog, a great obedience dog, a CGC dog, hopefully a therapy dog soon, and of course one AWESOME companion. Happy Birthday Wrenny. I love You!!!

For Erin

2007-08-02T19:42:00.000-05:00

So the other day Erin asked me what my favorite dog names would be. Well of course I told her that it would depend. So we came up with a compromise (really i came up with it to the chagrin of Erin). I told her that I have sorta been compiling a list of dog names since I was in 8th grade. When I was in 8th grade my grandfather called to tell me that he had a puppy for me and that I needed to come up with a name. So I enlisted the help of a small few of my friends( which turned into most of the 8th grade) to help me come up with a few names. The list kept growing and is still growing and right at this minute consists of 2,960 non repeating names with as few people names as possible. There are names for every letter of the alphabet except for x. So anyways for Erin and anyone else that is interested here is a list of my favorite names...for each letter. lol. Boys in blue girls in pink. (Erin these might be slightly different than the list I started the other day). A Apachie Alpine B Bacardi Bahama C Calibur/Croxley Calyx/Cascade D Diggery/Diesel Dasani E Everest Eclipse/Envy F Finland Fiji G Gaelic Genoa H Hawkeye Hedwig/Harpie I Iago Inoue(inoway)/Ixchel(eshell) J Jigsaw Jersey K Kraven Keifer L Lansing/Limrik Liesel/Lanai M Mowgli Moxie N Novak Nalani/Nymph O Ozark/Oxford O'Keefe P Pollux/Puzzle Pheonix/Pixel Q Qwilleran Quette R Romulus/Remington Renegade/Rhapsody S Samurai Skye Serenade T Tuxedo(Tux for short) Tipai U Uzo Ubella V Vortex/Vegus Vodka/Velour W Wiskey/Woodstock Widge/Whisper Y Yishai (e shy) Yardin Z Zephyr Zyair/Zest You have no idea how long that took. lol. Let me know what you guys think!!

Introducing...

2007-08-02T19:11:00.000-05:00

...Puppy number 5. (Ok so I have had her for almost 6 months..O man has it really been 6 months!) Anywho Glacier is a female yellow lab and arrived on February 25th. The G506 litter was born on December 27 to 1st time mom Zola and gorgeous dad Evan. Glacier was the last of 11 puppies born. Their names are Garland/Sadie(released), Gable/Buddy (other school), Ginny (being raised by Zola's raiser), Gage (released), Gretchen(being raised in my region), Gala (other school), Gardenia/Harmony (released), Gem (being raised), Germaine/Genevieve/BrookLynn (other school), and Glacier. So ya I lucked out with names although people always confuse her for a boy because of her name (she has a pink collar now which solved that problem *GRIN*). I overlapped dogs for about 2 weeks. It was interesting. I loved having both puppies. Mork taught her a lot and Glacier taught Mork how to be patient with annoying little creatures who liked to bite his ears and tail. lol. A week before Mork went IFT we took both puppies to get photos done of them. They both well surpassed my expectations and behaved like angels. The photo shoot took all of 10 minutes of actual picture taking and 5 minutes of switching dogs on and off the table. It took me longer to pick out packages then it took to get the photos done. The photographer was amazed at how well behaved both dogs were and that they laid down when not being asked to do something. *yey*.

After Mork left it was difficult. Glacier is pretty much the complete opposite of Mork. She is high energy high drive and that has taken a lot of getting used to. I love this little girl her face with it perpetually sad wrinkles and droopy eyes make it almost impossible to stay angry for very long. Glacier's main problem was she was a crate barker... when I say that I dont mean the occasional barking I mean full blown howl bark whine for hours on end without giving a break to reward and let out. This was very frustrating and I tried EVERYTHING. Towel over the crate, leash to the collar, loud startling noises, ignoring and nothing seemed to work with her. At her first evals in April that is what we worked on the most. We brought kennels for her and Gretchen (who also had the same problem and share some of the other issues that Glacier has as well). Well I thought my puppy was bad...Gretchen had to be moved outside so that we could actually hear what our PE was saying. Glacier it seems didnt mind being quiet if someone else was doing the barking. lol. We worked Glacier with zig zag and off lead work. She was very good at evals.

In May, Glacier became the first one of my dogs that I had to bring to the vet. She had a really gross ear so we went and found out that it was not an infection she seemed to be doing the damage to herself for unknown reasons. So the vet gave us some different ear cleaner that healed the ear up in 5 days. May brought 4-H Animal Crackers held at Cornell University. Animal Crackers is kinda like a get together to learn about different species of animals rotating by year. This year just happened to be dogs and horses. Glacier accompanied me to the workshops and was amazing. We ended up just hanging out with GEB people from the Fingerlakes region who put on a presentation for one of the stations. That was fun I got to show off Glacier and also go to know people from another region. The next week I was invited to do a presentation for the 6th grade class about GEB and helped them with their math project on the cost of having an animal for a year (who better to ask then the girl who only has her dogs for a year. lol.) Glacier was very good but she started to display another of her annoying habits jumping into peoples faces. She would jump at them but wouldnt hit them...grr. May starts dog show season. Glacier became very well traveled as we took our 4-H kids to 4 shows though out May and June. We also did another presentation in June at a dog parade/ meet in the park. She was awesome and didnt really mind all the other dogs around. She went to the dentist with me and was AMAZING. In the waiting room she chilled and chewed on her bone then when we went back to start work on my teeth she went to sleep next to the chair. She trained a few of the hygienists that were there. They learned how to work around a dog in their super small cubbies! The only problem we had was that Glacier decided that the best most comfortable place to lay was on top of the hose for the suction thing and it took a while to maneuver her off of the cord. lol. July was a boring month. We did not do too much. She had 2 home switches. We had county fair which she went to for one day and was good. We walked around and she was only startled once by the pirate ship ride but her recovery was awesome. This brings us to know. My puppy is maturing and becoming a nice little puppy (my 57 lb yellow tornado *smile*). I will write about my trip to GEB last week and our puppy class last night separately.

