Wordless Wednesday

Rudy's Raiser

The human without a dog that has a blog

Miss Me Yet?

*(Scheduled post; written by Rudy's Raiser)*

Okay, more like "Miss Rudy Yet"?

I sure miss him! The following picture is of Rudy at a restaurant - with a dessert platter behind him (it's really pertand food though!). This was taken 1 month ago - but thought you guys would love to see it!

Rudy's Raiser

The human without a dog that has a blog

New Vehicle?

*(Scheduled post; Written by Rudy's Raiser)*

Remember back in January when we got the cute new green Honda Element? (when we still had Toby)

That car was soo awesome - I loved driving it, and it was a really "dog" friendly car!

Due to some money issues... we had to say goodbye... to it :( We sold it earlier this month; back to the dealership. With it gone - we have one less car insured... which is a lot better for us.

Picture of Rudy with the car... before we left it at the dealership :(

We own a huge dually truck - which we used sometimes. It is now our official car to drive. I'll really, really, really miss driving that cute little Element - even if we plan on buying one next year. I LOVE driving the huge dually - but it's so hard to park!

Okay... enough about cars - the REAL reason why I'm posting this? Since we are now driving in the truck... the only way Rudy can see me is by doing this:

Yup - he does this for more than half the time while we are driving down the road... When I feel a wet nose... I know it's him!

We are most likely enjoying Disney right now... and Rudy's probably hoping down the hall ways with Charlie S!

Rudy's Raiser

The human without a dog that has a blog

Good Bye!!

*(Written by Rudy's Raiser)*
Hey guys, (most) of our family is heading out tomorrow for a wonderful trip down to Disney. I'll be gone for another week or so - but I'm hoping to get some posts written for a scheduled time of posting for next week.

Just thought I'd let you know - just in case I don't get any back up posts written!
I'll be back before you know it (and so will Rudy!).

I'm off to call Rudy's puppy sitter (he's staying with another guide dog raiser while I'm at Disney - I'll pick him up when I get back!).
Thanks to all who comment while we are gone - sorry I can't stop and visit you!

Rudy's Raiser
The human without a dog that has a blog

Congratulations to KHYRA! (and bye to Rudy!)

*(Written by Rudy's Raiser)*
As you can tell from the title - Khyra is the winner of the leash and collar giveaway. Huge congratulations to KHYRA! Movie below of Rudy picking the winner.
Speaking of Rudy...
Why is he not writing this "furry fun post"? He's GONE, yes GONE! He didn't have anytime to write before he left :(
Due to the fact that some of us are heading down to Disney World (tomorrow) Rudy had to head over to a puppy sitter's house. We took him to another puppy raiser yesterday. And he will be spending over a week with another dog in our group (Charlie S - a new puppy to the group).
But a sad side to yesterday - Rudy had to visit the vet. He was getting sick (vomiting) all day yesterday, and we ended up taking him to the vet. We don't know what was wrong with him - but he was doing much better last night. More about him later.

Back to KHYRA - the winner of our giveaway!
Rudy picked you for one reason Khyra... because you were the best looking treat! (okay... that's a lie - all 5 winners had there name wrapped around the same treat!) But furry congrats to you!

I also let Rudy pick one other treat (because I was feeling happy), and the runner up will win a small gift that I get while I'm down at Disney.
So congrats to Rascal and his trainer for winning runner up! I'll be sure to pick you something out while we are down at Disney World!
And thanks to all who entered Rudy's giveaway! He's planning on doing one around Christmas time (if I let him), enjoy the movies below!

So if Khyra & Rascal's trainer could please email me at guidedogawareness AT yahoo DOT com so I can get you're mailing addresses!

Rudy's Raiser
The human without a dog that has a blog

Below is the movies of Khyra being picked:

(Movie of my hand mixing up the 5 winners - wrapped over treats. Once I'm doing mixing them up, I tell Rudy to get one. He thought about eating them all - but was only allowed to pick one! And yes... this isn't the first movie taken on the giveaway winner... Rudy kept trying to pick a winner before I was ready!)


(this is a movie of me opening up the piece of paper - to see who won. The camera wasn't in focus well - but you can kind of tell is says Khyra!)





Below is Rascal & his Trainer getting picked: (sorry about my pointing to certain treats... I accidentally pointed to one.... so I had to point to the rest so I wouldn't confuse him!)

