June 20th 2009 6:02 pm
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Today mom and dad had a yard sale. Since mom needed to work on Ollie's training with strangers coming into the driveway, I had to stay behind at the house instead of coming down the driveway with mom and dad. I laid around in the house or in the yard, feeling extremely neglected. I got lots of treats and mom and dad came down the driveway often-- and I could see and hear them from the yard-- but still I deserve to be front and center of everything!
Then mom and dad took Ollie to training class, so now that they are home I am commandeering mom's lap. She's not going anywhere!
June 18th 2009 10:28 pm
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Last night daddy took me to rally and I was a STAR! I wore my crystal collar from Parker's Pets, and everyone was fawning over me (as they should be!). I was a very good girl during class, and ignored all the doggies walking by. I did a great job doing the rally course, and made everyone laugh with how excited I was when it was time to do a fast paced sign! Mom says she needs to get some pictures of me working with dad, and I agree! Hopefully she'll get some next week!
June 11th 2009 8:09 am
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Yup, that's me, Sabrina the rally star! Last night we had a rally drop-in class. Our trainer is super awesome and has a free rally drop-in for the regulars for the next few weeks. This means I got to go, too! Normally I don't get to go because mom and dad can't afford to pay for 2 doggie classes at the same time.
Daddy handled me, which was very new because daddy's never actually done rally before! I forgot how to do fronts and kept sitting right next to daddy! Oops! Other than that I had a great time trotting around the course with him, back to my usual Rally diva-ness! During my second run of the course, mom started to cry. She really misses working me, and loves to see me happy and trotting along, doing my characteristic crooked sits, and moving my bum around for left turns like a star. I got a little distracted by mom crying and I wanted to go help her... it is hard sometimes remembering that I'm not the primary one to help her with these things anymore. It made both of us sad. But I was happy to do the course with daddy and get out there and strut my rally stuff!
June 10th 2009 8:21 am
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The artist Kathryn Beals who painted my portrait with Ollie in the lupines has done a speed painting! The dogster who won the dogblog portrait contest is the dog being painted in the video. She took video of herself painting and then sped it up really fast. It is amazing to see the dog come to life on the canvas! Check it out in her blog www.howipaint.com!
May 29th 2009 8:36 am
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Yesterday when mom and dad took Ollie and I for a walk across the creek, I was feeling more peppy than usual. Usually I stay on leash because all I want to do is eat grass and walk along slowly. But yesterday I got all excited so dad let me off leash to run and play with Ollie! Since I was all excited about running and playing, we just walked back and forth on the flat wide part of the trail several times instead of going up the hill where mom worries about my joints if I run. I had a great time chasing and wrestling with Ollie! I was very tired when I got home, though, and fell right asleep.
May 27th 2009 8:32 pm
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Ever since the first Service Skills and Tricks class, mom has been doing some training with Ollie and me. First she puts me in my crate and works with Ollie, then it is my turn. The only problem is that mom doesn't have a quiet clicker anymore, so we had to spend a few days working on me getting used to the noisy one. Maybe it's because I'm old and getting a little hard of hearing, but after 6.5 years with mom I finally like the loud clicker noise! While mom was training me to like the loud clicker, she was working with Ollie on things like crawling across the floor, taking objects and sticking out his tongue. So she decided to start training me for those things (well, except taking objects since I already know that one) a couple of days ago. I didn't much like crawling-- not good for my arthritic knees, you know-- so we've been sticking with tongue licking. This is the easiest trick in the book! Today is my third day working on it (5 min each day) and mom already is introducing the cue word! I am so smart, and this licking thing is a snap. When it is Ollie's turn, I sit in my crate and laugh at him because he just doesn't get it, he doesn't understand what mom is clicking for! Ha ha, I am smarter than Ollie! Poodles are supposed to be smart, but Ollie is definitely a LOT slower than me!
May 24th 2009 6:59 am
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Yesterday Ollie went to play with Josephine and Jolanda. When they got back to our house, I got in my crate as usual. Normally I stay in my crate and Josephine and Jolanda stay in the yard with the screen door open. Josephine I am OK with (though it is still a bit wierd to have her in my house), but Jolanda and I don't get along the best sometimes. So we are usually kept physically separated to keep everyone un-stressed.
This time when they came over, Jolanda accidentally got in the house and came right up to my crate. I was so surprised that I forgot to bark! But the humans realized that it was cold outside! Luckily Ollie has a giant crate since he is so huge, and Josephine and Jolanda got in there and could both comfortably hang out there. This turned out to be just fine! I was a little stressed at first, as was Jolanda, but with a few treats I realized that she couldn't get to me, and she realized the same. So we just laid down and all went to sleep. The humans were very happy! They only stayed about a half an hour or 45 min to eat some food, which was a perfect amount of time to test the arrangement. I think it worked well! Next time we might even try some rotating (keeping the dog that is out on leash, though). Can't wait!
May 23rd 2009 8:35 am
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Ever since the fateful day mom put paw wax on me, then took me to a grocery store that had freshly waxed floors (I slipped and slid my way around for 5 min, then we cancelled our shopping trip!) I have not liked to have my paws waxed. I don't need soft feet, and I'm not walking around on chemicals, so I don't need any wax to protect my feet. Still, mom waxes Ollie's paws every once in a while, so yesterday she decided to torture me by putting it on my feet.
When she came over with the pot of wax, I laid on the couch, pleading with her to not force me to endure the torture, but she wouldn't listen. I gave her poor pitiful me looks the whole time to no avail. When she was finally done, I crawled into her lap and wouldn't let her get up, insisting that she make it up to me by a number of good belly scritches. Finally, I got up and went to hide in my crate just to be sure she wouldn't try any more torture!
What an abused doggie I am, having to get wax on my feet to make them nice and soft and protected!
May 23rd 2009 8:14 am
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Check out my portait from Kathryn Beals as my main photo! I think it is awesome! Too bad that silly poodle had to be in it, too. The portrait is of Ollie and I in the lupine fields where mom does her research at Folsom Lake. The flowers, oak trees, and skies look exquisite! I am so in love with the painting! You can see the progress along the way from sketch to final product in Kathryn's blog www.howipaint.com.
May 17th 2009 5:52 pm
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This year's gathering is going to be the largest and longest event in PSDS history! We are so excited to have so many people able to attend, and can't wait to meet and enjoy spending time with everyone. This is the first year the gathering is being held on the West Coast, thanks to Clos Pepe's generous donation of space.
As many of you may remember, this winter PSDS was swindled out of $5,000 by a fake fundraiser. These monies were intended to provide the bulk of support for the PSDS gathering this year. Nevertheless, PSDS is providing shuttles to and from the airport to the vineyard, portable showers, toilets, sink and generator, and to providing a full dinner on Saturday night. We are also providing the main course for the Friday night chili potluck, and renting vans to transport attendees to various events (dog show, beach, brunch in town etc) during the weekend.
We are still attempting to acquire donations from major grocery retailers in the area, but it has become apparent that the bulk of the funds for the gathering will have to come from PSDS. Our goal is to raise an additional $2,000 to help pay for this event.
Please consider making a donation to PSDS to help pull this gathering off. Any amount is appreciated! If everyone on this listserv donated just $5, we would be able to raise $1,895! That is just a little shy of our target of $2,000! If a few people can afford to contribute $50, $100, or even $250, out goal would be met in no time. Please feel free to forward this message to friends and family who support PSDS.
To donate via paypal, please visit:
http://www.psychdog.org/contribute.html
Or if you want to show your support for PSDS by purchasing a PSDS t-shirt (now in sizes S-XXL), patch, or mug, visit:
http://www.psychdog.org/giftshop.html
Keep in mind that paypal takes out a percentage for all funds coming through them, so if you want all of your donation to go to PSDS, please consider writing a check and sending it via snail mail. Donations can also be made by sending checks to:
Psychiatric Service Dog Society
P.O. Box 754
Arlington, VA 22216
Thank you in advance! We are counting down the days until this year's gathering. Please help us make it a huge success!
May 10th 2009 6:36 pm
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If I could be any animal other than a dog, I think I would be a cow. Why, you ask? Because grazing is so much fun! I just love to graze on the spring grasses when they pop up all fresh and tender! We went on a walk today, and that is all I did when we got to the off-leash part of the walk, so I had to stay on leash so I stayed caught up with mom, dad and Ollie. I tried to tell Ollie how yummy the grass was, but he totally ignored me! Oh well, that only means more grass for me-- it is starting to dry up now, so I have to inhale it's limited quantities before the summer!
May 10th 2009 7:34 am
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Mom typed this up about how she trained me to retrieve, and I thought I should share....
Sabrina was NOT into fetching things at all. I used this method to get her to get things when she was about 3-4 years old.
Start with something easy to hold-- I like to use a cloth hankie or a cloth glove for Sabrina. For Ollie I used a wool beanie-style hat. You could also use a mismatched sock or anything soft and easy to pick up. This method relies on clicker training. I think that it would be easiest to teach this using clicker training as you really want to mark the exact second that the dog does the right thing and it is much easier to do this with a clicker. However, if you don't want to use a clicker, you could use vocal markers (like "yes") to mark the correct behavior. Just make sure your markers are spot on!
Drop the item on the floor, and when your dog shows even the slightest interest in this item, click (or use your vocal marker) and treat. For some dogs this may be as little as just glancing at the dropped item. Other dogs might go over to investigate right away. Start wherever your dog is comfortable starting-- I'll describe for a dog that is really not interested, but if your dog starts out further along in the process that's great.
So anyway, click and treat when they look at the dropped item. Pick it up, do it again. Click and treat for looking at the item 5-10 times. Note, do NOT introduce a vocal command for this until I say so later on, you want them to know what the end desired behavior is before you introduce a word. Next drop the item and require them to look at the item and take a step towards it, click and treat. Repeat 5-10 times.
Keep training sessions short and sweet, about 5-10 minutes. Stop after 5-10 minutes, even if you are still at just looking at the item! When you start a new training session you may find you need to move back a step or two in the sequence, but you can quickly move forward with only 1-2 repetitions at each step.
Shape the desired behavior by requiring more out of your dog each time. Require 5-10 reps of them looking and taking 2 steps, then 3, then coming over to the item as close as they can get, remembering to click/treat when they've completed what you wanted at each level. Then do 5-10 reps of requiring them to come over to the dropped item and put their nose near it to click/treat. Next you want them to somehow open their mouth over the item. Some dogs may go right to picking the item up. Others might require some shaping along the way-- click and treat when they have their mouth open near the item, then gradually click treat for mouth open and on the item etc. This is usually the slowest step if you have a dog that is not into taking things in their mouth, but if you use really high value treats and the shaping method, going in baby steps towards the correct behavior, you will get it eventually (this is what I had to do with Sabrina).
So now you're at the point where you are click/treating for your dog taking the item into their mouth, even for a milisecond. Next start delaying the click/treat. They pick up the item, wait 2 miliseconds to click/treat. Repeat. Then a half second, then a second etc. The idea is you want them to learn to calmly hold the item when they've picked it up.
Finally require them to hold the item in their mouth and come to you to get click/treat. Do this by first requiring them to come near to you, then requiring them to touch your hand with the item to get the click/treat. Then requiring them to let go of the item in your hand to get the click/treat.
Once your dog understands the whole sequence of events-- picking up the item, holding onto it while coming over to you, and putting it in your hand-- then you can introduce commands. Mine is "get it". I do not introduce commands for "hold it", and my "drop it" command I've already taught for other things and don't usually use it for this sequence. If you wanted to introduce these words at this time, that is fine, too. Now you are just naming the thing that your dog already understands. To introduce a vocal command, say the command right before the dog does the action. Do this many times, saying "get it" right as the dog goes to pick up the item in their mouth, slowly putting the vocal command earlier and earlier. You should be able to get to the point where if you say "get it" the dog looks for you to drop the object. At this time, introduce discrimination. Drop the object and give no reward for getting it if the dog does so without your verbal command. This prevents your dog from picking up every single thing you've dropped.
Once they are reliably getting it and everything with the item you've started with, now you work on other items. Try a different cloth object first. You will find you probably need to start out with early shaping just as you did with the first object. It should move a lot faster with the second object. Then do a third larger or heavier cloth item. Add in things like an empty makeup bag, a scarf etc that are still easy on the mouth but more difficult to carry. After a while, your dog will start to generalize the "get it" command to whatever item you drop.
Next introduce harder materials. Try plastic or wood next. Small pieces of PVC pipe make good dumbbells, or you can purchase some made for obedience. You'll have to go back to shaping for sure with this new material, but they'll pick up on it pretty quickly. Metal is the hardest material, it feels funny in their mouth, so leave it for last if you do it at all.
Once your dog is able to pick up a variety of objects, start training with the emergency phone (this is naming specific objects to get, so if you want to name other objects, use this method, just insert whatever other object you want to name-- for example I taught Sabrina "case" for my medicine case). By this point your dog will probably be willing to pick up the phone when you drop it. Do this a couple of times just to make sure your dog will get this phone in their mouth happily. If it is a cell phone, try a leather or cloth carrier to make it easier on your dog. If it is a cordless phone, consider attaching a rope or other easy to carry thing onto the phone so your dog has an easier time of it.
Now introduce a word for the phone. Drop the item, say "phone", then "get it". Repeat a bunch of times. Eventually your dog will realize you are using the word phone as the cue word. Slowly space out the two words (ie at first say them right after each other, then try waiting a second between each). Pretty soon your dog won't wait for "get it" anymore and will know this command as phone. Then place the phone on the floor (ie don't drop it, which has until now been a visual cue for the dog) and say "phone". Reward profusely when the dog gets it and brings it to you. Repeat 5-10 times. Slowly phase out the putting on the floor. Leave the phone on the floor in another room and go into the room together (this way seeing the phone is a new stimulus and helps trigger your dog that it should get the phone for you). Eventually just leave the phone on the ground for longer periods of time and ask for it throughout the day.
Once your dog is comfortable with this, you can start moving the phone to more complicated places-- on a nearby shelf or low coffee table, for example. If you have one of those puzzle toys and yoru dog knows how to get things out of the puzzle, try putting the phone in there. Then put the phone on top of your purse (if you keep the phone in your purse-- otherwise put it close to wherever you are going to keep it). If you are keeping it in your purse, you'll have to slowly shape taking the phone from the purse. So put it on the purse, then put it right under the flap of the purse so it is still sticking out for your dog to see and grasp, then put it right under the flap so they have to open the flap, then right at the top of the purse, then partially covered by one item etc etc.
Now that your dog can bring you the phone from anywhere, if you want, you can introduce one final aspect, which is another cue for phone. You want to keep the verbal "phone" cue, but there may be times when you can't speak and want your dog to get the phone for you. Fall to the floor like you are passing out, say phone, and reward when it is brought to you. If this startles your dog too much, you might try asking calmly for the phone while sitting on the ground or while reclining on the couch to get them used to you being in different posisions. Anyway, the idea is that just like you taught the new word "phone" instead of "get it", you will first do the dropping suddenly to the ground, then say the word "phone". Repeat a lot of times and your dog will associate the action of dropping to the ground with the command phone, and will start to bring the phone on their own when you drop to the ground.
Use the method outlined in the previous paragraph for any other type of cue training. I call an action cue a cue based on some action. Like you might want to train a dog to bring you medicine after they've had a chance to potty in the AM so they don't wake you up. Or you might want to train them to bring you something with an alarm as a reminder, or bring you meds if you are doing some sort of repetitive action or something. You can also train a time cue using the same method. At the same time every day practice getting the item, and give a huge reward (like a meal!). Your dog will soon associate getting the item with the meal, and will remind you at that time every day by bringing you the item.
All this sounds quite complicated and long from this very loooong email that I've typed out. However, if you spend 5-10 minutes on this every single day, your dog will have this down in just a month or two. This is how I trained Sabrina to bring me my medicine case. She went from a dog who refused to retrieve anything, who did NOT like picking things up in her mouth to excitedly bringing me my meds (I trained in a time and an action cue for the 2 med times a day) reliably in about 1.5 to 2 months.
May 6th 2009 11:26 pm
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Now that I am retired, I have been spending a lot of time discovering the best places to sleep around the house. My favorite place to sleep during the day is on the couch. It was so nice of mom and dad to buy a couch just for me! I like to spread out on the couch so that it is impossible for mom and dad to use the couch, too. Sometimes they want to sit on the couch with me, so I do something really really cute so that they just sit around me but don't make me move! Sleeping with my paw over my nose is always a good way to ensure full couch access, and sleeping on my back with my legs up in the air (learned from Ollie) also usually merits the whole couch. I keep experimenting, and I've found that sleeping normally on my side usually won't be cute enough for mom and dad to let me take up the whole couch. Instead they make me move to the side and only take up only half the couch. Sometimes when they make me move, I give them a big loud sigh and go lay on my toddler bed in the bedroom.
April 29th 2009 6:15 pm
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When someone flies with their service dog, they are not covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) but rather under the Air Carriers Access Act (ACAA). Currently all types of service animals are given the same flying privileges, however there are new restrictions that are going into place in May.
These new restrictions affect only service dogs that assist people with mental illness. All other types of service dogs can still fly whenever they want.
The new restrictions force people with mental illness (and ONLY people with mental illness) to provide a letter from their doctor saying that they have a mental illness, and to give 48 hrs notice when flying among other things. It is discrimination to force only one group of people to provide this extra letter and not everyone with service dogs. Please follow the link below to learn more about this issue.
http://capwiz.com/ndmda/utr/2/?a=13234471&i=93400052&c=
At the bottom of the webpage you will be directed to, you can enter your zip code and be taken to a very easy, automated letter sending webpage. Consider adding a few personal touches to the provided sample letter on this page, but if you are busy, just provide your name and address and let your voice be heard!
April 20th 2009 8:53 pm
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Mom's mom came to visit us!!!! I love her, she is so nice! I remembered her right away. We took her to Folsom Lake on Saturday, and I had a lot of fun seeing the lake and the flowers and everything. I especially liked rolling around on my back in the flowers mom studies!
After the lake we went to Davis for daddy to show off his campus. It was a special weekend in Davis (Picnic Day) so there were people and other dogs EVERYWHERE! It was so busy! I did a good job with all the crowds and people, though I did tell off a Pappillon for startling me (they came out of a crowd right into my space without any warning!). I got some nice photos with daddy's favorite sculpture on campus, too. It was a busy day and I was sooooooo tired when we got home. I slept all day long on Sunday I was so tired!
I was sad to see mom's mom go home, I hope I get to see her again soon!
April 14th 2009 8:37 am
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Mom and dad got Psychiatric Service Dog Society t-shirts this weekend, and mom wanted to take some photos. We all went outside and mom and Ollie line up and dad started taking photos of them. I had found the perfect light and was awaiting my photo shoot! When I realized the photo shoot was not of me, I had to do something to fix it! So I came over, sat right in front of mom and Ollie, and started posing my tail off! Mom and dad thought I was too cute, so they kept me in for the rest of the photo shoot (well, they did try to remove me several times, but I kept running into the shot and posing, so they eventually gave up). I made a blah blah photo shoot shine! Mom says I am a true diva, and I have to agree!
April 2nd 2009 8:16 am
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Yesterday was my 9th birthday. It was a pretty busy day for mom, so we are celebrating my birthday mostly today. Yesterday morning I got to ride in the car with dad to drop mom off at work, and we left silly Ollie at home! That was nice! I also got a 12 inch bully stick all for myself! But today will be the day I get to do what I love best-- snuggle with mom, all day long! It should be a lot of fun!
March 29th 2009 6:08 am
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On Friday Josephine and Auntie Sonja came over and took us to Briones park. I was so happy that it is finally getting nice and warm outside, so my arthritis wasn't bothering me at all. Briones was really pretty, and I enjoyed looking around, smelling everything, and sampling the grass along the way.
I was the best behaved doggie of the bunch when we got to the pasture full of cow patties! I was the only doggie that didn't roll in or eat the poop! It was so hard not to, but I managed it. It started to get really hot and mom was in pain and not feeling good, so we headed back down the trail and mom was feeling better when it was cooler with a breeze.
JoJo rolled in cow poop, and the water fountain at the park wasn't sufficient for a bath, so I invited her and her mom into my house for a bath. It was JoJo's first time in my house, and I didn't mind her being there at all. I did feel a bit sorry for her having to get a bath, but I think she enjoyed using our peppermint shampoo (or at least Auntie Sonja did), and she liked our shower situation. Then we hung around for a while, I napped in the sun, and the humans had a nice chat. I can't wait until we see them again, and the humans are planning to watch a movie together sometime- should be fun!
March 27th 2009 5:31 am
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Last weekend, mom and dad packed up a suitcase and I got all excited, thinking I was going on a trip with them! But on Monday morning, mom and dad walked me over to Metro Dog, and they left me there because Ollie was going instead of me! I was happy to go to Metro Dog, and all the people who worked there seemed really nice, so I didn't even worry very much when mom and dad left.
I had an AWESOME 5 days at Metro dog! I was in private boarding, so I had a nice big quiet room to myself, and 3 15 min walks/play sessions a day. All the people there were super super nice, and they loved me SO much! I got a rock star card for being a totally great pup. When mom called to check in on me, they people there couldn't stop telling mom what a wonderful dog I was!
I walked very nicely on a leash for them, and I played tug wonderfully, too- they were all raving about how I dropped the toy whenever asked, and was able to calm down quickly when I got excited. I was a happy pup staying at Metro Dog, though I did miss mom and dad a little bit.
Yesterday I was in the middle of my afternoon play session when they said my mommy was there! Yippie, I was happy to see mom! But I wasn't desperate for attention from her or anything, and was also happy to see the other people who worked there and sniff around the room. Mom took this as a very good sign that I was comfortable and happy there. I know that next time mom and dad have to go out of town that I will be staying at Metro Dog again! They are awesome, and they are a green business, too!
March 18th 2009 5:58 pm
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Check out the progress on my new portrait by Kathryn Beals:
www.howipaint.com
You can see how easy it is to paint a lovely me, I am soooooooo gorgeous! Ollie and I can't wait to see the finished product!
March 18th 2009 5:33 pm
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Yesterday Josephine and Jolanda's mom came over and it was so exciting! Ollie was having a hard time being good for her to come in the door, so I got more and more and more excited. Finally she came in and Ollie was still being a puppy-teen for a while so I wasn't getting much attention. I took advantage of mom and Sonja hugging to get some attention of my own-- by humping Auntie Sonja! Tee hee hee! Noone was happy with my awesome humping, though, and I had to stop right away. Sometimes I hump things when I get really excited, though I haven't done it in several years! What can I say, she is just a very exciting person.
We got in the car and headed to Strawberry Creek, where we had such a nice walk last time. I got to wear a polo shirt because it was a bit chilly when we first got there. I was so happy to be out and about with the other pups, and the grass was nice and fresh so I made sure to pretend to be a cow for a while and do some grazing.
I did have a few pirate words with Jolanda-- but it wasn't my fault! Daddy was carrying a stick, but it was really JoJo's stick because she found it first. So Josephien and Jolanda were barking at daddy to give them back their stick, and I thought they were barking at me... well, we had some pirate words, but we made up quickly once we realized it was all a miscommunication caused by silly humans! After that I was find with Josephine and Jolanda, and we had a lot of fun on our walk. My joints started to hurt after a while, though, so we had to turn around and go back. It was a very fun walk, but tiring! I was happy to get home and sleep!
March 10th 2009 12:14 am
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Daddy was interviewed for an article in his school newspaper! The other person interviewed is our pal Marley's mom!
http://www.theaggie.org/article/3238
UCD professors sign petition against American Philosophical Association
Calls for APA to censure schools with anti-sexual stanceshomo
Written by ERICA LEE
Published March 10, 2009
A group of UC Davis philosophy professors have signed a petition calling for the American Philosophical Association to stop advertising universities that it claims discriminate based on sexual orientation.
Supporters of the petition argue that the APA is violating its own anti-discrimination policy by advertising universities that ban homosexuality as part of their ethical standards for staff and faculty. Currently, the APA - which has over 10,000 members - includes these universities in their "Jobs for Philosophers" publication, which compiles academic job opportunities for those in the philosophical community.
"Even though the [APA] policy allows institutions with a religious affiliation to explicitly require faculty members to share that affiliation, the policy does not permit this requirement where it means the institution discriminates on the basis of sexual orientation," said philosophy teacher's assistant Brad Morris, who signed the petition. "A school can legally violate the policy, but in such a case, the APA is obligated to censure the school for doing so."
Colleges named in the petition that prohibit students and faculty from engaging in "homosexual acts" include Azusa Pacific University, Pepperdine University, Biola University and Westmont College.
The petition calls for the APA to correct the violation of its policy by either removing the schools from its publication or by marking them as censured schools. The APA has done this in the past when advertising schools that violate its anti-discrimination policy.
If the APA refuses to do either of these things, the petition calls for it to remove its anti-discrimination policy in order to "end the illusion that a primary function of the APA is to protect the rights of its members."
"In short, the petition asks for a consistent APA policy on discrimination," said Roberta Millstein, a UC Davis philosophy professor who also signed the petition. "However, I think it's also true that most of us who signed it think that there is no legitimate basis for an ethical argument against homosexuality or 'homosexual acts.'"
Pepperdine University defended its stance as a reflection of its religious affiliation.
"Though Pepperdine is certainly welcoming of all people and hospitable toward all, it holds a traditional biblical view of relationships," said Jerry Derloshon, executive director of public relations for the university. "Pepperdine believes it has a right to live out its Christian founding. What [supporters of the petition] do with that is up to them."
Millstein said that the petition has received wide support from the philosophy community.
"As of now, the petition has 1,350 signatures which is strong support, especially given that philosophers don't as a rule tend to sign petitions readily," she said. "I think [the petition] has a pretty good chance, perhaps not of being immediately successful, but of being successful in the long run and leading to future discussions."
Morris said he also believes the petition will ultimately be successful.
"The position of the petition is that the APA should enforce its current policy in a clear manner," he said. "Regardless of what you think about sexual orientation - do what you say you do, or don't say you do it, it's as simple as that. Any philosopher worth his or her salt should be willing to sign it."
ERICA LEE can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.
March 6th 2009 8:37 am
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Yesterday was SOOOOOOOO FUN! Josephine and Jolanda's mom came over, and I was really happy to see her, she is so nice! I was a little sad, though, because I know that usually they are going somewhere to a store or something and since I am retired, I can't go along. Today was different, though! I got my seatbelt on, too, and we all headed to a trail that goes along a ridgeline in Berkeley. It was chilly up there with all the wind, and mom and dad forgot to bring my sweater! Shame on them! Luckily Josephine and Jolanda lent me a jacket of theirs so I could keep my joints warm.
We walked for a long time and had a lot of fun. A few times I even tried to play with Josephine and Jolanda. We had a photo shoot and Ollie was such a pain! He really doesn't understand the concept of modeling like JoJo, Jolanda and I do. We sat and posed prettily, while Ollie would get distracted, turn his head, and otherwise be a puppy! Sheesh! Eventually we got some good pictures, though.
I was very very tired by the end of the walk, and so I was happy to go home and sleep while they had some more adventures. I'm getting to be an old lady, and I like to sleep in a nice warm, soft and dry place for a while after a hike like that!
March 3rd 2009 5:35 pm
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Ollie and I are featured on the Parker's Pets blog! We LOVE Parker's Pets, it is a super awesome pet store run by my pal Parker... well, his human might help out a little, too because it's hard to count change with doggie paws. Anyway, Parker's Pets is our main source of all our wool toys and other eco-friendly doggie products. They are super nice and have good prices, too! Stop by the blog and check out the pictures of Ollie and I trying out some of their products.
March 2nd 2009 11:57 pm
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This morning mom got out my service vest! I was SO excited when she did, I was really hoping she would take me back to work where I get so many lovely tummy scritches from her labmates. But instead she put a patch on the vest that has a poodle on it! Well, I knew the vest wasn't for me anymore when she put it on there. I'm not wearing a poodle patch. It made me sad when she put the vest on Ollie, though I was happy not to have to go out in the rain. When mom and Ollie got home, Ollie told me the vest worked out OK, but mom just gave me a big hug and lots of cuddles and said she really missed me. I missed her, too, it was hard today seeing the reminder of my service days being passed on to Ollie.
February 27th 2009 6:36 am
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Our favorite artist Kathryn Beals is painting Ollie and me! Kathryn has painted me before, and everyone who walks in our house admires the painting (probably because I am just such a pretty pup!). This time Ollie's going to be in the painting, too! You can follow along with the prograss of the paining in her blog at www.howipaint.com. So far she has made a sketch of Ollie and me in a field of lupines (the plant that mom studies). I can't wait to see the progression of the painting!
February 25th 2009 6:14 pm
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My life is so rough, I tell you what! All I ask for in my retirement is a good walk a day, lots of tasty food and treats (including a small bully stick or other chewie every time I have to stay alone), fancy collars and outfits, unlimited tummy scritches, first dibs on all the toys, weekly visits to the hardware or pet store, my very own toddler bed, blankets and snuggling whenever I want, a daily wreslitng match with Ollie (or three), and a few games of tug of war with each pawrent per day. I mean, it's not like I'm asking for too much or anything, this is just the bare minimum a pup can survive on!
But today mom won't play tug with me because she is in too much pain, and Ollie keeps stopping our wrestling matches because his ears hurt. It's not my fault they are just so convenient for me to grab-- he's too tall so I have to take what I can get my mouth on. And mom just wants to throw toys for me and not tug on them. That is how Ollie plays, not me! Sheesh! You'd think after a lifetime of service to my mom that I'd get everything I ever wanted, but no... maybe I should go on strike or something and see if I can get some decent retirement benefits around here!
February 22nd 2009 6:52 am
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Mom's been really busy lately, but when she's been home, most of the time she's been quite sick. So I've been doing my job a lot and helping her feel better. That means I get lots of cuddles on the couch, which is all good for me! I hope mom is feeling better soon, but until she does I'm happy to help.
February 17th 2009 6:38 am
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A couple of days ago I got to go to the hardware store with mom, dad and Ollie! I LOVE going to the hardware store because they LOVE having me there. Everyone gives me lots of loving and attention, and Ollie isn't nearly as popular as I am. I wore my purple leopard print jacket and everyone complimented my fashion sense. I showed Ollie how to behave in the store, and pranced around like the queen I am! It was fun!
February 14th 2009 6:29 am
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Yesterday one of mom's labmates came over just to visit me! She walked in the door and silly Ollie mobbed her! After a while he calmed down, then she sat on the couch and I hopped up and laid right on her lap. It was very nice to see her, I miss visiting the lab and getting petted by everyone there. Mom kept interrupting my visit with my friend (who came just to see me, not for any other silly reason) with discussions of statistics and lab stuff. I thought it was very rude of mom to try to do work while I was getting prime cuddling! It was a lot of fun to have a visitor just for me, I hope she comes back soon!
February 1st 2009 10:46 am
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Yesterday morning when mom came back from her trip to the park with Ollie, I had to do a lot of work to help her out. Ollie was a very bad pup at the park, and that combined with mom's anxiety levels was not good. So I licked mom's face a lot, sat on top of her, leaned on her, and did all I could to help her out. I am still so helpful at home, mom says, which is good for me because I like to help! All that work was pretty exhausting, so while I was worried when mom, dad and Ollie left the house, I was happy to get some rest. When they got home, I ate some dinner and then we went on a walk. We ran into Jolanda and JoJo on the walk! Last time I walked with them I got to like them pretty much, but today Ollie was there and that was very worrysome for me! I needed to make sure Ollie was OK so I said a few pirate words to JoJo and Jolanda and mom was very embarassed. By the end of the walk, I thought they were pretty OK again, and mom says that soon we'll all be good friends. It is just hard because I can't do all the walking that they and Ollie can do, so we have to plan special shorter and easier outings for me because of my arthritis.
January 25th 2009 8:45 pm
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Today I got a lot of exercise-- too much exercise and now my leg hurts a lot. I got a short walk over to Metro Dog for my evaluation (5 min walk) and back, then we hopped in the car with Ollie and went to Point Pinole. I had a lot of fun on our walk at Point Pinole, though it was a lot longer than I usually walk and it was chilly! I had my purple leopard print sweater on to keep me warm. We had a photo shoot, too, which was nice. I need some new pictures on my page, that is for sure!
At the end of the walk, we went to a side trail and Ollie got off leash. It looked like fun, so mom and dad let me off, too! I ran ran RAN like a crazy pup! Well, for about three minutes and then my knee started hurting. That was sad, so I ate some grass while Ollie ran around and fetched a ball for a while.
When we got home I was very excited that it was dinner time and I was looking around for the medicine case. I bumped into a stool in the kitchen, and the bowl on the stool fell on my head! I jumped and ran away, and I ran smack dab into Ollie's crate with my rear end. Ouch! That did it, now I was really hurting and I wouldn't put any weight on my leg for a few minutes. Mom gave me some Dog Gone Pain and daddy got a warm blanket out of the dryer for me, so now I'm feeling a little better, but I'll have to remember to take it easy (and mom will have to remember to make me take it easy!) so my leg doesn't keep hurting. Poor me! I think I deserve a nice new collar for all my pain and suffering!
January 21st 2009 6:00 pm
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Today I was lying in my crate, waiting for mom and Ollie to get home, taking a nice nap. Mom came home, put Ollie in his crate, then took me for a walk. I was surprised to see Jolanda and Josephine waiting for me at the end of my driveway! Yippie! Ollie always gets to have fun with them, and it is no fair, so today I got to join in! We went for a nice walk around the neighborhood and through the park. Joland and I had a few pirate words at first, because mom forgot about my fear of off leash doggies. But pretty soon we were all walking along nicely, having fun. I like Jolanda and Josephine a lot, they are very nice pups, and their mom is super cool, too! I hope I get to have fun with them again, soon.
January 19th 2009 5:58 pm
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I just received the following message from the head of the Psychiatric Service Dog Society (PSDS). A con-artist recently swindled PSDS out of $5,000. The con-artist promised to organize a fundraiser for organizations that assist Veterans, and instead ran away with the money each organization contributed-- more than $109,000 in total! $5,000 is a huge amount of money for the PSDS, and loosing this money has put plans for the annual PSDS gathering in jeopardy. PSDS is a wonderful organization, providing advice and assistance to hundreds of people like me partnered with Psychiatric Service Dogs. I urge everyone who reads this message to help out if you can. Even just $5 will be greatly appreciated, and you can donate using paypal. Here is what the head of PSDS had to say:
I have been loathe to share this information with you, but I knew that I would have to do so, at some point. Some of you may recall a recent announcement I made that PSDS and a handful of other veteran service organizations would be hosting the 'Veterans Inaugural Ball' in Washington, DC. Well, it is not going to happen. Turns out that the man who was organizing this ball is an experienced con-artist. He 'conned' the veteran service organizations and everyone else involved in planning this ball. I am aware of $109,000 in fraud associated with this fake event, but it may be bigger than this figure reflects, because I do not know all the aggrieved parties involved.
