Sabrina the teenage... female dog

Svelte-ness

Yesterday my friend Josephine came over. She said hi to me, and I was happy to see her since it had been a long while! I did get a little jealous when mom and dad were giving her lots of attention, but she gave me some happy Jojo looks so I got over it quickly!

While Josephine was here, she told me that I looked nice and skinny. So I had daddy weigh me on the Wii Fit Plus (I have my own character!). Turns out Josephine was right, I have lost one lb and weigh 50 lbs now! Yippie! That makes me happy because it means I can get slightly bigger meals again. Last time mom and dad weighed me they shook their heads and put me on a diet! That was no fun. But now I am back down to 50 lbs, though mom says probably 49 lbs would be my ideal weight, she says I deserve to be able to have an extra lb if I want one! And I do! I LOVE food!

Diva-liscious, that's me

Last night was AWESOME! My friends Auntie Sonja and Uncle Hendrik came over just to see me! Silly Ollie kept trying to say hi, but I could tell they only cared about me and not about Ollie at all. I could swear Auntie Sonja told me that they came over to see me and only me, and they didn't even really care about seeing mom or dad, or the chocolate covered cherry cake.

I said hi very nicely (unlike Mr. Ollie-monster who tried to maul them in his excitement) and then I helped distract Ollie by playing with him-- see what a good doggie I am? I helped out when Uncle Hendrik spilled some soup, I caught it nicely on my bum for him, then licked it off. Tasty treat and a helpful gesture, everyone was so pleased! Then I helped out while they played Wii. I made sure the couch was always a nice warm spot to sit on, and I made sure that Auntie Sonja and Uncle Hendrik got plenty of chances to sit close together by taking up about half the couch.

I could tell that I was the princess of the evening in everyone's eyes. Even the cats told me how wonderful I was a few times! He he, the life of a diva and retired service dog is great!

A visitor just for me!

On Wednesday I had a visitor! My good friend Jessica who is one of mom's co-workers came by just to see me. She must have really missed me a LOT! I showed her what a good girl I was, while Ollie was barking at the door I just sat there and waited. And while Ollie tried to jump on her, I just snuggled up and asked for petting nicely.

Unfortunately mom decided to hog up Jessica's time by doing some computer program thing. BORING! Apparently it is a program that helps them do their research, though, so I guess it was OK. I just sat in front of Jessica the whole time, being happy about my visitor!

After the computer stuff, Jessica ate lunch and played some Wii with mom and dad. It was so much fun! I was very sad to see her leave, and spent the rest of the day telling Ollie about how special I am that someone from the lab came just to see me and no one else!

I can paly Wii, too

Whenever daddy plays on the Wii, I make sure to help him by standing right next to him or in front of him and watching him. I have to make sure he doesn't trip or anything, you know? I don't quite trust this whole Wii thing with flailing arms and stepping on this white board thing and stuff. It just seems dangerous to me!

Well, I guess daddy is trying to make me like the Wii more, so he used the new doggie weighing feature to make me a character and weigh me in Wii Fit Plus. I was not pleased to have to be picked up and weighed, but I thought it was cool that a dog like me appeared on the screen! Now whenever dad is playing the Wii, I can be right next to him in real life, and in some of the games, too!

Wii-volting

Mom and dad got an early Christmas present from my grandma. They seem to think it is a lot of fun, but I think it is not! They keep standing around and acting like they are hitting things or something. It is scary! I run and hide in the bedroom when they start throwing imaginary things around the room. They say I'll get used to it soon, but really, who wants to? Why don't they just take me for a walk if they want some exercise?!

Post & Pastime

(by Daddy and Sabrina)

Mommy and Ollie were at work for a long time yesterday, so I was at home with Daddy. He got ready to go out, and usually that means he's going to get Mommy and my brother. I expected to go in my crate, but then Daddy got out his treat pouch and my leash, and I got sooo excited! I just knew I would get to go meet my brother!

I had trouble staying with Daddy on the walk, because I could only concentrate on looking for Ollie. I didn't do too badly, though. I wasn't worried about any barking dogs along the way, because the only dog I was thinking about was Ollie! I've gone to the BART station before to meet people, and we were walking that way, so I assumed we were going there to pick up Mommy and Ollie. But we stopped at the post office so Daddy could mail something, then we turned around. I was confused!

We stopped at the bank so Daddy could make a deposit, and we just kept heading back home. I was looking in every direction, but no Ollie.

When we made a slight turn off the usual path toward home, I got excited again. We were heading to Pastime Hardware! I love it there, because everyone there loves me, but more importantly, I've been there with Mommy and Ollie! I was sure we'd see them inside.

Seems like we walked around the whole store, but I didn't smell them, so I started to lose hope. I usually love attention, but I mostly ignored people saying hi and petting me. Once we got to the checkout, I started looking out the big windows, but no Ollie. We walked outside, but no Ollie. We headed home, but no Ollie.

Daddy thought I'd get out any excess energy on our walk, but all that looking out for Ollie got me really worked up! When Ollie and Mommy finally got home twenty minutes later, I play-attacked Ollie and got the zoomies. Fortunately, all that running around in the yard finally wore me out. I took some long naps in Daddy's lap. Maybe one day I'll learn to enjoy my walks more, instead of being wrapped up in looking for Ollie. Until then, if you see me out with my Daddy, please let me know where my brother is when you're done petting me!

I love my daddy!

As time goes on, I get more and more attached to my daddy. I still love my mom a lot, but daddy is really my favorite now! I prefer to sit on daddy's lap, I follow daddy everywhere (even into the kitchen with it's slippery floors), and I am always wanting to kiss and snuggle with daddy. When I am home with just mom and Ollie, I generally lay on the floor or in the bedroom, waiting for my daddy to come home (when I'm not wrestling Ollie, that is). When daddy comes home, suddenly I have all this energy to follow him and sit next to him all the time. It is nice having my own human that is all mine! I don't share daddy with anyone- well, except for mom, but she doesn't count because she is a furless human.

My new shake and being a fly catcher

For the last year or so, daddy's been feeding me instead of mom. Mom is easy, she always asks for me to do the same thing before giving me food. But daddy often asks me to do different things, so I go through my repetoire of tricks as fast as possible! Sometimes I do it two or three times! Yesterday morning daddy asked me to shake. Sometimes he wants me to shake with my right hand, and sometimes with my left. So I figured I'd hedge my bets and shake with both hands at the same time! Daddy thought it was hillarious and gave me my breakfast.

After breakfast I spent most of my day catching flies! It's been really hot lately, so mom and dad have kept windows open and the window fan in. There aren't many bugs here in California, so noone has any screens on their windows. But apparently there are some flies that got in because of the open windows and such! I guess it was a lot cooler in our house than outside, so they came in to try to hang out. Well, they didn't get to hang out for long! I caught three flies yesterday-- it took a while of stalking the flies, and several false starts when I didn't catch them. But eventually I did it, I rid the house of flies!

My friend Josephine!

This morning mom and dad took just me for a walk, and left Ollie behind in his crate. I was SO excited to be out without my silly brother, it is a lot less stressful when I don't have to worry about him.

We walked through the park like usual, and up to the Asian Mall near our house. Soon I saw my Auntie Sonja! I LOVE Sonja, she is super nice to me and we love to hang out. I don't get along so well with Jolanda (we tend to argue about Ollie), but Josephine and I have tolerated each other well in the past. Mom was a little worried when Josephine came up to say hi, but then she realized that I was doing all my play behaviors! Without Ollie around I didn't have to worry about him, so I could interact better with my FRIEND Josephine! We sniffed butts and I tried a few times to initiate some play. JoJo said she didn't feel like playing, but she said it in a nice way so I didn't feel bad. Then she peed and she let me pee on top of her pee. It was a lot of fun!

I was sad when we had to turn around and come back. Apparently mom and dad just had to pick up a computer that they had loaned to Auntie Sonja-- we are re-borrowing it because Dad drowned his computer, but soon we will be able to re-re-lend it again hopefully!

Playing with Ollie

Yesterday Ollie and I had a lot of fun! We spent the morning wrestling http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0zCSGprF5Y, and then I took a long nap while Ollie got his hair cut. Boy am I glad I am not a poodle! That does not seem like fun! Though I have to admit I was a little jealous of all the time he got to spend with mom and dad up on that grooming table.

After his haircut, we went outside and wrestled a lot more, mom got some photos even! It was a lot of fun! Sometimes having a little brother can be worth it! Especially when you get lots of fun playtime!

I was pretty tired after playing with Ollie so much today, so I spent the evening sleeping on the couch between mom and dad. I was so tired that I didn't even mind when Saleen came up on the couch and laid right on top of me! Dad says Saleen is very stupid, that he didn't realize he was laying on me! I just sighed and thanked my lucky stars that cat butts don't smell bad!

I am a princess, I am!

On Friday morning, mom took me for a walk and she took along my food! I was a little confused, until we got over to Metro Dog! I got excited as we got nearer, they treat me like a Queen there! I practically pulled mom into the place, and greeted everyone with a lot of butt wiggling and kisses! The person behind the counter didn't know I was coming today, and I've only been there once before, but still she recognized me right away and was so happy I was staying with them!

My stay at Metro Dog was like heaven. I got three walks a day all by my self (without that silly Ollie always stealing my spotlight), plus I got 30 min a day of playing tug! I even got extra snuggles and cuddles whenever the stuff walked by. I got loads of treats and I felt like a pampered princess!

Yesterday night when mom came to pick me up, I was very happy to see her, but also kind of sad about leaving my pals at Metro Dog! When I got home, I saw Ollie who looked like he'd been run ragged over the weekend-- boy am I glad I got to relax instead of getting all hot and tired and worn out!

Wasp in my mouth!

Today was nearly a perfect day. Mom was feeling ill both physically and mentally, so we just all stayed home and hung out in the yard. Mom and dad did a little bit of laundry, and dad was puttering around in the garden while mom read a book in the sun. I enjoyed relaxing and sunning myself, too! It was the best kind of lazy, sunny, and relaxing day for me-- now that Ollie is around, I can lay off my alerting duties somewhat and let him take over.

So the day was going perfectly until this insect came and started buzzing around. I like to catch insects for fun sometimes, so I waited until the perfect opportunity-- and I pounced! All the sudden my mouth hurt a LOT! Ouch ouch OUCH! I spat the bug out, and dad came over and saw it was a wasp! I was very sad about it and hid underneath the bench mom was sitting on for a while.

Silly wasp, ruining my perfect day! Luckily I am feeling lots better now, and am playing with Ollie and having a good time.

I'm so neglected!

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!

I am the rally DIVA

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!

Rally star

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!

Speed painting

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!

Feeling more peppy

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.

I'm smarter than Ollie!

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!

Visitors in the house

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!

The torture of paw wax

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!

My portrait is done!!!

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.

Psychiatric Service Dog Society Gathering news

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!

If only I could be a cow

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!

Retrieve

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.

My couch

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.

Equal access for Psychiatric Service Dogs!

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!

Davis and Folsom Lake

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!

PSDS t-shirt, or how to be a photoshoot star

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!

Happy birthday to me!

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!

House guest

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!

Metro Dog

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!

Portrait progress!

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!

Strawberry Creek

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!

Daddy's famous!

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.

Walk with Josephine and Jolanda (and Ollie, of course)

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!

I'm famous!

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.

Working again?

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.

Sketch for our new painting by Kathryn Beals!

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!

Why won't anyone play with me?!

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!

Doing my job

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.

The queen of the hardware store

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!

A visitor just for me!

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!

Ugh, that puppy!

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.

Ouchie!

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!

I met Josephine and Jolanda!

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.

Psychiatric Service Dog Society swindled out of $5,000!

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

Snowy!!!

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!

Now it's my hip, not my knee

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.

A strange park

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!

It's finally warmer out

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!

I'm such a good pup

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!

How short am I?

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!

I dressed up as Santa Paws!

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!

Bully sticks galore!

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.

Hey Jealousy!

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!

Brrrrrrrr!

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!

Who gets the case again?

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!

Baby shower!

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!

My new Piggy toy!

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!

A busy day!

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!

I won a piggy toy!

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!

Happy Thanksgiving!

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!

Trot-trot trot-trot trot-trot

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.

Running like a nutcase at the lake

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!

Intermediate obedience week 5

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.

I miss my Saki

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!

Sleeping in with daddy

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!

Training with Daddy is so fun!

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!

I wanna go, too!

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!

One-- Happy retirement!

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.

Peeing in handstands

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!!!

Playing with Ollie-Man

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!

Showing off my stuff

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.

Two

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!

Three

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.

Catching flies

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.

Four

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.

A very nice day

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!

Five

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.

Playing with Ollie

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.

Pros and cons of working

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.

Back to work

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!

Ooooh, my mouth hurts

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.

Third day in a row to see the vet

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!

I don't like the doggie dentist

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.

My tooth hurts

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.

Folsom Lake and protecting Ollie

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!

A full day at work

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.

Watching out for Ollie

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!

What about my mat?

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!

Snowy is the best

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.

Taking care of mom

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!

Visiting my pal Kathryn

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!

I get to keep my teeth!

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!

Last week of Intro Obedience

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!

Daddy is HOME!!!!

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!

American Idol wannabe and the Mailman

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!

Who, me? and a BART layover

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!

An old friend

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!

Two at a time

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!

Failblog.org

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!

Doggy intro class week 5

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!

Daily diary pick!

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!

Twenty degrees difference

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!

Snowy is my bestest pal!

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!

Doggy class week 4

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!

We must have brought the weather home with us

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!

Back from vacation

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!

Taking mom on vacation

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!

SURF's up

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!

Errands

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!

Week two of "intro obedience"

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!

Pedigree dogs exposed

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!

Daddy's gone crazy

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!

Happy birthday mom!

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!

BAK TO SKOOL

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.

Mom's comments on proposed ADA changes

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.

A big attention day

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!

Please submit comments!

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.

I love Snowy!

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?

Visiting at the grocery store

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!

Guide on the stairs and pinwheels

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!

Sick again

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!

Hearing dog on BART

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!

The bed is all mine!

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!

Meetings shmeetings

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!

I wanna see Snowy!

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!

A cold day at work and a really good tugger

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!

Getting some lovin' at work

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!

Sleeping the day away... or not

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!

Not feeling so well

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!

Back to work

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!

Having a brother is good for my figure!

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!

By Daddy: Why Certification of Service Animal Teams is Not- Best for Persons with Disabilities

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.

Snowy, I miss you!

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!

An exhausting day at the lake and Davis

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!

The beach!

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!

I look like Baby Puppy!

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!

What, queen Sabrina, do tricks on command?!

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!

What a day!

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!

Ollie's learning come

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!

Braille stickers for business cards

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!

It's a three day weekend!

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!

Tearing up the garden

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!

Nopuppy can replace me!

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.

Everybody wants to be just like me, I'm naked and famous

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!

Smokin'

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!

It's not fair!

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!

Hot hot hot at the lake

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!

Snowy!

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!

The good and the bad of my new puppy brother

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?

840 miles in 26 hrs!

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!

Give me a bath!

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!

Working in Davis

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.

Snowy: The Energizer Poodle

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!

Work, work, work

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!

Last day with the students and a trip to Davis

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!

A rainy day at the lake

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!

Exam and Award ceremony

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.

102 degrees-- HOT DOG!

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.

Puppy smell

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!

Puppy shower!

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!

Graduate Research Symposium

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!

Mt. Diablo

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!

Untying a knot

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!

Archaeology is cool!

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!

Puppy pictures!

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!

54 hours without mom!

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!

I am NOT being abused!

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!

Busy busy busy!

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!

Lupines!

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!

A day in the field

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!

Psychiatric Service Dog article

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

Daddy ran my agility class, and Earth Day

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!

Boring boring boring

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!

Dentist and a dog in the post office

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.

Hot agility class!

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!

The real Bing Cavy

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....

BART elevators

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!

Strange encounters of the crazy-cat kind

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.

Snowy Snowy bo bowey, Banana fanna fo fowey, Me my mo mowey,- Snowy!

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!

Tagged!

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!

Puppies!!!

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!

Agility season at last!

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!

My birthday celebration

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!

56 year old and a famous dad

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.

Going incognito

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!

New items on PSDS website

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!

Zzzzzzzzzzzzz

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...

Wildcat Canyon!

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!

Doggies, doggies-- everywhere!

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!

Garden pictures

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.

Gardening

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!

Holiday Traditions

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

Daily diary pick!

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!

Loads of petting and a gear malfunction

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!

Eco-friendly list for Future Pup

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!

Dinner is not dinner unless it's at home in the yard

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!

Where's that tripe going?!

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!

Doctors visit

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!

Eco-friendly toys and bed

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!

Poop in my crate!

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!

Quoted in the NY times!

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!

The mystery of history!

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.

The last of the fruit flies and a party!

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.

Skinny Minnie!

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!

A good snooze

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!

Meat, meat, meat!

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!

Wool octopus!

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!

"The Complete Standard Poodle" by Eileen Geeson

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!

CRASH!!!

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.

An upsetting day (for mom at least!)

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!

Something for the file

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?

New videos!

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!

A day off with coyote urine!

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!

Valentine's Day!

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!

Great Freestyle video

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!

The doggie parking lot

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!

Sick mom

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!

No where for me to lay down

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!

What a day!

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!

Wool toys!

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!

Voting!

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!

Article on PSDs

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.

---

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 1997 that people started to hear about it.”

Public awareness of psychiatric service dogs is just now beginning to grow, Ms. Pollei said.

“It’s been a grass roots effort to get the word out,” Ms. Pollei said. “Part of that’s because of the stigma that comes with mental illness.”

Within the last three years, though, Ms. Pollei said she’s heard of more mentally ill people wanting to use service dogs and more doctors suggesting it.

“I don’t know of anyone in the area who uses one, though.”

The Psychiatric Service Dog Society provides consumers and health-care providers the information necessary to start PSD treatment on its Web site, www.psychdog.org.

Success

The Psychiatric Service Dog Society routinely receives letters about from mentally ill people whose service dogs have allowed them new freedoms.

“They’re stories are powerful,” Ms. Esnayra said. “And heart-warming.”

Veronica Morris, a bipolar woman from California, said she owes her independence to Sabrina, her psychiatric service dog.

“Until I had my service dog, I (couldn’t) utilize public transportation by myself or go to a new place alone,” Ms. Morris said. “I can still remember the first time I took myself to a strange hotel in the middle of a new city. My mother was delighted - I was able to function like a ‘normal’ member of society.”

After about a year with Sabrina, Ms. Morris said her family realized how dysfunctional her prior behavior was.

“My parents are finally getting to know their ‘real’ daughter for the first time,” Ms. Morris said. “Sabrina gives me life - a life that I would have otherwise missed-out on.”

Shanna Hollingsworth has an autistic son who has also gained more independence through the use of a psychiatric service dog, a.k.a. Magick.

“Magick is valuable medicine for my son,” Mrs. Hollingsworth said. “She can locate him on a moment’s notice. She leads him, as would a guide dog for the blind. When he has an ‘overload moment,’ he has learned to sit on the floor and hug his Magick.”

This time-out of sorts is part of a therapy called “Deep Pressure” that’s often administered to autistic children.

“It calms them down from a frantic state by providing them a single focal point,” Mrs. Hollingsworth described.

Her son’s mobility has also improved.

“Being guided by his service dog seems to give him a sense of direction,” Mrs. Hollingsworth said. “He no longer crashes into commercial displays and shelves. He walks through the store like an average person. “

In case studies, the Psychiatric Service Dog Society reports that service dogs can prevent autistic children from repetitive, obsessive behaviors by diverting their attention elsewhere.

It’s a phenomenon Mrs. Hollingsworth has witnessed.

“Continuously flapping your hands on your face seems harmless enough, but it makes it harder for the child to make friends,” she said. “Magick has helped (my son) to get away from behaviors like that. He’s getting along well with the other children.”

Magick as also helped his person to refrain from sleep walking, grinding his teeth and experiencing night terrors.

A Newfoundland able to pull 2,000 pounds, Magick is able to lead the Hollingsworth boy out of emergency situations.

“It’s help my son will need,” Mrs. Hollingsworth said. “I have witnessed him during fire drills; he becomes frenzied and cannot coordinate his mind or body properly. Having a dog like Magick will help him to evacuate. It’s valuable task that will provide my son a safety net into adulthood.”

--Email Tomie Lunsford at tlunsford@temple-telegram.com

Knot-a-Collar

When mom and I got home from work today there was a package in our mailbox! I could tell just by sniffing the air that it was for me before mom even read the address label and I started waggling my rear end like crazy! It turns out it was a package from my pal Meridian and her pack! I had mom open the package for me since she does have opposable thumbs and I figured that would be a little faster. Inside was the Ruffwear Knot-a-Collar!

It is a super cool collar that if I get it caught on anything or anypup while playing, it will loosen itself so I won't get strangled. It is the perfect color for me, too-- purple with grey interwoven! Mom put it on me right away, and I love it! It seems like it is lightweight and won't bother me very much so we can leave it on all the time. After I got done admiring my new look in the mirror I looked around and saw there was another collar in the envelope! This one was a size smaller and green. It fits me, too, so I told mom I would be happy to have two new collars! Mom says that one is for future pup, but I think that future pup would want me to make sure everything they get is in working order so I say that it is allll mine until future pup gets here!

Info about my future brother or sister's parents!

Mom got an email from the breeder today! The parents of mom's future pup-in-training are a black male poodle who has his Canadian and UKC championship. He is 26 inches tall and thinks he is a lap dog. The mom is a silver poodle who is a mobility assist dog and is 24 inches tall. Mom and I are soooooooo excited! They should be doing an ultrasound in 4 weeks to see if the breeding took, yippie!

Conservation Biology Conference

On Saturday (which is supposed to be my day off!), mom woke me up very early, fed me my breakfast and told me to go potty in the yard. But it was all cold and rainy, not very nice potty weather! She kept telling me to go potty but I figured I would just hold it and wait for a better spot. We actually had to run a little bit to get to the BART station because mom and dad were running late. As I was rubbing the sleep out of my eyes I remembered that we had a conference on conservation biology in Davis to go to, and mom was giving a talk... Hmmm, long trip to Davis, maybe holding it wasn't the best idea?!

It was so cold on the platform waiting for the train! And then when we got to the Amtrak station, it seemed even colder and windier! Luckily the train came pretty quickly and we hopped on. We had met up with a friend who teaches 7th graders with mom, so we found some seats and I slept the whole train trip. I was tired, and I wanted my sleep!

When we got off the train I had to go really badly, so we found a nice patch of grass. I went pee, but it was still cold and rainy so I decided to wait until later on to go poop. We hurried down the street and found the conference building. I saw a whole bunch of my friends at the conference! I really really really wanted to say hi to them all, but mom told me that I was working and I had to ignore them! How unfair! I woke up early on my day off and came all the way out here, but still I didn't get to visit with anyone because we had to hurry to go see the talks.

Normally I like to sleep a lot during the day. When mom has classes and things, I usually get about an hour or so nap in each room, and I can get a pretty good dream into that time period. So we went to the first talk, I laid down and started to fall asleep... But 20 minutes later the talk was over! Mom grabbed our stuff and we rushed off to another room for the next talk. That kept happening all morning long! It turns out there were talks going on in 3 rooms at once and so we had to skip around to the different rooms to catch the ones we were interested in. Boy was that tiring, and I never could get a good nap in the morning. Also, by the end of the morning mom was getting very anxious about her upcoming talk so I had to stay awake and keep my head on her knee to calm her down.

At lunch time I got another chance to go potty, but it was still too wet for me to poop. I also got to visit several friends so that made me a little happier! We went to a panel discussion and I did get some uninterrupted sleep there, and next we rushed over to one of the talk rooms and mom started to get really really nervous.

I was getting pretty restless by this time, it had been a long day for me and I was cold, wet, had to go poop, and wanted to say hi to all my friends (more of whom were arriving to listen to mom's talk). There were two people talking right before mom, so I laid down and went to sleep. When it was mom's turn, she got up and put me in the front corner of the room just like she did for her practice talk, and just like she does every time she teaches (which is a lot!), and told me to down-stay.

Mom started her talk and it sounded like it was going pretty well. Mom started to relax some more and I figured I would relax some more, too. My mat was rather lumpy so I got up and started digging at it to make it into a more comfy pile. For some reason, mom thought that was distracting (I was staying in the same place, I tried to tell her!) so she told me to down-stay. But now my mat was really uncomfortable so I got up and tried to dig at it again. At that point she made me go and lay with daddy (about 15 ft away)! I was very embarrassed because I had interrupted mom's talk, and I could tell she was mad at me, so I laid down and was extremely good for the rest of her talk.

Luckily, no one really seemed bothered by my antics, and mom got loads of great quesitons and several people came up afterwards to talk about mom's research. Then we had one more longer talk to go to (the Keynote) and we were free!!!! As soon as we got outside I told mom I NEEDED to run around and get rid of some of my energy, and I needed to poop! So mom took my vest off and I ran around like a crazy pup for a few minutes. Whew! I needed that! And I finally found a dry spot to go poop.

We went to dinner at a Thai place, and then went to the co-op while waiting for our train. We eventually got home at about 9PM and I was sooooooooo tired! I slept all day yesterday (well, except for some fun play-times with mom and dad!) to make up for it.

A more convenient way to scratch your ear

You know how it is when you have an itch on your ear... You balance on three legs, lift up one of your rear legs, and scratch away. But sometimes this can be difficult, and as you have to maintain your balance, you often don't get as intense of a scratching experience as you might like.

Well, today I figured out the perfect solution! I was wrestling on the bed with daddy and got into the position where I was standing up but daddy's head was right underneath my bum. This way I was supported from below by daddy's head! So I took advantage of the situation and got in a nice long ear scratching. It would have been better, only daddy's head started shaking because he was laughing too much. I'll have to get him to practice some more so that I can scratch my ear in peace!

Rear Window Captioning

Last night mom, dad, Snowy's parents and a few friends of Snowy's parents went to see Sweeny Todd at the Cerrito Speakeasy Theater. It is a super cool theater that serves food during the movie! They have couches and chairs and regular movie seats, too. They also are extremely friendly for people with disabilities! They have two systems at the theater, Rear Window Captioning and descriptive listening.

Rear Window Captioning is a way for just one person to see subtitles on a movie in a way that is not distracting to those sitting nearby. There is a LED display mounted underneath the projection booth that shows the subtitles in a mirror image. People who want to see the captions request small reflective screens, and you adjust your screen so that it captures and reflects back to you the LED words which are now right side around.

It was sooooo cool! Mom usually has problems with movies and the TV (well in regular life, too, but you can't get closed captioning when you're hanging out with friends!)-- mom doesn't think it's a hearing problem as the volume seems OK, it's more of a comprehension problem. Like trying to tell where one word stops and another word starts. Anyway, with this system mom was able to go through the whole movie without having to ask daddy what someone just said! It was very cool.

It truely was a personal captioning system as daddy couldn't even see the words unless he leaned right over into mom's space. The only drawback is that it took mom about 5-10 minutes before the movie started to adjust the thing so that it reflected well for her, so if you get this system arrive to the theater early! They show test captions so that you can adjust as needed.

In the future sometime mom and dad want to try out the descriptive listening feature. This feature has a headset that you wear, and a narrator describes action taking place on the screen for people with visual impairments. Mom and dad don't have problems telling what's happening on the screen, but they want to see what types of things the narrator describes. But from now on, mom will definitely be requesting the captioning system when we see movies!

The movie itself was pretty good I guess, though I slept through most of it! Mom and Snowy's mom love Johnny Depp so they had a lot of fun!

Another dog breed quiz

And here is another quiz that I like! Wow, so many cool quizzes-- wish I had known about these when I was trying to choose a breed.

http://dogtime.com/matchup/question/1


Here are my top 5 breeds:

* Flat-Coated Retriever
The Peter Pan of retrievers is known for its sense of humor.

* Golden Retriever
Smart, good-natured, and eager to please, the Golden Retriever excels as a family companion and working dog.

* Poodle
Beautiful, sophisticated, and intelligent, the Poodle stands out in the crowd.

* Labrador Retriever
The sunny, smart, and hard-working Labrador Retriever is America's favorite dog.

* Doberman Pinscher
Noble and athletic, the Doberman Pinscher is a courageous guardian.

Again the poodle comes up high in the list. Also the flat coated, golden and labrador retreiver were in mom's top choices, too.

This website also has a good description of the breed, for example see the poodle description.

Dog breed quiz

Mom and I found a new dog breed quiz that we like a lot! It has lots of good questions for you to answer, and then in the summary page it tells you why the breeds that weren't a top match to you didn't fit with your answers. Here is the test:

http://www.k9country.com/perl/dogBreed.pl

And here are mom's 100% matches organized by group when mom didn't select the easiest to train dogs:

Hound Group
Basset Hounds - Match!
Black & Tan Coonhounds - Match!
Bloodhounds - Match!
Harrier - Match!
Ibizan Hounds - Match!
Pharaoh Hounds - Match!

Non-Sporting Group
Bulldogs - Match!
Poodles (Standard) - Match!

Sporting Group
Pointers - Match!
Retrievers (Chesapeake Bay) - Match!
Retrievers (Curly-Coated) - Match!
Retrievers (Labrador) - Match!
Spaniels (Clumber) - Match!
Vizslas - Match!

Working Group
Boxers - Match!
Portuguese Water Dogs - Match!
Rottweilers - Match!


We think that's a really good tool! The breed mom is going to get next is a standard poodle and we were a 100% match with them. Mom's runner up breed was the Aussie and mom was worried about the coat-- that's what this breed selector said would be the problem with them for us.


When mom took the test again, this time saying she only wanted very easy to train dogs (which is really what mom wants in her next service dog, we got the following two breeds as 100% matches:

Poodles (Standard) - Match!
Retrievers (Labrador) - Match!

So it's looking like mom made the right decision in choosing a poodle!

Meeting my students!

Today was our last day of taking the 7th graders for museum tours. All eight classes of students came to the museums, but mom only regularly teaches three of those classes. Today two of mom's classes came for tours so these were all students that mom and I see weekly and know well.

Mom and I did the herbarium tours today and I was really happy that all of mom's students were all really well behaved and they seemed to enjoy the herbarium a lot! I think the student's favorite part of the herbarium tour is going into the stacks and finding plant specimens themselves that have ethnobotanical uses.

After giving two tours, it was time to go outside for a snack and for the students to have some time to run around and get their energy out. I had to go potty, and the students were all calm so mom took my vest off and let me meet my students! I was soooooooo happy to finally get to say hi to them! I licked a few of their faces and did a bunch of waggley butt moves for them! The students were all soooooo happy to pet me, too! It is hard for both of us because they want to pet me and I'd love for them to pet me, but we can't do it when I'm working. Yeah for being off duty! A few of the students even took pictures of me, and of course I posed very nicely for them.

I also got to get some pets from a few people in the herbarium between and after the tours. So it was a petting-full day! I think that is good payment for having to be on my feet for all those tours all day.

When it was time to go home, it was raining sooooooo hard! We walked to meet Snowy's mom at her car and I was soaked, brrrrrr! So now I am happy to be home and I plan to sleep under the blankets for a long time tonight. I guess that means it's OK mom has a lot of work to do-- I just want to catch up on my rest!

Baby it's cold outside!

I wish it would warm up around here, this is supposed to be California for goodness sake! It seems like it never stops raining and it is cold all the time, too. Luckily it only gets down to the upper 30s or lower 40s at night, but it doesn't get much warmer than the mid to upper 40s during the day! So it's just cold all the time and very wet, too.

Plus I am very bored because mom is super busy with work and school stuff. Seems like she is on her computer typing up lesson plans, fellowship applications, and making presentations 24 hrs a day. I wish I could press the fast forward button and zoom forward to the end of the semester already-- then it would be nice and warm and mom wouldn't be so busy!

I guess the positive side (if there is one!) is that all this working meant that this afternoon mom worked on her presentation for her upcoming talk and was able to do that at home. I got to sleep all afternoon underneath a blanket with a heating pad! Now that was more like it!

Tagged!

