Expectations

I have to say that I thought when Bingo and I met again it was going to be a bit like this:




So I was really disappointed when Bingo came up to me, wagged a bit and then wandered off to smell something.

"Oh."

How anticlimatic. I was expecting to cry at least. At the very least. I was even prepared to videotape it. I guess that won't be necessary.

The visit has been wonderful for one thing though. It has reaffirmed that our decision to give him up was the right thing to do. He is a wonderful sweet boy, but he is coddled, loved and adored as the only dog in his current family. In ours, he would be the third dog. Not a good place for an oversized personality.

For the most part, he has been very calm and slow and placid. No jumping, no wildness. A rather calm, old man. Then....

Fred went to let the carpet cleaner man in. He was bringing back two rugs that had been sent out for cleaning after our kitchen fire. This man was a LARGE MAN. He also liked dogs, for which we thank the gods.

As he comes through the door with the rugs in his hands, the placid, old man that Bingo has become shuffles up and then WHAM! leaps up on the man and throws him backwards against the wall. Fred is shocked. The man is shocked. They both stare at Bingo. Fred grabs him and yanks him back and makes him sit. He sits, transformed into calm, old man. They relax. WHAM. He leaps up and body slams the guy back into the wall. (Bingo is now 98 pounds of solid muscle. He's a walking steel girder.)

He may be a bit calmer, a bit slower and a bit fatter, but once a Bingo, always a Bingo. 8-)

Bingo Comes Back for a Visit

Bingo and Her Royal Highness (HRH) Berkeley met for one short week before Bingo when in for training. It was a short but memorable week. Bingo seemed to fall in love and spent lots of time with HRH and didn't mind her biting on him and following him around.

Fast forward a year, and here we have Bingo and HRH all grown up. They still seem to get along just fine too. Perhaps a bit too fine! Bingo seems particularly enamored of HRH, so we keep a close eye on the both of them.

Bingo seems a bit slower, a little fatter (he's on a diet), but still the sweet, quirky boy he always was. He does like getting up early, so when I get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom (4 am), he leaps up as if it is morning breakfast call. NOPE. Not going to happen. But in the end, I did get up at 4:30 and let them out to pee. They were all agitated by that time. Bingo had started the "why aren't we getting up?" dance and things were creaking and feet were stamping and little whines were starting.

Ah me. It will be a long weekend.

Bingo's New Home

Bingo's new owners are a young, athletic couple who absolutely love him and let him sleep in their bed. How they all fit in there, I have no idea! 8-) Bingo is quite a big boy, but I am sure he is a happy camper about it.

They also have a pool and allow him to go swimming everyday. He was always getting overheated, so this is the perfect thing for him. You can see from the photo of him below in the pool what a happy pup he is.

Now, I don't know where his new owners live, but if I had my way, they would be nearby so that we could puppysit Bingo when they went on vacation. But I don't think the adoption rules allow knowing that info, unfortunately. So I will be content knowing he is in a happy place with people who love him!

Sophie's Choice

Last week I dreamed I met Bingo's lifetime partner. He was in his 30s and in the military. I woke with a very happy feeling.

Jan had a dream that he was paired with a young boy with special needs. She also woke with happy feeling.

But the last report card didn't tell the whole story. It left out some key facts. Bingo was possessive of the water dish and wouldn't let others drink when he was drinking. He didn't want to share his toys. He growled. He would sit by himself in the yard and when the other dogs came to visit he would warn them off by growling. They called it possessiveness of personal space.

Growling isn't allowed. Nor is not sharing. Bingo had reached a point of no return and he walked right on by it. On Saturday we got the news:

"Bingo has been dropped from the program."

I don't think I really understood what he was saying to me. How could that be? I had a photograph. I had a dream. Then he started talking about possessiveness and not sharing and I wanted to scream at him that he had the wrong dog because my Bingo would never do that, but my throat was all full of tears and I couldn't see and there was a ringing in my ears. So I nodded and I walked away with Fred and Berkeley.