Mork-s

2007-07-14T09:47:00.000-05:00

After puppy number three, I wanted to take a break. The emotional journey with Yellsea was a tad overwhelming. Well my break lasted all of a week and I was longing to have a puppy again. I knew that I really wasn't up for raising again right away so I puppy sat some of the more difficult dogs in the region. 2 months after Yellsea left my PE called and said she knew I didn't want to raise again but there was this cute little 11 week old puppy that needed a home just until a permanent raiser could be found. It was a yellow male that no one wanted. Well how could I say no to that...she obviously had known I couldn't turn down a puppy as he arrived the next day with Faith's new puppy Scotch. As you all know and some of you have experienced this...Puppy with no home became puppy number 4. They set me up. lol. It was perfect as I like to have one of everything ( already had MBL, FBL,and FB&T) plus I prefer males. The M405 litter was born December 14, 2005 to parents Regina-raised in our region- and Cooper - his mother was raised in our region. The litter consisted of 4 yellow males-Maestro 2M405 (Mork), McDuff 5M405, Malcolm 6M405 (McGee) and Mogul 7M405 (Cliff). 4 black males- Mike 3M405, Murdock 4M405( Jackie), Maverick 8M405, and Mario 9M405(Mackie) and 1 lone black female-Marcie 1M405 (Zoe). Regina was sent to Minnesota Guide Dogs and whelped the M405 litter under their care. When the pups were old enough they were sent back to GEB. When the pups tested two were put into a different school's training program (I want to say they were kept with the Minnesota Guide Dogs but I don't know for sure), one was put into the PBB program, one was released and the rest were sent to puppy raisers. There were lots of name changes in the litter. Regina's foster got to name a puppy , one was changed because of difficulty in flow, and one was a special named puppy ( someone donated a certain amount of money and in return was able to chose a name for a puppy in program. This is what the -s means after a dog's name). Faith and I met at a team member house late on Feb 28th to wait and pick up our new charges...Faith's GSD and my little yellow boy. We walked into the house and fell in love with the two handsome boys relaxing in the kennel. I found out that my puppies name was Mork. His name had been changed that morning and his paperwork had both names; Maestro crossed out and Mork written in pen. I never found out who named my dog and wasn't even 100% positive that he was an actual special name till he went IFT. You are not always told that yout puppy is special named. Sometime GEB changes names for different reasons so you never can tell. We played with the puppies for an hour or so then headed home. The next day was puppy class. My 4-H group and I had volunteered to run the class so it was interesting juggling on semi no sleep (not the puppy's fault nervous mother syndrome as my mommy likes to say). We did a mock CGC ( Canine Good Citezen test) and I handed off my new little boy so that I could run the class. After class we got to visit with Mackie who was being raised by Regina's raiser and we also got pictures of all three new puppies together. Mork was such a sweet calm puppy. He was very laid back and relaxed. I was very surprised by his attitude since I knew both sides of family, other Regina puppies and his discharge sheet talked about him being a difficult puppy and not the type of puppy for a first time raiser. He was really not what I was expecting. He was immediately loved by my family...this is a rare and great accomplishment since my family doesn't not like male dogs as a general rule and usually take time to adjustment to any new puppy. March brought on 4-H March Dog Madness at Cornell University. Mork was amazingly well behaved for such a young puppy. He rode well in the car with another pup in training- half brother Puma, was good in the crate when left alone, and walked well on leash. We had a great day. We were asked to participate in a photo shoot. That was fun. We also got to be introduced to new footings, traffic and distractions. He handled it all in stride and behaved like a little champ. It is a good thing I had hold of the leash and was watching him close because he had some fans that would have taken off with him if I hadn't. lol. In April Mork went on his first puppy swap to his brother Mackie's house and in return of course I got Mr. Mackie. Mackie was the type of dog that I was expecting with the background info that I had on the litter yet after Mork I was expecting something similar which I did not get. Mackie was not a bad puppy in fact he was relatively good as far as puppies go. Just different and had a strong stubborn streak. Cute but annoying.Mackie went with me to an agility show with my 4-hers. He was a very good puppy there and was the highlight of many of the teen aged girls. We also ran into Faith who got to work him a little and see if some of the issues his raiser and I were seeing she saw as well. He was good with other dogs and with being in the kennel but he was a stubborn little man-which he continued to be up till he left. May brought news of Yellsea's graduation. Since I did not have very much notice and I was being slightly superstitious I called upon the help of a former raiser (raised Tashi). She of course readily agreed since her house felt lonely after her pup left for IFT. When I returned home after graduation I had a hard time getting my dog back from the sitter. They absolutely loved him. He was only their second experience with male dogs and the first was not so good. He was reported to have been an excellent puppy with their other dogs on walks and sleeping in. The raisers mother informed me that Mork slept in my friends room at night in his kennel. Since she was sleeping late she went in to let the puppy out only to find that the puppy was not in his kennel but sound asleep on the floor near the foot of the bed. He had not touched a t thing or had an accident. What a good boy! So started him sleeping out of the kennel (which proved to be a bad thing as he started to becoem a yodeler when in the crate-his problem was an easy fix however!). I started to become more and more involved with my region. Someone had to step up after Roberta's death and Faith and I were taking on that role. We began to be counted on for class involvement, eval staffing, as well as behavior evaluations of some of the dogs in our region. Finally we got told that we were now what was called junior team members. This is were Mork came in very handy. Mork became sort of a pass along dog. He was sent to raisers who needed a break from their difficult dogs, new prospective raisers who needed to complete their puppy sitting, and was used many times as demo dog for different presentations about GEB. Mork handled all situations excellently and was a region (and out of region) favorite. He was the dog that I had for the least amount of time throughout his raising life as everyone would fight over who would have him next and I would have to fight the other raisers to get him back. LOL! Mork was my first experience with out of region switches. In June I did a switch with Puma who was the first puppy being raised by one of my 4-H kids in the Catteragus region. Puma is a Morky half sib so it was cool to similarities and differences. In July, I got to sit for Sassy, GEB's first poodle, for a few days. She was being raised by the AC for the Erie Region so I took her while they went to AC workshop. It was a bit of a joggling act as Mork was still at my house for the first two days and then he was going back to Puma's house because my family and I were going on vacation. Sassy was a cool dog. Her behavior and personality was a cross between the three breeds used by GEB. She had excellent obedience skills and house manners but she was very suspicious of unknown people and some times other dogs. We took them -Mork and Sassy swimming and Sassy came out of the pond smelling pretty-kinda like perfume- while Mork smelled like wet dog...HMMM! In September, I did a switch with Ranger. He was raised by my friend in Central region. Her second dog-first was Osaka. I love getting the GSDs. My family will not allow me to raise one so I get my GSD love through puppy switches and sitting. Ranger's sister Rasha was being raised in our region so puppy class was cool as we got to put siblings together. When we returned Ranger and picked up Mork I got to participate in one of the