Off to San Luis Obispo with Judi

Reyna's week with the Rowe family was pretty exciting, not only did we celebrate her Birthday at the Cheesecake Factory on Thursday March 25th, we took Reyna on her first overnight with us to a Hotel. We left Saturday morning to drive to San Luis Obispo with Reyna very comfortable in the back of the car and James crammed into the backseat with all the luggage. We stopped three times, each time letting Reyna out to stretch and relieve, but she wasn't interested in the relieving part just walking around.

Once at the hotel Embassy Suites, we chose a room on the third floor. I wanted Reyna to experience the elevator which had glass walls. She was wary at first, but she never balked about going in. We had big room where she made herself comfortable with her toys.

The next thing to do was go on another big drive, poor Reyna more time in the car...but she was great, still no relieving. Once we got back she finally found a spot she liked and that's where we ended up going for the rest of the trip. Reyna was perfectly behaved when Phil and I met with the event coordinator for Embassy Suites, we were looking at the big event rooms for our Porsche club meeting in May. The event rooms were being set up with a Pirate Themed Dinner and there was lots to see. We then went and had appetizers and drinks in the courtyard of the Embassy she was so well behaved everyone came by to see her and comment on what a good girl she was.

Then off to Tahoe Joe's for dinner, once again the perfect dog under the table. She walked back with James to the hotel. When I got back we took a picture with the pirates and she wasn't real sure about that because there were about six people telling her to sit at the same time...I think the pirates had too much pirate juice and their costumes were full of feathers and bells and lace so she was not sure of the whole thing.

After dinner Reyna had her dinner and I took her down to relieve again but no luck.....but guess what at 1:30AM someone NEEDED to go out. I had a cold nose in my face but even though I was groggy I couldn't believe Reyna she knew exactly where to go to get to the elevator, she was making all the turns and sat directly in front of it. We went out she gladly relieved and we all went back to bed. Sunday was a long drive home but first we stopped at the Harmony Glass Blowing company in Harmony CA. Reyna was fabulous never went near any of the displays or even tried to smell them. What a good girl!

Home again Miss Reyna was sooooo worn out she slept all day on Monday. What a good traveler.

A Blind Date with Dianne Phelps and Hibiscus

Last Saturday, I went up to see Dianne and help her out with some computer issues she was having. We spent sometime on the computer, with no luck, so we walked over to the Steakhouse to meet a couple of Dianne’s friends for lunch. One of the ladies we were meeting, Ruth, was 80 years old, and she has a guide dog named Judith. The catch was that Dianne had never met these ladies before. Dianne has known Ruth from an email list for many years, but since she lives in Oregon, they had never actually met. So it was pretty much a blind lunch date, no pun intended. Smile. It was fascinating as we all sat there talking like friends who have know each other for a long time. The thing that struck me was that we all have become friends through Guide Dogs for The Blind! It was like we were all a part of the GDB family, and that in itself made us not strangers at all. That is really pretty cool when you stop and think about it.

I enjoyed the stories these ladies told as they recounted for me the stories about their retired guides and some great stories about their current guides as well. These stories are the reason I raise these wonderful pups! And there I sat, just a PPR (that is short for a peon puppy raiser). Smile. It is sort of an inside joke, but it also describes how we feel sometimes as we just have to do as we are told. I felt very honored that they included me in their lunch. Thank you Dianne for a wonderful afternoon!

PS – I did manage to get Dianne’s computer fixed after lunch. Yay!

Reyna at the movies!

I am a little behind on blogging, so this will be my attempt to catch you up. My nieces spend the last couple weekends with us, so we decided to take them to go see The Diary of a Wimpy Kid. It was not the best movie, but the girls sure enjoyed it and it was a wonderful socialization and training experience for Reyna.

My niece, Sara, who is a guide dog puppy raiser in the making, asked if it would be alright if she handled Reyna once we got seated in the theater. I was sitting right next to her, so I allowed Sara to put Reyna under her seat and hold the leash. Reyna was very good in the theater, although she had one temptation with a small piece of pop corn that was on the ground.

Sara give Reyna a correction and repositioned her back under the seat. Reyna never went after that piece of pop corn after that. She pretty much just slept through the movie, and that sure made it enjoyable for us!

When the movie was over, Reyna had a very brisk pace as we were heading towards the door. As we got outside her pace got faster and faster, She went right over to the spot where I usually relieve her and she looked up at me as if to say, “hurry up mom, take my puppy coat off”. As soon as I did that, she looked at the relieving area and looked back at me. I gave her the do your business command and within a half a second she relieved. Poor thing, she must have been having the urge to go throughout the movie. But good girl for her waiting it out as best she could!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, REYNA!