PSDS lost $5,000 as a result of this scam (i.e., fake inaugural ball). The man has been reported to authorities and they are handling the matter now, but this mess wiped-out our bank account and denied us the fundraising opportunity that I hoped would have paid for the west coast gathering this summer. This is not to say that the gathering won't happen. I have every intention of raising the necessary funds so that this gathering can stay on track, but I NEED YOUR HELP.
Please, if you are able, send PSDS a donation. If you can spare $5, please send it to us. If you can spare $50, please send it. And, maybe a few of you could afford to give $500. Please donate and help us get this fundraising for the gathering back on track. If your family members or friends are supportive of your use of a PSD, if they have witnessed your ability to function improve as a result of human-canine partnership, please ask them to donate to PSDS in your name. Here is the place one needs to go, in order to help us get back on our feet.
http://psychdog.org/contribute.html
January 18th 2009 8:06 pm
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This evening Snowy came over! Yippie!!! Ollie was SO EXCITED to see Snowy that he started barking like mad, and Snowy was barking like mad, too. That made the next door neighbor's dog bark like mad, so I figured I might as well join in, too. But mom told me to hush and I did (Ollie and Snowy were a bit slower to be quiet). We went on a walk together so that the humans could go get some dinner and it was fun to walk with them! Snowy and I wanted to PLAY, but it was too hard to do that with our leashes on. We hung around in the parking lot while daddy went in to get some food, and I made sure to keep an eye out for cars and things. Then we walked back home, but all too soon Snowy had to leave. I was sad to see him go, and hope to see him soon!
January 15th 2009 10:29 pm
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With the recent cold weather my joints have been hurting, so today I had to go to the vet to get them checked out. I tried to tell mom that it didn't really hurt that bad, that I would just sit this vet visit out, but she wasn't having any of it. So reluctantly I went into the vet's office.
When Dr. Rettig came in the room I tried to hide between mom and dad, but it didn't work. Dr. Rettig felt me all over, and told mom that I am yang deficient and kidney deficient. So she changed my herbs, then got out the needles! I tried to hide again, but no dice. Daddy held onto me while mom gave me treats to distract me. The needles didn't hurt as bad this time, though. From the exam and my reactions to the needles, Dr. Rettig was able to figure out that while my knee that gave me problems last year isn't painful, my hip on the same side is. Probably because I am using my legs differently now that I'm going around off duty all the time. After I got my needles in, I took a little nap. After they're in me, it's really not so bad. Then Dr. Rettig came back and took them out and I tried to drag mom to the exit without paying (good for both of us to get out of there fast I figured). But I had to stick around while they paid. Then when I got home I wrestled with Ollie and it was a good release of my energy.
January 12th 2009 7:38 am
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This Saturday we went to see my pal Kathryn Beals. I was very excited when we arrived at her place, even though Ollie was a little barkey because he hadn't had his morning walk. Kathryn and her husband gave me lots of belly rubs! Then we went to a local park, Bayfair park, to go on a walk. It was really beautiful, right on the bay, with lots and lots of birds to watch. We took a good long walk, one of the longest walks I've taken in a while-- this part of the South Bay is a lot warmer than where we live, so my joints were feeling a lot better. We passed a lot of other doggies-- well not a lot, maybe about 8 or so. Ollie and I did such a good job! I stayed focused on dad, so I didn't give off too much worry for Ollie, and Ollie didn't woof or anything. We were model doggie citizens. The park was interesting, they had some very strange large public art pieces without any explanation at all, so we wondered what on earth they were!
After our long walk, I was a very tired pup. We got some thai food and went back to Kathryn's place to eat. I took a long nap! During the meal the humans talked all about Kathryn's 30+ fish! They were really really cool, I thought it might be fun to chase one or something, but they wouldn't come out of their tanks to play. I was very nice to them, though, and didn't tell them that I was eating fish-based treats! They might have not liked that too much. I slept the whole ride home, I was a very tired pup!
January 10th 2009 7:53 am
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It's warming up here, thank goodness! It's been so so cold lately that I haven't even wanted to go outside very much. Yesterday mom left me at home to take Ollie to the park, which was boring! But when she got home I got to go on an extra long walk. First we walked around the neighborhood a bit, then we went to the parking lot of 99 Ranch market and I got to meet Josephine and Jolanda's parents! I had a lot of fun getting attention from them, they whispered to me that I am much much better than Ollie, which of course I knew already! It was fun being the star of attention. Then mom walked me (and only me, yippie!) up to get daddy from teh BART train. Usually mom takes both of us doggies, but she's decided I need more time alone with her away from that puppy. I was very happy to spend an hour pretending I was an only doggie again.
We got to the BART station and waited for daddy's train to arrive and I enjoyed watching the hustle and bustle of everyone coming home from work. When we got home I was in such a good mood that I played with Ollie and he actually played back with me. It was a very fun evening, and I hope that with the warmer weather I am able to get longer walks and stuff more often. Plus, I want more walks without my annoying puppy brother along!
January 8th 2009 9:36 am
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Yesterday I was so very very good on our walk. It is hard for me to go walking with Ollie, because he is my little brother and I have to protect him. When we see another dog, I am always worried that the dog might attack Ollie, then Ollie senses I am worried so he gets worried and woofs, which makes me more worried, which makes him more worried... it's a big bad cycle!
Well, even though this can happen, mom took both of us out on a walk to meet daddy at the BART station last night. We were walking along, very nicely behaved, when all of the sudden we saw two doggies across the street! I started to get nervous, but mom kept rewarding Ollie and I for touching her hand and Ollie didn't bark, so I calmed back down. Then not 2 minutes later we saw yet another doggie! I was a bit distracted but didn't pull on the leash or anything. I was so good! Mom was very proud of me. Then daddy walked me home and we saw another dog and I totally ignored it. Go me!
January 2nd 2009 9:30 pm
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I'm used to being viewed as a medium sized doggy, some even call me a large pup, because I weigh about 50 lbs and am a pittie mix. But with Ollie around I am a shortie. We are stackable, I can walk totally underneath him without touching him at all. Today on our walk mom and dad exchanged doggies for a bit, which means I got mom all to myself. She was having trouble giving me treats because she had to reach really far down to get to my mouth! It's strange to go from seeming like a big dog compared with my pal Snowy to now being a shortie!
December 25th 2008 6:26 am
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Yesterday after spending my morning sleeping in my crate while Ollie went out in the rain (ha ha!), mom got out my Santa outfit. I was so excited when she brought it out of the chest that I started dancing around! Yippie! I LOVE dressing up! I got my outfit on, and Ollie got a bandnana and some reindeer antlers. Mom and dad took some pictures of us in our outfits, then we headed over to ACE.
I love going to ACE because I always get tons of attention from everyone who works there. But yesterday was even better-- we went in the store and some of the ladies who work there were laughing so hard they started crying! Then they all petted me and gave me lots of loving. I was in heaven! All the customers in the store were laughing and smiling, and I got tons of attention. Now this is the life, only visiting stores when you're all dressed up and ready to distract the people in the stores with petting time!
We walked around the store for a bit and found a new griddle, biodegradable poop bags and packing tape that mom and dad needed (our ACE store has everything-- even a kitchen section and a pet section!). Then we headed to the checkout for one final goodbye to everyone in the store, and went home. I was pleased as I could be with all the attention I got! I hope that mom will take me somewhere today all dressed up in my Santa Paws outfit, but we'll see!
December 22nd 2008 7:16 pm
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Success! My feeling jealous about Ollie going out all the time has had the desired result. Now whenever mom and dad leave with Ollie, I get a bully stick! Oh so tasty! Most of the time they are just little ends of bully sticks, but I don't care, they are sooooooooo yummy. I would do anything for a bully stick, including being left behind. Plus, it's been so cold lately I haven't even wanted to go outside to potty. That makes it a bit easier to see mom leave without me, too.
December 17th 2008 7:20 am
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Well, I don't mind it a bit when mom takes Ollie instead of me to places like the grocery store, and I only mind a tad when he goes to work instead of me. But there is one place that it is just NOT FAIR that he go without me-- training class! I LOVE training classes, and I always want to go to them, even if I've taken the class a million times before. So last night the three of them went out to training class and left me home alone with the cats. How rude! I was very jealous when they got back, and tried to take it out by being mean to Ollie. So we all went on a long walk (brrrrrr!) and I felt a little bit better. I still gave Ollie the cold shoulder for the rest of the night, though. How dare he take a training class without me! Mom says something about him relying too much on me during class, but I say then I should take the class and he should stay home!
December 16th 2008 6:30 pm
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It is officially waaaaaay too cold here in Northern California! The high for today was 40 degrees, and it's been that way for the past few days. I am so glad that I don't have to go outside except for very quick potty breaks! It is nice being retired. I get to spend my days staying nice and toasty warm, laughing at Ollie when he comes back from the park wet and shivering. Brrrr! I like to be warm!
December 13th 2008 10:55 pm
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Since I'm a daddy's girl now, I am used to doing things for him. I still love my mom and all, but I'm having fun with daddy. That is why I've recently been a bit confused about brining the medicine case. I have been trained to bring it to mom, but I figured since I'm daddy's girl, maybe I should be bringing it to him instead! Mom and dad just laugh when I try to do that, and then they have me bring it to mom. Guess I serve daddy except when it's medicine time!
December 8th 2008 10:29 pm
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Lately mom has been going out with Ollie a lot, and she's been holding his leash whenever all of us go out together. I like being a daddy's girl, but I miss being with mom all the time. Well, on Sunday I got my chance! Mom and dad got all ready to go, and then they got my seatbelt off the wall instead of Ollie's! Then mom showed me a few of my favorite outfits and collars, and I picked out my sparkley collar that Parker gave me, plus my purple plaid coat and hat. I love being fashionable!
We headed over to the baby shower and it was so much fun! All of mom's labmates were there, I haven't seen them in a long time! I missed them so much, and they missed me, too! I still alert and help mom out with service related things, but now that I'm retired I figure I don't need to be as well behaved with the public behaviors! I said hello to everyone at the party many many times, and I begged for lots of tummy scritches. It was a great time! Plus, mom even let me take a piece of cheese someone dropped on the floor! Yippie, now this is the life!
The second half of the party we stayed inside, and I picked out the prime spot in front of the fireplace. I made sure to keep a steady line of people coming to pet me! I had a really nice time, and I hope mom takes me as her off-duty service dog to more parties!
December 5th 2008 10:48 pm
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This morning mom, dad and Ollie went out and I took a nice nap in my crate. When they got home, they brought the mail inside with them-- and I got mail!!!! It was my Piggy toy from winning the Dogster Dog Blog contesnt for being a Pig at Thanksgiving! I was very excited to play with my new toy! Mom took some pictures, but she is being slow about posting them. I hope she puts them up tonight or tomorrow! It is a really nice toy. It has a fun grunting noise, and it is very sturdy. Ollie and I played tug with it a lot, and it still looks good as new! Thanks Dog Blog!
December 3rd 2008 11:50 pm
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Today was a busy day! Mom stayed and worked at home, and she got some work done in the morning and early afternoon. Then the three of us walked over to meet daddy at the BART station. After dropping off dad's bike at home, we continued our walk on over to Ace hardware! I LOVE going to Ace, everyone loves me there and always gives me loads of attention. It is so much fun. I had a great time at Ace, then we went to the local park where I ran around and played with Ollie like a maniac!
After a nap at home, we headed out to our last intermediate obedience class. Daddy says I wasn't a very good girl during class, that I kept sniffing the floor and trying to snarf up dropped treats. But from mom's point of view, she says I was an angel! I did a pretty good job on everything that we did, but dad says I should have done better than that since I am way beyond this obedience level! I did get distracted big time by the toy kitty cat that moves and makes noises, but I had to check it out to make sure it was a friendly kitty!
I hear that the next class Ollie takes, he will do it without me to see if he is less distracted. He is always more distracted when I am around. I hope he's about the same in class without me because I love taking classes and want to keep on taking them with daddy while Ollie takes them with mom!
December 2nd 2008 11:52 am
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Mom was perusing the Dogster Dog Blog before Thanksgiving, and noticed a story contest-- How is your dog a pig at Thanksgiving? She decided to reveal my most embarassing piggy moment, and we won! I am so SO excited to get the toy, I can't wait! I've already decided I'm going to be a piggy and not share it with Ollie! Here is the winning story mom wrote (and yes, it's all true!):
Sabrina is a Weimaraner/pit mix whom we adopted from the shelter in October of 2002. She suffered from separation anxiety, and we were training her out of it. I had bought 7 large sweet potatoes for our Thanksgiving feast, and I didn’t want her to get into them so I pushed them as far back on the counter as possible. When I came home from work I found that she had somehow climbed onto the counter and eaten all seven of them! She was waddling around like a stuffed goose, and I figured the best remedy would be a nice long walk to get things moving down there. We walked for a while, into a nice part of town where there are a few very fancy restaurants with outdoor patios. Right in front of the fanciest patio of them all, Sabrina felt the urge… Copious amounts of flourescent orange sweet-potato-poo of the most horrible smell and color started streaming out. It just kept coming, and coming, and coming, and the diners in the restaurant we were next to started moving away from us! I was mortified, but couldn’t stop her mid-poo. I had to use two bags to pick all of it up. After that, Sabrina has decided that while Sweet Potatoes are very tasty, they are best in moderation!
November 28th 2008 7:09 am
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I am thankful that I get to wear a sweater around the house and I don't have to go outside much anymore in the rainy season-- it's cold out! Yesterday was Thanksgiving, and I spent it cuddled up on the couch under a blanket for the most part. I played with Ollie some, and tried to convince mom to give me some of what she was cooking, went out side for short trips because it is chilly brrrrrrr! I like my new life of retirement, it is very comfortable!
November 25th 2008 6:48 am
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Yesterday mom wasn't feeling well so we stayed home and relaxed. It was a lot of fun, we made a mommy sandwich on the couch with Ollie and I snuggled up on either side. We took a walk together to go pick Daddy up from the BART station after dinner.
When Ollie and I go walking together in the evenings we walk together almost like a team of horses, right beside each other. Mom walks behind us and she laughed a lot at us last night. Ollie's legs are twice as long as my legs, so while I am trot-trotting along all spry and fast, Ollie is loping, taking half as many steps as me! It is a funny sight to watch mom says.
When we saw daddy, I got to go to him and he walks me home. It was a fun walk, and I think taking the day off yesterday helped mom to feel a lot better.
November 23rd 2008 7:33 am
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Yesterday we went to Folsom Lake again, and it was so nice out. I didn't even need my jacket, it was in the mid 60s. No one was around because the park is closed for the season (mom has a permit to go in, though), so it was just us and nature. I love going to the lake bed because it is very soft and squishy and fun to run around on. I got the zoomies a lot, and ran around like a crazy pup! I was pretty tired by the time mom was done with her research, though, and I plan to stay home and relax today. I'm getting too old to go hiking every day like Ollie wants to!
November 20th 2008 6:26 am
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Last night we had doggie class, but it was COLD outside! I made daddy put my fleece sweater on, and leave it on for the class. The classroom is pretty chilly, especially at the end where we sit (we have to sit away from the heater since it aggrivates dad's MCS).
I was the star of the class, as usual, and everyone loved seeing me in my sweater. I told daddy that next time if it is warmer I want to wear my sparkley princess t-shirt! We'll see if he'll let me, though... Mom says I was the cutest pup in the class, and that I give daddy such looks of love while working that she loves to watch me. I give mom teh same looks of love when I'm working for her, but I guess seeing it from a different angle is still surprising to mom.
We worked a lot on heeling at the start of class, no sweat! Then we worked on sit and down stays while other doggies weaved in and out and around us. And while Lolly (the trainer's dog) ran right past us! No problem for me at all, yawn! But I had fun with daddy nonetheless, even though it wasn't very difficult. I did have a problem with sit and down from a distance, since I am used to always being right next to mom (or now dad) at all times. That's one we'll have to practice for sure.
At the end of class we had to practice our recalls. Everyone was so impressed with my recall! I didn't care if there were dog treats and a fake kitty and squeaky toys right in the middle of my path, I just ran right over them to get to my daddy and get some nice scritches behind my ears. Though once I came to daddy, I figured I shoudl get to play with the fake kitty as a reward! Too bad he didn't agree.
I've really enjoyed taking this class with my daddy, even though I already knew most everything we've been working on. It is nice to have some special daddy bonding time, since I'm now a daddy's girl in my retirement.
November 17th 2008 6:36 pm
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Today mom left both Ollie and me at home since Ollie is a puppy teenager! I am now used to staying home and snoozing during the day, and am enjoying my new life of leisure. Today my leisure was interrupted by a puppy staying home with me. He didn't bark at all when mom left, but mom bets he barked after she was out of earshot. At least we were in our own crates so he couldn't pester me to play all day long!
When mom came back, I was very happy to see her and happy to see her labmate Toni, too! Ollie ran around like a maniac, but I got some good petting in before we went on a walk together. Toni held my leash and she gave me treats and it was a lot of fun! We walked up the street towards my pal Saki's old house. He hasn't lived there for three years, but we used to walk that way all the time so I thought maybe he was home and we'd go see him! We even turned down his street! I was so excited, and I tried to turn down his driveway when we walked past the house, but mom wouldn't let me! I told her I really REALLY wanted to see Saki, but she said he lives in North Carolina now, not in that house anymore. That made me very sad.
Other than missing my pal Saki, we had a very good walk, and it wasn't even interrupted by a lot of Ollie barking!
November 17th 2008 10:25 am
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I'm enjoying something new in the mornings-- sleeping in with daddy! Mom usually wakes up around 5 or 6 AM and can't get back to sleep. Before I retired, I felt it was my job to keep an eye on mom and follow her around, so I would wake up, too. But now that I am retired and a Daddy's girl, and Ollie is following mom around to make sure she is OK, I can persue other activities. After mom gets out of bed, I climb in stealthfully and snuggle up with daddy. All, the relaxation of a nice morning snuggle under a down comforter, and sleeping in! This is the life!
November 16th 2008 6:15 am
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I never got a chance to update my diary about our training class on Wednesday because Ollie has become a puppy teenager, and well that takes a lot out of me and mom! Mom had a fun time watching me in class, she says it is nice to watch me from a different angle, and that I am by far the cutest dog in the whole class (yup, even cuter than Ollie!)
Class was fun, as usual, because I LOVE to be with my daddy! In class and at home we've been working more on retrieves and targeting and standing. Also the usual heeling and sits and downs of course. I LOVE to retrieve daddy's hankie, it is one of my favorite things to do. So it is nice when we practice that. Since we haven't been doing agility or anything else like that inn a while, I kind of forgot my targeting command once we got home (though I did it excellently in class to show off to the other classmates how you can use targets to send your dog across the room). The other thing I'm having trouble with is stand. Mom didn't do a great job teaching stand a lot, so I have a basic idea of what it means, but that's about it. Plus, mom never cared if I sat or laid down when I was working, so I didn't get a lot of standing practice for the last few years. Daddy is fixing that! I like working with him, it is a lot of fun and sometimes when we are at home training, it is so much fun that Ollie tries to come over and do what I'm doing instead of working with mom!
November 12th 2008 7:19 am
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Yesterday morning when mom was getting ready to leave, I got all excited and started dancing around in front of the door. I told mom I wanted to go with her today, I really really REALLY wanted to go with her! I dance and danced some more, but mom got Ollie ready instead and went out the door. I was very sad, and moped by the door the whole time mom was gone, even though daddy was there to scritch my tummy. Luckily mom came back after an hour and I spent the rest of the day stretched out next to her!
At night we took a walk to Petco, and it took us forever to get there because Ollie was being a crazy puppy. His brains definitely turned to mush last night! I tried to show him how you can behave while being off duty, but he just wanted to be a pinball, bouncing around all over everything! Puppies!
November 7th 2008 7:37 am
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Yesterday I officially retired from service work. I wasn't sure I wanted to go in when I realized it was cold out in the morning, but mom told me about the party waiting for me so I put on my bling-bling-iest collar (thanks Parker!) and my winter service dog coat and headed in. I got to get a lot of pets during mom's class, then we went to the lab where I had a nice snooze while mom finished up her labwork. I made sure she took me out to lay in the sun (or rather, I was supposed to be pottying) a few times more than I needed so I could enjoy my last day as much as possible.
After lunch we headed over to the Tang center for mom's eye appointment. We walked into the eye doctor's office and I got a little scared-- there was a large basset hound in the corner sitting up and staring at me with it's tongue hanging out of it's mouth! But it wasn't moving, it just sat there, not breathing or moving, which made me even more confused! After mom got her paperwork we went and sat down next to it, and it didn't smell like a doggy at all, it smelled more like a toy. Still, I kept an eye on the strange large unmoving dog while mom filled out her forms.
I took a nap in the corner during mom's exam. Her prescription hasn't changed much, now it's -9.75 in the left eye and -10.5 in the right. But the bad news is that mom's right eye can't be corrected to 20/20 vision. The best it can be corrected to is 20/25 due to floaters and dimness and whatnot. Still, that's not too bad. When the non-student doctor came in to verify everything, he didn't know I was in the corner and mom couldn't see him (she had her glasses off) and he almost stepped on me and then got scared! I just stayed laying down and looked at him, and he laughed. He hadn't realized there was a dog in the room because I was so quiet and good (mom had assumed the student had told him before coming in the room, so she didn't say anything).
Mom's eyes were dialted so we had an interesting time walking back to campus! I know why she needed me instead of Ollie for this eye exam! Daddy had driven Ollie in and we met up with mom on campus. Mom walked Ollie and I over to the place where we were having the party while daddy went to pick up the sushi. I was SO HAPPY to see Ollie, and he was also equally happy to see me, and we kept trying to play with each other. It apparently was hard for mom to handle us since we kept trying to play and she couldn't see because of the dialted eyes!
Then everyone came outside for my party and Ollie and I got to be on long-lines and play. It was a lot of fun! People who only have ever seen me and Ollie on duty were amazed at how much energy and enthusiasm, and how loud we were when we were off duty. Everyone gave me loads of attention (though no treats as Ollie was just overly excited already) and they did a quiz about me! Here is the quiz with the answers in bold:
1. What is Sabrina’s favorite color?
A. Purple B. Lilac C. Violet D. Plum
2. What is the most obnoxious thing Sabrina has done while in class?
A. Snored so loud she woke herself up
B. Woofed in her sleep
C. Leaked a silent but deadly fart
D. All of the above
3. What is Sabrina’s favorite activity on campus?
A. Snoozing under the desk
B. Walking around outside
C. Getting petted by as many people as possible
D. Eating treats in the office
4. What is Sabrina’s least favorite campus activity?
A. Walking past the stuffed bird displays
B. Taking the elevator
C. Being outside without her coat when it is cold
D. Not being able to interact with other dogs
5. What is Sabrina’s favorite treat?
A. Dried liver C. Cheese
B. Baby Carrots D. Any food-like item
6. What is Sabrina looking forward to most about retirement?
A. Being able to get fat without any comments
B. Chasing squirrels on campus
C. Being a Daddy’s girl
D. Teasing Ollie when he has to work in the rain
7. What is Sabrina’s favorite off-duty activity?
A. Agility class C. Eating
B. Playing with Ollie and Snowy D. Hiking
8. What one word best describes Sabrina?
The answers for the last question were: pop-star, sweet (x2!), brindle, sassy, hungry, comfort-seeking, charming (x2), schnookums, impressive, and diva (that one is mom's).
It was really muddy where we were, so I only got to wear my princess shirt for a short time, but everyone loved it. After a fun party time, it was time to go home, and Ollie and I spent the rest of the afternoon wrestling some more. It was a very very nice way to end a career.
November 3rd 2008 5:31 pm
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This morning mom and dad took Ollie and I on a walk around the neighborhood. Ollie was in front with mom, and he found a nice spot to pee on. Even though he pees in standing up (not with his leg lifted) his pee goes really high up on things since he is so tall! So when it was my turn to pee on Ollie's pee, I had to make sure my pee was above his. So I did a handstand on my front legs and lifted both back paws up! I had to make sure to mark my territory!
It was a fun walk, but I could tell it was a day I didn't want to go to work with mom. My joints (and mom's) were already starting to ache. I spent the day snoozing in my crate. All the rain and cold today made my joints hurt so I didn't want to go out. But now that Ollie is home, I am forgetting about my joint pain because it is PLAY TIME!!!
November 1st 2008 9:58 pm
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Ollie is HUGE so I have had to develop new play skills so that I can conserve my energy when playing with him. We can only do the stand-up and dance play style for so long before I get tired! My latest trick is to do a play bow, turn on my side and play-growl so that Ollie comes over and jumps around me. It tires him out fast and I get to lay down to save my energy!
Ollie got groomed today, and I had to stand sentry to make sure mom and dad didn't torture him too much-- plus I had to pick up any treats that mom dropped while distracting Ollie for his more sensitive places!
October 29th 2008 10:18 pm
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We had intermediate obedience tonight and it was a lot of fun! I enjoyed showing off all the things I know!
Daddy and I worked on heeling, and I am such a good heeler. Mom couldn't stop looking at me and laughing at how I stuck soooooo close to daddy, giving him my hungry puppy eyes!
After working on heel we worked on RETREIVES!!!!!! I was so excited when I saw the cotton gloves come out, I couldn't stop wiggling my butt. I was so happy to retrieve it for daddy that I kept grabbing it out of his hand to give it back to him, tee hee hee! Eventually daddy started working on "find it" with me, putting it in all sorts of strange places. It was loads of fun!
I hope daddy works some more with getting dropped items this week. It is my favorite! Getting mom's case is the one service task I'm not giving up, I love to bring things to mom and dad.
October 29th 2008 5:18 pm
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Today was my second to last day working. It was cold this morning, but luckily mom brought my winter service dog coat so I stayed nice and toasty.
We got into work and mom was busy all morning so I napped and cuddled up under my coat. After lunch mom had a committee meeting, so I slept in the corner while mom gave her presentation. I think it went pretty well.
Then it was time to come home, and I got to say hi to several people in the BART station. It was fun, I really like meeting new people and I hope I get to do a lot more of that once I retire. Mom was feeling pretty sad about me retiring when talking about it and once we got home, so I had to go cuddle with her and cheer her up. I got Ollie to help, too-- he likes to stick his nose in mom's armpit for some reason, so that's always a good way to get mom to laugh. I wonder if he'll try to do that when he's vested? Mom says he'd better not!
Tonight we had doggy training class, so I'll be working with daddy. I won't go to work for mom again until next Thursday, which is the day of my retirement party. Mom better have a good party planned for me!
October 28th 2008 6:50 pm
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Today was my third last day of working, and it was COLD! This morning was very very chilly on the windy BART platform, and the concrete sucked all the heat out of my body. Unfortunately mom didn't realize how cold it was going to be so not only was she underdressed, but so was I. When we got on the train I started shivering, brrrrrrrrr. So mom took off her jacket and draped it over me. The other people on the train said that was very nice of mom, they didn't know she was a bad mom for forgetting my winter vest.
It was cold at work, too. Mom was doing a lot of labwork, and I got chilly so she had to leave me her jacket again. I hope that mom remembers my winter vest tomorrow so I can stay toasy warm.
When mom was at her desk I kept asking to go say hi to people when they came in the office. I only have three days left so I wanted to take advantage of getting as much attention as possible. I even talked mom into letting me sit out in the middle of the office for a while so I could ham it up for her office mates. It was fun getting all that attention!
After work dad came to pick us up in the car so I didn't have to walk around in the cold or take the train home. It was a nice 3rd last day-- I am going in tomorrow (mom has a committee meeting) and my last day is next Thursday when mom has an eye appointment and then my retirement party.
October 27th 2008 5:37 pm
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It's been warmer weather again recently, which means the window has been open and some more flies got in the house. That's OK by me, though, because I LOVE to chase flies! I spent all morning trying to catch the flies, but they just kept flying just out of reach. They should make doggie toys that are like flies, that would be really cool.
October 23rd 2008 12:59 pm
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Today was my 4th last day working, and I hammed it up today. Mom's labmate says I'm now acting like my vest is a fashion accessory, trying to show it off BOL! Mom had a class this morning, and then we went to the lab. Mom is still sick, so we didn't stay too long. Just long enough for mom to make and autoclave some solutions. I make sure to take my time and get pets from everyone in the office while there, and I tried to stake my claim to laying in the middle of the office floor so everyone would have to see me and pet me! But mom said no, too bad. Then we took the BART home, and I told Ollie that everyone gave me giant bagfulls of treats (he he, don't tell him I'm pulling his paw!). I'm going to spend the afternoon napping next to mom, helping her work on her presentation for her committee next week.
October 23rd 2008 6:33 am
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Yesterday I had a very nice day. Mom was not feeling well, so she stayed home from work. She stayed in bed during the morning, and I got to cuddle up under the covers with her. It was nice and toasty and soft and comfy. Ahhhhhhhh. After a nap under the covers, Ollie and I went outside to potty, then moved to the couch. Mom tried to get some work done making a powerpoint presentation for her committee meeting next week, and Ollie and I sat on either side of her on the couch, napping.
In the afternoon, mom got a call from dad saying he was coming home, so we walked down to the BART station to meet him. I heeled perfectly the whole walk, even though Ollie didn't! It was a nice sunshiney, beautiful day, and I had a good time walking down to the BART station and picking daddy up. I walked with daddy on my way home, and he gave me some treats for heeling so nicely.
I played a little with Ollie when we got back from our walk, and then we got in the car to go to doggy class. That's right, we had the first week of intermediate obedience last night. We were a little late because traffic was so bad, but I still got the best seat in the room. I was the best doggy in the whole class! It was fun working with daddy and showing off my skills.
When we got home, I got dinner-- though it seemed suspiciously smaller than usual! Oh well, it was still yummy. Ollie and I played a little more and then we went to bed. It was a really nice day, I hope to have another really relaxing day spent with mom, dad and Ollie again soon!
October 22nd 2008 7:21 am
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Yesterday was my 5th last day working. I was SO excited when mom got my vest off the hook, I was dancing and prancing around the room! Yippie! I was on-point on our walk to the BART train, but I wasn't super enthused about the BART again. After that I was kind of like "eh" and wasn't really focused. I was really happy to go to the office, though, because I got all kinds of attention from all mom's labmates. If I could only teleport into the office there is no way I'd want to retire!
On our way home I did a much better job, though once we got off the BART and headed towards home I was too excited about the idea of playing with my Ollie-Monster! So I started pulling a bit, not very service dog-like according to mom. Whatever! I had fun on my 5th last day of work, even though I wasn't always as perfect as I used to be!
I am working two days this week, two days next week, and then one day (and having my retirement party) the week after that. Then I will be a Daddy's Girl full time.
October 18th 2008 2:38 pm
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I love playing with my brother the Ollie-Monster. But we've had a new challenge in our relationship recently... Ollie is HUGE! Normally I play with other dogs about my size or smaller, and my usually play style involves me putting my head over theirs and flipping them over, leaving one paw on their back as I grab their arm and such things. I used to play like that with Ollie, but he is so big now that even when I stick my head all the way up (with my feet on the ground) that I can't reach the top of his back! I keep trying all my old moves, but they aren't working!
Ollie on the other hand, keeps trying to play like he's a little baby puppy. When he was smaller he used to walk under me and grab my front legs while hiding under my belly. He tries to do that now, but he lifts me up off the ground he is so tall! He used to stand in front of my chest and grab my jowels, but now when he stands in front of me he is too big to turn around and reach me!
Mom laughs when we play because she says we look pretty silly-- a smaller dog playing like a big one, and a huge dog playing like a toy breed dog. Oh well, we'll figure it out soon I guess.
October 17th 2008 4:53 pm
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Yesterday I went to work with mom since she had a lot of labwork to do and Ollie's not ready for that. I was SO excited to put on my vest, I practically danced out the door! I wasn't so happy to go on the BART again, but I had a good day at work because lots of people came to pet me! I have just 5 more days that I'll be going to work with mom, so everybody is giving me lots and lots of attention (after asking mom of course).
I will miss being with mom all the time and watching over her. I'll also miss all my friends at work-- especially I'll miss it when mom's labmates bring me baby carrots as treats! Yum! But I won't miss riding on the BART train.
I have set a date for my retirement party. It will be on November 6th after my last day working. Mom has an eye appointment that day for 1.5 hrs and Ollie's not quite ready, so I'll go with mom to the eye appointment and then retire officially. I am really looking forward to it, I love parties, and I love attention, so it should be a perfect afternoon.
October 13th 2008 6:52 pm
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Today after a week off due to my broken tooth I went back to work. I was excited when mom took my vest off the hook this morning! I wagged my tail and practically jumped into my vest! But once we got on the way in, I wasn't so comfortable. I've had a week to relax at home, and I think I like that better than going into work. I yawned a handful of times on the BART train (a stress behavior), and wasn't focusing on the way to mom's building. I liked seeing everyone at work, they love me soooo much! But I didn't want to walk around the building much, or do much of anything else. Mom and I had a heart-to-heart on the way home, and I told her I am about ready to retire. I like being with mom, and I love getting pets from everyone at work, but I think Ollie can start to take over now.
I'll stay home tomorrow, but mom needs me on Wednesday and a few times next week-- Ollie whines when mom leaves the room, so she can only take him when she is staying in the main office or the post-PCR room where her desk used to be. That desk is empty now so Ollie can stay under there in that room. Mom is going to work on Ollie not whining at work, and I think that in a couple of weeks things should be worked out so I can fully retire.
I told mom, though, that I am not giving up getting mom's medicine for her in the morning and at night! That is my job, and I have a lot of fun doing it!
October 11th 2008 3:47 pm
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Yesterday morning we drove to the vet's office before breakfast. I know what that means... surgery. I've had two teeth removed in the past, and knew that with my tooth hurting so bad it was about time for it to come out. Still, I'd rather keep my painful tooth!
I had to be dragged through the door to the back of the vet's office by the vet tech! But after mom and dad were out of sight, I followed and obeyed the vet techs very nicely. They put me in a cage and I tried to comfort Ollie because he was really nervous. Then they took me out and I fell asleep. When I woke up my mouth hurt a lot, but my knee felt like I had just gotten acupuncture. I woke up before Ollie did, and I started howling to Ollie (I never bark or howl!). I wanted to make sure he was OK! Eventually he woke up and we howled back and forth for about 15 minutes. The vet techs thought it was very sweet how we were so concerned about each other.
Eventually mom and dad came to pick us up. As soon as I saw them, I said hi and then went and stood by the door, touching my nose to the door (my signal that I need to go outside). I was still walking a little woozily, but I made it to the car OK-- no way did I want to stay at the vet's office any longer!
When we got home, I was so woozy that I fell over when I was trying to pee-pee! So I decided to go to sleep. I've been sleeping under a blanket on the couch pretty much ever since and I haven't been able to help mom at all. Just keep those pain meds coming, my jaw is very very sore.
