No Mas

Marley has had her fill of shopping. Today, we went to sidewalk sales at West Towne mall. More HEEL, SIT, DOWN, shop, HEEL, SIT, shop. Lisa was doing more shopping today, so Marley and I worked on DOWN STAY while seated in the center of the mall. She held her DOWN as people passed, kids yelled, and boxes were dropped. She did so well that we are sending her to Camp Morga for a vacation.

The interesting thing about our visit was that we were never approached and no one asked to pet the dog. This was much different than our experience on Tuesday in Janesville where even store clerks greeted our puppies.

Before the mall, I stopped at work for a few minutes to clean up one of my messes. Lisa and Marley waited in the lobby, since I had been told that I could not bring my dog to work. She said that the security guard received a call and then approached her about not allowing dogs in the building. Upon receiving the standard service/guide dog in training response, the guard told the person on the phone that we had a service dog.

Mall Walker

OccuPaws training class was at the mall in Janesville. While we were waiting for the trainer, we practiced a DOWN STAY right outside the kiddie play area. The dogs, Cinder joined us, were more interested in each other than the kids.

The dogs walked the mall, shopped a bit, rode the elevator, and calmly greeted the people that stopped to say hello. We tried to pique their interest in perfume, rattling hangers, surprising them with carts, but the only issue was the vacuum. Cinder can work on that at home.

Lisa rested in the massage chair with the puppies at her feet. It wasn't as much of a distraction as we anticipated; we thought there would be more noise and vibration. Lisa thought that a longer test was needed.

Wednesday is farm day, so Marley made a trip to Blue Moon Community Farm to visit her friends. She looks for the pigs as soon as she exits the car and sniffs the air; no pigs sighted.

She gets to 'meet and greet' the usual farm staff and a few of the other members. Marley must walk on a loose leash and pay attention to where and how fast I travel over the uneven terrain in the field. We also practice obedience (SIT, DOWN, STAY) with distractions.

Marley lies down while we bag our produce; we walk past her and she STAYs until we call her to the car. Before leaving, we spotted the pigs and took Marley over for a look. She stuck her head through the fence to investigate and get a kiss.

Another training session this evening at the Dog Den in Madison. They offer free classes to service animals. The unfamiliar surroundings were good for Marley and us - different techniques. This week we worked on STAND, STAY, and HEEL, in addition to the basic SIT, DOWN, and COME. Next week we need to bring a rug, we will add PLACE. Marley was disappointed as there was no playtime.




“Getting a dog is like getting married. It teaches you to be less self-centered, to accept sudden, surprising outbursts of affection, and not to be upset by a few scratches on your car.” -Will Stanton

Concert

Woof, Woof

Sorry I haven't written sooner, but Divit and I have had a busy couple of days. Mom says Divit is getting his last "boot camp" days done. He has been learning to take treats gently (no brainer), to come out of his crate sloooowly ( yawn, easy), to wait his turn at the door and to walk out slowly (could it get any easier?). and Mom has been especially noisy and careless dropping stuff too....butterfingers.

I like the walking stuff with my horsie coller on. Mom says I can finally walk in front of her - yippee. We both been working on walking in straight lines and ignoring everything (maybe a little tougher).

So last night, we got the night off and went to a big outdoor place with loads of people and kids and dogs and food!! Mom gave those pieces of paper she loves so much to everyone who came by to see us. Lots of blah blah blah while we waited for some food to drop from the plates....nada.


Then all of a sudden lots of music started playing and people stood up and shook their bodies, just like me and Divit. Divit even got up to dance with Dad to a Twist and Shout song - Divit was a real good tail wiggler.

Finally it was the little bugs that drove us out. Mom and Dad slapped at em, but don't they know eating them is so much easier???

Slick

Drop n Shop

Marley got to go shopping today. She was excited to leave the house, but not excited by the routine. HEEL, SIT, shop, HEEL, DOWN, STAY, shop, HEEL, SIT, shop, ... I'm not sure who dislikes shopping the most Marley or me; at least she enjoys the cool floor.

