McLean Puppy Chronicles: What happens when you do the unthinkable and open yourself up to raise a puppy to give away to someone else: You create joy and freedom for a visually impaired person. We're puppy raisers for Southeastern Guide Dogs. Read about our journey.
It was a long drive to Southeastern Guide Dogs for a puppy meeting, but the reason was quite a special one: the opening of the new assessment kennel!!! And we were going to get to see it for the first time! WOOT!! How exciting is that?!
South and Central Pinellas Puppy Raiser Groups had obedience before the opening ceremony. John Bauer was leading the meeting.
It was a lovely day for a building ribbon cutting ceremony. Perfect weather for it. And there was a nice big crowd.
Puppy raisers were doing obedience.
Fred and Dewey were in the sun for a tiny bit.
Dewey quickly migrated to a down stay in the shade.
Westen was looking very handsome.
A south puppy raiser and her cute yellow puppy.
Brian and Marcia are trying the sit and pay attention to me command.
Bill walks up to try and distract Marcia, but fails.
Julie was puppy sitting Java.
Cesar, a yellow lab puppy, was just so darn photogenic.
Cesar, smiling.
Chris pointed out this guide dog with a curly tail. We think he must have Jack as a dad. Jam has Jack as a dad. Curly tails are his speciality.
Titus welcoming us to the ribbon cutting.
Cesar, being cute again.
Mr. Hirst talking about the center, named after him and his generous donation.
Marcia remembers me. Can you see her foot on my foot?
Outside of the Hirst Assessment Kennel.
Inside of the female kennel wing.
female kennels.
Self-watering drinking fountains for the dogs in the kennels! How cool is that?
One of the pups was already learning how to drink out of the fountain!
Hurricane proof in-out doors on the kennels.
Grates for waste, easy clean up, drains are flushed every 20 minutes (I hope I have that right!).
They have their own vet clinic. See photos below.
Place for exams.
Scales to get weighed! She was 38 pounds.
Privacy Wing.
For the ladies in the red tent.
For training in inclement weather and all other testing, etc. Those big glass windows at the back house the observation room. Turn off the lights and the dogs don't know you are there!
Spa grooming center!
It was such a fabulous center. So nice and clean and state of the art. What a joy for our puppies going in for training. Thank you Mr. Hirst and to all the donors who made every inch of that training facility possible. It is an amazing place. Dewey will love it.
It seems like only yesterday that Her Royal Highness(HRH) was with us as a little puppy. She was so sweet and small and commanding. Her shy aspect in her 6 week photo didn't let on to a dictatorial and autocratic personality soon to blossom.
Well, we have received her harness photo. She is gorgeous as you can see below.
Clearly, comparisons with the young Elizabeth I, a strong queen, could be made. her report card said she was making friends and playing well with others. This is quite a good thing as Bingo did not and was kicked out for being possessive of his personal space. HRH is learning to get along. Good girl.
She is having a bit of a problem with high traffic areas, showing a little hesitation, but the report card said she is working on it and shows promise. What I do know about HRH is that given time and encouragement, she always overcomes. Not the first out of the gate, but a solid finisher.
Now, we have had more news of HRH. We were told that she has been career changed. She showed stranger fear and was not considered guide dog material, but she is still in the running for a public service job, which is good, because HRH wants to work! This little girl needs someone to command! We have been told that she is being evaluated for her canine good companion certificate which may take several months to complete and during that time they will decide which public service job she holds the most aptitude for: bomb sniffing, veteran's assistance, search and rescue, and my personal favorite canine connections.
From the first time I heard about the canine connections program, which just started and is for children ages 10-17, I knew it was for HRH. In this program dogs are placed as companions with children who are either visually impaired or have a condition that may lead to blindness as a way of getting them familiar with the idea of working with a guide dog. HRH is one dedicated and commanding lady. She would fulfill that role with an amazing amount of confidence. She is a very dedicated personality.
Our fingers are crossed.
You go girl!
