Winter Training

Although the ground is covered with snow and the sidewalks with ice and salt, a few of our future guide dogs are still getting their daily dose of training.

Sonny and Sparta are enjoying the sunny skies of California as they have entered their final stage of training.


Sonny, who has been out there for about two months, began his preliminary blindfold testing yesterday.

Sparta flew out ten days ago and is still getting acclimated to Santa Barbara.



It certainly is a Dog's Life.

California Journey

For the past 13 months, C.H. Bird has had a very special student in Sonny, a black-lab puppy on his way to a guide dog position.


View Sonny's Story

Out & About

Hi all! Wilbur here.

Once again, my mom says that I have not been writing enough. Well, I tried to tell her that I have been too busy to write!

Did you know that we are having a Scavenger Hunt with motorcycles in August? What do we do try to find the motorcycles?? Wednesday last week we went to Quaker Steak and Lube in Middleton to tell everybody about it! Motorcycle people are SO nice.

On another day, mom, dad, Harley and I rode around in the car for miles - - stopping and writing down questions on pieces of paper - - something about “That’s a good question”. On the route, we went all the way to Finn’s and had a GREAT lunch on the deck. At Finn’s there were these cute little duckies with writing on them. Something about a rubber duckie race down the Rock River. All I know is I did not get ANYTHING to eat. (Grrrr) We did our usual meet and greet at Mounds on Saturday. Lots of nice people. Our table is set up right next to a display of bones. But, mom would not let Harley or I have any.





Then yesterday (Sunday) we went back to Finns and saw more of those cute little Duckies. Casey, Marlette, Amy and Hailey drove down with us too.

Guess what? At Finns, we met MORE of our friends: cute little Lori, Timber, Banjo, Sonni, and Monte. We were all trying to ask people to buy the cute little duckies and to come for the race August 28.

Ta Ta for now!

Wilbur

Sausage Anyone?

Generally an Italian Sausage would fear two ravenous Labradors and flee. However, being ten feet tall does have its advantages.

Or are the canines lulling the sausage into a false sense of security, preparing an attack when his back is turned.

Farmer's Market - Part I

Hello everybody!

Wilbur here!

It has been a little while since I wrote a note about my house mate Harley and my progress. We have been very busy learning how to be very good dogs. We have been EVERYWHERE. Shopping, training classes, American Family (our friend Dan took me there) and today we both went to the Dane County Farmer’s Market.





We met all sorts of people: little kids (with yummy hands), old kids, and adults. Being a wonderful Golden, I showed how well I am behaved to my friend Dan. But it became boring as he did a lot of “blah, blah, blah”.

He talked to others about becoming puppy raisers and about OccuPaws fund raisers. Harley was busy too with dad “working the crowd”. My other friends, Promise, Hailey, and Sonny also came with their people: Carolyn, Doug, Amy, Debbie, and, of course, mom and dad Schultze.

The humans had lunch at the Great Dane (Dutch treat, of course)… But alas! AGAIN! No food for us!

Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Your friend,

Wilbur, the wonderful modest and beautiful golden retriever.

Deb Daggett and her second grade class

made the NEWS!!!

Watch it here.

Ducks for Dogs

On Sunday Maddi went to Fin's in Newville and sold rubber duckies for the Ducks for Dogs on August 28th. There were a lot of dogs there. We had a great time selling duckies and meeting all the people. We also got to meet the newest puppy, Lori. She is a sweetie.

Bark For Life

On Saturday we went to Oregon to help support the American Cancer Society and their Bark for Life dog walk. Here are a couple of admirers keeping the pups busy while we set up the booth.



All the pups held their downs, but just had to creep over to the kids to say hi.


















Now the pups had to pose nicely in front of the signs. First in a sit stay...................













then in a down stay. They all did very well at both.











Harley will use anyone for a pillow that will let him.

It was a very nice windy day. Talked with a lot of nice people and met all kinds of other dogs.

Dog Den Blast

Woof fellow black dogs...we rule!!!!

Shepherds and Goldens quake in our dust!!!

Oh, wait, water-break...ahhh.




We all had a great time playing at the Dog Den Saturday morning. Pictures were a little difficult as most turned out to be blurry streaks. We were all pretty well behaved with only a few "unnecessary roughness" penalties and time outs. Poor Harley and Louie were on injured reserve...Harley was just neutered and Louie had a bit of a limp so he didn't get to play either. The humans just stood around and blah blah blah until a pack of labs broke up the talking.





