Big Day: Toddlers, Children and Breakfast Out

Dewey started out the day with breakfast at Wildflower.  Since it was only his second outing, we opted for the patio, but the waitress was perfectly happy to have seated us inside and taken a chance on him.  

"No, I think we should take it slow out here." Dewey was investigating the leaves on the ground.  He was looking extra cute.  Everyone said so.  The wait staff seemed concerned the couldn't bring him water, or a plate of bacon, or an apple or some cookies from fluffy puppies.  They do take good care of dogs at Wildflower!

Dewey got lots of sweet attention from everyone walking by who, without fail, said, "Oh, look at the baby!"

He is really cute.

Then we had some small, cute visitors of our own come by: Lydia and Vivi Gaurkee.  Children and toddlers are on the exposure list, so this would be a great first visit.  Dewey is a very gentle dog, so we didn't have any concerns there.  We had also been working on greetings with Jam and Willow.  Now, time to try them out.

Lydia explains something while mom pets Dewey and Vivi thinks about things.

 Lydia came bearing gifts: a big nylabone for Dewey!  He was so happy.

Vivi is not sure about the dog.

Vivi was not sure what to make of the big tail that occasionally smacked her in the face or the puppy who wanted to lick her face.  In general, she withheld approval.

Jam tries to get some loving.  

In typical Jammy style, he waited just a little bit and then he crashed the party.  Taking Dewey's bone as his own ("That's mean!" Lydia said.) Jam ran over to where we were and made his presence known.
We did get him to calm down and be a good boy.

Dewey comes back to visit Lydia, Vivi and Christy.

Then Dewey came back over.  He was a fan favorite.  Even Jam let the girls play with Dewey and he munched on the nylabone content to have the new toy rather than the attention...this time.

I hold on to Dewey's leash as he says hello to the girls.

 Before we had chocolate cake, we went out to look at the fish and the frogs.

Lydia, her mom and Vivi look at the koi pond.

Lydia is looking for frogs in the water.

There was a frog, but it jumped away.

 Then we let all the dogs back into the house and took a photo with just the girls.

Overall, it was a successful visit!  Thanks Gaurkees!!

 Overall, it was a good puppy visit.  No scratches, no falls, no bruises, no pulled tails.  Everyone was happy!

Toddler Time

One of the exposures that Southeastern Guide Dog puppies in training are supposed to have is time spent with toddlers and babies.  So it was with great pleasure that we went to have lunch with our friends Christy and Eliot, because not only would we be able to see their new baby (Fred was now over his flu-like cold), but we could bring Coach and let Lydia meet him.  Lydia had met Jam before, but he was a little bit too rambunctious for her tastes and she spent most of the time in her mom's arms looking down at Jam.

Coach would be a whole different ballgame, so to speak, for her.

Lydia is lying on the rub a few feet away from Coach but looking at him as he lies between Fred's feet.

 Lydia is a very self confident, almost 2 year old, little girl and her new sister Vivian seems to be a quiet sleeper (albeit a beautiful sleeper!).

Near the end of the visit Vivian opened her eyes for us!

We all went out for a lovely lunch at the neighborhood Greek restaurant and Coach and children all did very well.

Coach is lying next to me and Lydia is petting his body.

When we came back for coffee, Lydia decided she could chance a pet or two with Coach. One of the things that Coach does like to do is lick you, so if Lydia managed to get her face close to his, he would give her a big lick on the face which made her jump back.  I would immediately tell Coach in a stern voice, "No kisses."  Lydia would also look at Coach and as she got near him she would say, "No kisses!"

Lydia is petting Coach on the paw.

He got lots of praise because he was calm and just let her pet him.  She was able to pet him on his paw and on his body.  And he even got a pat on the head.  She still made sure she told him no kisses though.  Just in case.   I really am amazed at his calm demeanor.  He was still and calm and waited for her to come to him.  There was no lunging or jumping.

Coach and Lydia are looking at the camera.  

 I think Coach may be a ladies man!

Jam and Lydia

On Friday, my good friend Christy brought her 10 and a half month old over to see Jam and to go to lunch.

It was quite interesting to put a toddler together with a puppy. Jam is pretty good about not being super jumpy and bitey, but he is still a puppy, so the initial meet and greet was a bit chaotic.

It is very important that our puppies have interactions with infants, toddlers and children. They need to be very comfortable around them. So it was very nice that Christy was comfortable bringing Lydia over to meet Jam. It helps that Jam is on the mellow side.


Lydia was at first a bit surprised by the puppy.


One might even say, shocked! but she got over her reticence and eventually they established some coexistence rules.

Of course, I have video of the whole thing.