Our neighbor Stephanie turned in her puppy raiser application and unexpectedly got a puppy 3 days later. Carbon is Jam's half brother as they share the same dad, Jack. So, about a week ago I took Jam over to say hello.
He was quite interested to meet the little guy. Of course, Carbon had had a rough start. He had had some medical issues and was just now declared ready for puppy raising, so he was a little bit on the shy side.
Jam is not at all on the shy side. As you can see, Carbon didn't want to come too close to the scary Jam. He was very content to stay far away.
He had such a puzzled expression on his face, like he just could not understand Jam's exuberance.
But he did finally make it into Stephanie's lap and then he made it a little closer to Jam, and then he made it over to Jam.
Finally, we decamped to the kitchen which seemed neutral territory and they romped for a bit and had fun. I think they will get along just fine.
Once a month Jam goes to see his namesake: Joseph A. Merluzzi and his wife so that they can see how he is maturing and progressing. This month, Jam got to see their bear footstool.
It was quite an exposure for him. I think it was one of the only things so far that has upset him. He jumped back, had the hair on his spine raised, but his tail was still wagging and he was willing to approach the small bear when asked to do so.
Of course, there was a bit of Jamminess that took place. But I should let you watch the video.
Our Tuesday night meeting was held at the Clearwater Airport. We had a combined meeting, which was fun as we got to see some familiar faces from down south.
The purpose was to get an exposure to some very specific travel hazards that visually impaired people and their guide dogs might encounter. The first one that we went to was the baggage claim area.
Normally, you would just think of baggage claim as an annoying place to wait for your luggage. In fact, it is a noisy, potentially scary place for puppies. think about the alarm that sounds before the baggage claim luggage mover starts to move (and what is the name for that?!!). There is even a revolving police light! I have NEVER noticed that light before.
So we all crowded around and waited for the siren and lights and the baggage claim thingy to move. then they placed some baggage on it and let it come around. Jam was curious, but unfazed. Jam is so super cool. Really, nothing fazes him.
Then it was on to security.
Security is a major deal. ANYTHING can happen. You can check back to our previous posts about taking a dog through the airport to see that you can have a great experience on a flight out and a horrible one on the flight back. With THE SAME AIRLINE. It all depends on the attendant and whether they are feeling the love.
So it all really rests on you and how you handle the situation. So, some things you can do:
1. Always remain calm, cool and collected.
2. If there is a way to exploit your dog's cuteness, use it. It never hurts.
3. When making your reservation, make sure to tell the airline that you will be traveling with a service dog. They put a special code next to your reservation. It might also be a good idea to call the local airline a day before and ask if they have it noted on your reservation.
4. Be confident. Approach the ticket counter with a smile and have your dog sit and stay. Never use the word puppy. You have a service dog in training. If possible, try to get them to list your dog carrier as an assistive device and not charge you for it. Some managers have done this for us, some haven't. You may not always get this, but it worth asking for.
Now, I recommend that you don't get the largest dog crate to travel with and that you don't travel with it put together (see previous post). It exceeds the largest luggage allowance and if you get a cranky attendant they are going to stick it to you ($125 fee). Then you have to deconstruct the crate and somehow get it to stay together. Better to travel with it deconstructed or buy the smaller one and never have that problem. TRUST ME!!!
When going through security, there are a myriad of things that can happen. You can have a security guard go off her meds and run screaming from the security area:
"I'm afraid of dogs! I'm afraid of dogs!" As happened to one of our puppy raisers. No problem with the puppy getting excited about that hysterical person. Right!
Or you can have the person selected to give you a pat down be afraid of dogs and ask for backup, as happened to me. Making it a menage a tois of a really weird sort with a distracted, jumping 70-pound puppy leaping up and the security guard trying to pat me down shrieking and veering away from me. Lovely. I thought Fred was going to cry he was laughing so hard.
Trust me. You want security calm and happy.
Approach them and tell them what you would like to do.
