Bad Dog Mom

HAPPY BIRTHDAY COBB!!!

Two days ago, June 26, 2011 was Cobb's 1st birthday. The above picture was taken back in December by Lisa Thompson who is the former leader of my puppy club.

I never imagined how much this little boy would steal my heart! As a puppy raiser you love all your puppies, but some pups are just different! Late last August, my puppy raising life was going pretty fantastically. I was co-raising my wonderful Joaquin, and had my awesome puppy Carlos who I had just been told wasn't going to the High School Program (much to my relief)...I was all set to finish co-raising Joaquin, and finish raising Carlos until this spring at which time I would get another puppy... I was told that Carlos was staying! Yay! The same night my CFR told me that I got to keep Carlos, she asked if I had any other raisers who would be willing to get a new puppy the next week to fly out with a breeder pup (they like to fly 2 pups together...) I didn't have any raisers in my club and no other clubs had another raiser either as the puppy truck had just come 2 weeks earlier! The next day the leader of the school program told me that they did need Carlos because another school raiser had surfaced and Carlos was the only other pup for the program. I was crushed! So after thinking for a day about what I was going to do...I asked my CFR if I could have that other puppy flying out the next week and she said of course! That was on Friday...and on Wednesday Sept. 1, I got Cobb! I had no clue how special this little puppy was going to become for me. I just adore Cobb and have LOVED his personality. I don't know what his future holds, whether it is to be a guide dog, or to be my dog forever...but I do know that whatever it is...it will be fabulous! Cobb, Cobby, Cobster-bobster, Cobber, Cute-boy and Happy Dog...I hope that you had a happy birthday and enjoyed the extra food, cuddle time and extra long walk!

Carlos...

I was lucky enough to say goodbye to Carlos at the puppy truck on Sunday morning. The time came for him to enter training to be a guide dog! He is a good boy and I'm excited to watch him as he goes thru the phases of guide dog training! Good luck Carlos!

Happy June and School's OUT!!!

It has been a long time since I thought about this blog...I'm going to try to do better...but first of all...it's June and school is out and I don't have to work again until August!

Second of all: Cobb...he is the best puppy! I just love him, he is energetic, but very sweet and soft and wonderful and easy to handle and has great house manners and is easy to take out in public...he's just one of the nicest dogs ever! I love him...and isn't he so cute... in the background of this picture Brogan is scratching...he scratches a lot...and he is visiting us a lot this summer while his family is on vacation. We don't mind cause we love Brogan!

Third of all... since it's June and school is out and I'm slightly crazy and don't want to get a new puppy to raise in the fall at the beginning of the school year...

I decided to show up at the puppy truck yesterday, June 9th in Salt Lake City...

And there was this adorable female black lab at the truck...

And have I ever been one to pass up on a puppy???

And when she started licking my chin... I figured I should just take her home with me...

She has 2 other sisters that came on the truck to Utah, but they are yellow, and while yellow can be very cute...

Black is Beautiful

And her name is...

HALLIE

Hallie's birthday is April 2.

Hallie's parents are Jenkins and Jillian

Hallie's sisters are Hazelle and Helena

If you ask me...I think I won the puppy lottery this year! - I might be a bit smitten by the little girl!

Joaquin Graduated

Joaquin graduated as a guide dog on March 12. He has the most fabulous new partner! She has had 2 golden guides so she knows what she's getting into with a golden :) I never had any doubt that Joaquin would be a guide as he has always been an incredible dog. Graduation was awesome and Joaquin went crazy to see me and Mickelle. Joaquin looked so awesome in his harness and you could tell he was proud of himself too. He was so excited to be with everybody who loved him so much that he was too excited to be a safe guide that day, but i've heard from his handler since then and she says he is doing well and is a good dog and does good guide work! What more could a dogmom want, right? So proud of my golden boy Joaquin. I'll post more pictures of graduation soon...along with some other updates in my life...

What have we here???

Rio

The Story: On Feb 2, I got an email from my CFR at GDB with the subject 3 Pups to UT? When I opened the email it said that there were 3 9 week old pups who could fly to UT on the 11th with a Guide Dog Employee when she came for our annual leader meeting. So of course, I immediately call my CFR and ask if I can start one of the pups. She immediately said yes and the next day sent me an email saying that my future starter pup would be MYL "R" born on 12/7. So on the 11th, I went to the airport to pick up "R". His parents are Alonzo and Holly. My CFR told me on Wednesday (I got him on a friday) that he had a great name with 3 letters. Rio was the only name I liked that started with R and had 3 letters...so I was happy that was actually his name! So far he's adorable and keeping me busy, he is mellow for the most part, but very independent! Cobb thinks he's a great toy that I brought home for him to play with.