"What do we do?"

Then we had to decide what to do. I had been totally at peace with giving Bingo away to someone as a guide dog. That was his purpose. But what I hadn't envisioned was a situation where we would be faced with giving him away to someone as a family dog. I loved him. I wanted him. I didn't want anyone else to have him. I couldn't imagine giving him away, but we felt that we couldn't give him the attention that he deserved and continue to puppy raise at the same time. Three dogs is just too many. Bingo deserves to be the only dog.

So we made the very hard decision to let him go. He will be put up for adoption.

I thought you all should know. SEGD said the adoption lady would find him a good home and would ask them to stay in contact with us and let us know how he is doing. This, for us, was a real Sophie's choice. I really wanted him to be a guide dog. But I know he will succeed as a lovable dog. He was always first rate at that.

Now if I could just stop crying.

Our Bingo: Sweet Boy or Slacker?

I just received another report card for Bingo. I wish I had received this one first, followed by the first one second. We could have said he went uphill. Now. Well, the direction is not up. Only two ++'s. One of his ++'s (Clearances) turned into a W! AND!!! he went from 5 Ws to 8 Ws.

Oh Bingo! What happened? Did you not pay attention in class? Did you not get enough sleep? Are you and Jim staying up late and partying? You obviously haven't been listening.

Bingo!

Are you listening to me?

You aren't listening are you? Sigh.

Here are the comments from the trainers:

COMMENTS: Bingo is a sweet dog. He is a bit immature still and we are currently working on his distractions and manners.

Reading between the lines:
Bingo is sweet, but nuts! (Did you read the blog? We could have told you that! 8-)

To be honest, we were so surprised by the first report card and frankly, so filled with unexpected pride that we have been brought down low by Bingo's normal, goofy hijinks. I swear that when I got that first report card I thought it would be all Ws. He is Bingo.

So, WAKE UP Bingo. And listen to your teachers. And I expect to see 5 Ws and 3 ++'s back on your 3rd report card.

Odds and Ends

My baby boy has grown up! Here is Bingo's In for Training portrait with the official harness. One of my friends pointed out that the harness is on the last hole, indicating that Bingo still hasn't lost any weight. (Big bones, I tell you!) That boy can hang on to a carb like nobody's business. 8-) When I was making the video for school, I said that Bingo always had his mouth open for photos and one of the kids said that he was always smiling. I liked that, so I changed the wording in the video.

When the slide popped up that Bingo had gone in for training, both divisions burst into applause. They love him. They've really taken to Berkeley as well. I think her Lemon Video endeared her to all of them. Plus she's so darn cute.

After I gave my talk to the Lower Division, one of the teachers told me later that one student was still confused and asked, "I don't understand. If Berkeley is blind, how can she help anyone?"

"No, honey, the dog isn't blind...."

Yesterday, I was out on a pee break with Her Royal Highness (HRH) Berkeley and we were by the Lower Division drama room. There was a class waiting outside to go in. They saw HRH was without coat so I heard them say,

"There's Berkeley!"

"Look, she doesn't have her coat on. We can see her."

"I see her."

"It's Berkeley."

I turned and waved to them and HRH did a quick pee. I put her coat back on and all the lower division kids went, "SSSHHHHHHHHHHHHH."

Bingo Update!

Marcy tells us that Bingo has passed his hip and elbow evaluations and entered the training program. He's off and running! So we should start receiving report cards on how he is doing very soon.

Yea Bingo!!!!

IFT: In For Training

I've been avoiding the day. I've been avoiding the forms. I've been avoiding the post, frankly. but the day came anyway.

I had it all figured out. I was so smart. I had arranged for HRH Berkeley (that's what we're calling her, her royal highness Berkeley or HRH for short or sometimes just pretty princess) to arrive a week before Bingo left to distract us all from the trauma to come. It worked. We were nuts. New puppy in the house craziness (more on that later) aside, it did serve as a welcome distraction in someways and not in others.

