Rudy Update!

Seems like I'm getting updates all over the place about Rudy! (Which is totally fine by me).
I just received a letter from SEGDI, with Rudy's harness picture in it.
Rudy has grown up so much, and looks very handsome - and I'm so proud to be his raiser!
I also received a short letter & certificate (seen below), but of course, all I care about is the picture :)
He looks very happy, which is a relief - as my other pups always had that "sad" face in the harness photo.

Rudy's Raiser

Fun While Working

I had a furry fun shopping trip yesterday... filled with lots of "Rudy... sit/stay" (snap of picture)... "Rudy... Forward", go another 2 feet... "Rudy... sit/stay" (snap of picture) - and on and on... My raiser thinks taking pictures with me in a "sit-stay" is a lot of furry fun for HER. If she could just realize WALING FORWARD is a LOT easier for both of us and will get places quicker.

Other than the picture taking part of the shopping trip... I did have lots of fun! I really enjoy working with the guide dog harness, and I love getting to go into shops. (please note: My raiser IS NOT allowed to/and doesn't use the handle of the harness).

My raiser said I'm doing much better with my pulling, and she was very impressed with her our worked during our shopping trip.

Have a furry good weekend... and enjoy the pictures below!

Rudy - the dog with a blog

Um.... Mom... could we GO anytime soon??



YUMMY - it's the candy section!



Mommy.... PLEASE, can I have just one???




Finally, not a "sit-stay" photo... See, we are MOVING in the picture...

Wordless Wednesday

Rudy
The dog with a blog

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

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

(almost) Wordless Wednesday

Toby

The dog with a blog

*(Note From Raiser - Toby does enjoy outings in town - his "enjoyment" always looks pitiful to us though!)*

Question: (and 300th post!)

Did you miss me???

Answer:
I HOPE YOU DID!

My Raiser picked me up at 10:30 this morning, I was sooooo happy :)
My swap father talked to her a little about my 3 week camp life - how I did and such, then it was time to go. I; of course, didn't mind one bit, as I was with my raiser, MY RAISER.
We made a few stops on the way home, my Raiser coated/harnessed me up and off we went. She got many, many, many comments on how well behaved I was, and we even had a few people who thought my Raiser was, well, blind! I felt so proud, that means I would have been a real guide dog. My Raiser said I sure was acting like one, and she was happy at how well I did, doing commands right on the spot, and if she was blind, she would have LOVED for me to guide her!

I was very excited to get back home, see Liberty, sniff my house and sleep.

I hope Duchess didn't "ruin" my blog to much with all her girly talk.
I wished I could have spent a couple days with her, but my Raiser didn't want to chance her coming into heat with me being in the same house, so we traded back at the same time :(

P.S.
My Raiser pointed out to me that this will be my THREE HUNDREDTH POST!
I have enjoyed blogging for the past 10 months and hope to fill this blog up with somemore exciting posts for the next 3 weeks!
Enjoy the photos below, all were taken today,

Toby
The dog with a blog

Wordless Wednesday

Duchess

The dog with a blog

Wordless Wednesday

Duchess

The dog with a blog

Wordless Wednesday

IWYPRSD and Vets...

(Written by Toby's Raiser)
You got that right, my day yesterday had to do with the 1 thing Toby dreads... VETS!

I was planning on writing, posting (and taking pictures) for "IWYPRSD" yesterday, (International Wear Your Puppy Raiser Shirt Day).
But instead, I woke up to find Toby sick!
He had really runny diarrhea,(in his crate too...) so we got permission from our AC to take him to the vet, and off we went!
Toby of course would rather have stayed at home, but lucky for us dogs don't make the decisions!
The vet had to check a stool sample of Toby's (which we didn't have), so we brought that up to him this morning.
For now the vet said he could be contagious to other dogs, so Toby & I had to stay home from puppy class today (which he really isn't happy about!). You may notice in the pictures below, Toby is totally "spaced out", the reason for that is a shot the vet gave him, so Toby was really out of it in the pictures!

Please note that I have started "tagging" pictures for Toby, (if you put the mouse over the picture you can then see the description), I may also put words to the sides of the picture, or I may only tag them. Really just depends on what Toby wants!