So anyway, I have Rio for the next few months until he is ready for an adventure with another raiser.

Merry Christmas!

Cobb just wants to wish everybody a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! He loved his photo shoot if you can't tell... LOL

In Training

Joaquin is in training at the Oregon campus! He was on a vacation in San Rafael for a few weeks being looked at for breeding, but decided that he didn't want to be a breeder I guess! It was kind of a shock, but I think he will be a great guide dog, and that's what we raised him to do! Would have loved to raise a "Joaquin" puppy, but it wasn't meant to be. Joaquin is a great boy and he'll be fabulous no matter what he decides to do with his life. I miss him, but I'm sure he's loving all the attention he gets and the playtime with the other dogs in the kennels. Good Luck little boy!

fall pictures

This weekend my mom took some pictures of Joaquin and me. He's such a great boy and is leaving soon, so i'm glad we got some decent pictures :) As much as i tried, I didn't get any fabulous pictures of Joaquin all by himself...i'll have to try again next weekend! :) Anyway, here are some of the good ones of both of us. I'm going to miss this boy so much!

Cobb 14 weeks

Joaquin 13 months

Adios Carlos Amigos :(

Carlos went to his new raiser on Friday. He is going to a program in Salt Lake City, where high school kids raise puppies as part of a class and they always get started puppies, so they don't have to worry about the puppy having baby puppy accidents and stuff. I agreed to start Carlos for this program, but was uncertain that he would go to the program, until the last month, since there are always more dogs started than will be needed. Carlos was a real special boy for me. I was pretty smitten with him from the minute he got off the truck and we just clicked... I have had a few other dogs who I was bonded to like Carlos, so if his new raiser is reading this, I sure hope she knows and realizes how lucky she is!

The night before Carlos left, I went to take some fall pictures of him...I don't have photoshop, and had to use the flash, cause it was getting too dark not to (and I have many blurry pictures to prove my point on this) anyway, sorry about the devil eyes... but here is beautiful Carlos.

And this is my 18 month old nephew with Carlos. This kid LOVES dogs. When he sees my puppies he gets so excited and just loves playing with them and watching them. Right before this picture was taken, I looked over at Carlos and my nephew, and Car was chillin' on his back and my nephew was laying right next to him just lovin' him up. Everybody just loves Carlos!

My roommate and I always called Carlos, Carlos Amigos...I don't really know why, but it's kind of fun to say I guess, and he just became Carlos Amigos! And it just fit...He is a sweet, sweet, sensitive, cuddly, well behaved, awesome puppy! So for now, Adios Amigos...hopefully I'll get to puppysit him at some point and his adventures on this blog will not be over. I love that dog! He's special!

Cute Corn Cobb

Cute Cobb, on tie-down next to the couch at 12 weeks. He's sure a cute little guy! And he's actually growing into his ears...I'll have to post another picture soon :)

Another puppy...

Carlos is going to the Salt Lake School Program at the end of the month...so I got a new puppy today. This my friends is Cobb. Yes, like Cobb Salad! He is an adorable 9 1/2 week old male black lab. His parents are Ozzie and Labelle. On monday he will go to a puppysitters house for 2ish weeks until Carlos goes to his high school student.

Cute puppy Cobb at 9 1/2 weeks!

Carlos Amigos

I have not done justice for my Carlos on this blog so far. So here is a special post just for Carlos Amigos! He is an awesome puppy. He has been SO easy to raise up to this point. He's not without his quirks...just like any puppy, but I am so lucky to get to raise him as he's such a great puppy!

So first question is:

How does this... (8 week old carlos)

Turn into this:

5 month old Carlos

He definately looks older and more mature than the pudgy little puppy he was! He is still adorable...(of course). He is also likes many of the same past times that he enjoyed as an 8 week old puppy...such as sleeping on his back on his bed!

Carlos at 8 weeks on the fluffy bed sleeping on his back...

Carlos at 5 months laying on his back on the same bed...he takes up a little more space now than he did.

And here is Carlos' official 5 month old picture. He is so cute and such a good boy! He is a momma's boy and does exactly what I ask him to do and LOVES to please!

People laugh when I call him Carlos Amigos, but we joke Amigos is his middle name. He is a friend to all...people and dogs! He has a huge fan club of my nieces and nephews as well as my roommate and my grandma and my neighbors...ok, so everybody loves Carlos Amigos!

