Three Dog Tea

Before Baccaleaureate I usually have tea for some of the seniors that I have spent a lot of time with, had in my advisory, had in clubs, who were student library proctors or who spent a lot time in the library.  This year, I had four girls come to tea and we had a wonderful time.  

However, this was our first time having tea with THREE DOGS IN THE HOUSE!  Now, all the girls are familiar with Southeastern Guide Dogs and know about the program and how to behave around the puppies.  They all know Jam and several were really excited about seeing him again.  Coach was pretty blase about the tea.  Willow was irritated because a tea is really a ladies thing and having the two boys crash it wasn't good.

Jammy has a teapot in front of him and tries to explain to Coach and
Willow who are looking on  how a perfect pot of tea is brewed.

Jammy is like one of those cool, surfer dudes, who knows everything and is able to instruct you on the intricacies of the tea ceremony.  His eyes always seem to be laughing, so he never seems to take anything completely seriously. Fred said that Jam did not want to stay upstairs and wanted to be downstairs with the ladies.

Jammy's new favorite spot by the fridge where he can now watch for things to drop and eat them.

Jam was especially pleased by the fact that now that he was no longer a Southeastern Guide Dog and was just a regular dog, he could have a piece of chicken or bread.  

I think Jam is telling Coach about the chicken treat, but Coach isn't allowed any treats. Poor Coach. Jam is on the left hand side of the hardwood floor lying down and Coach is lying next to him.  They are both looking up at the camera.

But, in the end, I think that Jammy, got a little to big for his boots.  When we first brought him home, he had some problems with counter surfing (as in jumping up on the counter with his front paws). So we were working on that.  As I started to put out the food for the tea, Jam followed me with his big laughing eyes.

"Oh, these sandwiches look good!" Jam is standing right next to the table looking up
and is very close to the tray of cucumber sandwiches.

He would go up to the buffet and lean in close to the cake stand.  

Sniff, sniff.  "Jam! No!"  He turned in my direction.  His eyes were sad.  "But I didn't eat anything!"

He walked around the table and stopped at the cucumber sandwiches. Sniff, sniff.  "Jam! No!"

Sad, sad, eyes.  He continued walking to the egg salad sandwiches.  There, though, the M.O. changed.  Instead of just sniffing, Jammy brought out the big guns.

But the sandwiches he really wanted were the egg
salad and watercress on mini croissants.

Sniff, sniff.  Then, a second later, a long pink tongue reached out to see if it could scoop out egg salad and separate it from the croissant.

"JAM!"

The girls and I and the three dogs trying to get into position for a nice photo. Insanity.

In the end, Jam gave up and tried instead to crash the ladies photo outside.

Just the humans!

The crisis was averted and no sandwiches were stolen and eaten.  And none were licked.

At least none were licked that I knew about...

Jam Is Home

By Fred
Jam is back home. We wanted him to be a guide dog or to have a career of some kind. We wanted this very much, but his health problems got in the way. So now he's home.

I wasn't sure what to expect--whether he'd get along with Coach, whether he'd be happy, whether he'd changed, whether he'd even remember us, but things are going very well. Coach adores his older brother (they have the same father and the same bushy tail and much of the same personality). Willow loves him but is not yet ready to commit (again).

Jam resting in his spot by my chair

I just saw Jam at the bottom of the stairs, looking up for me with concern in his eyes, these big dark eyes, even though he'd just seen me a few seconds earlier. He always had separation anxiety, even as a little puppy. Last year I worried that he'd have a rough time of it, emotionally, when he started school, but we've learned that he was loved by his trainer and that the school did everything they could during the past year to address his medical issues. He is still the same, sweet Jam, thanks to them.

Jam smiling

And yes, Jam remembered Cheryl.

A picture of Jam on Cheryl's lap

Jammy Comes Home

 Today, we are going to Southeastern Guide Dogs to pick up Jam.  We will be adopting him and bringing him home to live with us.  We got the call a week ago that he had been dropped from the guide dog program because of a medical problem: he has a soft trachea.  On Wed. he had a fluoroscopic test and we will be getting the results of that test and a medical plan for him when we pick him up.