The day before he left, I had a meeting at work and I took Bingo with me so that he would have some me time and get away from the puppy. Afterwards we all went out for lunch. Near the end of lunch, I took him to the restaurant with me. Now, mind you that this whole week, I haven't shed one tear I have been so busy with the puppy. I have been rather pleased with myself actually thinking how I have it all in hand and have made this wonderful decision and have it all worked out, aren't I the smart one.

We walk to the restroom and open the stall door. It's one of those small stalls. Bingo isn't real thrilled with the cramped space and gives me a peeved glance. "Oh, squash it." I turn him all around until he is sitting at the front of the stall and I am sitting on the toilet staring at him. Again with his meaningful glance. I begin to think, "this is the last time I will be with Bingo in a restaurant bathroom, ever." And then to my astonishment, I begin to cry. In the bathroom of Toojays in International mall. Bingo looks at me. I throw my arms around him and hug him. Did I hear a flush? I don't care.

I wait a while. Then I let him go and finish. Back out to wash my hands and pretend I am under control. Only now, I know that it is a facade.



What you see above is a photo taken by Mary Lou Garcia (Durga Garcia Photography), who also happens to be a puppy raiser and the owner of Rob the lab on the far left. Bingo is in the middle and Jim is on the right. I love this shot because it shows the boys getting back to knowing each other as littermates again. We didn't turn our boys in alone.



We met as a group, took some photos (the best of which came from Mary Lou!) and then we turned the boys into SEGD. Then we had lunch and went back home. What was good about this plan was that since we were in a big group, I was forced into maintaining some semblance of calm and composure. So I was able to get through the passing them off to the trainer ok.



Plus, SEGD believes in the ripping the bandaid off quickly approach to turning your puppy IFT. So once you say you are ready to turn your puppy in, make sure you've said your goodbyes and have taken all your photos.



The only photos left are the ones with their new trainers. Bingo had Kayla.



We all lunch after that and talked about different things. Then we headed home. I was congratulating myself for getting through the day with a minimum of tears. Having the comfort of friends was a great idea and really helped. Having the process be quick was excellent as well.

So that night when I turned out all the lights and was walking up the stairs to bed and saw Bingo's crate broken down in pieces because we only need one crate now, you all know I didn't cry don't you?

My Dentist Office Rocks!

I've been very lucky. I've never had a cavity and except for one time, I've always had good dentists. That one bad dentist was in Florida and it was pretty bad. So when I asked around for a recommendation, I really listened to what my friends were saying.

That's why when my friend Suzanne started talking about how wonderful Dr. Charles Ford was and how she had been going to him for YEARS, I perked up my ears. Sounds like my kind of dentist. And he was, kind, knowledgeable, thorough and with a charming and pleasant staff. Plus, he and his wife Beth have two labs, so they love dogs.

On Tuesday I had an appointment for a cleaning. Here was my opportunity to introduce Bingo to the staff!

It all started well. I mean, he made it into the exam room pretty good. A little wild, admittedly, skittering around a bit on the slick new floor. I panicked only a little when there didn't appear to be anything I could attach his tie down to.

I looked at Tonya, my dental hygenist. She was being very sweet. "I'll try just putting him in a down stay." I'm thinking, yeah right. Bingo in a down stay. That will work. I'm looking around at all the very expensive dental equipment and the lovely edible cords that are on the ground. I think back on the cord he chewed through at the Brazilian restaurant. I get a little nauseous.

I give Bingo the evil eye. He pops up. I put him back down. I sit down in the chair and Tonya attempts to put my paper napkin around my throat. Bingo pops up again. Ack.

I try the Vulcan death grip from the chair. It's not working. I put him into a down stay. Tonya starts working again. Beth, Dr. Ford's wife and the receptionist/office manager, pops in to see if she can pet Bingo, but I explain about the coat. She's a little crestfallen, but understands. She says he has a sweet face. Tonya continues. Bingo starts to fall asleep.

