Picnic!!!

Installment II

Sunday was a picnic day...for the HUMANS. We just sat around while the HUMANS ATE!!!!

and Marley waited...

and Cinder waited...

and Divit and I waited...

BUT NO FOOD FOR US

Then we got excited. They finally got out a food bag for us but only let the new puppies near it. I think they were setting up a Circus act cuz every time this would happen...

Ready.....

Set....

Scatter!!!

Silly humans will never learn

Then one of the little guys tried on Reggie's harness...he/she has got a lot of growing up to do.

Slick

Better

Good News: Bella has fully recovered and is back to her happy, friendly self.

Puppy Still Sick

Bella is still not feeling well. The puppy raiser, president, and puppy coordinator are working with the vet to resolve her condition. She had an x-ray which didn't show anything in her stomach and no blockage. Her spleen was enlarged, which usually means some kind of irritation. Hopefully, she only has an irritation caused by eating something she shouldn't have. She has already lost 6 pounds, but the last report sounded positive. Keep your fingers and toes crossed.

Who knows what a dog might eat. The other night we noticed that two of Buddy's toys were missing parts: hedgehog was missing a Santa hat and another was missing strings. He had already eaten dinner. We are hoping that they are misplaced, but think that they were one of his snacks. One way or another they should show up soon.



"You may have a dog that won't sit up, roll over or even cook breakfast, not because she's too stupid to learn how but because she's too smart to bother." - Rick Horowitz, Chicago Tribune

Stormy

At times it seems that Bella's favorite thing to do is torment our family pet, a three year old lab named Stormy. Stormy is the exact opposite of Bella. Stormy is sleek and trim; Bella is baggy and stocky. Stormy is dainty and lady-like; Bella is sloppy and clumsy. Stormy barks at anything outside that moves; Bella could give a hoot. They love to chew on each other, even groom each other. The tease each other with their toys.

Bella's next scheduled outing, assuming she is feeling better, will be a wrestling meet this evening. She has been to quite a few and it's great training for her. She would love so much to join those young men and wrestle with them, but knows she has to just sit and watch.

Sick Puppy

This week we are dealing with Bella's first sickness. Hate to be gross, but she had been vomiting since Friday. Nothing much, but about two or three times a day. On Monday we took her to the vet. Luckily the vet didn't see any signs of poison and does not suspect anything sharp in her belly, my two concerns.

He thinks it's just an upset tummy, gave her a shot, and has put her on a special bland dog food for a couple of days. It has now been over 24 hours since she has gotten sick, so we think it's blown over. Poor Bella, she even tries to make it out her doggie door when the urge to get sick happens.

Later ....

We thought Bella was doing better, but she "lost it" last night. So, she is now fasting for 24 hours (only ice chips) and then introduce the special canned food. Poor Bella, she looks so embarrassed after she gets sick. If this does not clear up by Saturday another trip to the vet.

Alice Cooper

Bella goes just about everywhere that we go. In her 8 months with us she has just about seen and done it all. Bella has gone to school plays and concerts, wrestling meets and even gone to school with our daughter. Bella has been in all kinds of stores, restaurants, in parades, county fairs, a funeral, even an Alice Cooper concert! Mini-golfing, boating, you name it. She takes it as it comes.

Of course, nobody is perfect. Bella's biggest training challenge is to greet people calmly, with dignity. We have been working on that by applying pressure to her pinch collar and reminding her firmly for a calm greeting. We are seeing success in this. And, she loves to lay on peoples feet which can really get in the way.

I'd love to hear from others raising puppies for any kind of service work.

Meet Bella

I'd like to introduce you to Bella!

Bella is a black Labrador Retriever, almost 10 months old. Bella is with OccuPaws and in the process of becoming a guide dog for the blind. Bella is Buddy's brother and I know you have gotten to know Buddy through the other posts. Bella lives with the Ploegerts, in the country right on the Rock River in Janesville.

We have always had labs in the family and training puppies is such a joy for our family. This is our first time puppy-raising a future guide dog and we have enjoyed it so much and consider it a blessing.

