Crossing the Koi Bridge

We have a lovely wooden bridge that Fred built that goes over our koi pond.  Last week Corky, a Southeastern Guide Dog in Training, learned how to walk over it without falling in.

Fred and Corky ease up to the bridge.

Fred explains the bridge walking concept to Corky.

Corky shows a little anxiety by yawning.

There was a moment of hesitation on Corky's part, so Jam showed him what to do.

Fred waited until Corky felt comfortable. and then when he did, boy did he let loose!

They start over the bridge.

Smooth sailing up to the hump.

Corky stops to smell something.

 All in all it was a successful backyard exposure.  We did the bridge the opposite way and there was no hesitation.  Just a smooth walk on and over.  Now he crosses it with a leash easily.  When they are this little, as puppy raisers, we are supposed to find the little things to show them and build their confidence.  This bridge was something easy for him to do.  Now when we do a big bridge over a river or a wooden walkway by the pier, he will already have experienced something similar and can think back and say, "I've got this."

Go Corky!

Puppy Sitting: Barrett

On Sunday, I asked the girls in my advisory what day they wanted to have advisory tea and I got a surprise request from one of my advisees.  She wanted me to bring Dewey by the hospital to see her.  Her appendix had burst and a therapy dog had been by to visit and she would love it if I could bring Dewey by to see her.  It just about broke my heart to tell her the day before we had returned Dewey to Southeastern.  So, of course, I asked around to see if anyone would lend me their puppy so that I could bring it by the hospital to visit her.

Barrett at St. Joseph's in Tampa.

Carolyn was going to be at the Sheraton with family for July 4th and needed someone to watch Barrett, so I took over for her already scheduled sitter.  She brought Barrett by on Monday morning and by lunchtime we were at St. Joseph's.  Turns out that Barrett has a highly developed empathetic streak.  She sidled right up to my advisee and stayed next to her and let her pet her.  

We stayed for about 45 minutes and then left.  We didn't want to overtire her.  But St. Josephs was great with Barrett.  Very friendly and helpful.

Barrett and Jam became fast friends.

Jam was feeling the loss of Dewey, so having Barrett there to run around with was very helpful to him.

Barrett did have to learn to like the blue pig in the yard.  

We did discover that some of our garden art was a little scary for her.  Although, I don't think that Fred has ever really warmed up to that pig, now that I think of it...

After a long day of playing, Barrett and Jam would crash.
Barrett is asleep on the floor.  Jam is sleeping on the chair.

 Jam and Barrett would take naps together. Although Jam did not use Barrett as a pillow.

Portrait of Barrett in tall grass.

I had a lovely time with Miss Barrett.  She was very sweet and a tail wagger, which I adore.

Barrett by cactus.

She also followed me around, which was great for helping out with missing Dewey sadness.

Barrett looking serious.

Of course, now we have a Jam and Willow looking sad and our house feeling quiet with two dogs.  How is that possible?  Thanks for a great stay Barrett.  You were a lovely house guest.  You can stay anytime.

Bad Boy; No, Bad Puppy Raiser

Today, Coach did a bad thing.  He actually chewed through his leash.  I just happen to have another leash at school, so it isn't a disaster in terms of being able to walk him around.

Coach looking askance at the chewed through leash to his right which I am holding, one part in each hand.

But chewing through a leash is a bad thing and well, frankly my friends, it is my fault.  Obviously, my mind was engaged elsewhere.  It happened during advisory.  We were playing Quelf and it was quite loud and Coach was visiting my advisory kids.  He was next to me, but I thought he was being petted by the kids.  Seems he had finished being petted and had decided he was bored and commenced chewing.

Next thing I hear is Emily and Kimberly saying, "Mrs. McLean! Coach chewed through his leash!"

"What?!"

"Coach chewed through his leash!" Coach had very quietly gone from sitting next to me and Kimberly, where she was petting his head, to walking past her with his half a leash.  Emily picked up the other half a leash and showed it to me.

"Coach."  I called him back and tied what was left of the leash onto his collar.  This was my fault.  All the kids were looking at me.  "I have another leash."  They nodded and since it was almost time for class, we broke up.  I walked with Coach to the workroom.  Sigh.  He should be over leash chewing.  Obviously, it was something that we needed to work on and work on quite a bit.   

Puppy raising is a 24 hour a day job, 7 days a week.  Coach caught me napping.  Now I have to shop for a new leash.

Status of Sit Stay Give: We Broke $500!!!!

Oh, my gosh!!  We have broken the $500 mark on Coach's Sit Stay Give site!!!  The SLPs have had a couple of break sales and I have had some friends donate.  (Thank you Ko family and Timothy family!).  

But what is truly amazing is that we have student library proctors like Evan who have signed up for their own pages and are having their friends and family donate (Thank you Marcia & Mitchell Miller and Elyssa Schindler!), AND we have people we don't personally know on the web, like Robert and Myra Sann (below), who are donating!!

Thank you all so so much!!!

Photo of the bone graphic from the sit stay give campaign showing we have raised $525 so far!

