RUDY'S BACK!

Hey furry friends, my raiser was able to pick me up on Sunday evening (they were on their way back from the Dairy Goat Show), I was sooo glad to see her... but I think I was more tired than anything!
My raiser had a furry fun blast at the goat show. She won many ribbons (and many different placings!). But she was very excited when she was placed first in the showmanship class (when the handlers are judged - not the goat. She was judged on her knowledge of dairy goats, her appearance, the goat's appearance, and how she handled/placed the goat in the show ring). She has been studying up for quite a while, and was hoping to place in the top 4. Guess she did! (she placed first out of 9 people!)

She also got reserve champion with one of her 2010 babies, and she was quite excited with that!
Overall my raiser had a blast hanging out with her other friends; and showing many goats!

I had lots of fun over at the puppy raiser's house, she even had a cat for me to "play" with!
(see pictures below). I was also taken to the puppy class last Saturday, and besides the fact that I pull... I did very good with my puppy sitter!
Enjoy the pictures below, more updates coming soon!


Rudy
The dog with a blog

See You Soon!

Hey furry friends, I'm about to head off to the puppy sitters house, just wanted to say a quick bye to all my furry fun blogging pals - and have a blast without me here!
My raiser will be heading out soon with some of her family to the fair - so she can show her dairy goats. Do to the fact that she will be WAY busy, she has to leave me behind... with a puppy sitter. I'm fine with that though, it sounds like this sitter will be a total blast! (aren't they all!?)

I'll be blogging when I get back, but fur now - I leave you with a picture of me "helping" my raiser shop for her Sweet Sixteen Birthday party,

(For those who didn't get a chance to read the post my raiser wrote yesterday, please make sure to stop by and read it, as it has some sad news about Toby (her last dog she raised) in it).

Rudy
The dog with a blog

Sweet Sixteen

I've been dying to have time to post... but my raiser is ALWAYS busy!
She's either outside shearing her dairy goats for the up coming goat show... or she's planning more things for her Sweet Sixteen birthday party. I don't even get why she has to have a birthday party! We get it... she's sixteen! She doesn't throw me a party every time I turn a certain age! I just turned 6 months back in September... I don't even remember her posting about it :(
Oh well, people are "weird" sometimes!
If they do anything cool during the party, I'll make sure to tell you! (Like buy me fun toys, and give them to me during the party... ?.
Once things calm down some, I'll be doing some more furry fun posts. (after the goat show, and her party!).

Though we didn't get like ANY pictures... I did attend a puppy meeting last Saturday - it was an Amazing Corn Maze!! Which was furry, furry fun! I helped my raiser get "lost" a couple times... but I also found some of the clues we were looking for! She did take one picture of me in the corn maze - so I'll make sure to post that soon!

She's been so busy with shearing and such, ever since they got back from Disney World. She's not even had time to take me out to town with her (besides the puppy meeting). Yesterday she went shopping... for a while... and I went WITH her!
We went to clothing stores, a post office (which was closed! Sorry Khyra, I didn't get you're package mailed out yet!), a bank, and even a grocery store!
I did soo good in the stores. My mom even made me do a sit-stay in a couple, so some people could pet me. She said I did very well!

Later that day we had a 4-H meeting, which was a 1 hour down-stay for me. I just took that as a puppy nap!
Updates with PICTURES coming soon, fur now - enjoy the one picture I posted below... when I was in my cute stage!

Rudy
The dog with a blog

Disney World Fun and CSN Stores Review

Hey furry friends!
My raiser has been quite busy around here - and not had anytime to let me do a blog post. (She's been clipping goats - and giving them a whole new hair do for the goat show coming up soon!). But she's taking a break from that right this second :)
This post is a little about my raiser's Disney World trip - she told me all about it, so I could do a fun short post (with a couple pictures too).