October 8th 2008 11:16 am
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No fair! I had to go to the vet again! This time I got to see my regular vet Dr. Rettig who is totally awesome. She didn't give me any acupuncture, which I was happy about. She talked with mom and dad about Friday, when I will be getting my tooth removed and Ollie will be getting his boy-parts removed. Apparently they are going to give me acupuncture when I am asleep (thank goodness!). I was a very very good girl at the vet's office, especially compared to Ollie-Monster! He was a bundle of puppy energy, and I sat stately-like in the corner. It was a good vet visit, and all the techs fawned over me as usual! We saw Dr. Yamomoto again (we saw her a few weeks ago when my tooth first got hurt but I wouldn't let anyone know which tooth was bothering me), as she'll be doing our surgeries. I like her, too. I can't wait to get this stupid tooth out-- every time I try to play with Ollie I bang my tooth and it hurts so I have to stop playing! No fun!
October 7th 2008 12:45 pm
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This morning after mom took Ollie to her psycholgist appointment (no fair!), they took me to the doggy dentist. One vets office is the same as another vets office to me, so I was already not too happy about going to a vet one day after just having seen a different vet. But I was a good girl in the waiting room and sat on the bench next to mom.
They showed us into our room which had a window in it so we could watch what was going on outside. But the room didn't have a full door! This made mom nervous so she kept me on leash. Normally I am allowed to walk around the exam room. While we were waiting we got to see how all the vets and vet-techs behaved and it wasn't very confidance inspiring. We saw one vet tech take a doggie outside near the street and let it run around off leash! It even walked under a parked car! That is dangerous. Also, the vet techs walking by didn't seem to always be handling the animals in a good way.
Then the doggy dentist came in. She seemed OK at first, until she started lecturing mom and dad. Apparently from my records it was obvious that we are into holistic medicine first and that just didn't sit right with the dentist. She lectured and lectured, then gave us another for good measure. The important thing was that she said my tooth is not salvagable by a root canal. She said to put me on antibiotics for a week, and then do surgery to remove my tooth. A week! Yipes! I am in pain here, even with the prescription pain meds from the last vet! On the way home we called Muller Vet Hospital where our holistic vet works and scheduled a tooth extraction with them for Friday. Mom and dad also scheduled Ollie's neuter for the same day-- they were going to get him fixed this month anyway. That means tomorrow Ollie and I have to go to the vet (three days in the row to the vet for me-- no fun!) and get blood drawn for our pre-op bloodwork. Then I get a day off of the vet, but have to go back early Friday morning.
October 6th 2008 11:54 am
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A few weeks back mom and dad thought one of my teeth hurt, but I wouldn't tell them which one so they took me to the vet. I convinced the vet that my teeth were all fine and didn't hurt at all, but it wasn't quite true. Mom has been keeping an eye on my teeth since then, and last night I ate a semi-frozen bit of ground goat. Later last night my eye was running, so mom took a look in my mouth and saw one of my teeth had a fracture and was bleeding! Ouch! It was 11PM, so we went to bed and mom called the vet this morning.
We rushed over first thing in the morning and made it to the vet in record time. When we were in the waiting room I kept trying to go out the door-- I don't like the vet too much! I was a good girl and let the vet look all around inside my mouth. She said my tooth may be salvagable with a root canal, so I have to go to the doggy dentist tomorrow. She gave me some pain medication-- thank goodness! But now I have to go to another vet tomorrow, which won't be very fun I am sure.
In the meantime, mom says no working for me. That means she is going to have to take Ollie this afternoon for her lab meeting. His down-stays still need work, but it is an informal meeting so mom's labmates won't mind if he breaks his stay a couple of times. The hardest part I think will be riding the BART when it is so crowded. He's only ridden BART during off times. I'll be at home sleeping away, hoping that he does well.
October 6th 2008 7:58 am
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On Saturday we went to Folsom Lake with mom, dad, mom's labmate, Ollie and me. We piled in the car, and mom made a nice pillow for both Ollie and I (she was in the backseat with us) for the whole 2.5 hr ride to the lake.
I was happy to finally get out of the car when we stopped, it is a long drive! Ollie and I ran around the picnic area for a bit while mom's labmate laughed at mom trying to hold both leashes as Ollie and I went in opposite directions. It is fun to try to tear mom's arm off! Tee hee hee! Once I found the perfect poop spot, I was much better behaved.
After eating some lunch, we went off to look at the high water line. It was waaaaaaay waaaaaaaay far back this time. The lake was as low as the lowest it ever got last year, which means it was about 70 feet in elevation lower than the normal low water line. Ollie and I ran around and played while mom measured the GPS of the water line, then we headed back to check out mom's plants. Unfortunately they weren't ready to have seed bags put on them yet. Daddy, Ollie and I hung out and rested while mom and her labmate looked at the plants and decided what to do. Then we walked around for a while looking for a related species of plant that mom's labmate studied. We found some, and I prevented Ollie from stepping on them!
Then we went to another spot on the lake to look for more lupines. We got out of the car and started walking around when we saw two giant dogs with people on them in the distance! As they got closer, they broke into a gallop and I realized they were horses! They came thundering past Ollie and I, and well it was really too much for any dog to take. Ollie went crazy with the barking, though I amanaged to hold mine in, I was whining quite a lot!
Then mom and her labmate collected some plants while us puppers hung out on the sidelines with dad. There were some nasty burrs so Ollie for sure had to stay out of them-- they really liked to get tangled in his coat.
Finally we went to Davis for some dinner at the Farmer's Kitchen Cafe. I was perfectly behaved the whole meal... until the end that is. Dad handled mom my leash so mom had both of us, while dad went in to pay. I was sitting there minding my own business when a corgi walked by on the sidewalk and startled Ollie by sniffing his butt (mom didn't see the dog approaching). Ollie started barking and jumped up in surprise, and the corgi started growling at Ollie. Well, I had to defend my brother so I started barking, too! Then I pulled on my leash and Ollie wrapped his leash around mom's chair and started pulling, too! We pulled mom's chair right over! She was rather embarrassed because everyone inside the restaurant was looking and pointing at us! Oh my! Mom put us in the car after that, and told me that she wasn't ever going to be holding two doggies at the same time in the future-- I guess with 100 lbs of weight combined we nearly outweigh mom!
September 29th 2008 7:32 pm
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Mom's been sick for a while with all of her illnesses, but today she was feeling good enough for almost a full day at work. We got in at 9:30 and I spent a boring morning under mom's desk while she did lab stuff. Then we had a lunch meeting, and when we got back I had to spend even more time under the desk while mom used the lab computer in the other room- yawn. I was happy when mom came back, but then we had lab meeting. Thank goodness mom remembered my mat this time. I took a nap while listening to everyone talk, and then we left at 4:30. We met some nice people on the train home-- one of whom knows my trainer from volunteering at the Berkeley East Bay Humane Society. That was cool. I am glad mom was well enough to work for nearly a full day, but I'd forgotten how boring it is to be at work all day long. I was happy to get home and run around with Ollie.
September 28th 2008 9:35 pm
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This morning mom gave me a bath. I don't like baths too much, but I am pretty used to them. I stay in the shower stall nicely while mom stands right outside and bathes me with the shower attachment. Ollie watched us and tried to play in the water a bit, so when I was done mom gave him a bath. He was dirtier than me-- guess that poodle hair absorbs a lot more dirt than my coat. He wasn't as good about the bath as I was, so mom had to get in the shower stall and close it so he wouldn't try to get out. I have to protect Ollie, so I didn't like this because I couldn't really see him through the frosted glass! So I pressed my nose up to the shower door crack and sniffed-- I could smell him! That's where I stayed for the entire shower, with my nose pressed up against the door and my tail wagging whenever Ollie's head got near the door. I love my Ollie!
Luckily he survived the shower, no thanks to mom! This time he didn't have to get blowdried since he wasn't getting his hair cut. I think that was good for both of us. I get nervous when mom and dad have that loud thing near my Baby Ollie!
Now we are both clean puppies, and I'll have to try to keep Ollie cleaner so he doesn't have to take any more baths!
September 27th 2008 1:32 pm
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On Friday mom and I went in to work and mom had a meeting. Unfortunately mom left my nice soft cushy mat at home-- something about it needing to be washed. Whatever! So we went to the meeting and I waited under the table for mom to get out my mat. But nope, no mat! Mom told me to lay down, but I looked at her and gave her my biggest, saddest puppy dog eyes. I can't lay down without my mat, the floor is all cold and hard! Eventually when I realized I wasn't getting my mat I sighed loudly and laid down, making sure to look really really abused and neglected. Mom's labmates all thought it was really funny, but mom didn't think so!
September 27th 2008 1:29 pm
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On Thursday we all went over to Snowy's house. It was really good to get mom out of the house because she hasn't been doing well lately. I was really happy when we pulled up to Snowy's apartment complex-- it was kind of hard for me to remember to heel. But with a little bit of reminding daddy got me to heel decently all the way to his building. I finally got to dash inside and start wrestling Snowy.
The humans sat down to eat Thai food, how boring! I got busy testing all of Snowy's toys-- just to make sure they're safe for him, you know. Then we spent the rest of the night playing like crazy pups while the humans played Wii. I don't understand how pretending to drive a racecar can be more fun than wrestling with Snowy and Ollie, but whatever-- the humans are strange.
I hope we get to go back to Snowy's place soon. He has a really big living room with plenty of wrestling space for us to run around in! And it cheers mom up a lot hanging out with Snowy's parents, too.
September 23rd 2008 4:10 pm
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Last night mom woke up very sick and in a lot of pain. She tried to go to the bathroom and passed out from the pain and almost got sick when she woke up. I tried to get in there to take care of mom, but daddy kept shooing us doggies away while he was trying to take care of mom. It's my job to help I kept saying!
Once mom was feeling a little better and got to the couch, I laid at the end of the couch, propping up her feet to help her feel better. I've been sticking like glue to mom ever since, and I think she is feeling better from all my hard work. I hope she is all better soon!
September 21st 2008 12:10 pm
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Yesterday we went over to Kathryn's new place! I was really excited to see it, and it was beautiful! She has her paintings on the walls and it looks so serene and tranquil. I got to see her new studio, and it looks like the perfect place to paint some more lovely doggies! I can't wait to see her new paintings now that she's back from her summer off!
Mom and dad brought some toys to occupy Ollie and I while we were there, and I had a good time getting lots of petting. Ollie and I played a little bit, but not too much because we kept getting loud. Mostly Ollie and I hung around while the humans talked-- boring!
It did get really interesting near the end of the night, though. Dad put me in a down-stay and mom had Ollie in one, too. Then all the sudden this UFO-looking thing came gliding out of the kitchen and into the dining room. It whirred around and when it found spots of carpet that were dirty it made strange noises! It bumped into things and changed directions and went all over the place-- it was really really strange! I couldn't figure out if it was a human or an animal. Mom says it is a Roomba, but I've never heard of those animals before. It wasn't too smart, though. It kept running into things and had a hard time finding it's home when it was time for it to go to bed!
I did a really good job with my down-stay while it was out, and then mom let me go sniff it. I wasn't interested in it at all when it was sleeping, it smelled just like a computer!
I hope I get to go back over to Kathryn's place soon, I really like it there!
September 20th 2008 6:43 am
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Last week mom gave me a new chew toy-- deer antlers! I was very very excited about them, but mom was a little worried that they might be too hard. So she kept a close watch on me and Ollie as we chewed. All the sudden a couple of days after gettting the antler I started licking my mouth a lot when chewing... my mouth HURT! Mom looked in my mouth, but didn't see any new damage to any of my teeth or anywhere in my mouth. But still it hurt. So mom figured I had probably cracked a tooth or something, and scheduled a vet appointment.
Yesterday after doggy class I had to go see the vet. It wasn't my usual vet, as she was booked up, but I liked the new vet a lot. She gave me some treats and swore she wouldn't give me any acupuncture so I figured she'd be OK. She tried to look in my mouth in the exam room, but there wasn't enough light so she took me to the back.
I was a VERY good girl on the exam table, I let her open my mouth all the way and poke around all my teeth with the dental pokey instrument. I even let her feel around my mouth and under my tongue with her fingers. She couldn't find any injuries and no painful teeth, so she brought me back and said no surgery for me! Yippie, I was SO happy to hear this, as were mom and dad! I'm not sure Ollie will be, though-- if I had to get a tooth removed, that would mean we would have to wait to get Ollie neutered until mom and dad could save up more money. Since no surgery for me, he'll likely get neutered next month or so.
I was happy to get back in the car and head home-- without having to do any acupuncture in my knee! Yippie!
Oh, and best of all, they weighed me and I now weigh just 49 lbs! I am a skinny minnie! You know what this means-- bigger dinners! Whoo Hoooooo!
September 20th 2008 6:37 am
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Yesterday we had our last session of Intro Obedience. It was just me, Ollie and Price (the puppy from Ollie's puppy class). I was very excited to get to class! And I was happy that daddy was handling me because I still needed extra daddy attention from him being gone so long.
We started out the class working on moving downs. It is strange getting used to daddy telling me to do things other than just not pull on the leash. Mom used to be the main one giving me commands and such. Daddy speaks in a different way, and moves his body differently so it's kind of like breaking in a new pair of shoes. I did OK with my moving downs, but not great-- and this is all mom's fault. When mom tells me to down, she doesn't mind if I circle around once or move over to find a slightly nicer spot. After all, usually I'll be doing a long down stay and she wants me to be comfortavle. So when daddy told me down, I'd move around and find that perfect spot, circle and lay down. For some reason, that isn't considered good obedience (I think it's smart obedience BOL!).
Next we worked on heeling across the room. I'm an old hat at that! We heeled back and forth, then we walked in a big circle and had to do things like sit, down, about turn, heel for 1 2 or 3 seconds and sit etc. I did wonderfully, I was the best in the class! (don't remind me that the other two doggies in the class are 5.5 and 7 months old!).
Next we worked on sit-stays and down-stays. I didn't once try to move to a down from my sit stay-- go me! And I didn't move a muscle in my down-stay either. I did as well at my stays as Lolly (the trainer's dog) did! Yippie!
At the end of class we had to draw a card out of a bucket and do what was on it. I had to do 20 touches in a row, but that was no problem at all! It was easy, and I had fun waggling my tail at daddy when we were doing it!
Then I got another fancy diploma-- I graduated top of my class! He he he, mom says no fair because I techincally am way above intro obedience level, but whatever! I won't let a technicality take away my top spot!
September 20th 2008 6:30 am
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On Thursday when we got home from work, mom started cleaning up the house and cooking. I was wondering why she was cooking so much food for just herself, but then there was a knock at the door and it was DADDY! Yippie! I was so excited to see him, but I remembered my manners (unlike a certain puppy) and sat nicely for attention. Daddy said he had a good time visiting his family in North Carolina, but that he missed us a lot. I missed him, too! I made sure to sit on his lap every time he sat down, just to show him how much I was glad he was home (and so that he would have a hard time getting up to leave if he wanted to BOL!). I hope daddy never goes away for a week again, that is entirely too long!
September 17th 2008 5:14 pm
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This morning when mom and I were heading into work, there was a man singing in the BART station. There are a lot of people that regularly sing or play music in the BART stations for money, and normally we just ignore them (except for the guy who plays that instrument with things on his fingers that look like feathers-- he's awesome!). Anyway, this morning there was a guy singing who sounded like he wanted to be on American Idol-- the outtakes episode! He was AWFUL! I didn't even know humans could make those noises. Mom had to try hard not to laugh, and I had a hard time not looking back to watch him as we rode the escalator up!
Work was mostly uneventful, though I got to get some loving from my pal Morgan after a talk at lunchtime!
We headed home and were almost at our house when we saw the mailman. I like the mailman-- well, when we are out on the street I like him! When he comes into our yard to deliver the mail, Ollie and I like to bark at him (mom hangs her head in embarrassment!). Mom gave me the visit command so he could pet me and I did lots of wiggle butts I was so happy! He talked with mom for a bit while I watched the cat down the street. He told mom that Ollie and I had gotten a letter addressed to us and not mom! That made me really excited to get home and see what it was! I had to wait for Ollie to go potty before mom would open the mail, though.
It turns out it was two halloween bandanas from our pal Tux! Ollie and I will be very much in style this Halloween! Mom wanted to take pictures right away, but apparently it's harder to take pictures without daddy around to make sure Ollie's not running all over the place. He just doesn't know how to pose naturally like I do!
September 16th 2008 5:15 pm
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Mom says I was a bad doggie today. Who, me? I'm never a bad doggie (in my opinion)! I know I am going to be retiring soon, so I figure I'd better take advantage of going to work with mom. Plus, since mom has been taking Ollie out a lot without me, I am less focused on mom when I'm off duty, and more into other people.
I've been breaking my down stay to try to see other people in the office (I am semi-off-duty in the office, I usually get pets but only with permission, and I don't wear my vest), so mom has had to put up the baby gate when she leaves the room even for a second. I keep trying to lay down in the middle of the office floor so that everyone who comes into the office has to see and pet me! And when I see people who sometimes give me baby carrots, without even waiting I go into my trick routine (sit, spin, shake, spin, jump, spin, down, spin). Everyone laughs at me and mom tells me I am a bad doggie-- then she makes me go back under the desk and wait for permission to go and see people or go do tricks for carrots. Mom thinks it is really funny (and embarrassing) that I have figured out I am retiring and so am suddenly developing these bad behaviors.
After having fun at work, mom and I rushed to the BART station so we could get home to let Ollie out to potty. We got on the train and went only one stop before we had to get off! It turns out our train was going out of service, so we had to wait for the next train. Mom and I were kind of concerned, hoping that Ollie could hold it for just a wee bit longer (pun intended!). But we had some nice company on the platform while waiting for the next train. Everyone was so impressed with my manners, and they all said I was beautiful, and asked mom lots of questions about me. Mom handed out a lot of flyers (all the ones in my pack!), and talked about me and Ollie.
One lady wanted to know about homeowners insurance, so I asked my pals in Laws and Legislation for help. Read that thread here:
http://www.dogster.com/forums/Dog_Laws_and_Legislation/thread/558529
Some other people really liked my training, and wanted their own dogs to be as well behaved as me. Mom told them that the person who helped mom trained me is Nancy Frensley who works at the Berkeley East Bay Humane Society. Nancy is AWESOME!!! Mom, Ollie and I can't recommend her more highly.
If none of the classes fit into a good schedule, books by Patricia McConnell, Jean Donaldson, and Ian Dunbar are excellent for learning about positive dog training. Mom and I do not like the Ceasar methods of dog training, as they usually motivate the dog by fear of doing the wrong thing, instead of motivating the dog by giving rewards when they do the right thing. You can find a lot of good dog training books on www.sitstay.com and www.dogwise.com.
Eventually the next train arrived and we all squeezed on. I was happy to start heading home to Ollie, but I hope to see the friends I made again on the BART! They were all really really nice! And best of all, when we got home Ollie had been able to hold it-- no mess to clean up! Yippie!
September 16th 2008 4:58 pm
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Yesterday when mom and I were walking to the BART station we ran into a friend from Davis-- it was Huaping, who goes to school with daddy! I was very excited to see her, and I got to visit and everything! We walked most of the way to BART together, and I was so happy!
She told mom that she reads my diary and Ollie's diary-- and I could have sworn she said the my diary was far better written than Ollie's, but mom says she doesn't remember that (and then she shakes her head and laughs at me). Whatever, I know my diary is better than Ollie's!
I hope we run into Huaping again sometime soon!
September 15th 2008 9:43 am
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This morning I had to go in my crate while Ollie got his morning walk. No fun! But mom and Ollie came back early, and I got to go out with them! Yippie! I was really excited because we don't usually get to walk all three together. Mom usually grumbles about the two puppies trying to tear her limb from limb... I don't know what she could be talking about!
It was really really hard to walk with Ollie at first. Well, he kept launching himself on top of me, and I really wanted to run run RUN but that just wasn't happening. Mom had to be a tree quite often for the first half a block. Eventually once we calmed down a bit, Ollie and I noticed that whenever we pulled, if we looked at mom we got a treat. I've known this trick for a while, and Ollie says he has, too it's hard to remember this when you've got your sibling there to distract you!
Eventually we got the hang of it, and mom was really pleased with us for not tearing her arms in two directions all the time! I hope this means more walks with Ollie-- it'd better since daddy is out of town for a week. Otherwise it'll be hard for mom to do two walks (one with each dog) each time of day we get walked!
September 13th 2008 10:50 am
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Yesterday mom found this website that made her LAUGH so much! It is failblog.org, and it has pictures and videos of things that are funny failures. Here are some of our favorites:
Little car, big trailer video
The strangest wheelchair warning I've ever seen
A really bad training experience!
Half the population is below average intelligence (as demonstrated by this video- make sure to listen to audio)
Ever wondered what happens to windmills when it's too windy?
Great bike lane
Hope you get a laugh out of some of these!
September 12th 2008 8:20 pm
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This week's obedience class was a piece of cake for me! We worked mostly on heeling and stays, and a little on recalls. It is really easy for me to heel with daddy (or whomever is holding my leash!) and I had fun distracting Ollie by being in front of him.
The stays we did were pretty much a no-brainer for me. Skatebaords? No problem! Dogs on skateboards? Weird, but no problem! Toy cats? A little harder, but not too bad. Vibrating paper bags? Easy! Fake cat on skateboard? Well, OK, that was too much even for me! I was impressed with Ollie, he did nearly as good as I did and as Lolly!
I really liked class today because in order to work on recalls we got to PLAY! Yippie, I love to play with Lolly and Ollie! All we had to do was come when we were called, and then we got to play some more. Now that is what I call a doggy training class!
At the end of class Nancy our trainer held me while daddy went across the room (with fake food all over it) and called me to come. I liked this a lot, too. While Nancy was holding me, I lay on my back and asked for belly scritches! Then as soon as daddy said my name, I was up like a shot, scrambling as fast as I could to get to him. It was a lot of fun!
Then we went to work for a few hours, but they are painting the building and it smelled awful! So mom and I had to leave. I hope they're done painting soon!
September 12th 2008 8:16 am
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Yippie! I am a daily diary pick today! Or at least my diary is. I am very happy to be a diary pick, especially because my brother isn't one-- finally I'm getting the recognition I deserve that I am the older and wiser sibling! I plan to celebrate my daily diary status by going to doggy training class and eating lots of treats... well, I was going to do that anyway, but I'll make sure daddy gives me extra treats during class! Hope everyone has a fantastic day like I will!
September 11th 2008 7:04 am
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Yesterday we all went to the lake. The high here in El Cerrito yesterday was 71, but the high at the lake was 91! We stopped by Davis first, as daddy had to go to a talk. Mom, Ollie and I hung out in dad's office. I took the opportunity to take a nice nap, since I knew we'd be going to the lake later on, but Ollie was a little more energetic. Right before daddy got back, one of the ladies that works in daddy's department stopped in to say hi. I was happy to see her, she always has nice treats for me! I showed off a few tricks with Ollie and everyone was very impressed.
Next we went to lunch at the Farmer's Kitchen Cafe. Since we had Ollie with us, we sat outside. I am an old pro at laying down quietly while mom and dad eat, but Ollie needed some help remembering what to do! At the end of the meal the server came over to say hi to Ollie and I, and Ollie stepped on my head-- he needs to learn some manners! Mom and dad said the food was wonderful as usual, though I didn't get to taste any of it-- no fair!
Finally we headed to the lake, and it was very hot by the time we got there! We checked on mom's plants and walked around a bit, then we headed over to the shoreline. Normally the shoreline is where mom's plants are, but since it is so dry the shoreline was far far away. The lake has already receeded to about as low as it got last winter! And since it's only September, that means the lake will be receeding a lot more before it starts coming back up.
It was really hot, so I decided the best way to cool off would be to roll around in the mud! Mom and dad weren't too happy about that! But they were even more upset when Ollie decided to follow suit since at least my hair doesn't trap mud once the mud has dried. It was too hot to do a lot of exploring, so we hopped in teh car and headed back home. I hope it's cooler next time we visit the lake!
September 7th 2008 7:40 am
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This morning I got left home while mom, dad and Ollie went somewhere fun. No fair! But luckily, they made it up to me by taking me over to my pal Snowy's hose last night! I was so happy to see Snowy, though he looked even smaller than I remembered when he stood next to Ollie!
I got right to work claiming Snowy's toybox and then taking every single toy out. I had to test them all, you see, to make sure that they are safe for Snowy to play with. Ollie kept trying to test out toys, too, but I let him know that we were at Snowy's house and so all these toys were mine! Snowy wasn't too interested in his toys, but he was interested in playing with me! We wrestled and played a lot!
The humans stood around the TV with white bars in their hands doing funny things. Sometimes they were swinging their arms, other times they were standing on a white step and balancing in strange ways, and then they also tried to drive with the funny white things. Silly humans!
After a while, I got pretty tired, so I laid down on my side and play growled while Snowy pretended we were playing and threw himself all over me. It was really fun! Noone knows how to play like Snowy does! I was sad when it was time to leave, but I hope I get to go back over soon!
September 5th 2008 5:16 pm
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Yay for week four of doggy intro obedience class! I think this is the best class ever, because I already know everything that we're doing! I just pay attention to daddy and I get lots of treats, it's like a free snack bar or something. My only job is to behave nicely and help distract Ollie so he gets better at obedience when there are distractions around.
Today we did like Greatest American Dog, and we had to stay in a sit or down stay while people tried to get us to come. Daddy had me in a stay, and I did stand up a couple of times when my friends from class were calling me over, but I didn't try to go to them. I also knew I wasn't supposed to stand up because as I did it, I started licking my lips and looking sheepish right away! Mom didn't get to try to distract me, because Nancy said that wouldn't be fair for me since I am trained to be with her always. The other doggies did pretty well, though I think I was the best (mom says I have the unfair advantage of already having advanced obedience training tee hee hee!).
We also did a lot of close heel work, changing directions a lot in the middle of the room with other dogs doing sit or down stays as distractions. Daddy moves fast! It was hard to keep up with him, mom certainly doesn't turn and change direction like that with me!
It was hot in class, and I was happy to go to air conditioned work! I got some petting from mom's labmates, and took a long nap to cool off and relax. Mom noticed when we got up to go to the restroom that I was favoring my back right knee again, and she says next time daddy is not going to make me walk really fast and turn on a dime in class because that's probably what made my knee sore. Since my knee hurts, daddy is coming to pick us up from work! Yippie, I don't have to walk home in the heat! Maybe I should play up this knee thing so I don't have to walk home on other really hot days BOL!
September 4th 2008 5:51 am
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I think the hot weather must have hitched a ride home from Ohio with us, because it was so hot yesterday! Mom and I went to work with Snowy's mom in the morning-- though I didn't get to see Snowy which was no fair! Mom spent the morning cleaning up after her last experiment, and in the afternoon we had to go to a meeting. The meeting was at the Free Speech Cafe, and it was hot and sunny outside where we were! Then we had to walk halfway across campus to turn in mom's time sheet from August, and then to the BART station. We were burning up by the time we started walking to the BART! I don't know how hot it was, but it felt like we were back in Ohio. Luckily dad had all the fans going when we got home, so I parked myself in front of one. Later on when it got cooler, Ollie and I wrestled a lot. I surely missed playing with him while I was on vacation!
September 3rd 2008 6:05 am
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It's good to be back home, sleeping in my own bed, but I had fun on vacation!
On Thursday mom and I flew out to visit her family. It was the first time mom has flown alone with me, so that meant I couldn't steal any of daddy's footspace. Next time we travel, mom is going to try to figure out how much footspace the seats will have before picking our seats online, because the planes we flew mom picked the worst seats! They had outlets hanging down so I had a very very short space to lay down in. I did fine, but mom was a little more iffy. The cabin pressure changes make her faint sometimes, and she almost did on the first flight, but was able to get the blood pumping in time. Luckily she was fine for the second flight.
I was happy to see mom's mom and dad, but it was soooooo hot in Ohio! And very humid, too. While we were there, we went walking a couple of times, which wore me out with all the heat and humidity! Mostly we stayed home and watched movies and hung out with mom's parents, though one of mom's friends from Kindergarten came over and we went out to dinner at an Indian restaurant.
I was glad that mom got to do a lot of relaxing, she only had two panic attacks while we were there (over 6 days!). I wanted to go see mom's sister and my cousings Amos and Midnight, but mom was too anxious to go so we stayed home instead.
Our flight back went OK. The first flight mom almost fainted twice, but the second flight was on a really really big plane (the first class seats folded down into beds!) so it was better pressurized and mom didn't get sick at all.
I was SO happy to see dad at the airport, and even happier to see Ollie when we got home. We ran around and around and around the yard like maniacs! I had a good trip, but I am glad to be home!
August 28th 2008 5:37 am
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Mom and I are about to head to the airport-- we're going to go visit her family! It should be fun, though we will be missing daddy and Ollie. Ollie isn't trained enough to fly, and daddy is staying home with him. It will be the longest that mom and dad have been apart since they got married. Wish us luck!
August 25th 2008 9:06 pm
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Today mom and I had the culmination of the summer research fellowship she's been mentoring students for. The students had to present their research on posters or by giving presentations, and mom spend a large portion of the summer working on scientific communication with her students. Mom was really sick with a lot of pain and anxiety on Sunday, and had a lot of pain in the morning. Usually she would have stayed home with her pain levels today, but she had to go see her students and help with the event!
So we went, and the students did WONDERFULLY! They looked so professional, and many faculty members said they were the best undergraduate presentations they'd ever seen, better even than most early graduate student presentations and posters! That made mom and her students very proud.
I tried to help mom as much as possible during the event, but this would have been a day that she would have like to have taken Ollie when he is fully trained and grown so that she could have used him for balance and support. Luckily daddy dropped us off in the morning and picked us up when we were done, though, so we didn't have to walk too too much. I hope mom is feeling better tomorrow!
August 23rd 2008 6:55 pm
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This morning we went to do errands, blech. I don't really like errands all that much, they're kind of boring, plus I don't get lots of pets from everyone like I do at work! Mom says that soon I won't be doing errands anymore, and that is something I'll be happy to let Ollie take over.
Anyway, this morning we went to Berkeley Bowl first thing in the morning so mom and dad could grab up the discount about-to-rot produce. They got some good deals! We were going around the store, but mom wasn't feeling so hot and I kept telling her so. Mom and I went to wait in the car and nap a bit while daddy finished up. When daddy got to the car, he gave mom some sushi and that seemed to help. So next we went to REI where they had a lot of wool socks on sale. Mom gave out a bunch of flyers about me, everyone kept asking about me and saying how beautiful I am... This made me reconsider my dislike of errands! Maybe I'll keep REI a bit longer he he he!
On our way to costco, we stopped at an estate sale to see if they had any wool blankets so I can switch out my crate pad. No luck, but the people having the estate sale LOVE pitties and they thought I was the neatest pup ever!
Finally, we stopped at costco for guacamole and chips, and headed home. I was beat after all that! So I was happy to go lay in my crate while mom and dad took Ollie out in his new vest. When he came home, he was full of stories about a new store with lots of books in it. Yawn! I told him wait until you go to a grocery store and the shelves are full of yummies!
August 22nd 2008 10:06 pm
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Today we had our second week of intro obedience. There are just four pups in the class-- me, Ollie, an advanced dog from Ollie's puppy class named Prince, and a shelter dog working with an aspiring trainer named Ginger (the doggie is Ginger!). Prince wasn't there, so today it was just the three of us.
Since we are all advanced, it's not really intro obedience anymore! Nancy is modifying the lessons to work on the problems that we are all having-- or mostly the problems that Ollie and Ginger are having (because you all know that I am pawfect BOL!). We worked on intermittant rewarding of watches. Daddy had to randomly pick numbers between 5 and 30 and make me watch for that amount of seconds before I would get a treat. I was the best in the class at watches, but Nancy says that's because that's the command that mom has worked on me the most with (and I agree!).
While we were working on watches, some of the shelter dogs had a play session in the room next door. It didn't bother me at all, even when Ginger and Ollie started barking about it. I just kept my eyes on daddy!
Next we went outside and worked on sit-stays and down-stays. I am not so good at sit-stays because I figure if I'm just staying in one place, why can't I lay down? It's much more comfortable to take a snooze if I'm in a stay! Lolly (the trainer's dog) walked by while we were staying and I didn't bat an eyelash.
Then we worked a lot on heeling. While we were outside, Ollie and I had to walk down the sidewalk right next to each other (and our humans). Of course I was much better than Ollie, and I didn't even get distracted when mom tripped and fell and spilled a whole mess of treats all over the sidewalk!
After class, I got to have a play session with Ollie and Lolly, which was lots of fun! Mom also bragged about how well I've been doing lately-- yesterday we were walking along a sidewalk when a guide team came up a side street and turned the corner so was walking right next to us. Mom called out to warn the handler in case his doggie got distracted or whatever, but the guide was perfect and so was I! I didn't look twice at the guide, and we walked all the way down the whole block next to each other like there wasn't another dog in sight. Go me! This week I've seen six guides, so it's been a busy week on the service dog front!
August 22nd 2008 8:23 am
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This morning we watched this really great show from the BBC about inbreeding in purebred dogs. It is excellent! Here is a link, it is in 6 parts on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=pedigree+dogs+exposed&search_type=&aq=o
Enjoy and learn!
August 21st 2008 10:35 am
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This morning mom and dad noticed a bunch of big black flies in the house. What fun, I like to catch flies in my mouth! But mom and dad did not seem too happy. It turns out an apple from the neighbor's apple tree had a bunch of fly eggs in it and they were all hatching! I think this must have made daddy crazy, because the next thing I knew he got out a handtowel and started swinging it around all over the place! He got up on a stool and swung it at the ceilin, he swung it at the air, he swung it all around!
Ollie thought daddy was trying to play with him, but I thought daddy was CRAZY! I didn't like this turn of events one bit, so I ran over to mommy and tried to hide underneath her. This didn't work out too well since mom was trying to get ready for school and kept tripping over me!
I think daddy's craziness was catching, because the next thing I knew, mom shouted "there's one over here!", she picked up a towel and started swinging it wildly! Yikes! Luckily mom recovered from her crazy-fit soon, when she hit her hand on the door frame and split open her knuckle. Then she decided to leave the crazy-towel swinging up to daddy. And good thing, too!
August 19th 2008 7:33 am
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Today is mom's birthday, yippie!!! Thanks to the FLF, Baby Puppy Ollie and I have matching birthday bandanas to wear to help mom celebrate. I hear it's going to be a pretty regular day for us, though we might go to a restaurant for dinner. I'm not so sure about that, it's been pretty misty and chilly lately so it might be too cold! But I'll be happy to wear my bandana today and show off how pretty I look in it BOL!
August 15th 2008 11:39 pm
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Mom must think I am stupid. Today we went to doggy class-- I was sooooooooo excited because it's been a while since I've been to a dog class, since before Ollie came home. Ollie piled into the car with us, and I thought maybe he'd be watching me in a really advanced class. So we walked into the room and were welcomed to Introductory Obedience. WHAT?! Introductory? I am WAAAAY past the introductory level, sheesh!