Hear are some words from Toby -
HAVE A SUPER SATURDAY!

Enjoy the pictures,

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





SMILE!

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

Doggy Fun!!

I was quite surprised when my raiser woke up this morning and told me we were going to PUPPY CLASS!!
It may not be a big surprise to you guys, but this is my THIRD puppy class in the last 3 weeks - that's 1 puppy class a week!

Our Area Coordinator is trying new & different places to do obedience with, so this time all of us dogs met in a tennis court! (after puppy class our raisers took off our coats/collars/leads and let us all play with each other; we sure had a blast!)

We worked on so many different commands.
For 5 minutes of the class we did a short "puppy trade" where all the raisers traded dogs.
My raiser got a cute little black male Lab (Sparky), and I went to Sparky's raiser.
This didn't go over well with me, I went crazy trying to get back to my raiser. (I have some "issues" with leaving my raiser, but our area coordinator is working with us on that.)
The Area Coordinator is now talking about doing puppy swaps for me every other week (between puppy classes) , which means I would be going to someone else's house for a WHOLE WEEK, and it would be more than once!


We had extra long leashes (lunge lines for horses) for us doggies to work on "come" from afar.


Some other dogs got "side tracked" when they were called, but me? NO. My raiser called me and I went STRAIGHT to her!
(it may sound like I'm so obedient, but my raiser says she is going to let me try the same thing with a different person next time; she some how thinks I will come to her, no matter the distance, but bets that if another raiser tried it I would still go straight over to her (my raiser).


At today's puppy class we also started a "new" command. (though my trainer has already taught me this).


"Place" is a command the raiser's don't have to teach us dogs, but it would be nice for us to learn. "Place" means our raiser's give us a blanket/bed, and when the place command is said we are to stay on that blanket/bed, it is to be our "place".
We can take 3 feet off of our "place" and we still won't be disobeying, as long as some part of us is on our "place".
My raiser has already taught me this command, but I know it as "bed". She did get permission to keep using the same command, so she doesn't have to confuse me with a different one.


I got to do puppy class in harness, and was very proud of it. We weren't going to be bringing the harness back home with us, but since another raiser had already left, my raiser was given the harness for another week (til' next puppy class).
Enjoy the pictures of my puppy class, and don't forget I LOVE hearing from my readers!



Toby
The dog with a blog






(Close up of only Toby - he is "smiling" and has 1 front foot in the air)

(Picture of Toby & I; Toby is in a stand-stay beside me)

(Picture of Toby & 3 of his siblings playing together, left to right- Toby, Duchess (in red collar), Rocky (you can see 1 foot & a tail), and Spike.

(Picture of Toby finishing up his "come" command, with a "heel", he is on my left side, and I am petting him)

(Picture of Toby (left) & Spike (right) doing down stay beside each other, with both raisers holding them)

(Toby & Spike doing a "sit-stay" beside each other, with us raisers holding them)

(Toby & I in the corner of the Tennis court, Toby is in a down-stay)

(Toby inside a restaurant in a "down-stay", looking at the camera)

Harness pictures and cool contests!

(Black/white picture of Toby in stand-stay
while wearing guide dog harness, this photo
is also the new header picture for Toby's blog)




My raiser FINALLY took me outside to get some pawsomely cool pictures of me wearing the guide dog harness.
She had me in a stand-stay for some, and a sit-stay for others.
(notice she has changed the header for my blog - it is now a black/white picture of me in a stand-stay wearing a guide dog harness).

I am enjoying getting the experience of wearing a guide dog harness out in town.

I am also proud of it; as I'm my raiser's first puppy to get to wear a harness in town!
(her others dogs weren't different, the school is just having to many dogs returning to the school with harness issues, so we need to work more with the harness).

* Note from raiser: Toby is only allowed to wear the harness in public if it is worn over his puppy in training coat so that the public is aware he's not a full-fledged working guide dog.

I also wanted to tell you about the PAWSOME contests my raiser is entering me in!!(Remember - to enter any of the following contests you do need to have a blog)

Mango is having his annual "Mango Minster" this month, so make sure to stop by his blog if you have a doggy, or "cat dog" you would like to enter!