I've been tagged by Droopy! I have to write 5 Valentine's wishes in my diary, so here goes:

1. I wish that mom and dad would give me all the treats they got at the dog show RIGHT NOW!!!!

2. I wish that my pals Saki and Snowy lived with me so I could play with them all the time.

3. I wish that my new brother or sister will be as cool as Snowy and Saki are.

4. I wish that it would stop raining!

5. I wish that the kitties would give me their dinners every night.

Paws-Up Etiquette Review

Here is the very last activity, a review of what we have learned in the Paws-Up Etiquette Activity Workbook:

1) A shop owner tells you that dogs are not allowed. You should:
a) Smile and inform the owner that your dog is an assistance dog and not a pet. Calmly inform the owner about the relevant laws.
b) Yell at the owner; sternly tell him that he is violating your civil rights.
c) Ignore the owner and keep shopping.
d) Leave the shop immediately.

a. Well, actually I would say "service dog", point to Sabrina's vest and continue on my way. Then if the owner still was not happy I would provide them with a flyer about service dogs and a copy of state laws.

2) When you are at a mall, a child runs up to you and starts petting your assistance dog without asking. Describe your response:

I put out my hand protectively in front of Sabrina (before the child gets there), look at the child in the eyes, smile and say "Please don't pet her, she's a working dog".

3) At the supermarket you should:
a) Supervise your dog closely
b) Ensure that your dog does not touch food items
c) Make sure that your dog is safe
d) All of the above

d.

4) When you are in a restaurant your dog should be:
a) Lying under a table
b) Out of the way of aisles
c) Quiet and unobtrusive
d) All of the above

d. You should also make sure your dog isn't licking the floor or trying to get crumbs! And in my case, you should be careful not to drop your silverware on your SD-- poor Sabrina, that happens all the time!

5) Summarize in your own words relevant federal, state and local laws that pertain to assistance dogs in places of public accommodation:
State laws include psychiatric service dogs and all forms of SDITs. In order to get state protection in CA you need to have the state issued service dog ID tag. There are fines/jail time for purposely injuring a service dog, and fines (and jail time) if someone allows a pet dog to injure a service dog. Federal laws covering my public access rights include the ADA and the Rehab act. These do not give fines or whatever if you deny access, but you can sue people if they deny you access using these laws.

6) List the clean-up supplies you need to have with you when working with your assistance dog:
I carry in Sabrina's vest poop bags. I also usually have water with me. I don't carry napkins or hand sanitizer or anything because Sabrina's never had an accident inside a store and I don't think it's likely that she will have one. If she did have an accident in a store I would have to ask for cleanup supplies, but I would clean it up myself.

7) There is a mishap. Your assistance dog vomits in a mall. You should:
a) Clean it up with your supplies and leave immediately.
b) Clean it up and keep shopping.
c) Take your dog home as soon as possible. If your dog is ill you may need to take him or her to the vet.
d) A and B
e) A and C

e. Though as I don't carry cleanup supplies with me, I would have to ask for some.

8) Describe 2 ways you can help ensure your assistance dog behaves appropriately in public situations.
Proof your dog so that they are used to obeying you even when super crazy things are going on around them. Train them so that they will listen and obey to you no matter what they are seeing or hearing around them.

Watch your dog's body language. Dogs don't generally misbehave without warning, there are usually signs that your dog is too stressed out for a situation or needs to go to the bathroom or whatever. Watch your dog and let them communicate their needs to you, and then be responsible for those needs by removing them from situations where they are not comfortable, allowing them extra potty time, or even doing a mini-training session to reinforce working around a new distraction.

Lots of treats and toys, all for me!

Today something very different happened. Mom and dad got all ready to go, but instead of getting me dressed they told me to get into my crate. So I went a laid down in my crate and took a long long nap. I was woken up a few hours later to mom and dad arriving back home with a big bag that smelled soooooooo delicious!

Turns out mom and dad went to the Golden Gate Kennel Club dog show at the Cow Palace! I was pretty worried about mom and gave her a good sniffing over when she got home to make sure she was OK. Mom told me that there were definitely some hard times what with all the crowds and people and all, but luckily there were a lot of dogs around. When mom was starting to blank out or started breathing really fast, she said they'd just ask to say hi to some doggies and they would help calm her down. Apparently a good face washing by a Saffordshire Bull Terrier or Boston Terrier will help anyone feel loads better!

Mom and dad said it was really good that they got to go, and they got to meet a lot of wonderful poodles of different colors. They even saw one poodle in a corded coat! And they talked to a few breeders about the breed and figured out that they are sure my new sibling will be a standard poodle.

Plus, the best part about mom and dad going is that they brought back a ton of stuff for me! They brought back free samples of Evo, Ziwi Peak, freeze dried Nature's Variety, other freeze dried raw foods, and a couple of other high quality kibbles to use as treats for me. They got coupons for Nature's Variety, too. They bought me some elk jerky and some buffalo jerkey. And they found a lot of super cool wool toys for me, too! I didn't get to play with them all today, but they got me an octopus, a snake, a ring pull toy, a ball and a ball with little woolen cilia on it all made out of 100% wool! I got the ball with cilia today and mom took a couple of pictures which I hope she'll post soon.

To cap off the day, mom found out that the breeder for my new puppy sibling just mated the parents of my future brother or sister. That means they should be born at the end of March! So soon! The puppies will be black and silver.

A very long and very wet day!

Whoever said California is warm and sunny all the time was sorely mistaken! It has been raining every day for the past week or so, and it looks like it will be raining every day for the forseeable future! No fun!

I was hoping that due to all the rain we might have a day off yesterday, but instead we worked even more than usual! We left the house early, walked 10-15 minutes in the rain and then hopped onto the BART train. When it got to our stop I tried to get mom to get off, but she told me we were going somewhere else. I still tried to get out when the doors opened at our stop, though-- I figured we should just get to work where I could sleep in my nice warm and dry bed!

Instead we got off at the Ashby station and mom managed to get herself turned around so we were lost for a little bit. Eventually we found the Berkeley Bowl supermarket where we were headed. Mom had to bring snacks for her lab meeting so we went around the store getting fruit, cheese and stuff like that. The store was sooo empty! We've never been at opening time on a Friday morning, I guess that's the time to shop! There were probably only about 20 to 25 other customers in the entire store!

When we left the store we realized that we had just missed the bus back to campus, and that the next bus didn't come for another half an hour. Well, it is a half an hour walk back to campus from the Berkeley Bowl so for some reason mom decided it wasn't raining that hard so we'd just walk it. It was fun at first, I didn't mind the rain too much as it was just sprinkling. However, the longer we walked, the harder it rained! By the time we got to mom's building, I was soaking wet! My coat was also very wet, though I stayed dry underneath. I was happy to get inside and lay down on my fluffy warm and dry bed, but I didn't get to stay there for long!

We went upstairs to have lab meeting, where I got to see my pal Martha who lives in Oregon now. I miss Martha, she is such a good petter! She smelled like doggie, and it turns out she has a doggie now, too! And her doggie is here on dogster! Yippie!

I slept through lab meeting, and enjoyed some off-duty time afterwards when everyone gave me lots of loving. Then mom had another meeting about the fruit fly experiments she's planning for her 7th graders, and then we went to the only class that mom is taking this year. The room was totally overcrowded! The room could hold about 15 people and over 30 probably showed up! Usually I get to lay on a mat in front of mom's chair, but in this case we were lucky to find an empty chair and mom made me curl up underneath the chair because people needed to sit on the floor where I would normally sit! After that class we had a short break and then I thought we were going to go home. We walked outside and saw my friend Kathryn! And she had her parents with her, they were very very nice! They came all the way from Canada just to meet me! Or at least, that's what I think!

We had a soggy walk to a local Indian restaurant and then I got to sleep while they ate. It sounded like they had a lot of fun, and I know they were talking about me quite a bit! I didn't mind, though, I was so tired I was happy to have a nice dry place to sleep.

When it was time to go my coat had almost gotten dry, but it got all wet again as soon as we stepped outside. We walked to the BART station and hopped on the train. A bunch of students were sitting in the seats reserved for people with disabilities, but there were three open seats in the seating area where four seats face each other, so mom and I went to sit there. We met a very nice lady who asked if she could pet me and I was sooooo happy to have a break! Even though I was in the midst of getting some loving, I still remembered that I had to tell mom when our stop came up, and that impressed everyone around us. Just one more wet walk back to the house, and I could finally be off duty!

I ran around the house rubbing my face and body on every surface available, then I brought mom her medicine so I could eat dinner, and then I flopped down on the couch, sighed loudly and asked to be covered with a blanket to get some much deserved rest!

I hear I'll be getting a lot of rest today because mom and dad are going to the dog show and they're not taking me! That's OK, I don't think I'd really like the dog show anyway-- too many other dogs around would mean I woudl have to watch out for all of them and that would be very tiring!

The bone room, free yogurt and maple syrup!

Today has been my day food wise! Mom and I headed off early to school because we were giving tours to the 7th graders again. Mom and I were leading one group of students around to the different museums instead of doing a museum demo to lots of different groups, and we started out in the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. For those of you who don't regularly read my diary, this Museum has the best room ever in the whole wide world! It is called The Bone Room, and it is floor to ceiling shelves with narrow aisles filled with bones! It smells soooooooo wonderful in there that mom has to remind me pretty often that I am not allowed to take big giant sniffs of the air when I am working!

Unfortunately I wasn't allowed to take a souvenier from the bone room today (but I'll cross my paws that it will happen in the future). But mom made it up to me at lunch! The students get to sit at tables for lunch, but there isn't enough table space for all the chaperones to sit at a table, too, so they sit around in chairs and eat off their laps. Mom brought yogurt and had set the lid of the yogurt container on her leg. You might remember that lids of yogurt containers often have little bits of yogurt on them! Well, mom was talking away and the lid slipped off her leg and landed right on top of my nose, yogurt side down!

Normally I am pretty darn good when it comes to ignoring food dropped on me since mom is rather clumsy. But this was a yogurt lid dropped right on top of my nose! I looked around and saw that mom did not notice my predicament. I thought about what to do and decided that I needed to get the lid off of my nose, but that I might as well take a lick as I did so! I peeked around and saw mom wasn't watching and quickly stuck out my tongue for a taste. Yummmmmmmm! It was mom's special mix of goats milk yogurt, frozen berries and maple syrup. I looked back up and mom and she still wasn't looking so I closed my eyes and took another liiiiiick! All the sudden I heard a bunch of laughing. While mom wasn't watching me, some of the other fellows had noticed my antics! Mom was not very pleased with me licking the yogurt lid and told me so, but everyone else thought it was hilarious. I figured mom owed me one for making me go into the bone room and not letting me take any souveniers home!

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. After getting the students back on the bus, we hung out in our lab for a little bit and then went to see mom's advisor give a talk. Then we headed home. When we got there we saw a big package on the front steps. Mom was excited because it was her maple syrup, maple sugar and Working Like Dogs book from Amazon.com. We took the box inside and mom opened it up--- and noticed that it was rather sticky! One of the maple syrups had cracked open and there was maple syrup all over the inside of the box! Mom took the box to the kitchen and cleaned off what could be cleaned off, then took the box outside to the trash. But the box left maple syrup puddles on the ground! I was very happy when mom called me over to help her clean up the floor! Remembering my manners, I waited until she pointed out each specific spot and told me I could "take it". Yummm! It was really tasty, I hope the next box arrives with broken maple syrup so I can get some more of that stuff!

The Business of Being Born and no power!

Yesterday afternoon we met up with some friends to go watch The Business of Being Born. It is a documentary about the options that a woman has in childbirth. How she is treated by hospitals, midwives etc.

We showed up at the movie theater, then went inside to wait in line for food (this is one of those movie theaters where you can order food delivered to you while you watch the movie). The line was snaking around and opposite us was a woman with a 4 year old child. The woman told the little girl not to pet me, and everythign was fine. Then the line moved foward but the little girl stayed where she was. When she thought mom (my mom, not hers-- hers was about 10 feet away in line) wasn't looking she tried to reach out to pet me. Mom put her hand protectively in front of me and said "Please don't pet her, she working" at which point the litttle girl turned around and started bawling! Mom felt so bad! She explained to the little girls mom that she had just asked the little girl not to pet me, and the little girl's mom said it was OK, but I was very worried about the screaming little girl! Luckily she stopped crying pretty soon.

We went into the theater and watched the movie and it was good, or at least mom and dad say it was good! I slept through the whole thing pretty much. Apparently it showed a lot of births in hospitals, at birthing centers and in people's houses! Some people even had giant tubs that they were having their babies in. Mom was worried that all the screaming might bother me, but there was actually not a lot of screaming at all! It was a very nice movie to watch, and it didn't seem like having a baby was as scary as mom thought it was. After the movie, some people stood up and answered questions.

When we got home, I was all full of energy from my nap and I ran around like a maniac in circles on the carpet. I love the zoomies! Mom likes it when I get them, too, she says I look really cute-- but she wasn't too happy yesterday when in the middle of my zoomies I decided I wanted to jump on mom! I scratched her legs and pushed her over onto the couch! Oops, oh well, you can't help it when you get the zoomies, you know!

After I brought mom her medicine for dinner time, mom and dad were divvying up some meat for the next week and all of the sudden everything went dark. The power had gone out! So mom and dad had to finish cutting meat in the dark (well, with candles). Then mom read some harry potter to dad before we all went to bed.

Ouch!

Today I had to go to the vet again for another round of acupuncture with the best vet in the world, Dr. Karen Rettig of Alternatives for Animals. While she is the best vet in the world, last time I was there she put one of those needles in my knee and it hurt a lot! There was a lot of traffic getting out there, and I was hopeful that we would miss our appointment, but no such luck. We walked into the waiting room and I started to get nervous. Then when Dr. Rettig opened the door to the waiting room to call us back, I tried to head for the door outside! But when mom told me to, I went reluctantly into the exam room.

Mom, dad and Dr. Rettig talked for a while and then Dr. Rettig felt my pulses. I was still a little nervous, so mom gave me treats to calm me down-- yum! Then it was time for the needles. I tried to hide, but no such luck! We got through my regular points just fine, even my kidney points-- those don't hurt me so much anymore since I've been getting acupuncture in them regularly. Then we got down to my leg and I started getting really nervous! Dr. Rettig was getting closer and closer to my knee (where the point hurt so much last time)... Mom held my head so that I couldn't whip around and try to get in the way or anything and Dr. Rettig put the needle in. OUCH! I tried to turn my head real quick and look at what was causing me so much pain, but mom's nose was in the way-- WHACK! I whacked my big thick head right into mom's nose. She said it smarted a lot, but it didn't look any more intelligent to me, only redder!

After the needles were in, I started to feel really good and I fell right asleep. Dr. Rettig talked with mom and dad about all sorts of really cool things (Dr. Rettig knows so much about nutrition and natural products and stuff!) while I dreamed away. Then when I was done with my needles and we were heading out the door we stopped by the scale. I weighed 55 lbs 4 oz-- I lost one more lb since I was at the vet's office last month! Go me! I still need to loose about 1 more lb, but no problem! I bet I'll bet all trimmed up by my visit next month. Then I cat eat a lot more food! (or so I hope).

There was a lot of traffic on the way home, and mom read Harry Potter out loud to dad during the drive while I napped in the backseat. After grabbing some tacos we headed home (no tacos for me, though) and now I am sleeping away, feeling nice and relaxed after my acupuncture. I surely do hate getting it done, but I always feel so much better afterwards!

More tours!

Yesterday was another tour day! There must be something about tour days that means I have to encounter off leash dogs in the morning-- yesterday morning there was a dog running around off leash near the BART station! To be fair, I think the owner was trying to catch them, but still mom and I had to deal with the dog.

After we got into school, we went straight to the herbarium and set up for the days tours. This group of students was a lot smaller and better behaved than the group we had come through on Tuesday! Mom and I led herbarium tours all day, and we had a lot of fun with it. Half of the students who came yesterday were students that mom and I teach regularly so it was nice to see them and get to show them cool stuff!

Mom had to get a little more work done after the tours were over, so I took a nap that wasn't long enough and then we headed home. We had to stop by the grocery store to get some ingredients for the apple cherry cake mom made last night, and while we were in the store some of the people who worked there were talking about someone else who brought their yappy puppy into the store with them. They were really upset at the yappy puppy but were very nice to us. It makes mom and I so mad when people try to sneak their pets into places where pets aren't allowed. It makes it harder for people with real service animals when pets go into stores and create a ruckus.

When we got home, I took a nicely deserved nap on my new bed while mom made cake. I stayed asleep for a long time until I heard a noise in the garage! I woke up with a start and ran around raising the alarm! For some reason mom wasn't very happy with me raising the alarm, and I found out why in a few minutes when daddy walked in the door. I gave daddy my best "I'm so submissive" look and rolled over to show him my belly so he didnt' think I was barking at him! Mom and dad called me a silly dog, but you know sometimes it's hard to tell who is outside when you're woken suddenly from a deep sleep!

A very good dog

That is me! Today I was such a good doggie! Even though mom wasn't feeling well, we had to go in to lead tours for our 7th graders of the museums on campus. Mom and I were waiting outside with a few of the other fellows for the school bus to drop the students off on campus. I was in a sit stay and all the sudden there was an off-leash doggie behind me sniffing my butt! I stayed in my sit while mom yelled at the owner of the dog to call his dog and told him that he shouldn't let his dog approach a working dog without warning like that! It is someone that this has happened before with a couple of times, that makes mom soooooooooooo mad!

Anyway, the school bus pulled up shortly afterward and the students got out. Today instead of leading three sets of herbarium tours, mom led the same group of 11 students around to three of the four museums. We started out in the Essig insect museum. After walking around the museum we sat down at a table and I fell asleep while the students learned about the insects. All of the sudden there was a whole bunch of screaming! I halfway got up, thinking there was some sort of emergency going on, but it was just the students screaming at the giant Hissing Cockroaches from Madagascar that the person leading the tour was getting out (they are her pets). There was also a lot of noise when she brought out the live walking sticks, too!

After we had lunch, our next museum to visit was the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology. This was about the hardest museum I've ever had to visit. The beginning wasn't so bad, there were loads of cabinets of specimens, like in the herbarium. Except here the specimens were dead animals! They smelled pretty good, but I behaved myself and was able to ignore them. That is, until we went into the bone room!

Let me tell you, doggies, you haven't lived until you have been inside a bone room! It is exactally what it sounds like-- floor to ceiling shelves full of bones! They smelled delicious and oh-so-chewable! There were big ones and small ones and bones from all types of animals and all parts of the animals, too. Now normally I am pretty good about not sniffing when mom tells me to, even when we are passing a particularly nice smelling garbage can. But this room, I just couldn't contain myself! I walked in and took a sniff-sniff-sniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiif and thought I'd gone to doggie heaven! But soon I found out that I was in a doggie torture chamber because I was not supposed to sniff and of course I couldn't taste any of the bones on the shelf! I told mom that she had better not let me in that room when I'm off duty because I just might not be able to help myself from having a little chewing fun on one of the whale skulls or something!

After the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology we took the students outside for a snack and a break, then we went to the Museum of Paleontology for our last tour of the day. We saw lots of fun smelling stuff that was millions of years old, though of course I couldn't actually sniff it or anything like that.

I was pretty tired at the end of the day, and so was mom who was still feeling not so hot. Luckily Snowy's mom picked us up and dropped us off at home, where I took a long nap while mom read some more Harry Potter. I had lots of good dreams about that bone room!

It's been a while

Sorry it's been so long since mom let me write in my diary! Mom's been really sick for the past couple of weeks, so I've been extra busy taking care of her. She's got a fun new symptom where she feels like spiders are crawling on her so every once in a while she jumps up batting at the spiders on her skin that aren't there. I think this is hillarious and come over and investigate and try to sniff out the spiders, but the cats run away and hide under the bed when this happens! That's been happening for the last couple of weeks in addition to mom not feeling so good, and now mom's having a high pain time so I am keeping busy.

Since I last wrote I've played with two mini-poodles-- my bestest pal Snowy, and my new pal Marley! Marley is a silver-beige poodle, he is almost the same color as me! We went to a Thai restaurant together (we sat outside) and had a good time. We only got one good picture of the two of us together, and hopefully mom will get around to posting that sometime soon!

We also went to Folsom Lake to look at mom's plants. Since it's rained so much, there is now more water going back into the lake and mom got a good picture of me standing over a small waterfall of water. I'll get mom to post that picture soon, too.

Other than that, we've been staying home a lot and cuddling on the couch, watching movies and reading books out loud to daddy. I'm looking foward to mom feeling better soon!

Herbarium tours

Today was a very big day! All week mom's been planning the activities with the other fellows in her GK12 program. 55 of our 7th graders came to the UC Berkeley campus to tour the 4 museums: The Jepson Herbarium, the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, the Museum of Paleontology and the Essig Insect Museum. Next week two more groups of 55 7th graders will come, then one group a week for the two weeks after that.

Today mom and I were in charge of the herbarium tours. We greeted the students and then talked about how plants come into the collection. After they are collected and pressed in the field, they are dried in a drying cabinet and then put in a big walk in freezer that is -20C. The students loved the freezer! Then they got to see a plant being mounted. After talking about the Herbarium for a while, the students were then given index cards that had scenarios on them where the students were assigned a disease or illness. For example, one group got a toothache, another group got a sore throat, another group got cancer etc. Then the students had to go through the herbarium and find the plant specimen that would treat or cure their disease or illness and fill out a worksheet using the herbarium specimen and the online resources the herbarium offers.

Luckily, all the students were able to cure themselves, and they even had time to look at the largest seed (the double coconut) and the widow-maker pine (coulter pine) that is so heavy and spikey that it can kill you if it falls on your head in the forest!

After three smaller groups of kids came through, mom and I were pretty tired! I was happy to have a rest, and now that I'm home I've got lots of playing to do to make up for all the time I had to sit still and be good!

A new bed!

Today we got a new bed for me! Mom and dad have been talking about it for a while, and they found the perfect one on craigslist. It's an Ikea Vikare toddler bed! A toddler bed is the perfect size, plus it is raised up off the floor so it is a little warmer, but not too high so it is easy to climb into. This particular toddler bed is as wide as a twin bed, but about 2/3 of the length so it will actually be a good size for me to share with my new doggy sibling when they come!

After we got the bed assmbled, we had to go to Ikea to get some sheets (since it is an odd sized bed we had to get the Ikea sheets). It was sooooooooo crowded! Mom was having a hard time with all the people in the store, but eventually we made it over to the kids section to get the sheets. We tried to take a breather so mom could pet me and calm down, but little kids kept coming and staring at mom and I so we had to move to another section of the store. Then when mom was ready we went to wait in the loooooong long line. Luckily we got to go to Pet Club afterwards as a treat for me (well, and we needed crickets for the gecko). Unfortunately, it was low cost vaccination day there and the place was mobbed with Christmas present puppies! The line was really really long, but I was such a good girl that the cashier gave me two really big treats! Yummola!

I thought we were headed home for sure after that, but we had to stop by Target to get a mattress protector. I tried to tell mom and dad that I don't need a mattress protector-- I am a very clean doggy! But they said the new puppy might need one so I figured it would be OK to have one on the bed. While we were looking at them, two nice ladies stopped and asked mom if they could ask her about me. They were so so nice! It was about the nicest way anyone's ever asked mom questions about me! So mom and I were happy to answer their questions, and I was happy to go on a visit and get loads of petting! Turns out one of the ladies has a friend who has been trying to get a service dog so we gave them lots of information. But mom forgot to tell them to read my May 28th diary entry that explains the steps involved and avenues one can take in getting a service dog. Mom is looking forward to the person contacting her, we love to help others out getting the service dog they need!

When we got home, I had mom and dad put the sheets on my new bed, then we sat on it together and mom read some Harry Potter out loud to us. It was very comfortable! I can't wait to go to sleep in the bed tonight, I know it will be loads more comfortable than the bowl chair that I had been using as a bed!

Soaked to the bone

Yesterday there was a huuuuge storm, and mom once again demonstrated that I am much smarter than she is. You see, I told mom first thing in the morning that it was just too rainy and windy for us to go to work, but she said she had a meeting that she had to attend. She bundled herself up in rain gear, and then put both my winter service coat on and an additional rain jacket on over that! I was happy about it, though, because it surely was wet and windy and miserable out there!

After getting all ready, we walked outside and mom started going down the steps of the house. I, however, stayed on the porch. I looked at mom and tried to tell her that going out in this mess was not a good idea, but do you think she listened? Of course not! So I sighed and followed mom down the steps.

As soon as I got out from under the porch I was pelted by giant raindrops and pushed around by storming winds. We trudged along, trying to get to the BART station, but for some reason mom found it necessary to use her umbrella. It kept flipping inside out and back rightside again and mom nearly lost hold of it several times! Good thing I can heel well without mom holding onto my leash because she was fighting with the umbrella with both hands for most of the way! Eventually she gave up and put the umbrella away.

I was relieved to get to the BART station and on the train, but as we moved along the tracks I heard strange crunching noises and we were going really slowly. Apparently there were lots of branches on the tracks and we were running over them!

While I was happy not to be running over sticks anymore when we got off the train, I was a bit worried about what would happen when we got off the train! Luckily mom realized it would not be a good time to use her umbrella so she didn't even get it out as we exited the train. We got to the corner of Center and Shattuck where we had to wait for the light to cross the street and it was super extra windy! I was even having a hard time staying upright when all the sudden a big wind gust came and knocked mom over! Thank goodness there was a pole right there that mom was able to grab a hold of.

As we walked closer to campus we started to hear the sound of rushing water, and after crossing Oxford street we saw the reason why-- Strawberry Creek was overflowing! The stream had jumped it's banks and was now making a new side spur around a few redwood trees! The roar of the water was very very loud, and there were several maintenance workers trying to get the stream back on track. We took a detour from the path (since we were already soaking wet) to see other parts of Strawberry creek which had loads of frothy waterfalls all the sudden!

When we finally got inside the building, mom and I were pretty well soaked. My back stayed dry, but the wind kept whipping up the back of my jackets so my rear was wet, and my hood wouldn't stay on so my head was wet, too! Mom's meeting ended up being cancelled, and she was in too much pain from jalapeno burns on her hands to be able to clean seeds like she needed to. So after a half day we decided we'd better get home before the storm got any worse!

Back on with the layers of rain gear and fighting through the wind we got back to the BART station. The train we were on stopped just outside our station and waited there for a while. Eventually the driver announced that there were trees on the tracks ahead and there was already a train in our station, but that we'd pull in behind it so we could get out. We surely were lucky that we left early so that we were able to get off at our station!

Luckily the rain let up a little for our walk back to the house and boy was I glad to be back inside! I curled up on the couch under a blanket with mom while she read a book and I fell right asleep. I was so happy to be toasty warm. I heard the news mom was listening to and I guess it was a pretty big storm because 5 semi trucks were blown over on the Richmond bridge and it was closed all day! I hear we are supposed to have another storm coming through, so I hope we stay home the rest of the weekend and stay warm and dry inside!

All wet!

Yesterday morning when we left to go to the grocery store (which was conveniently closed yesterday when we really needed to go there!) mom and dad kept looking at the sky and talking about big storms. I thought they were being silly-- it was a beautiful day, warm and sunny! Plus, it doesn't storm here on the coast! The water was still wonderful when we went into the grocery store (which by the way was being guarded by two dogs tied up outside-- one of whom was practically strangling itself to try to get at me, and I looked at the dogs, then looked back at mom and walked inside like nothing was happening!).

The grocery store was extra crowded and the lines super long, so by the time we got back outside the weather had changed. All the sudden it was grey and cloudy and when we were walking to our car it started to rain! Dad dropped us off at work and we ran inside without getting too wet.

So you would think what with all this concern about the weather that mom would have remembered to perhaps pack something like a doggy rain jacket, or my cold weater (and waterproof) service dog coat to keep me nice and toasty... Well, she didn't! We have to walk 10 minutes to get to the BART station, then walk 15 minutes to get from the BART train to our house normally, and judging by the looks of things as we stood behind the door of the building, we were going to get very wet doing it!

So mom took my pack off and put it in her backpack because she didn't want everything inside to get wet, zipped up her coat, ducked her head (because she had also forgotten an umbrella or even a hat for herself!) and we headed out into the downpour. She told me "working" and even though I didn't have any vest on or even my headcollar I stayed in perfect heel all the way to the BART station. Mom was very proud of me for that, because she doesn't often ask me to work without my vest on as a reminder that I am working!

When we got to the BART station, I was sopping wet! Mom tried to wipe me off a little before putting my vest on (we like to be clear when we are in places dogs aren't allowed that I am a service dog), but pretty soon my vest was absorbing the water on my coat. Oh well, at least it didn't get sopping wet!

I was very happy to see when we got off the BART train that daddy was waiting for us with an umbrella! But mom reminded me I was working so I didn't try to say hi to daddy (this is something we've been working on-- it's very hard for me to ignore daddy when I haven't seen him for a while!). Luckily mom took my pack off to get in the car and then I was able to lick daddy's face and tell him hi!

It hasn't stopped raining at all since yesterday morning, so I really hope that mom is prepared and brings a nice coat for me, and an umbrella or hat for herself today!

Feline Wishes and Caviar Dreams

Yesterday morning after my bath, mom and dad put me in my crate and left!!! I was so surprised, as they were getting ready to leave I kept waiting and waiting for them to put my seatbelt or vest on, but they never did. They said they were going to the cat boarding facility, which is the one place I'm never allowed to go into. I tried to tell them that I love kitties and that I wouldn't hurt any of them, but mom and dad seemed to think that just me being there would scare some kitties. So I sighed and went into my crate-- I know my Willow-cat wouldn't want to see another dog in her boarding place no matter how well behaved that dog was while she was there, so I guess other kitties might be the same.

I took a nap and when I woke up the kitties were home! I sniffed them all over excitedly and asked them how they liked their vacation. Willow ran under the bed saying "They're out to get me! I was nice and comfortable and then they came and shoved me in that little box and took me in the car! Ack, run hide!". But pretty soon she came out and the kitties told me all about their stay.

Apparently the place they stayed, Feline Wishes and Caviar Dreams was really really nice. The kitties told me that they were able to eat their raw food in peace-- no one at this boarding facility was disgusted by their diet, in fact they were interested in it! Plus, they said the rooms were huge and there was a high up alcove that Willow liked to hide in and use to spy on all the other kitties and humans walking down the hallway. The place was very clean, and there was someone there 24 hrs a day so they didn't feel lonely. Saleen even said he'd like to go back and hang out in their kitty jungle gym some more! I was pretty jealous, it sounded like their vacation might have been even better than mine! No fair!

Oh well, maybe next year if the new pup is trained enough by Christmas to take my place I'll get to stay in as nice of a place!

A looooong plane trip home

On New Year's Eve, after eating lunch we headed to the airport. We couldn't get a direct flight home (usually we only fly direct) and our flight was supposed to connect through Chicago. We arrived at the airport at 2PM Charlotte time, and our 4PM flight was indefinately delayed. We got onto a flight that connected through Las Vegas, but mom and dad couldn't get seats next to each other and had both been assigned to sit in the middle seat. The stewardesses were very nice and when they saw where I was sitting, they let mom and I sit in the one empty seat in first class. Even though it was wierd sitting with daddy somewhere else on the plane, I enjoyed the extra room in first class for that leg of the trip. The flight was supposed to get us to Vegas at 10:30 PM Vegas time (1:30 AM our bodies time). Mom does very badly at night, gets extremely cold and nauseous so I hoped our short hop up to Oakland would get us there before anything bad happened.

Unfortunately our flight leaving Vegas was delayed and didn't leave until 1:30 AM Vegas time (4:30 AM my body's time) by which time mom was already having uncontrolable shakes. Luckily we had time to let me use the bathroom in Vegas, though! The person who was supposed to sit next to us on the plane had a coniption fit about how dogs shouldn't be allowed on planes, and so the stewardesses had to do a last minute seat change for this lady which didn't help mom to relax!

