Art and Wine Festival and Dogs!

Yesterday we took Vienna to the Art and Wine festival. I know she is young, but I knew she could handle it and if it was too much we were fine with just leaving. This was a great experience for her because it was one of her first real exposures to crowds. I thought the crowds would be more of a distraction for her, but they really weren't. She was distracted a little bit if someone made a huge fuss over her, but other than that, she was a champ. They had a live band there, so she was exposed to loud music for the first time. It didn't phase her in the least. And, of course, there were also a ton of dogs at the festival! I was careful to keep Vienna away and not let her greet the dogs. I got a little video of Tony walking with Vienna at the fesitival. In the video, a Bassett Hound shows a lot of interest in Vienna, and Viennna does a great job of not getting overly distracted as she keeps walking by without a problem. Pretty good for a little pup! Take a look.

Tennis Court Fun!

Today Vienna and I went down to visit Glenda and Wendy. We thought it would be fun if we took Vienna for her first run in the tennis courts! The tennis courts are a great, safe place to let your dog off leash for some real running. Wendy gets to do this quite a bit, but this was Vienna’s first time and I wasn’t sure if she was going to be as enthusiastic about it as Wendy. It is about a 25 minute walk from Glenda’s house to the tennis courts. So Vienna was tired when we got there. Glenda took the harness off of Wendy and I took off Vienna’s puppy coat. And then…….they were off! Wendy took of running and Vienna was right behind her. They ran around the courts and Vienna was having soooo much fun!

Vienna followed Wendy around for the most part. Where ever Wendy was, Vienna was not too far behind. It was funny to watch Vienna run because her legs are so long right now and her coordination is off. She would be running right along side Wendy and then all of a sudden she would just fall down. Sort of like she was tripping over herself. Poor little girl. But then she would pop right back up as if nothing even happened.

Vienna had no idea that she couldn’t run right through the tennis net. It was the funniest thing because she was running all out with Wendy and she was headed straight for the net. At the last minute, Wendy turned quickly and went around the net, and Vienna ran straight into the net! She went flying into the net and then sprung off of it like a rocket! I don’t think she had any idea what hit her. I rolled on the ground laughing so hard, and Glenda wondered what was so funny. I tried to explain it through my laughter, but it was one of those things you really had to see. She actually did it one other time, and then she finally realized she had to stop when she got to the net. It is so much fun watching her explore her world for the first time!

After that, Glenda did some obedience work with Wendy and Vienna. They were really excited, but the both managed to focus. Here is Glenda working with Vienna and Wendy on “sit”.

Here Glenda is working on recall with the dogs. What good girls!

Glenda gave both the dogs some water since they had been running around a lot. Here is a picture of Vienna drinking water out of Glenda’s hand.

Once both pups where refreshed with water, they both just walked around the court together. They were pooped out, so they just wouldn't run anymore. But they still had a great time wondering around together!

I think it is safe to say that Vienna LOVES the tennis courts. I think we will back here another day for some more fun :)

GDB Homecoming!

This past weekend I went to GDB’s Homecoming with Glenda who has my third puppy Wendy. We also decided to take Vienna along at the last minute. I had to work on Friday, so we didn’t get to the Hotel in San Rafael until around 5:30pm or so. We checked in and before we even had our bags in our room the phone rings and it is Vickie Kennedy and all I hear on the other end of the line is “Aloha”! Yes, Vicki is from Hawaii and she has been a GDB board member for many years. She invites us to come have cocktails and cheese in her room. You just got to love her! Glenda, Wendy, Vienna and I finally made it down to Vickie’s room where we enjoyed a glass of red wine and a cheese plate and just visited together. Vickie’s puppy raiser Gayle (who is my good friend) was also there with us. It wasn’t long before Morgan Watkins and his puppy raiser Nona joined us as well as Susie Cherry who was later crown “Homecoming Queen” at the dinner. Fun! We all visited and chatted and Morgan wanted to hold Vienna. So here are few photos of Morgan and Vienna together!

