Bomb Proof

 Dewey is a very different dog than the others we have had.  It seems that we are on a path from crazy town to calm and sweet town.  Dewey being the latest in what seems to be a quite amazing job the breeding department is doing in creating puppies who are not only smart, but calm and sweet, too.  In Dewey's case, as in Coach's, there is the added benefit of liking to be hugged.

Dewey has a tendency during class to pick out one or two students and either curl up at their feet and fall asleep or choose their backpacks as his pillow.  During first period on Friday, Morgan was his favorite.

Morgan and Dewey.

The kids like it because it gives them a small interaction with Dewey.  I like it, because he is not glued to me, he is asleep and controlled.  Win-win.

This week we have had a few things that have happened where Dewey's reactions have been very impressive.  Or should I say, his non-reactions?

I was out walking by the clock tower doing some right abouts, left lefts, etc. with another teacher.  We had just stopped to let Dewey take a little busy busy break.  Out to the side of the clock tower there is an open field.  It was about half a football field away.  In the field there was a middle school teacher with 20 of her students.  I assume it was a science teacher as she seemed to have a large bunch of powders she was dumping in a metal pan.

Christy and I kept talking and Dewey went on peeing.  Then the teacher ignited the powder and there was a loud explosion! Christy and I both jumped and stopped talking as a huge plume of smoke started to drift over to us.  The 20 kids started to clap.

Dewey keep peeing and didn't even look over to the explosion.  

Yesterday, we had a surprise fire drill.  It happened near the end of second period.  It was a loud screech.  I jumped.  Dewey was sleeping nearby.  He opened his eyes and looked up.

Dewey with some of my advisory girls at our fire drill waiting spot.

That was the extent of his reaction.  Walking to the waiting spot, Dewey was calm and collected.  No rushing, no pulling.  The excitement of the crowd didn't rub off on him.

Dewey asleep on my book bag.

I remember his comment from puppy camp.  There was a question on energy level and they marked Dewey as having very low energy.  He does nap a LOT. But he does play with Jam very hard.

Dewey with his wake up face: Why do I have to wake up?

He has an active pace and is a thoughtful and sweet companion.  I think he saves his energy for those times when he needs it.  We used to call him turtle.  I think we were correct.  Slow and steady wins the race.  He knows what he needs to do, how much energy to expend and when to react.  He doesn't get excited by the small stuff.  

Let's hope he keeps it up! Go turtle!

At the Car Wash!!

While Coach was away at puppy camp, he got to go on a very new exposure: a car wash.  Let's just say, I live with the dirt on my car.  So, he's never experienced a car wash before and you can tell from the photos that at first, it was a little disconcerting.

Coach sitting in the wheel well of the car and looking a bit nervously at the water on the window.

However, he is a very good boy and gets accustomed to things quite easily.  So he by the end he was looking around curiously.

Now, he isn't hunched down, but is sitting normally and looking out.

He has turned and is looking out the window.

Great exposure and one that we WILL try again.

The Honeymoon Is Over!

The reason you do a puppy camp for two weeks instead of one is because for the first week the puppy is on his best behavior.  Why, well, new house, new people.  The puppy is getting a feel for what the rules are, what he can do and can't do.

The second week, the puppy sort of unbuttons his pants and as Fred's mom used to say, "Gets loose."

Coach, almost an exact week to the day, unbuttoned his figurative pants and got loose in the bathroom of the Kriseman's house on Saturday.  Kerry sent me the photo below with the caption, "The one week honeymoon has passed." 

Shot of a bathroom with lots of toilet paper pieces strewn about the floor.

Coach loves his paper.  He also loves going in the trash and getting paper out of the trash: used kleenix, receipts, anything.  He steals napkins off laps. Fortunately, now that they see the behavior, the Kriseman's can try to work on correcting it.  We have been working on it, but puppy camp is all about having a different approach from a different family.  It may be that their approach is more effective and they can pass those techniques on to us to incorporate into our raising.

Coach is sitting on beige carpet with a very big wet spot beside him.  What is the wet spot?  Read on....