Then Tonya brings out the electrostatic ablation drill (for want of a better word, it's actually a laser) to laser off the crud from my teeth. Begin high pitched whining noise! VERY HIGH PITCHED WHINING NOISE.

Up pops Bingo. I have a feeling that this electrostatic thingy is hurting his ears. Uh oh....

"Oh Beth!"

Turns out, if your dentist uses the electrostatic ablation drill, you probably don't want to take your guide dog to the dentist's office. Unless Beth is there. So I recommend you change dentists.

After Tonya finished up with that, Bingo came back and went to sleep. Then Tonya and Beth posed for a cute photo.

Just in case you need the details :-)

Dr. Charles Ford
3921 5th Avenue North
Saint Petersburg, FL 33713
(727) 327-2342

Practice Makes Perfect and Lessons Learned

Practice Makes Perfect
I've been thinking about the phrase "Practice makes perfect" a lot lately. Particularly since my post about my massive fail on the FIND the commands. After posting that, I walked through my kitchen and glanced up at the pantry door and there taped to the doors are FOUR PAGES from the Puppy Manual and one of the pages is a PAGE OF COMMANDS.

So, at least three or four times a day I walked past a page that told me that I needed to teach those commands! Sheesh. What that tells me is that my mind is a sieve with great gaping holes and it will take a determined effort to overcome my innate ability to forget my name and where I live. Ah, old age. My mind. I miss it so. 8-)

In the beginning when you first get your puppy, you are so frightened of doing anything wrong you live with the manual, constantly going over it. I think I read it compulsively over and over the first two months. Then, it's all you can do to get the basics down that you forget to go back to the manual and add in the other things. That's where I went wrong.

So my big lesson learned for myself with the next puppy is that at the beginning of every month I am going to revisit the manual and just check it out and see if there is anything I need to brush up on. It's too easy to THINK you are on the right path and to ACTUALLY be way out in the field wandering by yourself.

Lessons Learned

One of the lessons that we learned was that when SEGD offers an obedience class, take it. We did: three times! We just weren't confident that we were teaching the commands correctly and we thought Bingo needed more deliberate practice on overcoming his dog distraction. I just can't say enough good things about trainer Jennifer and how wonderful she was to work with and how much she taught us. Bingo went from being way outside the circle of acceptance on the first class, to being in the circle by the third set of classes. Pretty good for the little rockhead!

Here is a little video of Bingo practicing the come command.



Now here he is doing it without me for a distraction. 8-)

Was it Berkeley?

Photo by Melisa: thanks

I got to see our new Berkeley yesterday in the puppy kennel at Southeastern Guide Dogs. And I may have even held her for a minute. About 20 of us puppy raisers were in the room, all sitting on the floor, while 30 more people stood in the oppressive heat outside, including Mikey's puppy raiser, who generously offered to hold Bingo while I went in to catch a glimpse of our new six-week old black lab female. Cheryl was busy meeting with some students yesterday, so she missed out.

I discovered that grown adults, when asked to sit on the floor and play with puppies, will quickly transform themselves into giggling six-year-olds (myself included), each one cooing and clicking and whistling to attract some attention. As luck would have it, Berkeley was in the group of puppies. I was at the far end of the room and, reminiscent of my first dance in the seventh grade, I couldn't attract a female to save my life.

Finally I picked up up a squeaky toy and gave it a squeeze and two of the puppies came running: a male and a female. The puppies aren't officially named yet, but this litter has only two females, so despite my past experience with luck, I'm pretty sure I got to meet and hold little Berkeley. And she seemed happy to see me.

Back outside, poor Bingo was hot and panting to excess. He gets so unusually hot even when, like yesterday, he's just sitting in the shade. Part of this is self-induced, I'm sure, since he is so exuberant all the time, like a car engine running at full speed. Before I went into the puppy kennel he had a quick poop, and like the poop at the beach a few weeks ago, it was a small poop that just popped out unannounced. I'm wondering if this pooping thing is heat related--he's only done it twice.