Central puppy classes which was fun but the best part was that I got to spend time with Mork's brother McGee- being raised by the Central AC. The boys were very very similar: body build some of their personality and color. It was difficult to tell them apart. WHOSE WHO? I had decided to go back to school in the fall. I changed my major from nursing- which I hated- to vet tech- which I had vowed I was not going to do since the age of 8 (My Dad is a Veterinarian and teaches vet tech. My mom is a Vet Tech although that is not her job now. So ya I didn't want to follow in my parents' footsteps...). So with August came heading back to school to try my hand with my new major. I applied to and won along with 2 other teen raisers the first annual GEB scholarship. It was definitely a sign that I was going in the right direction with my life. Winning the scholarship brought new adventures for Mork. He got to meet prees people and learned how to get professional photos done. Mork accompanied me to all my classes including my labs. My first semester Mork had loads of different experiences. My class list included Intro to Vet Tech and Intro to Vet Tech lab were he was the major subject for vet techs practicing restraints- physical and mechanical, lifts, nail trimming and a lot of other things. He was also used for the Intro Lab midterm and final because he was such a laid back guy as opposed to all the dogs we got in the kennels. ( Alfred State has an agreement with the local SPCA and Humane Society. They send us their dogs and cats we get handling skills, practice with blood draws, kennel work, radiography, anesthesia,and other stuff and they get a free spay/ neuter of the animals so they have a faster adoption rate.) He also attended Farm Animal management and yes you guessed it he also attended Farm Animal lab! He really enjoyed going to lab because he got to see all sorts of animals. Oddly enough I have no pictures of him with any cows yet that is what we spent the most time working with. My favorite memory of FAM class was the day we were learning about sheep. My teacher borrowed Mork to demonstrate how to rump sheep. It was HILARIOUS!! He also attended Anatomy and Physiology part 1 Lecture and lab, and Chemistry but not to chem lab. He was such an awesome boy. He was loved by everyone and was missed if he didn't come to class. We pretty much lived on the third floor of the AG building when not in class or out with friends. We hung out in my dads office (he teaches and is the director of the ASC Vet Tech program) so Mork got office experience as well. You could always hear teachers or students saying "there goes the Dork!" It was harder on them then on Mork and I when puppy switch time came around especially since Mork was traded so much. August also brought with it the NY State Fair. Of course I went but I only went on the weekends. Mork did come along. I aged out of 4-H last year so there was no dog show for me but I did sit in the Cynology booth for 4 days. At the fair, I got to see Wendy again. I met her when I had Wren at the fair. She is blind and at the time her mom was worried about her well being so she came and talked with me for about 3 hours. With meeting Wren her fear of dogs subsided and she made the decision to get moble and apply for a guide dog. The next year when I had Yellsea she came back to visit me and told me that she had applied and was accepted into GEB's training program. Well my weekends at fair were waiting anxiously to see her again and meet her new partner. What a great day to she them working down the croweded isle making their way to my booth. We sat and talked for a long time and then she removed Tessa's harness so that I could meet her and so that she could meet this years trainee. Mork was awesome with state fair as I knew he would be. September brought 4-H dog camp. It is a camp for 4-Hers to relax after the show season and have fun with their dogs. Wren and Mork both went with me. I taught one of the fun stations. We demonstrated the touch game as well as spin right and left. The second part ofour station was kinda like a quiz game were they kids were split into teams and had to answer questions correctly to win candy. September through December was filled with school activities, teaching 4-h obedience classes and going to puppy classes. Mork was his goofball self and was always making me laugh. He LOVED water. He was my very first labbie who would voluntarily get into the water. Varsity and Wren refused and Yellsea would go in if encouraged enough but Mork lived to be in the water. He spent hours chasing the water round and round the kiddie pool we had in the back yard or he would dunk his head into thee water bucket then drip or shake all over the nearest person. he loved to swim and would retrieve favorite toys from the water. Our region holds an anual pond party were all the dogs can swim and the raisers have a picnic. I was so excited because I finally had a dog that would go in the water but alas...he had hot spots during that period of time. Mork taught my 4-h dogs obedience and agility skills(no jumps of course). October we had another evaluation in which he had a stellar preformance. Christmas final brought a break in our busy schedule. We had a quiet family Christmas and a lovely GEB Christmas pary where we got pictures with brother Mackie. I also was a tad camera happy and took lots of pictures of Wren and Mork as well as the other home dogs. Here are some (a lot) of the better ones. January brought the spring semester in school. We began classes in A&P2, Parasitology, Pathophysiology, Management, and Small Animal Nutrition. Mork again came to classes. January also brought another eval. I found out then that Mork did not need to attend as his Eval DVD had already been sent to GEB as he was to be put on stud watch. GEB requires eval DVDs for potential broods and studs to be in to the Directors 6 months before the dog heads IFT. He went to evals anyways just to go but he was not taped. My PE saw that he tended to get bored do we started to teach him different things such as touching different objects which he seemed to like. We also got his IFT date which made evals an even sadder occasion. I decided at evals that I would get another puppy before Mork left because I knew he was going to be really tough to let go. Feburary went by super fast and before I knew it March was here and his IFT date was only days away. March 7th was Mork and Makcie's last class...I was very happy that Mork was going to travel down to GEB with not only Makcie but McGee as well. Mork's last class was not all sad as it was also the first class for puppy number 5. March 17th was the day that the M boys were to catch the van to GEB but unfortunately I already had plans for that day so I had to say goodbye to Mork a day early. He spend his last night in Allegany county NY with his brother Mackie so it was not all bad. I sat nervously by the phone on March 20th, the day of the boys test, waiting for news from my AC. I have "spies"(haha jk guys) down at GEB and they were all tight lipped about wether or not they did well at IFT. Finally around 9:45pm my AC called to let me know that Mork had passed and was still on stud watch, Mackie had passed and was in training and McGee had passed and surprised everyone and he was on stud watch as well. YEY. I found out later that night that one of my friends down at GEB actually worked Mork for the test which was really cool. (All 6 of the M boys passed their IFT tests and are in training). Mork stayed on stud watch for 3 weeks. I got an email from my PE. It said "Jane has kept semen from Mork and sent him to trn ,He did well but just a little to laid back to keep out of training to be a stud so he will have a dual career :-) ~RB". I was slightly disappointed at the news that he wouldnt be an official stud but was also really happy as I knew that he needed a job so it was a good decision. I think that al ot of the disappointment stemmed from the fact that he would be at the training school when we were at the CDC for eye clinic. Mork is as of last report in phase 2 of 4 in training and doing well. He is still my goofy boy and makes his trainer laugh. Last report says that he is still at his water bucket antics *GRIN*. I hear my periodic unoffical updates from my friends which make me happy. I'm glad that he is doing so well. I will post his training reports seperately. Check back soon for more updates on the M boys. Mork the Dork on a puppy switch