Summer Fun #2

And road trip #2 the mammoth road trip! (be sure to read the previous post for road trip #1)

Once again, Joaquin and I embarked on a road trip. We drove from Salt Lake to Reno the first day and spent the night with some friends in Reno. The next day we drove to the Bay Area. First we stopped at GDB to return some old run down supplies and go sneak a peek at the baby puppies. We went to starbucks to kill time for a few hours and play on the computer. Then we met up with some friends and Joaquin met GDB puppy Jaffe. We picked another friend up at the airport with her puppy Carney and all went to dinner. We met the first GDB pup I raised, Magician and his handler for dinner...

The picture above is me with Joaquin on the left and Magician on the right. Magician will probably be retiring sometime in the next year. He will be 10 next month and has earned his retirement where he will continue to live with his handler.

The next day we rode the ferry into San Francisco...Joaquin assumed the usual position on the ferry and won over the coast guard guys (those are the boots you see in the picture)

We spent a few hours in Jail (Alcatraz of course!) Obviously, Joaquin didn't think the life of a convict suited him well...so naturally we took the ferry back to the city by the bay where we were going to ride a cable car, but the line was too long, so we ended up walking to Market street to do a little shopping (not Joaquin's favorite part of the trip!)

Then we went to Fun Day where Joaquin had his family reunion...He met up with his mom, 2 brothers and 2 sisters...we met (in order of the picture I think...) Jigsaw, Lamara, Janie, Jingle, Jordie and Joaquin. Joaquin is the biggest of the brothers that we met. He looked just like the photo of his dad that we saw. His littermates and mom all seemed to be very nice dogs!

The day after Fun Day we had a lazy day cause we were exhausted! We just layed around the house most of the day, and then went into the city that night to see Wicked...which I loved and Joaquin slept thru.

We started our drive to Oregon and stayed in a hotel that night where Joaquin was perfect! The next morning we drove to Crater Lake which was beautiful!

Then we went to Portland to meet up with some of my family. With the family Joaquin and I went to the Oregon Coast...

We also went to Mount Saint Helens with the family. which was a lot of fun too! We went to Fun Day in Oregon, however, none of Joaquins siblings were there and I didn't take any pictures. Mickelle brought Carlos up to Fun day in Oregon, and took Joaquin home with her the next day. We had a great trip and Joaquin was EXCELLENT. I could not have been any more impressed and proud of my boy or asked for a better dog to accompany me on the trip.

Summer Fun #1

At the end of June I took Joaquin on a small road trip (in preparation for a much larger road trip)... We started in Utah, and picked up some friends in Vegas and then took them HERE:

That would be the Grand Canyon! And boy is it Grand. We went to the North Rim which is a few thousand feet higher than the more popular South Rim. We got there around sunset, but I thought it was cool that the moon was out...

Joaquin was NOT impressed with all the picture taking my friends needed to do, so assumed the usual position in the middle of the trail...

I got a few pictures of him, but he was tired from a LONG day of driving and he was looking kind of pathetic...but isn't he cute?

After Grand Canyon, we drove to Camp Bloomfield in Malibu, and spent a few days just hanging out in Southern California. Unfortunately it was really foggy while we were there, so we didn't get to go to the beach much like we had planned...but it was great to hang out with our old friends and see the familiar faces at camp. --and camp was excited to have Joaquin there for a few days too!

Pictures!!!

Carlos at 10 weeks playing with his jollyball.

Carlos at 10 weeks with his puppy coat on.

Joaquin at Antelope Island with the Bison behind him (he wasn't real impressed with the bison.)

Joaquin at Antelope Island with the Great Salt Lake and the Rocky Mountains behind him.

Carlos sleeping on the dog bed at 8 weeks...

I was shoe shopping yesterday with this BIG guy! I heard a small child (probably about 3 years old) say "horsey, horsey" and point to Joaquin. Now, yes, he is a big dog...but I don't think he's THAT big! It was definately a new one in my years of raising puppies... I might be able to understand if it was Ontario who was even bigger than Joaquin and also had pointy ears...but it just made me laugh! Kids are cute!

Carlos's parents are Denzel and Maria. Denzel is black and Maria is yellow, I believe there are both black and yellow pups in his litter. So far he continues to be a wonderful puppy. So adorable and a cuddler. Of course I am totally in love with this little guy! Joaquin loves him a little too much--so for now their interactions are quite limited, but with time and patience I'm sure they will learn to chill with each other just fine. I am so lucky to get such awesome puppies! I fall in love with them more and more every day.

Joaquin seems to have turned from the silly golden puppy, to a serious adult golden dog. He is such a nice dog and everyday surprises me with how awesome he is!

I'm a lucky puppy raiser for sure!