Disney World 2010 - WITHOUT the dog :(
My raiser (and her family) went to all 4 parks (Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom & Hollywood Studios), and both water parks (Blizzard Beach & Typhoon Lagoon).
Her favorite water park was Blizzard Beach - and though she loved all 4 theme parks, she likes Hollywood Studios the best (due to the awesome rides they have!).
She loves riding roller coasters, so at each and ever theme park... she got on the roller coaster... and enjoyed it very much!
At Disney Quest (in Downtown Disney) she really liked building her own roller coaster (and getting to ride it!).
Of course, knowing my raiser... she shopping... a whole lot!! She didn't buy too much, but she made sure to pick up something for the giveaway winner - and runner up! And a couple cute things for herself... !
She met some new friends while down at Disney, and also got to meet some cool characters (Including Pluto, Mickey, Minnie, Donald - and more).
though this really doesn't tell much about her trip - it does give you a "little" bit of information about her vacation. But I'm not nice enough to let her get all the spot light!
I saved some time on this post.... to give a shout out to CSN stores, as they are letting me do another review on my blog! And I'm furry sure my raiser will get something for me :)
Of course, I saw her searching the sites - and not only was she looking at pillows, wall items and bed sets, she was also looking at dog toys... so maybe... just maybe... she'll get something for me!!
Thanks so much CSN stores! Make sure to check them out (if you haven't already!),

Enjoy the photos below,

Rudy
The dog with a blog










(My raiser celebrated her 16th birthday while down at Disney - she even got a free marshmallow treat!)



Okay - I know she was doing a photography class assignment and all - but why getting a photo from "a worms eye view" I think it makes no sense...

Fun at The Sitters

Hey furry friends - Rudy here :)
I'm finally back... yes, I'm BACK!!
Thanks to all the furry awesome bloggers who left comments while I was gone, I truly enjoyed reading through them when I got back.
My Raiser (and her family) picked me up on their way back into town. I was jumping with excitement when she came to the door to get me!
Updates about how it went at the sitter's house in another post - but fur now...
I furry glad to be back!
My raiser will soon be uploading the photos she took while down at Disney - and I told her she could post a couple, even though they have NOTHING to do with me :(
But she did mention she met Pluto... and got a picture with him :)

My raiser said she had a huge blast at Disney, but at some moments she really missed me. She said that during her week down there, she saw 5+ service dogs there! Which just made her miss me even more.
She knew that while she was splashing at the water park or going upside down in a roller coaster - I'd be having fun back at the sitter's house. And she was furry right!
They had 2 dogs there for me to play with... and it was awesome!

I'll be sending out the prizes to the giveaway winners shortly, my raiser picked up some fun stuff for them while she was down at Disney World!

Rudy
The dog with 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)

Sparkie Who?

Sparkie is a 9 month old male black lab... who's staying with us for the WHOLE week!

He's another guide dog pup from our group. (His raiser had to go out of town last minute - my raiser offered to sit him).

So you will be seeing many pictures over the next couple days, with not one but TWO black dogs in them :)

The giveaway post will be coming soon... if I can get my raiser to help me, but she's awfully busy right now!

**Also... I'd love for you to meet: Al - he's my brother and also has a blog. He'd love some more followers and friends.

So please make sure to drop over and say hi!**

I have a very exciting post coming tomorrow... it involves a Elephant, Kangaroos, some loud nosies and much more!

I'll try to visit you guys in the next couple days, I may not get to all of my furry friends though - as my raiser is allowing very little blogging time :(

Hope you enjoyed the post- don't forget to visit my furry cute brother!

Rudy & Sparkie

The dog with a blog

Letters From Camp...

Hey guys, Toby's Raiser here. Toby started his puppy camp last night around 7pm.
I will miss him (I already do!), but I'm lucky enough for him to have gone to a family who plans on letting Toby send updates!
Here is a letter I just received from my big boy, please enjoy!

hello mom...

Camp is ok... the food is somehow the same so that is good. I slept in a big kennel last night with my bones and bed. It was my first night, but I didn't even whine- just ate my biscuit and went to sleep-- mostly... I was tired after a good long walk through the camp neighborhood.