I'm Back

2007-07-06T14:45:00.000-05:00

Hi All, As per the title I have finally gotten my computer fixed. YEY!! I am working on Mork's blog now so it should be u in a week at the most. I am looking forward to catching up with all of you. ~MeKalea and Glacier

Update

2007-06-09T19:47:00.000-05:00

Hi all. I am so sorry to all of those who like the occasional updates that I usually manage to do. I know I have been a great disappointment. Here is my excuse. My computer has completely broken! So I have no comp. :-( It is very upsetting. I also have been extremely busy lately with dog shows. I am planning on taking Wrne to her first agility trial tomorrow-wish us luck! I am co leader for our 4-h dog club and since May starts dog show season we have been working double time to get the kids ready then attending 4 dogs shows in the last 3 weeks. WHEW! Glacier is being a very good girl and is growing fast. She is 5 months old and weighs 42 lbs. She is adorable. Wrne is doing well and got her AKC CGC Certification last Monday. ( CGC stands for Canine Good Citizen). Mork is doing well in training and if I can sneek another use on this computer I will post his training reporst soon. He is in phase two and is having a blast. I hope everyones summer is going well and that everyones comp is behaving a whole lot better then mine. In puppy love, MeKalea and GEB Glacier

Eye Clinic 2007

2007-04-16T13:04:00.000-05:00

Well this weekend was amazing!!!! My AC, Faith, 2 other team members and I packed and piled into a van at 10 AM on Thursday morning and were headed on our way to GEB to volunteer at the annual eye clinic. Eye Clinic is an annual event in which all active broods and studs, dogs that are on breed eval as well as selected retired broods and studs travel to the Canine Development Center to get weighed, a vet check up, annual vaccinations, interceptor and frontline, evaluation(like a mini IFT test) in front of the Director of Canine Development-Lee and the Senior Director of Breeding and Placement-Jane who video tape the session, and the most important part- an eye exam by the well renowned veterinary ophthalmologist Dr. Marjorie Neaderland. We arrived at the CDC Thursday afternoon after a 5 and a half hour drive to check in with my PE- the PE's have a workshop the days before Eye Clinic- and see if she would be available to go out to dinner with us that night. We also double checked what time we were supposed to be at the CDC in the morning. When we arrived we were enthusiastically greeted by Lee and Jane and were allowed to watch the end of one of the PE's training sessions. They were working with Suzanne Clothier so it was cool to see her in action. We helped set up for the next day and then left to go check in at the hotel. It turned out that my PE wouldn't be able to make it to dinner so we went out by ourselves. The food was great! We retired to the hotel and spent the rest of the night discussing ideas for class and things that we thought should be worked on. The next morning we arrived at the CDC bright and early -7:00. We helped by getting breakfast ready and got last minute things around to be ready for the start of the day. At 7:30 we had a group meeting to make sure everyone knew what they were responsible for and to get our new t-shirts and our name tags. I got to talk Sarah for a brief time (she worked both days but being so busy we barely saw each other)which was cool. The first dogs were scheduled to arrive at 8:30 but since everyone was ready we started a bit early by taking the dogs from the breeding kennel through. These were the dogs that were on breed watch or in heat. The first station is check in. You receive your paperwork which has all info needed for records (last vaccinations-needed vaccinations, last weight current weight, eye charts and eval). On the paper there may have been stickers at the top. Each sticker means something different (yellow for needing urine sample, red for needing blood drawn for DNA, green- I think- for a vet appointment and so on). They also receive a green eye sheet. While the fosters signed in it is the handlers job to take to dog from the side and administer eye drops. The eye drops dilate the pupils so that the Ophthalmologist can see all the structures that she needs to. From there we take the dog around the corner to the weigh station to get a current weight. It is very important that these dogs are not over weight. We then either give the dog back to the foster or take the dog through the rest of the stations depending on what the foster would like us to do. Sometimes fosters like to watch other people work their dogs, think the dog will behave better with someone new, have more then one dog or if they are dogs from the kennel.After the weigh-in we got to the vet express station. At this station the dogs get any vaccinations they need - rabies, bordetella, DHLPP, and Lyme- as well as get a blood test for heartworm. There are volunteers at this station that check the paper work for what each dog does or does not need, enters them into the computer and there are other volunteers that restrain the dogs so that the Vet Techs can administer the vaccines or draw blood. Most dogs do well with this but some dogs are scared so fosters are their to reassure and of course when it is all over all the dogs get a cookie for being so good. This station is also where the urine goes if they need to have brought a urine sample.If the brood or stud is active they go on to the active supplies station. At this station the fosters will pick up the supplies that they need for the next year. They get their heart worm and frontline and sometimes they get their ear cleaner. If they are not active they skip this station. If they have a red sticker, they wait in line for the DNA testing room were they will meet with either Dr. S or Dr.B for their blood draw. Also any dog that needs to talk to a vet can wait as well. Then the dogs move on to the evaluation station. Any training collars or head collars are removed and the dogs are handed off to a PE. Jane announces the dogs name and the names of the parents and then they are ready to go. The PE walk/ trot the dogs around the ring. They are tested on adaptability to new handlers and dog distraction as the waiting dogs are lined up right nest to the ring. After they are walked around the circle they have the startle test with the umbrella and the noise test with a tin full of coins. After that they are given back to the handler and sent on to the next station.

We then head upstairs-the older dogs take the elevator and wait in chairs for the visit to the eye doctor. One by one the dogs are brought into the closed exam room in the vet hospital. They are lifted onto the exam table and the lights are turned off. Dr. N then looks into the dogs eyes with two different types of instruments. After a minute or two she has all the info she needs. She fills out the green eye sheet which stays with the vets and gives back the white paper and we are on our way again. Either Dr. B or Dr. S are available in the vet clinic if any last minute questions arise or if Dr. N needs to talk to them about a certain patient. There is also another lady who enter all the data into the computer.