I'll admit, I'm no Lab either and enjoyed some quiet time with Kotah.



There are some more pictures posted here.

All for now,
Wilbur

Switcheroo

All of Maddi's litter is now old enough (8 months) and we are switching them around with the other raisers to see what happens in new situations. Maddi is with Sonny's raisers and we have Sonny. Casey, Sparta, Finley have also switched homes for the next two weeks. It is always interesting seeing how the dogs react in different situations.

Great Lakes Pet Expo

Today we had lots of the OccuPaws dogs at the pet expo in Milwaukee. They all had a great time getting loved. We saw cats, ponies, and even some reptiles. I don't have many pictures, but Wilbur and the new black lab puppy were a huge hit. The older dogs, who are getting better and conserving themselves, maintained their greeting duties while the little ones napped.





Now that we're home, Promise is zonked. We've been practicing "Place", where she patiently stayed while I made myself dinner.

Fun

Wowwie,

Harley says I get to play with the computer and type and stuff!! Neato!! We all got to play outside together inna snow and everything with Roxie - she's nice. I can't run as fast as the other dogs but at least I take better pictures :-)

When we got done playing and I was all wet and like a stinky wet dog smell, Mom says "get dressed" so I went to my crate, but Mom said you too Wilbur, you get to go too! Whee, is that cool or what. I didn't know what get to go means but it's with Harley so let's go.

Harley got to ride on the floor in the front seat and I hadda ride it a tiny, cramped crate. Boo hiss, no fair!

After a zillion miles I think we came to a big building with lots of girls in it. Mom called them Brownies but they didn't smell like chocolate or nuthin'. Harley and me charged in and tried to kiss every single one of the girls. Being blond, I was the most popular.

Then they invited the cub scouts to come in and meet us too. Eveybody sat on the floor and listened to boring human blah blah blah until finally the humans said the kids could pet us again - that was the best part.

Then Debbie, Sonny's Mom, had everyone all get ready for a big picture. We all had to smile at the Kitty, Kitty's in the room. I didn't see them but they must have been there cuz everyone kept saying Kitty Kitty.

I think there are some more pictures if you click here.

All for now,

Wilbur

Mocha Moments

Today we were at Mocha Moments Coffee Shop in Janesville. There were 5 puppies there for a fundraiser for OccuPaws. Mocha Moments was nice enough to open on a Sunday for a benefit day. Divit, Banjo, Cinder, Sonny & Maddi were there. We would like to thank the owners of Mocha Moments for all of their help with the fund raiser. I think their kids had a great time playing with the puppies.


More Photos

Goal

Neva has been incommunicado for a few day. We have been working on confidence issues around the house with night walks and making friends with everything that moves or makes noise. Her new feeding schedule has proved successful and housebreaking is 99% complete.

Everyone was up early for the Community Day fundraiser at Boston Store. Neva was joined by Dale, Sonny, Divit, and Deegan. The puppies entertained us with their antics until they zonked. We found out that a sleeping puppy draws just as much attention as playful puppies.

We were also successful in dealing with the fog horn at the hockey game. Six goals this game and now when the Badgers score, the horn sounds, Neva lifts her head, looking for a treat.

One issue remains - fear of stairways. Although we have been positioning treats near our stairs which she eagerly retrieves, she has a distinct phobia of stairways. In addition to being carried up and down the stairs, which is common for little dogs, Neva stops and pulls in the opposite direction when seeing stairs. We were able to lure her near a stairway at the hockey game after she panicked. Resolving this issue is our goal before the next game (12/5).

Pet Fair

Sunday was the Dog Fair at the Alliant Energy Center. All the puppies in training were there. Of course when they first got together, they played hard and had a lot of fun.


Here is Maddi, Sonny, & Timber being puppies.

Then we did a demo with all the puppies to show what the babies have learned and how far the older puppies have come.
Nikki's daughter showed how the children's program works. Great job Brooklyn & Slick!

At the end of the day we finally had some pooped out puppies!

Community Day Sale NORTH

Woof Y'all

I had a great adventure this morning. First I went and taught Pam and her hubby some of the basic commands I know and then I took them for a blind-folded walk around East Towne. All my humans said I was a good boy.

Then we stood in from of the Boston Store and traded white books for green paper. Everybody seemed happy about the trade. My humans had a table to give other pieces of paper and stuff to people.