Daddy told me that we are taking the intro class with Ollie because he is very distracted by me, and has a hard time working around me because he wants to play with me and see what I am doing. And heaven forbid if daddy and I are doing something different than Ollie is! So I consented to take this intro obedience class. I was very good, the best in the class if I say so myself! Of course, mom reminds me there is a reason I was the best in the class... I didn't care, I just liked being the best!
Ollie was pretty darn good, too-- he was sitting next to a puppy named Prince that was in his puppy class. Prince was doing SO well, too! It is a super smart class. I ate a lot of treats for doing really simple things, which was a lot of fun.
After class mom and I went to work and I was soooooo tired. I plopped down on the floor in the middle of the office and fell asleep immediately! Mom didn't have the heart to wake me and move me, especially since just one other person was in the lab today. I had a nice long snooze, dreaming of all the free food I'll be getting during this intro obedience class.
August 13th 2008 11:11 pm
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Here are mom's comments-- don't forget the deadline is Monday the 18th! Submit your comments today (see previous diary entry for link):
To whom it may concern,
Thank you for the time and effort you have put into the proposed revisions to the ADA. I suffer from disabling bipolar disorder and panic attacks, and have trained a service dog to alert to my mood swings and panic attacks as well as to ground me during these episodes. With my service dog by my side, I have been able to continue my work towards a PhD in Environmental Science at the University of California, Berkeley. Without my service dog, I would be unable to leave the house for fear of having an episode in public, and I would be so heavily medicated I could not design and implement experiments for my research. As a person partnered with a service dog, I would like to comment on the proposed changes that affect service animals.
First, I’d like to thank you for keeping and reaffirming the importance of both work and tasks in the definition of a service animal. I like the example you have given about grounding, it clarifies the reason for tasks and work to be included in the definition. As a person partnered with a psychiatric service dog who performs both tasks and essential work to assist me, I am glad that you have recognized the importance of both types of assistance.
Thank you also for reaffirming the right of those with disabling mental impairments to utilize service dogs.
Clarifying the difference between an emotional support animal and a psychiatric service animal is essential, and I am happy to see the distinction being drawn. However, I think that the wording could be a little bit clearer. Any service animal that assists with a mood disorder (e.g. bipolar disorder) could be construed as providing emotional support, no matter what physical tasks or work they are trained to do. This is because the nature of the disability is a mood disorder, and any improvement on a mood disorder will provide emotional benefit by nature of the disability. By drawing a distinction between animals who are simply providing general emotional support just by being there, and animals that are specifically trained to do work or tasks to assist someone with a mood disorder, this wording can be made clearer by changing from the original wording to the following:
***animals whose sole function is to provide nonspecific emotional support, comfort, companionship, or promote generalized emotional well-being are not service animals.***
I agree with the decision not to allow rodents, reptiles, primates or other wild animals to be trained as service animals. In particular, the use of primates is particularly ill-advised, as many must be pried from their mother’s backs when they are infants, and their teeth must be pulled so that they do not bite.
I do not think the department should implement any size or weight restrictions.
I agree with the lack of behavioral or training tests, though I support the addition of minimal behavior standards such as leashing and housetraining.
For the most part I agree with the directives on service animals in hospital and healthcare settings, however I think that pre-op, post-op and labor/delivery rooms should allow the admittance of service animals—providing that the service animal has a non-hospital affiliated person responsible for the animal. This could mean that the service animal’s disabled handler has their service animal under their control when visiting others in these rooms, or it could mean that another individual takes control of the disabled individual’s service animal while the disabled individual is incapacitated by medication, pain or another reason.
I recently had surgery and the hospital allowed my service animal to accompany me up until the time they wheeled me into the OR. Additionally, as soon as I awoke, my husband and my service animal were beside my bed in the post-op recovery room. Having my service animal there was invaluable to me and my doctors, who could not get my panic upon waking up under control without the assistance of my service animal’s grounding work. Service animals can play important roles in these areas, and as long as there is a person capable of controlling the animal there to handle them, I think it would be beneficial to allow them access to these areas.
I also think that the definition of a wheelchair should be changed to include use of a Segway.
Thank you again for your revisions, in general I think they are very good and I appreciate all the time and energy that you have put into making the revisions, and also that you will put into reading these comments.
August 13th 2008 6:48 pm
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Today I needed a LOT of attention! When mom and I got into work, I asked right away if I could go see mom's labmates. I cuddled with them all, and tried to stay out in the middle of the office getting pets from everyone as long as possible!
When they all went off to do lab work, I laid my head on mom's knee and told her she had to pet me the whole time she was sitting at her desk! She had to do a lot of reading, so I got a lot of petting.
Throughout the day, every time mom's labmates came into the office I asked to go see them and I laid on my back to get my belly scritched! It was a good day, I got a lot of attention!
August 13th 2008 6:11 pm
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Dear Friends and Family,
You are receiving this email because I need your help making sure that my service dog, Sabrina, and I continue to have the same right to public access as other people with disabilities and service dog teams.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is being revised, and the Department of Justice (DOJ) has proposed some changes. In general, the revisions are good, though there is some room for improvement in my opinion. The DOJ has asked for comments about their proposed revisions, and this is where I need your help.
*************************************************** **************
I need you to write a quick comment to the DOJ addressing three issues (which I will explain below):
1. Keep the "tasks or work" language
2. Clarify the difference between a psychiatric service dog and an emotional support animal
3. Do not implement size or weight restrictions
To submit public comment go here:
http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main? main=DocketDetail&d=DOJ-CRT-2008-0015
Click on the first docket listed. It should be: DOJ-CRT-2008-0015-0001 and you can read the text for yourself by clicking on the pdf or html icons under view.
Then, click on the orange speech bubble icon that says: Add Comments
The deadline is August 18th, so please do not delay!
************************************************** ***************
According to the current version of the ADA, service dogs are trained to do tasks or work to assist people with disabilities. Most of you are aware that my dog Sabrina assists me with disabling bipolar disorder and panic attacks and without her help I would not be able to function independantly. She does both tasks and work. Tasks are physical actions, like warning me before I have an attack, bringing me my medications etc. She also does work, in the form of grounding me during an attack. This grounding work is extremely important, just as important as alerting me to the attack in the first place.
The revisions proposed by the DOJ keep this "tasks or work" language, which I support 100%. However, there are many people who believe that only physical tasks should count-- that important and life saving work like Sabrina grounding me does not count. In addition, many of these people want to restrict service dog usage to people with physical disabilities and prevent those of us with mental impairments from having a service dog. They feel that psychiatric service dogs (service dogs that assist those with mental impairments) are poorly behaved and not worthy of public access. This group of people is quite large, and they have a very large base of supporters. They have mounted a campaign to flood the DOJ with requests to remove "work" from the definition of a service animal, and to try to prevent people with mental impairments (this includes things like autism as well as mental illness) from having service dogs.
I need your help writing quick comments to the DOJ saying that you support the "tasks or work" language.
While the proposed revisions are generally good, there are two more items that could use comments.
The DOJ has proposed a clarification between dogs called "emotional support animals"-- which are untrained pets of people with disabilities, and psychiatric service dogs. The distinction they draw is not completely clear. Below is an excerpt with my recommended changes in brackets:
"animals whose sole function is to provide [add NONSPECIFIC] emotional support, comfort, [remove therapy], companionship, [remove therapeutic benefits], or promote [add GENERALIZED] emotional well-being are not service animals."
The founder of the Psychiatric Service Dog Society, Joan Esnayra, has explained the reasoning for these changes in brackets:
"It is important to note that use of a Psychiatric Service Dog could be construed as a form of ‘emotional support’ especially among those who are disabled by mood disorders, in particular. For this reason, we believe it is important to distinguish the non-specific emotional support (and generalized emotional well-being) that everyone receives from his/her pet from the restoration of function that is realized when a person disabled by an organic mood disorder utilizes a well-trained Psychiatric Service Dog. By adding the terms ‘nonspecific’ and ‘generalized’ to the proposed ‘emotional support animal’ definition this distinction is rendered clear and unambiguous.
Further, use of a Psychiatric Service Dog is by definition therapeutically beneficial.
For this reason, we respectfully request that the terms ‘therapy’ and ‘therapeutic benefits’ be stricken from the proposed ‘emotional support animal’ definition as they overlap significantly with the legitimate goals of clinical treatment that includes use of a Psychiatric Service Dog. We believe that in order to be useful in a policy context the ‘emotional support animal’ definition should emphasize the differences between these two categories of animal rather than any similarities that may exist between them."
Finally, the DOJ has requested feedback on requiring service animals to be of a certain size or weight. They might restrict very small or very large dogs from being service animals. I do not support this, as many hearing dogs, seizure alert and psychiatric service dogs are small breeds. Additionally, larger breeds such as labs and goldens are routinely used without problem.
Please feel free to forward this email to anyone you think might be willing to help. Also, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact me and I will be happy to talk about any of the proposed revisions with you.
August 10th 2008 7:53 am
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Last night we all piled in the car and headed over to Snowy's house! I was soooooooo happy to see Snowy, and he was happy to see me, too! He looks like he's gotten smaller (or maybe it's just because Ollie is now so big!). Snowy is the same size that Ollie was at about 9 weeks old!
We headed over to the tennis courts for some prime running and playing. Snowy and I were running all around, playing, wresting and having a great time! Mom and dad took turns calling us back and forth across the tennis court-- or rather they called me and Snowy and Ollie followed along behind!
After playing a bit, I noticed there was someone new with us, it was Snowy's aunt! I like her, she pet me a lot and was very cool to hang around with. She didn't know a lot about dogs, so I showed her how dogs like to wrestle and play growl and run around like maniacs. I think she was impressed!
Next we went back to Snowy's place where the humans all played Wii. Like a good big sister, I told Ollie that he should bother mom as much as possible while she was playing, and he followed my orders! Tee hee hee! What are big sissy's for? I got tired pretty quickly since Ollie and I had already had a marathon play session in the morning, so I just laid down and squeaked toy after toy after toy. Now that is the life, playing with Snowy, squeaking toys, playing in the tennis courts-- why can't every day be like that?
August 8th 2008 12:36 pm
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This morning we went to the grocery store before work. Normally when we get there right when they open, there is a lot of produce in the discount section. Mom and dad have been living off of that discount produce section for the last few months since Baby Puppy Ollie has taken all their money, and they're still trying to save for his neuter operation. Today, though, there was just asparagus and eggplant in the discount section!
Mom was hanging out in an aisle trying to decide what to get for dinner when a nice lady came up and asked about me. She asked to pet and I was SOOOOOO HAPPY to hear the visit command! Yippie! Then another lady came up and I got to visit with her, too! It was a lot of fun, only too bad we were in the middle of an aisle because it meant my visit time had to be cut short for other people to pass by. I hope I see those nice ladies again in the grocery store, they were good petters! I think one of the big drawbacks to retiring is I won't be out as much, so I won't get as many pets. Ollie will be stealing all my attention.
The other good thing that happened at the grocery store was we got more meat scraps (.89 a lb!) and chicken feet. Yummola, I will be eating well this week!
August 7th 2008 1:26 pm
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This morning we were coming off the BART and heading up the stairs. We were almost at the top of the stairs when a guide team turned the corner and started heading down the stairs. Mom called out our location and we passed mid-stair. I was a good pup-- neither of us pups could resist a quick butt sniff as we were walking past each other, but I always tell mom a quick butt sniff when you have to walk within a few inches of another dog is like nodding at someone. It's not really being distracted, just acknowledging their presence.
We continued on our way to school (passing another service team on our way) and I spend a bit relaxing under the desk. Mom had to run a plate over to the sequencing facility on campus, and then had to drop off the projector from her presentation yesterday. She wasn't sure how I was feeling, if I'd feel nauseous or something, so I got to go vestless when we were walking outside between these places. I was very happy to get some free time walking around campus! When we were on our way to drop off the projector, we had to walk through one of the main lawns on campus where people like to hang out. Today they had a whole bunch of pinwheels all over the lawn! I couldn't figure out what they were at first, I thought they might be another dog, so I started giving submissive body language. But then I realized they were pinwheels when we got close! I've seen them before, just never so many of them all in a row like that. It was strange!
August 6th 2008 3:44 pm
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Today hasn't been a good day for me or for mom. We got to work and neither of us were feeling very well. Mom had a really bad headache and I wasn't feeling so hot, either. Mom had a presentation at 4PM, though, so we knew we had to stick it out. Thing were going fine until right after lunch. I was moving around more than usual, so mom figured we should go outside and walk around a bit. We stopped by the human potty on the way outside, and that's when the nausea hit. I made my "I need to throw-up face" where I pull my cheeks all the way back and mom finished up really fast and we made a beeline for the exit. Mom usually doesn't let me dictate the speed at which we travel, but thank goodness she changed her mind then-- I was running for the exit!
We made it outside and mom gave me the recess command which means I can do whatever I like. But I still had my vest on! This isn't a problem for peeing or pooping in my opinion, but I didn't want to sully my reputation as a dignified service dog by throwing up while vested. I looked up at mom pleadingly, clenching my jaws so as not to let anything out. Finally she got the message and took my vest off, and right away I started to urka-gurka. I felt better afterward, but still not 100%, so when we got back inside mom called dad to come and pick me up. It took him 45 minutes to get to school, and I just moped under mom's desk the whole time feeling poorly.
I hoped mom would just forget about her presentation, and we could both go home with daddy and relax, but that just wasn't possible. Daddy took mom to pick up the food for the meeting, then dropped her back off at work and took me home. I made a sad sad face at mom for leaving me with daddy-- I am worried about her! I don't like to leave her alone! It's not so bad when she takes Ollie out, even though he can't alert and so functions only as an ESA. But mom all alone? Giving a presentation? Well, daddy says that he thinks she can do it, and I think she can, too. So now I'm at home, resting up with daddy and Ollie (or rather trying to stay away from Ollie so that I can rest up!). We are going to pick mom up after her presentation. I will be counting down the minutes!
August 5th 2008 11:30 am
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This morning mom and I got on at our usual BART station. We sat in our usual area near the door with me in front of mom's feet like normal. We approached the North Berkeley BART station and the doors opened to let passengers on. A few people got on, and then a lady with a service dog in an orange vest came on before a bunch of other people. The lady was using a long shoulder lead and the dog was way out at the end of it (about 4-5 ft away from the lady) and she wasn't looking at the dog at all. I know I am not supposed to get up or do anything when I see another dog, so I sat nicely at mom's feet.
There are a fair number of guides who ride BART (that's where we see the majority of other SDs we see) so mom always looks for SDs when we get on so that we make sure not to bother or startle anyone. Mom figured this lady would do that, too. So we waited a few seconds while the lady positioned herself cattycorner to us, figuring she'd notice us soon. Her dog had definately noticed us, though! He was still at the end of his leash, now staring at me. Still, the handler didn't do anything. So mom called out "service dog team over here" to alert the lady so that hopefully she would reel her dog in. But then mom noticed the dog's vest said "hearing dog" so the lady probably couldn't hear her.
The train started to move and still the dog was about 4-5 feet away from it's handler, at the end of it's leash, staring me down. Mom noticed that my body language started to get a little anxious, and I looked at mom pleadingly. I know I'm not supposed to approach other dogs when working, but it surely didn't seem like this dog knew that!
To avoid any unpleasant encounter since it seemed like mom wouldn't be able to get the attention of the lady (she was still looking resolutely in the opposite direction of her service dog so mom couldn't wave and sign to her), we got up. The dog was blocking the aisle to the main part of the train, so the only place to go was to the next car.
The next car! Oh my, that means going through those big noisy doors! We haven't done that before. But mom figured that it would be better to try the big noisy doors than to risk another dog attacking me-- especially on the BART where we couldn't get away easily. So over to the doors we went. Mom pried the first door open (it is heavy, she says!) and then held it open while she pried the second door open. Then she called me through. I hung my head a little, but I jumped over that crack between the cars without a problem. Mom did let the door shut a little soon, though, so it bumped into me! Whew! That was exciting! Mom was very proud of me, though!
We found a seat in the other car, and soon after I told mom it was time to get off the train. Luckily the hearing dog didn't get off at our stop. Mom was looking out for him and was prepared to take evasive action if necessary!
August 5th 2008 8:22 am
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Mom and dad bought a really big doggie bed big enough for two pups to share comfortably. I've been the only one sleeping on it since we got it before we got Ollie, and for the first few weeks we had him, he was sleeping in his crate.
Now that he's sleeping in the bedroom outside of his crate, mom and dad naturally thought we'd share the bed. But no, it's all MINE! I lay right smack dab in the middle of the bed with my arms and legs stuck out at odd angles so there is no room for a puppy on there. Tee hee hee! I make Ollie sleep on the floor!
Last night mom and dad brought in the small dog bed from the living room (it's just a pillow, not a fancy raised up bed like mine) for Ollie to lay down on. He he he, I've won, I've claimed the big bed all for myself!
July 30th 2008 6:08 pm
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Today mom and I had to go to three meetings! Sheesh, that is a lot. Luckily I get to sleep during meetings, so I took full advantage of that and had some nice dreams.
Mom got a headache in the morning, and it lasted the whole day. So in between meetings I helped her to feel better. Luckily we got to go home a little early, I was happy to see Ollie and play with him!
We were happily playing when all of the sudden there was a knock on the door! Mom wasn't expecting anyone, and since she didn't know who it was she couldn't work on training Ollie not to bark at the door. So I figured I'd join in, too! Woof Woof Woof! Mom opened the regular door and as she did so (while holding Ollie's collar and me sitting right next to the door both of us woofing) the lady at the door started to open the screen door! Panic time for mom! Mom hates it when there are strangers at our house, and even more when they seem like they're trying to get in! So as I start alerting mom to her panic attack (though she was well aware of it already!) the lady asks if she can read mom some scripture. Mom just shut the door in her face and laid down to cuddle with Ollie and me. I wish people wouldn't come and surprise us like that! No fun!
July 30th 2008 7:01 am
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Yesterday we went to work in the morning. Mom wasn't feeling so great throughout the day, so I spent most of the time mom was at her desk with my head on her knee to help her feel better. I think it did help because she was able to get the things done that she had to. We left a little early and headed home to see Ollie. We played like maniacs and were just settling down to a little nap when we heard a knock on the door! It was Snowy's mom! I looked all around for Snowy, but he was nowhere to be found. No fair!
Still, it was fun to say hi to Snowy's mom, and since I was so tired I went and laid down while mom and Snowy's mom chatted. When it was puppy dinner time, Snowy's mom left and I told her that she'd better bring Snowy the next time she came over!
July 28th 2008 11:14 pm
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Mom forgot a lot of things today when we went to work. Most importantly she forgot my mat that I like to lay on when we go to class or anywhere out of the office. She also forgot her lunch-- well actually, she remembered to grab something from the fridge but it ended up she grabbed a tupperware container of salsa not soup! Oops!
So we went out to lunch at Lucky Thai and I had to sit on the cold tile floor while everyone else was eating yummy food and sitting in comfy seats. I figured I could handle that, but then when we got back to the office mom had a meeting. We were going to meet in our office area, but it smelled wierd so we went to another room-- where I didn't have my mat! It was very cold in there! I was shivering, and told mom it was entirely too cold for it to be decent. She didn't listen, though, so I had to be cold and upset at mom. Finally the meeting was over and we headed home.
I played with Ollie a little bit before our pals Kathryn and Travis came over. I was happy to see them! I was so happy that even though I was supposed to be in a down-stay when they were coming in the door, I started crawling across the floor to see them! Hey, it's still a down when you're crawling I tried to tell mom, but she wasn't buying it.
We went to dinner where I was cold yet again-- mom brought mats to lie on but we were outside and I didn't have a jacket so I was cold! Luckily I got treats during dinner, which is the nice thing about having Ollie with you! I get treats for doing my normal good behavior since Ollie is getting treats for learning this behavior.
After dinner we came back to the house and Travis played tug with me. He is really strong and tall and so was able to lift me up off the ground when tugging with me! It was excellent! The only problem was that Ollie decided that then he would tug on my tail and I did NOT like that! All the tugging and playing wore me out, and I am now about to go zonk out for the night!
July 26th 2008 8:04 am
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Friday mom and I finally went back to work. Mom had to stay home sick Wednesday and Thursday. I was happy to put my vest on and head out the door-- it was getting kind of boring at home!
I got lots of petting and attention from mom's labmates as usual. I love them! They pet me soooooo nicely! And then near the end of the day mom had to go upstairs to the office and drop off a form. Everyone in this office LOVES me and I got to say hi and get even more loving and petting! It was really nice. Though I think they all want to meet my silly brother Ollie. I told them I'm not retiring ever because I love my fan club at work!
July 23rd 2008 8:05 pm
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Today we got to stay home from work-- nope, not because I was sick, but because mom was. I was sorry mom was sick, but happy to spend a day snoozing at home! For most of the day, I hung out with mom, napping on the couch with her as we watched Harry Potter movies. For some reason I get the idea that she likes Harry Potter. I also got my training snacks during the day as Ollie got his, so I didn't get all nauseous like I did yesterday.
The only bad thing about staying home with a sick mom is that I couldn't get away from Ollie! For most of the day he was a good puppy, but right before and after dinner he's at his worst! He doesn't understand that he can't eat the kitty food or the kitty poop, and he barks at it or tries to eat it. Neither of those are fun for me! Mom keeps giving commands like leave-it, and I try to tell her that I'm a good girl and not getting into anything! Or she keeps saying come when I am already right next to her. I just scoot in further and look at her like I'm here!
I hope that Ollie starts learning not to bother the kitties or eat their food (pre-or post-digestion!) soon!
July 22nd 2008 3:48 pm
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This morning mom had an appointment with her doctor. We walked over with Daddy and Ollie, too so that the doctor could meet him. Unfortunately, mom and I had to walk up to get the doctor, and Ollie started barking! He was still barking when we got back down so I don't think he made as good of an impression as mom hoped he would. I just totally ignored him since I was in my vest, and mom told me I was being a very good girl.
After her appointment, mom and I went into work. After mom ate her lunch, I was sleeping under her desk when all the sudden I woke up not feeling so well! Luckily mom had a tupperware container handy for me to get sick in so that I didn't make a mess on the floor. I told mom I was sorry for throwing-up, I felt so bad for making a mess inside! So mom took me outside, but by then I was feeling better. Mom decided we should go home early, and it's a good thing she did. A little bit after we got home I threw up again. It was yellow foamy stuff both times, so mom thinks I was hungry. See last week we stayed home all week so that meant I got lots of treats during the day as mom was training Ollie. I also got a snack when Ollie got puppy lunchtime. But I didn't get any of that today, so mom thinks I was just overly hungry. She gave me a snack, and now I am resting up, hoping to feel all better soon!
July 21st 2008 4:53 pm
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Mom and I took the week off last week. I only put my vest on once to go to costco and get me some meat, yum! I wish I could go there by myself, I'd get all the meat and have a giant party! Too bad mom and dad hold the purse-strings.
This morning I was happy to see my vest come off the hook on the wall, and happy to help mom out the door. We were prancing along to the BART station (well, OK, I was the only one prancing) when mom realized she forgot all the stuff she needed to bring in. Luckily daddy was nice enough to drive it to the station and drop it off.
When we got to work I was excited to see some of mom's labmates! It's been too long since I've gotten love and attention from them! Mom showed off my new pictures, and I guess she felt like she had to show pictures of Ollie too or something. Mine were way better, though, everyone agreed!
Around lunchtime mom started not feeling so well, I kept telling her that I thought we should go but she doesn't like to listen to me sometimes. Finally we headed home. I thought mom needed to get home quicker so I tried to drag her home from the BART station! Mom thought it was funny and nice that I took my duties so seriously, but she said she didn't appreciate me trying to drag her.
Luckily Ollie was there to help when we got home. We pinned mom to the ground and licked her to death, or close to it! Then we started jumping and playing on top of her. What makes a good game of tug even better? Doing it while standing on either side of mom! I made sure to drag Ollie so that he fell on her head a bunch of times, I'm sure that helped, too. Now I am nice and tired and I'll have a good nap when Ollie goes to class tonight!
July 19th 2008 1:12 pm
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This morning all four of us went to the vet. I was such a good girl and paid a lot of attention to daddy even with a lot of other doggies around! When our names were called we stopped by the scales on the way to the exam room. First they weighed Ollie, and then it was my turn on the scale. I was a little worried because while my diet was going well before Ollie got here, since then I've been getting loads of treats just like Ollie! I got on the scale and sat like a good girl, and waited.....
49.5 lbs!!!!! Whoooo hooooooo! I am a Skinny Minnie! That's only a lb and a half more than I weighed when I was adopted at 2.5 years old. Go me! Dr. Rettig said I looked very svelte, and confirmed that my little bit of wobbly tummy that I've always had was probably from me having puppies before I was fixed and is just skin, not fat. I was very happy to hear that I can get more food now! I guess there are some really good things about having a brother.
Next we went into the exam room and Dr. Rettig looked over Ollie first. While he was on the exam table, I slunk around the room, hiding under chairs and trying to figure a way out of the door. It didn't work, and reluctantly I came out of hiding when it was my turn. Dr. Rettig said I looked really good and just needed a little tuneup in my kidney points (thank goodness I didn't need any in my knee!). I was a good girl getting the needles in, but then I started moving around while they were in and I got a few out. I was happy when my 15 minutes was up and Dr. Rettig came back to take the needles out!
It was a pretty good vet visit, I am so happy that I am such a skinny pup!
July 18th 2008 1:10 pm
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I am always posting things that mom writes, but this time daddy wrote something that I thought was worth sharing. He had to write an example of a Positive Argument for his students he's teaching in his Philosophy department's Critical Reasoning class. Here it is, enjoy:
Why Certification of Service Animal Teams is Not Best for Persons with Disabilities
1. Not requiring certification for service animal teams (rather than requiring such certification) will promote the well-being of persons with disabilities.
2. Not requiring certification for service animal teams (rather than requiring such certification) is the best (better) way to promote the well-being of persons with disabilities.
3. Not requiring certification for service animal teams (rather than requiring such certification) and promoting the well-being of persons with disabilities is better than not promoting the well-being of persons with disabilities.
4. Certification should not be required for service animal teams.
'Service animal teams’ are teams consisting of a person with a disability, and an animal trained to do work or perform tasks to mitigate that person’s disability. Such teams are covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). They are thereby guaranteed such protections as unimpeded access to most public places, including grocery stores, restaurants, and public transportation (though teams must be well-behaved or can be made to leave such locations). Under the ADA, service animal teams are not currently required to be officially certified by a government agency or private institution, by passing a test or otherwise. I maintain that this is appropriate: certification should not be required for service animal teams.
The following are reasons certification of service animal teams should not be required, reasons I will explain and justify in subsequent paragraphs. First, if service animal teams do not need to be certified, then the well-being of persons with disabilities will be improved. Second, while both requiring and not requiring certification may better the lives of persons with disabilities, not requiring certification is the better way to do so. Third, not requiring certification for service animal teams is better than not promoting the well-being of persons with disabilities.
First premise
The first premise in my argument as to why certification should not be required is that if service animal teams do not need to be certified, then the well-being of persons with disabilities will be improved. Note that the truth of this premise is compatible with the truth of the claim that requiring certification improves the well-being of persons with disabilities. Each of the options may in some ways improve the lives of those with disabilities, and each may in some ways decrease their well-being. So we are not deciding yet whether it is better to require certification or not, we are only justifying the claim that not requiring certification improves the lives of persons with disabilities.
The basic point to justify my first premise is that not having barriers in the lives of persons with disabilities promotes their well-being, and requiring certification erects multiple barriers. Such barriers can come in many forms. Most apparent is the form of financial obligation, whether a fee is charged to be certified or one must pay cab fare or for gas to reach a certifying agency. Many persons with disabilities are already economically disadvantaged, sometimes due to the difficulty of finding suitable employment, or because of the high cost of aids to cope with their disabilities. Another kind of barrier is that the disability itself can prevent the person from reaching a certifying agency. Some individuals have spinal injuries or other physical conditions that make travel extremely painful or otherwise difficult. Others have a psychological disorder, such as agoraphobia (an extreme fear of going out of ones home), which makes traveling to new places difficult, even with a service animal to mitigate the symptoms. Still others have multiple chemical sensitivities, a condition that may require them to avoid inhaling certain chemicals commonly found in perfume, personal hygiene products, cleaning products, and air fresheners—chemicals that may be present at the place of certification. While the barriers described above do not apply to everyone who has a disability, they apply to a sufficient number of people such that not requiring certification would promote the well-being of persons with disabilities by not producing such barriers.
Second premise
The second reason in my argument as to why certification should not be required is that while both requiring and not requiring certification may better the lives of persons with disabilities, not requiring certification is the better way to do so. To start with the other side, how can a certification requirement promote the well-being of those with disabilities? Passing a test (getting certified) would clearly indicate that the team is generally fit for public access or qualifies under the ADA, and such indication would be to the certified teams (persons) themselves, to ‘gatekeepers’ (those in public who may try to deny a team access to somewhere or something), and to officers of the law and court. A uniform certification requirement may save teams from some access challenges, which are a common problem they face, and may make lawsuits involving access challenges more clearcut.
The benefits of not having a certification requirement are often found in the avoidance of problems associated with a requirement. First, it is difficult for a single standardized test to reasonably account for the various ways in which a team may need to operate to get about in the real world. For instance, on a standard test one might try to mandate the proper position of the service animal with respect to the person, e.g., walking on the left side of the person. This would exclude, for example: teams in which the service animal has been trained to walk on the right, whether because of a physical disability associated with the person’s left hand or personal preference; teams in which the service animal pulls a wheelchair or other personal vehicle from the front; and teams in which it is dangerous for the service animal to walk on the ground (e.g. small service dogs that are carried in the lap of a wheelchair user, service birds or monkeys that only go to the ground to retrieve objects or perform other tasks).
Second, while official certification may give personal satisfaction and may help in access challenges where authorities are involved, these same benefits can be approximated by individuals completing a tailored public access test with a trainer, and recording the results. This would also keep partial interest groups from succeeding in lobbying to have a biased certification process that would unduly constrain or even contradict the ADA.
Third, a certification requirement would invest such cachet in a piece of paper or a tag as to make documentation a practical (if not a legal) necessity for public access. Service animals are treated as assistive medical devices by the ADA, akin to wheelchairs. No one is proposing that a person in a wheelchair must carry paperwork to get into a restaurant. Likewise, we should realize that no service animal team should be turned away from getting on the bus because they forgot a registration card.
Fourth, rights shouldn’t have to be applied for, unless a right consists in receiving an item for which practicality demands application to authorities. Since there is currently no certification requirement and teams are commonly able to exercise their rights with little incident, the right to operate as part of a service animal team is one that does not demand application to authorities, and so should not have to be applied for. In reviewing the consequences of requiring and not requiring certification, we clearly find that not requiring certification is better for the well-being of persons with disabilities.
Third premise
The third reason I gave as to why certification should not be required is that not requiring certification for service animal teams is better than not promoting the well-being of persons with disabilities. This reason is presented merely to fill a possible gap in the argument—it may sound controversial, but a closer study shows it is not. My assumption throughout has been that all parties in the debate wish to promote the well-being of persons with disabilities to a reasonable extent, and that the functioning of service animal teams in accordance with the ADA (which does not currently have a certification requirement) is within this reasonable extent. There are two main options here: either we have the ADA with a certification requirement, or we have it without one. I think all parties, including those in favor of certification, would agree that both the ADA with a certification requirement and the ADA without a certification requirement would, overall, promote the well-being of persons with disabilities, even if we disagree about which option is better. Since the ADA with a certification requirement is something that promotes the well-being of persons with disabilities, not promoting the well-being of persons with disabilities would entail not having the ADA with or without a certification requirement, and this is something no one wants. Thus, even those opposed to the view I defend here would accept that not requiring certification is better than not promoting the well-being of persons with disabilities.
A possible objection
Someone might object to my second premise, that not requiring certification is the better way to promote the well-being of persons with disabilities, with the following reason why requiring certification is better. Without certification, the argument would go, persons may manipulate the system to fake a service animal to procure some benefit, e.g. in order to gain entry for their pet to a place they otherwise would not be allowed. If such ‘fakers’ are allowed by a lack of a certification requirement, then not only would this kind of immoral and illegal activity be easier to practice, but fakers can make life difficult for service animal teams in multiple ways. If a faker takes a misbehaved animal to a place where non-service animals are prohibited, the animal’s behavior may encourage a gatekeeper to eject the faker from the situation, which could result in that gatekeeper thinking it is okay to turn away any person-animal pair (including service animal teams). Also, a faker is more likely to be either unfamiliar with the laws relevant to service animals, or brazenly spreading misinformation about them. In each case, gatekeepers whom fakers encounter may come away from the experience with an inaccurate view of the rights of service animal teams; they may think teams have more or fewer rights than they actually do. Either situation is bad for future person-animal pairs the gatekeeper may encounter; the gatekeeper may allow too much (and thus encourage more fakers), or not enough, perhaps trying to turn away legitimate teams, more forcibly than he or she might have without misinformation. So, the objector reasons, not requiring certification makes it easier for there to be more fakers, and allowing more fakers means allowing situations that make life harder for legitimate service animal teams. Ultimately, the objector concludes that requiring certification is better for the well-being of persons with disabilities.
Reply to the objection
In response to the above objection, we should step back and consider the proper way in which this issue should be decided. No one who has given the debate serious consideration would think either option, requiring certification or not, both has only positive consequences and indubitably results in the greater well-being of persons with disabilities. This is a game of cost-benefit analysis. I have already shown how requiring certification erects certain barriers, situations to the detriment of persons with disabilities (see my justification for the first premise). For us to adjudicate the topic with full, due consideration, we would need to show that the benefits described by the objector do not offset the costs of requiring certification sufficiently to overcome the net benefit of not requiring certification. I do not have time here to provide for every relevant consideration, so I shall content myself with showing why the objection does not speak to the stronger shared values of our society.
I grant that fakers commit reprehensibly immoral and illegal acts, and that they make life more difficult for service animal teams. I also grant that a certification requirement would result in there being fewer fakers. However, before deciding to hold up more hoops for persons with disabilities to jump through, we should think of the principles that are guiding our actions. The concern of the objector I constructed was to catch the bad apples, those that make life a little more difficult for the good ones. In contrast to the desire to catch as many guilty parties as possible, consider one of the founding principles of our justice system—it is better to let ten guilty persons go free than to punish one innocent person. When we set up more barriers for persons with disabilities to overcome, we are excluding more and more from the greater well-being they desire and deserve. Making life more difficult for those with disabilities in our attempt to make it harder for others to be fakers seems to throw the baby out with the bathwater—a certification requirement is a policy that unwittingly punishes those whom such policies should be trying to accommodate.