The other thing that Coach does when finished with dinner, is that he will pick up his dinner bowl and bring it to you.  I'm not sure if this means "I want some more" or "This is empty: Fill it back up!" or "Put this away now."  Since we have a HUGE water bowl that is big enough for 40 dogs, there is no way that he can do this with the water dish.....unless the water dish is small.  Do you see where I am going with this?

So, at work, where I have a small water dish, when he is done with the water dish, he will pick it up and dump it.  And if there is water in it, it goes everywhere!  Fortunately, in the photo above, that is not an "accident", but rather a water dish spill. Now when I am at work, I usually give him water and watch him drink and then pull up the water dish when I see him stop, but I forgot to mention that to Kerry.  He's done this behavior from day one and we haven't figured out how to get him to stop.  So any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.  This behavior would not be acceptable to have with a visually impaired person and it is something that we need focus on.

All in all, we are very grateful to our puppy campers!  They are working on issues and giving Coach exposures he hasn't had before.

Tomorrow: All about a new exposure for Coach!!

Coach Is at Puppy Camp!

 Coach is puppy camping it at the Kriseman's house.  They have two very active kids and one dog, a female black lab named Peppermint.  So, Coach has a household that is different, yet with some of the same elements (Willow, being an older lab mentor 8-).

Coach's good night photo to us! He's sitting and looking up at the camera.  He doesn't look tired at all. He's tongue is hanging out.  I think he has been playing hard with Peppermint.

 From all accounts, he was a good boy that first night.  He played all night long stopping only to take a 10 minute break.  Poor Peppermint!!

This photo shows Peppermint sleeping by Coach's huge food bin.  She is guarding it.

Peppermint may have loved Coach more for the food he brought than the energy he showed as the photo above indicates. 

Hound Down!  Coach finally crashes and falls asleep.

Coach then had some busy days with Kerry and Rick at work.  

Coach in Kerry's car.  He is sitting looking at the camera.

I had mentioned to Kerry that Coach might have some hesitation with getting into the car, but she said he was great and had no problems with the car.

Coach is smiling and looking out the window.

It certainly does seem like he is enjoying the car ride!

Coach sleeping with his head under Kerry's chair.

At work he liked to keep a close watch on Kerry and Rick.  He would put his head under Kerry's chair and put his head on Rick's foot and go to sleep.  Rick calls him the Velcro Dog.

Coach sleeping with his head on Rick's foot.

Coach also got to visit clients (where he was very good and interacted appropriately with small children) and he met Senator Bill Nelson! Unfortunately, we don't have a photo of that meeting.

Hound Down at work!  Coach sleeping against the wall.

Overall, though, I think he mostly slept at work.

Another good night photo, notice the tail is wagging so fast it is a blur!

Another successful couple of days at puppy camp!!

Photo of Coach looking at the camera with a football game in the background.

On the weekend, Samuel had a flag football game that Coach got to attend.  He tried to eat a lot of grass (bad Coach!), but otherwise was pretty well behaved. 

Coach getting a hug from one of the other dads.

There was a fundraiser for Southeastern Guide Dogs at the Quaker Steak and Lube that Coach attended.

Rick and Coach are eating lunch.  Well, Rick is at the table and Coach is under it.

Coach met some other puppies.  Here he is meeting Maggie.  

Coach and Maggie having a very calm meet and greet.

More adventures to come!!

Coach Goes Away to Puppy Camp!

Coach went to puppy camp today.  What is puppy camp, you ask?  Well, puppy camp is when we take our Southeastern Guide Dog puppy and we give him to another Southeastern Guide Dog puppy raiser family to raise for two weeks.

