06.27.09
The Vet & Vegas
Donata left Tuesday evening. It was kind of weird not having her at work with me on Wednesday. On Monday, I had to meet our leader at the Vet. Donata had “taken a turn for the worse” early Sunday morning. Poor Puppy. 
She was up every 2-3 hours starting at 2:30 am. I had put about 10 pieces of kibble in with her cottage cheese and rice and apparently her system wasn’t ready for it. We didn’t feed her Sunday morning though Sunday evening, we did 1/2 of the normal cottage cheese and rice as not to starve her and prayed she would make it through the night (which she did).
I want to know why all vet’s smell the same? 
I don’t remember the last time I went to one, but they all have a distinct smell. Our leader met us there (since it was her dog) and the vet did a full exam. I was so happy to have the sheet of when she had poop/pee with me so I could give the vet when she had “done her business” and what and when she had ate. He thought she might have a bacterial infection, but couldn’t confirm it without a poop sample (which after pooping that much, well good luck getting a sample). He put her on some medicine and Monday evening, she seemed to be doing better. He said to keep her on the cottage cheese and rice diet till everything looked good again.
I emailed our leader on Wednesday and she seemed to be doing much better. It’s no fun having a sick puppy. You want to make them feel better, but there isn’t much you can do. I’m just thankful it wasn’t anything worse.
Oh and while I’m thinking of it, we are FOR SURE going to the California Puppy Fun Days! We booked our tickets this week and are super excited.
This Wednesday we leave for Las Vegas for the 4th of July weekend. I’m SUPER excited because we are going to see Michael Buble in concert!! (Screams like a girl at a ‘N Sync Concert) For those of you who don’t know who he is, here are two of his songs (Everything) :
and Home (thanks to YouTube):
I hope you all have a wonderful 4th of July. I’ll post an update when we get back!
06.20.09
Donata and The Horses
To make you excited about reading this post, there is a surprise at the end. I have never posted a picture of myself on this blog and maybe (if you are lucky) you will get to see Donata and I. Donata has been with us since Tuesday and will be here for probably another week. Malta (who was being raised by Loyola’s family who is now raising Jessa) will be going to a different family next weekend but in the mean time our Leader couldn’t have two dogs so we offered to take Donata. It’s the longest we have ever had a dog and let me tell you, I’m exhausted! It’s like having a little shadow near you 24/7. I admire all of you full time puppy raisers that’s for sure! Today we had an outing to a farm where Donata had her first experience with a horse. This is the first meeting:
Then at the end. Lots of love from her new friends!
Here she is on the way home. I don’t understand why she was behind Mr. Charming’s seat which was all the way back when I moved up to give her more room.
She has been at work with me every day. She has done VERY well and I’m thinking about training her next week on answering the phone…
We also went to Costcoand got a new dog bed. We have been meaning to get one for oh a year now and thought since we would have a puppy longer than a couple of days, now would be a good time. It only took her 4 days to figure out it was her bed and she could lay on it.
We attempted to go the gym on Thursday for yoga. She was doing awesome till about 15 minutes in. Since Wednesday she has been having diarrhea. She has been VERY good about giving me this look of “you need to take me outside now” which she did at the gym. After talking with our Leader, we skipped dinner Thursday night and she has been on the rice and cottage cheese diet since. She kept looking at us Thursday night like “Hey uhh I know you guys had dinner, but you forgot mine”. She hadn’t pooped since Thursday and she finally did tonight but it wasn’t good again. I hope she gets to feeling better for her sake. It’s no fun not feeling good.
And as promised “the picture”.
We won’t be doing much puppy sitting the next couple of months but have lots of fun things planned. Stay Tuned!
June ‘09 Puppy Truck
First off, Loyola made it to Phase 8!! And Simmons is in Phase 1 still. Thursday before last, I took a couple of hours off work to go see the puppy truck roll into town. After looking at my pictures though, this is a different truck than the one back in March. Here is the one from this month:
And the one from back in March:
I just realized though that they are taken from different sides but the picture on the truck is the same on the other for the second (if that makes sense).
Here is the list of the puppies that came off the truck:
FYL: Rochelle
MBL: Solar
MYL: Sutter
FBL: Janda
FBL: Jessa
JYL: Joyful
MBL: Marino
MBL: Momo
MYL: Moses
MYL: Nash
MBL: Diego
MBL: Dougal
MBL: Draco
As you can see, there were quite a few litter mates. Jessa joined our club while Janda (Jessa’s sister), Sutter, Moses, and Dougal all went to Stories from a GDB Puppy Sitter. Joyful is being raised by another local club so we will probably see her pretty often. Here are a couple of pictures of Jessa:
Here is a picture of Lomita at the Puppy Truck:
Then we have Donata at the truck:
And then the two together (Lomita on the left and Donata on the right). I’m surprised I got both dogs looking at the camera and “smiling”.