Bella is a fun dog, the class clown. Underneath her goofy behavior, her thick slobbers, her bulldozing through anything, is a smart, eager to please girl. Bella loves to meet people, she is well behaved in public, and just about every thing we have trained her to do she has done. In October she received her Canine Good Citizen Award.

Our favorite quality of Bella is how loving she is. She shows it in a rather boisterous way, but it's there! She loves to be in the same room with us and will follow us wherever we go.

Home Again (Janesville)

I know Bella is home because I can't take a step in the kitchen without her plopping on my foot! What a moose. Bella seems to hit the floor running no matter where she is! It's like she was never gone. We loved doing the swap. What a treat for us!

Stormy and Bella are right next to each other, each chewing on their chips. After I get the kids up I like to play some fetch with Bella, tire her out so I can get my things going. We missed how she goes down the stairs, I think she only lands on about three of them.

I've read somewhere that Labs tend to give most of their love to on person, they love everybody, but they have that one special person. I know every dog we've ever had always fall for Fran. But, I don't think Bella has done that. And that's good. It's almost like Bella and Buddy know what lies ahead of them. Maybe because we are raising them a bit different than an average pet.

Have a great day and give that Bud Bud a big kiss from me!

Bella - Day 6/7

I wish we would have remembered the camera tonight when we went for the carriage ride. We first took Bella just in the general vicinity of the horses to gauge her reaction. Bella looked like a little bunny rabbit with her nose twitching. The carriage driver had to let us know if it was OK for Bella to ride because they weren't sure how the horses would react, but she was being so polite just sitting there almost like a child saying "please, please, I'll be good, I swear!" So the driver said, sure.

She was a little unsure at first when the carriage started to move, but we tucked some blankets around her, and she got comfy and everyone in the carriage was petting her (it was more like a small horse-drawn wagon) and she rode just fine. Since we didn't have a camera, one of the gals in charge of the horses took a picture of her in the carriage and they are going to send it to the Oregon newspaper--if it gets published, we will send you a copy! Oh, and in the restaurant, the middle school choir came in caroling, it was quite an adventure for all of us tonight.

I also worry about Bella going down the stairs. I thought she was going to run into the wall at the bottom or go tumbling. If she is moving, she has no other speed but fast. She's so funny! We forgot to tell you, we took Bella sled riding when we took our Goddaughters, and took her for a ride down the hill with Jeff in a sled--she practically jumped on his head, she was not at all thrilled with that ride. Since our Goddaughters are so little, 2 and 4, the hill was not very steep at all, but Bella wanted none of it.

Bella - Day 5

Sorry to hear Buddy was not very agreeable at the concert. You are probably right, he was probably just overly tired and irritated that the band was keeping him up! ha. Actually, he acted the same way by the end of the Springsteen concert as well, and then it was actually lucky we were sitting in the handicapped accessible row, because Jeff was able to stand up with him and walk around without missing the encore.

Bella ended up having an even more busy day yesterday. After Jeff got home, he was going to take her to shovel out the mailbox approach and then for a short walk, but when they got to the park, they met a man with a misbehaving 5 month old puppy who wanted instruction from Jeff on how to help train the puppy! Jeff took off Bella's pinch collar and put it on the puppy, and the man was amazed at how it worked! He was going to go out to buy one today. Bella came home exhausted from playing with this puppy.

We also found, now please don't panic, that Bella has some sort of abrasion on her front right paw, more up on the back of the leg but above her paw. She has not bothered it in the least and she is not limping. The only reason we saw it is because we were rubbing her belly and she was upside down with her legs in the air. We put some Bacitracin on it last night and again this morning, and probably she can take care of it better herself just by licking it.

Not that we are anxious to get rid of Bella, in fact, we would keep her as long as you would let us but we're anxious to get Buddy and I'm sure you're anxious to have Bella back too.