Tomorrow night the student library proctors will be manning the concession stand at the Berkeley Buc v Tampa Prep volleyball game, which is a game you DO NOT WANT TO MISS!  It will be held in the Straz Family Fieldhouse.  Part of the proceeds for the night will go to our charity of naming the next Southeastern Library dog!!  So come and eat some food and watch a great game.

A photo of the front of the totes with each novelist showing.

And buy a tote bag.  Who doesn't need a great tote bag?  We have four different varieties and they all are by our very own Yunhan, a senior, who is a very talented artist.  You can choose from William Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe, Jane Austen and Harper Lee.  They are only $15 and make a great Christmas present!!  Those proceeds go towards naming the puppy as well. 8-)

A photo of Yunhan sitting with her totes in front of her.

It is really easy to donate:

1. Just go to Coach's Sit Stay Give site and click on the donate button.
2. Or, you can join our team and gather donations with us!!  There is a join our team button as well!

Thank you all for your support!!

Bindi, My Bindi

Saturday night, Coach got to meet a friendly cat: Bindi. Bindi grew up with four dogs and currently lives with two.  So, she is very experienced with the canine temperament and has no problem with puppies.

We set up a very safe meet and greet with plenty of escape room for her (which she eventually took advantage of) and slowly walked Coach over to see her.  You can see by the video that he was overcome by excitement.  Our calm, dour boy was almost Jam-like in his enthusiasm.

Unfortunately for Coach, once irritated into fleeing, Bindi decided to stay gone and didn't make another appearance the evening.

Coach Does Some Shopping

A Wordless Wednesday photographic essay from yesterday's outing to the Coach Store at International mall.

Coach is sitting by the glass railing looking down.  He is very calm.

The Coach logo over the Coach store.

Coach and I standing in the doorway of the coach store. 

Coach and I consider some purses to buy.  He doesn't seem to have an opinion and looks fairly bored.

Coach meets the Coach dog, who doesn't have any eyes or fur, which makes my Coach sniff.

A Lavender Blurrr

By Fred
Ever since Cheryl learned about the therapeutic effect of lavender, our home smells like an Victorian English whorehouse, and for the past several days I've been wandering around in a lavender daze, as if I weren't calm enough before. We now have a variety of lavender power dispensers, misters and sprays, and there's a giant vat of lavender oil in the garage. The air is so thick with it that I sometimes can't see across the room.

A blurry picture of Coach with a sweet smile.
He looks a little drunk on lavender.

Little Coach is a sweet guy, a really cool dude, and I get the feeling that lavender is the last thing he needs.

But who's complaining. Not us.

Jam Goes In For Training

Photo of the welcome sign: Welcome to Freshman Orientation @ Guide Dog U

Saturday was Jam's day to go in for training, or Guide Dog U as it is known.  This day is something that is not necessarily looked forward to by puppy raisers but is acknowledged as one of those sad, sad days that you have to go through in order to experience the joy of puppy raising.  It can't all be puppy breath and kisses.

Fred and I are kneeling to the left of Jam's sign with his portrait on it.  There is some sun glare off  to the left so you can't really see our expressions.

Southeastern Guide Dog's puppy department has a sign for each dog entering the dorms that has his name and 6 week puppy portrait.  Here we are sitting with Jam by the sign.  At first I was a little annoyed that the volunteer didn't get closer so that you could actually see the sign and our faces, but now, I realize, that you also can't see that we have just completely lost it.  I, didn't make it past driving through the gates.

We are standing at the Southeastern rock sign.  I'm on the left and Fred and Jam are on the right.  Jam is sitting.  Fred and I are standing.

It does help that you are surrounded by some of your good friends and we happened to have some very good friends with us that day, which is why you see some smiles on this photo by the Southeastern sign.

Fred is sitting on a bench at the very back with Jam lying at his feet waiting for Jam's name to be called.

Jam was the second dog of the second set to be called in to go.  It was a little upsetting for me, because Fred started down the aisle to the right and I went with him.  Then I realized that I had forgotten the little sheet of paper with instructions for the trainers on Jam (of course, I just thought it was for serious things and put down his poop and eating habits, which are weird and I was a bit worried about them.  But after I filled it out Leslie told us they also wanted to know about what kind of pats and rubs he liked and I didn't get to put that down, which is making me cry now.  So, I'm going to tell you: he likes to be scratched under his chin and he likes his butt scratched at the base of his tail.  He is not a cuddler, per se.  He's more cat like and will twine about your legs. There.  Now you know.). So, I ran back up the aisle to get it, but Fred kept walking and took Jam to trainer Karen.  I came down the other aisle.

Trainer Karen is hooking Jam up to the leash, but Jam is looking away from her off to the right. He is looking at me walking up to him. Photo by Durga Garcia.

I guess Jam didn't know where I was, so he was looking for me, which I didn't know until I saw these photos taken by fellow puppy raiser Durga Garcia, who is also a professional photographer.

Photo of me looking down at Jam for the last time. Photo by Durga Garcia.

So, I tried to give him a hug, but I think as soon as he saw me, he figured things were ok and he wanted to go off with trainer Karen.  He was ready to go.  So they walked off and like all the puppies before him, he went off happy and excited and he never looked back.

And we wouldn't have wanted it any other way.