All grown up

This is what my beautiful O'Connor looks like all grown up at age 2! I'll post pictures of him in his harness and write about graduation in the next few days! Isn't he pretty??? He's 23 inches and 63 pounds right now. Practically perfect!

The day has come...

I don't have any pictures today...but it is official...Ontario is going to GDB for his formal training next month! I'm very excited to see how he does and I know he'll do great! I'm not so sure I'm ready for him to go so soon...it seems like I just got him :( But anyway...I love him and am proud of him that he's made it this far and that GDB has enough confidence in him to take him back! He's come a long way. Of course, when I get back to UT, I'll take pictures and do another Ontario post...

Ode to O'Connor

8 Weeks
8 months

10 months

13 months-recall

Sick and Tired

We've been sick and tired and tired of being sick at our house the last 2ish weeks :( I had the flu and Ontario and Frisco were very good to conform to my lazy, sleepy lifestyle. They got themselves into this position on their own when I was watching a movie...how cute are they?

This Little Boy Wants to BE a GUIDE DOG

Yes...my little boy has chosen his career and is IN CLASS!!!
I'll get to present him to his partner on March 8th, provided all goes well for them!

Best Buds...

They were sleeping like this, but of course when I decided I needed to take a picture and the flash went off...they both opened their eyes. They both sleep on long tie-downs and I only have 1 massive doggie bed in my room...so they have to share. Usually Frisco takes up the bulk of the bed and Ontario settles with a corner, or just resting his head on the bed...goofy boys! Whatever works for them right? I have caught them curled up with each other both fitting on the bed, but can't catch that when my camera is ready. They are awesome and they really like each other!

Guess who???

Check out the cute puppies on the puppycam from 3/15/07...guess who is in the video!

http://www.guidedogs.com/site/PageServer?pagename=resources_video_puppycam

Check out the boys!

I took these pictures today. They are such handsome boys!

Ontario LOVES to take naps in his kennel...even when he doesn't have to :)

Frisco is growing up fast! He's 4 1/2 months old and now wears a medium puppycoat!

First Trip

I am in Idaho with Frisco. This is the first time he has been out of Utah since arriving on Nov. 17th! He was amazing on the ride in the car up here. Once we got here (to visit my grandpa and aunt and uncle) we went to the party store that my aunt and uncle just bought. This is not a small party store, it is GINORMOUS! :) So we spent about 1 1/2 hours there looking at all the merchandise, walking around and talking to my aunt and uncle...Frisco did his best NOT to eat the junk that was on the floor! :) What a good boy he is!

Then we went with my mom and aunt to Albertsons to get some stuff for dinner, and Frisco was just as amazing there :) He sure is just the nicest dog. I love him a whole lot and he does so good in all situations.

We hung out with my 6 month old nephew when we got back to the house and Frisco was great with Grant...so gentle and just sweet with him. Then Frisco saw the kitties...he has lived with cats at his other home, so it wasn't a big deal to him...and he's been great with the resident k9-Sara.

I didn't bring my camera, so we shall have to grace you with pictures another day!

PS. Ontario stayed with a puppysitter. He hasn't really been traded since Thanksgiving and he needed to have some time away from his beloved mommy ;) I dropped him off at another leaders house (he can only be traded to leaders) this morning, and I'll pick him up tomorrow afternoon/evening.

Pictures from Camp

So I was online looking at websites and found these pictures from Camp. They were taken on a day where we held a huge event at camp and several organizations (including GDB) came to help out...anyway...the first picture is GDB's booth. I don't really remember all the people, but the dogs are... from left to right... Silas, Ontario, Anya, Zephyr, Elsa and Eli.

And above is BEAUTIFUL baby Ontario (6 months)

A wonderful man

Since this is technically MY blog and not the dogs...I wanted to share something near and dear to my heart...