A persistent opponent may still not be convinced. Perhaps she thinks there are so many fakers that we must do something to stop it, and a certification requirement is a good step in that direction. However, while there are some fakers, there is little evidence to suggest that they pervade society, or that they would not find ways to continue faking, in spite of a certification requirement. But what about the repercussions of the few? Yes, fakers do give some gatekeepers wrong impressions that make life more difficult for service animal teams; access challenges can range from mildly annoying (or even just a chance to educate) to traumatic. On the other hand, access challenges are a common part of the life of a service animal team—and they would be so even if there were no fakers. Any person who is a part of an experienced team can tell you that a team quickly learns (out of necessity) how to deal with access challenges. Misunderstanding teams’ right is not the sole province of gatekeepers who have encountered fakers; it is the disposition of a great many who consider themselves responsible for the enforcement of standards. I contend that the harm done by fakers is somewhere between a drop in the bucket and a drop in the ocean. Either way, when we balance what is best for the well-being of persons with disabilities, we can see that not requiring certification does little harm to persons with disabilities and plenty of good to them, while requiring certification may do plenty of harm to fakers (or faking) but little good to those with disabilities. If our concern truly is the well-being of persons with disabilities, we recognize that the ‘fakers objection’ just makes what is right all the more clear: not requiring certification is the better choice, and it is the choice that should resonate with our sense of justice.
July 17th 2008 7:31 am
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Yesterday mom and I were walking around the block and I saw a car that looked like Snowy's car! I got really really excited, maybe my pal Snowy was here!!! I tried to go up to the car and sniff it, but even though it was the same make, model and color, it didn't quite smell like Snowy. I was so sad! I miss you, Snowy, and I hope you come back soon!
July 16th 2008 8:32 am
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Whew, what a day! We woke up early yesterday morning and headed out the door with all mom's field stuff so I knew we were heading for the lake. I had to share the backseat with Ollie, who isn't such a baby puppy anymore. He's as tall as me now, and takes up way more space in the backseat than he should! I practiced my dejected doggie look the whole 2.5 hr ride to the lake.
I was very happy to get out and run around at the lake! Luckily it wasn't as hot as it has been recently, so I didn't even need my cooling vest. I did decide to dig myself a nice cool hole to lay in while mom counted the leaves on her plants, though! And in digging the hole I made sure to cover Ollie with dirt-- he deserves it for taking up my back seat space!
We were at the lake for a couple of hours, and boy has the water receeded a lot! It's going to be even lower this year than last I think. Daddy had Ollie while mom was collecting and counting and things, and I got to go back and forth between the two of them. Daddy and Ollie found a tree to sit under in the shade, and I hung out there with them for a while until mom got a little too far away for my liking! Then I went to visit and make sure she was OK, and headed back to the shade tree!
I think I've figured out that mom is trying to switch me over to being daddy's dog. I love my daddy, but I'm not so happy about Ollie taking over my job. So I've decided I'm not going to listen to daddy at all. Hopefully that way he doesn't like me and won't take me as his doggie, so mom will have to keep me as her primary pup! I refused to listen to any of daddy's commands at the lake, but that didn't seem to make mom very happy. She says that the intro obedience class I'm going to take with daddy while she takes it with Ollie will hopefully help cement my bonding with daddy some more. I say I'm not going to let Ollie sneak in on my mom so easily!
We hopped back in the car and drove to Davis next. Daddy had office hours, and then he had to teach his class. Ollie and I had to sit in dad's office with mom the whole time. It was soooooooooo boring. I know I'm supposed to behave in the office, but Ollie kept wanting to move around so I kept telling him he had to be still! I was getting grumpy because I was hungry and Ollie was annoying me with all his backseat and mommy stealing!
When daddy returned, we ate dinner and then the humans went to the Farmer's Kitchen Cafe for their dinner. We ate outside so that Ollie could eat with us, too. It was nice to watch all the cars go by and stuff, but Ollie had his second wind of energy and didn't want to sit still! We got back in the car and started the drive back home, but it was not fun because Ollie had a lot of energy and wanted to play. I just laid down (I made sure to take up 3/4 of the seat!) and ignored him! I was happy to get home and stretch out without an Ollie trying to take up my space!
July 14th 2008 7:05 am
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Yesterday we went to the beach! It was a lot of fun, even though I did have to share the backseat of the car with Ollie. When he was riding in the car in his crate, at least he was contained. But in a seatbelt he hogs up the whole back seat! No fair! I'm older, I should get more space.
We went to my favorite secluded beach in Richmond where there is hardly ever anyone else. At first mom and dad tried to have both Ollie and I on long lines, but that made playing really difficult! I promised I'd be a good girl, so mom let me be off leash. Ha ha, Ollie, I got more freedom than you did! We had a great time playing on the beach. Ollie and I chased each other around, jumped, played tug with daddy, sniffed everything, and generally had a good time. I did get a little jealous that Ollie was getting too many treats from mommy, so I had to remind him that I'm the boss around here. After that the treats were shared much more equally, though I still think he got more than I did!
We played on the beach for about an hour, and by the end of it, I was pooped! I hardly had enough energy to walk back to the car! Ollie promptly sprawled out all over my seat, so I had to sit up the whole ride home. Even though it was only 10 minutes, it was still not fair!
I was so exhausted that I spent the rest of the afternoon snoozing. Ollie was able to help out with mom not feeling well, so I could nap and not worry too much. Sometimes I guess it's good having a little brother!
July 12th 2008 8:53 pm
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Today we did our first photo shoot with both me and Baby Puppy! I have been looking forward to taking pictures in my new sweater that the Fun Loving Family got for me. It is black and fuzzy, and makes me look like Baby Puppy Ollie! We went to the park down the street and I tried to explain to Ollie that you have to sit really still and pose for the camera but I don't think he got it! Daddy had to help out with a lot of treats, and I got some too, yummy!
After our photo shoot we went to the hardware store. It was too warm for my sweater, so I put on my purple and pink collar scrunchie. I was a perfect angel in the store! I like going to the store when I don't have to work because that means all the people in the store get to pet me!
July 9th 2008 6:02 pm
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Now that I have Ollie around to do tricks on command, I don't think both of us need to do them in order to get treats. I mean, if mom wants a sit, why does it matter which one of us sits? If Ollie sits, we should both get treats since mom got to see a doggie sitting!
Today Kathryn came over and mom was showing off all the tricks that Ollie knows. But every time she said a command, I'd just come over and give her my hungry eyes and expect a treat, even if I didn't do what she asked at all. I kept trying to explain the new rules to mom, but for some reason she couldn't understand them. You know how stupid these humans are, after all! I'll just have to keep up with the human training!
July 8th 2008 2:35 pm
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It's been a busy day already, and it's only 2:30 in the afternoon!
First the water heater broke this morning and got water everywhere! Mom was pretty stressed out because she had an important meeting she had to get to, but she and dad got everything cleaned up as best they could. I was hurrying mom out the door when she realized that Ollie had peed in her shoe! I guess he had to go potty and mom didn't notice when she was dealing with the water heater. Mom only has one pair of sneakers, one pair of hiking boots, a pair of sandles and a couple of dress shoes. Since hiking boots weren't appropriate for mom's meeting, she had to wear dress shoes which aren't very good for her knees or ankles. We slowly walked to the BART station, and then to work where mom had to push a big cart full of supplies up a hill to the meeting.
I was such a good girl and heeled perfectly next to the cart, I was worried about mom so I made extra sure to stay close and pay attention! All the vibrations of the cart made her hands hurt a lot and I wished I could pull the cart for her!
The meeting went well and everyone liked mom's presentation, but we had to rush back down the hill, put everything away and then rush home. All that rushing around in dress shoes made mom's lower joints hurt even worse! Finally we got home, and now mom has to straighten up for the plumber who is going to fix our water heater. I hope mom gets to rest soon because she's not doing too well. Her joints are really acting up, and I think she should just go to bed and rest!
July 8th 2008 7:10 am
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Mom has taken to wearing a treat pouch around the house so that she can train good old Mischief Maker (as I like to call Ollie) whenever the opportunity arises. One of the things he's learning now is the come command. Whenever mom shouts out "come" both of us come running over to her, and both of us get a treat! This little brother thing isn't so bad after all-- I get a lot of extra treats for doing really easy things like come!
July 8th 2008 7:08 am
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Mom was doing some research online and found some really neat clear stickers with braille on them that you can stick to your business cards or anywhere else you want to have some braille. Here is a review and the place to order from is Azzabat. How cool!
July 6th 2008 6:55 am
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That's right, we're supposed to have three days off this weekend, but do you think mom listens to that kind of stuff? Nope! We have to go in to the lab every day this weekend to take care of two experiments mom has running, and on Friday we were in for even longer. Sheesh, mom, take some time off already!
When mom's not in the lab, she and dad take Ollie out alone for training, which is no fair! I want to switch places with him-- he can sit under the desk in mom's office and I'll go out to the mall and pet stores!
At least I still have the ability to charm everyone on the BART! On Friday and on Saturday we met some very nice people while riding. They talked with mom about me for the whole BART ride, and you know how much I love being the center of attention!
July 4th 2008 6:40 am
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Yesterday afternoon my bestest pal Snowy stopped by! We were hanging out outside when he came up, and so we spent the first 15-20 minutes running around in the yard. Unfortunately, our yard is not designed for optimum doggy playtime. Half the yard is covered with rocks, which are no fun to run on. And the other half of the yard has all these plants that the humans eat from. So anyway, we ran around on the plant side of the yard and I got a case of the zoomies! I was so excited for my bestest pal and my bestest brother pup to be there that I took out a green pepper plant. Oops! Well, I still say it's mom and dad's fault for planing stuff all over the place.
After a while we went inside to play. Before Ollie came home, everyone used to joke that the puppy might be able to help wear Snowy out because he has never-ending energy. But pretty soon both me and Ollie were passed out on the floor and Snowy was still running on high octane! I keep meaning to ask Snowy what he eats that gives him all that energy! The humans hung around and talked while I took short naps and then played for a bit in turn with my pal Snowy. It was fun! I was sad to see him go, though the kitties weren't. They were trying to break out of the bedroom!
After Snowy left, mom had to clean up the bedroom because a kitty decided the laundry was a good spot to go potty. Silly kitties! Then while mom was doing laundry a bunch of booming started! I thought it was intruders in the garage at first, but it turned out to be an early fireworks show so I just laid back down and went to sleep. Snowy wears me out!
June 30th 2008 9:33 am
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This weekend I've had to stay home a lot. That's no fun! Mom and dad keep taking Ollie out without me, which isn't fair at all. Though really, I have been really exhausted lately from playing with Ollie all the time so don't tell mom but I've enjoyed the rest!
Yesterday Ollie went out to the Bay Street Mall and I caught some zzzzs at home with the kitties. When mom got home she was starting to get sick. Baby Puppy can't tell yet when mom is about to get sick, so it's a good thing she got home when she did! I couldn't prevent her getting sick, but at least I could be there to help her through it. Mom says Ollie makes a decent ESA, but I'm still the queen of the house when it comes to alerting! Luckily mom was feeling better soon with my help, and we were able to go on a walk around the block later that night with my neighbor pal Mantou.
June 28th 2008 7:25 am
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Well, except for the naked part! Yesterday we had quite an outing! Mom and I hurried home from work and then all four of us headed over to Snowy's apartment complex. I was happy to smell his place, I love Snowy! And I was also happy Ollie didn't throw up in the car, that's gross.
We got out of the car and started walking up the road when we saw Snowy! I was so excited to see him, but daddy kept making me be a good girl and not pull on the leash. No fair! We headed over to the tennis court where we got to run around like maniacs. Or rather, I ran around and Snowy and Ollie followed me! For a while Snowy's mom stood at one end of the tennis courts and mom at the other, and they took turns calling me back and forth, back and forth. Since the other two kept following me, they came, too! We also got some good wrestling in, especially me and Snowy! I don't have to be as gentle with Snowy as I am with Ollie, so that was a lot of fun!
We went back to Snowy's place and wrestled there for a while. Snowy really likes getting his butt pom-poms scritched! He was all over daddy scratching his bum! Then the humans decided we needed to get somewhere before it got too dark and chilly so we got back in our car. We drove for a while (Ollie didn't throw up, yeah!) and finally got to our destination-- Sol Food Restaurant in San Rafael (review). It is a Puerto Rican restaurant with a couple of outside tables. Mom held onto me and Ollie while dad went in to order, and I gave Ollie the low-down on how to behave at outdoor restaurants. You have to stay on your mat, you can't beg, and you can't lick the ground or eat anything on the ground. For a baby-puppy he did pretty well! The humans LOVED the food, and I got lots of treats because Ollie was getting lots of treats for behaving properly. I love treats!
We had heard there was a park nearby, so we decided to walk over. Where we had been sitting on the sidewalk, it wasn't too crowded and there weren't any other doggies, so the humans figured it would be a nice short walk without too many distractions. But that was not the case! We had to walk past probably 10 or more dogs on the sidewalk, and there were lots of barking dogs in cars, too! I had to look out for Snowy and Ollie, and one huge dog in a car that lunged out of an open window I just couldn't contain myself and I had to bark back. What could I do? He might have gotten out and hurt my pals? Daddy was handling me, and he got me focused again pretty quickly, though.
Daddy held my leash the entire walk, which was cool! I'm not used to daddy handling me, but it was fun! I love my daddy, so it is nice to spend more time with him. But it was pretty funny when we were walking because I had to walk in the back. Snowy and Ollie must have "Sabrina, Sabrina, Sabrina" going through their heads at all times because they just wanted to get to me and lick my lips and say hi the whole time we were on the walk! If I was in front, they'd try to get up to be with me. If I was in back, they'd try to go backwards to be with me. They really love me! I like going on walks with Snowy and Ollie because it makes me feel like the center of the universe, tee hee hee!
Also, since I was being such a good girl, a lot of people stopped and petted me and said how nice and pretty I am. And I didn't even have an extra fun collar or anything on! So that was really cool!
After a half hour walk, we found the park. But it was full of off leash doggies, so we decided to head back to the car since it was getting dark. I was so tired by the time we got to the car, I could have laid down on the sidewalk and fallen asleep right there! It was a very fun outing, and being around Snowy and Ollie together really boosts my ego since they love me sooooooooooo much!
June 25th 2008 9:24 pm
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Nope, nothing I'm doing is smokin' hot or anything-- instead it's the air that's filled with smoke! There are so many fires in Northern California right now that the air is thick and smokey all the time. I don't mind it too much, but it's making mom really sick. Last night after walking Ollie to pick daddy up from the BART station (I can't wait until he's well enough leash trained for mom to handle both of us on a walk at the same time!), mom's lungs stopped working for a bit and she got really sick. She keeps coughing and has no energy and is gasping for air all the time. I am trying to look after her, but I keep getting distracted by the puppy when we're home! Anyway, since this comes after a long week of mom having high pain, mom hasn't been letting me on the computer as much to keep up with my dogster pals! So I'm sorry if my pals have pamiled or sent rosettes and I haven't replied-- it's all mom's fault!
June 24th 2008 6:58 am
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Whenever we go out, people always think I am a puppy. When mom says I'm eight, people always say "months?". So I think I should be able to pass for a puppy in the puppy class that Ollie gets to go to. It's no fair that I have to stay home with the kitties when he gets to go have fun in puppy class! I think I'm going to make daddy take me to all the other obedience classes with Ollie. I love to go to training class!
June 20th 2008 1:10 pm
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Yesterday morning, even though mom was feeling really ill, mom's field assistant came over and picked us up. We drove out to the lake and boy was it HOT out there! The lake is falling more than a foot a day, and it is pretty dry out there. Luckily we got there in the morning before it got too too hot, but it was still about 85 degrees when we got there. Mom was pretty sick, but she took a whole bunch of medicine and got to feeling a little better. Thank goodness mom got me a cooling vest from helpingudders.com! It kept me from getting heatstroke for sure!
Mom and her field assistant planted 64 plants around the lake while I lay in the sun and went to check on mom and try to get her to rest occasionally. She wouldn't listen, kept saying we needed to get done before it got any hotter! Silly humans! Still, we eventually got done, mom didn't collapse, and we got back into the air conditioned car to drive home. We were covered in mud and exhausted, but Ollie and daddy were still very happy to see us! Mom and I fell asleep almost right away, and we are taking the day off becaue mom's still ill and we need to conserve our energy to go back out to the lake to check o the plants tomorrow. We're taking Ollie with us then, it'll be his first time at the lake. Should be fun!
June 20th 2008 1:06 pm
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The other day Ollie got to meet my pal Snowy! At first I had to go into my crate while Ollie and Snowy met outside. But Snowy was a true pal and wouldn't rest until he saw that I was OK and Ollie didn't eat me! So finally mom let me out and we all went on a walk together. That was fun! And Ollie and Snowy got to be fairly good friends! We even all tried to play together when we got back to our place. Yippie! I hope Snowy can come and hang out again soon!
June 12th 2008 11:30 am
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Worst 5 things about having a new little brother:
1. He cries during the night-- doesn't he know I need my beauty sleep?
2. He hogs up mom and dad's attention.
3. He wears out my toys!
4. We can't hang out outside because he tries to eat all the rocks.
5. Mom and dad keep taking pictures of him, not me!
Best 5 things about having a new little brother:
1. Puppy lunchtime! I get a snacklet when he gets his lunch!
2. More time with daddy-- he handles me when mom is handling the pup.
3. He's a pretty good wrestler, and I always get to win.
4. He plays tug with me whenever I want! No pup has ever played tug with me before!
5. I have a new forever friend who adores me and wants to grow up to be just like me.
All in all, I think the pros outweight the cons, don't you?
June 5th 2008 8:09 pm
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Tuesday mom got the call from the breeder that my new brother was ready to go! But if mom wanted pick of the two that were suitable for service work instead of choosing over the phone, we needed to get down there ASAP. So when we got home from work on Tuesday, we threw stuff in the car and headed down. We didn't get home till 7PM, so left at almost 8! We drove and drove and drove and drove... We drove until mom and dad couldn't stay awake anymore! We found a Motel 6 and spent the night there, though mom couldn't sleep because she was thinking about the puppy!
In the morning we woke up and hopped back in the car to drive some more. Finally we arrived at the breeders house around 10AM. I was really excited to get out and see the puppies, but mom and dad left me in the car! No fair! It was a cool morning with a nice breeze and they left all the windows down, but I wanted to go in and see all the puppies! Daddy came out to check on me a couple of times and I could smell the pups on him. I could mostly smell two puppies, the two that scored really well on their temperament tests. One of them was one of the puppies mom and dad liked when we were down at 5 weeks, and the other they didn't remember seeing at 5 weeks.
Finally they decided on the pup they liked at 5 weeks and brought him outside to meet me! I was really excited to meet him, but he was a little scared of me at first! Eventually he got comfortable with me and it was time to head home.
We drove for an hour, and then got off the highway. I knew we couldn't be home already! Instead we were at my pal Beatrix's house! Mom and dad left me and Ollivander in the car (with Beatrix's human sister watching us) and went inside to get some Beatrix kisses and say hi to the whole FLF pack. Then mom and dad came out to get us and we went in but there were no other pups in sight! Mom said she didn't want to overwhelm the puppy, but I was really sad I couldn't say hi to Best Friend Beatrix in person!
Best Friend Beatrix had her Octopus (who is very very sweet and I like her a LOT!) give us some presents. I got a fancy black sweater so I can match my new puppy brother! And two fun necklaces to wear-- and a matching purse! I am all outfitted up now! But we had to leave pretty soon and get back on the road. We drove and drove and drove and drove. And then we drove some more! We stopped for human dinner and I tried to play with the puppy some more, but he was still a little worried about my big fast play bows!
We finally got home around 10PM and boy was I exhausted! Snowy's parents came over to say hi, but no Snowy! No fair! But I think that as soon as Snowy gets back from vacation he'll come over to meet Ollivander. It was a long and exhausting trip and I am glad it's over, and I am happy with my new brother. He is a really great pup!
June 3rd 2008 8:01 am
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Even though I'm used to getting baths once every week or two (to prevent people with allergies from reacting to dander on me), usually when I hear the shower turn on I go hide in my crate. Baths for me aren't a lot of fun, though once I'm in the shower and wet it's actually not so bad. Sometimes, though, I decide I WANT a bath, and I want one now! This morning was one of those times.
Yesterday I was lying in the dirt in the field at Davis for a while. Plus mom and dad were shoveling dry dirt which meant a lot of it ended up in the air and falling on us. Mom and dad shower every day, so they weren't too concerned with how dirty they were getting, but I like to make a good impression on my adoring public!
So this morning when daddy got in the shower I tried to nose my way in! I asked for a shower very nicely, but he didn't have time. So I hung out in the bathroom the whole time, hoping that he'd change his mind. When it was time for mom's shower, I did the same thing and thank goodness she made the time to bathe me! Now I am all squeaky clean and I am running around the house rubbing my face and body on everything in sight! Whoopie, I love being clean!
June 3rd 2008 6:46 am
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Yesterday instead of going to work like usual, we hopped on the BART train and transfered to Amtrak with daddy-- we were going to Davis! Normally when we go to Davis it means a day of fun for mom and I. We get to go out to eat, relax and hang out. But this time we had to work!
We headed over to the greenhouses on the other side of campus, and arrived there about 11:30 AM. It was already warmer in Davis that early in the morning than it would get all day in Berkeley! Since we were working in a field outside in the direct sun, mom took me off duty so I could try to stay a little cooler without my vest on. Boy was it HOT! I was panting a lot, and mom kept pouring water on me to keep me cool.
Luckily daddy stayed after helping mom carry her stuff over, and helped mom shovel a bunch of dirt around to set up her experiment. Good thing he did, or it would have taken mom 3 times a long and she would have been in a very bad state. With daddy there, we got done in record time, and by 1:30 we were heading back over to daddy's building to get in some AC!
Mom left me off duty for the walk back to the building since it was so hot, and the building is dog friendly so we didn't have to worry about access. Mom and dad ate lunch while I sprawled out on the cool tile floor. I love air conditioning! At least when we're in Davis and it's really hot! Some of the people in the department stopped by to see me while we were hanging out, and I even got a couple of yummy doggy treats!
Daddy had to teach in the evening, so mom and I decided to head home by ourselves. But it was SO hot outside that mom was worried about me overheating on the way to the Amtrak station! We walked outside and mom told me "working" even though I didn't have my vest or headcollar on, and I was a pretty good pup! I had to get a couple of reminders that I was working since I don't usually work without my gear on, but mom was proud of me remembering for the most part all my normal SD manners.
When we got to the Amtrak station, we found a spot in the shade to sit, and as the train pulled up mom put my vest on to avoid any access challenges in boarding. I slept the whole way back in the nicely air conditioned train while mom re-read a Harry Potter book. She was so involved in it that she nearly missed our stop! It was nice to be back in the cooler Bay area! When we got home I flopped on the couch and went straight to sleep. Boy was it a tiring day. I don't know how daddy does it with all that heat-- though he says he usually doesn't go out in the middle of the day so he doesn't get as affected by it.
June 1st 2008 4:54 pm
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Yesterday (Saturday) mom and I woke up super early. Mom had to get some work done in her lab, and get home in time to puppy sit Snowy she said. I wasn't too happy about having to go to work so early on a Saturday morning, but Snowy sounded like fun! I was a bit worried, though, about the sitting part. I hoped mom had misspoken and that we would not be sitting on Snowy. He is pretty small, and while I could probably sit on him OK, I think mom's weight would be too much.
When we got home Snowy and his parents were waiting for us in front of our house! We hurried inside and Snowy's parents rushed off to some boring wedding (if doggies aren't allowed, you know it's going to be boring!). For the first 30 minutes Snowy and I went play-bow for play-bow, jump for jump and tumble for tumble. We were like crazy pups, running and jumping all over the place! We played inside, and we played outside (and Snowy helped to water the garden), we played on the couch, on the floor and on the doggie bed.
After a while, I started to get tired, though Snowy wasn't showing any signs of fatigue. I started laying down and letting Snowy do all the moving around for the both of us, and we played like that for another few hours. I kept getting more and more tired, but Snowy seemed to keep getting more energy! He kept asking me why I was laying down, why I didn't want to run around the house with him a million times and try to run to the moon and back! I don't know where he gets all that energy!
After about 6 hrs of non-stop energy, Snowy laid down and took a 5 minute nap. I was amazed! But then he woke back up with more energy than before! Every once in a while I'd get more energy and we'd run around like crazy for 15 minutes until I needed to take another nap. In the meantime, Snowy got to meet the kitties, who braved the doggie sounds to come and investigate. I think Saleen and Willow think they're dominant to Snowy. I was too tired to correct them like I usually would do!
After dinner, Snowy calmed down a little more and by the time his parents arrived 10 hours later, Snowy and I were cuddling up on the couch with mom and dad, taking a snooze together! I finally wore him out! I think Snowy will be the prefect pup to wear out Ollivander when he gets here! It was a very fun day having Snowy over here for so long, and fun to see Snowy actually getting tired out! That is a rare occurance!
I was happy that mom apparently forgot about the whole sitting on puppy idea, since she never got around to doing it the whole time Snowy was here. I just hope she doesn't get that idea again, silly humans!
June 1st 2008 4:44 pm
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Mom has been super duper extra busy lately trying to get two experiments set up before the lake level drops. So she's been working extra long hours on the weekends and everything (at least one day a weekend for the past three weeks, and this weekend it is both days!). That means my life is pretty darn boring! Plus, mom has been sick for the last three weeks, too, so I have to spend a lot of my time alerting her and helping her through her episodes.
On Friday something mildly interesting happened. Mom put me under her desk and put the baby gate up. Usually she comes to check on me (or rather, let me check on her) every 15-20 minutes. But she went next door to talk with her advisor for what was supposed to be a quick question and ended up staying there for 30 minutes! I got pretty nervous about not being able to check on mom, so I decided I had better break out of my under-desk space and go find mom! I managed to push over the baby gate, but then I realized the door to the office was closed, and without opposable thumbs I just couldn't get it open. So I sat in the middle of the office looking expectantly at the door. Finally mom reappeared, but did she praise me for trying to go check on her like I should? Nope! Instead she was mad that I had pushed over the baby gate. Selective disobedience I kept trying to call out to her, but she said that was something I shouldn't be selectively disobedient about!
May 28th 2008 6:39 am
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Yesterday was our last day teaching the 7th graders we've been working with all year. Mom and I were sad to say goodbye, because we've had a lot of fun with the students. For the last day, we had a party in each class period (which meant 3 parties for us since we teach three classes!). In each party mom and her teaching partner said goodbye, handed out certificates and cupcakes and the students watched a slideshow of pictures that were taken throughout the year. In the last five minutes of each class, I got to say goodbye to the students in my own way-- by taking my vest off and getting to love on all the students!!! It was so much fun! Generally the students would rush over and form a circle around me, and I would go from student to student, rubbing my head on them, sitting and asking for attention, and doing lots of tricks! The students thought it was really cool to tell me to sit, shake, spin, jump and play dead. By the third class of students, though, I was getting pretty tired and so limited my tricks to sitting, shaking and spinning!
After teaching, mom and I rushed home, ate lunch and then took the BART to the Amtrak station. We were going to Davis! Mom needed to talk with the greenhouse people at Davis about setting up an experiment there. While we were waiting at the station, mom was sitting on a bench and I was laying down about two feet from the yellow line that you have to stand behind. All of the sudden a really fast moving train started approaching. Mom reminded me I was in a stay, and boy was that a good thing! This train didn't stop in the station, but came roaring through with it's horn blaring, steel screatching, and rumbling the whole platform! It was pretty intense, especially being that close to the train, but I looked at mom and she gave me the stay hand signal to remind me that I was doing what I was supposed to and I didn't move a muscle. I got a little treat for that!
The train ride was uneventful (expect for mom loving the train so much!), and when we got off in Davis we had a long walk to and then across campus to get to the greenhouses. It took us nearly 45 minutes! It was 10 degrees warmer in Davis than in Berkeley, so we had to stop and take a break, get some water and cool off a little on the way. We walked into the greenhouse office, and there was a doggie there! Mom called out to the lady that we were meeting that she had a service dog, and the lady immediately put her doggie (Angus) in the office, though he woofed a hi to me as he went past. He seemed like a nice doggie, maybe one of these days we can get to know each other! Then we walked around to look at the available space, and found the perfect experimental field to use!
After the meeting, we walked back to Daddy's building, but he was still in a meeting so I got to say hi to some of my friends in the department. When daddy got back, we even went up to see Marley's mom, but Marley wasn't there that day, too bad! I got to be off duty in dad's building because everyone brings their dogs to work with them in the building! Mom and dad decided to keep me off duty for dinner-- we went to Thai Nakorn, which is a really good Thai restaurant with a nice outdoor seating area. The good thing about Davis being warmer than Berkeley is that in Davis, it isn't too cold to sit outside for dinner! Mom and dad were celebrating their 6 year wedding anniversary (which was actually on Monday), and it was a fun time!
After dinner, we headed back over to the train station, but just missed the train home so we had to wait an hour. That wasn't too bad since we could watch all the freight and passenger train traffic coming through, which mom really likes doing. We were all pretty tired, though, and happy to get home in the end! It was an eventful day!
May 26th 2008 6:38 am
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On Saturday mom, dad and I piled in the car and headed up to the lake. Being the last weekend in May and supposedly well into the dry season, I was surprised to see mom and dad packing our jackets and rain gear! It had sprinkled at our house in the morning, which was highly unusual considering that we shouldn't get rain again until November, but I figured there was no way it'd be raining during the hottest part of the day. After all, it was 102 degrees just last week!
Sure enough, it started raining when we were driving out to the lake, and kept on raining the whole way there! It was Memorial weekend, so the lake was pretty busy despite the rain. The campsites were totally booked and there was a lot of traffic on the one lane road to get to the lake.
When we pulled up to our normal parking spot, I was totally amazed to see all the beautiful flowers were totally gone! They had dried up completely, and the sea of purple had turned into a sea of brown dead plants! We hopped out of the car, and set about trying to find the plastic bags that mom had put on 50 plants to collect their seeds. Luckily we were able to find them without too much trouble. Then we had to collect more seeds from plants that hadn't already released their seeds. This was hard work since the hot dry weather had caused almost all the lupines to release their seeds in the last couple of weeks.
Mom and I were walking around one area when I smelled something very interesting in the clump of dead lupines to our right. I tried to dive into the clump and sniff it, but mom kept telling me no. I tried to tell her that I thought there was something there, and I went into a point! Mom didn't believe me and walked right next to the clump of lupines, dragging me along with her, no matter what I did to tell her to pay attention! The next thing we knew, as soon as mom had gotten past the clump, a giant turkey burst out of it and flew away! Mom had walked within a foot of the turkey and totally not seen it! I told her she should have listened to me, then we could have had a fresh turkey dinner!
We got done with our collecting early, which was good because it was so cold and rainy! Then we headed over to Davis to eat dinner and go to the grocery store. On the way home from Davis, we stopped at a house and I had to stay in the car while mom and dad went in, no fair! They came out smelling like two other dogs, and with a big table that will be used to groom the new puppy. Poor puppy, I can't imagine what mom and dad were thinking, getting a table to groom it. I don't think the table will do nearly as good of a job as a regular old brush getting the tangles out!
May 17th 2008 9:09 pm
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Mom is finally feeling a little better, which is very good since we had two things today that we could not miss! We walked to the BART station to catch the train to campus, and while there we met a very nice lady who is considering getting a service dog of her own. She said I was such a good doggie! Mom told her about our trainer Nancy Frensley who owns her own dog training business and also works for the Berkeley East Bay Humane Society. Maybe sometime soon we'll see the nice lady with her own service dog!
We got to campus and went to proctor an exam that mom is a grader for. I laid down and took a long nap while the students took their exams. I woke up a couple of times to alert mom to her anxiety levels, but she was able to get back on track with my help.
We had an hour between the exam and the awards ceremony, so daddy picked us up and we sped through the grocery store. At the end we saw Snowy's mom, but no Snowy! I heard mom and Snowy's mom talking about us getting together next week, though, which sounds like loads of fun!
We rushed back to campus and over to the awards ceremony where we saw a lot of the graduate students in mom's program. Mom got the Schwabacer award, which is a one semester fellowship-- whoopie! We sat down in the seats waiting for the ceremony to start, and all the sudden a guide dog walked by! Mom and I were kind of surprised to see them. We've seen other service dogs around campus, but we've never been in a room or event with one before. Daddy warned the guide team about where we were sitting so that there wouldn't be any surprises.
I enjoyed sniffing the air during the awards ceremony, since it was outside and the wind was blowing I could just sit there and let the smells come to me. Very nice! The people at the podium were calling off lots of names, people were clapping and then the person whose name was called went up to get their award. This went on for a while, then they called mom's name! We went up, and since I'd been laying down for a while I shook off when we got up and everyone laughed at me! I think I was a bigger star than mom-- they should've just handed the award to me!
I was happy to leave when the ceremony was over, because I was tired, mom and dad were worried about the groceries in the car, and I had to warn mom about her anxiety a few times during the day so I was worried about her. It was a very busy day! Now mom just has to grade the exams, which I hear we're going to do tomorrow.
May 15th 2008 2:36 pm
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The high for today is 102 degrees F! That is a lot hotter than the normal 70-75 degrees for this time of the year. Luckily the Fun Loving Family recently sent me a cooling bandanna, because I've been wearing it all day long and lying in front of the fan, too.
Mom is still very sick and has been since Saturday, the doctor told her on Tuesday that she needed to take some days off to try to get better, so mom took half of yesterday off and is staying home today. Good thing, too because there is no way I want to go outside anywhere in this heat! It's supposed to be 88 tomorrow, which is a lot cooler than today, but still too hot in my opinion.
May 11th 2008 1:45 pm
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On Friday morning we headed to the airport, but instead of their usual suitcases, mom and dad just brought one carry-on bag for the three of us to share! When we got on the airplane, mom was a bit worried as some very active boys were sitting in the seat I was laying under and they kept jumping up and down on the seat and dropping things on my head! Luckily the boys never realized I was there, and mom and dad let me lay under their legs so I didn't have to be under the bouncing seat!
After a short flight we arrived and went to a hotel. I thought we had a day of fun ahead of us, but mom got out my pop-up crate and told me to get in. I took a nice long nap (after the crazy last couple of weeks I had a lot of sleep to catch up on) and when mom and dad got back 5 hrs later they smelled really interesting! They smelled like puppies and a whole bunch of other dogs!
Mom and dad had gone to meet my future brother/sister!!! The puppies are 5 weeks old now, and mom and dad said they are very very cute. They took lots of pictures, but honestly I could tell more from the smells of the pups on their clothes than from the pictures! I think it smells like the puppy will be a lot of fun!
When mom got back from visiting the pups she was pretty ill so instead of sightseeing or anything, we laid down and cuddled on the bed in the hotel room and ate Indian take-out (well, mom and dad ate that, I had beef!) and watched a movie on HBO. I thought that was a pretty swell way to spend an evening, and luckily mom got to feeling a little better after a while.
This morning we woke up early and flew back home. I was excited to get home and torture the kitties with stories of how the puppy will chase them around and everything! Willow is especially freaked out, tee hee hee!