Not much fun, but learning patience is critical. Only a fraction of the time will he actually be guiding his partner. The majority of the guide dog's life will be spent sitting or lying down quietly and waiting patiently for an opportunity to assist.

I need a refresher on nail trimming. Two weeks ago I cut Cinder's a bit short and this week Marley. It's not a big deal, however it can't be pleasant for the dog. My issue is not getting the dog to a completely calm state. I try to trim while the pup is still a tad squirmy. I locate the spot, she moves, and "Quick get the powder".


“The one absolutely unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous, is his dog.” - George Graham Vest

Toad Patrol

Every evening Marley patrols the front porch for toads. She is a quick learner because she only watches for toads after dusk, never during the daylight. She check each and every location of previous encounters.

Upon discovery of our friendly toad, Marley's prey drive kicks in and she is focused on the toad as long as it is moving. This provides us the opportunity to practice LEAVE ITs. Once the toad stops moving, she quickly loses interest.

This brings up our biggest concern with Marley. She has a high prey drive, which she displays with toys, birds, toads, bugs, kids, dogs, leaves, ...

Marley enjoyed her walk this evening. We could tell that she was uncomfortable in the heat because she would lie down in the grass whenever we hit a patch of shade. We took her to McDonalds and she watched us drink our shake. Although she doesn't look overly happy to be there, she thoroughly appreciated the cool tiles on her belly.




My little dog - a heartbeat at my feet. - Edith Wharton

Squares

Woof Woof!

Divit and I (Slick) had a great time on the 4th! We spent a really long time on the Capitol Square at the Madison Farmer's Market. We have been up there before walking around four really straight streets that surround the capitol, but yesterday we greeting people while we stayed in one spot.

We got up really early (even early for me) and arrived at the capitol while everybody was double parking and unloading lots of yummy looking types of food… (alas, none for us).

After a little while lots of people came up and greeted us. Mom and dad did a lot of blah, blah blah about how wonderful we behaved and how handsome we were, and they gave out small pieces of paper telling the people to "look us up"…. Look up where??



Then my brother Deegan came. What a surprise! Unfortunately, we were not allowed off leash to play on the grass that surrounded a really big domed building… I don't know why, nobody else was playing…



Deegan and his mom stayed for quite awhile, blah, blah, blahed, walked around the square and then blah, blahed some more. A really nice man took pictures of us and told us that he would send them to mom. I sure hope he does, because we did a really nice "down" and smiled pretty so he could take the pictures.



After we left the "Farmer's Market" Divit and I went to Mindy's house (mom and dad's pup), where mom put us to bed for a little while. We had not been in crates before at Mindy's house, but we were sooooo tired, that we just took a really nice afternoon nap while the human's ate hamburgers and tossed water balloons at each other.

Last night there was a lots of noise and lights in the sky. Reggie, our " brother" border collie that lives with us was really afraid of the noise. Divit, Stitch (our "sister" Golden Retriever) and I could not understand why….we just went to sleep as it was not very interesting to us.

That's all for now fellow pups.

Slick

boom

Last night we could hear the boom of fireworks while inside the house. The racetrack in Oregon was shooting their annual fireworks. We took Marley outside to hear them better and play a little before bedtime. We weren't sure how she would react, but she was more distracted by the neighbor dog's barking than the booms.

Today we took Marley for a drive to Cuba City. He met a few new people and was on his best behavior in the new environment. We have been working with him to stay OUT of the kitchen when cooking or dining. She picked it up very quickly, so the first puppy raiser must have worked on this too.

More booms this evening as the locals are displaying their pyrotechnic skills.


A dog can express more with his tail in seconds than his owner can express with his tongue in hours. - Author Unknown

Stir Crazy

We haven't taken Marley anywhere until today. She's been a little stir crazy. I have been too busy at work preparing for a two week vacation. We made up for it today.

