Slacker!

Ok, I’m sorry. I know I haven’t posted in a VERY long time!!! Since last time, Dougal came for a short visit, and now I have Janda for the week. She’s still the sweetest thing ever. If I get to drive to school, she’ll get to come with me every day (which would be fantastic). I’ll try to get some pictures of the big girl and post them soon.

Vortex is in phase 10 still, and not in the September class (at least not yet).

Happy 4 years, Artu!

4 years ago, yesterday, I brought home a cute little droopy eyed lab who would change my life forever. July 22nd, 2005 was one of the best days I’ve had. Thank you Arturo for making me who I am today. I love you always!

 

 

 

 

 

 

And Vortex is now in phase 7!!! I’m very much hoping he decides to graduate before or after October…..I’ll be in Chicago during the October graduation!

Pomona

My not-so-favorite little girl, Pomona, has her forever home. And it’s 30 minutes from me. Since I was P-mo’s starter raiser, I didn’t turn in the “Fun Things About My Puppy” form, and thus did not have the opportunity to check the box that says “Share this Info with the new family”. So I mailed a letter to GDB and they forwarded it to P-mo’s family. They called me the other day and said they’d love to meet me and for me to see “Mona” again. YAY! So in September I will have seen all 3 of my babies again! Cool beans.

Oh and Vortex is on the fast track, in Phase 5.

News

3 pieces of news:

1. Fellow has been career changed for cataracts. That’s the same thing as Arturo was career changed for. I feel for the family. De ja vu. Their first dog, my first dog. Both would have made amazing guides. GDB will be placing him.
2. Janda left yesterday.
3. Vortex is in phase 3. Health checks passed. I’m relieved.

It’s “that day”

Let me start off by saying it’s been a while since we’ve sent a dog that I really cared about back on recall. I mean, I love all our club’s puppies lots, but when they got ready to board recall dogs……..it was the hardest thing. A BIG HUGE congratulations to the raisers of Fellow, Plumas, Lincoln, and last (but definitely not least) Vortex. I had a tribute written to the big guy, but somehow the screen disappeared, and I don’t have the heart to write another one right now. I need to stop crying first.

EDIT: I found it….

Just a little tribute to Vortex. I’ll cry now, and hopefully it won’t keep coming every day this week. Vortex, you were one of my favorite dogs ever. I love your personality–the happy tail that never stopped and yes, I loved the little half-jump that you did when I walked in the door. (but that’s not guide dog approved, so I didn’t say that) I never thought I could love a dog that I didn’t raise. But you walked (or trotted) with me through so much. You were there when I started my senior year, and headed off to college. College was a scary place, but Big T, you made so many friends and so quickly. Remember when everyone on campus thought George was you, because of all the people you met? You made sad people smile, and never gave up on anyone. No one was too good for a lick, and no one was too mean for a tail wag. You never ceased to amaze me. Tex, you’ve got a great brain in that head of yours. Sometimes it shuts down, but when it’s running in full gear you can run through the most challenging obstacles a dog could face, and awe everyone. I know you’ve got it in you to be a guide. Maybe it’s not meant to be, but I am confident that you will be so happy wherever you go. Remember when we’d drive down the road, and you’d have your head out the window of my car? I was the proudest and happiest girl alive. Now you’re leaving me behind and running off to college by yourself. I know you’ll have a great time. Party hard, but study hard. Impress those trainers, and make me proud. Remember the time we went into the gym and just watched all the students play tennis? Ignore balls like you did then. Remember when we would walk through the halls at school and you stayed so focused? Ignore people like you did there. Remember when we ran trails and you ignored the other dogs? Ignore the dogs like you did then. I know that as I continue in life there will be things that will always remind me of you. You’ve left an indelible legacy behind you. I love you big guy, and can’t wait to watch you graduate. …just, make it soon will ya? Loves~Anna

The first puppy our club recieved is MYL Sutter. Cutest thing! He is being raised by Fellow’s family, and so far has a very easy going personality.

Second off was little miss “J”. Her siblings are named Jessa and Joyful (isn’t that cute!) And just FYI, she doesn’t come over here until Sunday (which works out SO well because not only will she be there for her raisers who have just sent back an amazing dog, but I don’t have to worry about her for graduation!)

Third we got MYL Moses. He is a character! Cute as can be, and I know his starter raisers will have a BLAST with him!

Fourth was Mr. MBL Dougal. I think it’s a cute name! He is with a first-time raiser family.

So the list of puppies (that I have) that came off the truck are:

FYL Rochelle

M (?) Marino

MBL Momo

MYL Moses

FBL Jessa

FBL J____

FYL Joyful

MBL Solar

MYL Sutter

MBL Dougal

MBL Diego

(there was another MBL “D” but I missed his name–Shelly probably has it)

MYL Nash

The huge bummer of the day was that my camera memory card is not in my camera. Sooo I had to take pictures on my phone. HUGE sadness. It was an overall great day, despite the fact that my Tex Tex is gone. I told him I’ll see him at graduation. Hopefully that’ll be true.

Oh!! I found out Pomona has been placed, and she’s living 25 minutes away!! I’m SUPER excited….I might get to see her again!

Well since that’s all that’s important, I hope you all have a fantastic day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh wait, you probably want to hear her name. Well. Here it is…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Janda

Introducing Janda!