Today I got to meet the other kids who live here... zak is five today... I think I smell cake. He makes a lot of high pitched noises which get me a little excited. almost like the puppies..oh... the puppies. There are two little little little tiny puppies here at camp, too. I think they're too small to be here (they look like small kittens!), but the humans said they didn't have a home so will be here at camp with me for another week or so... I tried to play with them... but they are a little small for my masculine figure!! Oh.. Jena is the other kid at camp... she is seven.... much calmer than zak. She will be a good playmate I think. Am I big for my age? Everyone here is surprised how big and strong I am already. (It's cool being the biggest kid!)

A bunch of human kids came over this morning and we went to the bus stop together... I liked sniffing everything... but you know I do... No goats here yet, but I saw an Emu down the street. Maybe I'll get to smell it later.

Well, gotta go, mom. I am told I have to help vacuum now... something about a birthday party later.... Yippeee! Maybe I'll earn a biscuit badge by lunch. I miss you of course, but I'm doin good so far. You know, mom... I AM almost one already....
More soon.
Your dog son..

Toby
P.S. we'll send pictures soon...

Enjoy it?
So heart warming isn't it!
attached below is the LAST picture I got of my sweet boy...
Tomorrow is the day Toby's sister Duchess will be coming into our home. We don't know if she will be staying the whole 3 weeks, as she is due to come into heat anytime. If she does then she will be going back home.
I will post more updates from Toby when I receive them, and Duchess will be taking over the blog when she gets here.

P.S. "Letters From Camp" will be the name of posts that have letters from Toby in them.

Stay tune for more!

Toby's Raiser

The human without a dog who has a blog

Walk-A-Thon's post...

...Will be posted by my Raiser when SHE gets back from Walk-A-Thon without me. (knowing she will take 100+ pictures, it may be Tuesday before it get's posted!)

We are leaving VERY early tomorrow morning (I heard the number 3 and "AM"...); my Raiser is hoping to make it to the school's tour on Friday.
My Raiser is hoping to visit (and take pictures of...) some doggies she knows while down at the school.

I would also like to say a special THANKS to all my supporters who kindly donated to SEGDI.
If you remember my post about FUNdraising Fun I recently had $553.
We are currently now at $723!! (Our fundraising page can be viewed here). Thank you soo much!!
We may not have made it to our goal ($1000) but she is quite happy that we have raised so much!

I hope you guys all have a GREAT Thursday (and weekend!), please stay tuned for the 2010 WALK-A-THON post!

p.s. I was also just taken to the library this morning to finish up our assignment. My Raiser is hoping to help me get that post written/published before we leave "tomorrow". I had a blast, and loved meeting all the kids!


Toby
The dog with a blog

Sleeping is the hardest thing in a guide dogs life...

New News for Toby...

Yesterday My Raiser got a new dog tag made for me,

I thought the highlight of this new tag was it being cool and red. But today I found out otherwise.

My raiser just told me I won't be coming back home from Walk-A-Thon next week with her, instead I will be "attending" a 3 week puppy swap. THREE WEEKS?!? I will be a whole 4+ hours away from my raiser for 3 weeks :(

She tells me the family sounds really nice, and even has some children I can play with.

I told her I will "try" and be brave, try new things, and love my life... We'll see how that goes!

I'm told this puppy camp is the highlight of my getting the new red tag, though I'm not so sure I agree.

During this puppy swap my raiser will be receiving my sister "Duchess" (black lab). Since I'm going to a different puppy group and Duchess is from our group the drop off/pick up dates won't be the same. So I'm quite happy about that, maybe I'll have a day with my sister!

I will be dropped off at my "new" house on the way back from WAT in FL. My raiser will take her laptop so I can write the the WAT post on it and then she will post it when she gets home...WITHOUT ME. I'll have the blog updated by Duchess when she gets here.

