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!

Life of a Career Change. . . . (No, not Reyna)

I don't have Reyna this week, so my posts get sort of random when I don't have her. I got some sad news yesterday that one of my best puppy raiser friends received news that her pup, who was in phase ten, was career changed. It was certainly hard news, but then life of a career change dog isn't so bad. Take a look at Starling, my career change. Starling thinks life of a career change is the best!

Reyna is 11 months old!

Today little Reyna is 11 months old. This photo was actually from the other day when it was Starling's birthday. Starling is our career changed guide dog. Starling turned three on February 21st. When it is Starling's birthday, we sing happy birthday to her and then she always gets a frosty paw. In fact, when Starling hears the Happy Birthday song, she runs over to the freezer and waits for her frosty paw. She is a smart dog.

When I look at this photo of Reyna, she looks very unhappy because she could not have a frosty paw. I felt really bad for her, so I put a birthday hat on her and took this picture. Some times being a guide dog in training means you miss out on all of the fun. Egh!

One other interesting piece of trivia about birthdays is that Reyna and Wendy were actually born on the same day, March 26th, just one year apart! Don't worry Reyna, you and Wendy will have another play date on your birtrhday. That is a lot more fun than a frosty paw!