I’ll get more pictures of her asap and post them….probably Sunday or Monday!

Tomorrow

I can’t believe it all happens tomorrow. It seems like I’ve been waiting/dreading this day FOREVER and it’s tomorrow. *ugh* Hopefully it will come fast since I have to work today, and Vortex’s raisers will pick me up at school to take me to the truck.

Blah. Just 26 hours.

My Last Vortex Date

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, Vortex was….his usual big black lab self. Not 100% perfect, but all around great.

My car has missed this puppy (don't worry, I wasn't driving when I took the picture :D)

We stopped by my house for a few minutes so everyone at home could say goodbye to Tex. They love him, too, but won’t be able to make it to the puppy truck, sadly.

He settled right in with his favorite toy

 

Yes, he even ignores the clothes/shoes ALL over my floor

"REALLY?? Do you have to take pictures ALL the time??"After a few minutes, we went down to a trail by the lake and went on a nice run/walk. I generally don't take a camera on runs, so sorry no pictures 🙂 Vortex was amazing and I think he had a lot of fun...we did some pace work (with fast and slow paces) and he was amazing. Times like that, I think this dog is SO ready to go. After our run, we went home to change and head out for the rest of the afternoon. First, on our last "date" I took Tex to the pet store to get the new puppy supplies. I thought that was a little bit appropriate, and special. Vortex was surprisingly good at the store. Except for when a huge poodle came out of nowhere and lunged, jumped, etc at poor Tex. He got very excited, but calmed down eventually.We picked out a great toy, grabbed some Nature's Miracle (joy) and of course got Vortex's recall present. "Can I have it now? Please?"

EDIT: The pet store pictures disappeared…

Then we went right around the corner to the mall. Even though he’s being recalled, I still wanted to work with him on his people issue and ther are these little fountains that are level with the sidewalk, so we wanted to go see those and walk inbetween them. His old people distraction flared up, and the fountains threw him the first time through, so we walked through a few times. We had a great little talk with a lady who was watching us work, and she fell in love with Tex, too. It’s an easy thing to do. 😀

Then we ran around looking for great picture places, and found some great ones! Unfortunately Vortex isn’t in to taking pictures. So we only got a few that weren’t blurry or dumb.

At City Hall, we got to meet some fire trucks and aid cars, which was great but they weren’t on. So it wasn’t scary. And Tex wasn’t phased.

We had to get some groceries for my mom, and Tex was the perfect little shopper. We had yet another conversation with a nice older guy, and a few little conversations with people in the store. When they hear he’s leaving in 6 days the whole “awwwwww!! How can you do it!!?!?!?” happens and then I  want to start crying!

After all the shopping we ran home one more time, gave Tex his dinner and said one last goodbye. Then after a few more errands, I took Vortex home. Man I am going to miss that guy. But I’m excited to meet Little Miss “J”!

Why I love meetings…

Today we had a meeting. I really love puppy raising meetings. I love seeing all the other dogs. I love the other raisers, I love the raisers-to-be, and the sitters. I love stealing Vortex from his raisers, and I love saying hi to all “my” puppies.

Margie “down”ing

Margie

Festival

Career Change “Gilligan” (formerly Gaston)

More of Margie…she’s grown so so so fast! With the big 3 leaving sometime in the near future, Margie’ll be the oldest. We’re getting 4 puppies on the June truck (at least that’s the plan right now), a few of them are going to new families. Yay!
I also talked to Vortex’s raiser and she thought it might work for me to take their new baby all the way till July 6th. Big big yay. And that’s about it.

News

First of all: Happy Mother’s Day!! To all moms and doggy moms–you guys are the best.

Second, this post IS titled news, so I should tell you mine. Vortex is being recalled in June. I am SO sad. I will miss this boy like crazy. You all know how much I love him, so I don’t need to say any more. However because I told you the one part of the news, here’s the other part. Vortex’s raisers are recieving their next puppy on the June puppy truck. That’ll be the 11th of June. Since both raisers work, I’ll be working with the baby until June 24th (when school gets out, and one of the raiser’s schedule is freed up). I’m excited to have this opportunity to “unofficially” start another puppy. I don’t care if it’s official or not–I just miss having a puppy around. So there’s my news. I’ll FINALLY have a puppy to share with you guys. 😀

Guess What!?!

Graduation was fantastic. I had a fabulous time, and seeing Sakino again was fun. 😀 No pictures, sorry.

So at the reception, one of the families Pomona went to (the one after us) came over and said, “Anna, that’s the man who raised Pomona!” So I got to meet the guy who had our little girl!! Man it sounds like she was SO GOOD. He said that all of the problems we had–they didn’t have any of them. I heard the barking was curbed when she was put on citronella, but he said she was smart and just a great dog. I can’t believe it. lol. She was in the kennels but I didn’t go on a tour (since I didn’t know she was still there) so I didn’t get to see her. 😦 But I got their e-mail address and maybe they’ll send me some pictures of her as a big girl! I’m so happy 🙂

Tex had his eval yesterday. Our CFR is going to take him (and the 2 other boys) downtown on Friday for another eval, to see how they do with the stressful environment. So hopefully my boys will do well. (Note: though our club’s raisers might think they’re raising their own dogs, or even GDB’s dogs, they’re really all MY dogs ;D)