(Movie of Rudy picking the runner up winner. Sorry about my pointing - I pointed for him to get it.... and it looks as though I pointed at one certain name! So I made sure to point at each one right afterwards! Though Rudy would have rather just eating them all :)

(Movie of me getting the treat/runner up out of Rudy's mouth. Once I unwrap the treat - Rudy gets to eat it! I wasn't holding the camera while I did this. So you can kind of see my hands - with Rudy behind me)

Giveaway WINNERS

The winner hasn't been chosen yet... but my raiser used random.org to pick FIVE winners.
From there I will chose the one winner of the leash and collar giveaway.

Please congratulate the top five winners:

1
Comment #4:
Valerie said...
Very nice!! Cindy Jae would look fabulous in those :-)
September 15, 2010 4:35 PM

2
Comment #18
Ellen said...
Wow what a beautiful dog. I also have a son at USNA. Enjoyed seeing Rudy on T-Court!
September 16, 2010 7:54 AM

3
Comment # 30
Joey said...
Hey Rudy, I know your brother, Kelton. He is in my group.
September 18, 2010 3:15 PM

4
Comment #15
Khyra And Sometimes Her Mom said...
Khongrats on such a khool giveaway!I'm in please!Hugz&Khysses,Khyra
September 15, 2010 8:40 PM

5
Comment #21
Rascal's Trainer said...
Happy 400!!! You've done a great job. Count Rascal and me in.
September 16, 2010 2:24 PM

I really wish all the furry fun bloggers could win the giveaway... but I'm only allowed to chose ONE. :(
From here my raiser will write down those five blogger's names.... and wrap them around treats - whichever I pick up first (not letting me eat the paper) is the winner. She does plan to capture this moment on video.... for all of you guys to watch!

Furry congrats to the top 5 winners.... but ALL of you guys are winners to me!


Rudy
The dog with a blog

Giveaway ends TONIGHT!

Hey furry friends!
This is just a furry quick reminder, to let all of you guys know:
That my leash and collar giveaway ends TONIGHT, yes TONIGHT!
So, if you haven't already; Please head on over and enter the giveaway... I'd hate for some of my furry friends to miss out!
If I have time - I'll be picking the winner tomorrow,
(Giveaway post)
Thanks, and hope that you enter!

Rudy
The dog with a blog

A Smile a Day; Keeps the Raiser at Bay...

*(Written by Rudy's Raiser)*
I don't have any idea if that title makes since... but it sounds good to me!
I checked the SEGDI trainer's twitter this morning - all to find??
ANOTHER picture of Toby! Wow, 2 in just a couple days? This is awesome.
This picture really made me smile - and I'm quite happy to see he's out and about getting not just inside exposure... but outside too!

You may notice, that in any picture I post of him down at the school; he always looks sad. I betcha that once he gets placed (or finds his forever home) he'll change that look to a happy smile!
He's a great dog, our fingers are crossed - Good luck Toby!

BTW - don't forget to check out Rudy's giveaway - it ends TOMORROW night - get your entry in soon :)

Rudy's (and Toby's) Raiser
The human that has a dog with a blog


My boy Toby:

Fun at a Puppy Meeting

Hey furry friends!
I had such a fun time at the puppy meeting last Saturday. We got to ride on a lynx light rail all the way to down-town. Our puppy group walked around for 30 minutes are so. We stopped to see some water fountains. One place even had steps to walk over the water... but I was a little thirsty... and decided I wanted to take a swim (see movie at the bottom). In the end I was all right :)
It was some great exposure for us dogs. We even had a visitor from a different group. "Laura" is a pretty black lab who is heading down to the school for IFT next month. She joined our group last Saturday and we were happy to have her! (see her below in some pictures - she's the black dog wearing the harness).
After some walking we stopped for a little while to do some obedience work. We worked on "stays" & "recalls". And finished the recall with a "heel" which my raiser said I did soo great!

The 3 newest dogs to the group were at the puppy meeting. Lexie, Charlie S, & Joe were all there; with their cuteness too!

All in all we had a blast, enjoy the pictures (and movie) below.
BTW - if you haven't already please check out the giveaway I'm doing. You could win an awesome new leash & collar! So make sure to check it out!

Furry kisses!

Rudy
The dog with a blog

(Movie of Rudy & I walking on steps over the water. Rudy wanted a drink... and decided to "try" and get one... he fell in! You see in the movie that he "jumped' in - and I quickly pulled him out!)

My Boy TOBY

Remember him??
Toby was the male yellow Goldador I raised before Rudy. He returned back to the school in April 2010.
Every month since then I post a report card from the school about him....
Well, this time I'm going to post... A PICTURE of him!
A guide dog trainer down at the school has twitter and is always taking pictures of the dogs she and other trainers are working with. I have NEVER seen anything about Toby posted before.