Why, you ask? There is a method to the madness.  If it is only one week, then the puppy is still on its good behavior and any bad behaviors we might want them to be on the look out for (say trash picking or side table surfing) might not come out.  But by week two, they unbutton their pants, so to speak.  They settle in and get comfortable.  They might take your hair scrunchie off the coffee table and try to eat it (are you listening Jordan? 8-)

So, I drove Coach down to the Kriseman's house for his puppy camp.  Not only are they experienced puppy raisers (Eckerd, who went in with Jam has already been matched and just graduated with her person last week), but they are experienced puppy campers.  Unfortunately, they don't currently have a puppy.  That means we are without a puppy to bring to school for two weeks since the deal with Ava fell through (Coach being intact and all, see previous post on humping).

Coach staring at me with a solemn expression in the car on the way to camp.

I did take two photos of Coach with Kerry and Jordan.  One had Coach as a blur and everyone else was a bit blurry as well.  The other one wasn't blurry, but we had to take it so quick that not everyone had on their pretty face.  So, I'll just leave you with Coach's serious face photo on his way to puppy camp.

I have a good night photo that I just received in a text from Kerry (woot!!).

Coach, very tired after playing all night with Peppermint!

Evidently he has played with every toy in the house and Peppermint is guarding his big container of food.  Just in case anyone is thinking of stealing it!  Good Peppermint!

I know he will have a lot of fun at camp.  I can't wait to see photos and hear about his adventures.  I'll keep you all posted.

Macho, Macho Man

Have you considered humping lately?  I thought not.  Now, if I were talking about our previous Southeastern Guide Dog puppy Jam, you would already be thinking of several stories, but Coach, not so much.  He's a laid back dude.  Nary a stray thought about the opposite sex passes through his brain.

He's much more concerned with where his blanket is and when dinner is.  Are we going for a walk?  Where is his nylabone? Can I take a nap over there?  Those are the thoughts of our Coach.  But not doing the wild thing.  On the couple of occasions when he has tried it with Willow she has rolled her eyes and sat down.  Coach just sort of stops and wanders off as if he intended to do something else the whole time.

"Uh, I meant to go find my nylabone.  I think it is over in the family room.  I'm going to go look for it now."

It is a requirement that all guide dog puppies have a puppy camp experience where they go to someone else's house and experience a completely new family and way of life for two weeks.  So, we had worked out a puppy camp experience with our friend Nancy because she had sons and a different work environment and they also had Ava, a cute little black lab that we would be getting in exchange.

They also had Orchid, a female breeder lab, who had just been inseminated.

Ah, do you see a potential problem? Coach didn't.  We didn't.  He would have been content to wander around clueless (probably), but can you really ever trust a male dog's libido?

Nancy did the only sane thing a breeder host mom would do: she checked with Southeastern to see if there might be a problem.

Now, I suppose, if one were to look at this a certain way, you could say that Southeastern views Coach as a very macho dog.  He is now not allowed to co-habitate with puppies of the opposite sex during any puppy sitting or puppy camping. He must go to a home without another puppy or with a male puppy.  Oh, Coach, you are such a macho man!

I think this is a smart rule.  It's a lot like letting your dog guard your lunch.  There are very few dogs who have the strength of character to not eat that sandwich when your back is turned.  And Coach is only 9 months old.  Granted he isn't Jam, but he is totally functional.

And when totally functional gets in the same room with highly scented with intriguing pheromones  that's when you get oopsadores.

Close up of Coach's face.

And seriously, he's so handsome.  I think Orchid might have thrown herself at him.

An Urgent Request from the Provinces (HRH Berkeley's Last Postcard Before Fred Picked Her Up)

My Dearest...

We confess for a moment that we had forgotten your names! Are we becoming victims of Stockholm syndrome, for surely we are finding ourselves in some sympathy with our captors. Oh, what are we saying! Dear Cheryl! Dear Fred! We miss you terribly! While we are proud to have kept a stiff upper lip and a vigorously wagging tail throughout our ordeal, refusing to be cowed by fate, we nonetheless quite eagerly await the day of our restoration.

Last evening, the caretaker dragged us off to a nearby cathedral (rather modest by Westminster standards) for a bit of enrichment on the subject of Handel's Messiah. We do so love a good tune, but as there was rather more lecture than music, we found ourselves dozing off once again. We certainly appreciated the entirely appropriate captivation of the crowd by our mere presence. Even so, it cannot compare to our younger subjects fawning over us at the school they named in our honor.