I think we, as most puppy raisers do, put all of our eggs in Jam's basket, hoping that he would be our first dog to make it as a guide dog puppy.  From all his reports and comments, he was an excellent dog, smart, good with his commands and very sweet to work with.  Unfortunately, he was also plagued with a bit of separation anxiety and a persistent cough that made him honk like a goose (which was the trachea problem). Southeastern gave him their very best shot and their best effort and for that we thank them.

We are thankful that we have not filled up our house already with dogs (Bingo was aggressive, HRH Berkeley was not best friends with Willow) so that we can take Jam back with us as he has a special place in our hearts.

I am also very, very nervous at seeing him.  It is a puppy raiser's dream to be remembered.  I remember the first Guide Dog U when we took HRH Berkeley back and one of the graduates stood up to talk about her experience with her guide dog.  As she walked up to the podium, her guide dog caught sight of her puppy raiser, who just happened to be in the audience returning another dog.  The guide dog completely lost control and bolted to the puppy raiser in a paroxysm of joy.  The crowd of puppy raisers, in unison, sucked in their breath with a collective "AH!" Each was thinking, "I hope that is me one day."

Jam may not have made it, but he is an amazing boy.  All we care about is having our sweet boy back at home and giving him a happy healthy life.

And if he bolts towards us in a paroxysm of joy, my day will be complete.

A Family of Weenies

We went to the Symphony Under the Stars event at Raymond James Stadium on Saturday night.  It was hosted by Raymond James Financial (Thank You Very Much!!!) and there were lots of puppy raisers there who were enjoying the presymphony tailgating party that we set-up! We got there at 4:30 and had lots of fun!  

The actual symphony started with kids singing, etc. at 6, so our tailgate ended at about a quarter to 6 and we started in toward to the stadium and found great seats at the back.  We had most of the back of the stadium to ourselves!  Since it was an overcast day, it was wonderful.

Coach and Bo chew on the pirate mascot's sword.

The Bucs mascot came by and played with Coach and Bo.  He mistakenly laid down his stuffed sword and Coach and Bo immediately tried to take it away from him.  Fortunately, he wasn't much of a fierce pirate.  He was kind of a cuddly pirate. They weren't afraid of his costume at all.

Around 7:30 when the real orchestra started playing Nancy came by and said that there was a huge storm on the radar and that they were packing up their chairs and just sitting on their towels.  FYI.

I looked at Fred.  "We should pack up our chairs too."  Fred kind of rolled his eyes at me.  I'm easily motivated into action. "No, seriously.  I'm not sitting in a rainstorm."

"It's not raining." Then a raindrop fell.  I looked at him and raised an eyebrow a la Scarlett O'Hara.  

"It is now."

I turned to Melisa and Ed.  There were a few more raindrops.  "Are you coming?" I asked?  Melisa looked at Ed.  Ed, who is a big sailor, said he didn't think it would last.  So, Melisa said no.

Fred and I packed up in less than 30 seconds and were on our way. 

A crowd leaves the stadium, dark clouds in the background.

 As we were walking out, I took a photo of the rain clouds and caught Coach nervously looking back over his shoulder.

Coach, stopped and looking over his shoulder back at the rain clouds behind him.

I think he was glad to have left as well.

Did the rain last?  Were we weenies to have left so readily? How rude of you to suggest such of thing!  I'm ending this post with photos of dark rain clouds!!

Coach Is a Love Machine

 Yes, Coach, our soon to be 14-month old Southeastern Guide Dog puppy in training, is a love machine.  As evidenced by the photo below.

Coach is nearly invisible as five freshmen pet him.  He is rolled over on his back so they can give him belly rubs.

 We were doing the annual research project in Health class, which involved several days of research and then several days of a crossfire like debate where two opponents met to debate various health topics like steroids in sports, creatine, and risky behavior like texting and driving, etc.If we had a couple of minutes left at the end of the debates, which were generally very stressful for the kids debating, I would take the coat off of Coach and let a few kids at a time come and pet him.