But when I checked out her twitter account today... this is what I saw!

"Toby enjoying the Sarasota gift shop"


This made me soo happy! I've not seen a picture of him in a while.
I'm glad he's out getting exposures and having fun. Thanks so much to the trainer who posted this picture!

Don't forget to visit the giveaway post Rudy did - I know you want to enter... !

Rudy's & Toby's Raiser
The human that has a dog with a blog

Happy 400 - GIVEAWAY!!

Hey furry friends!

My raiser FINALLY got the giveaway prizes in the mail... and they look so cute!

To celebrate this blog posting over 400 posts... we said we would do a giveaway.
My raiser has been going back in forth on how to choose the winner - she thought about doing a contest (sending in a picture or something), but decided that would be to hard, due to the fact that she's going to Disney World soon.

So she decided to save the fun contest for Christmas time.

But fur now - we will be doing a leash & collar giveaway :) It will be announced later on how the winner will be picked.

The ONLY thing you have to do to be entered in this giveaway is to leave a comment on THIS post.

Yes, it's that easy! Just leave a comment on this post and you are entered!

If you have any questions about this giveaway feel free to email me at: guidedogawareness AT yahoo DOT com

I will be posting reminders about this giveaway.

Start Time: 9-15-2010

End Time: 9-22-2010

This giveaway is only lasting ONE WEEK - so make sure to enter now!

Prize:

1 large (or small) dog collar & 1 matching leash. Both items have already been ordered, and have arrvied at our house.

Want to win it? Make sure and leave a comment!! Furry soon!

Rudy

The dog with a blog

USNA...

****Warning! Very long post ahead****

Hey furry friends! I'm finally back from the short furry fun "vacation" we were on.
So sorry for the warning at the top - but thought I should let you guys know... that this post will be a "little" long!
If you have time please read about the fun trip -I know you will enjoy it - I even mention a cannon in the update :)

Thursday
Back on Thursday, we left the house. To drive hours & hours on the road. (Getting to the hotel around midnight). I don't have much to tell - as we were just driving... so no fun update on Thursday. But...

Friday
I found out what we were doing. We were up in Maryland... visiting? My raiser's brother, who's at the Naval Academy (USNA). I've met my raiser's brother a couple times (back in May/June). So I was furry glad to see him again - and see some of his friends!
The family got to eat lunch with him (in the dining hall where all the other's eat). And I sat quietly on the floor, like a good dog!
We all went to watch the parade - which I really enjoyed, 'til I heard the band playing. My raiser had to make sure to keep me quite - because I really wanted to join in! What we didn't realize they were going to do was... Fire off a cannon... not once, not twice... but over 7 times! My raiser was so shocked I didn't even bark!
After hanging out for quite awhile we headed to some place where they go running - but since there would be obstacles on the way, I stayed back with my raiser's mother. When my raiser got back from running - she went on and on about how fun it was climbing & jumping over things. If it was so much fun... she should have taken me!
We headed to someones house that night to eat dinner (our family and some others made pizza), getting back to the hotel late at night I was soo sleepy! On

Saturday
My raiser, her mom & me headed downtown for some shopping. While the others went to the Navy football game. Little did I know that downtown was also called "dogtown". More than half the people brought their dog along! I saw and ignored soo many dogs, from little hand held dogs - to dogs that are taller then our family dog Liberty! (who's an English Mastiff!). It was a fun time in downtown, and we even went into the store called "The Black Dog". While in there we did have some families ask if I was "The Black Dog" - nope, I'm just a very cute black puppy! But I was soo happy they thought I'd be "The black dog!". After the football game ended we all headed to someones house for a cookout! I really enjoyed getting all the awesome attention. And later on I even got to "help" play volleyball... but my raiser made me stay on the sidelines :(

Sunday
After church we headed to the mall for some lunch, I slept quietly while they ate, and pretty soon it was time to say our goodbye. My raiser's brother went back to the Naval Academy - and we headed on home. I enjoyed the hours of sleep on the way home, and was so glad to see Liberty when we walked through the door!


Now that my update about our trip is over, please enjoy the pictures (and movies!) below, I most likely left out something important about our trip... but I'm off to sleep some more... so enjoy it how it is... :)
Someday soon I'll stop by your blog!