We all hung out together until about 7:45pm, then we went to dinner together. At dinner, a few others joined us. Barry Stone who produced the move “Sniff” and his wife Kim, as well as the star of the Sniff, guide dog “Mikey” and his handler. Paul Walker, GDB’s alumni board chair and his guide dog “Avanti” also joined us. Here is a photo of some of us at dinner.

Vienna did not come to dinner with us. I left her in the hotel room in her crate so she wouldn’t be too overwhelmed! When we arrived back in our room after dinner, Vienna was sleeping. Vienna did such a great job in the hotel room during our entire stay. Here are a few photos of Vienna our hotel room:

See, Vienna REALLY is an angel! Look at her halo. No Photoshop involved :)

And here is my all time favorite photo of Wendy from the entire weekend. I love, love, love how spoiled she is. She deserved it!

This is a picture of Vienna's first ride in the elevator. She was so good!

After Glenda and I chatted in bed for a while, we both fell asleep well after midnight. Room service called and woke us up at 6:45am asking us how we wanted our coffee! So we got up and went to relieve the dogs. No accidents! Yay Vienna. After we had our coffee we went down stairs to breakfast, and as we were looking for a place to sit I saw Lynda and Tamera. Tamera is the first puppy I raised and I have not seen Lynda or Tamera since their graduation three years ago. I walked over to Lynda and gave her a hug, but I did not greet Tamera because she was still working. At first I thought maybe Tamera forgot who I was because she was so serious and she didn’t not acknowledge me at all until……..Lynda took her harness off and handed me the leash! Wow…what a reunion we had. Tamera reacted the exact same way she did when I saw her at graduation. She was jumping in the air, slamming herself into me with excitement. She would not stop giving me kisses. Over and over and over again. She went so wild, that people around us commented on how crazy she was acting, and then someone (I don’t know who) told them I was her puppy raiser and we had not seen each other in years. The people stopped and one started crying saying it was the sweetest and most emotional thing they had ever seen. Pretty soon I had an audience watching of guide dog volunteers and guide dog users. One of the volunteers from GDB actually held Vienna for me while Tamera and I reunited. Eventually, I had to make Tamera calm down, because she was getting a little too nuts. She rolled over on her back and I laid on the floor and rubbed her tummy. After she settled, I was able to get a picture of her. Boy, did we really miss each other!

After all of that excitement, I barely had time to eat before the panel discussions began. Glenda and I did manage to scarf down some breakfast though. I saw Megan and Pasta and Sarah and her pup at breakfast. The discussions lasted about three hours. Vienna was an angel in a room full of 80 guide dogs. She stayed right at my feet and did not fuss or make a sound. Everyone around us was so impressed she was able to do that being only three months old. And so was I quite frankly. There were active guide dogs whining and having more trouble than Vienna. I couldn’t believe it! Take a look for yourself.

See what I mean? No whining to go outside……nothing. She just hung out with the big dogs like it was no big deal! After the panel discussions, we met Lynda and Tamera for lunch. My husband and my son joined us, as well as Glenda and Wendy. We had to drive two cars to the restaurant, so I ended up taking Lynda and Glenda. It was quite comical as we were walking from the parking lot to the restaurant as I attempted to give two blind ladies directions at the same time. It sounded something like this. Glenda turn left. A few more steps, ok, now Lynda take a left. Then one of the dogs would just think they knew where we were going and they would start off in a totally different direction. Then it was “Everybody Halt!” I would go get the one that was off track and resume our walking. Pretty darn funny to anyone watching. But it was pretty stressful for me. I am completely used to directing one blind person and a guide dog because I do it all of the time. But directing two at the same time really challenged my verbal navigation skills! Needless to say, we all made it safely into the restaurant. We had a wonderful time catching up with each other. Lynda and I talk on the phone every now and then, so we didn’t have three years worth of catching up to do, but there was plenty to talk about. Here is a photo of me, Glenda and Lynda with our dogs outside the restaurant.

I think they are both very beautiful people, don’t you? I am so lucky to have them in my life. I felt very honored to have THREE of my dogs at Homecoming! My first, my third and my fifth!

After lunch Glenda and I went back to Lynda’s hotel room and we visited. It was nice to have this special time with both of these wonderful ladies. While we were there, I took a picture of all three of the dogs together.

