Vienna’s first vet visit

We took Vienna to her first vet appointment this afternoon. She was due for her second round of shots and a general check up. The first thing they did was get her weight, but that took a minute or two because she kept moving. Once she settled down, we found out that she weights 18 pounds.

She was so skinny when we picked her up from GDB, and she wasn’t eating well. But we never weighed her prior to today, but I have a feeling she has put on a few pounds. At least I hope that is the case. I am really hoping before too long we are not able to see her hip bones anymore.

Next was the dreaded temperature. Vienna was soooo good. She did not even make a sound or a wiggle while the vet tech was taking her temperature. Everyone was very impressed!

The vet came in after that, and Vienna and the vet met for the first time. Vienna makes sure she feels loved by giving her a kiss right smack on her lips! The vet pretty much instantly fell in love with her!

She gave Vienna an exam, and listened to her heart. She told Vienna it was a good thing she had such a healthy sounding heart because she has a really important job to do when she gets older.

Tyler held Vienna as the vet gave her the vaccines, and again Vienna didn’t make a wiggle or a whine. Good girl, Vienna.

After Vienna was done with her appointment, Tyler gave her a great big hug and kiss for a job well done! I hope all of her visit go as smoothly as this one did :)

New blog name!

Since as of yesterday, I am no longer raising Reyna I thought it was a good time to think of a new name for what is now Vienna’s blog!  I am sure I will still post updates on Reyna as I get them, but primarily I will be sharing my experiences with little Vienna.  So I racked my brain trying to think of something that related to raising puppies that started with a “V”.  Everything I came up with just didn’t work. Visiting Vienna, Vivacious Vienna, Victorious Vienna, see what I mean?  They all pretty much sucked.  Then I told my son, Tyler, I was trying to think of a new blog name and he just rattled off with “Vida de Vienna”.  Which means “Life of Vienna” in Spanish.  So just like that, we have a new blog name thanks to my son.  Thank you Tyler!  Let me know what you all think of the new name.

A sad day and a heavy heart.

Today was recall day for Reyna. This day never gets easier and Reyna was no exception. We spent most of the day with her hanging around the house, then we went for our last walk together. We went out to lunch, and then around 3pm we headed over to San Rafael. We checked in with the kennel staff, then we took Reyna back to the kennel. The moment she stepped into the kennel, this sadness took over her. I felt so bad. She just sat there hanging her head with the most sad expression on her face. She was confused and scared and it was extremely difficult to see her like that. All of our other pups were happy and wagging their tails when we brought them back. It was like they were sort of excited. Not Reyna. It was clearly sadness and confusion. We all took turns going into the kennel to say goodbye to her. Why are hellos so easy, and goodbyes are always so hard? We want Reyna to do whatever it is she is meant to do. We will leave that up to her, and we will be happy with whatever path she chooses.

Judi and James say goodbye to Reyna.

James and Reyna in the kennel.

Myself and Reyna as I say goodbye in the kennel.

My son, Tyler, gives Reyna one last hug good bye.

Reyna looking at us with a sad, confused look on her face.

This photo says it all. Just look into those eyes :(

Tyler says his final good bye to Reyna.

There really isn’t anything else to say other than this was absolutely the most sad recall I have ever experienced. All our love Reyna…..we loved you with all we had for the time you were with us. Now it is time for the next phase of your journey.

A new day, A new dog!

Vienna came back to life today! What a relief! We think she just got dehydrated from having diarrhea and not eating or drinking very much for the past few days. Once she finally started drinking water, she perked right up! Today she has been playing with her toys and hopping around a bit. She has slept today, but she is definitely not lethargic anymore. Thanks to everyone who went out of their way to help out this cute little pup. You all know who you are, and you are all awesome!

Is there something wrong or is it just me?

This is what Vienna has done all day today. Sleep. I have to wake her up to feed and relieve her. Then she comes back inside and immediately goes to sleep again. She didn’t even eat dinner tonight, she had no interest. Could she really be this lazy, or is something wrong? Maybe she doesn’t feel good. It just doesn’t seem right to have just picked up a puppy and I can’t even tell she is in the house! She is so quiet and sleepy. At first I thought she was just mellow, but it seems to be getting worse. Yesterday she started to come out of her shell a little bit and had bouts of playfulness, but today she has been a zombie. She sleeps all day and all night. She just lays down everytime I try to get her up and moving. I have never had a puppy like this, has anyone else?

A Post from Judi. Lafayette Reservoir!

