Is He Mine?

*(Written by Rudy's Raiser)*

If you were a guide dog raiser - and you dog is already IFT (In For Training - at the school), you sometimes get that feeling "is he mine?" when you look at pictures taken down at the school.

Sometimes you get lucky - and you're dog's name is printed above the picture or sometimes it's just a picture - and it's up to you to figure out if he/she was your dog.

The guide dog school's blog did a post yesterday with pictures of a couple different IFT dogs going on a walk.

The second photo on the post (or see below) caught my eye - it looks just like Toby. I could easily be making it up - as they have a whole bunch of yellow labs down there... but I'll let you guys decide for yourself!

Rudy's (and Toby's) Raiser

The human that has a dog with a blog

Compare the 2 photos below... and let me know if you think the top picture looks like Toby.

Photo posted on guide dog blog:

Photo of Toby taken while down at school:

He's All Grown Up!

After receiving the report card for Toby yesterday, I went out to get the mail.

Coming back inside with something from SEGDI!

I was so excited, knowing it was "hopefully" going to be a picture of Toby in harness.

Was I right??
YES!
The picture looks great, and he looks so good in harness!

Also enclosed with the picture was a certificate for my puppy raising days with Toby.

I still miss him (really badly), but I know he's doing good down there.

WISHING YOU ALL THE LUCK IN THE WORLD TOBY!!

Rudy's (and Toby's) Raiser

The human with TWO dogs that has a blog

News on Twitter?

So one of the SEGDI guide dog trainers' has a twitter account.

Though I don't do twitter, I'm always checking this lady's twitter - hoping to see Toby's name come up. (or maybe a picture!).

No I haven't heard anything about Toby on the account...

BUT this morning she wrote:

"We did the big kennel shuffle this a.m. Consolidated dogs so Receiving dogs can come down. Welcome to the Big House!"

I know Toby counts as a "receiving dog" - so I wonder if he's moving into the training kennel?? Maybe this means I will hear some news soon!!

Not much, but hey - any update is better than nothing at all!!

I will be figuring out the rules for the "name game" soon - so make sure to start coming up with some good names!

P.S. If you want to check out the SEGDI Trainer's twitter - click here.

Toby's Raiser & Tracker's Sitter

The human sometimes with a dog that has a blog

I miss my sweet boy!

Happy Mother's Day!

Hope every blogger had a great Mother's Day!

Pretty soon I should be getting a email/phone call about Toby... hopefully this Wednesday I should know something - Is he staying in training, getting "cut" (adopted out)... ?
I wish I knew - but only a couple more days to wait.

Since Toby isn't here to do a "Happy Mother's Day" post - I just picked out a couple pictures of him & I to include - I know he would have wanted that, (I kind of counted as "his mother"!)

Enjoy and have a GREAT Mother's Day!

Toby's Raiser & Tracker's Sitter
The human sometimes with a dog that has a blog

SEE MY NEW PUPPY!!

Want to??

The school my new puppy is coming from has a website. On that website they have a puppy cam, and on that puppy cam... they have MY PUPPY!

Every couple days the school posts new videos of different puppy litters, today's movie... has 8 black Goldadors (one of which is MINE!).

Please make sure to check out this site and watch the short video!

Also... Want to see a picture of my puppy? (better than the ones I got when I was down in FL).
The school posts pictures of the litters born their.

Go to their puppy photo page - and the first litter picture (all black pups - parents are Ginger & Jake) and see the cute puppies... one of them will be in my arms next month!
Or... just look below, as I put the picture in this post too :)

Don't forget to look at the Wordless Wednesday post I did earlier today.

(I normally only do a post a day - but since they change the puppy movies on the site every couple days, I didn't want you to miss seeing "my" puppy!)

Toby's Raiser

The human without a dog that has a blog

Which one is mine... ??

Someone got mail...

*(Written by Toby's Raiser)*

Toby received a card in the mail today from SEGDI (his guide dog school), and much to our surprise it was a HAPPY BIRTHDAY card! (see pictures below)

Yes, Toby's 1 year birthday is THIS Saturday. On March 27th he will be a WHOLE year! Time sure has passed quickly,

Happy almost 1 year Toby!

I also want to thank you guys for helping Toby in hopefully reaching 2 of his goals.

He has already made it to 21 comments, and has 96 followers - THANK YOU!