May 5th 2008 7:24 am
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Yesterday was the puppy shower at Snowy's house! I was still tired from the conference and field trips and field visits this past week, but when I smelled that we were at Snowy's apartment complex, I perked up and got very very excited! We had to park and walk to Snowy's apartment and to mom's chagrin I was pulling the entire time because I couldn't wait to go see my pal Snowy!
As soon as Snowy opened the door I burst inside and we started wrestling. First I flipped Snowy, then he tried to flip me so I rolled over and h0pped back up. Then he jumped on my side so I turned around in circles, we play bowed and ran around the house like maniacs! I got thirsty so I took a break to get some water, and that's when I noticed that Snowy's apartment was decidedly green! There were green tablecloths, green baloons, green plates, green cups, green tableware, green dog bowls.... wait, green dog bowls? And the humans were eating out of them? What was going on here! All the humans at the party had personalized doggie bowls and were using them to hold thier food!
Well, Snowy and I had a little chat out of this, and we figured that since this was a party with a decidedly doggie theme and that since humans obviously were eating dog food out of their dog bowls, that now would be a great time to pull the old I haven't eaten in weeks trick. Luckily for me I've now lost all the weight I needed to, so by sucking in my tummy just a wee bit I could convince people that I am woefully underfed. The people at the party had me doing all kinds of tricks-- sit, down, shake, spin, up, crawl etc. They mainly had Snowy doing his sneezing trick. I hope mom teaches me that one soon because boy did he get a lot of treats for that!
After eating as much fruit, carrots and cheese as the humans would give us from the human table, Snowy's mom broke out the doggie cookies that Parker sent! They were too hard for her to break herself, which means my jaw was employed to break pieces off for Snowy. Snowy's mom held the treat and let me eat about 3/4 of it, and then Snowy got to eat the rest. I like that kind of sharing-- I told Snowy I hope that's the kind of sharing that we do with the new puppy (3/4 for me, 1/4 for the puppy).
Then the humans started playing games. The first game looked pretty fun. There were close-up photos of Snowy on the TV and we had to guess what part of his body they were. Mom had an advantage because she'd seen some of the pictures before, but Kathryn and daddy won! The second game that the humans played was a lot wierder. Snowy's mom brought out some puppy pads that had stuff in them! Ewwwwww! Then the humans started sniffing and even EATING the mess inside the puppy pads and guessing what it was. Double EWWWWWW! I sniffed a few of the puppy pads, but noticed that the stuff inside them smelled awfully sweet, like candy bars. So maybe it wasn't quite as grody as I thought at first. Snowy and I offered to help clean up the potty pads when the humans were done, but they didn't let us.
Of course since it was a puppy shower, that means we got puppy gifts! I was feeling kind of sad at first becuase the first few presents mom opened (and she didn't let me open the presents so I knew they weren't for me, so sad!) seemed like they would be really fun but they were for the puppy and not me! I laid right in front of mom as she was opening presents, begging her to let me try out the puppy's stuff. After all, it is my job as a big sister to make sure everything is safe for the puppy, and how am I supposed to do that if I'm not allowed to tear their toys up first to make sure that they're totally puppy safe?! Luckily, though, I did get a few big sissy presents to play with! From Parker I got a wool ring which is super fun to play tug with, a pink Princess shirt (he knows me so well!), a rope animal toy made of recycled material, and a green bone to chew on! Kathryn gave me a pink crab (which I had to save for later, no fair!). The puppy got some awesome stuff, too. Snowy and his family got the puppy some grooming tools (I think those are safe-- no need to test those out on me, thanks!), Kathryn gave the pup a gift certificate for a painting (thought I might sneak my head into the painting, I'll love on Kathryn and see if I can't manage to convince her to make me bigger than the puppy), and loads of super fun toys including a handmade one and some puppy sized ones.
Before everyone left the party, mom gave everyone some podle soap that she made-- it is awesome soap, mom is going to take a picture of one and post it I think.
At the end of the party, after a few hours of non-stop playing, Snowy was getting kind of tired and I was exhausted! I just slept on the floor while Snowy got his butt pom poms scritched by mom. I was so exhausted I didn't even care to make sure she was giving me equal attention! When we got home after the party, of course I still needed to eat dinner (no matter what mom and dad said about having eaten more than a day's worth of food in the form of treats and doggie cookies) and then I crashed on the couch and had to be dragged off to bed I was so tired!
I was an awesome puppy shower-- Snowy is the bestest pal ever to organize such a fun event. And almost every since item of food at the shower was mom-safe! Snowy's mom even found maple cotton candy!!!!!!!!! Mom was extremely excited about that! She didn't let me eat any, though, so I can't report on the wonderfullness of it.
I'm starting to think that this puppy thing is going to be pretty fun after all-- two dogs means there are twice as many toys, right? And of course I get to own all the toys so that means I get twice as many toys! I promise I'll let the puppy have the worn out toys, but I call all new toys! But shhhh, don't let mom know I said that!
May 4th 2008 7:48 am
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Yesterday we woke up really early and mom and dad got busy in the kitchen. I was confused because I remembered that we had the Environmental Science, Policy and Management department's annual Graduate Research Symposium all day-- why were they cooking? After the cooking was done and mom threw on some clothes, we headed to school.
Mom was helping to plan all the food at the symposium, so we arrived early to set up breakfast. That meant I got to snooze in a corner while mom and others organizied yummy smelling trays of fruits and pasteries and everything. I was pretty exhausted from Mt. Diablo the day before, so I was happy to catch up on some zs!
Mom and I went to the keynote address and we got to see one of our friends give a talk, but then we had to go outside and start getting ready for lunch! I thought since it was a symposium day that I'd be sleeping most of the day, but boy was I wrong! I was going without my headcollar on my martingale leash during the talks, and I was doing just fine without it, so mom left it off for most of the rest of the day, go me! We went outside and met the person delivering our lunch, but there was some confusion about how best to get to the lunch area (in a different building than our symposium talks) since the elevator was broken. After a lot of running around outside carrying heavy things (which means mom wasn't even holding onto my leash-- it was just looped around her shoulder-- and I was doing a perfect heel the whole time!) we figured out the best way to get in and started setting up.
It took us about an hour to get everythign all organized for lunch, then we had about 15 minutes before lunch officially began. I was pretty tired from all that running around, so I took a snooze! Mom was telling all her friends that she hasn't seen in a while about the new puppy, but everyone agreed no puppy could ever be better than I am! During lunch time mom let me visit with a lot of people and we had a little love fest. I was in heaven with everyone petting my chest, my belly, my face, my back. It was excellent! Good payment for having to run around with mom all day long!
After lunch instead of going back for more talks, mom helped to clean up the lunch and set up the afternoon snack. Afternoon snack and dinner were in another building, so we had to load everything up on dollys and wheel them across very bumpy roads and sidewalks which was pretty hard! I did an excellent heel next to mom on my martingale collar while she was pushing the cart and water and stuff was sloshing everywhere. Yay for me!
We got to listen to two more talks and also the concluding special talk which was about women having babies and being in academia. It was a very interesting talk for mom and dad, though I was happy to finally get some rest! At dinner time I realized what the morning cooking had been about-- mom had organized a cooking competition with her classmates! After setting up dinner and the cooking competition, we stood by mom's poster and talked with people about her research. Mom got some good feedback, and talked with more people about me. Mom realized that we were really working so well as a team, that she hardly ever needed to hold only my leash and that we were totally in sync. I think she is getting sad about me retiring. Heck, I'm sad about me retiring sometimes, but at other times like after going to the field, going on a field trip and having a conference all in the span of a few days I think retirement might be pretty sweet!
After the symposium was over, we stayed to help clean up. There was a lot of food left over, so we got a lot of it to bring home with us (even though I'm not allowed to eat any of it-- no fair!). The conference organizer gave us a ride home, which was good because we were all totally exhausted! Then as soon as we got home and I ate dinner, we all fell straight asleep. I hope things get less hectic soon! Though we have a puppy shower this afternoon and I think mom said something about making soaps for everyone there so I have a feeling we'll be busy today!
May 4th 2008 7:31 am
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On Friday instead of going into work, daddy drove us up to mom's school. We met up with some of the other fellows and teachers and 20 of mom's 7th grade students there. We were going on a field trip!!! The kids hopped into various vans, but mom, dad and I rode in our own car because there wasn't quite enough room for everyone in the vans we had rented.
The drive up to the top of Mt. Diablo was very long and windy! Luckily mom had taken ginger pills and she also got some of those wrist accupressure bands so she didn't get sick. I wasn't feeling so hot by the time we got to the top of the mountain, either! Mom and dad were excited to go to Mt. Diablo with the kids because since the park doesn't allow pets, we would probably never go there on our own!
It was soooooo beautiful up there on the top of the mountain. We could see for miles and miles. The students were super excited to see so far. They were all so nice and respectful of everything, too (including me!). Some of the students were ones that I am normally int he classroom with, but there were other students from other 7th grade classrooms that mom doesn't normally teach who had never seen me before. My regular students helped explain to the newer students how to behave around me. They were so sweet!
We went to the museum on the summit, and then we walked around the Fire Interpretive trail in small groups. Mom, dad and I took three boys who had loads of energy. Mom decided to make it a botanical walk so she taught the boys about all the neat plants along the way. The boys thought the Bay trees were totally awesome, and by the end of the hike they could recognize a bay tree in a milisecond! We also saw loads of lupines, Yerba Santa, ceanothis, sage, thistle, wild oats, oaks, poison oak etc. While we were on the trail we also saw a big lizard who ran away and a ground squirrel who came up to us to investigate! I stayed very still even though I was soooooo curious about the ground squirrel!
After our hike we had lunch on the observatory deck and I took a well deserved nap. Then it was time to head back to the school since students had to catch busses home. It was a really fun trip, a nice hike, and mom's 7th graders were a blast to be around!
May 3rd 2008 6:20 am
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On Wednesday after school we went to Costco with Snowy's mom and the person who is organizing the ESPM (Environmental Science, Policy and Management department) Graduate Research Symposium. Mom is helping with the food for that even, and Snowy's mom has a costco card. Afterwards Snowy's mom hung out at our house for an hour before she had to go back to work. While she was here I was enjoying playing tug with mom with my wool snake toy. But I guess mom's arms got tired because she tied the wool snake to the exercise machine!
At first I thought it was fun to play tug with the exercise machine, but then I realized mom wasn't holding onto the other end and that wasn't quite so fun. So I had to figure out how to remove the snake. Obviously pulling on the end I had been wasn't going to loosen the knot, so I tried grabbing the other end of the snake (the head of the snake). That end didn't work either. I studied the knot for a few minutes and then stood up on my hind legs and oh so carefully grabbed the part of the snake that was in the knot. I pulled and pulled some more and it got a little looser! It was hard to grab the snake in that place so I had to keep standing up on my rear legs and finding the right spot to pull. Eventually after a few minutes of pulling on the center of the knot the snake came loose!
Mom and Snowy's mom were very proud of me, they said I was a super smart doggie for figuring out how to untie a knot like that!
April 30th 2008 7:15 am
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Yesterday morning instead of going in to work, Toni from mom's lab picked us up and we drove out to Folsom Lake! Yippie! Normally we wouldn't be going to the lake so soon after just having gone two weeks ago, but mom needed to talk with the archaeologist about her field sites since the lake level isn't going to get as high as they thought it would. When we got there, I was very happy to see the archaeologist, I remembered her from last time and she is very very nice!
We walked over to mom's field site and boy was it beautiful still! The flowers were still in full bloom! We walked around to an area a little closer to the lake shoreline area and found two really cool archaeological sites! One is a prehistoric site where there were lots of Native American tools. Mom found a few grinding stones that had been used to grind acorns into acorn flour. The archaeologist that we were with found loads of cutting tools, but mom was never able to spot one of those-- takes a more practiced eye I guess! Me, I was busy sniffing around and chasing insects!
The other site was right next to the prehistoric site, it was the site of an old dairy around the turn of the last century. We had found the foundations of a few of the buildings before, and this time we found a whole bunch of rusty metal things like casters, a big hinge, a mule shoe, part of an oven, and many square nails. We also found chinese pottery shards, purple glass (which was clear when it was made, but the Magesium in it turns purple with age) pieces of a wine glass and a beer stein, and other ceramic shards. There was loads of stuff! And all of it is normally covered up by the lake, so it was really interesting to find this stuff that hadn't been touched in a long time.
What was even cooler was that mom and I had walked through that area a lot before and we never even noticed any of those artifacts or building foundations! The archaeologist person gave us a crash course in archaeology and now mom feels like she can recognize a few things a little better.
Luckily, there were plenty of places where we found mom's plants that didn't have archaeological sites! The lake level was still rising, so the normally submerged bridge was yet again submerged. And we saw a lot of fish spawning amongst the lupines that were getting all wet. It was very very cool.
After we surveyed the area, we sat down to eat some lunch with Toni and the archaeologist. This was the absolute best part of the day because the archaeologist had turkey jerkey with her!!! And she gave me some for doing simple tricks like sitting and shaking! For the rest of lunch I stayed right nearby so that if she happened to have some extra turkey jerkey that she'd think of me. Yum! I am drooling just thinking about it!
After lunch we went to collect leaf tissue from some plants, which means I had to do long boring down stays. But luckily it didn't take too long, and soon we were doing a tick check before leaving (I had one, but got it off super easily with the Tick Twister that Marley gave me!). We stopped by Davis on our way back to pick up Daddy and go to eat at the Farmer's Kitchen Cafe (the gluten free restaurant). I was very tired so I just slept under the table the whole time, but I think that the humans enjoyed their food very much!
When we got back home, I fell right asleep after eating some dinner, and I am still tired today! Gotta get my energy back quickly because we're going on another field trip on Friday!
April 27th 2008 6:34 pm
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On Friday we finally got pictures of the puppies, one of whome will be my future brother/sister!!! The breeder had to get pictures developed and then scan them in, so even though the puppies are now 3 weeks old, the picutres were taken when they were newborns! We are so excited about the new pup!!! We can't wait to get him/her!
April 27th 2008 6:26 pm
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Friday morning was very strange-- we woke up early and went to pick up mom's friend Kathryn. Then we drove to the middle school where mom and Kathryn got out with sleeping bags and things like that. I tried to hop out, but no one unbuckled my seatbelt! Instead mom told me goodbye and left! I was very very worried about mom, how would she be OK without me? But daddy told me that she was going on a camping trip in a nature reserve with loads of wildlife that shouldn't be disturbed by a dog and that she was taking a service human (Kathryn) instead. I was still unsure if everything was OK, and spent the rest of the day on Friday sitting by the door waiting for mom to come home.
On Saturday I was still missing mom, but I got to go to agility class with daddy, and that was a lot of fun! I did a really good job and listened well to daddy even though my leash broke while we were there! The rest of Saturday and Sunday, daddy and I hung around the house together, cleaned and worked in the garden, and watched a lot of movies. Then on Sunday afternoon we hopped in the car and headed over to the middle school.
I was really excited when we drove up and I smelled mom! Yippie! She smelled really dirty, and like the outside. It was really interesting! She said she had a good time and only had one panic attack during the camping trip-- but that she was busy busy busy the whole time wearing out all the 7th grade boys that they brought! I was so happy to see mom, and now that she's home, I'm feeling like everything is back to normal. In fact, I think I'm going to go hang out with mom some more now!
April 24th 2008 8:25 pm
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Today after a long day of packing for the field trip and work, mom and I and one of the other fellows headed over to Costco to buy supplies for the 3 day field trip with mom's 7th graders. We were in the frozen section when mom noticed we were being followed. She didn't think too much of it since sometimes people who aren't used to seeing service dogs follow for a while to watch or read my patches. Mom was reaching into the freezer cases, which involves a lot of climbing around while I have to stand clear of the big doors and she noticed at one point that the lady was rummaging in her purse. Then the woman took out a camera and started taking pictures of me, so mom figured she should say something.
So, she walked over and offered a flyer to the woman, thinking perhaps she wasn't familiar with service dogs. She asked if I was from a school, so mom told her that I am owner trained. Then the lady asked why I was wearing a headcollar. Mom explained how I choose my headcollar over my regular collar, and that even though I don't pull or anything I am happier and more comfortable when I'm wearing it.
Then the lady started telling mom that she was taking pictures of me so that she could tell other people about how horrible headcollars are-- that they paralize dogs and dogs are dragged around and it's awful abuse etc. She said as proof that I was upset about the headcollar, mom only needed to realize that I was not wagging my tail. I was like what?! I rarely wag my tail when I'm working, no matter what collar I'm using! I only wag my tail when I see someone I like and I'm allowed to go and visit them! My tail would be awfully tired if I wagged it every minute of the day!
Mom tried to tell the lady that any collar can cause damage, even a flat collar can use damage. That the best thing to do was to know how to properly use whatever type of collar you are using, and that you should use whatever collar works best for you and your dog. But the lady wasn't buying it and insisted that no school trained dog would have a headcollar on. Mom tried to point out that the guide schools around here often graduate dogs wearing headcollars.
By this time, mom was getting pretty upset and I was getting worried that she'd get too anxious and have a panic attack so I started alerting her by nudging her leg with my head. THen the lady started saying that was more proof that I was uncomfortable, that I was trying to get the headcollar off! Sheesh! You just can't win with some people. Anyway, mom heeded my advice and decided to stop talking to the lady since obviously she only wanted to spout her own opinion and not have any type of helpful conversation.
Mom and I and the fellow we were with couldn't believe how rude the woman was! We don't mind having discussions about things like training devices etc, but you can only have a discussion if both people are respecting each other and that was definitely not happening.
Anyway, we were glad she went on her way and didn't follow us anymore! And I was glad when we were finally done shopping! We completely filled up two cart loads of food-- nearly $600 worth! I hope that's enough food for 3 days and a bunch of 7th grade boys!
April 23rd 2008 8:05 pm
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It's super busy crazy time around here, so mom and I haven't been online as much and probably won't be for another few weeks. Yesterday after school we went to Safeway because they had a sale on Cornish Game Hens and mom was all out of poultry! How could she get out of poultry, it's my favorite! Anyway, we were loading up the cart with 50 lbs of game hen (for .99 a lb so it was a pretty good sale) when all of the sudden Snowy's mom showed up! I looked all around for Snowy, but he was nowhere to be found. Snowy's mom gave mom and dad an invitation to the puppy shower-- it is SOOOO BEAUTIFUL! Mom is going to take a picture of the invitation and post it here because it is the best invitation she's ever seen, totally handmade and everything. I have to admit, I am kind of jealous because mom and dad didn't have all this kind of stuff when they got me! Oh well, I just have to remember that since I am the mommy doggy in the house that whatever is puppy's is also mine!
After the grocery store yesterday, mom and dad stopped by the bowling alley for Thai food. While we were waiting for our order the waitress talked with mom about me. She was really really nice! When our food was ready and we were heading home to eat she asked if she could pet me goodbye, so mom said sure. I was very happy to get some good pets!
Today mom had loads of meetings and stuff to get done to prepare for her big camping trip with the 7th graders this weekend. That meant she had to carry a lot of stuff around and both of us were glad we have a hands free leash so that she could carry stuff and direct me to go in front of or behind her through doorways and crowded spots!
Then we went to the grocery store to get human food with daddy. When we got home my pal Mantou came over while his mom got some of our compost. It was really fun running around and playing! Mantou is going to help teach the new puppy what is what, I was telling her how excited I am about the puppy! But all too soon daddy was done sifting compost and Mantou had to go back home.
Coming up in the next few weeks mom has two field trips with her 7th graders, we have to go to the lake again, we had a conference where mom's presenting a poster, we have the puppy shower, and finally two weeks from now we're going down to meet the puppy for the first time. It'll be a busy busy time until then!
April 22nd 2008 7:52 am
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Mom was feeling pretty sick yesterday so she didn't get around to uploading my pictures. But this morning I told her it was the first thing I wanted her to do! So, here they are! I hope you like them, I think they turned out rather well-- but then again, any picture of me is good in my opinion!
April 21st 2008 7:33 am
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Yesterday we went to Folsom Lake so mom could do some field work with her lovely field assistants (me and daddy!). We woke up early and drove out to the lake, and when we got into the park we saw a turkey by the side of the road gobbling away at us. So daddy rolled down all the windows and we gobbled back at him (or rather, mom and dad did!). We kept gobbling back and forth for a while, but I think the turkey eventually figured out our car was not another turkey and he went on his way. I was very intrigued by him, though, and wanted to get out of the car and follow him to his turkey friends!
We drove around to our field site and it was BEAUTIFUL!!!! The lupines were growing in a giant ring around the entire lake shore. We could even see them on the opposite shore of the lake. There were thousands and thousands of them! We walked around to see where the lake level had risen to and took some pictures, then we set down to business. You know, field work isn't really as fun as it sounds like it should be. Mom and dad had to collect leaf tissue and put a bag on the flowers of 30 plants (so that we can come back later and collect their seeds). Sounds easy, right? Well it's not! Truely random collecting doesn't mean just wandering around and taking whichever ones you want. It means laying out measuring tape after measuring tape and taking random numbers along the tape. It took us a few hours to wade through (yes wade-- the plants were waist high and I got easily lost from view in them!) the plants and get our collecting done. Luckily the plants being so high meant I could squirm my way into the shade of them if I got hot. Alternatively, if I was feeling chilly I could tramp some down into a nice comfy bed to lay on. Don't worry, they spring up again after a few hours!
We got to meet the ranger we had talked to over the phone and he was super nice! But he told mom all about the rattlesnakes in the area so mom was petrified of them the whole time! Since we couldn't see where we were stepping due to the thickness of the plants, mom was scared she (or I!) was going to step on one. I figured I'm a scary doggie and the snakes will run away from me so I wasn't worried!
After taking a break up in the picnic area, we went over to the upland population of plants which were a lot sparser and therefore easier to collect. But they were on a steep hillside so mom and dad had trouble moving around on it. Four legs is better, I say! I had no trouble hopping around on the steep hillside like a mountain goat (yummy!).
All that activity took a big toll on mom-- I had alerted her during the first population that she needed to take a break, so she did and thought she was doing better, but she just wore herself out during the second population. So she was feeling really ill when we got into the car and the first half hour of super windy roads to get back to the highway was not fun. I was very worried about her, as was daddy, but she was mostly recovered by the time we drove the 2.5 hrs back home.
We were all exhausted, and mom and I fell asleep on the couch right away! What a day! I can't wait to post the pictures mom took, but that'll have to wait until tonight or tomorrow so stay tuned!
April 21st 2008 7:20 am
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Joan Esnayara, the head of the Psychiatric Service Dog Society, was interviewed for the following article. It's a good one, check it out!
http://www.samhsa.gov/samhsa_news/VolumeXVI_2/article19.htm
April 19th 2008 7:32 pm
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Today was agility class! I love agility, so I was super duper excited when mom got out all my agility gear. But I was a bit confused when she put on my seatbelt-- I like to walk over to class! But I guess the humans were running late and not feeling that great so we drove over. Then when we got there, mom handed the leash to daddy! I was pretty surprised, since Daddy rarely handles me. They kept talking about how I needed to get used to him handling me since it will happen more when the puppy gets here.
Anyway, it was a little rough at first-- I had a hard time realizing I really did need to listen to everything daddy said, and he had a hard time figuring out when to give commands while I was running the course. We started off the class with me on-leash because I was trying to figure out what was going on with daddy. But by end of class we had gotten the hang of each other pretty well, and I did the whole second half of class off leash! Go me, and especially go daddy! Mom and our trainer were both impressed with how well he did considering he handles me like 1% of the time normally.
After class we hopped in the car and drove over to the recycling center for their Earth Day fair. Happy Earth Day everyone! I like to celebrate earth day by digging in the earth, but this was not a featured activity at the fair. Humans like more boring things, like walking around and talking to people with displays in booths and such. It was pretty cool, though. They had a tour of the recycling facility that mom and dad wanted to go on so we got in line. As we were waiting in line this reeeeeeeeally reeeeeeally tall woman came over. She was over 10 ft tall! But most of her height was from her legs-- I think there was something wrong with her legs because they were really stiff and everyone kept talking about her stilts on her legs. I think that's some sort of extra long bone growth or something.
When it was our turn for the tour, we hopped onto a "train" pulled by an electric cart. It didn't have any sides on it, so I was a little worried I'd slide right on out of the train, but mom and dad had their legs on either side of me so that made me feel a little better. The train drove us all around the building and we got to see all the giant machines that they use to sort and process things for recycling. There were also some really big rats in there, too! After the train ride through the recycling facility, we walked around and looked at more of the booths. But mom started getting anxious so I had to tell her that she needed to leave. When we got back to the car she put her seat all the way down so she was laying down and we cuddled together and I helped her out while daddy drove. We stopped by to get some Gordo's tacos to eat for lunch on the way home, and I thought since I had been such a good pup that I would get one, but no such luck! I only got to smell their yummy goodness!
Now we're all sitting on the couch and I am helping mom and dad play Nintendo (NES, the original!) Final Fantasy (yes, the original version!). I like to help out when mom and dad are playing this game by assisting in pressing the buttons on the controller. For some reason I'm not allowed to do that very much, though!
April 18th 2008 7:30 pm
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I'm sorry I haven't written in my diary all week, but there hasn't been much to say! Mom's been in a lot of pain and pretty sick since Monday so we haven't been doing too much. We've missed a lot of work and have spent plenty of time napping together and watching (and re-watching) Harry Potter movies, LOTR movies, and Judge Judy, but that doesn't make for good diary entries. I hope mom is feeling better soon-- tomorrow we have agility class (though daddy is supposed to run me so mom can just sit and watch) and on Sunday we're going to the field to collect leaves for DNA analysis and put bags on plants to collect seeds. That will take the whole day outside, so I hope mom is up for it!
April 14th 2008 6:22 pm
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This morning instead of going to school, we hopped into the car with daddy and drove to the dentist-- the human dentist, luckily! I was very good in the wating room, even though mom forgot my mat and so I had to lay on the cold tile floor! Brrr! Then we went back to the room to get mom's xrays taken. Usually mom goes first and daddy holds me while mom gets her xrays. But today daddy went first so he wasn't available to hold me during the xrays. Mom was going to put me in a down stay outside of the room, but the receptionist offered to take me instead. I had a lot of fun with her, she gave me lots of tummy rubs while mom got her xrays! Then I laid down in teh corner while mom got her teeth cleaned (no cavities, yeah!)
After the dentist, daddy dropped us off at school where mom was already late for a class. I could tell mom was starting to have a lot of pain, so I kept telling her that I thought we should go home. We left early (but not early enough according to me!), but mom said she had to stop by the post office and mail something on the way home. We walked over and there was a really really long line! Oh no! Luckily mom had just taken a lot of medication so she was able to wait in line. We met a few really nice people while waiting and told them about service dogs.
The post office is really narrow, we have about 2-3 ft wide of a space to wait in line. We were at the point where the line turns around and heads towards the window when all of the sudden someone with a pet dog came in the door of the post office! We tried to move over, but there wasn't really anywhere to go, so we moved as far out of the way as we could. The person with the pet dog needed to go behind us to the PO Box room behind where we were standing, and there was about 1-2 ft of space that we and the people next to us in line could create for them to squeeze through.
The doggie came up right behind me and started sniffing my butt! Well, I couldn't ignore the doggie any longer if he was sniffing my butt, I had to turn my head to look at him! Mom said that was bad, though, so I vowed to to better on his way out. He was back with his owner in the PO Box room for a few minutes, then when he came back out I stayed very still and didn't move a muscle (well, except my eyes becuase I did watch him walk by, I couldn't help it, he was less than 6 inches from me!). Mom says all in all, I did pretty well. She says I could have done better, but considering the very tight quarters and all that moving my head around wasn't the end of the world!
When we finally got to the window, mom mailed her package and we could finally head home. And a good thing, too! Mom really really needed to lay down, take more medicine and feel better by that time! I hope she's feeling in less pain soon-- I was hoping to go on a walk or something today but I don't think mom is up to it.
April 13th 2008 7:46 am
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Yesterday we had agility and boy was it HOT! It got up to 80, that's right 80 degrees yesterday here in Northern California. What is it, summer already? It's never that hot this early in the season! It usually gets to be 80 degrees for a week in August or September!
Anyway, mom and I walked over to agility class and daddy drove because his knee is still hurting a lot. I like to walk to class because I get some of my energy out so I can focus on agility better during class. I was panting pretty hard by the time I got there, though!
When we arrived, the beginning class was still going on, so we stood off to the side under a tree. Then from the next field over a pittie came charging at me! Luckily the dog seemed friendly, but I don't like dogs bumrushing me! So mom and I tried to hightail it out of there while calling for the owner to please come get their dog. Well, it turned out the owners were two 12 yo girls who had no control over the dog. The dog had no collar, no leash, they didn't even have those items with them! Sheesh! The dog ran around the beginning agility course, scared all those dogs and everything before the girls finally realized calling their dog wasn't working so they walked slowly over to get their dog.
After that exciting adventure, it was time for our class to start. Daddy was supposed to run me, but his knee was too sore so mom did most of the work with me today. It was fun, but oh so hot! I was exciting at the beginning of class to be running around and everything, but near the end I didn't really feel like doing it anymore. I wouldn't sit at the start line, I'd only lay down! And I started walking around the course and through the tire jump and things. Mom said it was pretty funny to see! I was drinking lots of water, but it was still awfully hot.
At the end of class we helped the trainer load up her van and then we hopped into the car and drove home. I was very glad daddy drove over there, because I was so tired I wasn't relishing the thought of walking the half hour back home! When we got home, I flopped onto the couch and slept the whole rest of the day. The kitties woke me up for dinner time, but after eating I fell straight back asleep. I was worn out!
April 12th 2008 7:33 am
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Mom and I found the tastiest.... er I mean the funniest video the other day:
http://members.aol.com/bingguineabing/bingcavy.html
It is a music video by a guinea pig named Bing. Mom laughed so hard when she saw the video, and I thought the guinea pig looked very nice and juicy... er I mean he looked funny....
April 12th 2008 7:14 am
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Yesterday near the end of the day daddy came to our work! His bike gear shifter broke, so he had to take his bike in to the shop near campus to get it fixed. So he hung out with us for a couple of hours, then we picked up his bike and headed home. Poor daddy's knee has been really hurting a lot lately, so stairs are very hard for him-- especially he can't do stairs carrying his bike with his bad knee! Bikes aren't allowed on escalators, which meant we had to find the elevator.
The elevators are the only accessible way to enter and exit the BART stations, and mom has never used them before because they are usually pretty far out of the way and she has heard reports that homeless people sleep, pee and put other excretions in them sometimes. So mom was pretty nervous when we were waiting for the first elevator to arrive.
It showed up, the door opened and we realized immediately the first problem with the elevator-- there is no room for people to get out of the elevator if people are waiting for the elevator! We had to move way out of the way to allow people to exit, and by the time we got back over to it, the elevator had closed already. That's not a huge problem, just a minor annoyance, though. The second problem we realized is that the elevator was very narrow! It seemed like it was just barely wide enough to get a bike through the door, so I think a wheelchair would be a tight squeeze!
The elevator was nice and clean, though, so we didn't have any worries on that count! When we got down to the floor below, we noticed a second problem-- the elevator doors that opened on the lower floor were at a 90 degree angle to the doors that we had entered. This doesn't seem like it's very easy to maneuver around. We exited the elevator, then had to put our ticket through the normal fair gates which are still a level above the tracks, but we didn't go through the fair gates because there is no elevator through the fare gates. Next we had to walk through a storage hallway to find the second elevator that would take us down to the track level.
When you press the button for the elevator, a voice says over the loudspeaker "elevator called" and then "elevator coming" when the door is about ot open. That is pretty nice, but in this deserted hallway it was so loud that mom and I jumped when it told us we had called the elevator! Daddy laughed at us!
We rode the elevator down, found another 90 degree turn to exit, and waited for the train. When we got off at our BART station, we went to the elevator there. When this one arrived, it was soaking wet! We've seen them pressure washing the elevators before, so I guess they had just cleaned this one. Yes, it was clean, but very wet! So mom told me to stand (normally I lie down in elevators) so that I wouldn't get wet, which made me kind of nervous. Happily, this elevator's lower floor doors opened 180 degrees from our entrance which is a lot easier to maneuver. We exited outside of the fare gates, so we had to walk over and run our tickets through the machines. It is a very strange process!
All in all, our elevator experience on BART was pretty good. A little strange, but I don't think mom will be scared to take the elevators anymore, and mom hopes that others worried about taking the elevators will now be better prepared for them!
April 10th 2008 6:40 pm
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This morning we went to the school to teach our 7th graders. On the way, we picked up mom's co-teacher. We park on a side street near the school, and when we got there we saw a kitty cat sitting on the stoop of the house we parked in front of. Mom's co-teacher got out and left his front door open while mom came around to that side of the car and opened the back door to change me from my seatbelt to my service vest.
While mom was changing me, the kitty came over and hopped into our car! What a crazy kitty cat! The kitty made himself at home in the front passenger seat, with me just behind him in the backseat! I was interested to smell this interloper, but mom told me since I was getting my vest on that I was working and had to ignore the kitty. No fair! She and her co-teacher managed to shoo the kitty out of the car, but then the kitty came around to the open back door and peered in like he wanted to jump in there, too!
That's when the kitty noticed something wasn't quite right with the car-- as in there was already another animal inside! The kitty stared at me, and I stared back. The kitty looked confused, like he couldn't figure out if I was a dog or not, mom says it's because I wasn't barking or trying to get the kitty like most dogs probably do! Anyway, she shooed the kitty out of the way again and let me hop out.
Boy oh boy, did that scare the kitty! He arched his back and all his fur stood on end! He looked like one of those halloween drawings of cats with all their hair sticking out and their backs totally up! I just looked at the kitty and sighed. What a crazy cat! Here I was the whole time a doggie in the car that he wanted to go in, and now that he can see me clearly he is all the sudden afraid!
Well, mom told me let's go, and we walked right by that kitty cat and into the school. Mom taught an interesting lesson today-- she taught about artificial selection using dog breeding as an example. She showed a slideshow of lots of different dogs and wolves to demonstrate the variation within the species and one of the pictures was of ME! She chose one where I was flying through the air after a ball and the students loved it! Many didn't believe it was me because they only see me when I am sedate and in my working mode. She also showed a picture of a poodle and told the students about Future Pup and they were all really excited to hear about that, too.
April 9th 2008 7:28 am
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Yesterday we were having a very normal day-- wake up, go to work, get scritches by everyone in the lab, sleep a lot, come home. But when we got home mom said that my pal Snowy might be coming over! I was really excited, and waited by the door for him to arrive. Sure enough, he came and brought his parents, too!
We ran around outside in the new garden so Snowy could christen all the new plants mom and dad put in, then we raced inside and started wrestling. We wrestled and played, and played and wrestled for a very long time while the parents chatted. I don't know why they spend so much time excercising their mouths when they could be exercising their whole bodies like Snowy and I were! I exercised so much that I got worn out!
