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!

Frog Legs

On Jam's In For Training forms, they ask if he has a favorite toy.  He does.  It is a Kong Snugga Wubba Friends toy.  You have many choices of friends: monkey, frog, lion and bunny. Why did we choose the Snugga Wubba for Jam?

Photo of the lion snugga wubba from the Kong site.

Well, for starters, guide dog puppies in training aren't supposed to have stuffed animals and they aren't supposed to have squeaky toys.  The Snugga Wubba skirts that line nicely. It is soft and plush, but it has a kong like body, not a stuffed toy body.  It also doesn't have a squeaker.  And our AC approved it. 8-). Plus, after the Duck Buddy incident (Here's the beginning of the Duck Buddy story), we knew Jam needed some comfort and needed it fast!  So we went to Petsmart and looked for a Snugga Wubba.

Frog Snugga Wubba with one chewed leg.

We found a frog Snugga Wubba and brought it home for Jammy.  He loved it.  But he did a curious thing.  He would only chew on one leg.  He would carry it around either by that chewed leg or by the body, but he would only chew that one leg.

Even when he was chewing, it wasn't a destructive type of chewing.  It was more of a comfort chew.

"Here, froggy.  I'm just massaging your leg, not eating it."

Jam, lying down with his froggy in front of him.

We will be saving froggy in hopes that we get to attend a puppy raiser day and give it back to him and his new partner.

Don't worry Jam.  We'll take good care of  froggy.