From there we all walked to the training kennels, a place I really wanted to visit, but by this time I was getting concerned about Bingo's panting, so we went home. He'll be back in three weeks as a incoming freshman. And of course we'll be back in two weeks to pick up Berkeley.

I continue to be impressed with the people at SEGD and with the facility itself. What a clean and beautiful place, all due to donations and to people who like dogs.

The Truth, The Whole Truth and Nothing but The Truth

It has been sitting on my desk for quite a while now: the final evaluation form. I tried to fill it out a couple of days after getting it, but I started to cry. Last night I picked it up again and went through it.

Ah. I see a problem. Well, not so much a problem, as being honest is not a problem, rather, it is more that this final evaluation form is going to be a bit of a self reflection, which might be embarrassing. I've just come across two commands that I didn't recognize: down/under and under/down. I vaguely recall that these are used with dining out and having the puppy go under the table or a bench or chair.

Sigh. I stare at the Yes box and the No box. I check the No box. Twice. I look over at Bingo. He knows how to go under a table and then we say down. I'm thinking that this might qualify as a partial under/down, but I don't change the No box.

Note from Fred: I've been working with him on Down Under for a couple weeks now. Check the No box. :)

I keep going down the list. Crap. FIND THE...commands. There is a whole list of Find the ... commands: Find the chair, find the door, find the car. I could open my Puppy Raiser Manual and see if that section was deleted, but I'm thinking that it is probably there. I just missed it. I look over at Bingo, who is sleeping peacefully. You are totally clueless, I think. I get a little bit of a sick feeling, kind of like I imagine parents would who are sending their kids off to school for the first time. Did I teach them all the right things? Will they do OK? Well, obviously NOT! I've just blown a whole chapter of commands for him. Bingo is snoring and has no idea that he has missed a crucial section of the core curriculum. Of course, being Bingo, he might not care.

Note from Fred: Bingo and I have been working on Find the Sidewalk for months now. Eventually we do find the sidewalk, but there are many many sidewalks in our neighborhood.

The other day, I told Bingo to sit. He stared up at me with his soft liquid brown eyes. I waited about five seconds and then I tilted my head at him. His butt started on a slow trajectory to the ground, ever so slow, moving only enough for me to not give a correction. Until at last, his butt hovered a mere inch off the ground and then plonk. He sat.

Note from Fred: Oh well...

"Dude! Seriously? I've been telling you to sit for almost a year now and that's how you sit? Really? You are so going to get your butt kicked."

Kayaking with Bingo

Our local meeting this month was a puppy kayaking meeting.

When we arrived at the meeting, there was a group gathered on the shore. I was pretty excited about the kayaking and Bingo seemed excited too. A bit too excited. His excitement manifested itself in lunging. At every dog there. I had to get near a kayak in order to go kayaking, but there were puppies near the kayaks.

Lunge. "Bingo, No!" Correction. Lunge. Trudge back up the hill. Look at the kayaks. Try again.

Finally, there was a break. Donna and the perfect Biscuit (I swear that dog is an angel!) arrived on shore and there were three kayaks lined up without any dogs and raisers ready to get in them. I sprinted down to grab one. I asked our local coordinator Donna, not Biscuit's raiser but the one who supplied the marvelous kayaks, which would be a good kayak for us to use. She pointed out two suitable kayaks.

She had also told us which way the tide was flowing so we were to head north so we wouldn't have to paddle against the tide and need to be picked up by car! I dragged Bingo over to a kayak and he eyed it distastefully.

"Bingo, in." He was standing in a couple of inches of water and tilted his head down to look at his feet. Then he turned his head to look at the puppy getting in the boat next to us. I felt a lunge coming on. I grabbed his front legs and pulled them into the kayak. As soon as they were in, I leaned over to grab his back legs. His front legs popped out of the boat and into the water on the other side.

"Bingo!"