Mom fainted three times on the flight from Vegas to Oakland and was nearly sick as well, but we finally got to the baggage claim area around 3:30AM. As we were walking to the baggage claim area, some person with a pug they had carried on the plane on our flight decided it would be good fun to let their dog "say hi" to me. Mom was nearly falling over and relying heavily on daddy's arm to stay upright and on me to keep her walking in a straight line and all the sudden this pug runs up and gets right in front of me, making it so I had to swerve into mom to avoid stepping right on the dog! The lady was saying something that sounded like "oh look how cute he wants to say hi" and then the pug started barking at me. I ignored the dog (well, except for moving out of it's way) and mom told the people it was rude to let their dog distract a working dog (usually she tries to be nicer, but she wasn't in any mood to be nice right then).

Of course our luggage didn't go on the carousel so dad had to figure out where it was while I laid with mom on the floor who was shivering and nauseous. We found that since our bags had been marked with United tags and we had been put on a US Air flight that our bags were taken directly to the United luggage room and locked up. But that room "doesn't open until 9AM" (even though they had opened it to put our bags in!). Dad spent the next 1.5 hrs trying to convince people to open the room to let us get our bags out and we finally got our bags at 6AM, marking 16 hours of time at airports or in the air. That is entirely too long!

Thank goodness our Taxi driver liked dogs, and we got home at 6:30 AM. Yesterday mom was very out of it, and I slept for nearly 24 hours straight-- I even missed dinner time (but that might have been because my body clock was so messed up from not getting any sleep that night)!

All in all, it was a good vacation, but I am very happy to be home and I hope that we only fly direct flights during the day time in the future!

12/30/07- More trains again!

On the 30th we did something else with trains! Charlotte has a new light rail system that dad wanted to ride, so we drove to the station and took the light rail into the city. This LYNX as it is called is really neat, but I have to say that their seating is not very service dog friendly! There is only one bench of seats on each train that has room for a service dog to sit comfortably in front of, and there is no seating reserved for people with disabilities or the elderly. Plus, there is a bike storage spot in the wheelchair space so you can either have a bike or a wheelchair on the train- but not both! Other than the seating, it was a pretty nice train. More bumpy than BART but it was still fun to ride.

When we got to downtown Charlotte, we went to the Mint museum of Craft and Design. This is art that is made out of fiber, wood, ceramics and other less common materials. It was a pretty cool museum, even though one of the pieces of art looked enough like a real dog that I had to look at it for a while before I believed mom that it wasn't real! Charlotte wasn't as nice as Cincinnati in that the LYNX driver had to be told about service dogs, and several people who worked at the museum did, too. But at least the parents all told their kids not to pet me so I didn't have any petting problems! And once we explained service dogs nicely to the museum people, they were OK with it (though they did seem to follow me around a lot more than they followed other groups of people!). But we still had fun!

Then we visited a museum that told about the history of Charlotte. They even had a little train display, but it was broken. I learned a lot about Charlotte, how it turned from a Cotton town to a banking town! And we learned a lot about the civil rights movement, too.

Then we took the LYNX train back and went home where I took a nice long nap. After dinner, we watched the 5th Harry Potter movie, which was a lot of fun!

12/29/07- A second Christmas!

When I woke up on the 29th I was very excited to get out of the bedroom and visit the magic treat closet! After mom and dad showered, we went to the kitchen and I saw dad's parents dog, Snickers. Snickers is very old-- he is about 17!!! We are pretty good pals, though we don't really play together or anything. Mom was a little worried because Snickers is now deaf and blind, so he runs into things a lot. But he is very very active! He spends most of his day walking around the house, checking all the nooks and crannies out and sniffing where everyone is and what they are up to.

It was kind of strange at first, that Snickers must not have been able to sniff me! Mom put me in an out of the way corner on my mat and eventually Snickers came over and ran into me. I just looked and him and he backed up and walked by me. Since my pal Saki is blind, I am used to doggies not being able to see very well so it didn't bother me very much. Snickers ran into me about 5 or 6 times that day!

After breakfast we went to the grocery store and got back right when dad's brother got there. I like him, he is very nice to hang out with! Then we got to have a second Christmas! This time mom and dad didn't have any presents for me, but Snickers had gotten me a bag full of treats-- yum!!! I gave him a recycled fleece dog toy that he seemed to like a lot! I really wanted to play with it, but mom and dad said that it was his and I would probably tear it up so I never got to even try. Oh well.

We spent the rest of the day hanging around and talking, and I fell asleep during the movie that they watched.

12/28/07- SAKI SAKI SAKI SAKI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On the 28th we spent the morning with mom's parents hanging around, then we packed up and went to the airport. This time we were flying only a short distance-- to Greensboro, where we would rent a car and drive to my dad's parents house.

The flight was pretty boring, but afterwards instead of going to baggage claim we went outside. I sniffed, and sniffed again..... and I smelled something familiar. I thought, could it be??? No, it couldn't, I hadn't seen my best pal Saki in so long that I thought I was smelling things that weren't there. But mom took off my vest and as we walked across the parking lot I sniffed it even stronger! And then, there he was.....

SAKI!!!!!!!!!

I was soooooooooooooooooooooo happy to see Saki, I hadn't seen him for over a year! And I was happy to see his mom, too-- I miss having them around! Saki recognized me right away and we sniffed each other all over and started telling each other all about how we missed each other and what had gone on in the past year. Daddy went to get our baggage and Saki and I were just in heaven seeing each other again. We sat in the car with Saki and his mom for about an hour, catching up on everything, but it was late and mom and dad still had to drive to Charlotte in the bad rainstorm that was going on outside. We drove to the rental car place, and they had a nice area outside where Saki and I got to run around together. I miss Saki sooooooooooo much, I was very very sad when it was time to go. I wanted to spend my whole vacation with him!

Luckily, mom and dad and Saki's mom were talking about Saki and his mom coming to visit us in February! That would be soooo much fun, I told Saki he should stay with us the whole time, even when his mom has to go and do things in other cities. Saki said that would be a lot of fun, yippie!!!

Then we got into our car, and I was very sad and looked as morose as possible at mom and dad as we drove away. Mom read some Harry Potter out loud to dad while he was driving when the rain wasn't too bad, and eventually we arrived at dad's parents house.

I was very happy to see them and wanted to rush over to the magic treat closet right away-- the magic treat closet works like this. You sit down and do things like spin around or look really cute in front of the treat closet. Then dad's mom comes over, opens the closet, and gives you a treat! It is the best thing ever, and I wish we had a magic treat closet in my house! Soon after arriving, we went to bed-- I smelled daddy's parent's dog Snickers but didn't see him that night because he had already gone to bed.

12/27/07- More trains?!

On the 27th we went to the Cincinnati Museum Center. I've been to the museum center before, it's something that we do often when we visit mom's parents. Since it was the holidays, they had a model train display in the basement-- but first we went through the History museum to get there. The history museum was very interesting! When we first walked in we saw a model transit layout of the entire city, but how it was a hundred years ago or so. It was very cool to see all the buildings that are still standing today. They had model trains and trolleys going around the display, too. Plus they had canals in Cincinnati (they even had a model pig taking a bath in the canal!), and three funiculars! It was a very cool exhibit! Transit it a big part of the museum because the museum itself is located in what used to be a giant train station that was built in the 1930s-- it's a very cool Art Deco design.

The rest of the history museum was cool, and they even had a model steamboat that we spent some time on. Finally we got to the holiday train display, which was a lot of fun. They had a camera on one of the engines so we could see what it looked like to go around the track as a model train! Mom and her dad had a great time seeing the model trains, and I liked it, too. Plus, I didn't get any drive-by pets! Parents all over were telling their kids as soon as they say me that I was a helper dog and that they weren't to pet me. It was so nice that I was in a place full of kids, but they all respected me and my job enough not to bother me!

After seeing the history side of the museum, we went upstairs to the old control tower that used to run the giant train station! Nowadays the Amtrak train stops at the station, and there is a big freight yard behind the station so we got to see a lot of trains from the control tower. They even had a big thing on the wall that had lights for all the trains and where they were in the yard! I liked being up there, the only problem was that they had a big train bell you could ring and the kids enjoyed ringing it as loud as possible. So after we got tired of hearing that we went back downstairs and saw the Science and Natural History side of the museum. We didn't go into the bat cave, but we did walk through a glaciar and saw a recreation of a bunch of animals that lived right after the ice age. There was a giant sloth, wolves and lots of other interesting animals. Plus there was a small display on dinosaurs, too!

We were pretty tired after all that museum visiting, so we headed back out to the car-- BRRRRRRR! It was soooooo cold outside! I was happy to get in the car and get warmed up, and also happy to take a nice nap when I got back!

12/26/07- Model trains

When we got up on the 26th, mom's dad was alredy getting out loads of boxes that had what looked kind of like toys in them. There were lots of small thin black things that they were hooking together and making a bunch of loops and stuff on the floor. Then they put little toy trains on these black things (which are called tracks) and hooked up something so that the trains went around on their own without any human pushing them!

I've seen displays of model trains before, but they are always off the ground and behind glass walls. These trains were totally different! Plus, they kept accidentally running off the tracks, or since they had a bunch of switch tracks, the trains would run into each other sometimes. It was all very exciting but also worrisome! I wanted to make sure the trains wouldn't leave their tracks and come chasing after mom or me! First mom told me to lay in a corner of the room, but I wanted to be more involved. The train tracks had several large loops for humans to sit in to operate switches, so then mom and dad put me sitting in one of these loops. I liked sitting here because I could keep a close eye on those trains! It was a lot of fun, and mom and her dad kept talking about how they used to do this every Christmas (and loads of other times of the year, too!) when mom was a kid.

In the afternoon we went to some lumber stores and also to a garden center to do some errands and everyone was really nice about me. I love visiting Cincinnati because no one ever says anything at all about me, and apparently they can read vests, too, because they also didn't try to bother me!

Christmas Day!

I woke up on Christmas Day very excited! I wanted to rush upstairs and open my present right away! Mom and dad took showers first, though, and when they were done mom's sister and brother-in-law were awake and ready to open presents, yippie!

Mom and dad got me a christmas loofah dog that had one squeaker and one grunter in it. Mom took it away, though, because apparently in the store they had only noticed the grunter and not the squeaker. Mom said the squeaker was too loud for someone else's house, so I was only allowed to play with it in the basement (where we were sleeping). Mom and dad got lots of fun things, including some cooperative board games which I know they really like!

Mom and dad also got presents for my cousins Amos and Midnight (mom's sister's dogs)-- they got much better presents than me! Amos got a nice loud squeaky christmas tree, and Midnight got a Cuz! I love Cuz toys, they are soooooo loud and fun! They squeaked it a bit to see what it sounded like and boy did I want to run over and get it but mom and dad wouldn't let me-- no fair!

The rest of Christmas was pretty fun, I wore my fleece sweater of course because it was so chilly in Ohio, but I enjoyed laying on my mat and listening to all the laughing and talking going on. Plus, when it was bedtime I got to play with my new toy in the basement where no one could hear my squeaking! That was loads of fun!

Christmas Eve!

On Christmas Eve I woke up, sniffed around for the kitties and remembered we had dropped them off at the boarding facility the day before. That meant we were going on a trip!

Mom and dad finished throwing things in the suitcase, then off to the BART station we went. Like usual, I got a little antsy around the time of mom's normal stop, but this time I figured out due to the suitcases that we weren't getting off there so I didn't try to make mom get off the train!

After taking the bus to the airport and checking in and everything, we finally boarded the plane. This trip I had mom bring my favorite Warm Feelings Blanket. I love this blanket because it is a warm wollen blanket, but it was knitted so that there are small holes all over it for ventilation. This means I can be all covered up and toasty warm, but still see out! Mom put my mat down under the seat in front of her, then put the blanket over the two of us. I slept pretty much the whole plane ride, but near the end I wanted my head out of the blankets. A few of the stewardesses saw and said they hadn't even noticed there was a dog on the plane! They all were very impressed and said that I was the best behaved service dog they'd ever had on their plane before, which made mom and I very proud!

When we got to Columbus I was happy to see mom's parents! I like them, they are such nice people! We got in the car and drove back to their house. But I noticed that it surely was cold in Ohio! Brrrrrr! I was happy to get my fleece sweater on and I didn't want to take it off, so mom and dad let me sleep in it that night.

"Doggie Santa Claus!"

After lunch today mom and dad got me all ready to go and then put me in my crate while they chased down the cats and put them in their carriers. I thought maybe we were all going back to the vet like we did the other day, but as mom and dad loaded all of us up into the car I saw them put in a whole bunch of kitty meals all cut up. We drove into the city and to a place called Feline Wishes, Caviar Dreams-- it is a cat boarding facility!

I had to stay in the car while mom and dad took the kitties in. Mom said something about while I am OK with cats, the cats int he boarding facility might not be OK with a dog coming in. After all, they are on their kitty vacations and I don't want to scare them because they're already probably pretty scared!

Mom and dad were gone for about 15 minutes, and when they came back they seemed very happy-- apparently the people there were really excited that the kitties eat the raw food diet and they seemed way more competent than the last place we boarded the cats.

Then we drove over to Union Square to do some last minute Christmas shopping. I love going to Union Square because most of the shops are doggie friendly which means I get to go into stores off-duty! This is the best thing ever because it means everyone can pet me as much as they want!

Today I knew I'd get a whole bunch of pets because I mom had packed my Mrs. Santa Claus outfit! It is a red dress with white trim and a black belt. I also had my green christmas bandana on. We walked down the street and lots of people pointed and stared and smiled at me. Usually when people are pointing and staring it is annoying because I'm trying to work, but this time I was expecting people to do it so it was OK! And since I was off duty I got to say hi to a lot of them, too!

First we went into LUSH, which is a fresh made cosmetics store. The smells get all up in my nose there, but I like it because all the people who work there love me! I got to do a paws up on the counter to say hi to the cashier and everyone said they loved my outfit! Then we went to Macy's where all the little kids were pointing and smiling at me. I pranced around, enjoying being such a fashionable center of attention!

As we left Macy's mom and dad stopped to buy some roasted chestnuts. While we were stopped, a group of kids (and their parents) came by and the little boy who was probably about 4 years old started shouting at the top of his lungs "Doggie Santa Claus!!! Doggie Santa Claus!!!" He was soooooooooooooo excited! We walked by them, and were soon stopped by another little boy who asked if he could pet Doggie Santa so I was giving him licks when the other family caught up to us. The little boy who had screamed about me so much was so happy to see me! He must've thought I was the real Santa because he whispered what he wanted for Christmas in my ear! He had a brother in a stroller that I got to say hi to, too-- I liked him because his face had crumbs on it and I was allowed to lick them off! Yum!

After saying goodbye to the Doggie Santa Claus yelling boys, we headed across the street to eat the roasted chestnuts. Even more people stopped to say hi and many cute little kids were amazed by my outfit. The crowds were getting to be a bit much, though, so then we got back in the car and headed home. I did convince mom and dad to stop by the pet store so I could show off my Santa outfit one more time, and I weaseled three treats out of the cashier with my cuteness!

It was a very fun day, but it was very quiet when I got home without my kitties! I will miss them, but mom and dad said they'll have a great time on their little vacation, just like we will on ours!

A smokey house

Last night mom decided to make some quick microwave brownies using a recipe she's made a dozen times before. Now to all my four-legged friends out there, we all know that when a non-night owl human decides to start cooking something past 10PM that there is bound to be some sort of problem. Silly humans don't seem to realize that their brains stop working after a certain time of the night!

So I tried to warn mom that she shouldn't try to cook this late at night, but she didn't listen to me so I laid on the couch and watched as she successfully mixed all the ingredients in the proper proportion (yay!). She put it into a microwave safe dish, so I thought her brain was actually on, and turned on the microwave. Nine minutes later, instead of warm gooey brownies, there was smoke billowing from the microwave and an awful smell filling the kitchen!

Mom ran into the kitchen and opened the microwave to see her brownies were on fire! Smart as she is, mom figured the best way to solve this problem would be to put the smoldering brownies into the fridge. She opened a window and the door and turned the oven fan on full blast but she (and everyone else in the house) was soon pretty uncomfortable from all the smoke. The cats retreated to the bedroom to use the boxes under the bed as an air filter, but I was having too much fun watching the scene unfold to give up my place on the couch. I laughed as mom re-read the recipe and noticed that she was supposed to microwave for 9 minutes on 50% power, not full power-- oops!

Then mom seemed to realize that setting something that is on fire inside the fridge is probably not the safest thing in the world, so she opened it up and smoke came billowing out of there, too! On the positive side, there were no more flames-- but the brownies were still smoking heavily. I told mom she should just chuck the whole lot out the window into the compost pile, but mom for some odd reason held out hope the brownies would still be edible. So she set the brownies on the counter and worked on airing out the house more.

As a side note, our fire alarm which goes off every time the humans use the toaster did not go off even though our house was filled with thick acrid smoke! Fat lot of good that thing is!

After about 10 minutes, the brownies were only slightly smoking, so mom figured she'd see if they were edible. She cut a piece and then another, only to find they were solid black all the way through-- perhaps the gluten free flour or the maple sugar were more likely to do this sort of thing than regular flour and sugar? So finally she gave up and tossed all the burned brownies onto the compost heap.

Even though mom spent a long time trying to air out the house last night, this morning when I woke up I could still smell burnt brownies. And to make matters worse, not only is the inside of the microwave stained from the soot, so is the fridge! Though I do have to admit, the nice smokey flavor that all the food in the fridge now has might mean a boon for me-- maybe mom will give me all the smoke flavored food they'll be tossing out! Yippie!

So the moral of the story is, if you see your human trying to cook something when you know it's past the time when they are capable of thinking, do something about it or else you'll be swimming in smoke just like I was!

Brody's painting is done!!!

The portrait of my pal Brody that Kathryn Beals painted is done and posted in her blog! I think it's the best portrait she's ever done! Check it out:

www.howipaint.com

I lost two pounds!!!

Today around lunchtime daddy came to pick mom and I up from work! I was excited to see him, but I was also really worried about the kitties! They were trapped in small cages in the car and were meowing like crazy to be let out. I thought maybe mom was going to bring them into work like she does with me, but she said that would not be fun (and I agree!).

I didn't have a lot of room in the car, but I made sure to protect my kitties for the ride to the vet. I think my vet, Dr. Rettig of Alternatives for Animals is an AWESOME vet, but sometimes I'm not too sure about her because she always seems to like to stick needles into me! Anyway, we walked into the room with her and the kitties got out of their cages and hid under the cabinet. That meant Dr. Rettig could look at me first.

She said I looked nice and trim, which was very nice to hear! The herbal powders to rid me of my dampness and help with my kidney and spleen deficiencies seem to be working! Then they spent a lot of time talking about my leg. I've been limping occasionally when I lay for long periods of time on hard surfaces, or when it's really cold and rainy. So Dr. Rettig tried to move my leg around a lot to see what was hurting me but I wouldn't show any pain at all (I am half pittie, after all!).

Next Dr. Rettig got her needles out and I tried to hide under the chair! Mom told me I needed to lay down, though, so I did. I was a very good girl even through my kidney acupuncture points which normally I flinch at, but all the sudden there was a really bad pain in my knee! One of the acupuncture points in my knee hurt a LOT so I went to try to grab the needle out of there and scared everyone with how fast I was! Mom said I needed to leave it in, though, so I laid down and started to drift off to sleep like I always do with the acupuncture needles. The knee point one continued to not feel great, though, so I kept waking up.

While I had my needles in, Dr. Rettig took Fat Cat Saleen to take blood from him for titer tests. Then she came back, took out my needles and took Freaky Cat Willow. Turns out both kitties were very healthy, except Saleen cat had one tooth with tartar on it. Willow only weighs 9 lbs, but Saleen weighs 13 lbs 6 oz! Dr. Rettig said his weight was OK, but I still think he is a FAT CAT!

Then it was my turn to get weighed... I took a deep breath and stepped on the scale-- I lost two lbs!!!!! Mom was very proud of me and so was I! Nothing changed since the last time we were at the vet regarding how much I was eating, it is all due to me feeling better because my kidney and spleen were not quite so deficient and damp anymore.

WHen we got back in the room we talked about my leg some more. I got a different powder called Coix formula that should help with my cold and damp problem in my joints, I get to eat more salmon oil, and I got a homeopathic remedy called Zeel. After Christmas we'll go back and talk about how my leg is feeling and decide if we need to do anything else, but the vet cleared me for work as long as mom makes sure to bring my softer thicker bed with us when I will be laying down for longer periods of time. I tried to get the vet to prescribe more food, but she said no to that one!

I was happy to get back int eh car because I didn't want those scary needles anymore, and mom read us the first few chapters of Harry Potter book 2 on the way home. THen she fixed herself a grilled cheese sandwich on gluten free bread with portobello mushroom goat cheese, mustard and tomato on it-- all of it grown and produced within 100 miles of our house! Yum! But unfortunately I didn't get to eat any of it, boo hiss!

Strange human behavior

Last night I went outside to go potty like usual. Normally I sniff around in the yard, find the right spot, go potty and then come back inside. But last night daddy followed me outside and he had a bowl in his hand!

At first I thought maybe he was going to feed me, but nope, that didn't happen. So I sniffed around, looking for a nice spot to pee. When I found one, I squatted down and all the sudden I was peeing into the bowl that daddy was holding! Ewwwww! Why was daddy collecting my pee?!

I though maybe he'd just look at it, then toss it out, but instead he brought it inside and put it in the fridge! I think daddy needs a trip to the human vet because that is just not normal behavior. But mom says that we needed to bring a urine sample for me to the vet today, and said collecting that way is much nicer than having to stick a needle in my bladder to take pee out if I won't go at the vet clinic! I have to agree with that point!

Raining at the lake

Today we went to the lake!!! I love the lake, it is soooooo fun there. We stopped by Davis on the way and ate lunch at the Farmer's Kitchen Cafe, a gluten free restaurant. It was raining buckets all the way to the lake, so we were all pretty worried that it'd be raining while we collected mom's bagged plants. To pass the time, mom read Harry Potter book 1 out loud to daddy and I while we were driving. I can't read in the car because it makes me nauseous, and daddy doesn't really have time to read books for fun so we were happy to listen to Harry Potter!

Luckily it stopped raining right before we got to the lake, so it was muddy but at least we weren't getting all wet! Mom quickly collected her plants and then we went to measure the GPS coordinates of the water level-- it had receeded even more! That meant even more flat dried up muddy lake bottom for me to run around on! I ran and ran and ran like the wind! I love running in the mud, it is the best thing ever!

It was cold, but I had my fleece jacket on so I stayed nice and warm, and mom even snapped a few pictures that hopefully she'll get around to posting soon. Just as we turned to head back to the car it started raining again, so it was perfect timing! It rained all the way back to Davis, where we stopped back by the Farmer's Kitchen Cafe for some frozen ravioli to take home, and then it rained all the way from there back to our house. Mom had to read Harry Potter really loudly so we could hear it over the rain, but just as we got off our exit to get to our house we finished book I! Mom and I watned to start book 2 right away, but daddy said maybe we should wait until later. Phooey!

Listening to whispers

Yesterday mom thought she was feeling better so we were getting ready to go to work when all of the sudden mom was in huge amounts of pain. She was in so much pain that she didn't let me assume my normal helping with the pain position which is laying next to her on the couch with my head on her feet. She kept writhing around so I couldn't get up there with her, but I stayed right by her side and she petted me and tried to focus on me to get through it.

Well, I knew it was very important that I keep doing my job, so when daddy came over to try to help mom go to the bathroom I refused to move! I wasn't going anywhere until mom told me to! Daddy told me to move a lot, but I said no way, mom needs me! Even when he tried to chase me away I just kept coming right back. Finally he explained to mom (who was hallucinating and in-and-out from the pain so was unaware of the situation) what was going on so mom whispered to me "move, sit, stay" and I gladly moved out of their way and stayed sitting the whole time mom was in the bathroom. I didn't move a muscle until she was settled back on the couch and released me. Mom and dad were very impressed that even though I clearly thought my job was to stay with mom, that all she had to do was whisper a command to me and I obeyed it flawlessly!

Eventually the medicine started to kick in and I was allowed to resume my normal pain helping position because keeping mom warm is very important when she gets in all her pain (if I don't keep her warm when she's in pain, then she starts throwing up). When mom was able to walk, daddy drove us into work in the afternoon for two meetings, then he drove us home where I could lay with mom and help her feel better.

Luckily she seems to be doing better today because we're supposed to go to the lake and collect those bags we left on the plants last month. I love going to the lake, it is sooooo much fun!

Early Christmas present!

Yesterday mom was feeling better so she let me open my Christmas present from my pal Beatrix!!! I was really really excited because I'd been sniffing the present for the past few days, just itching to get it down and see what was inside!

Mom got out the video camera, put the present on the floor and let me open it! That was fun because I love puzzles! I got the present out of the bag and unwrapped it from the paper wrapping without ripping or tearing any of the paper it was in or the bag! Mom tore the paper when she was trying to pick it up from underneath me, though-- silly mom!

I was excited to see a super fun squeaky toy inside, it was very loud and a nice consistancy to squeak squeak squeak all the day long! Plus it is very durable since I haven't yet managed to de-squeak it.

After I played with my new toy for a while, mom got out the camera and took a picture of me wearing my new scarf that Snowy gave me for Christmas. I felt really fancy and special wearing it, hope you enjoy the pictures and video of my early christmas presents!

Agility class with daddy!

This morning we had agility class, the last class for a few months- how sad! I will miss having agility during the winter, but we might sign up for tracking depending on mom and dad's schedules.

Anyway, I was really hoping we'd get to go to class but was worried we might not be able to since mom's been in so much pain recently. So when mom got out my quick draw leash that I wear during agility class I was soooooooo excited! I didn't want to put on my seatbelt, though, because I like walking over to agility class instead of driving! Oh well, I guess we have to compromise since mom isn't feeling well.

When we got to class mom still was feeling poorly so she handled me half the time and daddy handled me the other half of the time! Daddy is a really good handler, it is a lot of fun to work for him! I still got the zoomies once of twice with Daddy, but I came right back to him when he called. It was hard for me because I knew I was supposed to follow what daddy said but I kept wanting to go see mommy and check in with her! Mom ran me a few times and she did really well, too. Since mom wasn't feeling well she just walked the course and so I had to work a lot farther away from her than I usually do. At one point mom was working about 6-8 feet away from me which is a big deal for a dog like me who loves to be right by mom's side!

When we got home, mom and I cuddled up on the couch and have spent the whole day snoozing under the covers together-- I get to rest up and mom gets to feel better!

Chocolate cake-- for me?! How nice!

We got a late start today since mom is still feeling sick, but when we got into work we went to what I thought was our normal lab meeting. Only this week it was just party time! No lab meeting, just a birthday and goodbye party for two of the people in the lab. That meant lots of super yummy looking food-- and I got to be off duty, even though mom did make me stay withing about 4 ft of her the whole time.

The party was really fun, and I even did some tricks for carrots! Whoopie, I love carrots! I got lots of petting and loving, too, but no other food even though there were two chocolate cakes! No fair, I thought!

So when the party was over and we all piled into the elevator I laid down thinking that it was a nice party but that I really wished I had been able to eat some cake. One of mom's labmates I think must have felt sorry for me because she dropped the plate that had 3 pieces of leftover cake right on top of me! Yummmmmmm! Well, at least yum was what I thought but mom told me right away that I couldn't eat any of the cake. No fair! It was clearly intended to be a gift to me I tried to tell mom, but she said it was only an accident and that I should ignore the cake all around me on the floor.

I stood up when the cake fell on me, and so when the elevator started moving again after dropping someone off at one of the floors mom told me to lie down. I did, but I decided I needed to lie down in a clean spot so before mom could say anything I stuck my tongue out as faaaaar as possible and licked the crumbs where I was laying down. Mom was NOT happy with me at all, but everyone else in the elevator was dying laughing! Yippie, I got some cake! Mom told me I was a very bad girl, but it was hard to pay attention to mom because I was giving thank-you eyes to the person who nicely dropped the cake for me!

I say I can't be perfect all the time, but mom says I certainly should be. I think mom is no fun sometimes!

Sabre toothed tiger!!!

Yesterday after a morning of meetings, mom and I headed over to a library we'd never been to before to check out a book about mom's study site. We were walking by some buildings we've never been close to before and rounded a corner to find a sabre toothed tiger!!!!

http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~karthik/pics/2001-12-12-SF/html/005-IMG_1121.html

It looked like it was attacking something, and when I first saw it I jumped a little and then moved around a lot to see if it was real or not (this is a trick I've learned with all the dead, preserved and posed animals in the hallways of mom's building!). Even though it looked like it was about to get someone, it didn't move so I figured either it wasn't real or it was really really slow moving-- in which case mom and I could easily outrun it if we needed to.

Mom was laughing at me, and she wanted me to know that it was only a statue so she let me approach it and put me on a visit. So, I visited! Nicely, I walked around to the back of the tiger and sniffed the tiger's butt. I sniffed and sniffed, but it just smelled like stone! So my first guess was right-- it was a statue! I thought it was a nice looking statue so I starged wagging my tail and rubbed my head on it to show it I was sorry for thinking bad thoughts about it!

Then mom and I went on our way to get her book and had a normal, uneventful rest of the day. Boring!

Resting up and Snowy!

Boy was I tired today! All that hiking around yesterday made me exhausted! I hoped mom would decide to stay home and sleep all day, but no such luck. I did convince her I was just too chilly and needed my winter coat this morning, and then when we got to work I gave her sad eyes until she draped my coat over me so I could sleep all covered up like I was under my blanket at home. I slept allllllll day long-- even when people came in to pet me I would only visit them for a few minutes and then go right back to sleep!

Snowy's mom gave us a ride home, even though Snowy wasn't with her which was very sad. But I heard them talking about us getting together tonight so I figured I'd better really rest up when we got home to prepare! I slept under the covers until dinner, then climbed right back in bed for more rest.

All the sudden, I smelled something different, I smelled a Snowy in teh air! Yippie! I tried to jump off the couch but got tangled in my blankets so mom had to unwrap me and I ran to the door. Mom opened the door and Snowy was out there, yippie!!!! We ran around the yard watering all the plants and then we came inside and had a big wrestling match. I love wrestling with Snowy! We wrestled on the floor and we wrestled on the couch, and sometimes we even wrestled on mom (who for some reason didn't seem to think that was as cool as we did!).

Snowy brought over a present-- a beautiful purple scarf that his mom knitted! Mom is going to take pictures and post them soon! It is a really really nice scarf, so when I put it on I told Snowy we couldn't play because I didn't want to mess it up! Then mom took it off and put it up so I wouldn't worry about it! Snowy's mom also brought a present from Beatrix, but mom said we're going to wait until she has the camera out to open more presents! Silly mom, I want my presents now!

I told Snowy that mom has been so busy planning her field work trip that we haven't done any of our holiday shopping yet, but he said that was totally cool! Lucky for me!

Anyway, Snowy and I wrestled a long long time, but I started to get pretty tired! Snowy said he was tired from his play dates yesterday, but he still had plenty of energy! I was sad when it was time for him to go, but I bet now that school is out I'll get to see him a little more before we go on vacation!

Twenty-three people and two dogs!

Mom spent the whole of last week planning for our giant field excursion yesterday! You see, mom needed to see where around the lake her plants were currently flowering but since the lake is about 35 miles around we knew we couldn't walk that whole distance ourselves! So I gave mom the good idea of asking other people to help walk around the lake and collect GPS readings of mom's plants (of course, all of mom's good ideas originate from me!).

We had 23 people (including mom and dad) and two dogs (me and my new pal Marley, a silver beige mini poodle) involved. People were mostly divided into pairs and were assigned routes ranging from 2 to 7+ miles long that they were supposed to hike. Since people were mostly walking in one direction and not retracing their steps, that meant mom had to arrange for a round robin of people picking other groups up and dropping them off at their hike start points, or at the end of the hike dropping other groups off at their cars. It was a carefully coreographed ballet of hiking, getting and giving rides!

For our part, we left the house early and headed up to the lake, to a spot across the lake from where we usually go. It was a really nice place to hike because it was very sandy (which I loooooove to run around in!). We hiked out 2 miles and then back, but didn't see any lupines! There were lots of awesome spots to pee, though, and I made sure to find all of them! Mom and dad were kind of sad about not finding her plants, though mom mentioned she wasn't sure this was the right habitat for them to be growing. Just as we were getting near to our car we saw two people on bikes stopping to look at a map. I sniffed, and sniffed again and told mom-- "I know those people!" so we headed over. It was one of the groups biking up to their start location! I was glad to see them (and I think they were happy to see us, too!). After we saw them on their way and explained their route a bit better, the hard part of the day started!