Rudy
The dog with a blog

(Movie of Rudy playing with the balloon we were given at the hotel)



(Movie of Rudy watching the band at the parade)


(Movie of Rudy listening to the cannon)

(Movie of Rudy watching the parade - as people march by)

Furry Kisses

Hey furry friends!
I'm doing a quick post to let you know that my Raiser, some of her family & I are headed out... bags are packed and we are going... somewhere... I'll find out where, when we get there!
Pictures and a fun update will be coming soon when I return.


Please don't miss me too much... but I know I'll miss all of you guys!
Enjoy the cute pictures taken Tuesday, and giveaway (hopefully) coming next week!

Furry fun kisses!


Rudy
The dog with a blog

(almost) Wordless Wednesday

I'm in need of a change... so??
My raiser let me pick a different background for my blog!!
(the last one has been on since Toby had the blog).
So, what do my furry friends think??

Rudy
The dog with a blog

Current/new:

Before:

Rudy's Reason...

There's a reason for everything... right?
I couldn't save this picture for a "Wordless Wednesday" post. It needed immediate posting...



Rudy's Reason??
My back legs were tired... and needed a rest - but I didn't care to lay down :)

Maybe I should convince my Raiser to let me do a "Rudy's Reason" post each week... !
It has a "ring" to it... what do all my furry friends think???

My Raiser will be doing some busy things in the next couple days - but I plan on doing the giveaway next week sometime, keep your eyes open!

Rudy
The dog with a blog

Photo Shoot - Doggy Style!

Hey furry fun friends!!
My raiser has been a little bit busy over the last couple weeks... and sadly only let me post a couple times :(
I'm hoping some things will die down soon, so I can get back to posting (almost) everyday!
I really hope all of you guys have missed me.. I've sure missed reading about each of you guys! And seeing your furry fun faces :(

My last puppy meeting was the ever so fun... PHOTO SHOOT! Yup... we had REAL photographers there... taking pictures of us furry fun doggies! (which we should be seeing some of the pictures later on... and hopefully I can post some that were taken).
Due to the fact that my Raiser's sister (who is ALWAYS taking pictures during the meeting), was a bit distracted by a little Chocolate Lab puppy one of the photographers brought with them... so she only snapped a couple shots - and it didn't show all the cool action of the photographers taking pictures of us... but don't fret your furry faces... cause though you can't see all the fun action... you can imagine it!
Just imagine...
Almost 7 photographers... with huge cool cameras... all snapping pictures of the same thing - at different angles - people calling us puppies - trying to get us to look at the camera. And the hardest part... ?
Doing all those down/sit/stand stays for the photos... but best of all...
I made my raiser proud... she was very happy with how good I was!!

Enjoy the couple pictures below,
Update on the giveaway: Ordered the items I needed... so the giveaway will be coming REAL soon!

Rudy
The dog with a blog

Toby's Fifth Report Card!!

*(Written by Rudy's Raiser)*
I received Toby's FIFTH report card yesterday...
I was totally freaked out when I mom called me down stairs, and said "There's an email from ***". Because our report cards normally don't come 'til mid month (around the 15th).
When I saw the the email and read the first part "Here's Toby's latest report card", I read "Here's Toby's LAST report card".
Thinking that he'd got put out... and this was his last report card!! I was wrong... :) I shouldn't have anything to worry about, my big boy is doing me so proud down there!
He does still have some "W's" (Working On) for some things - but he's doing great in all the other categories!

Enjoy reading it - I attached what it say's below the picture - so either way you should be able to read/view it!

P.S. About the upcoming giveaway (to celebrate posting over 400 posts) we are still doing it... but Rudy is wanting to order something for it online.... so we are "postponing" it 'til he decides what he wants! More news to come, enjoy the report card!

Rudy's Raiser

The human that has a dog with a blog

TRAINING REPORT

DOG: Toby
Tattoo: 3B09
Date: Sept. 1 , 2010

Training Phase: Phase 1


++ - exceeding expectations + - meeting expectations W=working on
Accepts harness W
Forward +
Straight line concept +
Left +
Right +
Down curbs +
Up curbs W
Clearances +
Traffic +
Indoor mall +
Off curb Travel W
Left, Left +
Right, Right +
Stairs +
Escalators W
Underfootings W
Food scavenging W
Obedience +

Distractions:
Scent +
People +
Small animal +
Dog +
Children +
Kennel behavior +


COMMENTS: Toby is a very smart dog. He is improving at putting his harness on. He enjoys work and is progressing well.

Wordless Wednesday

Rudy
The dog with a blog