Bella - Day 4

Bella and I just got done running some errands, library, hardware store, pharmacy, then I took her for a walk right away, then played catch with some snowballs (she has been jumping up to catch them in mid air, what a jumper!) and she had her supper, now is lying resting. Jeff is going to be home late tonight, so no doubt she will go out and play a bit when he gets home. She did great on all the errands in and out of the car. I was getting nervous because I knew it was time for her PM potty, but she waited until we went for our walk. Every place we go she gets lots of compliments!

That's funny you mention that about the salt on the paws. We had just asked on the Occupaws forum if anyone had any suggestions because our pet dogs we used to have used to really get irritated by the salt and even start to limp. We were told to carry some wet wipes with us and wipe off the paws every time they came in. I am so glad to hear Buddy is behaving himself, except for the barking. That will be quite an issue to control.

Jeff has been taking Bella to the park in the morning before work and meets up with some other ladies who all walk their dogs together--I told him he sounds like the only "dad" in a mom's play group! ha. He said there was another man with them today though. One lady also had 2 of her puppies with her, which are about 8 weeks old. He said Bella really tried to keep up with the puppies. She came home this morning and immediately crawled in her crate and fell asleep! So she has had a long day, too. Does your son do a lot with Bella? Because every time she sees a teenage boy in particular, she wags her tail and gets all excited like she knows them!

Bella - Day 3

Bella actually will sit and wait for her food, huh? We have been trying to make her wait, because that's what we do with Buddy (at least so you can get your hand out of the way before they dive in!), but it has been very hard but we will continue to try now that we know you do it too. Buddy drools for his food too.

It's so funny, I thought just the opposite about the sleeping habits. Since I work all AM, Jeff usually takes Buddy for a short walk before he leaves for work (& he's been doing this will Bella too) then Buddy usually curls up and sleeps until lunch time when I can take him out for a little walk and play, etc., so I'm surprised to hear he is staying up. Bella on the other hand, the first 2 mornings did the same thing as Buddy, but for some reason today she has been up milling around. We have a bay window that overlooks the high school so she has discovered that #1, that's where the sun comes in and it's warm, and #2 that she can see kids who I am sure she thinks must be her kids. She obviously loves all of you very much.


I am about to take her on a little walk, and then we are going to the mall for some shopping and meet Jeff for dinner out somewhere. Oh, I forgot to tell you, at the training class, they were clipping toenails, so we had them clip Bella's. She wasn't crazy about it, but she did not cry or fight, so she will come home with fresh clipped nails, though Marlene said they really looked fine anyway.

Bella did great yesterday. The mall was a big test because of all the people, but she was wonderful. We ran into a dad and his daughter (maybe 2 years old) about 3 different times in the mall, who just fell in love with Bella. The little girl was so excited and Bella was very gentle with her, very sweet. They said they have been thinking about getting a dog and when they left they said that they were off to buy a dog! Ha.

Gosh if the story I told yesterday brought a tear to your eye, I better not tell you how she reacted when she saw a school bus go by (does a bus pick up your kids?)...she actually tried to follow it. Although she seems perfectly happy here, I guess some of those triggers that she has known for 9 months are pretty set in stone. I don't even like to think about the day we hand Buddy over to Doug or Mac.

A tip about Buddy, before you go in anywhere on your stops, try to get him to potty. We usually ask him to potty any time before he gets into or out of the car. He and Bella seem to be on the same schedule as far as that goes, so if he goes right away in the morning, then he may or may not go a little bit at noon, and then you should be good until 5:00 or so with little potty breaks along the way. He'll also kind of alert you if you are in a building very subtlely, he just starts acting a little weird and nervous. He dearly loves to go for a ride and loves people, so he'll be fine.

Bella - Day 2

Bella had a good day yesterday. She greeted our remodeling contractor with no hesitation. We continue to be in awe of how obedient she is. She is extremely attentive all the time.

Training class went very well last night. Bella did perfectly!! She had fun during play time with one particular shepherd puppy named Ace who seemed mesmerized by her pink collar, when they would play, he kept pulling on her collar like he wanted to take it off! She held her own though and they seemed to be a good match for each other. Boy was she tired when she came home though.