Wait, a bit of news! Our dear Angel, who appears to have the caretaker's confidence, has given us to understand that we shall be attending a shooting party this weekend at which you might also be with that crafty cur who has taken our place. We can barely contain our anticipation. Please do what you can to undo this ghastly mess and return us to our rightful position!

But if there be a hunt afoot that day, do let's not miss it.


HRH
(AKA John Bauer)

(Note: We would like to thank John for taking such good care of our little HRH as we know she can be a bit trying at times. Fortunately, John has quite a good sense of humor. I think we got the much better deal as Dodger was completely easy, very calm and at ease with anything you did. Nothing fazed him. He was like a surfer dude, very mellow. We hated to see him leave. He instantly captured everyone's heart. I think it was those dark eyes and that white blond hair. Definitely a surfer dude, fer sure!)

Dodger Goes Home

By Fred
We humans have a binding, sentimental and sticky nature. How long does it take us to form a bond with a dog? Days? Hours? Seconds?

Today Berkeley comes back home and Dodger returns to his puppy-raiser, John. We've really enjoyed Dodger this week, and we bonded with him right away. Even Willow, who can be very slow to show her approval, has adopted her new friend. Here they are, sharing an intimate moment in the kitchen.

In this video, Dodger and Willow sit close together on the floor, arms locked, at least until he discovers the camera and moves away. Willow appears cold and aloof, but she doesn't fool me. She's crazy about Dodger.

Cheryl and I have been sick with colds the entire week. Cheryl was determined to go to school early this week (and give Dodger his new experience around kids), but by Thursday her cold had turned into bronchitis. Now she is back in bed. What a hard-head!

I felt better by Thursday, so Dodger and I went out for lunch at our dog-friendly place in Dunedin: Casa Tina. He has excellent table manners. Everyone at the restaurant bonded immediately with Dodger. He is a quick bonder for sure.

Here we are in the back yard, exploring the wonder of fish.

I point out some fish in our pond to Dodger. Like any good house guest, he humors me and pretends to be interested. Good boy.

Of course we are happy for Berkeley to come home. Why wouldn't we be? What kind of question is that to ask, anyway?

In this video, Dodger stares into the camera, wondering why I've just asked him to sit.

Dodger Rules the School

Dodger was a big hit at school. He mustered through convocation without a problem, doing a down under with nary a ear twitch at all the commotion. Then, when we went up on stage to introduce him to the Upper Division, he calmly flopped down on the floor and went to sleep. So calm.

In fact, he spent the day either playing or sleeping.



At the end of the day he was so tired I took this photo of him on the way home.

Another Postcard from the Provinces

Her Royal Highness (HRH) Berkeley continues her puppy camp at the Bauer household and we have received another missive from her.

***********************************************
My Dearest Cheryl and Fred,

It is now Day 4 of our captivity. We continue to explore these nether regions of our realm with curiosity and cautious enthusiasm. We are gratified to find admirers and well-wishers everywhere. It does restore confidence in trying times.

Yesterday, we caught the caretaker looking at *our* blog and were mortified to find that aptly described blonde urchin usurping the cyber-throne that is rightfully ours. Then, in a fit of pique, the canine Angel we spoke of had the temerity to growl at us! Does she not know whom she is so rudely addressing? We were sorely tempted to remind her of her place in no uncertain terms, and would have done so were it not that our play together was entirely too delightful! We still find the caretaker a tad irritating, however, as he is constantly taking us outside to "busy." Does he think his carpets are made of gold? We assure you, they are not -- though we will make them so if he's not careful.

Perhaps to make up for his offense, said caretaker arranged for a private showing at the Regal Cinema of one of the day's latest entertainments, a farce called Megamind. Alas, it was hardly Shakespeare. We confess we had a difficult time keeping our eyes open -- something that would have been made much easier if we'd been allowed the popcorn we so desperately craved. With a nip in the night air on our return, we bethought ourselves that an ermine robe would not be amiss as we continue our tutelage for our rôle as a leader of men.