1. I would like to go through the machine first.
2. I will have my dog sit and stay on the passenger side and I will walk through.
3. Once I have passed through, I will call my dog.
4. Once he has passed through, you can pat him down.
Explain that leaving the leash and collar on will make sure that there isn't a loose dog running around. Ask if this procedure meets with their approval or if they have another procedure they want to follow.
Sometimes they have special short line they put you in. Yea! I love it when that happens.
If you can get the bulkhead sit, take it. There is lots of room. Make sure though, that you keep your dog in your seat area and don't allow him to spread out to the other passenger's space. Encroachment is rude.
If you don't get the bulkhead, don't despair. We have traveled with two dogs, one tiny and one large. They both fit under the seat, no problem. Do a down under and you're good to go.
It was an amazing meeting. Our thanks to all the employees at Clearwater Airport, Michele Routh, the head of marketing, for arranging it, Clearwater TSA and Alligiant Air for letting us board a plane. They really helped us out! And to Judy and John our ACs for making it happen.
Here's a video of some of what we did at the airport!
What a week it has been! On Monday, Jam rode with me to school to his first day of a school filled with students. It was quite exciting.
As you can see from the photo above, Jam has taken his full water bowl and flipped it over preferring that it be a chew toy. Of course, now, it looks like he had a giant pee on the floor! Great! This is what the morning crazies are about. Jam doing crazy things and me trying to get him calm to start the day.
Because our convocation was at 8 am and he usually has an 8:30 poo, I needed to make sure he had done his business and was extra tired out. The morning crazies can last from 7:30 to 9 am. So we did several sets of stairs and series of left-lefts and right-rights and hallways so that his little brain would be exhausted by the time we hit the auditorium.
Then we started our walk to convo. It was pretty cool the looks that Jam got. What was even more impressive was the way that the middle division students remembered all the rules. As I was walking down the hall, there was a great big group of them and they all caught sight of him at the same time.
"It's the new puppy!"
"You can't look at him!"
"Don't say his name."
"Turn around!"
So they all straighten their posture and turn around. They were so cute. We passed on by and entered the auditorium.
I thought that Jam did an exceptional job of dealing with the crowds, the clapping and the pipe and drum corps band. Both Bingo and Berkeley had some reaction to convo. Bingo would surge forward at clapping and Berkeley would get bored and bark to be taken back to my office. Jam was very calm and quiet.
But by the end of the day he was so tired that he couldn't hold his eyes open. He was comatose!
Later on in the week we did a small photo shot with some middle division faculty for his presentation to middle. Of course, I was a complete dunce and when I went to go up on stage because I started calling him Berkeley:
"Berkeley, forward. Pause. Good boy. Berkeley, sit. Long pause. Good boy. Berkeley forward up."
The kids were aghast! I had no clue I was even doing it and was wondering why he wasn't following directions well. BECAUSE I WASN'T SAYING HIS NAME! The Middle Division Director told when I came up to the microphone. Horrors!
Sigh. In front of 350 people I did this.
Then on Friday, he attended his first class with me. He was awesome! I was running the computer and lecturing when I noticed there was a little current of Ahhhhhs spreading through the room. I looked up at the teacher.
"Jam's watching the screen."
Sure enough, Jam was focused on the screen watching my explanation on how to set up an iGoogle page. He was fascinated by the mouse movement. When the mouse finally got low enough he leaped up and tried to grab it.
The kids loved him!
Here he is at my last class of the day. Calm and quiet.
Christina looked at him from behind and said he had some "junk in the trunk" and perhaps he needed to move up to the big boy coat.
He is a little big in the booty, but the big boy coat is still a couple inches out on his tail, so it's the puppy coat for a few more weeks. Although he is in the middle of a growth spurt, so who knows.
Jam's first day went really well. I'm preparing a little film about it, but that won't be ready tonight. However, Jam was a little nutball during the morning and I was able to catch it on film.