I tried pulling on the front end, but he did a little hop and jumped out of the boat so that he was now on the opposite side of the kayak facing me all innocence. Damn. Time to start over. I pulled on the front legs. In. Out.

In.

Out.

In.

Out.

Push me.

Pull me.

I've read about this somewhere. Ack! Finally as one end is hunching to jump out I catch it and shove both ends in the hole in the kayak. There! Dog in boat. Dog facing me in boat. Is the dog supposed to be facing me? I have a small moment of panic. I stare at Bingo. Bingo stares back balefully. Better to have him looking at me than looking at something else I figure. So I sit down in the boat. While it still on the shore.

Hmmmm. Problem. 85 lb dog. More than 85 lb me. Kayak. Small 10-12 year old boy standing at side of kayak offering to push us into the water. Simple physics tell me this won't work. I glare at Bingo. Mind you, there is a large paddle next to me that I have shoved under some stretchy strings (stretchy strings being the technical term for them) to hold it in place as I figure out what I am going to do to help this small boy push me and Bingo out to sea. I shove my two feet out of the kayak and try to lift my bottom up and haul the kayak back a few inches.

Bingo eyes me warily. This lurching about is not particularly confidence inspiring and I can see a thought forming in his small pea brain that perhaps leaping from the kayak into the water and fleeing is the safest option.

"PUSH!" I yell at the small boy and I cram my feet on the sand and shove backwards until I feel a certain bouyancy that indicates that we are indeed afloat. "THANK YOU!!!" The small boy smiles.

Bingo cast a look over my shoulder at the shore as Donna, local area coordinator and kayaker, yells, "Do you know how to steer?"

"What? Steer!? No." I think that might be panic on her face or shock, but I say,"I'm not going far. I'll figure it out."

My plan is to go out just far enough to make a circle and then come back in. I know Bingo. He's hatching up some evil plot to leap out at another kayak or perhaps the kayak is rocking away all thoughts of lunging and I'm doing him a disservice. Perhaps my fears are all my own. Either way, I am taking no chances.

Small circle at sea. No chance of Bingo leaping out and swimming to shore.

Jan and her collie are in the foreground of this photo and her dog is facing her, so I guess that is the proper placement of dog and kayak. Bingo seems to be staring out at some distant something. That boy always has a plan. Small circle at sea. It's a good plan.

On our way back, Bingo is taking in the sights. He was a good boy throughout the small circle at sea. I even figured out how to steer. I don't think I actually did a circle. More like a freehand triangly thing, but I got us back to shore where the small boy was waiting like a prince to help us make a landing. (And his peach of a sister took all of the photos!! Thanks very much!)

Bingo did decide about three feet out that he had had enough and jumped out and dragged us in. I admit, I did shriek just a bit. A tiny bit. Donna, local area coordinator and kayaker (our group has a lot of Donnas!), had us take this photo with Bingo facing out. A much better photo, but I think it would have been a very dangerous paddle.


"Is that all?" Donna asked. "Don't you want to kayak some more?"

"Oh, I don't want to be a kayak hog." I gestured broadly with my arm. There are so many puppies who want to kayak." The place was nearly deserted, although there were plenty of puppy raisers up on the hill. Donna looked at me and grinned.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. I want everyone to have a chance to kayak! It was such fun." My heart was pounding and I could hear the blood rushing by my ears. I could see in my mind's eye Bingo leaping off the boat and dragging me with him. I could see the kayak, abandoned, drifting off in the bay. Then Bingo and I would wash up on shore completely soaked: him happy and cheerful with a huge grouper in his mouth, me horribly bedraggled and spitting up sea water. "It was such fun."

When Being the Consolation Prize Means You Got the Best Prize

At our school we have something called the Reading Counts hat. You get it when you reach a certain number of points. Now, some librarians think that the Reading Counts program promotes an unnecessarily competitive form of reading that reduces it from pleasure reading to a sport. A regurgitation of facts sport where children choose to read only books that have Reading counts tests and only read those books that have the highest point values. Not that I have an opinion on the matter, though...