I laid down and let Snowy do all the jumping around for the both of us, but he started to get tired, too! So he laid down on the floor behind me and started rolling around on his back and kicking me with his back legs! I was too tired to move, though, so I just play-growled and moved my head around a little, though I couldn't reach him. After every rest period, I would get another wind of energy and run around like a crazy pup again. It was so much fun!
I love it when Snowy comes over to play, it is always the best times. Mom and dad said I'll be having those type of times more often when we get the new puppy, but Snowy bet me that he'll have more energy than the pup! I don't know about that, but I bet it will be close!
April 8th 2008 7:23 am
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I've been tagged by my pal Parker
The rules to this game are to put in four of the following! So here goes:
Name four jobs that you've had.
1. Service dog for my mom, I warn her before she has panic attacks or mood swings
2. Guinea pig watcher, I've got to make sure no one else in the house eats them before I get to!
3. Agility dog-- now if that isn't a job, it should be! It would be my dream job!
4. Momma, well this is a job I will have when the puppy comes to live with us!
Four places you have lived.
1&2. The animal shelter in North Carolina, I had to live there twice because I got returned the first time!
3. The apartment in North Carolina, we lived in an awesome complex with two doggie play areas!
4. The house out here in California which is small, but great because I have a yard!
Four places where you have been.
1. Cincinnati, Ohio to visit mom's parents
2. Charlotte, NC to visit dad's parents
3. Baton Rouge, LA to visit mom's extended family
4. Jacksonville, Fla to visit dad's extended family
Four places you'd rather be.
1. At agility class!
2. Playing with Snowy
3. On a hike at Wildcat Canyon
4. Cuddling on the couch with mom-- oh wait, I'm already there!
April 5th 2008 11:26 pm
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Mom's future service dog candidate was born Friday night/Saturday morning! There were 7 pups in the litter, four boys and three girls, and they and mom are all doing well. The mom is a silver standard poodle mobility dog and the dad is a black stanard poodle Canadian champion. Mom forgot to ask what color the pups are, but I'll let you know as soon as we do. When the breeder posts pics on her website we'll post a link. Yippie! I am so excited!
April 5th 2008 1:47 pm
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Whoopie! Today was agility class! Daddy had to go to a conference that he planned, so it was just mom and I. When she got out my Ruffwear Quick Draw leash I knew that meant agility and I started racing around the house, spinning in circles! We walked over to the park, and we got there just as the beginner level was finishing up.
It was so much fun! My pal Jesse was there from last time, but the other doggies in the class were all new (except of course for my trainer's dogs, Lolly and Slick). At first I was kind of distracted by the other doggies, but after a few minutes I got really focused on running and jumping like a crazy pup!
I did a really really good job, too-- I was off leash for most of the class and I paid wonderful attention to mom. We even did a three jump leadout once and I did it perfectly, and I hadn't even practiced since agility classes ended before Christmas! Mom was really proud of me, and I was just so excited to be back on the agility course! After class, we hung around and worked on attention commands while my pals Lolly and Slick chased their ball. I really REALLY wanted to go play with them, but mom said it was important for me to practice looking at her when pals of mine are playing because we'll have to do that when the new puppy comes home.
Mom says she is really tired and her joints hurt a lot because of all the running around she did during class, but I can tell that she thinks it was worth it! I was such a happy and excited pup, and I was so focused on mom the whole class. I can't wait until agility class next week-- I wish we had it every single day!
April 5th 2008 8:33 am
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We didn't celebrate my birthday on the 1st when my actual birthday was, but on the 2nd mom and dad made up for it!
We left work a little early and when we got home we went on a long hike. We live near the Albany hill, and there is supposed to be a trail from our house to the top of the hill but iin 3 years living here we haven't been able to find it! So we set out to look for the trail. We tried two new trailheads, but they only led to homeless camps and were super steep! On our way back, we saw a tiny opening and small trail that didn't look too steep so we decided to try that one. Success! It was a long and twisty trail with some scary dead trees fallen down that we had to scrabble over, but we made it to the top of the hill! Yippie! We'd been to the park on the top of the hill before, but we'd always walked all the way around to the other side of the hill to the well marked trail. This trail is lots nicer because we don't have to walk on a lot of street sidewalks to get there.
I was so excited when we were on the walk that I got the zoomies a whole bunch of times. For some reason, mom didn't like me getting the zoomies on narrow steep trails-- I told her I could just run down the trails and I could drag her behind me, it would be a much faster route to the bottom. But she declined my offer, silly human.
When we got back to the house I was still all jazzed up from the hike, and dad got out my birthday present-- a 100% wool snake toy! Yippie! I love my wool toys, they last forever and are so fun to play with, too! I shook the snake, pounced on him, rolled around on the ground with him, and generally had a wonderful time. I also got mom and dad to play tug with the snake. He's pretty good for tug as long as I make sure to grab the head end! Whichever person/doggie ends up on the tail end has a hard time because it's tapered!
I got extra fish oil on my dinner, and by that time I was exhausted. All that hiking and playing was a lot of fun! I asked mom to post pictures on Tuesday, but her arthritis was acting up so she said she'd have to wait. Boo hiss! Finally today she's feeling better and can type and edit pictures and everything, so I am very happy that one of the first things she did was to post my pictures! Whoo hoo! I love playing with toys!
Oh, and one more birthday item-- on Friday mom made donuts for her lab meeting to celebrate my birthday! I even got to eat one of the holes, it was so tasty! Mom said that's my bit of birthday cake, I hope she gives me some of the leftovers that we still have around the house!
April 2nd 2008 7:12 am
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Well, in dog years that is! Yesterday was my 8th birthday! It was also Saleen and Willow's birthdays, too. Since we all came from the shelter, mom and dad had to guess what our birthdays were and they figured they wouldn't forget a birthday on April Fools day!
Even though it was my birthday, I still had to go to work. But I got loads of scritches from the people in the lab, and mom said we're going to celebrate my birthday at our weekly lab meeting with homemade donuts! I hope I'll get to eat some of those homemade donuts!
I also found out that daddy is famous! No really, his picture is on the East Bay Bicycle Coalition website:
http://www.ebbc.org/
He's the blur going by the bus in the picture. They had a photo shoot a couple of weeks back and asked for people on the forum to show up to be in pictures and daddy was the only one who went! So, by default he gets to be in the pictures.
March 31st 2008 9:05 pm
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This evening after dinner, daddy said he needed to walk over to Petco and get some crickets, so mom and I decided to go with. I got my reflective bandana, reflective leash and safety light on and we headed out the door. On the way there, dad realized we needed to stop into Long's Drugs-- but I didn't have my vest with us! I've never been inside a store without my vest, though legally I'm not required to wear a vest.
The next thing I know, mom's telling me "working" and we headed into the store. The security guard at the door asked about me, but it was OK since I wasn't marked. Mom just told him I was a service dog and he was fine with it. I think mom and dad should be very proud of me because I behaved perfectly in the store! Don't tell mom but I was just soooooo excited about going to the pet store that I was on my perfect behavior!
After Longs we went to Petco and found out that they now cary the entire line of Halo pet products! That means they have the Cloud Nine shampoo that mom's been wanting to get for me. Yippie! We got to take a good long sniff around the store because the cricket line was long, and we also discovered that our Petco now carries the entire line of Solid Gold products. Wow! I was such a good girl that the cashier gave me extra treats, too!
We stopped by the ATM on the way home and then once I got home I ran around like a crazy pup because it was a very fun outing!
March 31st 2008 6:24 pm
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I told mom a while ago to post these new items that we created for the Psychiatric Service Dog Society in my diary, but she is slow slow slow! Finally today she is getting around to doing it (as you might know, I rely on mom to type for me so sometimes I am hampered by her forgetting that I still want to post something else). Anyway, there is a flyer designed for the general public. It talks about service dogs in general and PSDs more specifically. There is also an emergency information card that you can fill out and keep in your service dog's vest or other place where emergency responders might look for it. It explains what to do with your SD in the event of an emergency. Both items are on the PSDS website, here:
http://www.psychdog.org/lifestyle.html
They are on the right side of the page, under brochures available. Hope you enjoy!
March 30th 2008 10:14 pm
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That pretty much sums up my day today! I've been snoozing all day long, I am sooo tired from yesterday's hike. First I slept on the couch, then after my bath I slept under a blanket. When the sun started shining into the house I slept on the floor in the sun, moving every hour or so to keep up with the sun. After dinner I slept on the couch, and mom and dad keep making fun of me for sleeping so much. That's no fair-- it's all their fault I'm sleeping so much! And now for more..... zzzzzzzzzzzzz...
March 30th 2008 8:09 am
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Yesterday we went hiking at Wildcat! I was so excited when I heard mom and dad talking about it, because we haven't been there in ages! Something about it being waaaay too muddy during the rainy seaon. Well, it rained the night before, but just .1 inches so I told mom and dad it would still be OK to head off to go hiking.
We hopped in the car and when we arrived at Wildcat we saw my pal Joseph! He used to be Saki's dad, so I was very excited to sniff his car and see if Saki was hiding inside! Unfortunately he wasn't, too bad. But still Joseph is a lot of fun!
We headed off down the trail and I was having a ton of fun, sniff sniff sniffing everying! It was glorious to be back at my old stomping grounds-- even if it did turn out to be a wee bit muddy. On the way down the trail we saw a family with three off leash doggies, so we pulled over to the side and mom put me in a sit and had me watch her. Well, I wasn't so interested in looking at the other doggies, but I also wasn't interested in looking at mom either! We were outside and I wanted to sniff around, not sit and look at mom! So while mom consideres it a semi-success because I didn't really care about the three off leash doggies, she also considers it a semi-failure because it took about two minutes for me to focus on her for more than a second!
While we were hiking, we got to the place where there are some cows and I found some tripe on the ground! Well, it was a step further down the processing chute than green trip-- it was actually cow poop mom and dad said, but it tasted like fermented tripe to me! YUM!!! For some reason, though, mom and dad did not want me eating this fermented tripe and kept telling me to stop doing it so I took to licking the cow patties as we walked by each one.
Once while we were walking along the humans all stopped and were looking intently at a hole in the ground. They kept talking about a baby ground squirrel, but I didn't see/hear anything so I just kept walking around and even stepped on the hole! Mom, dad and Joseph later told me I was inches from a baby ground squirrel!
On our way back down to the gate to get to the no cows allowed area, our path was suddenly blocked by a whole bunch of cows. There were four or five groups of about 5-10 cows each, and there were lots of claves with the mothers, too! Uh oh-- moms with calves means they are more likely to chase me because they think I am a wolf! We surved the situation and found a way to weave through the groups without separating any calves from their moms, but it was pretty tense a few times. Daddy had to pick me up and carry me 3 times so that I didn't look wolf-like anymore (cows are so stupid, they are only upset when the see a wolf-like shape, so carrying me stops them from thinking I am a wolf!). Eventually we got through the cows and back on the trail up to the car. I was exhausted by the time we got back up the hill, and I fell asleep on the car ride home!
As soon as we got home, I found a nice patch of sun to lay in and fell fast asleep and stayed that way for the rest of the evening-- waking up only to move into new patches of sunlight on the floor. I hope we get to go back to Wildcat soon, that was a lot of fun!
March 29th 2008 7:33 am
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Yesterday afternoon I figured we'd be doing something else fun since it is spring break and all. But when daddy picked us up at the BART station I heard them talking about the V-E-T! But I just smiled and relaxed because I know that Dr. Rettig is on maternity leave so we couldn't be going to see her. We got in the car and headed towards my old vet which is also a really cool pet store PetVet/PetFood. I figured we'd pop in, get some yummy treats or a toy and leave. But it turns out it was time for my rabies shot and I was going to get it here! Oh no!
Since PetVet is a drop in clinic, you have to wait in line to see the vet. Most of the people who take their pets here don't have the best control of them. In front of us in line was a hyperactive setter-- the owner kept screaming "SIT" "DOWN" "STOP DOING THAT" at the dog in the pauses on her cell phone conversation as the dog jumped on everything and everyone in sight. A few people in front of the setter there was an off-leash GSD. The owner kept insisting the GSD "doesn't like leashes". Yeah, well I don't like loose dogs! At one point during the wait, the GSD took off and ran for the door-- luckily one of the store employees caught the dog before he got to the parking lot! And right in front of the GSD was a shephard mix on a clothesline.
Luckily since we had daddy there, too, he could do the waiting in line while mom and I walked around the store. Mom had my multifunction leash so she put it over her shoulder and didn't hold onto it at all so that I couldn't see how tense all the doggies made her. Then we practiced loose leash heeling and attention work all around the store. I was a very good doggie! Occasionally we came over to wait in line and work on distraction work (with the Setter attempting to leap on me from one direction, and two old dogs staring me down from the other direction). We also encountered several doggies including an excitable spaniel puppy in the store while waiting for the vet. Throught it all I was a very very good girl! I only got a little worried when the old dogs started staring me down, but after about five minutes working on attention commands with mom in view of the staring dogs I was fine.
As the line moved forward, it snaked into the tiny vets office. When the setter was getting examined, daddy called to us to come get back in the line. There was the spaniel puppy on a 6 ft lead at the counter, a westie in someone's arms on one side of the door to the vets office, and the staring dogs standing right in front of the door. Mom simply told me to watch, and marched right through the mess of doggies jumping and barkind and staring and all into the room which excluding the bags of dog food on the wall had about 15x15 ft of space for all those doggies!
I watched mom during the wait, then had to get weighed right next to the staring dogs-- I was about 6 inches from the staring dogs and I did a really good job of ignoring them, though I didn't quite sit still on the scale! There are two exam tables about 3-4 ft apart from each other in the corner of the room and when we went over to our exam area, the setter was at the other exam area. Daddy kept trying to body block the setter from approaching me, but the setter kept trying to come over and he did manage to get three or four butt sniffs in. I was such a good pup and though I did turn my head to look at him, I looked right back at mom! Then I got some yummy liver treats and felt a little pain when I got my rabies shot, and it was all over!
We got back into the car and headed over to ACE hardware to pick up some gardening gloves for mom as she can't find hers. ACE allows dogs, so I was happy to sniff around the garden gloves while mom tried them all on. On our way to the register, we saw a maltese, and we ended up standing in the next line over from them. I again was a very very good girl and without mom holding onto my leash (it was on her shoulder, though) I stayed in perfect heel through the stops and starts of the line, and I kept my attention mostly on her.
I was a good doggie, I think! But I was happy to get home, all those doggies and being such a good girl is tiring! We watered the yard and checked on the interesting ladybugs we released the day before, then headed inside where I got to have a super fun wrestling match with daddy. Then I took a nice nap with mommy who wasn't having a very good time of things. I had better rest up I figured, because I heard we're going on a hike today!
March 27th 2008 9:39 pm
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This afternoon we went back to the nursery. And since we now know they allow doggies, I got to be off duty! I was so happy to sniff all the plants that I couldn't sniff before! We picked up one more jalapeno plant and then we stopped at a refrigerator. Dad opened it and got something in a tupperware container out-- could it be meat for me?! I was really excited thinking it was some yummy treat, but all that was in the container was a bunch of ladybugs! I know mom and dad don't eat ladybugs, so I was pretty confused about why they'd be buying them. Something about the A-feds on our rose bushes...
After getting a treat at the cashier, we headed back home and spent the rest of the time in the garden. I helped mom and dad plant the rest of the plants and my pal Mantou came over to run around with me a little bit. That was a lot of fun!
Then while it was still light out, mom got out the camera and took a bunch of pictures of me showing off and enjoying my new garden. I think they turned out nicely! I'll make sure to make mom take regular pictures so you can see my garden flourish.
Then when mom was done with the pictures and it was starting to get dark, she got out that tub of ladybugs and started sprinking them on the rose bushes. Now our bushes are covered in little red bugs! I think she might have put them out there so that if I'm hungry I can have a little snack every once in a while! They seem like they'd be a nice candy-like insect.
March 27th 2008 7:59 am
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As you might be able to tell by my main pic, I have quite the green paw. This week is spring break for mom and dad. While mom is still going in to the lab every day, she's only been staying for about 5 hrs and then coming home early so that we can do some fun spring break-ing with dad. On Tuesday we went to the nursery to buy some plants. Mom put my gear on because she didn't know if dogs were allowed or not-- last time we were there we saw a dog but it was incredibly well behaved (like service dog well behaved) so mom didn't know if it was an unvested service dog or a well behaved pet. Well, it turns out pet dogs are allowed, but since mom already had my gear on me, I had to stay working the entire time. No fair! Next time we go, though, she's going to let me be off duty so I can sniff all the interesting plants.
Anyway, mom and dad bought a lot of plants. They got corn, tomatoes, peppers (hot and bell), cilantro, basil, tarragon, strawberries, lettuce, zucchini and squash. It was a cart full of plants, but it was only $70! These plants will produce more than $70 worth of food, so it is a good deal. We went home and dad blew leaves in the yard to get the yard clean and we started weeding and planning out where to put the plants. But it got dark before we could get any plants in the ground.
Yesterday when we came home, mom and dad finished the weeding while I caught up on my sunning. You see, collecting sun is an important part of gardening, and that is what I am the best at doing! We were outside a long time while daddy played around in the compost pile to get some compost and mom got all the weeds up. Then we finally started digging holes to put plants in. I tried to help, but for some reason the holes I wanted to dig were not the proper type of holes to put plants in. I figure a hole is a hole, but mom and dad seem to want small diameter but deep holes instead of big shallow ones. Plus they said I'm not supposed to dig in the yard. Boo Hiss!
It started to get cold and cloudy after a few hours, so I told mom that since there was no more sun it was time to go inside. She agreed with me, and so we still have a few more plants to finish planting this afternoon. Then I will do my modeling and mom will take pictures of me in the garden. That is another very important job of mine-- you see the garden alone doesn't make for exciting pictures. But put a doggie in the picture and now you've got an interesting photo!
March 24th 2008 12:08 pm
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Mom isn't religious, but that doesn't mean she doesn't have fond memories of Easter morning when she was a kid at her house. So this weekend mom and I started making our own traditions (daddy was busy writing a paper as it was the end of his quarter).
We started out the weekend by making French Toast for breakfast (yes, gluten, refined sugar and dairy free!), and mom made some French Bread with a wonderful recipe thanks to our pal Hershey for lunch. Mom told me when she was a kid they used to make fresh bread for Easter-- though maybe next year mom will make some in the shape of bunnies or other animals! This year it was boring old loaf style.
Then on Saturday afternoon we went over to my pal Snowy's house! I was soooooooooo happy to see Snowy, it had been too long! He was happy to see me, too, and we raced and zoomed around the house while the humans spent time in the kitchen preparing the natural Easter egg dyes! They used shredded red cabbage for blue, tumeric for yellow, grated beets for pink and spinach for green. The green didn't really work, but the other colors turned out pretty nice if I say so myself! Snowy and I helped by providing background entertainment of running, jumping and playing. Personally I think we were instrumental in the Easter egg dying process! None of the eggs turned out as pretty as Snowy's pink coat, though!
I was sad to leave Snowy when it was time for us to go back home, but I was sooooooo tired that I was also happy to get some rest!
On Sunday morning, mom decided that instead of hot cross buns (which she doesn't really like all that much anyway), we'd start a new tradition-- donuts! Mmmmmmmmm, now this is a holiday tradition I can get behind! Yes, these were gluten and refined sugar free donuts, adn they were sooooo yummy! I got a small piece of an unsugared one and boy was it tasty! After the donut, I spent most of the day sleeping because I was so tired from playing wiht Snowy! Around 8PM, daddy finally turned in his paper and came out of the bedroom (where he had been hiding all day) to play with me! I was very happy to see daddy, and we ran around and got some good playing in before it was time for bed.
We had a good weekend, and I hope we do these same things again next year, it was a lot of fun!
Gluten free donuts substitute rice milk for buttermilk and maple sugar for regular sugar
Gluten free french bread substitute goats milk butter for regular butter, maple sugar for regular sugar, and we used potato starch instead of tapioca flour
Natural Egg dying
March 24th 2008 7:07 am
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Whoopie!!! I've been picked as a daily diary pick! I am so excited! Hope everyone who found my diary has a good time reading it! Thanks dogster, I am honored to be picked!
March 21st 2008 3:25 pm
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This morning mom had a horrible headache, so I got to sleep in-- good thing, too, because I was tired from yesterday! After lunch we came into work and after mom got some lab work started we headed over to the insurance office.
While we were waiting to be seen, a lady came over to talk with mom about me. She was being nice, so mom put me on a Visit and let me say hi to her! Boy did she ever give the best chin scritches! Then two other people came over to say hi to me, too. It was heaven! I was lying on the floor, surrounded by people loving on me and petting me all over. Now this is the life-- I imagine this is what retirement will feel like! All too soon, mom's name was called and we went back to talk with the insurance people (who were all very nice, and both people we saw helped mom out a lot!).
On the way back, my leash must have slipped open because it came unattached to my collar. Oops, gear malfunction! But we didn't want to stop in the middle of the hallway to reattach it and block everyone's passage, so mom just reminded me to stay in heel position and I walked all the way down the hall and into the office with no leash, staying right next to mom. She was very proud of me, and said I handled the gear malfunction wonderfully.
I was hoping I'd get a chance to say hi to my fan club on the way out, but while mom said hi, she didn't put me on a Visit. No fair! Oh well, I am sure we'll be going back to the insurance office soon. Mom got her pain clinic appointments approved, and once they decide on a course of treatment it's likely we'll have to go and get that approved as well. I can't wait, I want more petting!
March 21st 2008 8:14 am
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Mom has been spending waaaaay too much time researching all the things she needs to get for Future Pup. Mom and dad have decided that whenever possible, they want to buy products from companies that are attempting to be eco-friendly. So the list that mom made reflects that. If you're interested, here it is:
http://www.thethingsiwant.com/francoroni/list/wishlist%20for%20future%20pup/
Note all the cool eco-friendly toys?! Those were easiest to find! For clippers, mom decided to go with Wahl because they have a company wide recycling program and seemed the most enthusiastic about it in their email response. All the other major clipper manufacturers didn't really have any eco-friendly policies, so we want to support those that do. Some items, like brushes and combs and scissors, we couldn't find any company that was better than any other company, which is sad. So if you know of a company that sells any of the items on this list that are more eco-conscious, please let us know! We are going to be spending a lot of money on these items, and we really want to support businesses who are doing things that we agree with!
March 21st 2008 8:10 am
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Yesterday was such a long day! First we went to teach our 7th graders in the morning. We did the second fossil lesson and it went really really well! The students seemed to really enjoy seeing real fossils and learning about them. Me, I enjoyed sleeping through the lessons! Still, even though I mostly sleep while there, I always come back very tired because it is stressful with all the kids making noise, running aorund and screaming and stuff. Especially in the hallways!
We stopped off at home for lunch, then we headed in to school. I got to nap under mom's desk in the office while she got back in the lab. She hasn't been doing a lot of labwork for about 5 months now-- ever since she found that fall flowering population of her plants and had to re-plan her whole rest of her PhD experiments and apply for all those grants and fellowships and stuff. So mom was happy to be back in the lab, setting up PCR for her microsatellites.
Pretty soon, daddy came into the office ot join us! It is his finals week, and he had a bunch of student tests to grade but didn't have to do that in Davis, so he did it in mom's office. That was really nice to have Daddy around! Mom stayed at work late to finish up her PCRs, then when I thought we were heading home, instead we went out to dinner at the Mayflower Chinese restaurant. We've been there loads of times before without problems, but today the owner tried to tell us we couldn't eat there. We eventually got it through to the owner (with the help of our very nice server who translated and argued our side-- he got a very nice tip for his help) that Sabrina was allowed to be in restaurants and wouldn't poop on the floor or bite anyone.
I thought for sure that after all that, we'd be heading home, but instead we went back to campus, mom took off my gear and gave me some beef for dinner. I gobbled it down, and then spent 10 minutes sniffing around looking for the perfect place to poop. But it didn't materialize, so I just decided to hold it.
Next we went to a talk about Genetically Modified Orgainisms and the EPA-- it went from 7 to 8PM which is late for me! I wanted to be home sleeping in my comfy bed, but the talk seemed pretty interesting and both mom and dad asked questions afterwards which was cool.
Mom checked her email one last time before heading home and found out that she got a one semester fellowship from her department for next year! Yippie! That means she doesn't have to teach one semester and can focus on getting her research done, well, on that and on training Future Pup (due in one week!)!
On that happy note, we headed home. I was very very VERY excited that we were finally heading home, so much so that when we got about a block away I got the zoomies! Oops! I'm not supposed to get the zoomies while I'm in my service gear... but it had been a very long day, we left at 7:30 AM and were getting home around 9PM! Mom made me do a puppy pushup and I walked nicely all the rest of the way home. Then I got the SUPER ZOOMIES in the yard when mom took my service gear off! We went inside and I tried to tell mom that she had forgotten to feed me dinner. See, if it's not outside in my yard, it's not dinner! Unfortunatley, she didn't believe that I was going to starve to death, and I didn't get to eat anything! How cruel!
It was OK, though, because I soon fell asleep, I was exhausted! A very long and tiring day!
March 19th 2008 9:49 pm
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When we got back from the doctors this morning, we dropped the car off at the house and mom took something out of the freezer-- it was a bag of tripe! YUM!!!! I love tripe, it is the yummiest, most tastiest thing ever to eat! I thought mom was going to feed me some, but instead we packed up and headed off to school. Daddy came with us and he carried the tripe. I couldn't figure out what was going on-- Daddy adn tripe? Was I going to have some sort of tripe party in the lab?
Well, there was some sort of party in the lab, it was for my friend Martha who moved away recently. We were all going out to lunch together. Mom and dad gave the tripe box to Marta! I didn't think humans like to eat tripe, but then mom explained that it is for Martha's dog, Luna. Well, I still didn't really want to let that tripe out of my sight, but Luna seems like a very cool pup so I'm happy she gets to eat some yummy tripe!
Then we went out to lunch together at an Indian buffet. I don't like the buffet area much because there are lots of loud machines in that corner, plus there is food dropped on the floor that I have to be careful to avoid (who wants dirty paws?). I was happy to sleep under the table and listen to everyone chatting during lunch, it sounded like a lot of fun.
When we got back to the lab, I got to go off duty and everyone gave me lots of pets. Now that is the life! I wish I could get pets all day long!
March 19th 2008 9:42 pm
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We woke up really early this morning and hopped into the car to visit mom's doctor. The doctor's office is only about 15 miles from our house, but with traffic it takes us an hour to get there! So that mom didn't stress out too much while we were driving, she read Harry Potter out loud to daddy and me-- we're almost at the end of book 4 reading it out loud.
When we got upstairs I was happy to see my friend the nurse. She is always very nice to me, and today while she was taking mom's weight and blood pressure I got to go on a visit and say hi to her! That was fun!
Then we met with mom's doctor. While mom's pain has improved since her surgery 6 months ago, it is still pretty severe. So now mom is going to go to a pain clinic. There they will make up a plan to deal with mom's pain which will probably include a combination of things like acupuncture, massage, herbs and conventional painkillers. Sounds a lot like my vet! I think it'll be cool to go to this type of clinic for mom, I think she'll get some good help with her chronic pain. But mom for some reason is kind of sad about it. I guess though she's told people before that she has chronic pain, she hadn't really come to terms with it yet. The doctor saying it and then referring mom to a pain clinic somehow makes it more real for mom. That just means that I have to work a little extra today to make sure mom is doing OK.
The doctor asked about how I was doing and noticed that mom and dad had brought a poodle grooming book to the waiting room so mom told the doctor about Future Pup. The doctor said she'd miss me a lot, that she really really likes me! Yay for nice doctors who like me!
March 16th 2008 6:51 pm
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Mom's been searching around on the internet for "green" grooming supplies for the Future Pup. I don't know why she wants everything to be green, personally I think purple and pink are much prettier colors! Anyway, while it's been difficult to find the grooming supplies she likes, mom has found a lot of eco-friendly dog toys and a bed that we thought others might like to see. Here is our list... keep in mind we've put only the most eco-friendly toys on the list. For example, products that are a dead end (ie cannot be further recycled or broken down into something else) are not on this list-- we found a lot of toys made of recycled soda bottles or stuff with recycled soda bottles, and while that is awesome to find a use for soda bottles, it is better in our opinion to have a product that can be completely reused or one that biodegrades.
A Cheerful Pet makes 100% wool toys! Wool is a natural fiber that biodegrades over time. We have some of these toys and I love them, plus they last a really long time, too. They are sold at Parker's Pets or at Olive Green Dog-- a super awesome eco-friendly doggie superstore!
Simply Fido makes organic cotton toys stuffed with organic cotton-- well and a few squeakers! We haven't tried these in person yet, but we've seen them locally at PetVet/PetFood in El Cerrito. Buy them online at Olive Green Dog. Cotton is biodegradable.
Hemp Biscuit is a toy made out of and stuffed with hemp, and a squeaker of course!
Purrfectplay makes an organic cotton dog toy stuffed with cotton and some wool balls, too. We have a wool ball from them that is nice, and my kitty sister Willow has a hemp/silk blend collar from this company.
Planet Dog's Orbee Tuff toys are recyclable! We've emailed the company to see what number they fall under for recycling, or if you send them back to the company to be recycled-- we'll keep you posted!
And finally for the bed......
Earthdoggy.com sells a 100% organic wool stuffed dog bed that has a cotton (denim) washable cover. How cool is that?!
If you know of any other earth friendly toys, beds, grooming supplies or any other doggy related items, we'd love to hear about them! Hope others find this list helpful, I certainly hope I get to try all these products!
March 16th 2008 10:33 am
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Mom's been really sick for the past couple of days, so we've been spending a lot of time snoozing on the couch together. Yesterday we awoke from a nap and smelled some really stinky kitty poo! Normally we don't smell kitty poo because the kitties eat raw, and they usually cover up their poop nicely in the litter box. But sometimes they will forget to cover a corner and it will smell a little more. Plus, the night before Saleen had decided to munch on mom's cornbread so we figured his poo might be a little extra stinky because of that.
So since mom was sick, she asked dad to scoop the litter box and we fell back asleep. Later that night we noticed Saleen was hanging around in my crate, scratching the pillow inside a lot. I came over to see what he was up to, and I immediately went to tell mom. Mom asked dad to look inside the crate and he found.... a big pile of kitty poop!
That's right, that stupid Saleen cat had his nasty cornbread diareah all over the inside of MY CRATE! How awful and gross! Luckily daddy went and cleaned it up right away, but it isn't fair! My crate is my nice safe place, and stupid fat cat pooped in it! I guess he kind of made up to me, though, because his tummy was upset and he didn't eat his dinner which meant that I got to finish it when he didn't after a few hours. So, I guess he's OK, but next time I hope he finds the litter box to do his pooping!
March 15th 2008 10:47 am
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That's right! Check it out, I'm in an article about doggie acupuncture:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/13/fashion/13Cyber.html?ref=personaltech
"At Dogster.com, the online social network for pets that Otto joined last fall, I found a discussion on “Doggie Acupuncture: To Do or Not to Do?” A canine member named Bo had “asked” last month about whether he should try acupuncture. More than a dozen members described positive experiences for “severe breathing problems” and “spay incontinence,” including one case involving an arthritic dog named Sabrina who “doesn’t really enjoy getting the needles in, but she always feels so much better afterward.”"
How cool!
March 11th 2008 8:51 am
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Yesterday we went to Folsom Lake to meet with the ecologist and archaeologist who were reviewing mom's permit application. I was excited to go to the lake again, I always have such a good time there! But unfortunately the road leading to the lake is very windy so I got a little car sick. When we arrived, I hopped out of the car and started trying to eat a lot of grass to settle my tummy. Mom had been going back and forth about weather she would put me on-duty or not, but since I wasn't feeling so hot she decided to let me go off-duty-- YAY! That means I get to sniff and get pets by people and eat grass (well, mom always tries to stop me from that...)
We walked over to one of mom's proposed field sites and pretty soon the ecologist and archaeologist pulled up. They seemed really really nice, and I liked them right away. Luckily we didn't see any evidence that this first area was an archaeological site, but we did get to see some interesting Native American sites through some trees! It was really cool-- mom has driven and walked around the park here a lot and never even noticed!
Then we went over to the lake area where mom's other populations grow. On the way the ladies (the ecologist and archaeologist) asked all kinds of questions about me and I enjoyed being the center of attention! As we got close to mom's plant population, I even showed how well behaved I am-- my collar fell off and I stopped dead. I looked at mom like "hey, what happened here?!" and she came over and put my collar back on.
Again there were no archaeological sites in this population of mom's plants either, yippie for mom! But we did find some really cool stuff nearby. We found the remains of an old bridge that had fallen apart and we found a few foundations from the turn of the last century! It looked like a house with a barn and some outbuildings-- probably a dairy from the looks of it. It was really funny to mom because she's walked over that area a dozen times and never even noticed that the rocks were actually ruined foundations of buildings! Mom surely is clueless about that. We also found a rock that Native Americans had used to grind acorns and some possibly petrified wood. It'a amazing all the stuff that mom saw a bunch of times, but had never really SEEN, you know? Of course, I knew all along... it's just mom that's the slow one!
While we were hiking around looking at plants and for archaeological evidence, daddy was taking loads of pictures. Hopefully he got a few good ones with me in them so I can post them here-- but we'll have to wait until mom gets the pictures uploaded.
I was one tired puppy when we got back to the car-- I laid in the shade and rested my head on the ecologists foot. She smelled like a very nice person! So did the archaeologist, but she was standing in the sun while the ecologist was in the shade. I go for the shade when it's hot out! After talking for a while more and getting the permit approved, we got back in the car and headed to Davis for dad's office hour. When we arrived there was already a line of students outside his office (and we were 15 minutes early!). The whole hour and a half (because of course daddy stayed until all questions had been answered) there were loads of students asking questions and getting help. I was super tired so I just laid under a spare desk and took a nice long nap.
Then we went for an early dinner at the Farmer's Kitchen Cafe-- the gluten free restaurant that mom and dad love so much. It sounded like they had a great dinner as usual, and they even found out that the Cafe is now selling eggs from truely free range chickens (the kind that actually live outside and eat worms and grubs and crickets and things!). They were all kinds of fun colors, some were even green! So mom and dad were excited to buy a dozen-- I hope they'll give some to me!
Before leaving Davis, we had one more stop-- the co-op. They sell another type of mom's goat cheese that she likes so much here, and we had a lot of coupons for the store, too. I was happy when we left and got in the car, it had been a long day and I was ready to go home! I slept most of the way home, and after having some yummy duck for dinner I went right to bed.
March 7th 2008 7:16 am
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Whew, what a busy day yesterday! We woke up early and headed over to teach our 7th graders. It was the last lesson in the unit on genetics that mom planned-- we had the students mate fruit flies of different phenotypes to determine if traits were dominant or recessive. Basically we were repeating experiments similar to Mendel's, except with fruit flies instead of pea plants. The students seemed to have a good time, and they were very excited to see just how many babies their fruit flies had produced. All the students were able to figure out the inheritance of their particular trait, too.