President Gordon B Hinckley passed away a week ago and his funeral was on Saturday. This man influenced my life for the better more than any other man...besides my own father. He was the Prophet of my church (kind of like the Pope, but different) and he was a WONDERFUL man. The world has lost a great leader...however it isn't all sad! In our church we believe that families are forever, and President Hinckley's wife died about 4 years ago. He never stopped missing her, and would often talk about her in his speeches...I know he is now with her again and I am happy for him!

Ode to Ontario

Since Frisco came along...Ontario hasn't had the blog time he deserved...so here is Ode to Ontario
These are pictures of Ontario's life from almost the beginning...

This is Philly (Ontario's mom) with her 5 week old pups, Ontario and Oceana. Ontario is the puppy on her belly and Oceana is the one you can see by Philly's head.
-note Philly's position...does this look familiar to anybody else??? (if you have no clue what I'm talking about...look at my previous post)

These pictures were taken by a volunteer in the puppy kennel on their 2 month b-day
(March, 19, 2007) Oceana is on the left and Ontario is on the right.




These pics were both taken in June. Even though they are siblings...look at the differences. Ontario is MUCH MUCH darker than Oceana and his fur is not even close to being as long as hers! (Ontario is on the left, Oceana is on the right.)

And this would be Ontario's b-day picture. I was trying to get a picture of him all relaxed and sleeping on his back, but he woke up and rolled to his side just as I took the picture :( Darn!

The Boys

Ontario and Frisco were begging to get their most recent pictures up today...so as the loving dog mommy I am...I obliged--but first an update on the boys.

Ontario had his 1st birthday on the 19th. Being the bad mommy that I am, he didn't get any presents or anything...poor boy, he must feel SO unloved! He is doing very well, and I expect that he will be recalled (or go in for training) in March or April...whenever the puppy truck comes to UT. He is a MAJOR momma's boy, which makes him very endearing. He is the clown of all my pups...he's constantly doing crazy things and giving me looks that what he is doing is completely normal, he keeps me and my roommate laughing. He is a massive ball of fur, but don't let his size fool you, there has never been a sweeter dog than Ontario!

And now for Frisky--I mean Frisco. As stated in recent posts, he is growing like a weed...almost right before my eyes! Frisco turned 4 months old on the 19th. He is a mellow yellow guy. He is progressing very nicely and I think he will be a wonderful, easy to raise, laid back little guy who just goes with the flow. Hopefully he doesn't get a complex as everybody comments on what a pretty dog he is and how well behaved he is. I don't disagree with them and neither does he...but hopefully he'll stay humble!

Awww...Mom, do you HAVE to take pictures right now?

The boys play very well together. Even though Frisco is only 4 months and 36 pounds, and Ontario is 1 year and 70 pounds...they seem to work things out between the two of them and play with each other very appropriately!
As you can see...big "manly Ontario" is quite the push over when playing with his little brother.

Eye Doctor

You know when you go to the eye doctor and you have to tell him the letters on the chart, to test your visual acuities? Well, today I had to go to the eye doctor and I couldn't even see the stinkin' letters on the chart! I have had glasses and/or contacts since 7th grade, and nothing has ever changed much in my rx...until now. Dun, Dun, Duuun... :(

I knew my vision had changed, as I've been having some pretty major issues since summertime...including very very blurry vision at times (even with my contacts and glasses) and double vision, where I would see two of the image. As you can imagine, this can be frustrating to say the least...

Well, today I found out how bad it really was...LUCKY ME ;)...NOT! My rx changed -0.75 in both eyes, and while my left eye is good and just a bit nearsighted...my right eye basically sucks! I have astigmatism in my right eye and we are hoping that is the cause of my blurry and double vision...fun fun huh?

Don't you just love going to the doctor for not as great of news as you were hoping? (aka...all is well!)

Miracle grow

So my little Frisco is growing up so fast! Last week we were at the vet and he weighed 31.4 pounds, and this week when we went in he weighed 35.4 pounds! Wow...what a big guy he is getting to be! My club all asks what I feed him and the answer is...Miracle Grow of course! :)

AWWW how cute!!!

'Nough said :)

Dramatic Change in Personality?