We hopped into the car to go check out some of the start and stop locations of other groups to make sure the roads from google maps all existed and everything. First we tried to take Folsom Dam Road, one of the pick up locations for one of the groups-- but it was closed! Luckily we were able to figure out an alternate ending location not too far away. Then we raced over to check out two other start/stop locations before we needed to pick a group up and drop them off. At the second location we checked out, we got out of our car and I got to met a poodle! He is a mini silver biege poodle named Marley. Our introduction went like this:

M: "Who are you?"
S: "Who are you?"
M: "You're not going to hurt me, are you?"
S: "You're not going to hurt me, are you?"
M: "Now that we're walking together, you don't seem so bad!"
S: "Agreed, maybe we can become good friends soon!"

But then before Marley and I could really get to know each other, we had to be off! We tried to arrange that we'd come right back and hike a little with Marley (and his family) after we picked up and dropped off people.

So we headed off to our pick up location. By this time the calls started pouring in from everyone who needed clarification on their routes or was having trouble with their route, so mom was getting kind of stressed! I did my best to help calm her down by resting my head so it was touching her, but she was still pretty worried!

We got to the point where we were supposed to pick people up (and where another group was starting out) and saw that the shoreline there was incredibly steep and dangerous! We weren't sure if people could walk on it safely! Luckily there was a trail that ran next to the shoreline that was a bit safer to walk on, so mom started trying to call everyone on that stretch of lake to warn them and tell them about the trail, but many people were out of cell phone range! Silly humans never learned to communicate via howling, which travels clearly over long distances. If only they had been able to howl to each other, I think the whole trip would have gone a lot smoother!

After figuring all that out, we headed back over to see Marley and his family, but they had already left (which was good because otherwise they would have been out too late!). Then we picked up another group and dropped them off at their car, and then headed to the other side of the lake to pick up the people who had biked in. By this time, some groups were finishing up their hikes, which made mom feel a lot better! It was already 4PM and people were supposed to be all finished hiking by now since it gets dark at 5. We drove down a road that on google maps looked like it led to our pick up point, but it turns out that the last 100 feet of that road before it turns into park property was private land! Well, we didn't have much of a choice, so we parked our car and walked through the 100 feet and into the park. Luckily it was very easy to find the people we were picking up! We drove them back to get their bikes and then we were supposed to go to dinner, but there was one group still missing! By now it was almost pitch black outside, so we were getting very very worried (especially mom!) about the group! I tried to get as close to mom as I could to relieve her stress, though in the car I was already pretty darn close with 4 people and a dog! Just as we were getting ready to head over there with flashlights and go looking for them, they called and said they'd made it out OK! Yippie!!!!!! One of the people had missed her train home, but luckily one of the other hikers agreed to skip dinner and take the person home. That was soooooooooooo nice!

We went to dinner at Kathmandu in Davis, which seemed like it was a really nice Nepalese restaurant (though of course I didn't get to taste any of the food!). It was a lot of fun hearing everyone talk about their adventures and seeing where mom's plants were and all. But I was surely tired, and cold BRRRRR! I guess a long day of hiking and driving all over really makes you exhausted! Plus I was working overtime helping mom! Anyway, I found a nice foot to rest my head on under the table (the booth we were sitting in had the area under the seats blocked off so I had to be right in everyone's footspace!) and feel alseep with mom's coat on top of me. After the humans ate their dinner, we headed home so I could get my dinner (silly mom forgot to bring my dinner, and she also forgot to bring a camera so I don't have any new beauty shots of me to post!). After I ate, mom gave me a quick shower (no fair!) and then I fell fast asleep! I vote we take it easy today, I am still tired from yesterday!

Why do we have weave poles?!

We had agility class this morning again, whoopie! I was as excited as usual-- OK, a little more excited than usual! Mom is getting better with her motions, but I like to take a little victory run around zoomie style sometimes! Mom says it's good that I always come back as soon as she calls me, but boy I can run pretty far before mom gets out hte words "Sabrina, come!".

While generally I did pretty good in agility class today, the bane of the class was the weave poles. I do NOT like weave poles! They go slowly, and I don't understand the point of weaving back and forth between them when it is so much faster to run around them in a big circle for example! I mean, jumping I understand we do that because it is fun, and same with all the other obstacles. What could be more fun that the teeter totter for example?! But those weaves, I just don't get the point. I think some of the other doggies in the class had the right idea-- the weave poles had guards on them and they jumped over the guards! That seems a lot more productive to me!

But class made me really tired, and I know I need to rest up for our giant field work excursion tomorrow so I came home and fell right asleep and plan to go back to sleep after typing this entry! ZZZZZZZZZ!

Daily diary pick!

Yippie! Dogster picked me as a daily diary pick! I am very honored and hope that all the pups visiting my page enjoy my diary entries! You know it's hard to type on these keys with big old paws!

So busy!

Mom has been sooooo busy lately she's been hogging up the computer and not letting me write any diary entries! A lot has happened in the past few days, and a lot of it has to do with mom coordinating a huge day of field work with 23 field assistants this Sunday! But most of the planning is done now so I got a chance to type.

Today was a long day and we had a department related christmas party to go to after work. Mom got lots of yummy food but I didn't! No fair!

After a long day at work, I was happy to get home and when I got closer I sniffed something special in the air! I sniffed and sniffed again and then mom and I noticed a package on our doorstep! Usually mom and dad are the ones that get packages-- like the big package the other day that mom was so excited about (something about 7 and Harry Potter, but maybe I'll get to type more on that later). But this package smelled different, it smelled special! Mom took me off duty as soon as we got in the gate and I ran up the stairs and sniffed the box like crazy! There was another box on the doorstep for daddy and I totally ignored that one, I could tell the first box was something really awesome!

Now usually when the humans get packages, they open them up right away and see what's inside. But mom told me we couldn't do that for this package-- that this package was from my Secret Santa Paws! OoOoOo, that sounds super exciting! And I bet Santa Paws knows exactly the type of things I like so I cannot WAIT to open it! Mom says I have to wait until Dec. 22nd, phooey!

My super secret plan is to wait until mom and dad are asleep and then shake the package a lot and see what it sounds like to try to figure out what is inside! Hope I can do that without those cats telling on me!

Beach pictures!

Snowy's parents are such awesome photographers! They took pictures of me and mom and dad at the beach over Thanksgiving weekend, and here are some of the results! I think they are bark-tacular! They are better than most professional photographers!!! I think it's because they've had such a good model (Snowy!) to practice on!

Another bad owner!

I thought I had enough experiences with owners not taking care of their dogs today with the chi that attacked me, but we saw another one when we were coming home from school!

We were going to the BART station, to one of the entrances with steps this time. We saw two people at the top of the steps trying to shove something into a backpack and then we heard a giant racket!!! It sounded like a dog was dying! Turns out these girls were shoving a little dog into a rolling dog carrier/backpack type of thing. The dog was TERRIFIED to be in that carrier! We passed them at this point and headed down into the station when we noticed that they were coming, too! They were taking this poor terrified dog on a BART train?! I wanted to go over there and tell those girls a thing or two about animal abuse, but mom said no. The girls stopped to try to calm the dog, but it was still barking and acting super scared.

We were pretty far ahead of the girls and terrified dog, so we entered the gate and went downstairs to the end of the platform to wait for the train-- and we could still hear the dog! It sounded just awful and the racket was still continuing when our train came. But they never came down the stairs, so mom and I are hopeful that the ticket agent stopped the girls. I couldn't believe they'd try to take a dog that was already terrified to be in a carrier at all on a crowded, noisy BART train during rush hour! Sheesh!

Attacked!

This morning mom and I left the house as usual to walk to the BART train to go to work. As we walked down the street, we smelled something really wonderful! Mom covered her nose, but I was in heaven, it smelled soooooo good! These people were all standing around a hole in the middle of the street and pumping stuff out of it. I wanted to investigate but we had to get to work.

We had just crossed the busy major intersection near our house and were walking by a liquor store when all of the sudden a chihuahua ran out from behind a delivery truck, barking and snarling at me! Mom told me that we should keep walking, so that's what I tried to do but the chi grabbed onto my rear right leg! I wanted to ignore the chi like mom said, but it was really hard to walk with a snarling chi hanging off my leg so I kicked my leg a few times and he finally let go. But he didn't go away! He kept trying to bite my legs so mom and I picked up the pace! Then we heard a man shouting "NO NO BAD DOG!" and he ran up to get the chi-- but the chi must have been afraid of what was coming next so he ran into the street!!! Mom was VERY upset at this man, not only because his dog attacked me, but also because he had his dog off leash right next to a major intersection. Luckily the chi didn't actually hurt me, I have a scratch on my leg but nothing serious. So mom told the man he needed to leash his dog, but the man didn't seem interested in carrying on a conversation.

I shook it off and we continued on our way to the BART station. Luckily we didn't see any more attacking dogs on the way there! Mom was super proud of me, though, because I behaved really really well. I followed mom's commands even with the chi trying to bite me, and the only real reaction I had was to kick my back leg a couple of times to get the chi off me. Mom gave me lots of treats for behaving so well, yummm!

Agility-wheeeee!

Agility is the bestest time ever in the whole entire world! I love agilty class soooooo much, and I had been missing it since the silly humans decided some holiday about eating turkey was more important last week. Honestly, you can eat turkey while you're doing agility if you really need to! Anyway, this morning mom got out my Ruffwear Quick Draw Leash which I know I only wear when we're going to agility class and I was so excited! I started dancing around the room, waggling my butt as hard as I could! Whoopee!

We went out the door and started walking to our agility class. Walking! Why not running?! I tried to run to agility class but mom told me that we had to walk at a reasonable speed. So I figured the best compromise would be for me to spend a long time sniffing something until I was behind mom at the end of my lead and then ZOOM ahead of her to the end of my leash. For some reason she didn't like that... something about tearing her arm off or something... so she made me walk nicely next to her which was so boring!

We finally got to the park and I was happy to see our equipment set up! I was really excited and during the first run I got the zoomies and tried to run around the course like a crazy pup, only mom wasn't too happy with that idea and she called me back. She had to keep telling me "easy" and finally I calmed down a little more. It was a really fun class, and I did really really well! I was jumping the same height as the chihuahua in our class because last week we hiked a little too much so mom was worried about me, and mom didn't let me full out run at top speed (these were suggestions from my vet) but I did get to run around some. I did a really good job, and I even got those weave poles down! Go me!

After class, mom and dad talked with my trainer some more about what breed of dog they're going to get for me to play with (well, and the new dog will go with mom on the boring days I think). I think they've narrowed it down to three breeds: poodles, labs or australian shepherds. If anypup has any advice about those breeds, please pmail me and let mom and I know!

Now I'm off for a well desevered nap where I will have dreams of agility class!

Paws Up Ettiquite Activity 11

Time for Activity 11 in the Paws Up Ettiquite Workbook!

Activity Eleven

Share an embarrassing moment involving your assistance dog or assistance dog in training in class and discuss what you learned from the experience.

I think the funniest embarrassing moment was one time when we were in the library. Hubby and I had been there a while and Sabrina was under the table asleep. Sabrina sometimes snores when she sleeps, but usually she starts quietly before she gets loud and I can shake her to wake her up before she gets loud. Well, this time I guess she was super tired! She started to snore quietly so I shook her a little with my foot, but instead of waking up she started snoring louder! She just kept getting louder and louder until it was a really giant honking pig snorting snore! Meanwhile I tried shaking her with all my might! I had to get under the table with her and I was shaking her side to side really hard but it didn't work so I started being annoying, like sticking my fingers in her mouth and poking her face and she finally woke up! Luckily all the students in the library with us were laughing and didn't seem to be offended.

The second most embarrassing moment is one I've talked about before. We put Musher's Secret, which is a protective paw wax, onto Sabrina's paws right before heading out to the grocery store. Apparently the grocery store had just waxed it's floors, too! So we walked in and down Sabrina went! We tried to make a go of it, but try as she might Sabrina just couldn't get her footing what with the waxed floor and waxed feet! It was pretty funny, but we left after only a couple of minutes.

From the snoring incident, I learned better ways to wake Sabrina up when she is sleeping BOL! Luckily she hasn't been so soundly asleep since then. And from the paw wax incident I learned not to put Paw Wax on so thick-- or right before we go out somewhere!

What happened to the escalator?!

We were heading home from school tonight a little later than usual and it was dark out so all the streetlamps and shops had their lights on. All of the sudden everything went dark! All the stoplights, streetlights and shop lights went out! There were lots of cars on the street so we could still see, but it was very strange that all the sudden it was so much darker. Luckily the lights came back on pretty soon, though.

I thought everything was back to normal, and I guess mom did too because we headed toward the BART station. To get to the BART we have to take an escalator down a level, and I take this escalator every day. What I usually do is as I am approaching the escalator I watch the yellow lines painted on the stairs to gauge how fast the escalator is moving and where I should put my feet. THen I put my front feet on one step and wait for them to pull my body foward until it's easy to just step my back legs on the next step.

Today when we walked up to the escalator the steps weren't moving that I could tell. Mom tried to step right onto the escalator but I held back-- I figured if I looked a little bit longer I'd see how fast they were moving, but still no luck! Mom told me to come on the escalator so I put my front paws on and waited like usual for the next step to put my back paws on but it didn't come! I was just standing there looking silly, halfway on the escalator! Some people were behind me and they all started to laugh at me thinking that the escalator was working, so I sheepishly started walking down the escalator like it was stairs. I hope the silly thing is fixed by Monday so that I don't have the same experience!

Painting of Byron

Wow! Mom is super excited that artist Kathryn Beals has been painting a lot of dogster dogs! Now she is working on a painting of my pal Byron, who is an Italian Greyhound. It looks amazing as well! You should check it out!!!

Got my bed back!

Whooopie!!! Last night dad stopped by the cleaners to pick up my doggy bed, and mom brought it in to work today so now I have my nice cushy bed back! Sooooo much nicer than my travel mat! I was very happy to go under mom's desk and settle down in a nice soft, comfortable, warm bed!

Before we went to work with the bed, mom taught a lesson to her 7th graders on the hominid tree. It seemed pretty darn cool because mom had all these skulls with her! They smelled really really interesting, I know I would have loved to investigate them some more but I was working. The students enjoyed investigating them, though! Some of the skulls were real, and some were casts of very old skulls like "Lucy"!

Anyway, so after teaching we went into work where I got to relax in my cushy bed-- but not for too long. Mom and I had to make a trip to the insurance office because mom got something back from them in the mail saying that anesthesia for mom's surgery wasn't a covered expense! Plus, mom got 4 bills in the mail from the hospital, each for $22,000!!! Mom was really really worried about all the money they said we owed, but the people in the insurance office were super nice! Apparently there was someone new at the office and they must've messed up on my file so mom won't have to pay all that money!

Then I got to go back to sleep in my cushy bed while mom did some work, and then we went home. Now I'm enjoying smelling the pumpkin pie mom is making! I hope she gives me some of it!

Painting of Brody!

Wow! Everyone should go check out http://howipaint.com/index.php?itemid=218 to see a painting of my pal Brody in progress by the artist Kathryn Beals! It is AMAZING!!! It will be in a local show and I will definitely be seeing it in person!

Christmas tagged!

I've been tagged by my dogster twin Bella who is adoptable!

I have to write 5 things that I want from Santa Paws for Christmas, so here goes:

1. A big fat juicy guinea pig.

2. Bunny Tug and Treat training toy which has bunny fur and holds treats and I can tug on it for my agility class.

3. Pentapulls look like super awesome toys that I can tug tug tug with.

4. A fancy collar that looks stylish, is comfortable and soft on my skin and is in a martingale style.

5. Lots of bully sticks

Super cool video!

A friend at work showed mom this video, and I think it is super cool!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vyqkzfznx6c

It is a video of lions, buffalo and a crocodile-- make sure to watch until the end for the happy conclusion!

Committee meeting

Yesterday morning I got a bath before we went to school so that I'd be nice and squeaky clean for mom's committee meeting that she was all worried about. We headed into school (my dog bed is still at the cleaners, c'mon mom!) and mom spent the morning doing last minute preparation.

When it was time for mom's committee meeting we went up to the room and set up the projector, only it wouldn't work! Mom was fooling around with it for 15 minutes until some of her committee members came in and helped figure out she had plugged the video cable into the wrong port, whatever that means! I fell asleep at the front of the room while mom gave her presentation- after all, I've seen her give similar presentations twice before now. This time mom had a little bit of a rocky start, but it seemed like she was doing OK so I drifted off to dream land.

I was running around in a huge green field full of interesting smells when all the sudden I saw a squirrel! It was the same squirrel in our tree at home that throws nuts at me! I started chasing the squirrel, running as fast as I could and barking and woofing at the squirrel.... when all of the sudden there was an earthquake, everything was shaking! Whats going on....... Oh, sorry mom guess I was snoring and woofing under my breath for a few seconds there!

Luckily mom's committee thought it was funny that I started snoring and woofing in my sleep, so I just went back to sleep (making sure to not make noises this time, oops!). When the meeting was over, everyone seemed really happy and they all said mom's project would be really interesting. That was really nice!

Then we had to rush over to class which had already started, and when we got into the room we went to sit next to Snowy's mom! It was soooooooooo hard not to greet Snowy's mom, but I resisted the temptation (OK, mom had to remind me because my tail was really wagging!) and laid down under the table. After class Snowy's mom gave me a ride home, but we didn't get to see Snowy at all! No fair! I think Snowy should be everywhere his mom is so that I can play with him more!

Mom wasn't feeling too good, so we spent the rest of the night curled up on the couch under some nice warm blankets together.

An off day

Yesterday was an off day, things just didn't quite seem to be working right for me! First mom messed my normal routine up by going to the school to teach today! Normally we go on Thursdays, but since last Thursday was Thanksgiving, we had to go on Monday (and we'll be going again this Thursday, too!).

It was soooooooooooo cold in the morning when we got into the car! I got into the backseat and immediately started shivering! Mom covered me up with my mat that I lay on and blasted the heat as much as it could go, but I only stopped shivering a few blocks from the school. Brrrrr! Next time I think she should put a jacket on me!

At the school mom was doing another hornworm lesson, so I took a nap in the corner of the room for those. But during 3rd period (free period for mom and me) we were walking around and all of the sudden my foot hurt! Ouch! Mom looked around my foot to see if I stepped on anything but she didn't see anything and after she felt my foot I stopped limping.

When we got home after teaching, I cuddled up under a nice warm blanket while mom ate her lunch, and then we went to regular school/work. Mom put my old band-shaped vest on me instead of my pack so that if she needed to switch me to my winter vest it would be easier, but it was weird wearing a different vest! I mean, it used to be my all-the-time vest, but I haven't worn it in a long time so I felt a little strange in it, and was a little distracted by the strangeness of more routine breaking!

I was happy to sleep under mom's desk at work, but mom still hasn't gotten my doggie bed back from the cleaners, so I have to sleep on my travel mat. It is just not comfy enough for me, I want my big fluffly dog bed! Mom says we'll be picking it up this week, but I want it now! Oh well, I laid down on my travel bed and sighed loudly so mom would know I was not happy with her taking my dog bed to the cleaners!

Then mom needed to go to the storeroom to pick up some more paper and so I came out from under the desk to get dressed-- but I was limping again! Mom looked at my foot again, but I didn't have anything stuck in my paw pads. Then she realized that yesterday when daddy was cutting my nails, he cut one of the nails on that foot too short and it bled a little. So that is probably why my foot was hurting. Anyway, after moom looked at my foot I didn't limp anymore, but mom said it seemed like I was having a bad day (which I was! cold car, teaching on a Monday, different vest, hurting foot, sleeping on my travel mat...) so we went home early. As part of my off day, I for some reason decided I didn't feel like taking the escalator that I take every single day! So mom had to tell me to come, which I did but I still did not feel like the escalator was what we should be doing. Mom says we might have to work on that if it happens again (but I think it was just part of my bad day!). I was happy to get home, and I flopped down on the couch under a blanket and had a nice long nap! I hope today is a better day! Mom's been talking about something called a "committee meeting" which seems to be a fairly big deal that's supposed to happen today.

Another day at the lake

Yesterday we had to go back to Folsom Lake because there was so much traffic on Thanksgiving when we went up there that mom ran out of daylight and couldn't finish all the work she needed to do. So we woke up bright and early yesterday and headed off towards the lake. Personally I was a little tired from Muir Beach the day before, and Folsom Lake the day before that, but I figured I could sleep in the car!

Luckily there was not a lot of traffic getting up to the lake, but we didn't see any wild turkeys like last time! The first part of the lake trip was fairly boring-- mom and dad spent a few hours laying out a big long measuring tape and then putting bags on plants. Ho hum! I was a very good girl and did loads of sit and down stays when I really wanted to run around like a crazy pup! But soon my patience was rewarded and we set off for a hike around the lake. I overheard mom telling dad that she needs to walk around the entire perimeter of the lake to see where there are other Lupine populations, yay! But we only went a mile or two today because it started to get dark.

It was really neat to see more of the lake-- every time we visit the water level is lower and lower. The elevation of the water level right now is at 377 ft and normally it is around 440 ft! That's very very low! We got to walk on the exposed bottom of the lake in a lot of places, and it was kind of soft and spongey which makes for great running around! While mom was looking for her plants, dad was picking up all the trash that the receeding lake levels brought to light. I thought that was fun, because trash smells yummy! Only this trash all smelled like the lake instead of like real trash. We even found an old geological survey marker that was planted in 1950 when they were surveying the region in order to build the dam! That was super cool.

I heard mom and dad say that we're going to come back to the lake at least once more before Christmas to pick up the bags from the plants- I hope we come back a lot more than that!

Daily diary pick!

Whoopie! I am a daily diary pick for today! That is so awesome, thank you dogster HQ for the honor! I hope everyone reading my diary enjoys it!

A photo shoot-- but I'm not the star?!

Yesterday we went to Muir Beach to have a photo shoot! I was really excited because we drove up there with Snowy's family following us. I didn't really realize it for most of the trip, but when we got off the highway mom and dad rolled down the windows to our car. Apparently Snowy's windows were down, too, and he must have gotten a whiff of my scent so he started barking to say hi! I looked all around for Snowy but couldn't find him! It was pretty funny! I was really happy to see Snowy once we got to the beach, because I thought it would be a Snowy and Sabrina photo shoot-- only this time the subjects of the photo were mom and dad.

Snowy's dad is a super excellent photographer and I guesss he wanted to try to take pictures of less georgeous things than dogs. So Snowy's mom held me while mom and dad got their pictures taken. I had a LOT of fun with Snowy's mom because she had a big bag of treats and I got a lot of them! I can make a really really good begging face tee hee hee! Mom and dad did all kinds of strange things like running around in circles, jumping off of rocks a bunch of times, running through the surf a lot etc. Sometimes I got to be in the shot, too, which was a lot of fun!

After the photo shoot was over, Snowy and I got to run around and play like mad dogs! Snowy is my bestest pal ever, so it was a lot of fun playing on the beach, and before we left I even dug a really big hole in the sand. It was so much fun! I wish I could play on the beach with Snowy all day long! But it got really really cold when the sun went down, so we had to leave instead of spending the whole night there (plus it was hard to see in the dark BOL!).

Snowy's parents and mom and dad and I then went to an Indian place for dinner, which was a lot of fun for mom and dad, but I was getting hungry and wanted to go home and eat my own dinner! When we got home I was pretty tired, and fell sleep right after dinner. I knew I needed to rest up because today we're going back to the lake! Should be fun!

Saw a turkey on Turkey Day!!!

Yesterday instead of having a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, we went to mom's field site at Folsom Lake to bag some plants (this means put bags on them so that when the seeds are ready we can collect them easily). It normally only takes 2 hrs to get to the lake, but mom and dad must have forgotten about thanksgiving day traffic! We were stuck in the car nearly 4 hrs trying to get to the lake!

As we drove down the road to get to the park we saw a turkey! It was really big and funny looking, and we were all happy to see a turkey on Thanksgiving Day. But the turkey wasn't so happy to see us-- it started running and then flew away! We were all very amazed as we'd seen wild turkeys before, but we'd never seen one fly.

When we got to the lake we had to hurry because it was starting to get dark already. Mom and dad tried to get everything done that they could, but since we were so delayed in traffic, the light ran out before they were able to finish bagging plants. I had fun, though-- I got to run around and play for a while after it got too dark to work! And good news, since they didn't get to finish bagging plants yesterday, that means we get to go back on Saturday! Mom and dad were planning on going to a dog show that day, but research is more important than dog shows, so back to the lake we'll go. And personally I think the lake is way more fun, anyway!

The plus side of it all is that mom managed to take a few more pictures yesterday, which means she finally got moving and posted pictures from our last Folsom Lake trip two weeks ago (she says the pictures from this trip were all not very good, unfortunately). I think the pictures are super cool-- so cool that I even let mom take my normal two permenant pictures (one of me in the shelter, and one of my beautiful portrait by Kathryn Beals) off of the front page. I'll put them back soon, but these Folsom Lake pictures were all too cool!

It's been a dry year, so the lake is very low and has exposed a bridge that was submerged when the dam was built 60 years ago. And at the current water's edge, there are fish hiding spots exposed! Normally those things would be under 40+ feet of water! Plus mom got a few good shots of me with her plants, Lupinus nanus or Sky Lupine. Hope you like the pictures!

Happy Turkey Day!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Even though I don't think mom has any turkey planned for me tonight I still like Turkey Day because it means time off work that I can spend with my mom and dad. It is too far to fly all the way back to the East coast to visit any grandparents, so we are spending Thanksgiving here.

Today we are going to mom's field site again, which will be a lot of fun! It is on a lake which is really really low right now due to the low rainfall this year. So the water has receded a really long ways off and there is a lot of free space to run around and have fun. Mom needs to set up bags to catch seeds from her plants, but after that we are going to walk around in the dried part of the lake basin for a while which should be a lot of fun!

We're not doing any fancy cooking today, instead we're going to have our feast on Sunday night! Mom says there will be lots of turkey on sale after today so I am keeping my paws crossed that she'll buy me a big giant turkey for dinner and let me eat as much as I want! And this time I'll try to get mom to post the pictures she'll take in a timely manner!

Lunch with mom's old lab

Today we went to lunch with a few of mom's old labmates! I was really really excited to see them all, but mom made me wait and sit nicely before giving me the "visit" command so I could say hello to them which I thought was totally unfair. I was happy to get a break because mom's been working waaay too much lately-- something about an upcoming meeting with her committee.

We went to a Mexican restaurant but their kitchen was being remodeled so one of the workers was grilling chicken outside the door, it was very strange! I was happy to lay under the table and listen to mom and her old labmates chat, it's been too long since that has happened. But mom was rather annoying because she dropped a forkful of salsa on my butt! Sheesh, mom, be careful will you?

Also, I had a lot more energy today and was feeling super spunky so I think my new herbal medicines are helping out and getting rid of my dampness. I did my part to rid myself of dampness by peeing once more than usual during the day!

I like my vet, but...

I like my vet a lot, but she is always sticking needles into me!

This morning we drove to my vet's new office. My vet is super cool, her name is Karen Rettig and she is working in Walnut Creek now if anyone in the SF areas is looking for a vet! I was excited to see her, because I really like Dr. Rettig! But I was also apprehensive because usually when I see her she sticks needles into me! I always feel better after the needles come out, but boy some of them don't feel good when they go in!

Anyway, we went back into the room and Dr. Rettig felt of all my pulses-- I kept trying to tell her that I only have one pulse, it's when my heart beats! But no one thinks I know anything about this sort of stuff. Mom told Dr. Rettig about my increasing weight and resulting new diet (which is SO NOT FAIR!!!), and Dr. Rettig said I am kidney and spleen deficient which is making me damp. Well, I tried to tell mom and dad that I could have told them that I was damp just the other day when it was raining, but for some reason they still wouldn't listen to me! Dr. Rettig said that I am accumulating damp, and damp is fat so that is why I am getting fat. Then Dr. Rettig took me to get my blood and urine drawn. I was a very very good pup and didn't complain one bit for either thing-- though I was soooooo happy to get back to mom and dad when it was over!

Next came the thing I had been worried about- acupuncture. Dr. Rettig put some needles in my spleen points, and then put needles into my kidney points. Ouch! Those kidney ones were sore! I didn't like that at all, but a few pieces of dried chicken later and I figured chicken outweighs needles in my back anyday! I kind of drifted off after the needles were in, but Dr. Rettig gave mom and dad some Four Gentlemen powder and some Ba Wei Di Huang Wan powder to help with my dampness. I did try to protest and tell mom and dad that I felt perfectly dry at the moment, but again they didn't listen!

After I got the needles out, I hopped on the scale really quickly and then we headed to the car. I thought we were going home, but we stopped instead by Rivendell Bike Shop. It was a totally awesome store that sells more natural products for bikes. Mom and dad were really excited to find loads of cool wool clothing that fit, and some nice waxed cloth panniers for dad's bike. Plus the people who worked there were all super nice, too! If anyone is looking for neat bike stuff, check these guys out! I got to go on a visit and meet one of the guys, he was a really good petter so I made sure to rub my head on him a lot!

After the bike shop, we stopped by the bank and then headed home. I told mom that the acupuncture made me tired, so she is working from home today. Luckily she has a lot more writing to do, so I can sleep next to her on the couch, curled up underneath a nice wool blanket!

A distracted agility class

Well, my agility class didn't go so well today. I had fun, but I was so distracted! Mom only let me off leash for one of the runs, which is a big change because for the last few weeks I've been able to be off leash the entire class! I think it's all mom's fault-- she was sick this week and missed a couple days of work and didn't exercise me enough so I was ready to run around and didn't really feel like listening to mom all the time.

Plus, daddy wasn't at my agility class-- he went into the city for a bike riding class instead! How rude! I think agility is waaaay more important than safe biking, but mom doesn't agree since daddy has to bike commute a little every day.

Class started out OK, though I was kind of distracted by all the dogs not in our class who were watching us. But then after we did the first couple of exercises, this small black and tan dog came to watch and I just did NOT trust that dog! I was very very worried about her and could not concentrate at all. When it was our turn to do the next exercise I wouldn't even sit so mom decided I wasn't ready to run the course at that time. Phooey on mom! I was not happy about missing my turn, but after I did a whole bunch of sits and watches and stays, I got to feeling more relaxed and we were able to jump back in. Mom was pretty dissapointed in how distracted I was, but you know it is really all her fault!

Luckily I wasn't the only one having a bad day-- my pal Lolly got loose and ran around which looked like a lot of fun! But she got in trouble for that! And mom was in a lot of pain and kept having to sit down after our runs because she would get dizzy. But she kept going because she knew how much I wanted to run around and get my energy out! The other doggies had good days, though. This one dog in my class who a few months ago kept running on the tennis court and having fun with the tennis balls now has a really really good come command! Mom was telling me that I needed to be as good as that pup!

After class, since daddy wasn't there to help my trainer load her stuff in the car, mom and I stuck around to help. They talked about breeds for my new doggy sibling that mom's going to get sometime this coming summer, I can't wait! I told mom I didn't care what kind of dog it was, as long as it liked playing with me-- oh and it should give me all it's food, too! And all it's toys should be mine, too... Hmmm, double the food, double the toys, I'm really liking this new puppy idea!

New pictures!

Last time I was over at Snowy's house, we had a mini photo shoot! I got to try out his white background setup, which is much more sophisticated than mom's white sheet setup! But since Snowy is a lot smaller than me, only my head fits into a picture BOL! I think these are some of the best pictures ever taken of me, so I am proud to show them off (though of course mom has been sooooooo slow about posting them). Also, Snowy's dad took some pictures of mom and dad as a couple, but I figured it would be good if I were in there, too-- after all, I am the most important member of the family, am I not?!