The next station is for the retired broods and studs to purchase their supplies for the year. They pay for supplies as they are no longer active in the colony where the active dogs get theirs for free. If the dog is active they skip to the check out station. Someone stands by the door to collect the white sheets and to make sure that the dog has completed all of the stations. After that they are on their way back home or if they are lucky on their way to a "Date". Well over the two days I was kept very busy. We saw ~180 dogs on Friday(8AM-~4PM) and ~105 dogs in half a day on Saturday(8:30AM-~11:30AM). On Friday I started out as a handler. I was a runner to get the kennel dogs and starting the fosters and dogs around in the circuit. That was going well and then there became a back up at the vet station and they needed another restrainer. They came looking specifically for me being in school to be a vet tech. That was fun as I held for three different people and got to learn what each person wanted in a holder and got really efficient by the end. I then helped fill up syringes. By that time the self proclaimed "handler coordinator" (or Nazi- haha, right Sarah?) came looking for me to go back to handling. Pretty soon I went to relieve my friend Faith from the job she got roped into doing...being a lifter at the eye check station. She just had back surgery not too long ago so she couldn't stay up there too long. I helped lift about 15 dogs and then the guy who was supposed to be lifting showed up so I headed back down stairs again. This time I found that we needed an eye dropper so that became my new job. That was interesting to try and get eye drops into the smart dog who knew to squint their eyes and turn their heads just as you thought you had it. LOL. Finally it was lunch time. After lunch I was back to handling and then eye drops. We were semi slow for a while only a couple dogs came in so a 2 of the handlers went around with old friends which left me with one handler. And wouldn't you know that is when everyone decided to show up!!! It was down to me and one other handler and then a lady came in with 2 dogs so then it was down to just me! I can say I got to be a real energizer bunny and really good at giving eye drops! Just when I thought I had it under control up walks another lady with 2 dogs. O NO! Luckily just in the nick of time one of the PE's came to help. The poor vet station came running to see if I could hold again but I had my hands full as well. Finally we were down to just waiting on one dog. So the handlers went over to the breeding kennel to see 2 of our region raised dogs that were in heat and to see Gala -Gretchen (my AC is raising her) and Glacier' sister. We also got to see the E07 litter. We had been watching them all day playing out in the puppy run with their toys. They were soo cute all little yellow labs all waiting to go home to their new raisers or weekend home socializers. The last dog never showed up so we got to leave and headed out to dinner. That night we were all so giddy that we couldn't stop laughing even at the stupidest things. The best part was when it was just me and one other team member in the room as everyone else was outside so she said we should lock the dead bolt. I thought it was a great idea so i turned over on the bed just there was no bed to land on so I landed on the floor. We were laughing so hard I think we almost choked! We played Uno which was fun and then everyone went to sleep for an early start in the morning. Saturday we were back at the CDC at 7. We got breakfast ready again and were all ready to work. I took the eye drop job for most of the day. I worked Finesse-Yellsea's mom- though the stations and got to see Ina again. Wow...soo big. Cant believe my I pups are a year old! After that we got lunch and Faith waited impatiently for her reunion. Her 4th puppy Scotch got released at 5 months old for severe hip and elbow displasia. He was adopted by one of the trainer at the training school. She and her husband drove to the CDC so that Faith could be reunited with her GSD Rooie. He was huge topping out at 85 lbs and is all legs. Such a cute boy and very happy. It was a great weekend. I got to see some old friends and met new ones. I got to work some very awesome dogs like Alex and Dharma. I also got stories of Mr. Mork and what he was like in the kennels. What a good boy. Everyone loved him there are were sad to see him go into training. They all still hold out the same hope that I do...that there are Mork and Mindy puppies in the future. lol. My favorite part of all was I actually that got to work a shepherd this year! A big beautiful male named Wheeler. For the last 2 year people at eye clinic would think that I was deathly afraid of shepherds because I would refuse to work them. That was not the reason I would not work them and in fact I LOVE GSDs. The real reason is that I am afraid of Faith and my AC. lol. They are HUGE GSD ppl and it is always a fight to see who gets to work them. Eye Clinic was really fun but a lot of work. I am ready to go back.

**ALL pictures are from previous Eye Clinics as this years are not posted yet**

Yellsea- Really long

2007-03-09T16:41:00.000-05:00

Puppy number three was born on August 28th 2004 to parents Finesse(left) and Norman(right). There were 8 live puppies in the litter: Yani, Yorktown, Yarmouth, Yvonne, Yaltsiin, Yanda, Yolette, and Yellsea. I found out that I was on the list for this litter on September 20th. On September 25th I started to get emails from a team member, who was on a list with Finesse's foster, with information on the litter. Finesse's foster did home litter care so I was able to get updates and pictures of the puppies. I found out that there were three black and tans (b&t) in the litter. I secretly hoped to get one of those puppies and started to research mismarked labs-click articles and then mismarked. I found it fascinating to see color genetics and really liked the Mosaic effect that labs can sometimes have. Six of the puppies passed into training although it took 2(!) extra tests for one of the pups. Only a few days after the Wren left I was back at the gas station were she left waiting on the van bringing my new Y puppy. I was super excited when I saw the van pull into the parking lot. I was the first one there so the drive opened up the back so I could see the puppies. There were three puppies in the kennel. They were all very cute. I was very excited to find out that I did get one of the B&Ts and already know what her name was. I had gotten Yellsea. My AC showed up as well as the AC for the region were the two other puppies were going ( two black males named Vic and Valdez). I got Yellsea out of the kennel and quickly took her over to GB will the others tried to figure out which puppy was Vic and which was Valdez. After they got sorted I had puppy placement with my AC at her work just down the street. We did a little bit of work but Yells had so much pent up energy from riding on the van we decided to give her a break from working and go upstairs and take pictures for our region Christmas card. Yellsea was very photogenic. We ended up doing lots of pictures with her. Since it was close to Thanksgiving and Christmas we had a dog family photo shoot with the pumpkins and a photo shoot with her and my boyfriend. Below are my favorites from the fall and the Christmas card photo.

Yellsea's biggest problem as a puppy was that she would pee. When I say pee I mean that she would go on the floor or in her crate approximately 2 minutes after we came in from outside. The most frustrating thing about it was that she would give no warning signals and if she went in her kennel she would just lay in it. It was pretty much like she did not even know that she was doing it as I caught her once peeing and laying down. We had many tests done to make sure that she did not have a UTI or any other medical explanation for her problem which all came back negative. Other then this she was a great little puppy and I was happy when she just seemed to one day out grow her pee problem at about 6 moths old. Raising Yellsea was a great experience. It brought me a lot closer to the puppy raising program. I was able to keep in touch not only with Finesse's foster but also got periodic updates from Yarmouth, Yorktown and Yolette(photos in order).