They took the harness of both Wendy and Tamera and the dogs played for a bit.

We made it over to GDB around 5:30pm, went to the gift shop and then got a glass of wine and visited with everyone. I saw Dianne and Hibiscus, Marybeth and Tennyson, as well Jen and Nixon. It was so nice meeting everyone from the GDB Lounge, and I hope everyone enjoyed Vienna! We took our seats for the dinner and sat for awhile and visited. Then a student in class came out and asked if she could sit with us. We welcomed her to our table and heard about her first week of class. She was matched with a dog named “Rhea”. I am not sure if I am spelling that correctly. She was a very nice lady who had tried to find out if her puppy raiser would be at Homecoming, but no one would tell her. She was a retrain student and we very much enjoyed talking with her. I went over to see a few other friends at other tables, and they asked me to bring Vienna over. So, of course, I did. Before long, I had requests from every table around me to see Vienna. I went around to everyone one by one and let them hold Vienna. It was so wonderful because just holding Vienna brought such great joy to each person who held her. I love how puppies do that. People were even holding Vienna on their laps getting and posing for pictures. It was a lot of fun to be a part of. Vienna handled it very well and did not get stressed in the least. She was happy to just be flopped from one person to the next!

After dinner and the awards were over, we went back to the hotel and went to the hospitality suite, which was so packed you couldn’t get in. So Glenda and I went to the bar for a drink. Not long after we were there, Lynda called and I went over to get her so she could join us. Glenda and Lynda have the same eye disease, and they have a lot in common so I just sat back and listened as they both talked about their lives and their experience with blindness. This is a photo of Tamera while we were at the bar. Yep, she’s tired!

Glenda left when her husband came to pick her up around 9:30pm or so. Then Lynda, Tamera, Vienna and I went back to the hospitality suite and chatted with some very nice people until around 11:30pm or so.

Lynda took the harness off of Tamera and she gave me the leash and Tamera and I just sat on the floor together snuggling. I had Vienna snuggling on one side, and Tamera on the other. Life doesn’t get much better than that!

Lots of firsts!

This weekend we went to GDB’s Homecoming and it was filled with all kinds of firsts for Vienna! It was the the first time she stayed the night in a Hotel, it was the first time she experienced an elevator (she got a lot of practice with that!), and it was the first time she was around over 80 working guide dogs! It was also the first time she attended a meeting / seminar. She was the youngest puppy in attendance, and she was just as well behaved as all of those older, fully trained dogs. It was also the first time she met my first guide dog puppy Tamera, who was there with her handler Lynda. And it was the first time I have seen Tamera since graduation three years ago! (Yes, she remembered me and she went nuts!).

I’ll have a post about Homecoming soon. Just wanted to share some of Vienna’s firsts with you!

More restaurant work….

Recently, we took Vienna out to breakfast. She has been in a few restaurants and has done very well, so I decided to take her to a more challenging place. The reason this restaurant is more challenging is because it is VERY busy, VERY small, and the floors are always full of distractions!

Because of all of this it took Vienna a few minutes to settle. But before long she found her usual spot right on my foot. She loves feet by the way. She just likes to be really close to me and she like to be touching me. This seems really sweet, and it is, but I don’t want her to become so attached to me that she doesn’t want to be on her own. So I asked my son, Tyler to take her for the rest of the time we were there. I thought for sure that within a few minutes, Vienna would be inching back over towards my foot. But to my surprise she did not do that at all. Instead, she laid down very nicely between my son’s feet. But she did not insist on touching his feet. I was really proud of her! Especially for not going after every piece of food on the ground. Good job Miss V!

Progress with the head collar!