The only thing Marlene told us was that she wondered how Buddy was going to do with a doggy door, and Bella without one. Bella is doing fine. In fact,this morning when I let her out of the crate, she headed straight for the front door and I let her out on the tie out, and she did her thing and came right back to the door. So, they are quick learners for sure.

Bella gets lots of attention around here because she is much more affectionate than Buddy is, you just want to hug her all the time. She is just a sweetheart. With the weather, we really don't have any outings scheduled, but we will make a point of even just getting her out to the grocery store or somewhere in town here if nothing else. She sure does love to be on the go. She seems deflated when Jeff leaves for work in the morning and she cannot go along, but she's easily conjoled with a little game of fetch. Right now, she is again sleeping here in my office as I work--which I better get back to. Glad to hear Buddy is adapting. He's quite the independent little mutt.

Wow! I can't get over that a bird flew into your house. You will know soon enough if one of the dogs got it, but you're right, I can't imagine they would eat it that fast. Something must have been wrong with the bird, to fly in and then to get hit by the fan--you'd think birds would be better at avoiding both of those things unless it was sick or hurt already. If it got back out, boy will it have a good story to tell the other birds, right?!

We've been crating Bella at night because that's what we do with Buddy, but honestly once she is in there, we do not hear a peep until we get her out in the morning, and she comes bursting out. One thing about those dogs, they are always happy. It does not surprise me that Buddy has taken to Fran, he is definitely a man's dog. Like Jeff said, we try to think of things to work on with Bella, but there don't seem to be areas--the only thing we've had to tell her repeatedly is to stay "off", the couch or bed, but she only tries to get up on them to be closer to you, so it's really hard to tell her No, but we have been.

Bella - Day 1

Bella is doing great.

Oh Bella is just a love and so polite! We took her for a walk right away and she walked right by our side. She is excellent about coming back to you & enthusiastic about it! She loves chasing snow balls. Buddy needs work on recalling and as I said, he likes to be walking in front of you all the time. To him, "heel" means slow down slightly--which we really try to enforce now that the ground can be slippery (it's a work in progress).

Back to Bella, we were a little worried that she did not go potty (just to pee even) but after about 2 hours of being around here, I was in the basement with her throwing a toy and she would bring it back and drop it (wow!) and she suddenly stopped playing and started sniffing around, so I took her outside and success! I think it is because we are not used to having a female and Marlene had said a long time ago, females just do not urinate as much as males do because they do not do that "marking" behavior that male dogs do. Bella has already learned where the door is and when we ask if she wants to go outside, she runs right to it.

Jeff took her for a walk this morning and she went potty of all kinds with no problems. Oh, and there were other dogs in the park this morning that Jeff said Bella played with really nicely. She even let a puppy get her down on her back--awww. There was a boxer dog there also, and if you remember Sadie from training, boxers are very "growly", Bella did not like that much, so maybe she's more girly than you think! She slept soundly last night and we didn't hear a peep out of her.

I work most days until noon or so, at home, so right now Bella is sleeping next to my desk. She seems happy to be with whatever human is moving around the house. I have a building contractor coming in today to do some minor work, it should not be too loud or scary for Bella. She does seem to hear every new sound, but she has no bad reaction to it, she just notices it is different. I'm sure we have more traffic around our house than you do, but she is getting used to that. She does not seem at all interested in Buddy's toys unless we're throwing them (maybe one of those girl things where she doesn't want to touch some ucky boy's toys! ha).

We do have a training class that we attend tonight which Marlene teaches. It is a bunch of German shepherd puppies, then whatever Occupaws dogs Marlene brings and Ernie with Sadie, and then us. We only started taking Buddy to give him more exposure to other dogs. So we will take Bella tonight.

I apologize if Buddy came to your house dirty--I actually had just given him a bath before we left and he was smelling good. Then we got to the parking lot to do the exchange and Bella and Buddy had mud flying within about 2 seconds, but our intentions were good! I think we all needed a bath by the time we left.

Apologize profusely for us to Stormy for his overzealous behavior!