After teaching, we rushed home and mom finished making a whole bunch of almond and peanut butter for the party that we had last night. Then we went into school and mom spent the afternoon helping a labmate with his research so I got to take a nice long nap under mom's desk!
Finally, it was party time-- or rather time to get ready for the party! Mom's lab was hosting the party, so we had to prepare all the food and everything. The theme was "Childhood Pleasures" so we had homemade peanut but and almond butter for PB&Js! We had a lot of nice jams and jellies, plus nutella, honey, chocolate chips and bananas to go on the sandwiches. There were Fig Newmans (like Fig Newtons) and Newman's Own oreo cookies, cheddar bunnies (instead of goldfish), and lots of yummy fruit and veggies and cheese. Plus we had sangria, too, just for fun.
Everyone seemed to really like the food-- especially the nut butters that mom made. Then they started doing some very strange things! They took some chalk, but instead of writing on a chalkboard they wrote on the ground! One group of people started hitting a ball back and forth between four squares that were drawn on the ground. There was a lot of shouting coming from that game area! Then another group of people drew a bunch of squares on the ground and were tossing rocks onto the drawing and hopping around on one leg. Very strange, these humans! Finally, a few people got some long strings and started swinging them around while other people jumped around in the middle.
Mom and some labmates went to the rock throwing and hopping area to play a game called Hopscotch. Mom seemed like she was pretty good at it, though it was hard for her to play since she had brused the bottoms of her feet again! Luckily mom brought my mat so I could lay down on a comfy warm place while she was hopping around. Once the ball from the Four Square game came over in my direction! I looked at mom, who could tell the ball would bounce near but over me so she called out (she was in the middle of her hopping so couldn't deflect the ball) to me that I should stay. I did, but didn't look happy about it! Sure enough, mom was right, though, and the ball bounced once behind me, then went over my head and bounced in front of me. Everyone said what a good pup I was, and mom gave me lots of ear scratches for that!
Mom and I helped clean up and I was getting soooo tired of working because it had been a very very long day. So when we got the cart of leftover food and dirty dishes back to the lab, she took off my vest (we were in the office) and let me do some tricks for baby carrots! Whoo hoo, I love baby carrots! I was so happy to show off my trick repetroire for everyone there! Finally we got to go home. It had been 12 hours on duty, and I was really excited to run around and be a crazy doggie! So on the way home I started getting the zoomies! I couldn't help it, I just wanted to run! So mom took off my gear and let me run around her in circles at the end of my leash in an empty parking lot. Yippie! I ran around the house a lot when I got home, but then realized how very tired I was so I fell straight asleep.
March 1st 2008 5:36 pm
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We went to the vet this morning, the last time we will see the vet before she has her baby next month! I was excited to show Dr. Rettig how skinny I am, but first we had to wait in the waiting room. When we got to the vet, there was a dog in a stroller wearing a sweatshirt in the middle of the waiting room so we sat on the side. Then another doggie came in. This doggie was very excited and was barking and whining a lot. Plus he really really wanted to visit me and the other doggie. Then the lady with the dog in the stroller left her stroller (with dog inside!) to go to the restroom or something!!! So of course the man with the other dog let his dog go visit the dog in the stroller. Mom and I were very glad we were on the opposite side of the waiting room, that kind of thing (leaving dogs unattended and people letting their dogs visit unattended dogs) is really not a good idea in our opinion!
I was very good with all this commotion and barking and stuff in the waiting room, and I just kept watching mom the whole time! Then the other doggies left and the waiting room cat came out to say hi. Wow, it was certainly an animal filled wait!
When we got back into the office I was happy to see Dr. Rettig but also scared because last time when she put the acupuncture needle in my knee it hurt a LOT! First she weighed me and now I weigh 53.6 lbs. I am one skinny minnie! The vet said I've reached my goal weight, but that it might be better for me to be a little on the slimmer side now that I'm older so I'm going to stay with the diet a little longer. Too bad about staying on the diet, but yeah for me being a skinny minnie!
Then Dr. Rettig felt my pulses and said they seemed a lot better. I could have told her that-- I am feeling really good! So I didn't need too many needles, which I was glad to hear her say. I laid down on the ground and didn't even act like I noticed at all when she put the needles in my back. Then she got close to my knee and I started to get really tense! She was getting closer and closer to my tender point and I got really scared and jumped! But it wasn't my knee point after all... when I was recovering from being scared about that point, she put the needle into my tender knee point and I didn't flinch at all! It wasn't painful this time, yippie! That means I am really getting a lot better. Yay for Dr. Rettig!
I got an extra lot of my Coix formula, which should last me through the end of this rainy season and I can use it next year's rainy season, too. I'm sad I won't be seeing Dr. Rettig again until June when she gets back from maternity leave, but I think it's cool she'll be having a baby! The next time I see Dr. Rettig, I'll have my new poodle brother or sister to show off, too!
February 28th 2008 10:32 pm
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After working all day today at the computer, mom and I went to the departmental seminar this afternoon. It starts at 4PM, which is just about a perfect nap time! We settled into our seats and like usual, I fell asleep.
I was sleeping an having a great dream, but for some reason mom wouldn't leave me alone! She kept shaking me awake! I would wake up for a few seconds, then fall right back asleep again. This happened like 4 or 5 times! Sheesh, mom, let me sleep already! Mom says she had to wake me up because I kept snoring-- and it got louder and louder each time! Once I let out a huge honking snore (I hadn't been snoring then suddenly let this one out) and people actually looked around to see who was sleeping! Mom was so embarrassed-- but I was tired and just sleeping! I don't see what the problem is-- I don't care about plant pathogens even if mom does!
After the seminar, we went to a departmental graduate student association meeting. Mom was a little sad because there wasnt' a single thing she could eat at the meeting even though it was a fully catered event. It was sooooo close-- they had two big salads, but they were covered with cheese! They also had hummus which mom could have eaten, but they only had pita bread to eat with it which has gluten in it.
I slept my way through the meeting (quietly this time), but the real fun started after the meeting was over! Mom took off my vest and I did my best impression of Jello (wiggle!!!) I was sooooooooo excited to see everyone! My butt did not stop wiggling as everyone petted and loved on me! It was a really nice ending to a long day!
February 28th 2008 7:40 am
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Last night was a meat filled night!!! We got the call about 8:15PM that Simon from Creston Valley Farms would be arriving in our area in half an hour. So as soon as daddy got back from the police station (he was assaulted while riding his bike by a driver who tried to run him down-- literally!) we headed over to the pick-up point.
The van was already there when we pulled up and other people were picking up their boxes of meat. I started salivating when I saw that meat truck-- just think about it, a whole entire cargo van full to the brim with boxes and boxes of MEAT!!! Sometimes I dream about the van getting stuck on the side of the road and me finding it and eating everything inside!
Anyway, mom and dad went over and picked up our four boxes-- wait, four boxes?! That's it? I'll die of starvation with just 4 boxes-- the guy parked next to us was filling up the entire back of his pickup truck with boxes of meat! That's what I'm talking about-- I need a pickup truck full of meat! But oh well, guess I am doomed to an insufficient meat supply.
Dad put the meat boxes in the trunk, but I could smell them from the back seat and boy did they smell good! I sniffed hard and smelled organ blend, beef liver, beef trim (yum!!!) and something... sniffff... different.... sniiiiiiiiiiiiiiffffffff. Mom saw me sniffing around and told me was had something new this time-- ostrich meat! Hmmm, I didn't like the ostrich heads too much, but then again, that is probably because they were kind of tricky to eat! But I bet I'll like this-- ostrich trim, possibly yummy!
When we got back home and mom and dad started trying to fit the stuff in our freezer, I realized that we didn't actually have room for an entire pickup truck's worth of meat in our house. Which is really too bad. But we did fill up our little garage freezer with the yummy meat, but I didn't get to pre-sample any of it! No fair! Mom and dad broke down the boxes and I licked them as I walked past-- I also tried to lick mom and dad's hands and see if they accidentally got any meat residue on them, but no such luck. I can't wait until this weekend when they'll be thawing a lot of that meat and portioning it out for me! I am excited to try ostrich, I'll let you pups know how it tastes-- and we can all pretend that I brought down the ostrich all by myself!
February 25th 2008 7:12 am
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Yesterday I got a bath. I really don't like baths all that much, though I go willingly into the shower when asked. The reason I do it, though, is because I always get something fun as a reward. Yesterday was no different. Instead of my usually bully stick as a reward, I got a new toy! I got one of my new 100% wool toys, this one is an octopus!
I love my wool octopus! It was sooooo much fun grabbing it and shaking it, playing tug with it, chasing after it when mom and dad threw it... It was awesome! Plus, my wool toys are super durable, so even though I played with it for a long time yesterday, it still looks just as good as new! Hope you enjoy my new pics of my wool octopus!
February 25th 2008 6:21 am
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I'm going to be getting a standard poodle puppy in June, so I've been reading everything I can on the breed. I checked this book out from the library this weekend and found it was really excellent.
The Complete Standard Poodle
The book starts with a very extensive history of the breed. Much more detail than I'd seen in any other book about the poodle. The entire book gives insight and stories about the personality of the standard poodle. Coat color is explained fairly well (though the geneticist in me wishes she would have gone into a little more detail about the genes involved!). Grooming and clipping are discussed quickly but well. There is a chapter on poodles doing extracurriculars like hunting trials, assistance work, therapy work, agility etc. The book concludes with some history of top kennels in Britain, North America and the rest of the world.
The pictures aren't as good as in some of the other poodle books I've read, but the text is very informative and well written. You really get a good sense of the breed, it's history, and why the poodle is what it is today in reading the book. So far this is my favorite book about poodles that I've read-- and I've read just about every poodle book in my library system!
February 22nd 2008 6:42 am
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This morning I was woken up by a different kind of alarm clock-- this one was kitty powered!
I was sleeping away, having a nice dream about chasing the guinea pig, when all the sudden there was a bunch of noise and a loud CRASH from the kitchen. Mom, dad and I all woke up and rushed into the living room. No kitties were to be found (they had run under the bed) and there was a glass on the floor, broken into a thousand tiny pieces. Apparently Willow-cat had been prowling the kitchen counters (which she is NOT supposed to do!) and had knocked one of daddy's favorite glasses onto the floor.
Now how, you might ask, do I know it was Willow cat? Yes, we were all sleeping at the time, but Saleen cat is too fat to jump up to the kitchen counter. Or maybe too lazy! Plus, Willow cat reemerged all wet a few minutes later.
Anyway, I had to lay on the couch while mom and dad picked up all the teeny pieces of glass, swept the area, and vacuumed the rugs around the kitchen. I didn't like my newfangled kitty wake up call! And neither did daddy-- we're going back to bed now, and I'm going to try to get a few more minutes of sleep while mom takes a shower.
February 21st 2008 7:14 am
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Yesterday was a hard day for mom so I had to work overtime! We had a meeting in the morning and we were talking about our upcoming camping trips with our 7th graders. People started talking about how the places we're going have mountain lions and bears! That is really scary for mom, she was getting quite anxious just listening to people describing how they had seen these things in previous years. Mom keeps thinking that a mountain lion or bear would think I am a tasty snack! I tried to tell her that I would scare off any mountain lion or bear, but she doesn't believe me.
So after the meeting, mom couldn't concentrate on her work because she kept seeing in her head me being eaten by a bear or mountain lion. We took a walk over to the library and returned a book we had that was due, and we checked out a book on poodles for mom to read later. The walk made mom feel a little better, and mom was able to clean up her desk and read a few papers at work so we didn't have to go right home.
When we got home, mom read the poodle book (this one is by Bruce Fogle) and said it was pretty good. It talks about the coat color differences in poodles, and confirmed that a black, blue or silver poodle is probably the way to go.
I had finally gotten mom all calmed down and we were watching one of her favorite shows America's Next Top Model. It was about time for daddy to get home, so when we heard the gate unlatch we weren't concerned. Someone came up the walk and opened the screen door and then knocked on our door. Well, sometimes daddy does this if his hands are full. We don't expect anyone else to be at the door because we live down a very long driveway and our house is quite hidden from teh street-- delivery people often have trouble finding us! So anyway, we thought it was daddy so mom opened the door up really wide--- and saw a stranger standing there!
Mom's heard started pounding and she started to panic... the guy was talking something about signing something and mom told him to go away but he didn't. Mom was frozen there, she couldn't think, she was just looking at the person getting more and more anxious! I decided I needed to step in, so I stepped between mom and the guy and barked. That woke mom up and she closed the door on the guy and sat down on the couch and pet me a lot. About 10 minutes later daddy showed up.
We are now going to get a no soliciting sign to put on our door. We've never had that happen before, and mom got so scared! I don't think she's going to be opening the door for daddy without double checking it's him anymore!
February 21st 2008 7:05 am
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Someone asked mom about why those with physical disabilities sometimes don't like those with mental disabilities, what to do in those situations, and why people don't think PSDs are real SDs. This is mom's answer-- I liked it and wanted to save it.
I don't think that the division you are talking about occurrs with every person with a physical disability. In fact, I'd have to say that most people with physical disabilities that I talk with are supportive of those with psychiatric disabilities and supportive of PSDs. Take this group, for example! I'd guess that this group consists of about half and half, and everyone is generally very supportive of each other.
That said, I have met a few people who seem to have a ranking system of disabilities in their mind, and in this ranking, psychiatric disabilities are very low on the list. But they aren't at the bottom. I'd argue that for example people with migraine alert dogs and dogs that alert to chemical sensitivities often get worse treatment.
It was an extremely upsetting and hurtful experience when I first came into contact with this idea of some disabilities are more deserving of accomodations than others. For a while it even made me leery of meeting others with psysical disabilities because I feared they would be mad at me for having a service dog for my disability. But then I realized that this view is held by individuals and not by everyone with a physical disaiblity, and I also realized that the percentage of people with physical disabilities who think psychiatric disabilities don't matter is about the same as the percentage of people without disabilities who think psychiatric disabilities don't matter.
I always think that the best way to handle any situation is to remain calm and let the other person make a fool out of themselves. Let's take for example the security guard who insisted I was not disabled because his wife was in a wheelchair and he knew what disabled people looked like (his words). I remained calm on the outside, handed over flyers and asked to speak to the manager. While we waited for the manager to come the security guard was yelling and screaming, ranting and raving. Others milling by saw a beet red spitting with anger guard screaming about how I'm not disabled and he knows it, and me reading the posters on the walls with Sabrina, looking very calm. Who in that situation looks like they know what they're doing? Who in that situation are others going to believe? The enranged person screaming about his wife, or the person calmly stating I am disabled and this is my service dog?
On the internet I've also met my fair share of people who aren't supportive of PSDs or invisible disabilities. I have found that the best way to deal with these sorts of people is to remain calm, don't take their bait, and nicely state what the laws say. Others coming to read the thread are going to see one obviously angry person taking potshots at other people, and other person calmly stating what the laws say. Who are people likely to believe?
Arguing with people who are already very upset at you does no good. Arguing will only make them even more sure that they are right and you are wrong. The best way to change minds in my opinion is to stay calm. If you have to say something, state the law but leave any editorial out of it. Try to leave or get away from the person if you can. You won't change someone's mind by getting into a shouting match or argument. What does change people's minds is repeated exposure. It's just like a new food for a baby-- they might not like peas at first but you have to keep introducing the peas multiple times and then they will like them. If the person is rational, if enough people clamly tell them what the laws say, they will start to feel less strongly about thier opinion. Eventually they might even ask someone to talk about it with them, and that is the point at which you can change minds.
It's like dog training-- once your dog is past that threshold of excitement, you can't teach them anything. You have to keep them below threshold for them to learn. So an extremely angry person won't be able to learn, no matter what you do. But desensitizing the person until they aren't so angry and actually want to talk will enable them to learn when they actually do have a conversation with you.
I think there are several reasons that people don't consider PSDs real SDs. First is the great stigma against mental illness. Mental illness is the only disability that it is still OK to make fun of. In today's society people would be very upset if you went around calling people a "crip" or whatever. But it is perfectly acceptable to go around and call people "psycho". In movies, bad guys often are referred to as schizophrenic or even bipolar. The general public gets the impression that those with mental illness are chainsaw-wielding maniacs. So of course the general public doesn't think people with mental illness can handle much more than the occasional murder, so they don't think we can handle a dog or manage our illness.
Next, a big problem is the overuse of certain words. There is a difference between depression and Depression-- depression is something that everyone can feel from time to time. Let's say they lost their job or boyfriend or girlfriend, they might feel depressed. But Depression (with a capital D) is diffferent. It isn't something that you feel bad for a few weeks and then you get better. It takes over your life, you have no enjoyment, your life is a giant hole and you cannot climb out. Sure both the capital and little depressions both involve sadness, but one is clinical.
It's like the difference between a headache and a migraine. One of my best friends gets chronic migraines. These migranes debilitate her for days on end, she has to stay in a darkened room and can't do anything. But then you've got other people walking around who get a bad headache and they tell everyone "oh I've got such a migraine". They take a couple tylenol and continue on their day at work. That is not a migraine!
And panic attack is another one-- how many people do you know say "oh, I'm about to get a panic attack" when they're about to go up on stage or something. Sure, they might have butterflies in their tummy and be breathing a little hard-- I have no doubt they are feeling a lot of anxiety. But that is not the heart-pounding, can't breathe, I'm about to die feeling that is a real panic attack.
So the use of these words by the general public makes people feel that they know what I mean when I say I am depressed. They know that when they are depressed it's not very serious and they feel better soon, but they cannot understand that mine is different. So they figure they don't need a dog to keep them alive through this bought of depression, so why should I? They figure they know when they are having a panic attack, so why does anyone need any warning for them? They figure they can pop some tylenol and continue working when they have a bad headache, so why does anyone need warning about it?
February 17th 2008 12:06 pm
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Mom got our videos from yesterday uploaded!
You can see a video of daddy pulling me in the bike trailer-- I love the wind in my face!
http://www.dogster.com/video/167795/Dog_bike_trailer
And there is a video of me playing on the beach at a very low tide:
http://www.dogster.com/video/167795/A_day_at_the_beach
Enjoy!
February 17th 2008 7:43 am
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Yesterday I got to have a fun day off. We started out the day by putting on my sparkline rhinestone collar that Parker gave me and we headed off to the hardware store. Dogs are allowed, so I could greet everyone and show off my bling-bling collar! I really enjoyed all the attention, but the best part of the store was in the checkout line. We were standing at the checkout and I started sniffing the floor. It smelled sooooooooooo good! Sniif, sniiiiif, sniiiiiiiiiiiiiif! I wouldn't even listen to mom when she told me to stop sniffing, so she put her foot on where I was sniffing and I moved and started sniffing some more! Mom remarked to the cashier that someone must have dropped something really good right there, and she was right! It turns out someone spilled a whole bottle of deer repellent there-- deer repellent which was pure COYOTE URINE! Yummy! That stuff smelled so interesting, I had not smelled coyote pee before! Mom had to practically drag me out of the store, I could have stayed there all day!
We went back to teh house and daddy got out our bikes. Yippie! Bike ride! I hopped in my trailer and we went off to the post office to mail a package (since I was off duty today, mom and I stayed outside and showed off my bike trailer and collar). Then we went to Christopher's Nothing Fancy Cafe and ate on their patio. I even got to lay in a spot of sun for a while, it was really nice!
After lunch, mom and dad biked down to the Bay Trail. Now this is the life! I stood up and stuck my head way out of the bike trailer and sniffed all the dogs at the dog park as we zoomed past. There looked like there were at least 100 to 150 dogs at teh dog park-- way too crowded for my taste! So dad peadled on down the trail until we got to a secluded beach. There I got to run and play and have a grand old time. Mom brought the video camera so we got some good video that I hope she'll post later today.
After our fun in the sun, we biked back home. It was a very fun day, and I got to be off duty for the whole time which was really cool. Mom and dad said that they're practicing for when we get Future Pup-- apparently we'll be doing a lot of socialization to make sure Future Pup loves everything and everyone!
February 15th 2008 7:35 am
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Yesterday was Valentine's Day and we celebrated it by having mom's 7th graders mate fruit flies. The students thought it was really funny that we were mating fruit flies on Valentine's Day. They made all kinds of jokes about the flies needing to bring each other chocolates and things.
Mom was still very sick, but we had to go in to teach our 7th graders! I wore one of my old Valentine-ey bandannas, but it wasn't very noticable to the students because no one said anything! I was trying to talk mom into buying me a new bandanna on the way home, but wasn't having a lot of success. When we came back to the house, though, I smelled a package for me! It was from my pal Tux's mom! Tux and family sent me two bandannas-- one was perfectly Valentine-ey! The other is pink and black and they both look super cool! I was very exctied about the bandannas and rolled around on them a bit before I let mom put them on me (well, they smelled like my pal Tux, didn't they!).
I hoped we would go out to show off my new V-day gear, but mom was still too sick so we stayed home. Mom did a lot of sleeping on the couch and I did a lot of basking in the sun. Just when I was starting to get bored with sleeping all the time, my pal Snowy showed up. Only he was Pinkey because he was flourescent pink! He matched my new bandana perfectly! Snowy and I played like crazy pups for an hour, then we got to puppysit Snowy while his mom went to the store. It was soooooooo much fun! We ran around and played and wrestled and had the best time. Plus we went out into the yard a lot and played the peeing game. This means that we take turns peeing on the same spot. It is a fun game, but Snowy has an unfair advantage that he is a boy. Luckily he is teaching me how to pee with one leg up so my pee goes higher up.
When Snowy's mom came to pick him up, I got really really excited because I thought he was going to stay longer and I got a huge case of the ZOOOOOMIES!!!!! I ran around and around and around and around in circles, spinning out on the wood floor and sending all the rugs flying! It was a lot of fun! But then it was time for Snowy to go, and that was sad. It was fun having him over, and we had a great Valentine's day together!
My Valentine's Day was made great by two pups-- Tux (and family!) and Snowy! Mom wasn't any fun on Valentine's Day, after Snowy left she just went back to sleep. Silly mom! Hopefully she is feeling better soon!
February 13th 2008 7:15 am
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Here is a great video of a golden doing freestyle:
http://www.koreus.com/video/chien-danseur.html
It looks like my cousin Amos doing it, I think he'd love to participate in a sport like that!
February 11th 2008 7:07 pm
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This morning we went to the grocery store since mom was too sick to go over the weekend. Mom still had a fever, but it was only 99.5 degrees and she was feeling a little better. So daddy drove us to the grocery store so that he could then drop us off at work so we wouldn't have to do so much walking.
I guess Monday morning is the time to go to the grocery store if you have a dog! There were four dogs tied up outside the grocery store at 9:30 AM! I did a very good job at ignoring them all as we walked past them and into the store. We started our shopping, and mom met a very nice reporter person! He took some pictures of me (and you know how much I looooove having my picture taken!) and talked with mom for a bit. He wanted to talk with mom some more about service dogs, but mom had a fever and she had class she had to get to so she gave him her phone number and everything. I think it would be cool if he wrote a story about me!
We continued around the grocery store and in the checkout line I noticed there was a new lineup of dogs tied outside the doors. One of them was a toy breed dog that was very scared of people. Mom and I watched as someone sat down next to the dog and tried to feed it something and the dog almost backed out of it's collar trying to get away! Mom and I cannot believe it when people tie their dogs outside of stores like that, people will do all sorts of things to unfamiliar dogs and it is totally not safe. Anyway, I walked the three dog gamut out of the store and ignored all the doggies and we headed to the car.
Daddy dropped us off at school and mom went to a class and then we sorted fruit flies for our 7th graders. But mom was still pretty sick so we went home early. I prescribed lots of snoozing on the couch with me and I think it will really help mom feel better!
February 11th 2008 7:36 am
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What a boring weekend! After moving all the furniature around Saturday morning, mom succumbed to a horrible cold. She was feeling sick Saturday evening and all day Sunday. In fact, she had a fever of almost 101 degrees F on Sunday! I was pretty worried about her, but luckily she seems to be feeling a little better today. Having a sick mom surely makes for a boring weekend, though. I didn't get to do anything fun at all. Daddy went to ACE hardware and to the pet store to run some errands and I had to stay home with mom. I figured she was just sleeping so I hoped he would take me with him (pets are allowed at both those places) but he thought I should keep watch over mom. She slept the whole time he was gone, but I watched over her anyway. Mom says no matter what she has to go in to work at least for a few hours today, so I know I'll get to do something fun at least today! I hope she feels better soon, it's no fun when mom is sick!
February 9th 2008 8:31 pm
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Today mom and dad went crazy. After eating breakfast, mom and dad started taking books off the shelves in the bedroom and started piling them up where my dog bed in the living room normally goes. They turned by dog bed in the bedroom on its side so I couldn't lay down on it. Then they took all the blankets and pillows from the bed and put them on the couch! More and more stuff they took out of the bedroom and piled it up on all my favorite spots in the living room until I had no where soft to lay down at all.
The reason for all the madness was that it was time to rearrange the bedroom furniature. That's something mom and dad have been meaning to do since they got my new dog bed (really a human toddler's bed). They got the bed turned sideways, moved the bookshelf across the room, moved the desk and my bed and got all the furniture square away and then took a break for lunch.
Saleen cat was very distressed by all this change, and he kept walking around the bedroom meowing loudly! At least during their lunch break I was able to nap on the bed so I finally had somewhere soft to sleep.
In the afternoon I spent a lot of time outside sunning myself. It was such a nice day out! Mom and dad even took a break and spent time pulling weeds in the yard with me. When I finally came back inside, things were mostly put back in their place in the bedroom. Thank goodness! I like the new room layout, it puts my bed right next to mom and dad's bed which will be a lot nicer. We'll see how mom and dad like it tonight-- I bet mom will stub her toes a lot getting used to the new layout!
February 8th 2008 6:40 am
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Yesterday was such a busy day! Mom says she really owes me one for making me work so hard yesterday.
We woke up early in the morning and got all ready to go to the school to teach our 7th graders. We hadn't been to the school itself since before Christmas (we'd been doing field trips), so mom was a little rusty on the driving-- she's really not supposed to drive because she tends to get panic attacks, so the only place she drives is to the school once a week because there is no public transportation there. Anyway, it was a pretty tense ride up to the school, but we got there OK!
Today was the first in our unit about genetics. This introduction lesson was designed to introduce the students to the different types of fruit fly mutations, how to tell a male from a female fly, and get students thinking about hypotheses about modes of inheritance and how to test those hypotheses (ie is the trait dominant or recessive). When we got to the school we had to rush around and set up a bunch of microscopes, and one of the regular teachers was trying to get his projecting microscope set up as well. He was running a little behind, so when the bell rang, mom and the other fellow who teaches with her stood up and started the lesson. About two minutes into the introduction there was a loud bang and smoke started billowing from teh computer!!! I was right next to the computer, so I was kind of scared. Mom took me out of my stay and moved me over so I wasn't next to the computer. It banged and more smoke came out, so we had to open the windows and door and everything! It was very distracting for the students, but they managed and seemed to really enjoy the lesson a lot.
We went to teach our second class and they were really really good at the lesson. They had been prepped by their regular teacher with vocab lists and knew what they'd be doing so they were ready to dive in.
Finally we went to our third class of the day. This class is the class with the most behavioral issues in it, so mom and the other fellow have to make sure to keep order. Everything was going fine, the students were walking around to look at microscopes and filling out their workbooks while mom and the other fellow went from group to group making sure everyone understood everything. All the sudden I heard barking! It was one of the students, barking at me! I sat up a little bit, cocked my head and wondered why the student was barking. Mom heard it, too, though she couldn't tell which out of a group of three students had been doing it. So mom had to stop the entire class, make them all sit down and re-explain that you do not bark at a service dog! We covered how to act around me on the first day, but apparently someone forgot... Anyway, mom told the class that they needed to respect their teachers, and respecting mom meant respecting me. Then she said if it happened again, we'd stop the lesson and sit in silence until the end of the bell.
I thought mom was overreacting a little bit, but she explained that for most of the lessons, she has her back to me-- walking around from group to group and talking with the kids individually. The students are also usually encouraged to walk around to stations around the room for parts of the lesson. She has to trust that the students will not be harassing me, and while barking at me isn't really a big deal, if she let that go, it could escalate into something worse next time. Mom just couldn't take that chance.
After the lecture, the students went back to their lesson and it went pretty well. I was happy to go home, though, because even though I'm just sitting there during the lessons, I have to keep an eye on mom the whole time!
We ran home and mom fixed some lunch and made final changes on her permit application before zooming off to our regular school. I figured I could take a nice afternoon nap under mom's desk at work, but boy was I wrong! Turns out that mom needed to submit that permit yesterday, but she only had a few hours before a talk started that she needed to go to. We had to run all over the building figuring out how to do a special kind of FedExing with a return envelope, and where the departmental fax machine is and everything. At 3:55 (for a talk that starts at 4), we ran up to the fax machine and realized it only takes single sided documents! So we had to run back downstairs and print everything single sided. Then we faxed it, then ran to the storeroom to finalize the FedExing. We made it into the talk at 4:09 and the talk started just as mom sat down. Whew! That was a lot of running around, but mom got her permit submitted!
After the talk there was a departmental party outside. They had a kiddie pool with some horeshoe crabs in it that someone was using for their research-- they were pretty cool looking! Mom had some chips and salsa, and she managed to drop 3 chips on my head and salsa, too. Boy I surely do put up with a lot from mom! I was happy to head home, and as soon as I got there I fell fast asleep to catch up on such a long and eventful day. I really hope today is less busy, but it doesn't look like it will be!
February 6th 2008 7:16 am
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Mom found the manufacturer for my new wool toys:
http://www.acheerfulpet.com/
You have to take a look at their catalog, their toys are amazingly beautiful! Plus they are extremely sturdy-- I haven't even damaged one yet. I love the wool smell-- luckily mom can only smell it when she gets up close! They are machine washable, biodegradable, and made by orphans in Nepal. You've got to get one of these toys for yourself! They are super cool!
February 5th 2008 8:11 pm
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This morning instead of heading to the BART station, we turned and walked down the block to the Fraternal Order of the Eagles which was our polling place! Mom said we were going to go and vote. We walked in and were met with shrieks of "doggy, doggy, doggy!", so mom tried out her new technique. Instead of asking people who are shrieking and calling to me to please not do that, she turned to me and reminded me "Sabrina, leave it". Well, I was kind of confused because I already was leaving it! Then mom started praising me, "Good leave it, good job ignoring it!" and that seemed to make something click with the shrieking woman. She toned down her shrieking and instead of shrieking at me, started shrieking to the person next to her about me.
Luckily there was another table of polling place workers that we could check in at, so we headed over there. They looked at mom's ID and then gave her a ballot. But wait, where was my ballot?! I checked mom's hand but she was definitely only holding one ballot. Then mom told me, voting is for humans only! No fair! I am a very smart doggy, I work for a living, and the decisions that these politicians make will impact me, too! I figure that means I should get a vote, but apparently not.
So with shrieking woman following at a respectable distance, mom and I headed over to the voting booth. I figured that since I wasn't getting to vote that she'd at least consult me on her decisions-- but I was wrong! Apparently the whole idea of voting is that it is a secret from everyone else what you voted for. I told mom I could keep her secrets, that I wouldn't post them here on dogster but she still wouldn't let me see.
Then we walked over to a machine that swallowed mom's ballot and headed on our way. Maybe before the next election I can convince mom to share her ballot with me!
February 4th 2008 8:10 pm
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Look out for yours truely!
http://www.temple-telegram.com/story/2008/02/03/46809/
Mentally ill people find freedom, health with service dogs
by Tomie Lunsford - Telegram Staff Writer
Published February 3, 2008
GOOD (DOG) ETIQUETTE
Since service dogs undergo extensive training to learn particular skills, it’s important for people unfamiliar with their function to treat them with respect. The Americans with Disabilities Act provides us with these tips:
-Do not touch the Service Animal, or the person it assists, without permission.
-Do not make noises at the Service Animal; it may distract the animal from doing its job.
-Do not feed the Service Animal; it may disrupt his/her schedule.
-Do not be offended if the person does not feel like discussing his/her disability or the assistance the Service Animal provides. Not everyone wants to be a walking-talking “show and tell” exhibit.
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He uses his nose to nudge her on the leg. And he barks twice.
Elaine Jordan of San Antonio takes the cue and reaches for her pills.
Destry, a psychiatric service dog, just prevented the mentally ill Mrs. Jordan from having a panic attack.
“Service dogs are trained to sense changes in a person’s behavior and body and react appropriately,” said Joan Esnayra, founder of the Psychiatric Service Dog Society. “What a service dog does depends on the kind of help a person needs. And just like different kinds of medicine work for different kinds of people, different service dogs work for different kinds of disabled people.”
Mrs. Jordan, who suffers from post-traumatic stress syndrome, has come to rely on her Belgian sheepdog like people with asthma rely on their inhalers. Her diagnosis, she said, is linked to the death of her parents; both of them committed suicide before she was 10.
“It was in 2005 when I realized I needed help. I didn’t leave the house for five months. I talked to nobody and did nothing,” Mrs. Jordan said. “My doctors told me to learn about psychiatric service dogs and consider getting one. They thought it would help me. It did. That dog got me to function as normal as I could.”
Destry leads Mrs. Jordan through breathing exercises when she feels overwhelmed. When stressful situations make her dizzy, she gains her balance by leaning on her dog.
“He’s always there. His sole job is to make things easier for me,” Mrs. Jordan said. “He’s a protector. There’s no way I could talk to strangers if I didn’t know I was safe.”
She trusts her dog’s senses more than her own.
“I go through bouts of depression where I sleep so heavy that I’m unaware of alarms, the alarm clock, the fire alarm, police sounds, whatever,” Mrs. Jordan said. “But the dog can hear them. I can depend on that. He has a bark that means danger, and he has his way of waking me up in the mornings. If I don’t respond to his regular bark, he’ll open the curtain, and then lick me and jump on me until I move.”
New idea
The idea of a psychiatric service dog is relatively new, barely 10 years old.
Ms. Esnayra coined the term in September of 1997.
“I was newly diagnosed with bipolar disorder,” Ms. Esnayra said. “Through the recovery process, I realized my dog would get upset in my manic phases. She knew something was wrong. She just had to be taught what to do to help.”
With degrees in philosophy and genetics, Ms. Esnayra had the know-how to approach doctors and psychiatrists and ask for help in developing her theory. She said it took about a year for the term to enter the working vocabulary of mental health professionals.
“Now, there’s about 5,000 mentally ill people in the United States who use psychiatric service dogs,” Ms. Esnayra said.
Paula Pollei, president of the Temple branch of the National Association of Mental Illness, is quite familiar with the psychiatric service dog concept.
“Joan Esnayra was the one who really pushed for doctors to consider it as a legitimate way to treat mental illness,” Ms. Pollei said. “People were already doing it and researching it when she came up with the term, but it wasn’t until 1 |
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