Happy birthday day to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Reyna, happy birthday to you!

I can’t believe it, Reyna is 12 months old today. Where does the time go? Tonight we celebrated Reyna’s birthday with the other family who is co-raising her with us. We all went out to dinner with Reyna to the Cheesecake Factory. The food was great and Reyna was a really good girl throughout dinner. She made some new friends, as usual. Then we all went back to Judi and Phil’s house to celebrate a little more, and I gave her a brand new wishbone to keep at Judi’s house. It was nice to be able to spend some time with her on her actual birthday, since I don’t have her this week.

Actually, the house is really quiet because we only have one dog right now, instead of three! Reyna is with Judi and Starling is with one of my friends who usually takes Starling on the weekends. But my friend started taking Starling to work with her, and her staff asked to have Starling come to work today and tomorrow. Starling loves it!

So while Reyna’s birthday is a fun day to celebrate, it is also a reminder to me that I will be letting her go soon. It is sad to think this is the only birthday we will spend together. Unless I get so lucky as to have her matched with a person like Glenda. Wendy and Reyna were born on the same day, so when Glenda and Wendy get back from Oregon next week, we will be celebrating Wendy’s birthday together. How lucky am i?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY LITTLE REYNA GIRL!

A sore shoulder and a future guide dog raiser in the making

This is Sara, one one my nieces. She is one of those people who are just naturally good with animals. Both of my nieces stayed the night with us on Saturday, and we took Reyna and Starling for a walk. My left shoulder was really hurting, so Sara offered to walk Reyna and my niece Emily wanted to walk Starling. So off we went on a walk down the canal trail.

The amazing thing was that I wasn’t giving Sara a bunch of instructions about what to do with Reyna. She just naturally keep her on a loose leash, and she corrected Reyna (for sniffing) at the precise moment she needed a correction. Sara was even praising Reyna along the way. How awesome is that! Sara walked Reyna better than many of the puppy raisers I have seen. I think we really have a guide dog puppy raiser in the making.

Look at how nicely Sara had Reyna walking on a loose leash. Reyna was not puling or trying to take advantage of a new, younger handler. That was really important because Reyna has had a history of testing new handlers and losing her self control a little bit just to see what she could get away with. I have noticed quite a bit of maturing with Reyna in the past month, so it made sense that she maintained her composure with a new handler. But in any event, I was happy to see her doing so well.

We past several dogs on the trail. There were a lot of small yippe dogs as well as an absolutely beautiful blood hound. For those of you who do not know, I have a soft spot for hounds :) Sara was great about correcting Reyna when she became a little dog interested. The best thing was that Sara just kept Reyna moving forward with any issues. Starling, was of course an angel for Emily as usual. Nothing new there. Starling is a very special dog that way. She sure would have made an exceptional guide if it wasn’t for that cataract. But who’s complaining, certainly not me!

We stopped about half way through the walk and got this photo of the girls with Starling and Reyna in a field of wild mustard.

We all got thirsty so we stopped by a little market to get some water. Needless to say, Reyna drank half of my water. What can I say, all the walking made that little pup thirsty. This photo was taken outside of the market. I don’t know about you, but I think we have a little guide dog puppy raiser in the making. Thank you Sara for doing such a good job and for giving your aunties shoulder a much needed rest!

An afternoon at GDB with Summer and Lake!

This afternoon, Reyna and I went over to Guide Dogs to meet Summer (a student in class). Sunday is visiting day, so I went over to take Summer to lunch and do a little shopping. When we arrived we met Summer, and Lake was laying quietly on his tie down. I looked around the bed and I saw this beautiful black lab. Lake is a big boy, and his head looks like it weighs 30 pounds! I just love a dog with a big head like that. I brought Lake a nylabone wishbone, and he loved it!

It was too bad, but Lake was not allowed to go with us off campus, but I told Summer I wanted to be sure to spend some time with him when we got back.

Before we left, Summer told me Stephanie the RA heard a puppy in training was coming, so she wanted to meet Reyna before we went to lunch. We went and saw Stephanie and we had a nice visit. Stephanie enjoyed visiting with Reyna and Reyna enjoyed the visit just as much. So then off we went to lunch. I was quite the multi-tasker because I had Reyna on my left, and Summer went sighted guide on my right! Hummmm…I wondered how that would work when I had to give Reyna corrections? Sorry Summer, if it was a little rough – but we all survived. I just walked slower so I was sure I was managing everyone ok. On the way over to the restaurant, Reyna sat up front with Summer. Reyna and Summer quickly became friends, and Reyna was so sweet she just rested her head on Summer’s knee while we were driving. It was pretty adorable.