So today...for the first time in his life...Ontario was actually very very very excited about his leash and puppy coat! Up until now, whenever he would see me pick up his leash and puppycoat to go out he would run and 'hide' in the corner or sometimes in his crate. He has always been fine once he was out, but just did NOT want to go at first. I've been working very hard to get him excited to go out, and today I got to see the results of 9 months of HARD work!

OOOOO...I love this dog!

Spence is Wonderful

I got an email from Spence's family a few days ago! I was very excited as I hadn't heard from them in about two years. I have always known that Spence was well loved and well taken care of, so I've never worried...BUT it was still so nice to hear from them and hear that he is well loved and taken care of :)
They apologized for not contacting me for so long (which was not needed, but a very nice thing for them to do) and proceeded to tell me how much they love Spence! They told me again, how he is a certified Therapy Dog and everybody loves him and he loves everybody. They also wrote that having Spence has been such a great thing for them, and they thought he deserved a doggy "friend". So about a year and a half ago, they went back to GDB and adopted another career change dog! They said Spence picked HER out and they get along wonderfully! :)

Isn't it SOOO nice to hear from our puppies? Even when they aren't our puppies anymore, but to know that they are making such a difference in somebody else's life...as a guide, or a pet...it makes my day!

The Boys

The Cutest Boys in the Whole Wide World! :)
(too bad they couldn't both look at the camera :)

My Baby (Frisco)

My Little Boy (Ontario!)

New Years Resolutions...

In following suit of my fellow bloggers:

Lindsey's resolutions:

• Take more pictures of the people in my life.
• Go to church EVERY sunday-no excuses!
• Get a teaching job and actually use my college degree that I spent all that money on!
• Decide what I am going to major in for my masters degree.

Ontario's resolutions:

• Relax a little more!
• Eat as much dog food as I can!
• Go to formal training to be a guide dog!
• Not bug my baby brother Frisco so much.

Frisco's resolutions:

• Look VERY cute...ALL THE TIME!
• Grow big like Ontario
• Go to my daddy's graduation
• learn my commands so I can be a good guide dog

What we (the dogs and I) did in 2007

Sorry...there are NO PICTURES in this post, I will post pictures later this week.

January

• Started school...again! (almost for the last time!)
• Ontario was born to Philly and Antoine
• Carlisle got career changed

February

• Sonny's 2nd b-day (still in the kennels at that point)
• O'Connor's 1st b-day
• Got O'Connor's recall notice for April
• picked up Sonny's brother, Sprite, from the airport and housed him for 1 1/2 weeks until his raisers could get here to pick him up!

March

• Found out that I was getting MGSD "O"
• Sonny went to class
• I went skiing with my 2nd grade class every tuesday
• picked up Mr. "O"...Ontario!

April

• Visited friends and family in Oregon
• Presented Sonny to his partner as a working guide dog
• Returned O'Connor to the Boring, OR campus for his formal training
• Flew with O'Connor
• Passed my classes for the semester

May

• Visited with a dear friend in Phoenix, AZ (first time I ever went to Phoenix)
• Got hired as the Arts and Crafts Activity Leader at Camp Bloomfield
• Attended a military funeral for my cousin (not so fun, but very neat and sad)
• Dog/house-sat for the entire month
• Said "goodbye" to my 2nd grade class at the end of the school year
• Prepared Ontario for Camp

June

• moved home with my parents for 2 weeks (just about killed me! ;))
• Drove to Malibu with some friends to go to camp
• visited Anya, Melissa, David and Greta
• Swam in the ocean for the 1st time!
• Met a lot of wonderful new people at camp

July

• Visited Alisa in CA
• Visited Tricia in Durango
• O'Connor made it to phase 4 and passed all breeder exams and became an official breeder
• O'Connor was bred to Trina
• I went to Disneyland and Universal Studios
• Ontario loved camp :)

August

• Went to CA Fun Day with Ontario and some other people
• Flew home for 2 days to see my neices
• Went to San Francisco with somebody who had never been there before and walked 7 miles through the city to get to the Golden Gate Bridge
• Got home from camp
• Started my last semester of my Bachelors Degree Career

September

• Found a house to live in that had a fenced in yard for Ontario
• Ontario got neutered
• Started my student teaching
• O'Connor was retired from breeding and put back in training
• O'Connor and Trina had 5 yellow puppies-Frisco, Fulbright, Fantine, Fontina, and Fritzie
• Ontario was a very good boy at his evaluations!