My old pal Jacob came to visit, he just ignored me and went right for Sonny. He grabbed the leash and just took over Sonny's training I think. The words were kinda hard to understand though.




Eventually there were so many people there, Jacob had to share Sonny with a bunch of other little humans.





Last year I thought my bunny ears were embarassing until I saw poor Super-Dog Dale wearing all sorts of red and white human skins. He took it like a gentleman though and trouped through the crowd like a manley canine (even in tights).

After a while even the youngsters got tired out and could barely move.

You can see more pictures here on Facebook.

http://www.facebook.com/occupaws?ref=profile#/album.php?aid=7452&id=100000188795858

Slick

Quite the Pair

Quite the weather change, apparenlty Banjo was cold. He was found louging on the sofa three times which was not preparing him for the Dane County OccuPaws Training Session this evening. Weather kept us all in the house, so Banjo was a little stir crazy - never good for training.

Three puppies attended along with one guide dog, four trainees, and Toby. One of the puppies is Banjo's replacement. Neva took to him right away; Banjo could not care less.

First, the older dogs practiced DOWN STAY while the puppies attempted to provoke a response that would get the big dogs in trouble. After their teasing, the puppies were put to the test, as much as a ten week old puppy can be tested. It was more like "Follow the Treat".

Guide dog Dale looks on as the puppies (Neva, Sparta, and Sonny) are put through their first training class. View more photos from the training session.

Banjo impressed me tonight. I dropped a treat right in front of his mouth. Without a verbal LEAVE IT or NO, he didn't touch it even though it was right in front of his nose. He actually got up and moved away. Now if he would only leave the trash cans alone.

When the training session concluded, dogs will be dogs. Banjo showed Neva how he really felt about her replacing him at our house. The spunky little girl is a fighter and fought back hard. Her teeth searching for ears, lips, paws, or tail, but catching mostly air.

Lisa experienced Neva's bite first hand and says that she "Bites Hard".

Who's New Walk, Maddi

Wednesday morning we met with the ladies from Who's New before their walk around the lake. All the ladies were really nice.















Then we met at the Java Cat Cafe for lunch with Nikki, Mark, Barb, Deb, Roxie, Dale, Sonny & Slick.

Who's New Hike

Greetings and Salutations,

Queen Mother Roxanne here, but please feel to call me Roxie...all my subjects do. Today was quite a delightful and invigorating luncheon and stroll with some quite lovely ladies from the "Who's New in Madison" organization. They held a walk in support of two of my youngest babies, Sonny and Maddi. Also in attendence was my son Slick and old friend, Dale.




Typically I leave these excursions into my realm to my children, but being such a wonderful day, I decided to join them. I'm working on my figure after giving birth and hoping to get back to a perfect size 2 prior to the holidays, so it was perfect timing for me. I even allowed several of the group to hold my leash, but being such a refined lady I scarcely needed one. I was in my element, mingling with my subjects and engaging in small talk and kisses.

Ahh, what a glorious day for an outing. I feel wonderful.

Well Ta Ta Everyone,

Roxanne

Queen Mother

Barktoberfest 2009

View all the photos from Barktoberfest - puppy raisers can add their photos

After much anticipation and preparation, we celebrated Barktoberfest at Tyranena Brewery this afternoon. The weather was less than cooperative, at least it wasn't raining. The cooperation of the OccuPaws Volunteers and generosity of atendees "overshadowed" the weather to make a good time and raise money for a worthy cause.

As usual the puppies were the focal point of the event. Three of our newest members (Maddi, Sonny, and Sparta) were initiated by Banjo and the rest of the pack - canine and human. We would have made a lot more money if we had charged people a dollar to switch holding/handling the puppies.

The most common reminder was that "Puppy teeth are sharp."

Settling into our seats to eat brats, drink [root] beer, and listen to the polka band put our more "mature" dogs in close proximity to each other. Slick, Reggie, and Divit were well behaved until my teenage puppy joined them and started causing wrestling with Slick. Reggie, our elder statesman, kept his distance from the fray. He eventually couldn't control his play drive and joined in.

Banjo and I had put in a full day before Barktoberfest even started. The Walk to Cure Diabetes was this morning. We walked the grounds, working the crowd, and meeting a lot of nice people, pets, and mascots. There must have been twenty mascots including Bucky, Scoopee, Maynard, Klement's Hot Dog, and State Street Brat, whose personal guide was interested in volunteering for OccuPaws.

Unfortunately we had to leave before the conclusion to help set-up at Tyranena.