Presentation

Today mom gave lab meeting-- that means the presentation she's been working on recently was on display. I slept through most of the presentation, but I think it went really really well. It seemed like everyone liked what mom had to say, and they all had really good advice about experiments to plan and everything. The best part about the presentation was that she ended with a picture of me with her plants that she studies! I think that was the best picture of the whole presentation, and I bet everyone else agreed. All the good advice mom got meant mom spent a lot of time scribbling stuff down and thinking hard the rest of the day! I was happy to rest, yesterday's hornworms with the 7th graders seemed so busy that I got tired just watching mom do it BOL! Though I do wish she'd hurry up and get my nice big fluffy dog bed that normally sits in her office cleaned-- now I am using my travel bed which is not very thick. I want my fluffy bed back, but mom says it is dirty and needs to be professionally cleaned. Phooey I say!

Thanksgiving Tag!

I've been tagged!

Here are seven things I'm thankful for this Thanksgiving season:

1. My pawrents, they are the best!
2. My doggie TV set (aka the guinea pig cage)
3. Agility class where I can run and jump as much as I want!
4. Puppy play dates, especially with my pal Snowy who wears me out!
5. Tripe!!! That stuff is the yummiest!
6. All my pup pals on dogster, you guys are so fun and nice!
7. Getting a new puppy sibling this summer- I plan to be bad and then blame everything on him/her he he he!

Worms!!!!

No, they weren't in me, they were the lesson for the 7th graders today. And to be specific, they were actually Hornworms which are caterpillars!

Today mom and the other fellows set up experiments about how temperature, light and food affect the growth of tobacco hornworms. The students were kind of grossed out by the hornworms at first-- there was lots of shrieking going on! But pretty soon they warmed up to their hornworms, and were having fun playing with them and measuring their length and weight. Many students even named their larva (that's what a caterpillar is).

It was pretty hectic, but it seemed like the students all had fun and were excited about their horworms!

After teaching, we headed into school. Mom ate lunch in the food room (office) and while I looked my saddest at my pal Caroline when mom wasn't looking, she didn't give me any pizza! Something about a diet... Diet shmiet I say!

Then we went to mom's desk and mom spent all afternoon working on her presentation that she has to give tomorrow. It was sooooooooo boring for me, but I think mom's presentation looks very nice! Now we're home and I have to keep fighting mom for the computer-- I think dogster is way more important than researching breeds for mom's next service dog!

I'm a biologist!

Yesterday morning we piled into the car for a big adventure-- we were going to mom's field site which is Folsom Lake! It is a really cool lake that was made by the building of a dam in the 1950s. Right now the water level is really really low so there is a lot of space to run around in a very interesting looking environment. Mom studies plants that live around the lake and she wanted to collect leaves from them so daddy and I were her field assistants. Luckily the lake allows dogs so I could help mom and be off duty at the same time! Yippie for me! I told mom I'd be happy to water all the plants she wanted me to, but she said that wouldn't be necessary.

Unfortunately mom got really sick on the car ride out to the lake and was in a lot of pain, but she took lots of medicine and daddy carried everything so she was able to get done what needed to get done. It was a lot of fun for me, I got to sniff a lot of things and mom brought my really long flexi-lead so that I could really run around a lot since there wasn't anyone else around (dogs have to be on leash at the lake, though, so that is why I needed the flexi lead). We collected plants from one population, then walked down to where the shore is now which is like a quarter mile from where the shore normally is! We saw a bridge that was built before the dam that is normally under about 20 ft of water and I walked on it and got my picture taken. Then we collected from a second population and headed home.

I was pretty darn tired after all that running around, but mom and dad stopped at the Farmer's Kitchen Cafe which is a gluten-free restaurant in Davis. I slept through dinner, but mom and dad seemed to have a good time eating pizza! I was happy to get home and get my dinner and then sleep! I was so tired that I spent pretty much all of today sleeping, too! I tried to get mom to upload some of the pictures she took, but she is still feeling pretty sick so she said it's going to have to wait a few days. All in all it was a really fun trip, and I enjoyed being a biologist-- we're going to go back on Thanksgiving weekend and hopefully collect seed, I can't wait!

Help mom pick a breed for her next service dog

Mom's going to replace me soon I hear... I don't like the idea of being replaced, but I do like the idea of another pup in the house for me to play with whenever I want! Here is something mom wrote up about what she wants in her next service dog candidate (though of course I think I'm perfect in every way!). If you have any advice, please pmail me and I'll let mom know!

Here's what she wrote:


This summer, I’m thinking of getting a new puppy to train as my next service dog. Sabrina’s getting older (she’s 7.5 yrs old!) and I figure she’ll be ready to retire in about 1.5 to 2 years, which means that now is the time to start training a new pup to take over. I have a few breeds in mind, but I want to see if others would pick these breeds for me, and if there are other breeds out there that I haven’t considered yet. I’ll most likely be getting a puppy from a reputable breeder.

I will be training the dog to be my psychiatric service dog, which means I want to train the dog to alert me to my panic attacks and bipolar mood swings, and help me through them. In addition, I’ve been having some chronic pain that sometimes makes me dizzy. It’s only a problem a few days a month, but I figure since I’ll have a dog there anyway, I might as well teach the dog to counterbalance when I’m dizzy. So I’ll be using the dog for very light mobility work as well.

As to my personality and training style, I use positive training techniques. I enjoy a dog that learns fast and can think on their own, but that is also obedient and enjoys pleasing their handler.

Alright, here is my list of desired traits from most to least important, suggest away!

Must have high intelligence
Must be a quick learner
Must bond strongly to their primary handler, but not be entirely dependent on that person
Must enjoy working for their handler
Towards strangers and kids prefer friendly but can range to aloof
Towards other dogs strongly prefer friendly but can range to aloof
Towards cats and other animals can be friendly to aloof
Preferred height 21-23 inches at the shoulder
Must have the stamina to keep up with my busy schedule of running to classes, teaching and research but be OK laying quietly during class or in the office
Coat type:
Preferred would be very short and low shedding/grooming, needing only occasional rubs with a rubber brush
Acceptable coat type would be average shedding and up to a few inches long as long as the coat doesn’t need clipping
Another acceptable coat type would be a non- or low-shedding coat that needs to be clipped regularly
Unacceptable would be heavy shedding, or an average shedding coat that needs to be cut on a regular basis
Prefer low on the protection scale
Prefer lower prey drive, but some prey drive acceptable if easily channeled into toys/balls
Prefer an affectionate, but not overly affectionate dog
Prefer a dog that enjoys itself but is not overly-excited
Prefer a dog with a fairly long lifespan, 10-12 years or more
It would be nice if the breed were prone to few health problems (especially hip and joint problems)
It would be nice if the dog enjoyed agility and hiking
It would be nice if the breed weren’t prone to lots of barking

Paws-Up Ettiquite Activitiy 10

Here is Activity 10 in the Paws Up Ettiquite Workbook:

Activity 10

List the behaviors that you need to train your assistance dog in training in order to travel by plane. Include behaviors needed for security checkpoints.

In addition to all the normal SD stuff, it's important to train your dog for the metal detectors and security screening. First I tell the security people what I'm doing, then I put Sabrina in a sit-stay on one side of the metal detector and I walk through. When the guard tells me it's OK then I call Sabrina through. Sometimes she needs to get patted down-- they can't make you take off your SDs gear, if they need to check it they can pat it down or ask to look inside but they cannot force you to remove their gear (but of course if you want to put their gear through the xray that's totally cool-- just make sure your dog realizes it's still working!). A stand-for-exam command is good for the patting down bit. In general the security people have been super nice, once we even had them request a girl to do the pat down on Sabrina because she is female! They were treating her just like a human, it was really funny!

It's important that your dog be able to heel close in a crowded situation, and they should be comfortable using elevators or escalators. A lot of airports have busses or subways to connect terminals, so your dog might have to ride other forms of public transportation while at the airport, too.

For the plane ride, a good under command for going under the seat in front of you is good to have. We usually bring a mat for Sabrina to lay on so she doesn't get so cold and we take her gear off when we're in the plane so she can be more comfortable.

We tried to train Sabrina to potty pads before our first plane ride, but she didn't like them and a 50 lb dog produces a lot of pee BOL! For a smaller dog that'd be great, but we just go outside and Sabrina pees there. Your SD should be comfortable eliminating on a variety of surfaces because some airports don't have grass and trees anywhere nearby, and so far all of the dog potty areas that we've been to in airports are gravel. If you have to take your SD to potty, tell security as you're leaving what you're doing and they'll let you to the front of the line when you get back from pottying so you don't have to spend time in security again.

Making mom look silly!

This morning we had agility class! I looooooove agility class! Even though it hadn't rained here in a few weeks, the agility course was super muddy because they keep watering the park overmuch-- there were huge mud puddles all over! Plus it started raining while we were on the course, but it was just sprinking so it wasn't too bad.

Anyway, I had loads of fun in agility and got a little overly excited a few times and tried to run the course on my own without paying attention to mom, but she was able to call me right back before I actually did any different obstacles! I am getting to have a really really good recall!

Three-quarters of the way through class we started doing the teeter, and I really love the teeter so I was super excited to run up it at full speed! I didn't quite slow down enough (OK, at all) when mom told me to and was careening up the teeter--- then I realized that meant I'd be careening down the teeter, too! Mom and I realized this at the same instant and she tried to catch me while I tried to abandon ship... This had the end result of mom doing a flip over the teeter and landing on her but in a big pile of mud with me on top of her! He he, I thought it was fun, but mom got a bruise on her leg and was kind of embarrassed! Luckily I was excited to try the teeter again right away, but this time I was happy to go at a reasonable speed!

The class went really well besides the teeter incident, and mom and I had a lot of fun. Daddy had fun, too-- he got to hold doggies when people were walking through the course which was fun for him so he wasn't just the ring crew. After agility class I still had plenty of energy to walk home, but I was covered in mud and so was mom!

That meant I had to get a bath outside with the cold hose water before coming inside and that was no fun. I made the saddest face I could, but it didn't help at all. That made me really really cold, and it was no fun to get a bath outside when it was raining, too! So I was happy to run inside and snuggle up under a blanket! I hope next agility class is just as fun as this one, though mom hopes we don't make quite such a spectacle of ourselves!

Fruit fly life cycle

The lesson for mom's 7th graders today was all about the life cycle of insects. We used the fruit flies we collected yesterday. Mom and the other fellows showed the students the larva, pupa and adult stages of teh flies and the students thought it was really cool. Then to set the students up for their experiments with hornworms next week, the students put the flies on ice which made them all sleep. When they took the flies out to room temperature, they woke up. The students really liked that, they thought it was really neat but they all thought their flies had died at first.

During mom's third class (and last one that she teaches) I tried to go alert her but I was stopped! Mom forgot to tell the person that was in the room with her that sometimes I get up and go touch mom to alert her that she needs to watch out for herself, and maybe take some medicine. I was pretty worried that I was supposed to stay and wasn't allowed to get mom, but luckily mom figured out what was going on and came over so I alerted her and then she told me thank you and that I should stay there. Class was over soon, so mom and I headed home and spent a while feeling better. Now mom is feeling OK enough to be working on homework, but I think she should just let me play on dogster all afternoon-- after all, that is so much more fun than homework, right pups?

Booties

Yesterday I had to wear my booties for the first time in a long while. Now that mom's office isn't in the middle of the lab, I can walk right from the hallway to the office so I don't need to wear them daily anymore. But yesterday we had to go pick up a bunch of fruit flies from a lot of different labs for mom's GK-12 thing with the 7th graders. So since mom didn't know how many labs she'd need to go into and also how much she'd need to walk around in the labs, she put my booties on. At first I walked really funny and everyone in the office laughed at me. But after a few minutes I remembered how to walk in them and it was totally fine. I met a lot of really nice people while mom was getting her flies, and we walked into several labs so I was happy I had them on to protect my feet. But I was also happy to get back to the office and take the booties off-- I'll tolerate them but I definitely don't want to wear them all the time.

Finally a break in the boredom!

Today was a lot more fun that we've been having at work recently! In the morning mom was working on her presentation that she had to give in the afternoon. At lunchtime instead of going swimming (brrrr! too cold for that!) we went for a walk with mom's labmates. It was fun to get out and have a good sniff (I was off duty)!

After lunch mom finished up her presentation and then we went to class. I was sleeping away when all the sudden Snowy's mom stood up and started talking! Everyone was really interested in what she had to say, and I was, too! It sounded like very scientific and interesting stuff! I went back to sleep for the next talk, and then it was mom and my turn. I went to lay in the corner and mom stood up at the front of the room. Mom seemed very calm and she did a great job with her speech! It was very pretty and everyone seemed to like it a lot. The comments afterwards were all super positive, too!

When we got home mom spent a while weeding the garden, then I told her she needed to go inside and rest with me for a while. After that mom made dinner and now we're relaxing and hanging out on dogster. What a nice day!

Bike ride in the dark!

Today was such a boring day. Mom was working on her presentation all day long, which was sooo boring for me. I was happy when it was time to go home, and even happier to see Daddy at the BART station!

We walked home and then daddy took me for a jog around the block with his bike which was really fun! I got a quick dinner and then daddy got out mom's bike and my trailer. We were going on a bike ride, but it was already dark and cold! Mom bundled me up in a fleece sweater so I was able to stay pretty warm. Mom had a little problem because bright flashing lights sometimes trigger panic attacks and we had one of those on the back of my trailer facing right at mom. At one of the early stoplights along the way I stood up and tried to alert mom through the bike trailer so she did a self check and realized the problem before she was having problems breathing. We took a break and I calmed mom down while daddy rearranged all the bike lights so they didn't shine in mom's face. Then we biked all the way to school which took about 30 minutes. Mom lost her brand-new gloves on the way when she stopped to take off her sweater, though.

When we got to campus, mom went inside the office and grabbed my doggy bed (mom thinks it needs to be washed but I think it is perfectly worn in!) and the gecko painting that Kathryn Beals painted-- it looks super cool! Then we stuffed those things plus me back into the trailer. It was pretty crowded in there, but apparently mom and dad thought they could fit more stuff because they stopped by their favorite Indian restaurant, Udupi Palace, on the way home. The food smelled super yummy, but even though it was in the trailer with me I didn't get to sample any of it!

I was happy to get home where it was a little warmer than in the bike trailer, now I'm off to take a snooze under the blanket!

Reducing our Carbon emissions!

Today we did errands, and we did all our errands by bike to reduce our Carbon emissions and therefore our ecological footprint. Visit http://www.myfootprint.org/ to take a quiz and see what your footprint is and how to reduce it.

I rode in my trailer behind daddy's bike and we went to the recycling center to drop off our plastics (our city doesn't accept all plastics at the curb). Then we went to the pet store where I saw a new bed I really really want to get-- it is filled with recycled plastic soda bottles! I thought it was super cool, and it rolled up pretty small so mom said that I might get it for a christmas present! I also got two liver treats while I was there, YUM!

Next we biked over to the grocery store (Lucky) to get 48 cents a lb chicken! It's not free range, but mom and dad figure that since the free range stuff is sooooooo expensive ($3 a lb) we can get the non-free range stuff when it goes on super sale. Then we walked over to Petco to get crickets and I got even more yummy treats from the cashier! Yippie! It was getting pretty crowded in my trailer on the way home-- we had 40 lbs of chicken, me, and all the stuff we got at the pet stores!

I thought we were all done biking, but we just dropped off our things and got back out biking to REI. I was getting pretty hungry because it felt to me like it was dinner time, but mom and dad kept saying something about a time change. On our way back from REI we stopped by the bowling alley to get some Thai food (yes, they sell Thai food in the bowling alley!). Dad put it in the trailer with me for the ride home and boy oh boy did it smell good! But I was a good girl and didn't try to eat it!

As soon as we got home I rushed to find mom's case and give it to her so that I could eat my dinner. It was a fun day of biking, and I'm really happy that we didn't use the car at all for any of our errands today!

Snowy's birthday and my new best friend!

Yesterday after agility class we went over to Snowy's house for his birthday party! I wish mom threw me a birthday party... Snowy's mom is much cooler I think! Anyway, I showed up and was so excited to see Snowy! He was excited to see me, too! He told me how every time he's in the car and drives near my house he smells the vents and tries to tell his parents that they need to stop by my house to say hi. I told him he should hop over and take the wheel and force them to visit us! That way Snowy and I could play all the time!

I brought Snowy a birthday present, it was a pink poodle plushy toy! I thought it was very cool and tried to steal it from Snowy and destroy it, so mom and Snowy's mom decided it should go up on a table so Snowy could play with it later when I wasn't there.

After spending a while playing, Snowy's mom said it was dinner time. I figured I'd be getting normal dinner, but Snowy whispered in my ear that his mom had something special up her sleeve! She went to the kitchen and started getting meat out of the fridge so I sucked in my tummy and did my best starving dog impression. Snowy got thinly sliced beef cooked in seseme oil and I got the same only raw. It was soooooooooooooo delicious! I thought I was in heaven when I was eating it! Unfortunately, I think mom told Snowy's mom that I am on a diet so even though I pretended to faint from hunger they wouldn't give me any more! Guess I can't fool them. Snowy seemed to like his, too, yum yum!

After dinner I decided that my new best friend is Snowy's mom-- she always gives me yummy food when I am at her place, and this beef with seseme oil was the best thing ever! So every time I laid down, I laid down next to her and tried to show her how much I loved her!

After puppy dinner time, it was time for the humans to eat. We went to an Indian restaurant and I slept under the table-- with my head on Snowy's mom's feet because she is my new best friend!

After the humans ate, we went back to Snowy's place and had a photo shoot. I guess Snowy's dad thought it was going to rain, because he had a big umbrella that kept looking like lightening was in it. Then on my other side there was another flashy thing going off. I love to model so I just sat there and looked my most regal.

By the end of the evening I was pooped! I told Snowy that he had a great birthday party and that I wish his mom would give me yummy beef with seseme oil every time she saw me! We decided we'd work on a plan to try to look starving every time we're together-- I'll tell you how it goes next time we see Snowy's mom!

Crazy agility class!

Today was our first day of agility class for this session! I was soooooooo excited to get to the agility field-- we walked over because we are trying to reduce our carbon emissions.

There were some doggies in the class that I'd seen before, but there were some new faces, too. It was a crowded class with 10 dogs! And the park was full of people and other dogs so it was a pretty hectic time. I was so good, I did the entire class off leash! Once when I was running the course another dog got on the course and I started to run over to investigate but mom called me back and I came right away. Mom was so proud of me! I told mom I've been able to do that for a while, it's just that mom always underestimates how trained I am. Silly mom-- she needs to trust her training!

There were some other eventful happenings as well-- one dog was running teh course and was right about to run into the tunnel when a 3 year old ran up to the other end of the tunnel and started crawling in! Luckily the dog was able to stop before they injured the kid, and the dad of the kid didn't seem to think there was any problem with their kid playing on a dog agility course! We made them go away, though.

Then later on a cat came around that was very very friendly-- the kitty wanted to say hi to all the dogs in the course, but the dogs wanted to chase the kitty! Daddy ran over to the cat to scare it away, but it just hid under a car and watched us do the course. I hope it had a good show!

There were also a few off leash dogs that wandered onto the course who weren't registered but they went away pretty quickly. All in all it was a pretty hectic agility course, but I was so good and did the whole thing off leash! I used my new Ruffwear Quick Leash which velcros around my neck when I'm not using it and it was super handy. I'll have mom take a picture of me wearing it sometime soon so I can show it off.

On strike!

Yesterday was a really long day for us, and I spent a long time sitting on cold floors with just my mat to protect me. (mom says my mat is a 1.5 inch crate pad, but I think it could be cushier!). Then this morning I realized it was Friday which meant we had lab meeting all morning and then a class right afterwards. That meant I had to lay on my teeny little mat in cold classrooms for hours and hours. I tell you what, by the end of that class I was fed up with laying in cold rooms, I wanted some warmth!

Luckily it was sunny out as we headed back from class and I was just starting to warm up when we started to head inside mom's building! We got to the stairs and I decided enough was enough! I wanted to lay in the sun! So I plopped down at the top of the stairs and sprawled out into my best sunbathing pose-- I was on a strike! I sighed loudly so that mom and her labmates would know I was not moving, I wanted my sun time!

The next thing I know all of mom's friends and mom were laughing at me! I tried to tell them it's rude to laugh at people on strike-- I know that you're supposed to honk at them, but not laugh! Oh well, at least their laughter bought me a few minutes in the sun. When they were done mom said we had to go inside so I sighed again and walked inside with the saddest, most dejected look on my face that I could muster.

Luckily we headed for the food room (the office area) where mom ate lunch and I got some off-duty fun time with mom's labmates! After that I was happy to sit under mom's desk and sleep for the rest of the day.

Happy Howl-O-Ween!

Today was Halloween! That means I get to dress up in fun costumes and I get a lot of attention! When I've got my vest on I have to be professional, so I just wore a halloween bandanna around my neck to show off my spirit. But when we got to work mom had a meeting where I could be off duty so I was soooooooooo excited to put on my bee costume! Mom was a bee, too! So we made quite a scene with all of mom's labmates and friends! I wish I could have worn the costume all day, but mom said I had to dress professionally when we were out.

We went to lunch with Kathryn and that's when I really started to notice some strange happenings. I mean, I had kind of seen some strange stuff this morning when we stopped by the store on the way to work. A few of the employees were wearing capes, but it is a new store so I thought maybe that was part of their outfit. Well at lunch I saw a lot of people dressed in all sorts of strange ways! But you know, since it is Berkeley I couldn't tell if they were dressed up for Halloween or if they were dressed like that because that's what they normally wear!

After lunch we went back to mom's work and I slept while mom wrote a lot again. On our way home there were even more strangely dressed people-- and dogs, too! I saw one dog that was dressed as a hot dog! People had all sorts of staffs and feather boas and other props that looked like they'd be fun to play with, but unfortunately I had to ignore them all. Oh well. We had a few apples ready for trick or treaters, but no one found our house hidden behind another house so I got to sleep all night long. I wonder if any of mom's students will be dressed up tomorrow?

More service dog beauty shots, and me helping mom at work

Mom finally got around to uploading a bunch of pictures she's been sitting on for a while. There are lots of pictures of me being a model! I love it when we have photo shoots and I get to show off my gear! In these pictures you can see the little blue LED lights mom added to my zipper pulls for nighttime safety. They are really bright, but they help people see us when it's dark out so that is really safe.

There's also a picture that one of mom's labmates took of me helping mom out doing work. See, mom and Caroline were spending days and days on the computer designing primers for microsatellite loci (genetic markers) and I was soooooooooooooo bored. I climbed into mom's lap to see if I could help things move along faster and I was really good at it! Must be all the typing I do on dogster that helped me with my computer skills! Anyway, Caroline snapped a picture, I hope you like it!

Who was shaking my bed?

Just a few minutes ago I was sleeping peacefully in my bed when all of the sudden someone started shaking my bed! I woke up and looked all around but I didn't see anyone! So I ran into the living room and saw Willow-cat who said someone had rudely shaken her while she was sleeping on the couch! We looked at mom, but she was in the kitchen trying to figure out why the pots and pans were rattling. Finally we all got the idea-- it was an earthquake!

Write write write!

That's all mom did today-- BORING! It was too cold for mom to go swimming, and her class this afternoon was cancelled so mom spent the whole day working on her research proposal for her committee meeting next month. That meant I spent the whole day bored stiff! I did get some petting time in with mom's labmates, though, so that made the day a lot better. I hope mom is done with this writing stuff soon!

More thoughts on tasks vs work

Mom wrote this and I wanted to save it for later:


You are right that emotional support isn't a task, however it is work and the ADA says that a dog must do work *or* preform tasks. And anyway, I think that the real purpose of the ADA is to help people with disabilities. That's why my opinion is that I think a service dog should be defined by the person and not by the dog. It's the person who has the disability and the person who is helped by the dog. Who cares if the dog does physical tasks or not? If the person's disability is mitigated by the dog, who cares how that actually happens? In my mind, fighting about specific tasks that a service dog has to do, if the dog needs to do one, two or three tasks, which disabilities qualify for a service dog etc is akin to fighting about which styles of wheelchairs should be allowed. Who cares how the wheelchair works, as long as it enables a person with a mobility impairment to get around? In the same vein, who cares how a service dog works as long as it mitigates the person's disability?

A few months ago I saw a girl who appeared who have cerebral palsy using a segway (one of those two wheeled upright thingies) the same way others would be using a traditional 4 wheeled chair. Personally I think that's wonderful! I would totally support someone using a two wheeled wheel chair if that's what worked best for them. After all it's the person being able to get around that is important, not the design of the device she uses to get around. It's the same with service dogs in my opinion. Who cares how it works as long as it mitigates their disability?

It's just not fair!

I tell you what, it is so not fair when I see Snowy's mom but not Snowy! It's like a big tease, and I'm constantly waiting for Snowy to pop out somewhere and say hi! Yesterday after mom was writing all day we met Snowy's mom to work on a project for a class. I saw her and thought she had Snowy! Unfortunately she didn't-- something about him not being allowed in a coffee shop. I tried to tell them that Snowy could hide underneath me and sneak into the shop, but they wouldn't listen to me. At least I got to sit on the second level which enables me to watch everything that goes on in the whole first level (there is a railing preventing people from falling over, but it is otherwise free space that I can look through).

After that mom and I went home where we met up with daddy and went to the grocery store. Luckily I have more energy this week so I was fine going to the grocery store. And best of all, it wasn't too crowded! There were probably only about 100-150 other shoppers there, that is considered not crowded for this particular store. On our way out of the store we saw a dog tied to a tree outside. It was cold and dark and the doggy looked very scared and worried and it was whining a lot. We stopped so mom and dad could carry the bags and leave the cart at the cart place and saw that the workers were using forklifts to move the big things of pumpkins that were outside of the store. The poor tied up dog was tied right between two pumpkin things! The workers tried as best they could to go slowly and not bother the dog, but it was scared out of it's mind and kept trying to run away. I felt really really really badly for the dog, and also really angry at the owner! In Berkeley it is considered abandonment to tie a dog outside a store, even for a few minutes. And this poor dog was obviously not the type of dog that could handle a lot of strange stimulus! I wanted to wait for the owner and give them a piece of my mind, but we had to get going because it was past my dinnertime.

After dinner daddy played with me a lot which was a lot of fun and then it was time for bed.

Agility videos

Mom finally got around to putting up my agility videos from a couple of weeks ago. I hope you enjoy them! The first one was my best run of the day! The second one was actually my first run of the day and I was a little distracted. The third one was the last run of the day and by that time I was really really tired!

Bike Safety

Yesterday we spent almost all day at a bike safety course for mom and dad. It was sooooooooooo boring! The room was chilly and very crowded, so I was really happy when it was time to leave! Mom and dad seemed to have a good time, though. They learned a lot about how to ride a biike safely in an urban area, about safety and all sorts of other helpful information.

On the way home from the bike safety course we stopped by LUSH to get some soap-- I got to be off duty so I enjoyed letting everyone in the store pet me. Plus I rolled around on the floor (so people coule pet my belly) and got covered in glitter which was fun. Mom had a hard time, though, because Union Square was totally packed full of people and it was making her so anxious that she couldn't think stright. Then we went to REI where mom bought the Ruffwear Quick Draw leash that wraps around your nexk like a collar. I'll write a review of it after we've used it some! Finally we went to the mall because dad had to return something he'd ordered online. Unfortunately they didn't accept the return, but we took a stroll around the mall that was fun so it wasn't a wase of time! By then it was already dinnertime, but we had one more store to visit-- we had to pick up stuff at Michaels for mom's 7th graders. I was really happy to get home because we'd been gone all day long! I hope we don't have to do so many boring errands today!

Super FLASH, Super FLASH-- It's super flashy!

Last weekend mom and dad found this really bright light at the bike shop. It's the Planet Bike Super Flash. Mom put hers on the back of her bike, and dad put his on the back of his helmet (he already has a really big rear light on his bike). This morning when daddy was getting ready to leave, he put on his bike helmet and mom turned the light on. I had been sleeping on the couch when all the sudden I saw these super bright flashes going off! I woke up and looked around, and saw the light on daddy's helmet. It looked like a lot of fun! I hadn't really looked at it closely before, but it was pretty mesmorizing and I couldn't decide if it was a new toy for me or something that I should be thinking about chasing! The only problem was that daddy kept turning around quickly to try to look at my expression-- every time he turned around I pretended I wasn't interested in his light, though, so he never got to see how enthralled I was by the light. Mom did, though, and as usual she was laughing at me... I tried to tell her it's rude to laugh at people but oh well, she's just a silly human and I guess you can't expect too much from them!

Chilly field trip

This morning mom and I had the last of our fall set of field trips for our GK-12 program where we are working with the 7th graders. It's been warm the past few days, but this morning it was pretty cold! Mom should have brought an extra jacket or something warm for me to lay on I think.

We left the school at 8:30 and walked over to the park and spent the whole morning in the creek with mom's group of 7 students. They were really nice students and found a ton of spiders and water striders and water beetles. It was really cool to see all the neat stuff they found! One student even found a yellow and black fuzzy catepillar! I thought it might be a tasty snack for me but mom said it wasn't, too bad! The students also caught a lizard which was really cool!

It started to warm up, but walking through the creek (because that's easier than hopping rock to rock like mom does!) made my legs chilly so I was happy to get back to school and then into a nice warm and dry car! After a quick lunch, mom and I went into school where I was happy to catch up on sleep while mom worked. When we got home, though, mom made me stay outside with her while she watered and weeded the garden. I thought it was too cold to be outside, but silly mom didn't realize that! Oh well, now we're inside and I plan to sleep a lot in my nice toasty bed!

When do I get a break?

I think mom and I need to take a day off and catch up on some sleep! This morning we woke up really early to go to mom's doctor's appointment. We met with the doctors who did mom's surgery to talk about why mom is still having pain. I like those doctors, they are really really nice! Plus they seem like they and mom and dad are able to talk a lot about why mom might be in pain and everything, even sharing some of the research that's going on in their lab (they are MD/PhD). Hopefully the pain will go away in a couple of months, but if not it seems mom and her doctors have a plan of next steps to try.

After the doctors appointment daddy dropped us off at school and we rushed into our GK-12 meeting that we were late for. I got to sleep through that, and then we met my friend Kathryn for lunch. She and mom had good long talk, and I got some nice petting from her which is always nice!

After lunch I only got a quick snooze in my bed before mom and I headed over to a meeting with her class advisor person. I tried to tell mom I was tired already! But she said we had to have all these appointments so I went along but looked at mom tiredly a lot so she was sure to feel sorry for me.

Finally I got another hour or so of sleep and then we headed home where I flopped down on the floor and refused to budge! I am soooo tired, and we have a field trip tomorrow so I've got to save my energy.

Bowling? No... Dance Dance Revolution? Yes!

Even though I was soooooooooooooooooo tired from our field trips yesterday, mom still made me go to work today (I did get off the couch very slowly and make a sad face at her when she said it was time to leave, though!). We had a pretty busy day-- mom went swimming, so I got to snooze and sniff all the fun pool smells before lunch. Then later that afternoon mom had her class with Snowy's mom! As usual, no Snowy in sight which was very dissapointing! I fell asleep during class and I was so tired that I started dreaming! I even started to snore and woof in my sleep a little bit, so mom had to wake me up!

After class, I thought we were headed home as usual, but instead we went back to the lab and a bunch on mom's lab mates got together and we rode on the bus to the bowling alley! I remembered the bowling alley from last time we went there, it is a very noisy place with lots of crashing sounds and cheering going on. When we got there, though, mom and her labmates found out it was something called a League night so there weren't many lanes free for bowlers like us!

We went to the Thai restaurant in the bowling alley (what better place for a Thai restaurant?!) and had a fun dinner with mom's labmates. I took a snooze under the table while they talked and ate. Then after they ate, we wanted to kill more time waiting for a lane to open up and there were some arcade games. I've seen some arcade games before, they usually involve moving sticks around or pretending to drive or shoot things. But this game was totally different! Things appeared on the screen that told you where you were supposed to move your feet, and you had to do it in time with the music. Mom's labmates started out with some easy ones where you didn't have to move too fast, but it got harder and harder and sometimes it seemed like you needed four feet at once to do the moves! It was pretty strange to watch the humans jumping and hopping around to the music, but apparently it's a very popular game!