October

• student teaching for me...all day everyday monday-friday
• went to a conference and ontario was very good

November

• My second mom died
• Presented on Guide Dogs at a conference-once again, Ontario was great
• Picked up Frisco
• Ate way too much food at Thanksgiving with my family

December

• Finished Student teaching
• Finished College
• pulled off the GDB holiday party that I had been planning with my CFR
• Saw my 6 neices and 2 nephews (I had never seen my nephews before)
• Ate way too much food over the holidays

So yeah...that was my year in a nutshell! The good and bad...but it was a year right? LOL

Boys will be boys...

We got quite a bit of snow yesterday at my house, so today I was trying to take pictures of the "hooligans" in the snow...The one of Ontario isn't bad...but the one of Frisco was the best I could do! Sheesh...if only the boys knew how important it is to have proper pictures...! :)

P.S... Snow is awsome! Both boys and mom LOVE the snow!It's supposed to snow again in a few days! Hopefully next time I can get better pictures.

WHO DO I LOOK LIKE???

FRISCO

Does baby Frisco look like...

Daddy O'Connor OR Mommy Trina

Frisky Frisco

Ok...so maybe Frisco isn't very "frisky" afterall! ;)

AWWWW...Frisco is sleepy!

The eyes are open...

Boogers...

BOOGER!!! Brogan was my 5th puppy. I got him as a transfer when he was 10 months old, the day Garvey had to go back to GDB for medical evals. Brogan's parents were Wallace and Pride. Brogan was a PILL for the first 2 weeks I had him. Brogan and I had a hard time in the beginning...but one day 2 weeks after I got him, we fell in love. I adored him, and he thought I was the greatest thing ever! Brogan was one of those dogs who I would have loved to have been able to keep. Unfortunately, Brogan was career changed for medical reasons about 3 weeks after returning to campus. He now lives with a friend of mine, and is STILL affectionately known as "booger". Brogan loved children and despite his size (75 pounds) he was extremely gentle with them. He was beautiful as well!
Brogan taught me:

• Once again, dogs can change
• It's ok to be goofy and still be serious at the same time
• The wonderful game of keep-away CAN be fixed
• No matter how big you are, cuddling is always good!
• You must be gentle with small children
• BLACK is BEAUTIFUL!

#4...Garvey

Puppy #4 was Garvey. I picked Garvey up from GDB Fun Day in CA on July 24, 2004. He was a sweet sweet puppy! His parents were Jessel and Brenda. Garvey was career changed for health issues in Nov. 2004...so as you can see, I didn't have him real long :(
Garvey taught me:

• All you need is Love


• Things really aren't what they seem to be


• It's no fun to be sick all the time


• A wonderful personality, combined with a sick puppy, just can't make a guide dog

A little story about Lindsey

The day after Thanksgiving 2004, I was sitting home with my parents at their house. My first Thanksgiving, where I didn't actually live with them ;) I had gotten Brogan (you'll see a post about him soon!) Lets just say Brogan was "excitable" in this instance...

Well, Brogan wanted to play with Riley inside the house (which is a no-no at my house)...Lindsey thought she was smart and Brogan was wearing a dragline...Lindsey stepped on the dragline with her bare foot, just as Brogan lunged for Riley. Next thing she knew...she was on her butt on the ground and her foot hurt really bad! Lindsey half-laughing, half-trying not to cry, yelled to her mom "I just broke my foot" (being a drama queen, but not really knowing what a broken bone feels like, or really thinking the foot was broken)... Lindsey's mom (bless her heart), said "let's go to Wal-Mart and walk it off"...Lindsey says "ok...sounds good to me". Lindsey and mom get home from Wal-Mart and Lindsey can barely take off her shoe. Lindsey's foot is swelling up and is all sorts of "pretty colors".