First we stopped to visit Banjo's brother, Toby. Marley and Toby romped and wrestled for thirty minutes. Toby was adopted by a family in Oregon. Hearing the accounts of Banjo and Toby nightly escapades, I am glad that we didn't have a puppy this week.

Our next stop was the Stoughton Fair, specifically the animal pavilions. Marley made friends with some piglets, calves, lambs. She was especially interested in the ducklings and goslings, but we detoured around them. The cows were in another building and she was intimidated by their size, but settled down.

Marley confidently and curiously entered the sheep/goat barn. The animals were very interested in the puppy. Marley did fine until one "Bah" and the sheep stood up. Pretty soon half the sheep were up and "Bah"s filled the barn. We made it through, but her tail was between her legs and she wasn't very confident. We hung out a bit longer, cutting the visit short as she was getting more, not less, stressed.

Marley trotted through the carnival with it's fallen food temptations, human crowds, whirling rides, girl's screams, and loud music without incident. She was back to her happy self, buoyed by a few meet and greets with young and old alike. The fair offers something for everyone. However, the only reason we went was for Marley's experience. She probably wished we hadn't. She did enjoy the cool floors at our final stop for the day - groceries.

Here's a cute one for the female audience.

"aaawwww"





“If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.” -Will Rogers

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

ATTACK!!!

Oh Boy! Apparently mops must be high on the list of things labs hunt because when the mop came out after class last night, Banjo was all over it. He pounced, chased, and jumped at it until it finally surrendered and gave in to his obviously great mop hunting skills. We plan to have the handle stuffed and mounted on the wall .

And the name is....

B A N J O B A N J O B A N J O and Banjo was his name-o

After much deliberation, arguments, "you've got to be kiddin' me's", and threats to boycott puppy raising, a name was decided upon. And I hope the song sticks in Marlene's head for a long time to come so next time she will just let us name the dog and not make us go through a whole list :-) He is cute though!

Lots of Updates

Woof, Woof.

I can see I'm been slow in posting but Mom and Dad have me on a 25/8 schedule and I have NO leisure time fellow pups!!

First, I should report on Bodie & Tyler and Moby & Tanner's graduation Saturday night. Food food food everywhere and one measly dropped piece of Pepperoni :-( I should also mention it was raining indoors too!! Everytime anyone stood up at the little brown house with the antenna, the rain would start. But it was OK cuz everyone mopped it up with those tissue thingies.

Anyhows, here's the cake Divit and I didn't get to eat...

and Tyler and Tanner guarding it...

and Bodie and Tyler graduating...

and Tanner being eaten alive just before he could graduate...

All for now, I'll post again tomorrow.

Slick

Toad Hunter

Marley had an up close and personal interaction with a toad last night. She was surprisingly gentle and only wanted to play. Or maybe she was cautious after experiencing a bad taste. She paced by the door wanting to continue her hunting; she is the great toad hunter.

Marley spent twenty minutes this afternoon and ten minutes this evening playing with a wiffle ball. She would carry it to the top of the stairs, push it down, roll down the stairs after it, race back to the top, and repeat.

I took a night walk and Marley did great. She didn't get spooked by anything and walked well, until she saw a toad. Ten minutes later, another toad. She is the great toad hunter. Actually, after the first two the third one was no big deal.

Forty-eight hours is about the length of time required for a puppy to settle into our routine. It would be unfair to evaluate Marley on her first two days. Our initial impression is that she is a very good dog with a few negative traits: high prey drive, anxious, vocal, and mouthy. We'll see how our evaluation changes after two months.


“A man’s soul can be judged by the way he treats his dog.” - Charles Doran

Who's that puppy???

RedFred, Bacon, Tub-a-lub are all names he's been called, regardless as to what sticks, he not too worried as you can tell!