It was great to be able to talk to litter mates and see the progress of each of them and compare and contrast as well as get ideas on how to conquer different behaviors. I was also a part of a yahoo puppy raisers list and met Sarah, Jamie, and many other raisers and graduates. With Yellsea I began to come out of my shell more. I know that with every puppy you get stoped and asked questions about the dog and the program but with Yellsea these questions were multiplied by 3 at least and she doesn't even have the most noticeable B&T markings! I started becoming more active in my region. Faith and I ran the periodic puppy class to give my AC a chance to work her own dog for a change and we began helping out at Evals. Faith and I were invited to go to GEB and work at Eye Clinic (I will have a post to explain this ASAP!). April brought the sadness of Wren being released from training but when she came home she immediately fell in love with Yellsea and they were inseparable. They would even go into the same kennel when told to kennel! In May we traveled down to GEB with my AC and 2 team member to work with the broods and studs for the weekend. It was awesome. I got to meet the Director of the Canine Development Center (CDC-Yes I know what else CDC is short for and I didn't name it) and the Director of Breeding and placement. I also got to meet Sarah in person as she also volunteered to help at Eye Clinic and I got to meet Miss Finesse and her Foster. What an awesome experience to see how thing work not only outside of the region but outside of the puppy raising program its self. Not long after we got back one of my favorite lady's had Yellsea on a home switch in May of 05 and I had her BEAUTIFUL golden retriever Taffy. Everything was great until the day before we were supposed to switch back. I got a horrible phone call from my AC saying that Roberta was killed in a car accident and she had a dog in the car with her at the time. I was devastated. I sat with Taffy in my lap and cried for hours. My boyfriend and my friend tried to get me to tell them what happened, as I was at my boyfriends house when I got the call but I could speak. Roberta was a mentor for me AND she had my puppy. It took a while for them to figure out which dog was in the car with her when she was killed but it was finally determined that it was her dog Lincoln. I was very relieved to get my dog back but I was very worried about what would happen to her Taffy. My AC finished Taffy. She was released at IFt and was adopted by Roberta's daugher. My grandfather also died in May. Yellsea went with my family and my boyfriend up to Syracuse to be with my grandmother for a few days and for the funeral. She was excellent with all the people and worked well for both my boyfriend and I. June started the 4-H dog show circuit. I kept my fingers crossed the whole time that she would not come into heat and she didn't. Yellsea and I participated in 5 dogs shows and she got a 100 in each show. August we got the opportunity to meet up with Finesse and her foster in Delhi. We worked around the school and then went out to dinner. The next day I was scheduled to work at a baseball game in Rochester. It just happened to be Yellsea's 1st birthday and she got to see her brother Yorktown. At State Fair, I got to know another young GEB raiser from the Central NY region who was raising her first puppy Osaka. Yellsea and Osaka participated in the dog show. They did well. Yellsea and Osaka also spent lots of time hanging out with Wren in the cynology booth that we run for the full 2 week fair. August also brought on Yellsea's first birthday and Wren's 2nd.

In December my family and I went to Florida for three weeks so Yellsea needed to go to a sitter. She spent the first week and a half including Christmas with the family that had brought Wren to me. The second week and a half she went to Faith's and hung out with her best bud PIT Brian-s. I was to get Yellsea back at class the Wednesday I got back from Florida. When we returned home on Sunday my AC called and said that Yellsea's IFT had been bumped up January. To make matters worse she would be leaving the next Saturday! I allowed Faith to keep her till class on Wednesday. At her last class we got pictures with my AC and I received my 3rd puppy bar and my certificate. On Thursday I got a call from my AC saying that Yellsea's leaving date was changed again and that she would be going with my friend and her mother with Osaka on Sunday as they wanted to watch his IFT. Well needless to say stress induces heat and since Yellsea still hadn't had her first heat she of course picked this time to come in. She went in to heat on Friday night. I immediately called my AC as she would be traveling down to GEB in a personal vehicle with a male dog I was a bit worried but it all worked out. They would put her in a kennel in the back of the vehicle. My mom and I traveled up to Syracuse on Saturday and put her in the truck on Sunday morning. True to my tradition we went out for breakfast afterwards. I was lucky that Finesse's foster went to the training school and got to watch her grand puppy pass her IFT. She even sent me a picture of my "bulls-eye butt" after the event. Yellsea was on breed watch but after looking at the siblings she was put into training after her IFT on January 10th. I was slightly disappointed. She did not do too much training in January or the beginning of February as she was in heat. I looked forward to getting kennel reports and had heard about them sending some raisers pictures of their puppies working or a DVD of them working. I hadn't received one for either of the others but got both pictures and a DVD of Yellsea. I was really surprised when I got the letter that Yellsea would be graduating in May! I found out on really short notice as she was a substitute dog for one that did not match earlier in training. I found a puppy sitter for my PIT and made arrangements to go spend the night with Finesse and her foster. That was really cool as Finesse had had puppies and her foster was doing home litter care. I got to play with little Irie, Irwin, Izzie, and Ina when I got there that night and was able to help with chores on Saturday morning. After chores I got ready to go to GEB. I was so nervous I could hardly eat my lunch at McDonald's. Was she going to remember me? Would her graduate want to keep in touch? So many questions. We got to the training school and found our designated seats. I watched as the new guides filed in. They all looked so mature! There was another B&T graduating. He was gorgeous! Then finally came Yellsea. She had filled out a bit since I had seen her last and she worked very well laying down at her graduates feet. I felt so proud!! During the ceremony there is a point were the puppy raisers are acknowledged for their hard work. The raisers of the dogs were called up one by one and ou had to walk right past the graduates and the dogs to get your certificate. When I was called I walked up and tried my hardest to ignore Yellsea as I walked by. When I got back to my seat my mom told me that Yellsea had perked up and had watched me go get my certificate and walk back to my seat. She Remembered Me!! After the ceremony we are allowed to greet the graduate and talk for a few minuted before getting pictures and being free to talk or do a tour.I waited patiently as Yellseas harness was removed and I was allowed to say hello. My heart melted. What a great time. We moved out into the sitting area and her graduate gave me a huge hug. She told me how nervous she was to meet me and how happy she was with "Sassy-Pants". I was so happy. They were a perfect match. She was thrilled that I showed up and Yellsea worked great even though I was there. We got our photos taken and decided to go on the tour of the kennels. Kate showed us down to her room...I got to watch Yellsea work! Yellsea was left on a tie-down and we went to the kennels. It was a great tour as I had never been to the training school before. We stopped and petted all the dogs in training and took pictures of those I knew. After the tour we went back to the graduation room and I got to take pictures with Yellsea. All too soon it was time to say good-bye. Yellsea's graduate gave me her email and home address so that I could contact her and she already had my info. With a happy and heavy heart we went back to the kennels to pick up a released dog to bring back to her raisers. Carrie- an IA and a friend of mine- brought her out and off we went. We met up with Gabrielle's raisers. What a cool experience. She was going home just when she was needed as one of her raisers was recovering and needed her to be at home. While there I found out their AC was raising the brother to my PIT. Cool! It was late decided to stay in Syracuse over night instead of driving home. We went to KFC for dinner and bought a cake. We surprised my Nanny by showing up at her house. It was a great birthday!