Well, my friend the lower division librarian has a dream where all children read for pleasure and all children are rewarded for reading whether they reach their goal or not. It just so happened that in years past if you didn't reach your Reading Counts goal, you didn't get to go to the Reading Counts pool party at the end of the year. You had to sit in the classroom while the other kids splashed away outside. So she and I came up with a consolation prize: reading with Bingo!


Here are the 15 third graders who got to read with Bingo and were EXCITED about it! They got into groups of three and read books to Bingo. Reading and Bingo: two great things that go great together.

May 18, 2010: Happy Birthday Bingo!

Tuesday was a big day for Bingo. It was his birthday! So I bought two full size sheet cakes (feeding at least 80 a piece) and two half sheet cakes to celebrate the occasion. We had a cute slide that was shown in convocation and thanked all the students and faculty for their help in getting Bingo ready for his training. I also told them that he might be going back for training in July and that we would be getting a new puppy for the next school year if that happened. I also told them that I had bought cake for them and that it was in the library.

You would have thought these kids had recently gone through a famine, or perhaps were related to locusts. It was quite a cake mob scene. I guess this is why Marie lost her head. People go nuts over cake.

I mean, the cake was good, but really! Bingo was just beside himself. He was pumped the whole day. He had visitors all day, he got birthday cards and presents. In fact, it was a very busy day for him.

Here he is with two of his presents. He loved them so much that he wouldn't let them go and proceeded to sleep on them. I kept one in the office and one at home.

It's been a long journey, from puppy to teen. Now he is one. The school year is almost over and the summer is approaching. But our work is not done.

Too Many Parties

By Fred
Following Bingo's big blowout at school with four cakes and hundreds of kids having fun, he went to yet another party in the evening, this time at our weekly training class, where he and his favorite brother, Jim, got some free nose-to-nose time on their birthdays, at least until we had to separate them (yes, Bingo started it).

It was Bingo's best class ever, though a cynical person might not want to give him any credit. Maybe his good behavior was due to the fact that he was partied-out?

No, Bingo gets full credit--an A for effort. He loves training class so much that his heart starts beating fast. He starts huffing and puffing and his ears start ringing, which is why he doesn't always Sit when he should--he can't even hear the command (at least that's my theory). And he loves people so much that it clouds his judgement (not unlike a teenager in love). And he really loves other dogs--his biggest distraction of all.

But most of all, he's had one year of living with two first-time guide-dog puppy raisers who, despite their good intentions, have not been perfect (to put it nicely). Yes, he's had a lot to overcome and we are both proud of him.

Here he is toward the end of class, walking the circle with Cheryl and looking more than a little worn out.


The next morning Cheryl asked Bingo if he was ready to go to school, and here's the look he gave her. So he got to stay home and have a quiet day. Happy birthday, Bingo.

Read, Bingo Read!

Jan surprised me today be creating this marvelous READ poster with Bingo as the subject. Doesn't he look majestic?

Poor Little Fat Boy

Last Tuesday was our first day at our THIRD obedience class with Bingo. We figured we would just keep going until he was perfect (uh huh!). I was feeling quite pleased with myself because I was going to show trainer Jennifer how much Bingo had slimmed down from his previous Thunder Thigh designation. (He's down to 2 cups a day of purely adult Royal Canin food and Fred and I both are taking him on long morning walks.)

I bopped righted out of the car and pranced around to Jennifer and held Bingo out and said, "See how good he looks? He's slimmed right down." Then I think I even leaned back a little waiting for the effusive praise to hit me.



Jennifer looked at Bingo. She smiled. "He's getting there."

"But I can see some ribs and his indentation is much more pronounced!" At this point, I think I must be like the Biggest Loser mom saying her son was eating low-fat yogurt ice cream, which didn't have that many calories.

"His coat looks really good."

Ah. His coat looks really good. That's like the fat girl's "She's got a beautiful face" curse.