2 of Toby's goals:

1. Get 100 followers on my blog (!!)

2. Get over 20 comments on 1+ posts (20 comments from 20 different blogs).

He still hopes to get more posts with 20+ comments, but he is very happy that he has already received 20 comments on 1 post.

Thank you so much for following, reading, and commenting on his blog! It means so much to a young puppy to know that people enjoy reading this blog :)

Toby went with me to Zumba (at the YMCA) tonight, and did a great 1 hour down-stay, and also made a new friend :) (See pictures below)

Toby's Raiser

The human that has a dog with a blog

Toby's wonderful card

Toby's new friend

Duchess says...

Hey guys!

Did you miss me? Seems like my handler has been HOGGING the blog lately :( Sorry about that, I'll have a "little" talk with her soon...

My handler got the letter in the mail yesterday... from SEGDI (the guide dog school). Which means the "IFT" date is official... Toby, Rocky, Spike, Cassie, & I WILL be leaving next month down to FL, and WON'T be coming back.

But I'm told we will have LOTS OF FUN!!

On to other stuff -

My handler has been busy trying to expose me to many things. I think the goose is scary, it looks at me with a "odd" face. And when my handler showed me the horses... well, let's just say. It wasn't pretty... "Those things" are BIG.

My handler has gotten many good comments on how well I behave in town! I have even attended a 1 hour YMCA class. All my handler did though was "dance" to music, and I was stuck doing a 1 hour down-stay, that was sure hard.
She was afraid I wouldn't stay that long, but I proved her wrong. I wanted to be just like Toby! (he attends 3 one hour YMCA classes EACH week!).

Enjoy the pictures & videos down below.

I'm going to finish having a "Freaky Friday". I heard something about my handler introducing me to a HORSE! I thought it looked big enough on the other side of the fence... now I have to MEET IT!

Wish me luck.

Duchess

The dog with a blog

(Movie of Duchess watching "Zumba", the 1 hour class at the YMCA. She was laying down in coat, but behaved quite well)

(Movie of Duchess meeting "Milo" the pig. Right after this movie was taken... she pulled her collar off & ran back to the house - I tightened her collar up a little more after that!)

Toby's Moving to China... and I'm going with him!

So I wish.

I came back inside from riding horses yesterday, to find THIS EMAIL from my Area Coordinator...

Email's title: "Our big pups are ready for their next stage in their training - yes - it's IFT time".

Email:

"Good Morning everyone
It’s an exciting time as we prepare to send our puppies back to school. The letters are on the way to you to explain all the details. For now, please mark on your calendars that your pups will need to go back to school between the 12th and 15th April.

Please let me know if you have any questions. This is an exciting time for the puppies and a tough time for you as we make this transition. Please know that I understand the emotion of this time – and that telling me you have left the country with the dog won’t work :)
Thank you for every minute you have invested in your puppy – that investment is getting ready to pay huge dividends down the track".

Wow, this was WAY sooner than I was planning for. He will only be 12 1/2 months when he returns, normally it's not till AFTER 14 months. This means I will only have him for TEN MONTHS!

He won't be returning back to me from puppy camp for another 1 1/2 weeks, I can't wait to get him back.

Toby will definitely be missed, and I will definitely be getting a new puppy... as soon as possible!

We have asked to see when new puppies will be available, but we won't know for a little while.

I do hope you guys will continue to follow Toby's blog while he's gone, even though we may not have another pup for a month or so.

(Yes my first thought when reading this email was I'M MOVING TO CHINA, Until I saw the part about not leaving the country) :(

Oh well, Toby's ready, and he will have a blast.

P.S. To my newer followers who are not guide/service dog raisers, IFT (In For Training) is a date that is set for our dogs to return back to school for further training with paid SEGDI trainers. It is very possible that we will never see our dogs again, it all depends on the career they choose.

Duchess's handler, Toby's Raiser

The human that has a dog with a blog

Walk-A-Thon 2010...

...IS HERE!! (I also turned 11 months today!).

Waking up around 7 this morning, after feeding & such we headed over to the fairgrounds for SEGDI's 24th annual WALK-A-THON!!

The weather caught up with us - and it was COLD and wet :(

That of course did not stop us from walking. We met up with our group and once the walk started we were off!

My Raiser got to work with me on pulling. Pulling & dog distraction are 2 problems she has had with me. But I've not had much problems with the doggy distraction, as my Raiser has been working with me on that. After the 2+ mile walk I was doing great with walking, and NOT pulling! My Raiser was happy, & I got treats :)

Each year down at WAT they have "Silent Auctions". They had 30+ gift baskets (all donated). You could walk around, and if you really liked one you signed your name/number & price. Some items went really high!