Tucker's contest is a "sit-stay" competition, as long as you dogs can sit for a photo, you can enter his contest, check out the rules, and enter away!

Niamh's contest sounds quite interesting, to enter you need a picture of you (dog) and your owner doing training together, read more about it here.


Biggie's contest sounds very fun, my raiser mentioned something about piling up dog toys/treats on me and getting a picture... Check out the details here.

Enjoy the pawsome pictures of me in harness, and I hope you enter the contests/ or even better vote for me! (only a couple contests are readers choice - others are picked by the blog author).


Have a great weekend, and don't forget to comment on how awesome I look in the guide dog harness! (no pride issues there...)


Toby
The dog with a blog







(Close up of Toby's chest/face, he is in a sit-stay, while in guide dog harness)






(Back view picture of Toby wearing harness, you can also see his full shadow to his left side)















(Picture of Toby in a sit-stay while wearing guide dog harness, you can see some trees in the back ground behind him)






(Toby in a sit-stay while in guide dog harness, the only background you see is grass)

Mall Walk + Harness= FUN!!

My raiser took me to a "Mall walk" last Saturday for my puppy meeting. We met up with our group once inside the mall.
Our area coordinator had made up a "mall bingo" for us to play.
We all broke up into groups of 2 (1 puppy with 1 older dog), the puppy I was with just so happened to be named Bingo!
She is a female black lab born in September, and is very cute!

Some of the items on the bingo sheet were
"Meet a fish at Bass Pro Shop"
"Read a book at a Bookstore"
"Meet a Toddler"
"Smell the scents at Perfumania"
"Listen to music at FYE"
"Tell someone about Puppy Raising"
"Visit the Men's Room"
"Visit 2 areas in the Sun and Ski Store"
And LOTS more!!
We got bingo pretty quickly, but decided to keep walking through out the mall to visit more things.
My siblings & I were also being started with a guide dog harness on Saturday. Our group had 2 for using but since 3 of us older dogs showed up we had to take turns.
Rocky (my brother) was kind enough to share "his" harness at about half way.

After my raiser got me used to the harness (with out the handle), she added the handle on for me to try.
(none of our raisers are allowed to mess with and/or hold the harness handle - it is only used for getting us dogs used to it sitting on our backs as the trainers down at the guide dog school will work with the harness handle when we return back to school).

I got many compliments on how "handsome" I looked in harness, and I was really enjoying all the attention!
There were many stairs through out the mall, and my raiser had me "find" almost all of them! (Find is used as "Find the stairs" which means we need to wait at the stairs, then, when told, we have to sit before going down/up the stairs).
We visited many places in the mall, including; a ski store, a Disney store, a Perfume stand, a Lego store, a music store (where my raiser even let me listen to music!), and even Bass Pro Shop were my raiser held my 2 front feet up so I could see the fish swimming around!

Once we returned back to our meeting spot all of our raisers reported the dogs behaviors back to the area coordinator.
Before leaving my raiser was given the harness to bring home for the week. She can let me wear it out to town as long as I wear the puppy coat underneath it (letting everyone know I am a guide dog IN TRAINING).
She hopes to take me outside in the yard to get some good harness pictures.

Enjoy the mall walk pictures!

Toby
The dog with a blog





(Picture of mall security riding on a segway in front of the dogs - for an exposure)





(Black/white picture of my sister Duchess wearing guide dog harness)













(Picture of Toby "listening" to music from headphones provided by the music store)






(Black/white picture of my brother Rocky wearing guide dog harness)












(Picture of Bingo sitting, looking very adorable!)

(Picture of Toby doing a "sit stay" beside a large Lego statue)

(Picture of Toby sitting beside a large Mini mouse stuffed doll, trying to ignore it- notice he isn't doing a very good job at it...)

(Toby & I beside a train which gives rides to people in the mall)

(Bingo sitting in a fire truck for little kids)

(Toby doing "find the stairs" while wearing harness)

(Close up of Toby trotting through the mall - while wearing harness)

(Picture of Toby & I with a big "Elk" behind us at Bass Pro Shop)

(Me holding Toby's front legs up so he can see the fish at Bass Pro Shop)

(Toby & I both sitting down taking a break)

(Toby sprawled out on the ground with both back legs out and in harness)