While some of mom's labmates were jumping around like crazy people a man came over to mom and I and waved at us. Then he started signing to us! Mom took a summer class in ASL about 2.5 years ago, and she hasn't signed since, so she was surprised how much she remembered! Of course she couldn't sign very many words themselves, besides telling the person that she wasn't deaf but she learned how to sign a long time ago. At lest she could finger spell, though! Turns out the man was Deaf and thought mom might be, too, and that I might be a hearing dog. He was very nice, and mom let me say hi to him and his friend.

After they left, mom's labmates convinced her to try the dancing game. Mom put me in a down stay next to the game and then she was focusing on getting the steps right. I was trying to figure out what in the world was going on! Mom was doing all kinds of strange hopping and jumping, and I know I am supposed to keep an eye on her so I just kept my head as close to her legs as I could without getting kicked accidentally! After the first couple of levels, though, I figured out that mom was OK so I laid down and relaxed. She surely did look silly, though!

Finally we gave up on getting a bowling lane and everyone was tired of dancing so we all went home. I got my dinner late! Which was no fair! But at least it was a fun evening. Now I really think mom owes me a relaxing day tomorrow! I am pooped!

Field trip!

I am EXHAUTED!!! Today we went on two field trips! Mom and the other GK-12 fellows (they teach 7th grade science classes at a local public school) took one class of students in the morning, and another in the afternoon. I don't think we should do two field trips in the same day again, it was so tiring! But it was also a lot of fun.

We got to school bright and early, and once the students assembled in the parking lot we walked over to the park (about 1/2 mile away). Mom was in charge of a group of 6 students and they were really smart! We were on a biohunt, which is like a scavenger hunt but all the items are biodiversity related. The students had to do things like collect plants and insects, count tree rings, write down all the sounds they heard for a minute, draw a picture of an insect etc. Since it rained last week there was actually water in the creek! We weren't expecting that, but it was cool because our group caught two fish! At the end we all met back at the picnic tables before walking back to the school.

Everything was going fine, mom and the other fellows were wrapping up the lesson when all of the sudden two stray dogs came over to us! I was a little nervous (and mom was very nervous!) because there were no owners in sight and the dogs kept trying to come over to me. One of the teachers shooed one dog away, but the other dog decided that he wanted to play with all the students. He was a cute puppy, probably about 6 months old. Mom and I just stayed away from him every time he moved around-- at that point it was clear he wasn't going to jump on me, but it was also clear he was a stray and mom didn't want to risk me getting fleas or anything else the dog might have. So we started walking back to the school with the students, and two of the other fellows stayed behind to catch the dog. They ended up giving it to a park ranger who took the dog to the shelter, where I hope he gets adopted quickly!

We walked back to the school, and had only 45 minutes to recover before taking the next group out! I took a power nap, and mom tried to relax and eat something but she was not feeling well so it was hard. Luckily sitting down and drinking lots of water helped, and this time mom and I drove all the equipment down to the park so that the students wouldn't have to carry it. That had the added benefit of mom and I not having to walk down there in the direct sunlight so mom and I had more energy for the activity. For the afternoon we had a group of 8 girls and they were fearless! They all took off their shoes and walked in the creek and everything! They caught tons of spiders, too. By the end of the afternoon, though, I was soooooooo tired! Every time I sat down I almost fell asleep and the girls thought that was really funny!

I was happy to get in the car and drive the equipment back to the school-- I got to take a nice nap on the cool tile floor while mom and the other fellows repacked the equipment for the next trip. Mom and I will be going again on Thursday morning. I am very glad we are just going in the morning and not all day, though! I am wiped out! I am going right back to sleep after typing this, and I don't plan to wake up until the morning!

Paws-Up Ettiquite Activitiy 9

Time for Activity 9 of the Paws Up Ettiquite Workbook:

Activity 9
List hidden dangers in the public transportation that you most frequently use. Discuss how you will keep your assistance dog safe.

The public transportation I use the most includes subways, amtrak trains and busses.

The subway doesn't have a lot of hidden dangers because the operators on the BART system are really nice and everything. They always look out their windows and make sure everyone is safely in and out before closing the doors, but I remember that Dikki had a problem on the NYC subway system where the door was closed with her SD inside and her on the outside of the train and her scooter was dragged several feet before someone pulled the emergency brake! So that is a hidden danger of subway systems in general. I guess a good way to avoid that problem is to get on near the front of the train if you can. That way you are closer to the operator so if you need to yell about something they are likely to hear, and hopefully if they at least glance out their window before shutting their doors they'll see you if you are close by. I think in the NYC subway many stations are on a curve so the operator can't always see the doors to every car.

Another slight danger in the subway is the turnstiles that you have to go through to enter. In the BART system there is usually only one accessible turnstile and it might be at a different exit than the one I want to use, or sometimes you have to get your ticket validated by the ticket agent and then they let you out of a special door. Either way, that takes time so Sabrina and I often squeeze into the regular turnstiles like most of the guide dog teams that we see. You have to have a technique for getting through these before the doors swing shut on your SD, we just try to go fast and I keep to one side so Sabrina can fit next to me.

I don't have to worry about this on the BART so much since it is a wide train, but on the bus I have to worry about people stepping on Sabrina. On the bus I have her sit underneath my seat as best I can, however on our busses if I don't get one of the 4 seats designated for people with disabilities, the other seats all have partitions that make it so that there isn't room underneath the seat in front of you or underneath your own seat for your SD to lay down. So if we have to sit in a regular seat, there is no alternative but to block the foot space of at least two seats. Plus on the bus there are lots more people with issues who scream randomly at people or who otherwise probably need to be getting some help for their issues. These people can be scary and I've had them yell at me before (for abusing Sabrina of course, doesn't she look horribly abused?!). I generally pretend I am blind and deaf during these encounters and they eventually go away. But the people issues are a big reason why I no longer take the bus daily!

The busses also have slippery floors and so Sabrina often goes sliding when the bus drivers make quick stops (seems to happen all the time!). I don't want her sliding into people or poles or anything, so generally I position my feet around her so that she will slide into my leg or foot and not be able to go farther.

The biggest danger for the Amtrak train is probably going between the cars. We don't actually do this with Sabrina yet, but I am thinking of on working on it because we want to take a long train trip sometime soon. This between car area is scary, loud and has a crack where your dog might get their paw through or something. I am still not sure if this is something we want to do or not, it might be easier just to wait until stops and then move between cars at that time.

Another danger with amtrak is that you often have to cross over the rails when you get off the train. They usually have platforms so it is easier to cross them, but there is still room for paws to get caught. We didn't really do any training for this as Sabrina had already been taught how to walk on grates, so she has been fine with this part. But it's still something to be aware of.

Yummy snack and Trader Joe's

Our field trip that we were supposed to take the 7th graders on today was canceled because of the rain and mud-- which was actually OK by mom and me because mom hasn't been feeling well. It's supposed to be next week now, so stay tuned for my full report!

Today was pretty boring, mom was doing a lot of work so I slept a lot. We went to the food room (the office) for lunch, which was really cool because sometimes people give me food there. Today was no exception-- I sucked in my stomach and looked as starved as possible so that my friend Caroline would take pity on me! She had a whole giant container of meat just for me! Well, I thought it should be just for me, but she only gave me a few pieces and put the rest back in the fridge for later-- I bet she's going to give all of it to me tomorrow!

After work we had to stop by the grocery store on the way home to pick up snacks for our lab meeting tomorrow. I met a very nice lady near the hummus section-- she was a very good petter! Then when mom and I were getting ready to leave we went down the cheese aisle really quickly and all the sudden we saw another service dog team! We were passing right behind them (they were looking at things in the aisle) before we even saw them, so mom didn't get a chance to call out. I was so proud of myself (and mom was, too) because while I did glance over at the other service team, I just walked on by like there was nothing different at all about that section of the store. Yeah for mom's training, and yeah for me!

In the field!

Yesterday even though mom was feeling sick, we went into Davis with daddy! When daddy went to class, mom and I stayed in the car and took a nice long nap. We came to daddy's office for lunch and I got lots of attention from daddy's friends. They all said they'd vote for me in The World's Coolest Contest, too! After daddy was done with all his classes, we left to go to mom's field site which is at Folsom Lake, about an hour and a half from Davis.

Well, it would have been an hour and a half if mom and dad hadn't gotten lost! Somehow they got off of I80 even though they thought they were staying on it the whole time! But it turns out all was not lost, and we found an alternate route to get to the lake.

I had been to the lake once before, in May when I got heat stroke! But it was a very very differently looking lake-- there was no water! We even found an old bridge that the lake had covered up when the dam was built, and the bridge was now totally above water! It was very very cool! I got to run around and when we found the shoreline there was lots of nice mud around for me to jump in. I love to run in mud! It makes a fun sucking sound and is nice and squishy so I ran around a LOT!

The light was fading, so we headed back to the car and mom was really excited about her plants that she is studying. I think plants are kind of boring, so I just sniffed and ran around some more while mom collected her data. Then we got back in the car and headed home. Only mom forgot to pack my dinner so it was 9 PM when we finally got home and I got to eat! I was starving! All that running made me tired and hungry! I'm excited, though, because mom says we get to go back every month for a year!

Agility class, I'm a movie star!

Yesterday we had our last agility class of the session. Last week one of the other doggies had their dad videotape the class, and mom thought that would be a great way for her to watch and evaluate herself and improve her technique so this week daddy videotaped me during class! It was lots of fun, I love being videotaped or having pictures taken of me!

I was also really good during class, too. I did the entire class off leash again, even though there was a boy scouts jamboree thingie on the field with us (the park double booked the field!). There was a loose dog that kept coming near our course and trying to distract me, and lots of kids, noises, tents and games going up, too. But I was such a good pup and I just focued on mom and the course and ignored all the distractions!

Now I just have to wait for mom to upload the video, which might take a few days-- she's so slow!

After class mom was the dog watcher. Everyone goes to put the agility equipment up in a shed, and one person is left behind to watch all the dogs who are tied up to trees or in pop-up crates. Normally this is not a very hard job, but yesterday it was very very hard! All these little kids kept trying to run up and pet the dogs, and not all the dogs are good with kids! Lots of the kids wouldn't go away when mom told them to so she had to ask them where their parents were which always scares the kids away. Luckily mom has lots of experience body blocking off leash dogs and kids trying to pet me when I'm working-- it surely came in handy when mom was watching the dogs! I guess they should have realized that with a boy scouts fair on the same field that there might be a lot more people and dogs coming by than usual!

I was sad that class was over, but our next session starts November 3rd so stay tuned!

Rain rain, go away!

Yesterday morning I woke up and heard a very strange sound outside-- it sounded like it was raining! But it couldn't be! It is only October, and it's not supposed to start raining for another month!

Mom let me out to eat my chicken foot for breakfast, and my worst fears were confirmed. It was raining, and very hard. Normally after eating breakfast I like to have a sniff around the yard, pee a little and see who visited us during the night, but not in the rain! Then when mom let me out to go potty (I am supposed to go pee and poop at this outside break in the morning) I refused to get off teh porch, too! Mom had to come outside and drag me off the porch and into the yard where I peed as quickly as I could and then I ran back inside!

After that experience (I got all wet and cold!) I decided that I thought I'd rather just stay inside all day. So I got up on the couch and under a blanket and did my best sleeping dog impression. Unfortunately mom didn't fall for it! When it was time to go, she took the blanket off and I pretended to still be asleep. Then she put on my collar (she had to lift my head to do this part) and I opened my eyes but still pretended I couldn't move a muscle. She got out my service backpack, put that on and even attached the leash-- but still I stayed put on the couch! I did not want to go out with all that cold, wet rain!

Finally, mom told me that she would share her umbrella with me, so I reluctantly got off the couch and went in to school with her. I tried to tell her she should put my Fido Fleece raincoat on me, but she said that takes too long to get on and off but she is designing me a quick raincoat that will go over my backpack. I hope she gets done with it soon!

The whole walk to the BART station I made sure mom held the umbrella over the both of us. If I started to get wet I'd bump into mom and sigh loudly. I don't think that had it's intended consequence, though-- it just made mom laugh a lot! Then when we got into work she told everyone about it and they all laughed, too.

At lunch we had to go to another class of mom's, and it was raining really really hard so I got pretty wet even though mom shared her umbrella. I was not happy with that, so I convinced mom that on the way back from class she should hold the umbrella down low over me and not use it on herself at all. That way I got to stay nice and dry! But there were a lot of people laughing at us like that-- I guess they didn't think dogs would want to use an umbrella!

It even rained a little on our walk home, but it was a very light rain so I let mom share the umbrella with me this time. I was happy to get home and dry, but it was still pretty cold! After eating dinner I curled up on the couch under the blanket and slept for hours trying to get warm and toasty... That is, until mom dropped the TV remote which scared the heck out of me so I ran away to the bedroom!

World's Coolest Dog and Cat Contest!

Yippie! Mom entered me in the contest! Please vote for me!!!

http://www.dogster.com/show07/vote_pet.php?i=167795

Thanks!

Teach teach teach!

That's what mom did this morning! That's right, it was our morning for mom to teach her 7th graders! It looked like a pretty fun activity this week-- the kids had mystery boxes and had to go through the scientific process to figure out what was inside. They had to sniff them, shake them and listen, and feel through a small hole and make a hypothesis about what was inside. I tried to tell mom that my super dog nose would help out a lot! But unfortunately mom said I couldn't help out. So I layed down and slept for the class periods. It seemed like the kids had a great time, though!

After that, we went into work and I was happy to sleep under the desk while mom did work. I did get to visit with the others in the office for a little, too! They love me soooooo much!

But mom was feeling pretty sick, I think she is getting a cold or something, so I was happy when we could get home!

Check out this article!

This article is about a man with a pit bull hearing alert dog. The dog is so cute, and seems to be a great service dog!

You can read about it in the dogblog:

http://dogblog.dogster.com/2007/10/09/virginia-pit-bull-bob-marley-is-hearing-assistance-dog

Or in it's original form:

http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=134184&ran=142465&tref=y

Enjoy!

Daily Diary pick!!!

That's right, check it out Diary Central chose me as one of the Daily Diary picks! Woo Hoo, what an honor! Thanks dogster, and thanks to all the pups who read my diary!

I have a rash!

That's right pups, I have a rash on my neck! It started on Saturday, and it itches! Mom thinks the rash might have something to do with me getting a bath and then having a collar on right after, but she only figured this out with a lot of help from all my dogster pals!

So today after work mom and I took the bus home-- mom and I don't like the bus very much, but I was really proud of mom that she was able to take the bus just fine! When we got off the first bus to transfer to our second one, we stopped off at the pet store! Yeah! I was really excited to get to the pet store, and mom said they might have a special collar that wicks moisture away there since she saw it listed on the Spiffy Dog website. We looked high and low and couldn't find the collar, though! That made me sad, and mom too!

So we took the second bus home and mom and I played a lot of tug when we got home! It was fun, but now I am tired and want to sleep! Send me lots of good rash healing vibes and hope that mom gets my rash figured out soon!

Snowy and lots of dogs!

Yesterday my pal Snowy came over! I was so happy to see him, and we ran around and played like crazy! But before we were all tired out, we hopped in the car and went to a restaurant to celebrate mom's birthday (mom and dad and Snowy's parents didn't get to celebrate it when it happened back in August!). It was a sushi restaurant! I told mom and dad that I was the only one eating raw meat in our house, so I should get some, too! But they said that they only had vegetarian sushi.

I was such a good pup encountering lots of doggies on the way to the restaurant! On the way there we passed by two pups sitting outside a restaurant and I completely ignored the first one and only turned my head to look at the second one becuase she jumped when I passed! On the way back to the car there were 5 dogs sitting outside that restaurant! It was hard, but I hardly looked at any of the dogs sitting there! Yeah for me!

Then we all went to Pet Club, which is a cool pet store, to get crickets for the gecko. I like to go to petstores with Snowy, but it's not fair because Snowy gets to ride in the cart and be pushed around the store! I have to use my own energy to walk around. Oh well, it was still fun! I didn't get anything, but Snowy got some yummy looking canned food! On the way out the door we had to pass a doggie that kept staring at other dogs, and I didn't even look at him either!

Mom says she thinks I am totally ignoring other dogs because she is feeling lots better and isn't in a lot of pain or anything anymore. I don't know for sure if that's what it is (it could be that mom's training is going really well!) but in any case, I am very proud of myself for not even giving other doggies a first look! Go me!

Agility class-- ALL OFF LEASH!!!!!

I am soooooo proud of myself (and mom!) today! We had agility class this morning, but daddy had to go to some TA training thing at Davis so it was just me and mom. We did the 20 min walk over to the agility field and I was really happy to be there!

We started off doing jumps and there were a few small dogs watching our class, but I wasn't paying that much attention to them so mom let me do the jumps off leash. I did so well that she kept letting me do things off leash. It was a lot easier to do it off leash, I didn't have silly mom getting the leash confused about which hand it should be in, and I was able to go more at my speed. Mom was doing really long lead outs, which was a lot of fun, too! I was sooooo sooooooooo proud of mom that she was able to relax and let me be off leash, and I was proud of myself, too! A ton of dogs walked by or stopped to watch our class, and I wasn't interested in any of them! Maybe it's because I've been so tired this week that I was a little calmer? Or maybe it's because mom is feeling soooo much better after her surgery that I don't feel like I need to watch out for her as much.

Anyway, after class everyone was saying how good I did, and I was so proud! I was tired, too, though-- and after our 20 min walk home I was happy to drink a lot of water and fall alseep in the sun.

Then the mailman arrived and brought me a really neat package from my pal Gracie! Her mom is a very talented artist, and did a wonderfully amazing portrait of me! Mom and I were so excited to see it, it looks just like me, and I look so happy in the picture! I feel so loved today-- mom loves me and so does my pal Gracie!

I'm partied out!

Whew, what a busy week! I haven't been able to nap as much as I like during the day, and then we keep doing things at night, too-- I am one pooped pup!

Yesterday mom and I went into work and went to her lab meeting and then a class. Then we went back to the BART station and I was soooooo happy! I thought we were going to take it easy, go home early and catch up on our sleep! But as our stop approached I got up like I'm supposed to, to tell mom that it's time to get off-- but she told me to lay back down, that we weren't going to that stop today! I did lay back down, but when the train got into the station I got up again and tried to pull mom to the door. C'mon mom, it's time to go home! But she just said again that we weren't going home right then. I figured I had one last shot-- the next station is where mom sometimes gets off if she forgot to get off at the proper station, then we take the train back in the other direction. But mom still didn't want to get off the train! So I sighed a lot and laid back down.

We got off the BART and switched over to the Amtrak train. We were just on the Amtrak train a couple of weeks ago! But at least now I had figured out that we were going to go to Davis to see Daddy. I got a good nap in on the trainride, and then we walked up to campus to wait for daddy to get done with his meeting. Mom took my vest off and we ran around in a grassy field which was a lot of fun! About a half hour later, daddy came out to join us and we ran around together some, too! I love my daddy!

Then we went into his building, picked up his stuff and walked to the car-- I was sooooo happy to see the car becuase it's easier to sleep in the car than on the train! But instead of driving home we went to a party! I got to be off-duty for the party so everyone could pet me which was a lot of fun. I met loads of really really nice people-- and this one couple smelled like dog and I liked them a lot! Mom said maybe next time we come to Davis we might get to meet their dog, who apparently looks like my pal Snowy!

During the party we were sitting in the living room and everyone was talking really loudly. Then they quieted down for some announcements and all the sudden I could hear this strange, muted screaming and wailing! What was going on?! It seemed to be coming from the speakers, but usually music comes from those things and not sounds of someone wailing! Mom tried to tell me it was music, it was something called "opera". She said that you can go to watch people wail in person and it's lots louder, so I begged her not to ever take me to one of those! After about 5 minutes of being really really puzzled and worried about the wailing speakers, I put my head down and tried to tune it out! Luckily it stopped pretty soon after that.

It was a fun party, but mom and I were sooooooo tired, so I was happy to leave! I jumped in the car and slept the whole hour drive home (and I think mom did, too!). We dont' have much time to recouperate, though-- we've got agility class this morning!

Teaching and swimming!

Boy, today was a really busy day! Yesterday mom and I stopped by the grocery store on the way home and picked up a whole bunch of eggs, then mom boiled some of them. It was all to prepare for the lesson mom was teaching today in her 7th grade classes:

http://gk12calbio.berkeley.edu/lessons/less_egg.html

The idea behind the lesson was to teach the students the importance of making observations and that observations are the first step in the scientific process. Before school started mom managed to learn almost all of the names of the students in her first class! They seemed to really enjoy the lesson, though I slept through most of it in the corner! I did catch that eggs are one cell-- one giant cell, and I thought that was pretty cool. At the end of the lesson they were really excited when mom threw an egg on the floor and they thought it would splatter all over the place-- but it was a hard boiled egg!!!

When that class period was over we ran to the next class and did the same thing all over again! Then after that class was over, we went to a room down the hall to wait until 4th period where mom teaches her last class. But to get to that room we had to walk through another classroom and all the students were really excited to see me! The teacher came and talked with mom for a few seconds about me and thought I was super cool, so she asked if I minded doing a quick service dog lesson for her class. Mom said sure, so we spent half of our break period talking to this new class about service dogs. They seemed like a very nice bunch of kids and were really excited to learn about me!

After mom's 4th period class we got in the car and quickly drove home. Mom ate lunch really fast and then we took BART to school and headed straight for the pool! Mom is really liking swimming lately it seems, we've gone twice this week so far! I like to go to the pool, I get to take a nice nap outside (in my pop-up crate) and mom seems to really have fun in the water.

After swimming, mom was in the shower room and I was in a down-stay right outside of the room. Mom was keeping an eye on me and a lady walked up to me and read my vest. Then she looked around like she was seeing if anyone was watching her and she tried to pet me! Mom came over and said "Please don't pet her she's working" but the lady didn't stop. So mom said it again and was right next to the lady but she still didn't stop! Finally mom reached out her hand and interrupted the petting and the lady acted all upset that mom didn't like her petting me without asking first! Sheesh! Some people!

Then we went to work, and I slept a lot because that morning and early afternoon wore me out! When mom had to walk accross campus to deliver some reactions to the sequencing facility I was soooooooooo tired that I walked really slowly and then flopped down to go back to sleep immediately after getting back! Mom needs to have a less busy schedule I think! I don't think tomorrow will be much better, though-- I heard mom say we've got a meeting, a class, and then are going to Davis!

Intruders!

Last night after dinner I was relaxing with mom on the couch when all the sudden I heard noises outside! It didn't sound like a daddy arriving on his bike, so I figured I'd better sound the alarm! A-ROO-ROO-ROO-ROO-ROO I barked, and put all my hackles up. Mom told me to hush, but she just wouldn't listen to me-- I could hear someone outside and they were breaking into our gate now! A-ROO-ROO- hush! mom said. So I did a few woofs under my breath just to let mom know how serious it was and hoped that my earlier barking had scared away the intruder! Mom told me to get in my crate and stay, and then she opened the door!!!! Brave mommy! Guess who poked his head through the doorway?

SNOWY!!!! That's right, it was my pal Snowy the whole time- boy did I feel silly for sounding the alarm at Snowy! Luckily he forgave me and told me it was my dogly duty to bark when we think there are things outside that the silly humans don't know about. After a few minutes, mom finally let me out of my stay so I could say hi to Snowy!

I was still tired from hiking this weekend, and also from mom having busy busy days on Monday and yesterday, but I got some energy back playing with Snowy! We jumped and tumbled and fell down and play bowed and did all kinds of fun wrestling moves. I got tired pretty quickly, though, so soon I was just laying on the floor while Snowy jumped on me! This works well for us because I can conserve energy by just moving my head, and Snowy gets to use up energy by moving his whole body enough for both of us! I got a second wind, a third wind and a fourth wind, but near the end of the time Snowy was over, I was just laying on the couch exhausted! Mom says that's good for my diet, all that exercise will help me loose weight because I am getting like the Fat Cat.

Anyway, a few times during the evening Snowy's dad let Snowy and I out to water the garden. Snowy loves to pee on the tree in our yard, and we have tons of interesting plants to sniff and water, too, so we went out like three or four times and Snowy's dad stood at the doorway and made sure we didn't get into too much trouble!

Around 11:30 while I was resting on the couch, Snowy's super alert ears heard an intruder! Snowy sounded the alarm, letting everyone know that someone was coming up to the house and it was really late at night! I figured that it is my house, so I'd better help defend it against the intruders so I joined in barking at the door, too (though from my comfy spot on the couch-- Snowy had the door part covered!). The door opened, and it was DADDY! I thought for sure he'd be spending the night in Davis, but apparently he had missed the first train and then the second train was delayed so he was very late getting home!

Boy was I embarrassed again-- the second time in one night I had barked wrongly at someone! I think daddy understood, though-- I mean really I was just being Snowy's backup!

Apparently, though, my first alarm sounding was not in vain! Our neighbor must've heard me bark and then she saw Snowy's daddy in the doorway letting us out to water the garden (the bushes made it so she couldn't see doggies coming out as well as Snowy's dad!) so she thought there were intruders, too! She warned daddy before he came in that there might be intruders-- and Snowy and I said that she was right-- Daddy was the false intruder!

Soon after daddy got home, Snowy and his parents left. I was soooooooooo happy to see Snowy, and I hope that next time I see him I am less tired so we can play more!

Fashion model!

That's me!!! Parker's Pets chose me to be a model for their new store! Parker's Pets is run by my pal Parker-- well, and his human of course!

I got to model three things-- a super cool bee costume, a fancy crystal collar, and a towel that makes drying off after a bath a snap! Unfortunately mom's not so good with pictures having a white background, so I'll be taking more soon! Hopefully this next time will produce some really excellent shots!

Hello?! Anyone there?!

Mom is always saying that we are a team, her and I, but lately she hasn't been acting very team like! You see, we have to work together when mom is at work-- I can't go into the lab because of the dangerous chemicals, but that is where mom needs to spend a lot of her time! So we have to compromise, I am supposed to stay laying under mom's desk and mom is supposed to come into the office (it is connected to the lab room with an open doorway) every 15-20 minutes so I can sniff her and make sure I don't need to alert her.

That's been working fine for nearly a year, but lately mom has been getting very stressed out and I guess she doesn't think she's going to get sick because she's so used to me letting her know beforehand, so she has stopped coming to check on me as often! Recently she's been gone 30min to even an hour in the lab without letting me sniff her! I keep trying to tell her that is not smart, she needs to let me sniff her so that I can alert her in time. But silly mom must not believe me! Plus recently she's been very sick and stressed out so I need to be even more vigilant!

So lately I've been taking the matter into my own hands-- when mom is gone too long and I need to check on her I walk accross the office and peek my head into the lab. Then I go back to my spot under the desk and lay down. To me this is an acceptable compromise, because if mom doesn't come to me I've got to go to her! But for some reason mom doesn't think that's acceptable and I get in trouble for doing it! Now mom's using the baby gate to keep me crated under her desk. I don't think that's fair because mom's the one who hasn't been working as a team! But I am the one that is punished, I can't go and check on mom!

Yummy smells from the kitchen part II-- Pakoras

I didn't have time to write about this one before we left for the dinner, but this one smelled even better than the first! Pakoras are a fried appetizer, it was very easy to make but pups, please leave the frying to the humans!

http://www.recipezaar.com/12542

Pakoras

2/3 cup gram flour (this is chickpea flour)
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
5 tablespoons cold water
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 teaspoon cumin powder
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 cup chopped onions
1/2 cup peeled and chopped potatoes
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
1 teaspoon salt
1 pinch saffron
oil (for frying)

Combine flour and baking soda.
Add cold water slowly.
Stir until moistened.
Add rest of ingredients but don't over-mix.
Drop by tablespoonfuls into hot oil (mom used a disher she uses for cookies to do this step).
Fry until both sides are golden brown.
Caution: Don't put too much dough in at once, or it will turn out gooey in the middle.

Yummy smells from the kitchen-- Badam Burfi (Almond sqaures)

When we got home after work today, mom made some yummy smells in the kitchen! She's going to take them to a friend's house for dinner tonight, and I don't think I'll get a taste which is highly unfair! If any of you pups out there want to surprise your humans with a very tasty and easy dessert recipe, here it is:

http://www.recipezaar.com/19421

Badam Burfi (Almond Squares)

1 cup almonds, finely ground
3/4 cup sugar (mom used maple sugar)
1/2 cup whole milk (mom used goats milk)
1-2 tablespoon ghee or clarified butter (mom used goats milk butter)

Grease a shallow 6x6 inch pan with ghee.
In a frying pan over a low flame, mix almonds, sugar and milk and keep stirring.
After 5 minutes, add ghee.
Continue stirring till the mixture thickens to the consistency of bread batter, and starts leaving the sides of the pan, about 25-30 minutes.
Continue stirring for another couple of minutes.
Remove from flame and pour it into the prepared greased pan; smoothen surface of the mixture if necessary.
20 minutes later, after it partially cools down, cut into 1 inch squares using a knife or pastry cutter.
Cool completely, and store squares in an airtight tin.


Yum!!!!

Hiking at Wildcat with Mantou!

Yesterday I went hiking at my favorite hiking spot, Wildcat Canyon, with my pal Mantou! I was soooooooo excited that as soon as we got out of the car I started pulling mom across the road to get to the best sniffing spots. But for some reason, mom didn't like that! She made me walk nicely on the leash before I got to do any funning sniffing and peeing! Mantou's mom did the same thing-- I don't know what our moms were thinking! I mean, why take us to Wildcat if we're not supposed to run and sniff and pee on everything we can?

Anyway, once we got on the trail we were better behaved. I hadn't been to Wildcat in a while so I was happy to be back and to show Mantou the best spots to sniff.

We walked down the big hill and crossed over the creek which was totally dried up! Then we decided to go on the loop that goes through cow country. When we got out of the woods and onto the grassy area Mantou and I got to be off leash since there were no cows to be seen. It was a lot of fun, though there were some really really tempting piles of cow poop! I really wanted to roll in some of them, and eat others-- I love cow poop! Even though mom has been giving me tripe lately, which smells a lot like cow poop, she didn't let me eat or roll in any cow poop! I was very sad about that.

About halfway through the walk we took a nice break at a bench and had some snacks. That's where daddy took the pictures that I posted on my page. Mantou was nice enough to share some of her chicken with me since mom only brought cheese with her. And we had fun sharing my water, too (for some reason, my water always tastes better than the water that other dogs brought from home-- I think maybe my saliva makes the water taste extra yummy!).

On our way back down the hill we saw a biiiiiiiig pregnant cow walking along the trail in front of us! It kept stopping and looking at us and was kind of scary! Then we saw a whole herd of cows, and lots of them had babies! I remembered how cows with babies have chased us in the past, so we tried to walk around the cows as far as we could-- only that meant we lost the trail! We spent about 5 minutes looking for the trail again and we finally found it, thank goodness! In the meantime, walking through the grass Mantou got something in her paw that was ouchie! Luckily it felt better soon and we started up the hill to get back to the car. That last hill is very very steep and we had to stop and rest a few times on the way up. Mantou was full of energy and ready to run up the hill, but I took every opportunity to lay down and take a nap BOL! We finally got back to the car and got home, where I took a nice long nap.

I did wake up to go outside while the humans worked some more on their gardens. Mantou came over but we were too tired to play! Today I plan to sleep as much as possible, I am beat!

Paws-Up service dog ettiquite: Activity 8

It's time for activity 8 from the Paws Up Ettiquite Workbook! Here are mom's answers:

Part 1
List the healthcare appointments you normally have. Will you bring your assistance dog to these or not? Why or why not? Discuss your choice with your instructor.