Reyna did some really nice loose leash walking on the way to the restaurant. We ended up going to BJ’s. The really cool thing was they had a Braille menu. That was pretty impressive! Reyna settled quickly underneath my chair and crashed. Good girl Reyna! We enjoyed our lunch and then we went to do some shopping. It was an outside mall so walked around for a while just checking things out. There were a ton of distractions for Reyna. There were lots of dogs, people, birds and even a duck. Surprisingly, the most distracting thing for Reyna was the smell of the beautiful flowers. There were a lot of big pots planted with very colorful flowers, and Reyna felt the need to sniff them.

After a few corrections, Reyna didn’t sniff as much. But she would try to sneak a sniff every now and then.

We ended up in Pier One, and we found some good smelling soaps, candles, and home sprays. Reyna did very well in the store, even with all of the smelly stuff. Summer set up a distraction for Reyna, but Reyna didn’t go for it. She was a good girl.

I took a few photos of Reyna, and then a store clerk came up to me and scolded me for taking photos in the store. Apparently, it is against store policy to take a picture of my dog. Can you believe that? This is the second time I have been told not to take photos in a store. Last week I was in Hollister, and I thought they were going to arrest me for taking a picture. The lady stood there and wouldn’t leave until I deleted the picture. What is up with that? Last time I checked it was a free country, so if I want to take a picture of my dog, guess what? I am going to do it. Sorry, but that just really annoyed me. Anyway, Summer had fun smelling her way through the store and then she bought a few things. It was getting late, so we headed back to campus.

Summer fed and relieved Lake, then we took a walk around campus. We sat by the waterfall for awhile, then we went over and sat under the redwood trees.

Reyna and Lake competed for Summer’s attention.

Then Lake decided he wanted to hold me down, so he put his foot over mine so I couldn’t move. It was pretty darn cute.

Summer and I had some good laughs with the dogs, then it was time for her to head back in for dinner. Reyna and I had a great afternoon visiting and hanging out! We hope to be able to attend the graduation on Saturday!

As an aside, if you are using a screen reader to read this post, could you tell me if the photos have descriptions? I am using a different program with more flexiablity to create my blog posts, then I am importing the post to the blog. Somewhere I think something went wrong with the photo descriptions. Hopefully, I have that fixed now, but please let me know. Thanks!

Reyna goes to Berkeley

Yesterday, we went to UC Berkeley. My son, who is a sophomore in high school had to go take a class at Stanley Hall for his Chemistry class.

My husband and I dropped him off, and then we took off to go walk Reyna around Berkeley, and get some breakfast. We ended up on fourth St., which has fabulous shopping. As we were walking around, we met a career changed guide dog. She was a two year old black lab, and for the life of me I can’t remember her name. It started with a “G”, that is all I remember. She was very sweet, and her handler’s girlfriend used to work in the kennel department at GDB.

We found a place for breakfast, and I placed Reyna in a down underneath my chair.

We had a very nice breakfast and Miss Reyna was being a really good girl. But all of the sudden, within literally one second, Reyna sprung out from under my chair to being under my husbands chair which was directly in front of her. I thought what in the world is she doing? You guessed it, she went after a crumb and she must had been keying on it the entire time and she had a momentary loss of self control. Ugh. I gave her a correction and she didn’t do it again.

After breakfast, we walked around and Reyna met a new friend. I am so impressed with how good Reyna is with babies. Take a look at her interaction with a little girl we met in Berkeley.

This awesome interaction has to be credited to my co-raiser, Judi, who has exposed Reyna so beautifully to her grandchildren. Thank you Judi!

Reyna’s Adventures with Judi!

We had a pretty quiet week until the weekend. We did a long walk on Thursday with Cody and Reyna was very well behaved. She didn't react to bicycles going by or cars coming up behind her. She is still interested in the water flowing in gutters and did kind of her hoppy thing, but we negotiated that a couple of times and then it was over.

Saturday was our big day in Broadway plaza. We went shopping in Macy's stopped at the makeup counter. She was perfect - she just laid down at my feet, then on up the the Bra department where we both decided that nothing looked right as you can see from the photo.