UPDATE:

Yellsea was returned to the training school in August. It was not her fault and they were sure that she would be matched again soon. Her training reports were sketchy. She was having some pull issues and would also veer to the left. She was bounced from trainer to trainer as they could not find a match for her. Her reports continued to sound hopeful but reading between the lines she needed some work. Yellsea's buddy Brian changed his career multiple times: from a guide back to GEB training to Canada guide back to GEB and finally retired. We swear that Yellsea and Brian-s talked about how to make their raiser impatient and draw out their stay as long as possible. Only about 2 weeks after Brian was retired, March 8th I got the phone call that Yellsea had chosen the same option. She was just tired of it and who could blame her. She had been in training for a year. I was heart broken. My AC had already know that I would not be taking her back but she offered again. I wavered on the idea of taking her back. It was a really difficult decision but I knew that it would not be fair to her to take her back. If circumstanced had been different I would have taken her in a heart beat. I called Faith to tell her the news and found out more horrible news to add to the bad day. My GSD buddy Dave-s (second puppy raised by Faith) had died that day. I couldn't believe it! He was only 3 - the same age and best buddy to Wren. it was devastating. Well when Yellsea was retired they were looking at another career for her and thought that the National Service Dogs in Canada would be cool. I, of course researched it. What an awesome place. It is for children with autism so that they have a buddy and can lead relitavely normal lives. She would be perfect for that I thought. She loved kids and was a patient dog. Well I got news a few weeks later that that option did not work out and she had been adopted. I could not be more pleased with her new family. They are keeping in touch with me and she has a little boy to play with. What could be more perfect! They all look very happy!Yellsea is truely the one I named my blog after. It was deffinately a rollercoster rider with her. Frustration, joy, sadness elation and many may other emotions in between. I wouldnt give the experience up for the world. I couldn't have asked for a better outcome.

Wren

2007-02-22T10:57:00.004-05:00

On August 3, 2003, 10 Labbie puppies: Willa, Wesley, Wren, Winnie, Woody, Whitney, Winter, Wilson, Willis and Wonder; "Wren in her favorite hiding spot at 9 weeks" were born to Rebecca and Coast. 6 puppies passed there test and Southern Tier would be receiving two. Barely a week after Varsity left I got the call that Winnie would be coming to live with us and Willa would be going to a first time raiser. Unfortunately, my family would be up in Syracuse when she would be arriving so the plea went out for someone to take Winnie for a few days till we got back. Sadly there was a medical issue that Willa encountered and was released. Soon after this phone call we found out that a different AC wanted the puppy Wren but wanted to change her name to Winnie and my PE said it was fine so we got Winnie/Wren (that is what it said on all of her things when she came). I could hardly wait to get back from Syracuse to get the new puppy. We met at WalMart to pick her up and it was love at first sight. She was such a little thing, a very dramatic difference between her and my buddy Varsity. She was a very easy puppy and caught on to things very fast. She soon learned that outing were fun. She was allowed to come with me to the nursing home on the weekends when we went to Syracuse to visit my grandfather. She loved to have all the attention. She never once had an accedent or was rough to any one. She quickly became the class favorite and would be switched around at class so that raisers with difficult dogs could have a break. This did change as she got older and hormones started flowing. In March I was asked to do a presentation for 4-Hers at March Madness in Cornell. I was a bit nervous but Wren was there and I did not do as bad as I thought I would (I hate public speaking but with PIT you are always talking). Wren loved to go to after school events with me. She went to her first swim meet ( my senior meet) at the tender age of 12 weeks. She grew up traveling to meets and baseball games. Then came the day that I got up the courage to ask for permission to bring Wren to school for the day. May was eval month and I had to go straight there after school to make it on time. I approached my principal about it and he said..YES! I couldn't believe it. One day at school was better than nothing and there is now the possibility that PIT may be allowed back during school. So we proudly marched into school on the 19th and she was awesome. She proved that she belonged there even though the administration was leery. She showed at county fair and got 100. I was a bit nervous about having a female dog as they go through heat. Also I was afraid that her heat cycle would interfere with her going up to State Fair. Thankfully she waited it out and was able to show at State fair with 2 other Southern Tier puppy raisers. She received a 99 at that show. She also stayed the full two weeks at fair and was an ambassador for GEB in the Cynology booth everyday. I was lucky with her that she went into heat a day before or area's annual pond party. Luckily, it had already been arranged for me to take my AC's golden while she went on vacation and Wren would be going to a helper for a few weeks. After heat she was back to her laid back self. On August 3rd, Wren got a phone call (well I got the call) that she would be returning to GEB for her IFT test on the 22nd of September. I couldn't believe it! They were taking my baby and she was barely a year old! What a shock from having Varsity for 16 months to Wren leaving before I had her for a year. I went into a mourning period. My fingers were crossed when I put my baby on the van to take her back to GEB. As per our tradition set by Varsity and Edwin's departure we (my mom and boyfriend) went out to breakfast at the truck stop. "Wren and I before getting on the van"