He had his regulars (seen above) who LOVE HIM!  He really seems to love them back and tended to just roll over for them and let them give him belly rubs.

Kathleen shares her office with lots of stuffed animals like Fozzy bear and some weird rat-like thing that Coach really wanted to take a bite out of.  They are shown sitting in a rocking chair with a sign that says "We love Coach!"  

On Friday, I visited our lower division librarian to get a schedule to bring Coach in to read to lower division and I was hoping for a very productive meeting, but was thwarted by her office mates (shown above!).  While Kathleen wouldn't admit it, I think Fozzy bear was doing a little dance trying to distract Coach.  Coach said as much on the way back to the office.  I really don't think it was an excuse!  And the little pack rat thing kept staring at him with his shiny eyes.  I guess he couldn't help his shiny eyes, but still.  It is rude to stare.

So, we did have to leave the meeting early.  On our way out, before I could get the coat on him, we were accosted by two lovely little lower division girls who asked to pet Coach.  I looked up and said, "Well, he has to sit first. And he hasn't been the best boy, so if he is bad, we'll have to stop."

Coach sat and then the one little girl said, "Oh! Coach is ADORABLE!"

Maybe that is why the pack rat was staring.

Rainy Day Weenie

The other day last week we had a big rainy day.  Now, Coach is a big boy.  He can be pretty macho.  Well, actually no.  He isn't.  He's sweet.  He's gentle.  He is not macho.  

Coach got very wet.  Here he is in the car with his muzzle covered in raindrops.

So he wasn't pleased to be walking to the car in the rain, but one of the things that we are supposed to do is give our Southeastern Guide Dog puppies different experiences.  So, walking in the rain is a good thing to do.  Walking through puddles is also a good thing to do.

When we arrived home, it was still raining and I opened the door for Coach to get out.  One of the things that Coach does really well is stay in the car until you tell him car out.  However, you can tell by the look on his face that he is giving that puddle the stink eye.

Photo of a puddle with raindrops hitting it.

But he did jump out into the puddle on command.  I suppose that is tiny bit macho. 8-)

Back at His Day Job: School Dog

I have been out of school for two weeks (my mom had open heart surgery (she came through it like a trooper and is doing great!)) and then I went straight to Baltimore for a library conference.  So it has been quite a hectic time for me.  Coach and Fred and Willow have been on their own with a very changed routine, which can be a little stressful.

But, last Monday, I was back and Coach started back to school.  He fell into his school routine quite well.  Monday I didn't have any research classes, but Tuesday we began the Health Cross Fire Debates!

Coach is in a down stay in front of students who are busy researching at the tables.

Our first couple of days, the students are doing research on the various topics they are assigned to debate.  On the third day, they will be watching a demo of the debate and will begin writing their speeches.

During free time, when Coach's coat is off, students can pet him and relieve some stress.

I think our students were glad to have him back as exams are approaching and he is a bit of a stress reliever for some kids.  After all, research has shown that that petting a dog (actually, just interaction with a dog!) will lower your cortisol levels and increase your endorphin levels.  So, goodbye stress and hello happiness (click on the link to read more!).  That's why school's like Emory, Harvard, Yale and our Berkeley Prep know the value of having a service dog on campus.

Coach gets comfortable at the all school congo.

I was really excited about Coach's stellar behavior at the all school convocation on Friday!  He slept through the concert band performance and several choral productions!  Woohoo!

Coach sleeps through the concert band performance.

Keep in mind how he acted at the ballet.  It wasn't good.  Now, we have a more mature Coach who can lie down and go to sleep and be comfortable through the whole performance.

Did we stay for the pipe and drum band's performance?  No.  I know he doesn't like the sound of the bagpipes and he wouldn't have been a good boy.  So, we left when they took the stage.  You have to know when to leave and make the event a success.

It was a good week for Southeastern Guide dog in training Coach!