My next update coming shortly…
06.07.09
Petapalooza
Last weekend the city I live in put on an event at a local park called Petapalooza. We had 6 people sign up to learn more about Guide Dogs and become potential puppy raisers! That might not seem like a lot but that would almost double the people we have now in our club. People had a lot of fun coming in and petting our “so well behaved” puppies. We got a new sign for a club and it turned out awesome. Below are some pictures of our new sign and of the event:
In the back we have Malta, in the middle Lomita, and in the front Topeka:
Here is Topeka hanging out:
Malta
will no longer be with our group soon. The cute little skinny fireball will be going to live with a different raiser. She is a puppy who needs someone very firm in her life who won’t let her get away with anything. The neat thing is, they will be getting a new puppy next week on the truck! It just so happens to be a female black lab starting with the letter “J”. Hmmm… I am thinking it’s a litter mate of Stories from a GCB Puppy Sitter’s puppy! I’m going to take a couple of hours off work to head down to see the arrival of the new puppies.
We had Topeka last weekend so here are two more pictures of her. The first one I have no idea how she got my sock but the look on her face was that of being busted:
Loyola is still in Phase 7 and Simmons in Phase 1. My next post will probably be pictures and updates from the puppy truck on Thursday!
06.03.09
The Soloist
Do you ever read a book that really just touches you in some way? I just finished The Soloist by Steve Lopez (which the book was made to a movie now in theaters). See the trailer here: http://www.soloistmovie.com/ Amazing. Right before reading this book, I had read One Month to Live: Thirty Days to a No-Regrets Life which is another book I would recommend.
Anyways
In college, I majored in Sociology with an emphasis in Globalization and Social Change. I took classes on immigration, criminology, social work, and human rights law. Those classes really gave me a new perspective on the world we live in. I had been on many mission trips to Mexico and Honduras and I have never seen so much joy in people who hardly have anything. It makes you grateful to have running water, food, and a place to lay your head at night.
I also worked with students with disabilities in college where I first found out about Guide Dogs for the Blind. A student who was always working in the students with disabilities office, had a guide dog. Ever since then, I had been interested finding out about them. Wouldn’t you know, because of an interaction almost 5 years ago, I would be helping the same organization that was helping that guy today.
There is a part in the book that seemed to hit me hard. Steve (thew writer) spends a night on Skid Row in Los Angeles which is home to one of the largest transient populations in the United States. There are people being beat, over-dosing, and dying right in front of him and there is nothing he can do. He comments on how much disparity and sickness is happening so close to his house but everyone seems to ignore it.
Between those two books, I feel like I should be doing more for the world around me. I have no idea what that is, but hope one day I’ll be doing something I truly have a passion in for helping others in some way or another.
05.28.09
Dogs at the Gym
For those of you who raise Guide Dogs and happen to go the gym, how do you make it work? I usually do classes twice a week and if not, the elliptical and some weights. Now most of you are probably thinking, with how much I have to walk my dog why in the world would I want to go the gym?!??! It’s a smaller place and I don’t know if I should just bring a dog once and see how it works (and if they don’t have a cow with me bringing a dog) or do I mention it before bringing a dog with me??
Thanks for any suggestions you might have!!
05.21.09
Skipping Along & Fun Days
Loyola decided that Phase 6 was boring apparently and is in Phase 7 this week! Simmons went back last weekend and is currently in Phase 1. All my little puppies are growing up to fast. For those of you who read my blog and have no idea what I’m talking about in terms of Phases, here is a website explaining what happens in each phase: Phases for Guide Dog Training.
Lomita went into season sometime last week so at this past meeting she was wearing “Doggy Panties”. I tried really hard not to laugh when I saw her but I have to admit, it was a pretty funny site. She was scheduled to possibly go back in June but will be heading back in July instead.
I also messed up and Topeka will actually be 8 months in a couple of days. Time flies!
Is anyone planning on going to the Guide Dog for the Blind Puppy Fun Days in Oregon or California? Mr. Charming and I are thinking about going down to the California campus and checking that out. They are back to back weekends but both sound like a lot of fun. We are planning on going to the Oregon one again this year too. If you are going to either, shoot me an email or leave a comment. I would love to meet you!
05.14.09
1/2 Way There!!
Loyola made it to Phase 5 this week! I know she won’t probably move this fast through the next phases, but she is half way there to becoming an official Guide Dog! I know you can do it Loyola!
05.12.09
Puppy Update
To start things off, Loyola is in Phase 4 as of a week ago. I was talking with her raisers at the last meeting and if she is career changed, they would take her back! I know she has a great shot of making it, but you never know what will happen in the next 6 phases.
Simmons is heading back this week. We said our good bye’s at our meeting last week.
These past two weekends we have been busy puppy-sitting. The first weekend we had Donata (5-1/2 months old) who is 1/2 Golden Retriever, 1/2 Black Lab. She likes to jump up on people so we worked with her on that. I had her at work with me Friday and Monday and she was perfect. She slept both days and never made a sound. She totally has the puppy look going for and is just a very sweet dog. Here are some pictures:
Donata in her vest:
As you can see, she made herself pretty comfortable at work:
I love these last two pictures as she is totally doing her puppy look:
This past weekend we had Topeka who is almost 7 months old. (It seems like yesterday she was just coming off the truck!) She has sure grown up since the last time we had her! She still loves to give kisses (licking) but overall has really matured and is a great loose leash dog. Here are some pictures of her:
Topeka in her jacket:
I was on my computer and I look down to find her sleeping like this:
Next time we have Topeka will be the end of the month. If I’m feeling motivated, I might be posting some unrelated Guide Dog posts. We will see how that goes. If you have any great suggestions for topics, I would love to hear them. Also, please let me know if you want to be added to my blog roll.