So, here is a bit of Monday sunshine for you. Imagine getting to have this goober in your office all day! And I do mean goober in a good way. 8-)
Tomorrow Jam will be presented to the Upper Division students. On Wed., he will got to Middle and on Sept. 9th, Lower. It will be a little different for each division as the age groups are different, but hopefully, Jam will be a good boy at each presentation. I hope to have some video of each to show you.
Here's a look at the lovely time we had on July 1st going to pick him up!
When I had Bingo, I made the mistake of walking him without his coat past the JV cheerleaders.
I was mobbed. Well, they didn't care about me. Bingo was mobbed.
Guess what? It happened again today.
It was late, I was tired and I knew that Jammers needed to pee, so I walked out the back way (not my usual way). I figured he could busy on the grass of the mound on the way to junior parking lot, since we had to park out there because of Middle Division Book Sale Day.
As I left the library and walked down the side of the building, I noticed that the JV cheerleaders were practicing on the mound. Had they noticed us? We were walking behind a screen of plants, but soon enough we would be out in the open.
We rounded the corner and headed into the open hallway. Jam gleamed like the Holy Grail. I could see all children under the age of 16 turning in our direction. We neared the small stairs.
Jam, sit. Good boy! Forward, down. Jam, sit. Good boy! He was trying to veer into the plants. He was filled with pee. Hold on, little grail of pee. Soon we will be at the grass. I looked over at the cheerleaders. They were on the other side of the mound and seemed to still be doing poses.
Safe, I think.
Busy, busy! Jam starts to wander around the grass to choose a spot. This might be a good spot to tell about Jam's predilection for taking a Superman pee stance. While other dogs might lean forward or hunker down or lift a leg (guide dog puppies are discouraged from lifting their leg), Jam has chosen another route. He stops mid-stride and pees.
Yep. Mid-stride. Imagine Superman leaping into the sky...
and then peeing. That would be Jam. He has one foot forward, one back and his head is lifted to the sun as if to say, I am the Sun God! Watch me pee!
So, here I wait for the Sun God to pee while the JV cheerleaders are finishing up their practice. Jam is taking his sweet time, because, YOU CAN'T RUSH A GOD WHEN HE'S PEEING.
Just when he finishes up and I think I might be able to slink off into the hallway, I hear a low roar, well, more of a high pitched, OOOOOOOHHHHHHH!
Yes. They are coming. For the Sun God.
We are mobbed.
And this is why I love cheerleaders: in the middle of the mob scene, I say ONCE, "Ok, I think we need to line up single file to pet him."
BOOM!
Single file line of 15 JV cheerleaders, who one by one file by and love on Jam.
Saturday we had our monthly meeting in the SEGD Discovery Center in downtown Sarasota. We had the obedience part of the meeting first, then we spent the rest of the time mingling with the visitors to the Center, letting them love on our puppies and ask us about the whole puppy raiser experience.
Judy started out the meeting with a controversial move: she threw food on the ground! Well, not really. 8-) It was all part of her lesson involving getting the puppies to work on their food distractions. Evidently, getting distracted by crumbs on the floor, trying to vacuum them up, snarfing up after a meal or begging for food is one of the number one ways a puppy can get bounced from the guide dog program.
What's a puppy raiser to do? Why, train them to ignore food on the ground (Note to self: work in cafeteria more! 8-)
Here are some of the chicken treats that she placed on the ground:
As you can see by Jam's expression below, the chicken treats smell DE-LIGHTFUL! Even Annie thinks they are amazing.
Judy didn't stop with chicken, she added some other yummies as well. It was quite a pile of joyful goodness as evidenced by the lunging, drooling puppies in the background.
Jam remained at the ready to leap up and eat a pile when the word go was given. Unfortunately, that word was never given.
Judy did give the word for every raiser to try walking in a circle around the treats to see if their puppy could make without lunging.
Fred had the leash. I had the video camera. I have to say that Mick, our last puppy to go was quite...unusual. You have to wait for it. I guess somethings are more important than food.