Lately I've been having a lot of appointments with my doctor about my endometriosis. Then I also had surgery with her a few weeks ago, too. Other than that, I only really have regular appointments with my psychologist and dentist. I also go to student health for regular health concerns and blood tests and such. I take Sabrina with me to all these appointments. I need her to get to the appointments usually-- for example my endometriosis specialist is an hour drive away through the city which is very stressful and my appointments at student health are usually between classes during the day when I already have Sabrina with me. And she is helpful during the appointments as well. The only time that I didn't have her with me in a medical setting was during my surgery. Obviously she couldn't go with me into the OR. In that situation I kept her with me until they wheeled me out of the room where I was waiting and into the OR. She stayed with my husband in the waiting room while I was in surgery, and then they both came into the recovery room with me. She was extremely helpful before surgery keeping me calm, and after surgery when I woke up I was having lots of panic attacks until she came into the room and helped me calm down.

Part 2
List the behaviors you need to train your assistance dog to ensure he or she behaves appropriately in healthcare facilities:

These are the same behaviors as anywhere else she goes. A good stay is very important if you have to leave your dog at one end of the room to get something done-- like at the dentist Sabrina does a down stay in the corner of the room while I am getting work done. They should also be able to maneuver in tight spaces. And if they are scared of hospital equipment like wheelchairs, automatic beds etc they should be desenstized to these things. The only other thing that's more out of the norm for SD training is that it was very very helpful that Sabrina was able to get into a chair and sit there for a long time. After surgery in the recovery room I didn't want her on the bed with me beause I was in a lot of pain, but I was having panic attacks left and right so I needed to be able to touch her. The bed wouldn't lower enough for me to be able to reach her comfortably so the nurse suggested she sit in a chair next to the bed for easier access. It was kind of a squeeze for her to sit in the chair, but it's something I have her do off-duty every once in a while so it was nice that she was able to do it at the hospital to help me out.

Agility, agili-me!

I woke up this morning all ready to go to agility class! So I was surprised when daddy got out the bike and my trailer-- we didn't have time for a bike ride, I wanted to go to agility class! But I got into the trailer anyway, though a little reluctantly. We got on the road and soon I smelled the park where we have agility class-- yippie! It turns out we were biking to agility class!

There were lots more people there this time than last time, probably because the weather was lots lots nicer. The best part about having more people is that there was lots of equipment out so we got to work on the teeter, A-frame, both tunnels, the tire and all the jumps and weave poles. I was so good on the agility course, but there were a few times that I had to stop and sniff the ground instead of jumping. I mean, the jumps would be there for a while so I figured I had to catch teh sniffs while I could!

Mom was very very proud of me, we did a really good job on the teeter! I can run up onto it and stop right in the middle so it goes down really slowly, yeah for me! The last run of the day on the course mom let me do it off leash and I was really good! Mom got flustered because she was too busy looking around for loose dogs and messed up her front crosses, though! But we got through it and I did a great job with a serpentine jump at the end! It was a lot of fun, and I can't wait until next week!

Railroad museum video!

Mom finally edited the video for our visit to the California Railroad Museum!

Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBU2KjgDWxg

I hope you have as much fun watching it as we did taping it!

What a day-- Teaching, swimming and meeting a guide dog!

Today has been a super busy day and I have been soooooooooo good the whole day! First mom and I woke up early and mom drove to the school where she's teaching 7th graders. Mom driving in and of itself is a big accomplishment for a day, so I was hoping that the teaching mom needed to do would go well, too. Mom taught three classes of 7th graders, and two of those classes are ELL (English Language Learners), about service dogs and then she also talked with them about the research she does. I was happy to be a prop during the service dog mini lesson, and then I got to lay down to the side while mom talked with the students about what part of the plant a bunch of different fruits and veggies are. I learned a lot from that-- for example did you know that peanuts are fruits?! Well, the part we eat is a seed but the whole structure is a fruit!

After teaching three lessons, mom and I were pretty tired so when we drove back home I thought maybe we'd be done for the day. But after eating some lunch really quickly we BARTed into school and went to the pool!

Mom set my pop-up crate up next to the bleachers like usual and I got a nice 20 min nap while mom pretended she was a fish. I understand running in the water to catch a ball or something, but I just don't get why humans like to swim around in circles! After mom got done swimming we went back to the locker room and mom put me in a down-stay by the room that has a bunch of showers in it with no curtains. While mom was showering there was suddenly a really loud whirring noise like something was spinning around really fast! I watched closely and people would put their wet swimsuits in, then there would be lots of whirring for 5-10 seconds, and then they'd get the dry suit out! It was cool to see, but the noise was a little bit scary at first. Unlike last time there were lots of other people in the shower room and a few of them asked about me. When mom was done showering they asked if they could pet me and mom said yes!!! I was really happy to get attention from all the women, though it was kind of strange that they were all naked!

All that activity meant I was happy to sleep a lot when we got back to work. When mom was done working we went to the BART station to ride home. We were sitting on one of the benches waiting for the train when a woman with a guide dog came up to the other side of the bench. Mom called out our location because the guide was distracted and trying to lead her handler towards me. I was really good-- mom saw me looking at the guide and so she gave me a watch command and I looked at mom right away! The lady with the guide sat down across from us and mom and the lady got into a conversation. The guide dog laid down on the other side of the bench about 3 ft away from me (the bench was not solid so there wasn't anything between us) and kept trying to catch a sniff of me. It was hard to stay focused on mom because I really wanted to say hi to the guide! But I was pretty good. Most of the time that mom and the guide handler were talking I was looking the other way even! Mom did have to remind me a couple of times to watch her instead of the guide dog, but overall she was proud of how well I did! We don't get a lot of chance to practice around other service dogs, so it was nice to practice with such a nice guide! I hope we run into them again! I was sad when their train came and they had to get on.

Mom's driving!

Normally dad does all the driving in this house. Mom has troubles getting panic attacks while driving, and it's very crowded out here in the bay area so she only gets behind the wheel once a year to make sure she doesn't forget how the car works.

But now that we're working at the school with the 7th graders that doesn't have nearby public transportation that's got to change. So tonight when we got home from school mom, dad and I went out for a practice run. I was in the backseat, keeping my paws crossed for mom! We drove down the road and mom did pretty well for all the flat parts, but then we had to drive up into the hills! Mom kept staying something about a stick-shift, so I tried to tell her that'd I'd fetch whatever stick needed fetching but apparently that's not what she meant. One of the hills getting up to the school was so steep that mom had to stay in second gear to keep the car from having problems!

I thought our struggles were over when we saw the sign for the school, but mom thought she should drive through the circle in front of the school since it seemed a little steep. We went down the entrance (it is a one way circle) and it was about as steep as the road leading up to the school. But then when we came around to the other end of the circle it was super extra steep! It was as steep as the streets in San Francisco!!! Mom was really really scared (and I was, too!) so when she got up the hill to the stop sign she was worried about starting again to pull out of the school and onto the main road. Finally she gave it a lot of gas (a LOT of gas!) and let out the clutch. The engine made lots of really loud noises and didn't sound very good, and it didn't smell very good either! But we made it. Mom decided to go back through the circle again, and this time she stopped and started a lot on the hill to practice. It was easy at the beginning but near the top it was so steep that there was lots of tire squealing, engine revving, and car lurching! Mom and dad practically cheered when we got out of the driveway, and mom decided that we needed to find somewhere else to park.

We drove around and found a flat side street to park on, then we drove back towards home. I was really proud of mom for her good driving skills and non-panicking, and dad was, too! So he suggested mom drive to our favorite restaurant-- Udupi Palace. Mom was really happy, which made me happy and we had an uneventful drive there! Luckily dad drove us home so I could relax and take a nap! I am glad mom did so well driving, hopefully tomorrow it will be fairly easy for her!

Mom is feeling better!

Yay for mom, she's feeling sooooo much better! She worked the whole day yesterday and today!

This afternoon we had the class where I get to see Snowy's mom-- I tried to ask her why she doesn't bring Snowy but mom kept telling me I had to lay down like a good doggie. Boo hiss! I like Snowy's mom and I think I should be allowed to bother her about how my pal Snowy is doing during class! Or at least say hi to her during class-- this time mom didn't even let me say hi until after class, no fair!

After class we went back to the lab for a while and then went to a late meeting. When we got done we waited outside in the circle and Snowy's mom drove up! I was really excited because I figured maybe Snowy was hidden away in the car! But nope, I sniffed and sniffed all over the car and while it did smell a lot like Snowy, he was nowhere to be found.

Luckily I was quickly cheered up when we got home (Snowy's mom dropped us off) because I found out we were going on a bike ride! Dad hooked up my trailer to his bike, mom got on her bike, and our landlord got on her bike with my pal Mantou! Yippie! It was a lot of fun to ride around with mom, dad, Mantou and Mantou's mom. Too bad it got dark quickly because we had to head home. Mom and dad were talking about getting mom a new bike because mom's isn't very comfortable, which means we might go on more bike rides soon, too! I can't wait, I love to feel the breeze, see the sights and smell the smells!

Well TRAINed!

Today was a train filled day! We visited the California State Railroad Museum. And of course you can't drive to the train museum, you have to take the train!

So we started off on BART, which is the local subway system. I ride BART almost every day, so this was no big deal to me at all. Though in the BART station mom and dad got out the video camera and started documenting our adventure! That was pretty fun! Then we transfered to the Amtrak train which I've only ridden 3-4 times in the past. Mom loves trains, and I've gotten pretty used to this big loud train so I wasn't bothered. We sat on the upper level right near the front of the train so mom could enjoy the whistle!

After about an hour and a half on that train, we arrived in Sacremento and found the museum just a couple of blocks away from the station! While waiting in line to buy our tickets, we remembered why we usually prefer to go to museums during the week-- all the little kids! Mom and dad have a theory that when families get inside of museums, they kind of get into a different mindset-- that it's OK for their kid to run around, touch lots of things and ask lots of questions. While mom, dad and I don't mind kids that ask questions nicely (and actually welcome this!) we do get frustrated when parents seem not to think it's a big deal when their child is trying to sneak pets, scream at or hit me! We did see lots of well behaved kids with parents who told them not to bother me, but I think we saw an equal number that thought we were one of the exhibits!

Speaking of the exhibits, we had a great time seeing them! There were lots of really neat trains. Mom's favorite train was an old mail car that went out of service in the 70s. It was really interesting, and we got to see how mail was picked up from stations where the train didn't stop-- it was almost like a lance with an arm sticking out of the train that would catch a mailbag that had been put up on a pole for them next to the track! To drop mail off they simply threw it off the train onto the platform! Another cool thing about the mailcar was that they had a story about the dog who became the mail mascot and rode all the mail trains around the country and even around the world!

Dad's favorite (and mom's close second) was an old sleeper car from the 50s. Not only was the car itself very cool looking, they had put the car on hydraulics so that the car shook like it was going along the tracks! They had videos playing out the windows so it looked like you were zooming down the track at night, and they were playing an audiotrack that sounded like a train running so you got the total experience! It was very fun and made us want to go on a long train trip! But I call the lower bunk because there is no way I could get up that ladder!

Finally after the museum we went into the gift shop. Mom and dad were excited to look around but I sensed danger DANGER!!! Up on the ceiling there was something small and moving fast around the room-- I was afraid it was going to attack us or fall on us or something! Mom kept telling me it was just a toy train up on a trestle, but I'm not sure I believe her! I was certainly happy to get out of there!

After stopping to get a smoothie, we went to a different train station and got in line-- we were going on a steam train ride! I figured a steam train wouldn't be any different than the deisel or electric trains that I'd been on in the past, but boy was I wrong! The train pulled up and it was MUCH louder than any train I'd ever heard before in my life! Plus when it came up next to us it stopped and released a WHOOSH of steam! It was loud and billowing and very very scary! I started and was pretty worried-- I didn't really want to get on that thing! Mom asked the conductor as the train was unloading where the quietest seat on the train would be because I was a little distracted by the giant billowing whistling monster at the front of the train! The conductor was very nice and let us get on the train first and showed us just where to sit.

Once I got on the train, everything was fine though! It was a little louder than the Amtrak train, but a lot slower so it wasn't too scary. Mom and I were glad that we had asked about a quiet seat, though, because halfway through the ride the train emptied it's boilers which meant it made a very very loud, whistley sound and a ton of smoke filled the air! The place where we had been standing in line and had originally intended to sit was right next to the engine and boy that would have been scary! Where we were sitting I only raised my head and then laid back down again because the noise wasn't that loud. I've got to say that the one thing I liked the least about the steam train was that there was no legroom so I was kind of squished! Amtrak is nice because there is lots of room to spread out!

Speaking of Amtrak, when we got off the steam locomotive we headed back over to the Amtrak station and caught the train home. Mom, dad and I were all super tired! I fell asleep right away and hardly woke up until we got to the BART station for our transfer. Now that we're home, I'm gonna take as long of a nap as I can possibly take! Don't wake me up until Tuesday-- I'm all trained out!

Rain, rain, don't go away!

When I woke up this morning I heard a very strange noise-- it sounded like water outside! I haven't heart that sound in a long time, it hasn't rained in months and it's not supposed to start raining again until December or so! So I was all concerned about the sounds outside, but I figured out when it was time for my morning potty that it actually was raining! I wasn't too excited about it, and I slunk around in the yard and refused to potty because I didn't want to get wet.

But the rain stopped before it was time for our agility class, which was really fun! That is when I started to appreciate the rain because there was only one other dog that came to class! Just me, Jessie (the other dog) and my trainer so I got loads of personal attention! We just did jumps and weave poles, and worked a lot with the humans on their body language and timing. Plus I got to do everything off leash since mom could easily keep an eye on the dogs around!

I was so sooooo good! I was doing really good jumps, and even doing "go on" which means I keep doing jumps without mom right next to me. That is really hard for me to do, but I am getting more and more used to working without mom being 3 ft away from me. My trainer says that's really good for me and for mom! Also, mom had her new Gentle Leader treat pouch so she didn't keep dropping treats all over the ground! And we had a new tug toy that mom would throw for me when I was going over far away jumps, so I got to play tug, too! I even did all of this when there were off leash dogs playing in the next field over!

Mom was feeling better, so even though she wasn't doing a lot of running she was still able to handle me the entire class! And it wasn't even very muddy out, so all in all it was a perfect agility class. I hope it rains more often so there are fewer students in class in the future!

I have a life!

After going to get mom's fingerprints taken this morning and then going to lab meeting, mom was feeling pretty poorly so dad came to pick us up. We didn't have any food at home, so we had to stop by the grocery store on the way home really quickly.

Dad had gotten in line and mom and I walked over to a nearby endcap to check out some new gluten free cookies (turns out they were actually OK ingredients for mom!!!). While mom was reading the ingredients a lady walked up to us and she was talking on her cell phone. She said to the person on the phone "Hold on, I've just got to pet this dog real quick" and reached out her arm to pet me. Mom said "Don't pet her please, she's working" and the lady got really upset! She said really rudely "Well I was going to ask first!" and mom shrugged and went back to reading the ingredients. The lady finished up her phone conversation and then came over and got into a conversation with mom. The exchange went like this:

She said "I don't understand why I can't pet it! I mean, it's got to get used to people petting it all the time when it's all trained."

Mom said "She's actually working for me, and helping with my disability. If you distract a dog when they're working it takes their focus off of their handler which could be dangerous."

The lady said "That doesn't make any sense! You're not using her right now!"

Mom said "She alerts me to my medical condition, she needs to be focusing on me in case she needs to warn me."

The lady said "Yeah, but you're just standing there right now!"

Mom said "But I could get sick at any moment, it's not good to distract a dog from their job or else the handler could be in danger"

The lady said "You're so mean! I mean really, why can't you just let your dog have a life!"

And then she huffed off. Mom was a little taken aback by the situation and when she returned to the line to put the cookies in the cart the person in the next line over was very very nice and joked about the situation with mom a little which made mom feel a little better.

I was happy to get out of there, though, because with mom already in pain and really tired, that encounter surely didn't help anything!

Voices coming out of the wall and Mantou!

Today I thought we were in for a full day-- mom and I planned to do our second observations at the school where she'll be teaching 7th graders and then we wanted to go into work so mom could get some stuff done. We went to the school and mom introduced me to the first class (she does a service dog interactive lesson in each class she visits so the students have a chance to get their questions out so I'm not distracting in the future!). Then mom and I took a seat on the side of the room and watched the teacher and students. All of the sudden there was a really loud distorted noise coming from a circle on the wall! It sounded like a person, but like a very strange person! Mom said it was something called a pea-eh system. Whatever it was, it surely was strange-- the voice came from a circle on the wall and was talking about things that the students might want to do after school. Mom didn't seem to be bothered by it and the students surely seemed used to it, so I guess it was OK!

After sitting through two classes, dad picked us up but mom was just too tired to go into work. She is getting an infection in one of her incisions from surgery, so she went home to rest.

Mom decided instead of laying on the couch all afternoon resting, it would be nice to rest in the garden so we headed outside to sit on the bench. Then my neighbor Mantou and her owner came over to say hi. Mantou and I played a little bit, but mom kept trying to get me to run more-- something about me loosing my girlish figure due to mom's inactivity (see, it's all your fault, mom!). Mantou's mom named our lemon tree, and then we all watched while daddy trimmed the avocado tree. It was a lot of fun, though I heard mom promise Mantou some of my yummy smelling green tripe! I tried to say that it's mine, all mine, but I guess I can share a little bit! Tomorrow I think mom is going to try to work the whole day, I think she'll be up to it!

YUMMY YUMMY SMELLS!!!

Last night really late mom got a strange phone call and we headed out in the car to a secret rendez-vous point. Mom got out of the car and walked over to a white van and handed over some money, and daddy got five boxes out of the back of the van. It was very strange, I thought they were meeting up to buy wierd things that humans wouldn't approve of... and sure enough they were!

When the boxes got into our car I could smell a yummy frozen meat smell, but not too much because the boxes were in the trunk. I was excited to get home and sniff them more! Mom and dad unloaded them and opened the boxes and that's when I figured out exactally how lucky I am! There was some beef liver, an organ meat blend, rabbit for the cats, some beef trim...... and the best box of all GREEN TRIPE!!!!! Oh my gosh that box smelled so soooooooooooooooo sooooooooooooooooooooo good! Mom and dad were gagging a little bit from the wonderful fantabulousness of the smell, but I just strated drooling!

Unfortunately it was all mostly frozen and mom and dad didn't feel like portioning it out but boy oh boy that stuff smelled YUM! I can't wait to try it! I think my pal Saki would love it because it smells like the bestest cow poop ever!

Letting daddy do the work!

Yesterday when we got home from school (mom and I worked a half day, though mom was pretty out of it!) we came home and mom and I took a nap. When we woke up I was feeling all excited and daddy was pretty excited, too! He took me outside and I found that the funny looking crate with wheels that we got the other day is actually meant to be attached to a bike!

That means after I get tired running next to daddy on the bike, I can hop in the trailer and let daddy to the work while I enjoy the breeze!

It is pretty cool! We ordered it from Parker's Pets which is my pal Parker's new store! They'll be online soon at www.parkerspets.com, I'll post a link when it's active! The trailer is a PetEgo trailer and we'll give a review once we've had a little more experience using it.

Since mom is still feeling badly and she wanted to see daddy and I ride the trailer, mom just walked around the block while dad and I rode! It was a lot of fun and mom got a few good pictures of me enjoying the breeze!

It was all fun and games until suddenly daddy took a corner too sharply and I went spilling out! Luckily I was wearing my seatbelt so I wasn't hurt but it was kind of scary! I was happy to hop back in but this time I didn't stick my head out the window quite so much!

Adventures in retreiving the hankerchief

Things are getting more lively around here, mom seems to be feeling better which is great news for me! I can't wait until we are our old active selves again! In the meantime, I think I've mentioned that mom's been having me do more retreive work for her since she's stuck in bed all the time. That means when a pen or whatever falls on the floor, I go get it and bring it to mom. I also bring her everything else that she drops, and yesterday she surely was dropping a lot of things! If she wasn't so sick, I would've thought she was doing mini-training sessions with me throughout the day!

She had me pick up all kinds of things, from normal items like pens to food items like a dried fruit bar (sealed, unfortunately!), and even strange things that she doesn't normally have out like a bottle opener! Anyway, by the end of the day I was getting kind of tired of bringing mom all the stuff she kept dropping (even though I was getting treats out of it) and I spied daddy's hankerchief sitting next to the couch. Mom originally trained me to bring dropped objects using a hankerchief and it's really a favorite retreive of mine! Whenever mom or dad gets out a hankerchief my tail starts wagging a mile a minute-- I just keep hoping they'll drop it so I can get it for them! So the next time that mom dropped the remote (I don't really like bringing the remote, the batteries in one end make it top heavy and hard to carry) and she gave the "get it" command I ran over and grabbed the hankerchief, ran around the room a few times and excitedly tried to give it to mom! She wasn't enthused, for some reason and tried to have me get the remote again... but everytime they tried to hide the hankerchief I went for that instead-- I was trying to tell mom that she should drop the hankerchief and not the remote, but she just wouldn't listen! Anyway, I guess mom took that as a sign that she shouldn't be dropping things so much, and our game of retreieve was soon over (after I got the remote one last time of course!). I hope mom is less clumsy today!

Boring boring boring!

That's the story around here! Yesterday mom walked around in the yard for a few minutes, but that was the first time we were outside since coming home from mom's surgery! Normally we're going places and seeing things, so it's hard for me to adjust! I'm learning, though-- I now remember that when mom gets up to walk across the room that she doesn't want me to bump her leg with my head to let her know that she's anxious! I guess that if she's hurting from surgery, me doing that makes her fall over and isn't quite so helpful. She has mentioned a few times that she wished she had trained me in mobility work so I could be of more help, but after she heals up mom shouldn't need any mobility help anymore-- she should be pretty much pain free!

I got to play with daddy in the yard yesterday for a while, but I think a few of the broccoli plants are a little worse for wear due to it! Oh well. A girl's gotta play, doesn't she?

Yesterday when I was typing about how good I was at the hospital, mom was making me finish typing because she was feeling badly so I forgot to tell you how good I was with the wheelchair! When it was time for us to leave, dad went to go get the car and mom sat in a wheelchair. She put me in a heel on the left of the wheelchair (I had never heeled to a chair before!) and away we went. The nurse pushing us was really nice and gave mom warning before we turned corners so mom could warn me and it went perfectly! We even had to back into an elevator together- that was a little tricky but I did allright I thiink! Mom was very proud of me, and I was happy that I didn't get my feet run over!

The hospital

On Friday we spent sooooooo long at the hospital! We left home about 9:30 AM and got to the hospital at 10:30. When mom checked in for her sugery, we were surprised to see that the flyer we had given out on Wednesday had been copied by the nurses and there were several copies in our folder! I guess the flyer was really helpful to the nurses, and they were all excited that we were there!

We were shown into a room with a bed that could move up and down and the top half of the bed could be raised and lowered-- it was very cool! Throughout the morning there were lots of nurses and doctors coming in and out to check on mom and talk with her about her surgery. At first mom tried to have me sit on the floor next to the bed but it was difficult for her to reach me and she was starting to get very anxious. So she and dad decided to just put me on the bed where I could lay right next to mom and she calmed down immediately! I was very happy that I could be there to help mom out!

Then some people came into the room and injected some stuff into the needle that was stuck in mom's arm (called an ivy for some reason-- maybe because the plastic tube coming out winds around stuff like ivy does?) and they wheeled her out of the room. She was asleep before they even left the room, which left me all alone with daddy!

Daddy and I spent the next few hours in a waiting room where lots of doctors and nurses stopped by to pet me and talk with daddy about how mom's surgery was going (not all the doctors and nurses did both those things!). Personally I think we got more visitors asking about me than telling us about mom's surgery! Lucky thing mom had packed extra flyers in my vest-- dad gave out about 20 flyers during that time in the waiting room!

From what the doctors told dad when they came to talk to him, it sounds like they blew mom's abdomen up like a balloon! Then they made 4 holes and stuck in a video camera, a laser and some scissors and other tools. They cut out a giant cyst, drained another cyst and cut a bunch of adhesions (scar tissue) that was binding mom's organs together in wierd ways. The surgery took 2.5 hrs.

After the surgery when mom was waking up in the recovery room she started having major panic attacks! She was able to tell the nurse she was having a panic attack and mom asked for me to come in to help out with her panic. Mom doesn't remember too much of this but daddy and I do! When I walked in the room we had to figure out how to make it easy for mom to reach me... the bed wouldn't go low enough for mom to reach me if I was on the floor, and we didn't want to risk me bumping mom's stomach and causing her more pain! So the nurses brought over a chair and I sat in the chair next to mom's bed, she was able to reach me and almost immediatly she started calming down. The nurses were totally amazed! I stayed in the chair next to mom for hours after her surgery, helping to calm her down (and I helped daddy quite a bit, too!).

Even though mom's surgery was over at 3:30, we stayed at the hospital until 9PM because mom had a very very hard time waking up, she was in a lot of pain and had a lot of nausea. In fact, mom probably would have wanted to stay later but she knew that it was past my dinner time and the garage where they had parked the car was about to close!

Ever since mom got home she's been lying down in bed or on the couch and feeling very very badly. I do my best to help her, but she's been sleeping so much that I haven't had a lot to do! I think tomorrow daddy is going to take me for a run because I'm not used to doing so little during the day!

The good news is that mom seems to be feeling a bit better-- her pain levels are going down and so is her nausea. And she is even feeling good enough to let me get online! I hope I'll be able to get online tomorrow and keep everyone posted! Thanks to everyone who sent good wishes!

Wishing mom luck!

Mom surely is nervous today, I've been working overtime! In a half an hour we'll be leaving for the hospital where mom is going into surgery. Since I usually rely on mom to let me online, that means I probably won't be updating my diary or doing anything on dogster for a couple of days. Hopefully mom will let me back online soon, though! And hopefully mom's surgery helps so she doesn't have so much pain all the time!

Observations!

This morning instead of going to our school, mom and I went to observe classes at the school where mom will be helping to teach 7th graders! I was pretty excited because schools are full of kids and I love kids!

Since I am a distraction in the classroom just because of my presence, mom gave a short mini-lesson on service dogs to the students in both of the classes she was to observe. The students were so nice! They were very respectful and asked really good questions! Plus they were really really smart, too. After mom's intro, we sat on the sidelines and I slept while mom watched the teacher do their stuff. Mom seemed to enjoy it a lot, and she said afterward that she learned a whole lot!

I had fun, but I didn't get to love on any kids unfortunately! Oh well, maybe in the future mom will let me off duty and let the kids have some fun with me!

Doctors, doctors everywhere!

What a tiring day, and so full of doctors! This morning I was really really excited when daddy walked in the door! Normally he doesn't get back from Davis until Thursday nights so I was super happy to see him on a Wednesay morning! I made my most submissive and sad doggy body language so he'd be sure to come over and love on me as much as possible!

I didn't get enough doggy rubbing in before we all piled in the car and headed to the city. I recognized the hospital when we got close and figured we had a doctor's appointment for mom again. I was right! We walked in and saw our normal doctors for the normal amounts of time, but they kept talking about cutting mom open! I tried to tell mom that I didn't think she should get cut open, but no one listens to me!

After the appointment I thought we'd get back in the car and head home, but instead we crossed the street and went to the hospital for yet another doctors appointment! We had to meet with the insurance people, then mom had to get blood drawn and a urine sample (I can't believe humans pee in those little cups and then carry it around! Gross-- but very sniffable!) to make sure she is ready to get cut open on Friday. Finally we had a meeting where mom talked with an anesthesiologist about sleeping during the surgery. I was glad to hear that mom is going to sleep all through the surgery! Plus, everyone at the hospital was very very nice to me and they had no problems with me being there! Mom got to give out lots of flyers about me to people, and they all thought I was the neatest doggie they'd ever seen! Also, they were all OK with mom keeping me with her on Friday until it is time for her to go to sleep-- then I'll stay with daddy (I'm sure my anxiety-lowering skills will be put to good use!) while mom is in surgery. I hope they'll let me help wake mom up afterwards! I think a good face licking should do it!

After all those doctors appoitnments I thought we were done for the day, but we still had one more appointment left! We went back to the first building and met with this person from a research study that mom is being part of. That was the longest appointment of the day-- 2.5 hrs! I was so good the whole time during all the doctors visits, but I gotta tell you I was getting kind of worried about mom during that last visit! They also took blood and urine samples so poor mom gave about a pint of blood total today. That is a lot!

Finally we got back to the car and I thought for sure we were headed home, but apparently we had to go to the pharmacy back at Student Health to pick up pain and anti-nausea medicines for after mom's surgery... Unfortunately student health didn't have one of the medicines so we had to go to the Elephant Pharmacy to get it. By that time I was getting kind of tired of working, but I kept with it. I was just so happy to get a break when we finally arrived home! It was such a looooooong day of doctors visits! But I think that they all turned out well, and most importantly, all the doctors really liked me!

Seeing Snowy's mom, but no Snowy!

How unfair is that?! Today mom and I went to class and Snowy's mom was there like last week! I was soooooooooooooooo excited to see her and begged mom to put me on a visit so I could say hi. Thank goodness she did! Snowy's mom is really really cool, and usually when I see her I also get to see Snowy! I sniffed her all over and while she smelled like Snowy, I couldn't find him anywhere-- he wasn't in her sweater, he wasn't under her skirt, and he wasn't hiding in her bag (I checked!).

Then I had to go back under the table because class was starting. I was very good all class and didn't bother Snowy's mom, but I was just counting the minutes until class would be over and I could see Snowy! Because why else would Snowy's mom be there but to bring Snowy over to play with me?

So after class we walked outside the building and I looked around but no Snowy! I figured maybe Snowy's mom was hiding him somewhere or something, but then mom and I turned one way and Snowy's mom turned the other! Nooooooooooooo! I didn't want Snowy's mom to leave, I wanted to go with her to find Snowy! Please mom, can I? I asked, but mom said that we had to put her poster back in her lab. I was very very upset and mom had to practically drag me back to the lab because I kept trying to turn around and lead her back to Snowy's mom.

After dropping mom's poster off in her lab we went to the parking garage where Snowy's mom usually parks and I sniffed out Snowy's car! I was really happy because I figured maybe Snowy was hiding in the car or maybe we'd ride in the car and go and get Snowy! Snowy's mom showed up, but no Snowy, so I hopped in the car but there was no Snowy there, either. I was sad when it was time to get out at our place, I still didn't get to see Snowy. Oh well, I hear that we'll be doing a fashion shoot together soon, I can't wait! I really really realllllllly want to see him!

No internet!

How unfair! The internet at home isn't working so I haven't been able to check on my dogster pals as much as I usually like to. And our landlords (who are in charge of the internet subscription and everything) are out of town so we probably won't be able to get online at home for another few days. I hope they get it fixed soon, though! Mom's been sick this weekend and today, too, so I get really bored at home and like to hop online when she's not feeling well but I can't do that right now! I just hope it's fixed before mom has her surgery on Friday-- I have a feeling that mom will need to do things like read my pals' diary entries and stuff to help her feel better, and she won't be able to do that without internet at home!

Jump jump jump!

That's what I did today! This morning we had agility class, yippie! I loooooooooooooooove agility, it is the best class ever in the entire world! I think there should be jumps and tunnels and stuff like that all around campus for me to jump over and run through!

Anyway, this was the first agility class of the session, so there were some unfamiliar doggies there. But there were some I remembered from last class, too. Everyone had done agility before so we started off with some pretty hard stuff! It surely kept mom on her toes! Poor mom she really doesn't know what she's doing out there on the course and it makes me look silly! For example, until today mom thought that agility was like a series of obstacles, each to be completed before the next could start. Accordingly, she wanted to wait until all 4 paws were on the ground from whatever I had been doing before giving me the command for the next obstacle. Luckily Nancy (my trainer) finally got it through to mom that she needed to give me commands while I was still doing the previous activity-- that agility is more like a story that is woven together than a bunch of sequential unconnected events. Mom is slow, but I think she's starting to get it!

I'm also getting better at these wierd things called weave poles. For some reason mom likes for me to weave in and out of them, even though it would be much faster to run right by them. Oh well, I try to do what mom wants!

After class we came up to campus because my internet isn't working at home. Since I was so good during class today mom tried taking me from the car to the building (15 minute walk) with just my flat collar. She hasn't done that in a while, something about her not trusting her training as Nancy likes to say (and I agree! Sheesh mom you do enough training with me, you might as well trust in it!). So anyway, I was a really good pup even with an off leash dog running around barking and chasing bubbles close by me. Now I am under the desk and plan to take a nice nap before we run to the grocery store. Ahhh, a nice comfy warm bed is no match for a tired doggie!

