My first two weeks in my new home

Hey everyone, sorry I haven’t been writing very much. Since I haven’t had all of my shots I don’t get to go anywhere so I’ve just been staying home. I like it here with my new family and all of my new friends and I’m really feeling loved by everyone.

The thing I like best about Utah is outside. When we go outside I never know what to expect. We have had some nice sunny days, we have had rain, snow and windy days. Windy days are my favorite because the wind blows leaves around and I like to try to catch them. I know now that I shouldn’t pick things off of the ground but it is still fun to try to catch them. I also like to try to catch snowflakes as they fall. Sometimes on the sunny days, the girls from across the street will come over and see me and play with me. I like that. But the thing I like best about going outside are the tasty rocks.

Rawrrr: I'm a monster

Mom and Dad call me their little monster because I go and I go and I eat and I go and I chew and I go and I go and I go and I have SOOOO MUCH ENERGY! Sometimes I go hours and hours without stopping to take a break. Sometimes when I really get going, I do things that are funny so they call me Silly Monster. Other times, like when I’m chewing and trying to bite on Dad’s arm, he calls me Jaws. He said that I remind him of a movie poster with the picture of the shark’s open mouth. I don’t know what he means so I just wag at him; it is something that Mom taught me, like when she just smiles and nods at Dad.

It snowed here last night and Dad took me out so I could see the snow and play in it. I thought it was really neat and I didn’t want to come in so we stayed out in the snow and had a really good time. After a while I started to get cold and was caked in snow. When we came in Dad announced that we had a new monster in the house; The Adorable Snowman. Mom just wagged at him and went to bed.

Commands

There are commands that every aspiring guide dog will have to learn. Most are really easy, when Mom, Dad or Mitch say “do your business”, I need to make a mess on the pavement. When they say “let’s go” I need to walk beside them. But there is one command that was talked about by the puppies in San Rafael. I thought it was just a rumor that was used to scare puppies into behaving. I am very sorry to say that it is NOT a rumor; it is of course, the dreaded “that’s enough” command. It is a hard command because it means sooo many different things. Don’t chew the tie down. Don’t chew the leash. Don’t chew Dad’s arm. Don’t unravel the berber carpet.  I really don’t know how I’m going to keep them straight but I’ll try my best.

This morning Dad came home and we watched Mitch and Julimae go to school. I wish I could go to school too but that will come later when I’m a little bigger. For now I’m just happy chewing the cat…I know…that’s enough.

Note to self

Mom and Dad really get excited when I potty outside. I'm going to have to do that more often.

Making New Friends

I met so many people yesterday that I’m having a hard time remembering everyone’s name. Mom’s friend Amber came over and she brought Owen with her. Owen is like a tiny little version of Mitch. And then Amanda came over and brought Kyle with her. Kyle is a guide dog pup too! I really liked playing with Kyle; I’ll have to see if I can play at meetings. Dad told me that I have to be on my best behavior at meetings but I’m going to see what I can get away with. After everyone left I was really tired and just had to go to sleep until dinner time. Awwww…dinner time. I love food.

Silvana completely wiped out. This is a very rare sight.

First Morning in Utah

Hi, Silvana again. I got up reallllly early this morning and had Scott take me outside. Once I was up, I didn’t want to go back to sleep, I wanted to play. Jeanette and Scott, who I’ve decided to call Mom and Dad, wanted to sleep some more so I decided to test them and threw a fit. I cried and barked and carried on for what seemed like a day but was probably only about an hour but Mom and Dad just let me go on crying and didn’t give in to me. I finally gave up and slept.

After the whole house got up and got fed, I got to play with Cruiser. I like him; he is just a little bit bigger than I am but he cheats when he plays, he throws his butt against me trying to knock me over. Cruiser also likes to tease the girls in the house. He gets to play with squeaky toys and will stay just far enough away that we can’t get him and squeaks and squeaks and squeaks.

I like my big sister Julimae, it is good to have another guide dog in the house, and she can teach me what I need to do in order to be a good guide. Scott, um Dad, tries to explain things to me and he told me that Julimae is on breeder watch. I don’t think I really understand what that means but Dad says that if Julimae looks good in jeans that she can be a momma. I hope she gets to be a momma, I think she would be really good at it. We still don’t know if I’m in breeder watch or not because my papers aren’t here yet but  even if I’m not in breeder watch I hope I look good in jeans too.

Moving to Utah

 Hi everyone, its me again, Silvana. I’m in Utah with my new family! I didn’t get to ride in the same kennel with my sister Scarlet because she picks on me so I had to fly all by myself. Everyone at Delta was really nice because they thought we were really cute. One woman wanted to keep us but I barked and scared her away so that I could go with my new family. I was so happy to meet Scott and Jeanette and something strange started happening to my tail, it started shaking and wouldn’t stop. It just kept going back and forth, back and forth. Scott picked me up and everyone started taking my picture and telling me how cute I was.

We finally got to my new home and I got to meet Mitch. Funniest thing, my tail started to go nuts again while Mitch was holding me. After we all ate, I got to meet the rest of the family. There was my new big brother whose name is Cruiser and my new big sister Julimae who is a guide dog just like me! They also had this thing called a cat. His name is Rocky and he makes the funniest hissing sound when I smell his bum.

The Early Weeks

Hi, I’m Silvana, and I’m a different kind of dog, I’m going to be a guide dog when I get big. I was born on December 7, 2010 at the Guide Dog campus in San Rafael, California. I have one brother and four sisters. My dad is Dylan and my mom is Cuesta. I get to stay with Scott, Jeanette and Mitch in Utah. I’m really excited to be going because I get ride on a plane with my sister Scarlet and another puppy named Rio.