HRH
(as ghosted by John Bauer)

A Postcard from the Provinces (HRH Writes!)

My Dearest Cheryl and Fred,

We are not sure how we have found ourselves in a "Princess and the Pauper" scenario with the Artful Dodger, though perhaps that sobriquet is well earned. While we appraised the canine of the house a companionable enough lady-in-waiting, we nonetheless let our general distress be known early on by giving the caretaker the silent treatment in matters of elimination until we deigned to "leave a message" in the new Fresh Market in St. Petersburg, inadvertently reminding the hoi polloi that no matter how fresh or trendy they deem their comestibles, it all comes out the same in the end -- and advertently reminding our inferiors that royalty will be attended to!
We also were not shy about expressing our dissatisfaction with our private rooms despite managing to sleep quite well through the night.

Perhaps it was the extra hour of beauty rest resulting from the Colonies' tampering with the Gregorian calendar, but we find ourselves to be in much better spirits today, carrying ourselves with the utmost manners and poise and only displaying our flighty side when rudely confronted with a cage full of fluttering finches in a local "pet"
shop. Although we do not wish to be seen in our present circumstances, we fear the paparazzi have already spotted us communicating with our dear Angel. Alas, if only they were more concerned about remedying the situation than documenting it, this royal nightmare might end.

One hopes that the guttersnipe left in your care has not totally destroyed the palace.

HRH
(as ghosted by John Bauer)

Dodger's in the House!

Dodger arrived yesterday for puppy camp. Puppy camp is where you trade puppies for a week so they can experience a different type of household than what they are normally used to having. Dodger's dad works at home and isn't around kids very much so he wanted Dodger to get to go to school for a week, so we agreed to swap.

Our first event came when we met up for lunch with the two dogs at Casa Tina's, a very guide dog friendly restaurant. After the initial few minutes of energetic stretching to see if they could touch (when they have their coats on they can't interact with each other), they calmed down and ignored each other. Then it was head home, meet Willow and pack up Her Royal Highness!

As you can see in the photo above, this was similar to the scene in the restaurant, very calm dogs ignoring each other. That's what we like! Outside, it was a different story. Dodger is much larger than HRH and had the idea that he would play with Willow. Willow turned and did a matron growl ("young fool, back off now!"), which to his credit he did. So he turned to HRH thinking, "Oh, she's small and female, I can dominate her in a flash."

Yeah, right. Have you met the Queen?

HRH was on him in a flash.

"What?! I've got 20 pounds on you?" It was actually pretty amusing to watch this poor boy get what he was giving out handed right back to plus some. With attitude! (And a little head toss. There might have been some foot stamping as well, I was laughing and might have missed it.)

Many of you may know that we have koi ponds in our backyard. Apparently Dodger didn't get the memo. He fell in. TWICE. I'm tempted to say something about blondes because he did it all within the span of half an hour and the first time he fell in it was while he was drinking out of the pond and staring at himself. I wouldn't want to stereotype him.

In the end, I think Dodger was happy to see her go. What evil plans she has cooked up for John, I hesitate to think about. Good Luck!I crochet. I love yarn. Consequently, some might say I am a yarn harlot and buy too much yarn. Those people will not be receiving lovely yarn creations for Christmas! We immediately discovered that it is very easy to forget that we have trained our dogs not to bother with the yarn when the first thing Dodger did was run over and grab a ball of yarn.

Bad Dodger!
See all the yarn Dodger. Run Dudger, run!

Grab the yarn Dodger!
There is so much to choose from. What color do I want?



There are some things that you can teach in a week and some things that you can't. Yarn no, isn't one of them. Hence, the yarn blockade. Working so far. As for Dodger, he moved on to practice his artful moves.

See Dodger on the stairs?

See the chairs at the bottom of the stairs?

Somehow, Dodger got through the chair blockade and up the stairs. Clever boy, making my earlier blonde comment so much stereotyping balderdash. I'm going to have to keep a close eye on this one.