11.09.09
Loyola’s Famous :)
Well at least in Tulare,CA! Here is an article about Loyola (now Lola) and her new partner: Tulare Woman Welcomes New Guide Dog
11.05.09
Service Dogs in Training
There was an article in the Tacoma News Tribune about a local school district and service dogs in training. I know in Washington State guide dog puppies in training can be denied entry to a place. I was wondering what state you are in and what are the laws there in regards to service puppies in training? Here is the article: http://www.thenewstribune.com/topstory/story/939695.html?pageNum=2&mi_pluck_action=page_nav#Comments_Container
11.04.09
Jackets
There are some things in life you can blame your parents for and in my case, the love of jackets is one of them. I was at Costco the other day and came across a Kenneth Cole Reaction Quilted Down coat in my size (which is sometimes hard to do at Costco) for $29.99. I was looking online tonight and found the almost the EXACT same coat at Macy’s for $74.99 on sale! The only difference is my stripes run right to left instead of left to right (which honestly, who cares right?) I know you are dying to see it so here it is: The Jacket which I got in the brown color. I love finding deals like that!
Have you found any amazing deals lately? 
10.25.09
Jessa
This past weekend we had Jessa. She is what is considered a soft or sensitive puppy. She’s a really sweet dog, but has some issues that all the dogs we have puppy-sat before haven’t had. It takes her 10-20 minutes in a new situation to “calm” down and finally be able to relax. We usually are able to trust a dog enough to let them be downstairs not on tie down. After two episodes of keep away and putting her paws on the counter in the kitchen, she has been on tie down the whole weekend. I think she was trying to see what she could get away with. I promise we did have some fun outings (pictures below) so it wasn’t too rough for her. She’s great once she calms down but during her moments, it’s like someone gave her straight sugar for breakfast! Here she is working hard:
I couldn’t help but laugh when she was spread out like this: 
Saturday morning we met up with another club for a Pumpkin Patch/Corn Maze outing. We actually left Jessa with another leader while we took their dog Lipton through the Corn Maze because we thought it might stress her out too much. In the other club, is her sister Joyful so of course, I had to get a picture of the two at the Pumpkin Patch! 
With that, I’m debating about switching back over to Blogspot. I originally had my blog there and am thinking about returning. For some reason though, I’m having problems importing from WordPress to Blogspot. I’m also thinking about separating to different blogs (one that isn’t about Guide Dogs and one that is). I would just like to post recipes and random things which I’m not sure people would like to read about! Any suggestions from my readers? Hope you all have a great week!
10.24.09
Simmons Graduation
I promise this is my last post of the evening Once I’m in the mood, it’s hard to stop me!
Shortly after Loyola graduated, I got word that Simmons was in class! He seemed to be hanging out in Phase 8 for what seemed like a REALLY long time. He is now living in Canada with a younger guy who is very active (which is great for Simmons). He has a special rain jacket and booties for the snow. How cool is that eh? I wasn’t able to attend his graduation either and I haven’t seen any pictures of him in harness. Hoepfully I’ll be able to upload one soon.
My next post will be about Jessa who is the sister of lovely Ms. Janda
Construction, Robots, & Topeka
The middle of September we decided it was time to redo the floors. Mr. Charming and I are not DIY people and our house has a lot of weird angles so we left the installation up to the professionals. We put in wood called Duraplank throughout the bottom floor and Duraceramic tile in all the bathrooms and laundry room. We didn’t replace the carpet upstairs or on the stairs because it really isn’t worn that much. Needless to say, we love it! The wood is a composite so the dogs can run every where and won’t scratch it. The tile is also warmer to walk on which is the biggest plus for me. Here are a couple of pictures of the final product.
Formal Living Room:
Dining Room:
Family Room:
Kitchen:
Downstairs Bathroom/Laundry Room:
Of course, when doing something on the house, there is always to be more to it than not. In this case, we ended up re-doing the tile around the fireplace in the living room (we have two fireplaces which I don’t know why, but we do!) We actually saved a lot of money by paying the installers direct instead of through the place where we bought the materials. There is my little frugal tip for you! We had planned on doing the floors but the Friday before the install was to begin, we ended up getting our roof replaced (no, that was not planned). We had a leak in our bathroom that kept getting worse even after Mr. Charming had tried to fix it numerous times. Our house is at the point where we probably would have had to replace it in the next couple of years so we just bit the bullet and did it. Now that all the construction work is done, it feels like a brand new house!
I also got a robot named Eva (like how Wall-E says it!) She does an amazing job especially on the new floors. She’s a little quirky, but I still love her.
After all of this, we got Topeka for a weekend while her raising family went to Hawaii. I think she didn’t know what she was missing out on. Here are a couple of pictures of her (she turned 1 year not too long ago). The first one is at work:
I don’t understand how that can be comfortable.
Topeka in her jacket.
Topeka will be the next puppy heading back from our club. 
Welcome Marlin!
The middle/end of September we welcomed a new member to our club! His name is Marlin and well, I think he is such an adorable little guy. He is being raised by the family who raised Lomita. Last Saturday we had him for the day and I think he was the youngest puppy we have ever puppy sat at 13 weeks old. Here he is at 8 weeks: 
How can you not love that face!!??!
Here is another picture of him at 13 weeks (last weekend): 
I can’t wait to see him grow up
First Graduation-Loyola
This post is so far overdue! It seems like this past month has gone by way too fast. Loyola graduated over a month ago and here I am FINALLY posting. I ended up not going to the graduation. We were in the middle of getting new floors installed and it would have been a 3 hour drive each way. Plus, I wasn’t sure how much I would even be able to see Loyola since I hadn’t helped raise her. Thankfully, I was able to get some pictures from Anna (THANK YOU!) and Loyola’s raisers. She was placed with a wonderful lady who is 89 years old. Yes, you read that right! She has been in contact with the raising family since then about all the wonder things they are doing together. Here are some pictures of the girl in her harness:
I’m so proud of her for becoming a working guide!
09.24.09
Simmons
I just got the news that Simmons is in class and will be graduating in October!! Two puppies in two months that I both love. Makes me want to cry tears of happiness!!
Dog Assistance Organizations
I know a lot of you don’t live in the Pacific Northwest or raise for other organizations other than Guide Dogs for the Blind. I have people asking me what other organizations are out there that they can help raise a puppy with around the country (I’m looking right now for an organization that someone could raise in Minnesota to be exact). It doesn’t have to be specifically for a guide dog. Does anyone have a list or know of a place where I could get some information on organizations out there? The internet kind of scares me sometimes. hehe I would like to pass on places that either you or someone you know has had contact with, but understand that might not be possible. Also, if they have local clubs, that would be wonderful.
Thanks in advance for any info you might have!