The new tag was to replace the one I was wearing that said "Frankie", (my last raiser's puppy), since my last tag with my name on it was to scratched up to read.

On the plus side I am feeling MUCH better!
The vet hasn't an idea of what was bothering me, but we are all just glad I'm fine:)

Thanks soo much for you thoughts & words!

Enjoy the photos of my new tag, and have a Marvelous Monday!

Toby

The dog with a blog

My cute red tag & I...

There is 2 kinds of news in the world...

The good- & the bad

First off- the good news

My trainer took me to the vet yesterday to get a eye check up & a heart worm test (required by the school). The vet says my eyes look wonderfully and my trainer can slowly take me off of the eye cream!! We also found out the heart worm test was negative!! (not like my trainer was worried or anything).

And now for the bad news

Guess what my trainer is writing up on her computer??? The abbreviation for it might be "P.S.I" Those are the 3 words that describe bad news- (1) "Puppy", (2) "sitter", (3) "information"- puppy sitter information!?!

She then told me that I will be going "away" this weekend- this will be my 3rd time this year getting "puppy sat". Can she not just take me with her??

But of course I already tried that... the only reason why she can't take me with her is because she is doing "goat showing" this weekend at the state fair, though both her last dogs "Frankie" & "Brax" were able to go. It is not fair! I am told that it was way to much with Frankie & Brax- and now that she has twice as many goats to show I would have been tied up the whole time.

I will be leaving to my "new home" on Thursday night (after puppy class) and coming back sometime on Monday- the following week.

Wish me luck!!

(my trainer took some pictures of me @ the vet- I was trying to drag myself out of the room in some of them-vets are not my favorite place!)

Toby

"the dog with a blog"

I'm back... did you miss me??

My puppy sitter dropped me off at church this morning. Right when I heard my name being called I new my trainer was here!! I tried to jump out the car window, but decided it would be a long fall!

My trainer brought me back a new collar (that I still need to grow into!), and a "mickey mouse" dog toy for me & Liberty to share:)

Though I really missed my trainer for the week, I did have a blast with the puppy sitter!!

Enjoy some of the pictures my trainer took of me today:)

Toby

Our new dog toy!!

My awesome new collar!

ME!!!!

Leaving...Disney World

I just found out TODAY that I am going to a puppy sitters house later this afternoon.

And won't get to see my trainer 'till next Sunday- that will be a whole week and a couple days!!!

My trainer said she told me 2-3 months ago about it, because they have been planing their trip for quite a while. They are going to Disney world without me, can you believe them?!?!

This will be my last post 'till I get back, hope you miss me!!

Enjoy the the pictures my trainer took a couple weeks ago!

Toby

Me & my trainer @ the vet



Me & Miki (Japanese exchange student)

ME!

Bad news...

(Toby looking Depressed about puppy camping)




My trainer just told me that I am "going away" this coming week, and in return she is getting a different dog!




















Here's what's going on:



My trainer is going to 4-H congress next week, and was planning on taking me, until she realized that I was too young and it would probably be too much for me (and I haven't slept on a tie down before), so she decided to call her area coordinator and see if she could switch dogs, (the other dog is over a year old), she agreed and we were planning on doing the switch-off tomorrow at the puppy meeting. Until the area coordinator realized she would have to fly somewhere and I would be to young to go with her. She told my trainer that she could still take her dog, but she would have to find a puppy sitter for me Toby.




After a whole lot of phone calls she finally found a helper. One of the families in our puppy group has 2 daughters that are both interested in raising. One already is(she has my sister Cassie), the other is waiting her turn.


So it is now final that I am going to their house tomorrow and not going to see my trainer 'til the following week, isn't that awful!!



I can't believe she won't take me, I am soo adorable, cute, & cuddly. Besides, I might've been able to "hold it" on the airplane.

But at least I will be able to play with my sister for a week!









Toby






(My sister -
Isn't she cute?!)