My Birthday Surprise

I had to go to school with Dad. Everyone there made a big fuss over me because it was my birthday and it was also the last day of school.

Dad still hadn't given me my surprise and I didn't have any clue what we were going to do. We left the school and went to a store where dad bought me a red dress to wear. We then drove a long time to the mall where we had the Halloween costume party. Dad got me dressed in my new red dress and my puppy jacket and we went in. We bumped into Liz and Athens and we walked together to the middle of the mall. When we got there, we saw the rest of the puppy group. I was excited, but not as excited as when Brenda and her girls showed up.

Silly Claws



All of the puppies got into line and we finally got to a big table. The people working there were happy to see us. I still didn't know what was going on so I just waited. Pretty soon, I found out what all of the fuss was about. We were going to see Santa. I loved Santa, I tried my best to lick his beard off and he just laughed and said that it wasn't going to come off.

Then we all lined up for pictures with Santa. Onessa and Orleans got to sit on Santa's lap because they are just babies. Since I'm the only black dog in the group, I got to sit right in the middle between Santa's boots and all of the yellow dogs. It was funny trying to get all of us to be good at one time. Everyone was laughing and that made me happy.

After we got our picture taken, I decided that I was going to make Santa remember me. I got up and ran off when I wasn't suppose to. I didn't think it was too bad since I ran to Dad, but he wasn't to thrilled with me for doing that. Later on, when it was my turn to have a picture by myself, I think I made up for being bad and was even invited to sit on Santa's lap. Now, I'm on the nice list AND the naughty list, he is sure to remember me now.

Its My Birthday

Hey Everyone,
I'm a year old today. I didn't even remember until Dad told me happy birthday. He told me that he had something special planned for me today but so far it has only been a bath. I don't think baths are very special, but I sure do smell good.

Mom let me have complete run of the house, and since I'm not a puppy anymore, I was very good. Mom said that she was very impressed with how well I behaved. That is until Dad got home. I was so excited to see him that I picked up one of Cruiser's toys and took it to dad to play.

Dad seemed really happy that I got into the bathtub all by myself and he didn't have to lift me. He told me the whole time I was in the tub that I was a very good girl and I had to look pretty for tonight. I don't know what he has planned but I'm sure it will be fun.

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.