I have been working with Vienna for a few weeks to get her acclimated to the head collar. We started off with the head collar protocol and did that for about a week. I worked her up to where I could buckle the head collar, but the collar was still loose. Vienna wore the head collar around the house just getting use to the feel of it. The next week, I continued with the protocol, but this time I actually fitted the head collar. She did well with that as she wore it around the house and played with it on. I tried to make sure she was doing “fun” things when she had it on. After several days of doing that, I started walking her with the head collar on, (but the leash was not attached). Well, that is were we ran into problems. She acted out in the typical way dogs do when they don’t care for the head collar. She pawed at it like crazy and basically just refused to walk at all. I worked with her over the next week, and she became much more accepting of it. A few days ago, I attached the leash to the head collar and started talking her on short walks. We had a really positive first walk, and Vienna didn’t fuss about it at all. I have been walking her with it on over the last few days, and she has completely accepted it. No pawing at her nose, no trying to rub it off on my legs, no refusing to walk, nothing. So it appears as if we have finally conquered the head collar. That was quite a process, but it goes to show you that if you go slow, and take it a step at a time and don’t try to rush the puppy, they do adjust to it.

I personally do not like using head collars because I like a dog who does not need some sort of apparatus to behave nicely on leash. I think of the head collar as a band aid and it doesn’t address and fix the issues. People also become dependant on head collars and that is not good. It is important that raisers work their puppies with a head collar as well as without so the dog and the raiser do not become dependant on it. Vienna by no means “needs” a head collar, but Guide Dogs asks that raisers get puppies in training accustom to wearing one. Many graduates use head collars, so the puppies need to be accustom to wearing one just in case their handler chooses to use one.

I was very happy with Vienna’s walk today because she acted as if she had never had an issue with the head collar. I am really proud of her progress, she did great!

On our walk I had an opportunity to work with Vienna on some different surfaces. One of the surfaces was a metal manhole cover. She walked right over it without any issues. Yay! This was so nice since my last pup had so many surface issues. We ended up working her through them, but it was sure a lot of work! Vienna has been such a nice puppy to raise so far. Let’s hope she keeps it up!

Vienna’s first movie!

Tonight we took Vienna to her first movie. We played it safe and saw “Easy A”. Being just three months old, I thought Vienna was way to young for a movie. This was a homework assignment from my club and I was told that I should take Vienna even though she is still such a baby. I was worried because I wasn’t sure she would settle and I was concerned about her having an accident. Normally, I wouldn’t take a puppy until it was around 4-5 months old. But there is really nothing normal about Vienna. She is just a very well behaved puppy who seems to be mature way beyond her age.

We got there really early and got seats at the very top of the theater so we would have more leg room. I brought a little blanket for Vienna, hoping she would just curl up on it and fall asleep. And you know what? That is exactly what she did! She literally slept through the entire movie. I had to wake her up when it was time to leave.

I have to admit, that I carried her out of the theater because she had been sleeping for almost two hours and it was a LONG walk to get outside. I was thinking prevention here. As I was leaving the theater a young man came up to me with the most serious look on his face and asked me if he could have Vienna! Ya, right, like I was just going to hand over my puppy. It was funny because he did not have any expression on his face, like a smile or anything. He just asked me with a totally straight face if he could have her.

We made it outside and I found the closest relieving area, and Vienna immediately did her business on command. She walked the rest of the way to the car with the sleepiest little face and a sleepy little walk. What an angel!

Ready for Restaurants? You bet!

Last night, we took Vienna out for the first time to a restaurant. We went to Pasta Pomodoro. I took Vienna here with Stephanie a couple weeks ago, but we played it safe and ate outside. Very low risk. But Vienna was perfect and just slept through our lunch.

Last night we were brave and decided to eat inside. Last week Vienna finally got a puppy coat that actually fits her, so the timing seemed right. However, I was totally prepared to leave and get our food to go if it didn’t go so well. As we were seated, I placed Vienna in a down (we are still working on that command) underneath my chair.

To my surprise, she settled right away. Well, I guess I wasn’t that surprised considering her personality, which is very content and easy going. After a few minutes, she just fell asleep and I barley knew she was there except for the occasional repositioning she did to get comfortable throughout our dinner. Take a look.

This was just too easy. She is such a wonderful little girl. Our homework from our club this week is to go to a movie. Hmmmmm……I have never taken such a small pup (3 months old) to a movie before, but I was told she could do it so I will be taking her this weekend. I’ll post about how it went next week. Hope everyone has a good weekend :)