Push Ups for Seniors

On Saturday, we had our meeting at Freedom Square Nursing Home.  Below is a photo of the puppy raisers who attended (we are missing just a few who are waiting on puppies).  We started the meeting with some obedience outside the nursing home to tire the puppies out mentally, so that when we went inside, they would be in a better frame of mind to be loved on.  

Photo of our happy bunch!

Fred also had a plan.  He was going to have Coach do puppy push ups for every resident as a way to demonstrate what he could, with the added benefit of tiring him out and hopefully impressing the resident!

Fred explaining what the coat means to a resident as Coach looks on.

Fred would first ask the resident if they liked dogs.  If they said yes, he would angle Coach in close and introduce him.

Fred explains how Coach hopes to be a guide dog someday.

He then talks about how Coach wants to be a guide dog one day and he shows them Coach's coat, which is off because Coach is 15 months old and has to be without coat to be petted.

Fred pointing out Coach's handsomeness.

 Then Fred would usually have Coach do a puppy sit push up which means that he would have Coach do a sit, do a down stay, then do a stand. All in a row, in fairly fast succession. Most everyone oooohed and aaaaahed over this and said to the affect of "Good boy."

A photo of the green shirted puppy raisers and their puppies working the crowd of residents.

 We visited some high functioning residents who could interact with us and then we went to the dementia ward and interacted with residents who had less ability to interact, but perhaps needed us just as much!

Fred and Coach with another female resident as she gets ready to pet Coach.

There was only one little hiccup.  As we were walking down the hall and visiting residents in their rooms, we went into the rooms of two sweet little ladies.  They both really like dogs...and stuffed animals.  Coach really likes stuffed animals.

Do you see where this is going?

Cute stuffed dog that was on the resident's bed.

When we walked into the room, instead of looking at the resident, Coach locked on to the fluffy dog that was spread out like a chicken salad buffet on her bed.

He tried to make a lunge for it.

"Oh! He wants my dog!" The lady laughed.  Thankfully she had a sense of humor about it. "He's not going to get my dog."

"No, he isn't." Fred promised her, holding Coach firmly.  Coach was eyeing the dog and not paying attention to anything else.  We thought about trying to go to the other lady, but I spied a stuffed bunny on her bed.

Sigh.

We left while we were ahead.  All in all, Coach did a great job and Fred was amazing.  It was a wonderful exposure.  We had a great time.

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.

No More Duck Buddy

Below is a photo of duck buddy with his innards spilling out onto the floor. Rather a fluffy white mess.



When a friend of ours saw this in Fred's post and the original post on duck buddy, she very kindly emailed us and said stuffed toys were a no-no.

EEEK! Holy Crap. Jam is our third puppy. Are we ever going to learn this stuff? I ran to the computer to look up toys, because I was sure that if as long as the toy didn't have a squeaker I was on solid ground.

Nope. There it was in black in white:

The only approved toys are Gummabones, Nylabones, sterile bones (bought in a pet shop or catalog), and Kongs.

Stuffed toys were CLEARLY in the bolded NO category. And I completely understand. The main point of the rule is to make sure the toys the puppies play with are the safest possible. So, no stuffed toys. Jam will deal.



And we are aren't a complete waste of space. We do have approved toys in the house.

He's going to miss duck buddy though!

I think we all are. 8-)