My Raiser "won" a spa basket for me, (she will post a picture of it later). And the basket she made sold for $50! (Picture of it below).

They were offering free massages, so my Raiser thought it would be a "great" idea for me to have one. I did end up liking it (and the people), after a while, they were soo kind!

My Raiser met new people, I made new friends, & most of all we had FUN!!

Please enjoy the pictures, don't forget my Raiser tags them for me:)

We sure had a Super "Soaked" Saturday, hope you did too! (without the soaked)

(Pictures taken later today will be posted by my Raiser if I don't get time tonight)

Toby

The dog with a blog

Goodnight!

Southeastern Guide Dog school...

Hey everybody, I'm here in FL enjoying my doggy life! (anytime I go out of the room, I see 5+ dogs!)
We started our trip at 3am this morning (if you count that morning...).
Arriving in FL late afternoon, just in time for a SEGDI school tour.
We got our picture taken in front of the pawesome SEGDI rock out front, then headed in to start the tour.
Once we got to the IFT (In For Training) & Puppy kennel, us dogs got put in a "kennel van", since we weren't allowed in the kennels:( At least I had some "buddies" beside me!
My Raiser told me she had a BLAST in the puppy kennel, and the pups were soo cute! (see pictures below!).
They headed down to the IFT kennel to visit all the dogs that have returned to finish training. She had a list of dogs she knew that she was hoping to get pictures of. A couple were in the kennels at the time, but some were out training:(
We enjoyed seeing the school, I said my goodbyes and we headed over to the hotel.

This hotel is PACKED With SEGDI (and other) puppy raisers/guide dog users!

I walk out of my room... and see many dogs!!

If my Raiser's computer will work tomorrow, hopefully I'll post, otherwise WAT post will be posted by her when she gets home... without me.

Enjoy the pictures.

The second to last picture is of My Raiser & I with Kathy Champion & Angel. Kathy is a blind lady, who just recently received a guide dog - Angel (who was a dog in our group!).

To learn more about Kathy, visit here.

Have a FUN FRIDAY!!

Toby

The dog with a blog

Have a Pawesome time!

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...

FUNdraising FUN!

I'm SO excited, next week is the annual guide dog Walk-A-Thon in FL, and I'm going!

I have been very busy helping my Raiser with fundraising, we are currently at $553, my Raiser's goal is $1,000.
We've raised more than half!
Please feel free to stop by our fund raising page, and pass it on to everyone you know!

My Raiser just got a GREAT package in the mail today... HER NEW CAMERA!! (see picture below)
Boy am I glad that quest is over. We went in so many stores, even when we went to TN, searching for a camera that would do just as many cool things as the camera my raiser's sister has. Unfortunately, the newer versions of this camera only have about 1/2 the selections under their "best shot" mode. We all know she needs to be able to get lots of great shots of me; she can't be limited. She gave up looking in the stores after trying millions of cameras in hundreds of stores, and finally found the same model online.

She is quite happy, and is glad to have it for Walk-A-Thon:)

Have a FUN Friday!

Toby
The dog with a blog

Good bye... and hello!

I kind of forgot to do a post before I left last week... my trainer & her family went out of town Wednesday morning & I went with them!!! I had soo much fun! We were in the car all day Wednesday- driving to Ohio. We also stopped at a store in WV, and they had some really cool (life sized)carved animals - which I wasn't too sure about...(a wolf wearing a sheep coat!?!?- and hunting dogs that don't smell like dogs??) My trainer made it all better though, because when we left she bought me 4 iced dog treats!!!

I found out the family we were staying with had a release CCI dog!! He was a VERY obedient dog! His name was "Hayden", and he was a black male lab- who will be turning 2 soon. He and I got along quite well - of course since I am a still a little "hyper" sometimes I had to stay beside my trainer the whole time, but during movie time at night we both shared the same bed, and bone!!

We also went to a college in Ohio, and a Muesum in Kentucky - but my trainer told me to do them in another post since she got WAY too many pictures! And didn't want this post to be "too" long:)

She took 190 photos... I told her I wasn't going to use them all!
Please enjoy the pictures, & comment too!

Toby

the dog with a blog

"Sheep wolf"

In Tamarak, WV

"Hunting dogs"

At Haden's house

(in my grandparents backyard- Sunday)