Then we went over to Nordstrom to the hosiery and shoe department From the pictures you can see she was a big help with the shoes, even trying to suggest a pair but once again no luck.

We then went out and sat by the fountain for a while always lots to see and plenty of activity. Then we went on up the street to the Sprint store, so while crossing the street, a skateboarder went right by us and Reyna had no reaction. Yay! Then we went back through Broadway Plaza. There were lots of dogs and kids out, but she was great. Sunday we went walking around the Layafette reservoir and she was just fabulous. We had soooo many dogs going by and she had no reaction to any of them. She was interested and looked at them, but she was not trying to meet of them. It was a start and stop walk because of the babies, they both wanted to get out and walk beside their strollers and Reyna was very good about just slowing down and keeping pace.

Ok, so if this wasn't a dog distraction I don't know what is. We were walking up the last hill and there was two girls with a stroller and a very small, tiny dog on a leash and two cats in the stroller. One cat on top and one inside the stroller, plus a big pit bull puppy who was really interested in meeting Reyna, but Reyna was so good she just walked on by. Then on to the park were she sat quietly while the babies played for a while.

So then we went home to change and then went over to my brothers where everyone just loved Reyna! She had her best house manners and went out to the back yard were we let her relieve. She played so well with the kids out there and she never got over excited. She just kind of enjoyed being on the grass and was enjoying the weather. Dinner was inside and she just laid at my feet and then after dinner I found her a quiet spot away from all the foot traffic and put her in a down stay, which even my brothers Pug could not get her out of.

Then we went home with a VERY tired puppy. She was so tired when we went to bed she just flopped on the floor and didn't move in the bedroom even when Cody walked around her and got in her Favorite spot. But I noticed this morning that she was back in her spot and Cody was on the other side of the bed......anyway that's Reyna’s Adventures for the week with the Rowe’s. WE sure do love her.

Reyna meets the Zac Brown Band!

Last night Reyna went with us to go see the Zac Brown Band at the Fox Theater in Oakland. Our evening started out at around 4:30pm. We hoped in the car and headed to dinner at Donas Tomas in Oakland. We got there a half hour before they opened for dinner, so we went to a bar for a drink while we waited for dinner. It was Reyna’s first time at a bar, and she laid quietly at my bar stool while I enjoyed a Mojito. We had dinner and again Reyna was a good girl. She slept quietly under my chair while we ate. Then we headed over to the Fox Theater around 6:30pm.

As we entered the theater, the staff told me that they needed Reyna’s “papers” before they would let her in. Papers I asked? Exactly what papers did they need to see? The woman told me I needed to show her proof of all of Reyna’s shots! Well, who carries that? (Besides Lynn, LOL) Certainly not me. I wasn’t even sure that I had Reyna’s ID card with me because I have never been asked for it. Luckily, I did have Reyna’s ID card in her puppy sleeve. I handed it to the woman but she was still going on and on about these stinking shot records. While they were in the process of calling a manager up somehow I managed to convince them that the ID card was all they needed. Thank goodness I can be persuasive when I need to be. So finally, we were in!

We arrived a little early, so we went to the lounge for a drink. This place was packed! I mean there was no room to walk without running into everyone. So I tightened the slack on Reyna’s leash, and she guided me through the crowd. It was amazing! She would pick a line and just go for it with a steady pace. When it got too crazy to move forward, she would just stop and wait until it was clear to move forward. She has making the decisions and I was literally just following her. It was very crowded and really dark in this lounge. There was a concrete stair case that we when up and I was a little concerned because Reyna has had a fear reaction with a stair case like that in Pottery Barn when she was younger. Plus, there was the added element of it being extremely dark. But this girl went right up the stairs without a problem. Phew!

We went and found our seats and we had awesome seats. We were the first row in the loge section, on the isle. It was perfect. Reyna quickly made herself comfortable. What a good girl…..so far so good!.

I thought it might be a good idea to find the ladies room before the concert started, so Reyna and I headed off to find the rest room. The stalls were pretty narrow and short, but Reyna and I just barely managed to squeeze ourselves into the stall. Take a look at what a good job Reyna did – Yes, only for the blog!

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We walked around a bit and looked at the beautiful art work in this building. Wow, it was really stunning. Here is the picture of the theater. Yes, there were thousands of people there!

So the concert started and man was it loud! It was so loud that the floor and the chairs where vibrating. I started to think that maybe this was going to be way too loud for Reyna. But you know what? She LOVED the music. She loved it so much that she was watching the concert herself. Check her out.

