Road Trip

I'm sad. I didn't get to go to Guide Dog College to see my sister Julimae. It seems that the airline that Mom, Dad and Mitch took doesn't like puppies in training. THEY don't think that I'm a real service dog. I'll show them, I'll graduate at the top of my class and I will go everywhere with my partner.

Mom knew that I was sad about missing the trip so she took me to the store and I got to pick out a special gift for my sister. Mom even let me chew it a little so that Julimae would know it was from me.

I did get to go to Brenda's house again and we had fun. I got to play with her girls and I had a couple of little girls climbed all over me. I had a lot of fun but I am happy that I'm back home now.

Really Big News

I'm going to Oregon to see my sister Julimae graduate as a guide dog!!

Who really needs phase 8 anyway?

I'm very proud of my big sister.

AND...Happy Birthday Mom.

Bath Time

It was bath night tonight and Dad washed me with Cruiser's pearl white coconut scented shampoo. I am now a gray lab that smells just wonderful.


Training Update: There are a lot now. Julimae and Antigua are in phase 7, Snickers is in phase 1. Keiko is in phase 0 and Lacole is in breeder evals.

Fire House

We had a pretty exciting puppy meeting this week. We went to Eagle Mountain's fire house. We got to meet some of the fire fighters, see the trucks and we all got our own fire helmets. One of the fire fighters put on his equipment and played with all of us. I thought he sounded really funny. He was wearing a mask and it made a funny wooshing sound. He tried to talk while we played and he sounded like the bad guy from Star Wars. He was wearing a helmet just like mine so he was OK with me.

After we were all worn out from playing, we went outside and heard the siren from the big truck. I thought the lights were pretty cool but I liked the horn a lot better.

We even tried to take a group picture. I'll let you decide how THAT turned out.

Silvana trying to hide her face during the group picture

Training update: Julimae and Antigua are in phase 6. Snickers is in phase 0, and Lacole and Keiko went back today.

Snow

Yesterday I couldn't sleep and I felt that since I couldn't sleep neither could Dad. I started to pace in my kennel and chew my toys really loud until Dad woke. He got out of bed and looked outside and told me that he had a surprise for me. I didn't know what it would be but I followed him downstairs and instead of going out the front door, he took me to the back door and let me out. It was SNOWING! I haven't seen snow in a long time but I knew what to do. I tore out across the back lawn at full speed and tried to catch every snowflake I could. I stayed out for a long time before I realized that snow wasn't sticking on the ground but that I was covered. That was when I decided that it was time to come in and share the snow with the cat by shaking it all off on him.

Training update: Juliemae is in phase 5 and Antigua skipped phase 4 and went right to 5.

Guide Cows for the Blind

WOW!!! What a fun morning. Today I learned about something called Halloween. Halloween is where you get dressed in a costume and people tell you how cute you are. Not to brag, but we usually get that everyday as we are out doing our jobs. Today we had everyone in the mall making comments about us and wanting to come over and meet us.

It all started a week ago when Dad and I went to the store and he picked out a costume for me. He wanted a lizard costume but they didn't have one. I didn't really know what to think about it when he put it on me. My costume was white with black spots and it had horns, floppy ears, a long tail and something that went under my belly. Dad said I was udderly adorable but I didn't know what he was talking about. I was uncomfortable in it and it fit kind of funny on me and it just made me look miserable. The days passed and I never saw it again. I thought I was finished with it until this morning when Dad asked if I was ready to go to the puppy meeting. I'm always ready for that. Dad got my jacket and my leash and then picked up my costume...oh noooo. What's going on Dad?

We got to the mall and got out of the car. Dad put my costume on and then put my jacket on over top and it seemed to fit a little better but I still felt a little embarrassed by it. Once we got into the mall we saw Rio and Athens and they were dressed too and my embarrassment went away. Kind of. As we were waiting for the other puppies to arrive we started to attract attention. I heard someone say "look at the cute little guide cow". I suddenly felt a lot better because they still recognize that I will someday be a guide.