Lindsey works at a vet clinic...Lindsey has the vets and other techs look at her foot...5 days later, Lindsey goes to the human dr. and gets an x-ray...Brogan has aided in breaking Lindsey's foot in 2 places and her toe! How fitting for Lindsey, that her first broken bone would be an "early Christmas present" from Brogan! :)

That is the story, of why Lindsey's foot always aches when the weather turns really cold ;)

*and the moral of the story, would be: DON'T STEP ON A DRAGLINE WITH BARE FEET!

Apology

I'm sorry for two things:

A. I did not do a little write up on all my previous dogs...I'll get to that when I go back to school and have an internet connection that works and downloads pictures ;) (plus, I got tired...)

B. My blog has gotten very boring! :) I'll try to spice things up a bit and find more exciting things to write about...

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Happy Thanksgiving everybody! Here are some things I am thankful for (this list is definately not prioritized) :

1. Family (Mom, Dad, Eric, Ryan, Annalisa and Josh)
2. In-laws and nieces and nephews (Lisa, Jessica, Joel, Erin, Ashley, Marissa, Maddie, Gracie, Rachael, Leah, Alec and Grant)
3. Freedom
4. Education
5. Puppies (Ontario and Frisco)
6. Dogs (Magician, Anya, Spence, Garvey, Brogan, Sonny, O'Connor and Carlisle)
7. Pet dog (Riley)
8. Way cute house in SLC
9. car (doesn't have a name, but it's a fantastic Honda Accord!)
10. Church
11. Religion
12. Military
13. Grandparents
14. Aunts and Uncles
15. Beautiful Mountains
16. Snow
17. Work
18. Electricity
19. Toilets
20. Food
21. Ice Cream
22. Water
23. Movies
24. Plays
25. Dancing With The Stars
26. Desperate Housewives
27. Brothers and Sisters (the tv show)
28. The Sun
29. Cool weather
30. the Beach
31. Vegetables
32. Books to read
33. kids
34. hope
35. guardian angels
36. my religion
37. Tulips
38. days off work
39. nice people on the freeway who let me in when my blinker is on
40. funny people I meet who make me laugh

Happy Thanksgiving Everybody! Eat too much and enjoy! :)

Spence

Spence was the first transfer pup I raised. He was born Feb. 26, 2003 and I got him at the beginning of Sept. His parents were Wallace and Lanai. Spence came from a very successful litter! I think 6/8 pups in his litter became guides. Anyway, I got Spence at the Utah State Fair. He was HUGE when I got him and continued to grow. Spence became known as "Moose" at our house because he was so huge!

Spence as a baby in his first puppy club

Spence grew into a beautiful big boy! He was more challenging than Magician and Anya, but I was up for the challenge with Spence. He was a lot of FUN! The hardest thing about Spence was that nobody else in my club could handle him, so that was hard as I could never get a break from him.

Spence at about 7 months?

Spence taught me:

*patience

*it's okay to have FUN!

*dogs can change

*things aren't always as they appear

*it doesn't matter what other people think

Spence was thriving in my house and doing amazingly well! He was happy and very well behaved after a few months of work with him. Around Christmas time, Spence was attacked by another dog while we were on a walk :( This shattered Spence's confidence around other dogs and at the end of Feb. 2004 he went back to GDB for an evaluation and they decided that he was just too scared of loose dogs to be a guide. Spence was placed by GDB in a loving home with a couple in CA. He is a therapy dog now and is extremely happy and loved by his people!

Anya

Anya was the 2nd puppy I raised. She was an amazing little girl and exactly what we wished for when we got Magician. We wanted a female black lab when we started raising pups, but got Magician because he was ready to go and we didn't want to wait! I got Anya on April 22, 2002 off the puppy truck. She was born Jan. 30, 2002 to the Famous Julianne and her dad was Les. She had 4 black brothers and 1 yellow brother-NO SISTERS (poor girl!). Anyway, her brothers were Alex (cc), Alamo (guide), Alto (guide), Amador (cc) and Armstrong (cc-but the spokesdog for Dogs for Diabetics).