Reyna woke up this morning with more than the usual vim and vigor that is normal. She was into everything and playing roughly with all of her toys, we decided that the best thing to get rid of this excess energy was a walk. Phil, Darcie, James and I took Reyna and Cody to the Lafayette Reservoir. Well James wanted to run so he ran ahead with Cody, Reyna was beside herself with all the smells and what I call "dogs gone wild" after putting her in a sit 5 times and making her wait until I was ready we finally managed to come up with a nice loose leash walk. We were walking along just fine trying very hard to avoid tiny barking dogs on retractable leashes but our biggest problem was a family behind us with two kids one on a skate board and one on a scooter. The scooter person would come up right behind us and I am talking inches and stop wait for her family and then do it again, the skateboard person would just go up and back. Reyna was a real champ she never reacted to any of it, the noise or the kids or the scooter and skateboard. We finally stepped to the side because the whole thing was really annoying and the family walked by and asked me how the training was going. I wish I could have come up with a good comeback. Anyway the rest of our walk was good, the reservoir walk is a good learning place for older puppies because of all the smells and dogs and just people around. No one asked to pat her which was nice although most people don't have any control over their dogs, we finally ended up walking a distance behind a gentleman that was training his two German Sheppard's to ignore dogs. We almost made it to the car after dodging strollers, bikes, scooters and skateboards, and our last few feet encountered a man with a huge Mastiff type dog on a retractable leash telling it to leave Reyna alone. Reyna was a gem and paid no attention to him and kept right on walking, it made me a little nervous but she just walked right through it. So now we are at home with a very tired girl, I think we are both going to take a nap.

Judi

Say hello to Vienna!

Even though we still have Reyna, we were asked to take our new pup early because GDB has several older pups in the kennel who need homes. So yesterday we went up to Guide Dogs and picked up our new bundle of fur! Vienna was born June 9, 2010 and she is a David and Zante pup. She is a yellow lab.

So far she is a sweet and peaceful pup. She was really good on the ride home from Guide Dogs, in fact she fell asleep in my arms. She has been good in her crate and ex-pen, and she slept through the night! She walks nicely on leash and just has a sweet and sensitive personality. The only problem we are having with her so far is that she will not eat. She has no interest in food at all. She has not eaten in 24 hours, so it is a bit concerning. Hopefully her lab switch will turn on and she will realize that she LOVES food. She is probably just stressed from the change in her environment so hopefully she will adjust soon. But I have to tell you I have never had a lab puppy that won’t eat, so this is totally new to me. Right now she is asleep at my feet, and she pretty much slept all day today so I don’t have much to blog about. Maybe tomorrow will be more eventful. We are so pleased we got such a wonderful puppy!

Reyna’s Recall . She’s off to Oregon!

I got word the other day that Reyna is being recalled on August 30th and she will be trained on the Oregon campus. I am not thrilled about that, but I understand that the Oregon campus apparently needs dogs. So what can you do? We have had so much FUN raising Reyna. She is the most happy dog I have ever raised and her energy fills up the house. There is going to be such a void when she leaves. She has been ready for several months, so I am glad she will be able to move on to the next phase of her life. We will be keeping a close eye on her and we will miss her more than she will ever know.

A post from Judi! Reyna on Vacation.

Reyna went on vacation with the entire Rowe family in August to The Feather River Park Resort in Greagle CA. Feather River Park is a resort dating back to the 1920's and all the cabins are real log cabins.

The Rowe family has been going for 25 years. Reyna was a welcome addition to our cabin everyone who knows us stopped by the porch to say hi and give her a pat.

She was always good with her greetings. Reyna spent time at the lodge and at the pool, she also spent time splashing with Cody and the grandchildren in the creek that runs behind our cabin and in the Feather River.

She took a long walk everyday through the woods and into town, on one of our walks there was a very persistent loose dog that was following us but she looked back a couple of times and kept on walking on a loose leash. Reyna visited the Greagle Store which dates back to the 1800's and we bought groceries and walked around through the town.

Reyna was also part of Hot Dog night at the pool she sat between two 2 year olds while they ate their hot dogs and never made any attempt to even sniff them.

We were all so happy to have Reyna on this vacation because the entire family that she has met through various social functions was there not only to play and talk to her but to say goodbye. We are all sad to say "goodbye" to our girl she has a special place in everyone's heart, but we know she is going on for a better purpose and for that reason the whole family is proud of her. We all love you Reyna.

The Entire Rowe Family.