My fingers were crossed on the day of Wrens IFT. I didn't know what to expect with her leaving so young. I was relieved to get the phone call that she had passed her IFT. I looked forward to recieving monthly updates on Wren's progress in training. A few months later I got her IFT on a DVD and could not wait to watch it. To my suprise Wren had the worst IFT of the dogs that tested with her. A dog with less reaction to the nasty umbrella was released and Wren made it through. I was confused by this and confered with my AC about it. She said that Wren's evals were good so they passed her because they figured that she had a bad day. From that point forward I started to read between the lines of her training reports but to my suprise in her March report her trainer said that Wren had a great possiblity to graduate soon. It renewed my hope that she would graduate. Sadly on April 20th I got the dreaded phone call that Wren was being released. I was asked to make a decision weither or no tto keep my girl or let her go on to another home. My family and I had discussed this possiblity when we saw her IFT DVD and had already decided that we would take her back. I told my AC this and she made sure that I wasn't just making an emotional decision but I was sure so she sid she would arranger for her to get a ride back home. I was again going to be in Syracuse when she arrived so again I called on the help of the family that took her in when she arrived a s a puppy and they were more than happy to taker her full circle. UPDATE:Wren is now an agility dog and has made it through the Novice level of obedience in 4-H. She has her ILP so that I can show her in AKC obedience and agilty shows. She helps me teach my 4-H obedience, agility and Rally-o classes. She has to relearn her comes and we worked hard on her stand stay. At some point I hope to get her CGC and possibly do Therepy work with her when I get a chance since her favorite thing to do as puppy was go to the nursing home to visit my grandfather. Of course she is a wonderful helper with the GEB pups that come and go. We shall see what the future brings for her. Im glad she is home.

"Wren at a year old."

Varsity

2007-02-22T10:57:00.003-05:00

So May of 2002 turned out to be quite the special month. Not only did I have my 16th birthday but I also received the best birthday gift, Varsity (pictured August 02). A handsome 10 week old male black lab. He and his siblings-Valor, Van, Vantage, Val, Vale, Valdez and Venture were born March 11, 2002 to parents Angel and Excel. 5 puppies passed there final placement test on May 3rd.Life with a puppy was a whirlwind for the first few months. My high school did not allow me to bring the dog to school so while he was eating 3 times a day my Mom and I would have to travel back and forth from school to home multiple times a day. Varsity was also noise sensitive so we spent lots of time traveling to truck stops to feed him and were constantly looking for noise exposures. As he got older new concerns arose. He started to mark, lift his leg and sniff incessantly. I was proud however that he earned his coat so now he could accompany me stores and malls. I worked endlessly to overcome the behavioral issues that Vars had. He was very good in coat but could be a handful when at home. His favorite outing were to the swim meets (my high school allowed Varsity to go attend after school activities). He loved to sit on the deck and try and catch the water that splashed up when the kids did their starts into the water. He accompanied me to county fair were we got a 100 in the service dog class! His obedience was excellent. We were able to go to the New York State fair. He accompanied me everyday for the whole 2 weeks. He again showed in the service dog class with 2 other GEB raisers and their dogs Edwin-MBL and Cassidy-FGR. All too soon that September 27, 2003 came around and it was time for Varsity to return to GEB. His buddy Edwin, whom I lovingly called my second son, accompanied Varsity on the van back to GEB. It was extremely hard to put Varsity on the van back to GEB. It was even harder saying goodbye to two puppies at once. Edwin's raiser and her mother and My mother and I all ate breakfast after the van left. The waitress was very confused by the presence of two teenage girls sobbing while the accompanying adults were laughing hysterically. She was more confused when my friend ordered fried clams and a chocolate milkshake for breakfast!! ( Its a good thing we went to eat at truck stop diner!)

Raisers with Edwin and Vasity Both boys passed their IFT It was a very rewarding feeling. Varsity was put directly into training and Edwin was chosen for Breed Watch. I looked forward to the post cards and training reports from my boy. March of '04 In the mail I got a letter inviting me to GEB to see Varsity graduate as a full fledged guide dog. Sadly his match did not work out for personal reasons and he was returned to training. April '04 brought another letter of graduation. It was sorta disappointing as the weekend of April 24th while Varsity was graduating I would be far away in Atlanta, GA on my senior trip. It was nice to know that Edwin was also graduating with Varsity and that my mom and his raiser were going down to see them off. Varsity graduated with his partner and moved to St. John's Newfoundland Canada. It was a very cool moment when I heard that. Our family vacation in '00 was to St. John's to see my mom's side of the family! So I knew where he was going and where he would work. My family could also check on him when they went to the mall! It was hard to believe that the little puppy terror turned out to be an AWESOME guide dog!

UPDATE:Edwin was retired and returned to live with his raiser a year after graduation. Varsity is still working in St. John's. Last summer my grandmother went out to visit him and came back with gifts especially for me from his partner and lots of pictures ! Its hard to believe that on March 11th my boy will be 5 years old!

Varsity Graduation April 24, 2004

The Beginning

2007-02-22T10:57:00.002-05:00

First a little background on how I got started raising puppies. I moved to Alfred NY in 9th grade. It was a huge culture shock as I had spent the last 10 years in Lansing, MI. I hated NY and 9th grade. I took to just going to school, coming home and going straight to my room. I started 4-H that summer and heard about the dog program. Well that started me on my quest to get a puppy. Of course my parents said no because I would be going off to college in a couple years and they did not want to be stuck with the dog when I left. I was determined to find a way to get a puppy. The answer came in March of 2002 when we attended March Dog Madness – a 4-H event sponsored by Cornell University every year. That year there happened to be 2 speakers representing Guiding Eyes for the Blind, one was the area coordinator for the Fingerlakes region and the other was an IA ( Instructor’s Assistant) who brought along a dog in training – a Golden named Norman. I was hooked. My mom and I went over and talked with them about the program. We found the 2 regions closest to us and when we got home I looked them both up on line. Come to find out that the Southern Tier region was just 20 minutes from where I lived. We emailed the Area Coordinator (AC) and set up a time to go and talk to them about the program. It just so happened that I went during an eval day so I got to meet the Puppy Evaluator (PE) and the AC the same time. We signed the puppy agreement right there and then. Next I had to get my home visit done and go to puppy classes. Not too long after I got news that my first puppy would be arriving.

New Here

2007-01-30T21:11:00.000-05:00

Hey All, My name is MeKalea and I am a college student. I graduated high school in 2004 started college in the fall of '04, hated it, took the '05-'06 school year off to focus on puppy raising and have headed back to school this year. I am in the Vet Tech program and absolutly love it. My first love is dogs. I currently raise puppies for Guiding Eyes for the Blind (GEB) in NY. This is my first love and everything else comes second to it. I am currently raising puppy number 4, a male yellow lab named Mork. My goal for this blog is to share with interested parties what my day to day life with these wonderful dogs are like and what a great experience puppy raising is.