We started our walk through the mall and traffic came to a standstill. EVERYONE came out into the hallway and watch the progression of cute guide dogs dressed for Halloween. There was Rio, the ruff biker; Mozart who is a little devil; the beautiful fairy Lacole; the hot dog Athens and me... the guide cow.

Rio

Mozart

Lacole

Athens

Silvana

 Training Update: Julimae is in Phase 4. Antigua is in Phase 3. Snickers is in Phase 0 and Jacinda has been career changed and placed in a nice home.
The big new is that Clyde is in class and will graduate next week.

Welcome New Puppies

We have two new puppies in our club! They are from California, the same place where I was born, and they are sisters. Their names are Orleans and Onessa and they are golden/lab crosses. I haven't met them yet but, just like ALL guide dog puppies, they sure are cute.

Onessa

Orleans

Training update: Julimae and Jacinda are in phase 2. Antigua is in phase 1 and Clyde is in phase 8. Way to go Clyde!



Internal Clock

I'm really good at telling time. I always know when it is breakfast time or dinner time.


Training update: Julimae, Jacinda, Antigua are in phase 0...still. I wish they could come home. Clyde Phase 6. Kyle will have a different career. Sorry Kyle.

Things I learned at School

I've been really busy with school and I have learned a lot already. I have learned that I can fit under a desk quite easily but that I can't see everyone. I've caught on very quickly that the halls are crowded and people don't watch where they are walking. I learned that not everyone with a beard in high school is a teacher. The first settlement was Jamestown and the formula to calculate the weight of air at any given altitude.

I was also in school when I found out that Mom has special needs. At least that is what the woman from the student government said about her. I tried to figure out what Mom's special need was and the best that I can figure is that Mom's special need is for a Math tutor. I try to help her by nudging her leg when she forgets that she needs to use the slope intercept form but I don't think she understands what I'm trying to tell her. Mom seems to be catching on to things now though.

I have to go now; I have a paper to write and some very important guide dog stuff to do.

Training update: Julimae and Jacinda are still in phase 0. Clyde is in phase 5 and Kyle is in phase 8. Antigua will be training as a guide now.

Vacation

I've been away on vacation for the last week. At least that is what Dad called it. It sure didn't feel like a vacation though because I did more work than ever. I spent a week with Lacole's family while she stayed at my house.  I got to go to work with Brenda, went on a lot of outings and even went to a football game. It was a really busy week for me. I got to play with Brenda's girls, the neighbor kids and her big dog Maybel too. Brenda said that I was a very good girl at her office. There was even a day when she left me alone with her lunch sitting on her desk. And as far as Brenda knows; I didn't eat any of her lunch. Of course I'm not going to tell if I did or not.

Around the house I wasn't so good though. I got pretty carried away when Maybel and I were playing. I really like Maybel and it was good to play with her. We played a game of follow the leader, at a very high speed, through the house. There was one time when Maybel caught up to me and I didn't know what to do so I just jumped. I jumped so high that I ended up in the kitchen sink. I didn't know how I was going to get down so I just waited for someone to save me. Everyone thought it was pretty funny but I knew I shouldn't have done that. I felt so bad about it that I put myself in timeout inside of the X-pen.

After the week was over, I went with Brenda to a puppy meeting and Dad and Mitch were there waiting for me. I got pretty excited and I wagged so hard that I may have given myself a concussion. The puppy meeting was fun too. We met in the park and Jill sang a couple of songs for us. She really did a great job. Kris even offered me a potato chip but I knew I shouldn't take it. I was right about that too because it ended up being a test to see if I would behave.

After we got home I just crashed and Dad had to carry me to my kennel. It was a pretty fun week.

Training update: Julimae phase 0, Jacinda phase 0, Kyle phase 8, Clyde is in phase 4 and Antigua is still being evaluated as a breeder.