She was so cute because she would peer her head over the balcony to see what was going on. This is what she was looking at.

So Zac Brown and his friends rocked the house! I became slightly concerned when Zac Brown announced that we would all be getting out monies worth because they would be playing for four hours! Wow…..my first thought was how cool that was, since most musicians' usually play for an hour and a half max. My second flashing thought was when was the last time Reyna relieved? Yikes, this is making me nervous. There were no in and out privileges, so I wasn’t sure if I would be allowed back in if I left to relieve Reyna.

Well, the band played on and on, and the music was something like I had never seen. A cross between country, rock and bluegrass and these guys were some of the most talented musician I have ever heard. I have never seen fiddles, mandolins, cellos, banjos, and steel guitars played like that. It was so incredible. They changed out their instruments on almost every song. If you ever have the chance to see these guys, I promise you, you will not be disappointed. These guys have flavor and the play at speeds that will make your jaw drop. One of my favorite guys was the one who played the fiddle! We was amazing throughout the entire show, but he really had the opportunity to show of his talent when they played their version of The devil went down to Georgia.

After a few hours, Reyna got a little restless, and she kept sitting up and of course I thought that was her way of telling me she needed to relieve. But after a while she laid back down and settled. Here are some photos of her that I took throughout the concert. You have to remember this was during a concert where the music was SO LOUD my ears were literally ringing. What an awesome pup!

This is one of my favorite pictures of the night. This was towards the end of the concert, and sweet little Reyna was using my foot as a pillow. This is priceless! So after 4 hours, the concert comes to an end. It was 11pm. Reyna had not relieved since 4:30pm so it had been almost seven hours! I sat there for a while hoping the theater would clear out a bit before we left. I gave my husband a poop bag and asked him to follow me out. I only got a few feet, when several people who were sitting behind us stopped us to tell us how impressed they were with Reyna during the concert. They wanted to say hello to her, so I did allow them to greet her, as long as she didn’t not try to lick them. Reyna had a nice visit because she was able to control her tongue.

We made our way down stairs but it took us sometime because everyone wanted to say hello to Reyna and talk to me about how a dog could be so well adjusted in a venue like this. Once we got down stairs, we met two guys that just had to meet Reyna. It turned out that one of them was a Police K9 handler for the past 6 years. He also does a lot of other dog training. Well, it was love at first sight between he and Reyna. His buddy was looking for a British line Labrador for hunting. These two guys visited with Reyna for a long time. Then, these guys were like glue to me and Reyna. Every time I turned around bam there they would be starting up another conversation with me. They were both just so impressed with her.

I decided I wanted Zac Brown’s cookbook. I believe he has some restaurants or something. So my husband went to wait in line and the cop and his buddy kept me company. When Tony finally made it back with the cookbook, I decided I wanted to have the Zac Brown Band sign the book.

So we get into the line for the meet and greet and the autographs and we were at the very end of the line! Reyna still had not been given the opportunity to relieve. So we waited in line for at least another hour. Most of the time we were standing on stairs, so it was a bit awkward for Reyna, but she was a champ. We waited and waited and waited and waited. Then, finally we were there. Zac Brown was the first one we met, and Reyna immediately went straight for him. He bent down and pet her head and Reyna snuggled right up to him and then she gave him a huge lick on the cheek. Zac didn’t mind at all. He told us that he had 14 dogs! Can you believe that 14 dogs! He said he was trying to create a new breed of dogs. I thought that was interesting and I wish I would have asked more questions about that. He described the way he would feed his dogs. He would use one of those round cattle feeders that spin grain out. Only he would put dog food in it and when the dogs heard that thing turn on, those dogs would come running. He thought it was cool a dog was at his concert. He didn’t want Reyna to leave, and he told Reyna he really wanted to take her home! I am sure Reyna would have LOVED to go with him, especially after hearing how he feed his dogs. Reyna would be all over that!

Unfortunately, they were not allowing photos, so I couldn’t get any photos of them together. That was such a bummer, but what can you do. You will just have to use your imagine and picture Reyna licking his cheek. That was sooo cute, even though I was trying to avoid her doing that all night. Well, I think it is a success if Zac was the only one she kissed. I met the entire band as well as the other three musicians who were playing with him. They all signed my cookbook, and that I do have a picture of!

We finally got home after 1am. Reyna never relieved and she did not have an accident. She went over 9 hours without relieving and it didn’t bother her in the least. If she can do this, she can do anything. Reyna, you made me very proud :)