I suppose looking at this photo that his coat does look really good and he does have a beautiful face. And if I am really honest, if I look closely at the previous photo (both photos taken by Trapper's mom Gabrielle, BTW, thank you very much!) there might be just the teenstiest beginnings of a paunch, but honestly, how can a dog who's only snack is ice cubes, for Pete's sake, have a paunch? Seriously! I think this is a true case when saying your puppy is big boned is legit. My dog is big boned. There. I said it. He's a big boned lab. He can't help it. He's zaftig.

Poor Bingo. I see more walks in his future. At least he was in the circle of acceptance FROM THE BEGINNING OF CLASS! Woot! That has never happened. At least being big boned has not affected his self confidence. I can assure you of that.

Administrative Assistants World Tour or How to Stop Desk Jumping in Five Desks or Less

Desk jumping. It's as bad as it sounds. You walk up to the administrative assistant's desk to make an appointment with the headmaster, Bingo walking calmly at your side, when all of a sudden: BAM! Front feet are on top of the desk, files are toppling over, pens are shooting in myraid directions, glass geegaws are heading to destruction and Bingo has his head bent towards a plastic fuzzy haired doll.

"NO! LEAVE IT!" Internally, I am thinking, "Thank God all the geegaws didn't break! And Thank God she loves Bingo!" I give him a swift correction. Try to make him sit and also try to right a stack of falling file folders which results in more paper chaos than Bingo originally created. Meanwhile Bingo has crept nearer the spider plant off to the right of the desk and is angling his head to the tempting hanging leaf. The glint off his shiny nose reflects in my eye causing me to turn and avert a catastrophe (read: tiny plant stand and delicate plant with LIGHT BEIGE SUEDE GUEST CHAIR, yeah, wouldn't that look good with a big dirt paw print on it!?). I can feel my blood pressure creep up to the mild heart attack zone.

She asks me what I wanted. I look at her strangely. I'm not sure any more. I tell her I'll come back on Friday. And on Friday we will be prepared to train!


FRIDAY

We arrive at the headmaster's administrative assistant's desk. I explain to Bingo that this is a desk and it isn't for jumping up onto. See my outstretched hand that he is patiently waiting for me to move so he can jump and grab that fuzzy head? Well, I yanked him a correction right as he started his jump. HA! No files moved. No geegaws were in danger. Bingo was a little startled.

Uh. What just happened? This is where I patiently explain the concept of desk as equal to person: nonjumpupable. Do I detect a spark?

Not one attempt at the assistant headmaster's assistant's desk (try saying that out loud twice!). In fact, he seemed ready to leave. Bored with desks. The thrill was gone.

At the Dean of Student's desk he was so uninterested that he actually.....

just curled up and avoided the desk altogether. Upshot: Mission Accomplished!

Although Fred thinks I actually bored him out of wanting to jump on desks, I say, I'll take it whatever way it comes. No jumping, good for you Bingo!

Hey! Are You a Follower?

I had a lovely conversation with a librarian friend of mine today after school. Seems one of the volunteer moms at her school in Bradenton is a regular reader of the Bingo blog and was telling her about Bingo and Sarah said, "Wait a minute. I think I know that person!" So, since I had just emailed her about something, she called to tell me that she had heard all about Bingo and his blog.

It's an amazingly small world out there. Makes me feel exceptionally bad for letting you all down this last week with no posts (although Fred was very good and had two posts 8-)! Especially as I have plenty to report on.

But I do have a request. I have a sneaking suspicion that there are a few more than 23 who regularly read the Bingo blog. Yet, google assures me that only 23 faithful followers have signed up to hear the travails of Bingo and the McLeans.

So, I raise a glass (right now, it is a rather large cafe latte, don't ask, tough day at school!) in your honor. You've stuck by us through the puppy crazies and now we are heading into the terrible teens. So if you haven't become a follower, consider it. We would love to see your smiling face on the right hand side of our blog. Just under the FOLLOW button. Come on, you know you want to click it.....