The things Anya taught me were:

* you can be "almost perfect", but not "absolutely perfect"

*black is beautiful!

* act so that people call you "princess"

*each dog has it's own personality

*she was born to be a guide-some dogs just have it!

*dogs don't all chase balls-in fact, some dogs care less about balls!

Anya was an amazing dog! I knew from day 1 that she was going to be a guide dog, but she was one of the dogs that I would have kept in a heartbeat! Anya never actually made it to phase 10, she got put into class from phase 8. She graduated with her partner in November of 2003. She is still working in CA and has the most perfect person as her handler! Anya and her partner are two peas in a pod and it shows!

Magician

This whole puppy raising thing started after a year and a half of attending puppy raising meetings. I was very persistant with raising and I was not going to give up until I had a puppy! So on Nov. 30, 2000 I got my little yellow bundle of puppy fur...and his name was Magician! Magician was born Sept. 28, 2000. His mom is Henrietta and his dad is Rashad...both of them have passed on. His littermates were all yellow, they were: Maynard (retired guide), Mazie (retired guide), Marlin (retired guide), Melita (guide), Mercedes (career change), and Madonna (career change).

Magician with Lindsey and Santa a week after picking him up!

Magician was a wonderful "first puppy". He was not perfect by any means, especially at first. Magician taught me many lessons which were:

* Yellow dog fur all over the house is not the end of the world.

* If your puppy respects you, the love will come with that.

*You can be the laziest creature alive, but still feel the need to get in trouble once in a while!

* Dogs need a pack leader, if you are not willing to be the leader, the dog will step up.

* Old habits die hard

*Guide dogs are dogs...not robots, they don't have to be perfect

Magician on Graduation day in OR

Magician graduated on July 27, 2002. His trainer absolutely loved him, and told me at Sonny's graduation, that she still has pictures of him on her fridge at home. She took Magician home with her a lot while she was training him and she just loved him. In class he was nicknamed "superslug", because he was pretty slow and just took his time! He is still working in CA with his perfect partner! He is doing great and has been through a lot with his partner, but they are the perfect team and hopefully still have many years of working ahead of them!

His name is...

Frisco with my Niece

Yesterday I picked up Mr. Frisco :) He is one of O'Connor's babies and he is pretty adorable!

Ontario likes him and is trying to be a good big brother (but sometimes that's hard when the baby does things he's not supposed to be doing...)

My Puppy Raising Mom

In August 2005, I was raising Sonny a MBL. He was about 6 months old and we had decided to go to both the CA and OR Guide Dog Fun Days that year. We spent several days in CA with Stacey, and then we flew to OR where Sonny was puppysat by some raisers up there and where I knew I would get to meet Sonny's brother, Sprite.

The night before Fun Day I was staying at my sister's house in OR. Well, during the night I started barfing my guts out...and it wasn't over in the morning when it was time for me to go to Fun Day. However, being the guide dog freak that I am, I bought me some pepto and off to Fun Day I went.

When it was time, I went to the designated meeting spot to meet Sonny's brother Sprite and his raisers. At that spot on the grass in OR, I met Bob and Tricia Blair. This started a fabulous friendship between Tricia and I.

Tricia became my "guide dog mom" and we talked on the phone almost daily for quite some time. When I was going through so-called rough times in my young adult life, Tricia was the person who would hear me cry over the phone...she was also the person who would send me care packages in the mail, and when I really needed her? Tricia was at my door, giving up her weekend to come visit me! She became my second mom.

Tricia was diagnosed with Brain cancer about 7 months ago...and about a week ago, Tricia was freed from her sick body and is now an angel for many! I know that Tricia is happy wherever she is now, and is no longer in pain. She was a wonderful woman who meant the world to many people including me.

So from Lindsey and the "nasty GSD Ontario" (as Tricia would say)...I love you Tricia!