A long long day!

Yesterday was such a long day! We came in to work really early because mom had a lot of stuff to do. After a hard morning of sleeping for me and working for mom, mom sat down to lunch and realized she had forgotten she had a class that started at noon! Luckily we had time to race over, but that meant mom had to eat her lunch during class. The room was small and crowded and didn't make for a good nap, so I was hoping when the two hour class was over that we'd go back to the office so I could be more comfy.

Instead we left the building and headed towards student health. Student health is not one of my favorite places, because it usually involves sitting around for long periods of time in small waiting rooms. Today was no exception! Mom needed to get a TB test and apparently everyone else on campus needed to get one too! We waited in a long line to check in, then waited first in one waiting room and then another. Finally it was our turn. The lady who gave the test was very very nice and she even took a flyer about me! I watched closely as the lady filled up a syringe with something and put it in mom's arm. Ouch! I wished I had a piece of cheese to give to mom for being so good (since that's what she gives to me when I get needles in me), but unfortunately I just eat the treats- I don't give them out!

After the TB test, we walked back to the office but only had an hour for me to sleep before we went upstairs for a lab meeting. Lab meeting! I wanted to go home and see daddy since he just got back yesterday after being gone since Monday! Phooey on lab meeting I said... And I really think that we should only have lab meetings and classes in carpeted rooms because they really are much more comfortable! I had been sitting on too many cold hard floors today, even with my little mat! The lab meeting took a very long time, though it seemed like everyone was enjoying talking and they were getting a lot done. It was taking forever according to me, though, so after sighing loudly a couple of times, I started to try to take off my vest to tell mom I was done working for the day! Mom didn't think that was as good of an idea as I did, though! She put my vest back on but the meeting was soon over. My pal Caroline gave me a good pat after the meeting, which mostly made up for it, though! Then we took the BART home and I was soooooooooo happy to see Daddy! Yippie for daddy being home!!!

A giant but very clean pond

Ever since last week mom has been talking about going swimming. She used to go swimming all the time in North Carolina because the apartment complex had a swimming pool. But she hasn't gone swimming at all since moving out to California 3 years ago.

Last week we went to this place called the Rec Center which was very very strange! It had a giant room where all these people were running in place. They looked like they were running towards the wall but they never got there because the ground underneath their feet kept moving. And then there were all these people trying to ride bicycles but the bikes were anchored to the floor it looked like. It was very very strange, but we had to go there to talk with people about mom getting to swim.

So today mom brought her swimming suit and goggles to school and before lunch we walked over to the Rec Center with a friend from mom's lab. First we walked into this very large room that had lots of metal boxes everywhere. People were getting undressed and putting all their things into these strange metal lockers-- I was glad I am a girl because I didn't see any guys there! Then after mom and Toni put on their swimsuits, we walked over to this area with lots of hose looking things sticking out of the wall. Mom put me in a down stay and then she walked under one and turned the water on-- it was like a giant shower that filled up a whole room! And there were lots of other people in there, too, very strange!

Finally we walked outside and I saw what looked like a giant but very clean pond. It was definately a big body of water but there were no fish or plants or dirt or anything in it. Mom said it was an olympic sized pool. I was afraid she was going to try to give me a bath in that thing, but luckily she got out my pop-up crate, took my vest off and had me get in. I laid down but kept an eye on mom-- she went and got into the giant pond and started swimming in a very weird pattern. Actually, everyone was swimming in a wierd pattern! They had these yellow and blue lines on the top of the pool and people were swimming in loops inside the lines. Some people had plastic things on their heads, and others used big rectangles to keep their upper bodies up out of the water. I was a very good girl and stayed quiet as a mouse the whole time.

When mom got back we had to go back to the giant shower room (luckily I still didn't have to take a shower myself!) and then to the room full of metal boxes. Mom had some trouble getting her box open, but she got it in the end. I think mom and Toni had a great time and they are going to go swimming a lot more! As to me, I just hope I keep not having to get in the water with them!

Busy busy busy!

Wow, mom and I surely were busy today! All day long mom was in and out of meetings and dealing with all kinds of work and other issues that kept cropping up. Then we went to class and I saw Snowy's mom there! I was sooooooooooooooooo excited it was hard to remember I was working! A few times during class I tried to ask her why she didn't bring Snowy, but mom kept telling me I had to lay down and pretend like Snowy's mom wasn't there. It was really really hard!

Then after class I thought for sure we were going to go find Snowy, but his mom went in a different direction than us. I tried my darndest to make mom realize we needed to go find Snowy, but she kept telling me that wasn't the plan. I was very very sad and kept looking over my shoulder the whole way to the circle.

At the circle my pals Liz and Peter picked me and mom up and we all went to a park together and I got to be off duty! It was a lot of fun, even though it wasn't like a usual trip to a park. Usually when we go to parks and stuff mom and I walk briskly along the trail, stopping to sniff at neat smelling places. But apparently we were there to do work, which meant mom and the others had to scope out cool areas and ideas to do with the 7th graders they'll be teaching. What that meant was lots more standing, climbing and otherwise non-usual stuff. We saw a few kitties-- one even ran right in front of us! And we even walked right by a big off leash Rottie mix and we totally ignored each other.

Anyway, I am pretty tired after a long day, I just hope that tomorrow mom is a little less busy so I can get my napping in!

Strange happenings in the garden

Strange things have been happening lately in the garden! First, all my nice dirt patches that I like to sun myself in are being taken over by plants I'm not supposed to eat, lay on or step on! And mom and dad water these plants all the time and everything, they really seem to think they're important-- but what about my dirt patches? Those are important, too!

Then yesterday while I was sleeping off my vet experience (and dreaming about food since I heard them talking about putting me on a diet!) some strings appeared in the garden. They are attached to bamboo poles and are only around the green beans. And strangest of all the green beans are actually wrapping themselves around these strings! I thought green beans were plants and that plants didn't move, but these surely are! Maybe they are mutant alien green beans or something.

So today after my bath I went to investigate the strings. I couldn't figure out what they were doing, but I did figure out that they're not for walking through! I tried to and I got caught in the strings! Mom was out taking pictures of her garden and she and daddy thought this was hilarious so they took pictures of me trying to figure out what to do next.

Mom was also taking pictures of the compost pile for her cousin, and I figured that since mom always wants to take pictures of me that I should go and pose nicely for her. So I walked in front of the pile and struck my best pose. Mom took the picture but said I was a silly dog. I tried to tell her I didn't think it was silly at all-- I love the compost pile! Before mom and dad blocked it off, I used to snack on it all the time. The compost pile is the best buffet in town! After all, what could be yummier than rotting food with worms on it?!

Ouchie ouchie ouchie!

Yesterday morning we woke up and got in the car and drove like we were going to the vet. Mom and dad kept talking about how worried they were that we would be late due to the bridge closure, but apparently they made great time. So instead of going to the vet right away they tricked me into thinking we weren't going to the vet at all! We went to this store called The Food Mill and it had all kinds of yummy things that mom could eat on her restrictive diet. It was super cool!

But soon I realized we would be heading to the vet after all, since that's where we went next. I have mixed feelings about the vet because I really really love Dr. Karen Rettig! She's so nice and smart and always helps mom and dad out because they seem to have lots of questions about things (silly humans!). On the other hand, sometimes when I go there they do strange things to me-- sometimes they stick needles in me, sometimes they put me to sleep and I wake up with one less tooth, but sometimes they do things like make mom give me yummy slippery elm and yogurt slurry! Yum!

So I was hoping it was going to be another prescription for yummy food but I was wrong! Instead mom and dad told Dr. Rettig that I was leaking a little bit of urine again so it was time for more acupuncture. I last got acupuncture about 6 months ago and it stopped all my spay incontinance cold-- it was very cool! But I am not super fond of getting the needles in, even if it does help out later on. Luckily mom brought some cheese to give me so I laid very still and let the vet put all kinds on needles in me. She put some in my back, on my legs and even two in my spay scar-- ouch!

Then she turned the lights low and left me to get comfy. Just when I was starting to relax a lot (it starts to feel good after the first few minutes) she came back in and told mom to hold a warm compress on my face. I think I mentioned that I had some wound on my face that wouldn't heal, well I guess mom and dad decided that two weeks was too long for something not to heal so Dr. Rettig wanted to investigate. I was no too happy about the warm compress being held on my wound! It wasn't very comfortable and I kept trying to move my head away. A few minutes of cheese later, though, and I found it pretty darn relaxing as well! I fell asleep and didn't wake up until Dr. Rettig came back in the room.

But boy I wish she hadn't come back in! She started feeling of my wound and said it felt and looked like some sort of cyst! Then she started squeezing it which hurt a lot! I was a very very good dog and didn't complain but I was not having a fun time. Eventually she got out all the grey-ish material that was a subacious cyst-- gross! I was happy not to have that in my face anymore! She said it might come back and if it did then they'd have to cut it out which sounds even worse, so I really really hope it's gone forever!

I was really ready to go home and go to sleep after all that pain, but we had to stop by the Farmer's Market and Petco on the way home. I guess it was cool to go to Petco because I got lots of treats which kind of made up for the bad morning, but I just fell right asleep when I got home!

Later on my neighbor Mantou came over and we ran around the garden and played but I was still pretty worn out from the morning! I hope Mantou can come play again soon, though!

The unfrozen freezer

After a very loooong day yesterday we arrived home pretty late. Daddy went to put his bike away in the back of the garage and noticed a lot of water leaking out of the freezer-- it turns out that last week when mom got out some food for me she didn't close the freezer all the way! She locked the door, but apparently the freezer can still be open a little bit when the lock is attached if you're not careful.

Sooooo, mom and dad opened up the freezer to find that most of the meat in there had been partially thawed! I thought for sure the solution was going to be to let me eat all 30-40 lbs of meat in the freezer right then and there, but unfortunately mom and dad didn't agree. The stuff that was still mostly frozen they moved to the freezer inside, and the stuff that was thawed they took inside. Dad spent a few hours chipping the ice off the freezer and mom spent that time cutting up lots and lots of meat (since it was already thawed, they figured they should go ahead and portion it out so that each piece would only need to be thawed once more before I got to eat it). They were exhausted already when they got home, and all this cutting and cleaning made them even more tired. I kept trying to tell them the easier solution would be to feed it all to me, but they refused to listen. Anyway, at nearly 10:00 at night they were finally done and had all the cut up meat put back into the freezer with the door firmly shut!

Apparently I get to eat the NV medallions tonight and for the next few days becuase those were the things mom was most worried about. Yum! Usually those are saved for a special treat, so I'm happy to get them now!

Daddy's home!!!

Yesterday I was at work minding my own business (well OK, I was napping under mom's desk!) and all the sudden Daddy walked in the door!!!! I was soooooooooooooo happy becuase since Daddy lives in Davis 3 days a week for summer school I don't get to spend a lot of time with him anymore. I was very happy I was not wearing my vest so I could go and lick daddy all over and greet him properly!

Mom had a few thing to finish up at work so I cuddled with daddy while he graded tests. Then mom and I went to her last class of the day. Mom and dad had said they'd meet outside of the building when the class was over, so we were surprised when we walked outside after class and there was no daddy to be found! Mom tried calling him, but his cell phone wasn't working. We were in the front of the building and mom walked around to one side of the building while she was trying to call daddy and all the sudden I smelled him!

I tried to tell mom "I know where daddy is!" but she didn't believe me! Instead she thought I was just misbehaving... I told her all those tracking classes and me working to find daddy by his scent has paid off-- I coudl smell him, he was so close! But no, mom thought I was just being distractable-- why is mom so dense? So she made us go back to the front of the building and tried calling daddy again. This time she got to talk to him and he told us where he was... I was right! We started walking in that direction again and I started pulling (which is why mom thought I was being distractabel before) and this time mom followed me! I led her straight to daddy (who was hiding pretty well in a lower stairwell I must say!). Mom put me on a visit right away so that I could be rewarded for my good tracking abilities. I think mom needs to listen to me more often!

Bombproof!

Yesterday morning mom and I were walking from the BART station to school just like always. Along the route there is an old movie theater that is being renovated. They had apparently just gotten a shipment of 20-25 ft long steel I-beams on a flatbed truck and were trying to get them inside the building using a tractor with a forklift type of attachment. As we crossed the street we watched the tractor pick up two I-beams and raise them waaaaaay up over his head so that he could turn to try to drive into the movie theater. It looked like it was hard to turn with all that weight up high and just as we were passing right by it (we were probably about 15 ft away from the end of the I-beam-- they were in the middle of the street and we were on the sidewalk) one of the I-beams fell!

CLANG CLANG CLUNK CLANG CLANG!!!!!

The giant steel I-beam made a horrible loud noise! I think most dogs would have been scared by this noise, but I looked at the source of the sound, and then looked right back up at mom like I have been trained to do when there are loud unexpected noises! Mom was soooooooooooo happy with me that she reached in her pocket and gave me a yummy treat while the noises were still echoing around. Luckily she kept a few treats in her hand because as the tractor was lowering the forklift the other I-beam fell! This one was much closer to the ground, though, so it didn't make as loud of a noise. I startled a little bit but immediately looked at mom again so she gave me more treats, yum!

I was very proud of myself and I think mom was, too! Only poor mom wasn't doing too well-- sudden loud noises make her cry for some reason, so I had to help her calm down on the way to our building.

A Snowy-riffic evening!

Yesterday when we got home from work I was all ready for another boring evening without daddy. I settled in for a nap when all of the sudden Snowy's mom showed up at our door! Boy was I happy to see her!!! I tried to bring her lots of toys and play with her, but she had on a very pretty skirt so mom kept telling me to stop trying to ruin her skirt. I think mom is a party-pooper!

Anyway, we all piled into Snowy's mom's car and drove to Snowy's place! I was sooooooo happy to see him, and so when we went on a little walklet to go potty I kept trying to run around and play which almost made mom fall over a few times! Snowy and I like to play the peeing game on our walks-- the point of this game is to see how many things we can both pee on and whomever runs out of pee first looses! We peed on every interesting patch of grass, many lightposts and other similar objects, and lots of trees. By the end of the game we were neck in neck, with each of us squeezing out only one or two drops of pee at each spot but I think that Snowy won in the end. Unfortunately mom had just let me go pee-pee before we saw Snowy so I didn't have my reserves ready.

Then we went inside and Snowy and I played so much that I was exhausted! Luckily Snowy has enough energy for both of us so all I have to do is make noises and move my head around, and Snowy does all the other moving for me. It was a lot of fun, and I think mom and Snowy's mom had fun, too, but they spent all their time talking and not wrestling on the floor-- why humans don't wrestle more is beyond me!

When Snowy's mom drove us home I was soooooooooooooooo tired! As soon as Snowy left I collapsed in my bowl chair and fell asleep right away! It truely was a Snowy-riffic evening!

Wardrobe malfunction!

Today mom and I went out for lunch with our friend Kathryn. We went to a Chinese restaurant that we hadn't been to in a few months. From the sounds, I think mom and Kathryn had a yummy meal! Afterwards, mom wanted to pay so she got her wallet out of my pack. That part went fine, but we had quite a bit of trouble when she tried to put her wallet back!

The table had a long tablecloth on it, so mom had to reach around under there for me which I guess wasn't the easiest thing in the world. Mom found the pocket where her wallet goes, but I was getting up and stretching because I knew we'd be leaving soon. So when mom grabbed onto the packpack to put her wallet in, I arched my back and put my head down and my pack slipped off! Mom didn't realize anything was wrong at first, but I realized I wasn't on duty anymore! Unfortunatley mom figured it out pretty quickly, and so then we had to figure out how to get my pack back on because it was all tangled up with my leash! After a few minutes mom got the pack on my back, but her chair was too close to the people behind her for her to be able to get under the table and buckle the strap underneath my chest! So I had to leave the restaurant with the strap hanging down, how embarrassing! Luckly mom fixed it as soon as I got outside, though! I was happy to be back to my stylish self!

Back to school!

Today was our first day back to class for the fall semester! Mom only had one class today, it is a class about presenting science effectively. That means it involves lots of standing up at the front of the room and speaking! Everyone had to do a few practice speaches today and mom was pretty nervous! She had been anxious earlier in the day but petting me helped her calm down, but during class after she spoke I really had to work hard to make sure she pet me enough so that she could keep paying attention in the class! Luckily I am very good at my job!

On our way home at the BART station I met a very nice woman who has a rat terrier at home-- she smelled really nice and I enjoyed my time visiting with her! Then when we got on the train we saw a family with three kids and tons of luggage. The kids were all wearing tie-dye and mom told me that reminded her of when she was little. Apparently whenever her family traveled mom and her sister would wear matching outfits that were often tie-dyed! Mom gave them a flyer and I hope that they look at my webpage and see all my cool pictures and stuff! They seemed like a fun bunch of kids!

Champion vs Roadie

I had mom type up her thoughts about the Champion and the Roadie seatbelts to go along with my new pictures. Enjoy!

I think that both the Champion K9 and the Roadie Ruff Rider are excellent seat belts. They are the only two I recommend, and both are safety tested and will hold up in a high speed car crash which is the absolutely most important thing about a dog seatbelt. However, each has some features that the other is lacking, and I think that the “better” one really depends on your dog and your car riding situations. I’ll start with the Roadie, since that’s the seatbelt I started with!

The Roadie Ruff Rider is a one piece seatbelt. The main drawback of this seatbelt is getting it on and off. It takes a little bit of practice, and a little bit of flexability on the part of your dog- they have to bend their legs fully to get their arms through the holes if you use the newer Roaide Elite or if you use the Roadie basic/geriatric and keep it in it’s buckled together form. If your dog is less flexible or long hair gets in the way, the Roadie basic/geriatric can come apart and they can step in more easily. Once you and your dog get the hang of it, this really doesn’t take all that long, but it takes longer than the Champion. And I’ve been told that if you’re mobility limited this can be quite difficult.

The second drawback of the Roadie is the adjustability. If your dog is between sizes or if your dog has a deep chest and narrow waist (like sighthounds) you may find that it is difficult to get a good fit and your dog might be able to get out of the seatbelt.

If your dog twists around a lot in the car, the Roadie can catch them up a bit since it doesn’t have a swivel attachment. It only has three flat attachment points for the harness so it has a little less flexability in terms of how much your dog can move around in the car. Not a problem if your dog stays still in the car, but a big problem if your dog moves around a lot.

A big benefit with the Roadie is that it has a built in short leash. The extension where you buckle the seatbelt can double as a traffic lead for a medium or large dog. This is very handy for trips from the house to the car and vice versa. If your dog needs a little bit of help getting in the car, you can easily grab onto this leash section and help get them up there, too.

A benefit at least for us is the ease with which the dog can be attached to any seatbelt in any car. Since it is all one piece and you just slide the seatbelt through, it takes about 5 seconds to put the seatbelt through the loop and fasten it, even if you’re riding in Taxi’s or friends cars that you don’t normally ride in. If you only ever take your dog in one car, this is really not a huge benefit over the Champion (more on this later) but if you’re like me and rely on a variety of friends and taxi’s for rides a lot, this makes a big difference.

Another benefit related to riding in different cars a lot is the Roadie is very light and easily packable into a small space. You can easily shove the Roadie in your purse and be on your way without a lot of added weight or space. Again, maybe not important for some people, but might be important for others.

A fourth benefit is the Roadie is easy to use as a walking harness—as long as the seatbelt fits your dog well.

Finally, the customer service for the Roadie is very good. I’ve contacted their company a few times and I always get an email back the next day. Shipping is prompt and they don’t have to be reminded to mail your order out to you.

The Champion K9 is a two piece seatbelt. This is related to its two main drawbacks, at least in my opinion. The first drawback is the amount of time it takes to attach the seatbelt to the car if you will be using more than one car. The restraint strap (the strap that attaches the seatbelt to the harness) has a screw-locking carabiner that you have to unscrew to put over the car’s seatbelt. This process takes about a minute. This is not a big deal if you only ever ride in one car—you can just leave the restraint strap attached in your car after you attach it the first time. They even sell extra restraint straps so if you are a two car family you can leave one in each car. However, if you ride in Taxis or friend’s cars often, it can be annoying to have to spend this extra time attaching and detaching the restraint strap.

The second main drawback is that the seatbelt and restraint strap are heavy and take up a bit of room. It is harder to simply shove these in a purse and go because of that. Again, this is a situational problem, it might not be a problem for you if you only ever ride in one car.

The third drawback is that the bull snap swivel hook that attaches the restraint strap to the harness is difficult to use—it has to be swung outward to hook through the harness and for someone with arthritis that is pretty difficult to do. You could get around this problem by attaching a very strong carabiner to the bull snap hook (probably what we’ll be doing) but it’s annoying that you have to deal with it (though I understand why it’s made this way—it’s much safer to have something that the dog can’t accidentally get open).

The harness could be used as a walking harness, but we have a problem that the metal rings on top of the harness are so heavy that it constantly slides to one side or the other which is not super comfy for Sabrina. In addition, you have to use an adaptor to use it with a regular leash as the rings on the harness are too thick for a normal leash attachment.

Since there is no built in leash, you have to attach a leash to the seatbelt (or your dog’s collar) every time you want to walk from the car to the house or vice versa.

And finally, the customer service is hit or miss. If you manage to get the man on the phone who runs the place, he is very nice and helpful and your order will get out quickly. However, placing your order online can result in a very slow process that you might have to call to check up on. I’ve ordered twice from him and the first time I called in my order and got express shipping and it was delivered within a week. The other time I ordered online and I had to email and call repeatedly about my order, but it got here eventually.

The main benefit for the Champion is its ease of putting on the harness part of the seatbelt. The dog steps into the harness and then you connect two clips. It takes no time at all to figure out how this works and is extremely easy to do. It also takes about 2 seconds. And since it’s a step in/step out type of harness, you don’t have to worry about the seatbelt going over your dog’s head and you having to thread the leash through if it’s attached to your dog’s collar.

The second main benefit for the Champion is its adjustability. It is very easy to adjust this seatbelt to a wide range of dog body types.

A feature I really love on the Champion is the optional reflective material, I think it is very good to have reflective material on it, very safe and it doesn’t cost too much extra to get it.

The Champion also comes in a special big dog version, which is great for extra large dogs.

Also, the Champion has an infinitely adjustable restraint strap, so you can make it as long or as short as you want it, and it has a swivel attachment so your dog is less likely to get caught up in it if they move around a lot.

So in summary (if you’ve managed to read this far BOL!) I think both seatbelts are really good overall, and which you choose depends on your dog and your lifestyle. Personally we’ll be using the Champion when we’re traveling in our own car due to the ease of taking the harness on and off, and because of the reflective stuff. But when we’re vacationing or when I’m getting rides with others I’ll be using the Roadie for its portability and ease of attaching to many different cars. If I could drive or if I only ever took Sabrina in one car (or even two if I bought an extra restraint strap), I’d prefer the Champion hands down. But since about half of all my car rides are in someone else’s car, I use the Roadie for those rides and the Champion for others.

My ideal seatbelt would combine my favorite features of the two seatbelts—it would be a one piece seatbelt with a built in traffic lead, be light and fold down to a small size for easy portability, be adjustable, have reflective stuff, and be quick and easy to take on and off.

Biking and gardening

Today has been a tiring day! We slept in this morning, but after lunch we went on a bike ride! I love running next to the bike, it's the best thing ever! Only mom and dad won't let me run for more than about 10 minutes, which is sad. I heard mom and dad talking about buying a bike trailer for me to ride in so that they can take me around biking (and give me chances to run every once in a while, too!).

When we got back it was time to water the plants and do some gardening. I did my best to help out like I always do... I helped even out the soil by laying on it, and I helped to get the plants used to stress by laying on them, too! I do lots of hard work in the garden, and I wanted to show off the results so mom got out the camera and took lots of pictures. Then the kitties got on their leashes and came outside to investigate the garden and get pictures taken, too. It was a lot of fun!

Finally mom put me in my seatbelts and into the car for even more pictures, but I told her to wait to post those until after she writes up somethign about which seatbelt she prefers. I hope those pictures are good, because I was sooooooooo tired while mom was taking them that I kept falling asleep!

100 free range bullly sticks!!!!!!!!!!

WOW! You'll never guess what I got today-- 100 bully sticks! Of course I didn't get to eat them all at once or anything like that! Snowy's mom and my mom split an order of free range bully sticks, and apparently it is cheap if you get a whole bunch of them. So this afternoon Snowy's mom dropped by with a giant box of bully sticks and she even had some puffed chopped pigs ears in there, too. It smelled sooooooooooooooo good (and the hamburger in her hand smelled really good, too!) that I couldn't stop sniffing, and I even kept trying to beg but mom didn't like that too much. I wonder how long it'd take me to eat 100 bully sticks? I wonder if mom will let me at them so I can find out-- it would be like a science experiment! Mom's a scientist, so I think she'll go for that excuse!

Out of style!

I am so embarassed! Today mom made me go around in an ensemble that did not match! Normally I wear my purple service backpack that has silver reflective lining and use a black snootloop with a black and reflective silver leash. However I got an ouchie on my face recently and my snootloop rubs up against it during the day so mom decided to have me wear my old gentle leader instead. The only problem is that my gentle leader is a tan color! It clashes quite horribly with my purple and silver and black color scheme that I have on normally. You know I am quite the fashionista so this bothered me all day long. Plus, my gentle leader is not as comfortable as my snootloop so it was a double whammy in my book! I certainly hope my ouchie heals up soon so that I don't have to look like I got dressed in the dark!

I've got a new den!

Yesterday when mom and I got to work we found that while we were at our retreat and doctors visits, the lab had been rearranged a bit! See one of the postdocs left so now there is room in the office area for a desk for mom and me, yippie! I bet you can't guess what the first thing mom brought over to her new desk was... my bed! I was very happy to have a new den, and this one is so much nicer than the old one. See the old desk was through the lab so mom had to carry me or I had to wear booties or be pushed on a chair accross the room. None of those things are really all that fun, so I got a lot of chances to practice my poor pitiful me look. But the new desk is in an area that is safe to eat in, so I can walk to the desk myself. Plus the under desk area is slightly bigger than the old under desk area so I have more room to stretch out. This desk even has enough space so that mom can fit her legs under the desk and they're not on top of me. Mom didn't waste any time and moved all her stuff over to the new desk right away and I couldn't be happier!

An apple a day

Mom eats a lot of fruit but that doesn't prevent her from going to the doctor an awful lot!

This morning daddy left really early to drive up to Davis to teach his class, then he drove right back to pick us up and we went to mom's doctors appointment in the city. It was all very boring, so I slept through most of it! But I did pick up that the latest tests confirmed that mom most likely has endometriosis. Her surgery is scheduled for September 14th-- apparently they're going to blow mom up like a balloon and stick a camera inside her. Should be a lot of fun, but I hear I'll be waiting in the waiting room with daddy during it. Too bad!

After the doctor's appointment we went to the Palace of Fine Arts for a couple of hours which was really nice-- I love that place!

Altitude sickness

On Sunday night some of the people in mom's program where she'll be teaching 7th graders next year picked us up and we drove a long time to get to a reserve where we were having a retreat to learn and teach about using the reserve for students. It was really really late when we arrived, around 12:30 PM! Luckily we found an empty cabin to sleep in, but I don't think mom slept too well because she felt ill and she kept hearing mice in the walls! I, on the other hand, slept like a dog BOL! Mom had to wake me a couple of times because I was snoring too loudly even!

The next morning mom was still feeling badly with a headache and stomachache so I tried to help her feel better. We met the people in charge of the reserve and they were all very nice! The cook even took all of mom's confusing dietary restrictions into account, she was wonderful!

The first thing on the agenda was a presentation about the reserve and introduction to the retreat. It was all very boring for me, but soon I had a lot to distract me! Apparently there are two cats who live at the reserve and they are not afraid of dogs at all! They even hiss at me and act like they are trying to scare me away-- mom says that's because they probably have to get in fights with racoons and other wild animals to stay alive out there. Anyway, the whole thing was outside and the kitty cat kept prowling around. I was very very good, the cat even came over and sniffed my butt, sniffed my nose and hissed at me and I didn't make a sound! I did have a hard time concentrating on mom, though! Especially because silly mom forgot to put any treats in her pocket at all!

After the introduction we went out into the field to collect water striders and grasshoppers and that's when I started to notice mom really wasn't feeling well at all. Every time she tried to walk more than about 5-10 minutes she started to get a panic attack! It was very hard for me because we were outside in a place I really wanted to sniff, but I couldn't because I was working, and mom kept getting sicker and sicker.

At lunchtime mom wasn't able to eat hardly anything, even the wonderful quinoa that the cook prepared! I told mom I'd help her finish it but for some reason she didn't think that was a good idea. When mom said she needed to go lie down a bit before the afternoon activities some of the other teachers there suggested that mom might have altitude sickness. Apparently mom has never done more than drive through high elevation areas and the place we were had an elevation of over 6000 ft. Mom felt better after lying down but the afternoon insect collecting involved walking around and the same thing kept happening-- every time mom exerted herself she got a panic attack. Add that to the nausea, headache, fatigue and cats following me around and antagonizing me and it was a pretty stressful time! Mom took lots of medications, including extra of her anti-panic attack medication but it only took the edge off and didn't take them away. Luckily the other teachers and fellows at the retreat were all really really nice and in between sick periods mom was able to learn some pretty cool stuff about insects!

Finally after dinner mom decided enough was enough. We really wanted to spend the second day at the retreat, but the morning activity was 3 hrs of hiking and mom knew she couldn't handle that! So she called daddy, who had to take the train home from Davis to our place (1.5 hrs) and then make the 3 hr drive out to pick us up.

Daddy got there around 12:30 AM and it was pretty scary being out in those woods that late at night! There were definately racoons out and about, and mom was scared because there are bears and mountain lions in the area! I was pretty freaked out when we were sitting outside waiting for daddy! Luckily he arrived on time and we drove to Davis to spend the night since daddy had to teach in the morning. Mom started feeling better pretty soon after we got on the highway and started going down in elevation luckily. We stopped at 3 hotels in Davis to try to find a room but they were all booked! Luckily the fourth one had a room for us and mom and I slept in a lot while daddy went to teach his class.

We went to the gluten free bakery for lunch and now we're in daddy's office hours. Soon we'll drive back home and I think I want to sleep for a few days straight! It was a pretty tiring time!

Birthday gardening

Today is mom's birthday! I told mom that we should do something special like buy her some duck heads to eat or some chicken feet to munch on but for some reason she didn't like that idea too much. Instead daddy cooked mom a big omelet for breakfast and we've spent the whole day out doing gardening. I know I like digging in the dirt, and I guess mom does, too! I've been helping out with the gardening a lot, too. See mom and dad rearranged the yard a little which meant they needed to buy some more soil to even it out. You can't have loose soil or it might blow away or something so I helped out by laying all over the soil and compacting it for them. I also helped them test out the hardiness of the new plants that they bought by laying on them. Here's a tip for all you gardening dogs out there-- don't lay on the artichoke! That hurts!

Soon mom says we're leaving to go on some sort of retreat. I think mom's a little sad that she has to leave on her birthday, but I am sure we'll have a good time! Mom keeps telling me I'll have to work the entire time we're there, and that we'll be outside in a very tempting environment so it'll be difficult! I think the sights and smells will be worth it, though! I'll bark back when we return either late Tuesday or Wednesday!

What a busy day!

Yesterday was such a busy day! In the morning we had our last agility class of the session which was sad! I love agility and will be sad next weekend when we don't get to go run around and have fun. But mom says that we'll be taking the next agility course that starts in September so that is good! I and the other two pups who were in agility yesterday was pretty good, though mom surely could use some improvement! I think she is finally getting the hang of things out there on the course. And I finally seem to have figured out the weave poles.

After agility we went to the plant store then came home and mom and dad worked on moving the rocks in the yard to make a bigger area to plant things. It was pretty boring stuff so my pal Snowy came over! I was very happy to see Snowy and we played a lot! We also helped out with the gardening, you know weeding out the plants that we don't like by laying or walking on them.

And Snowy even tricked me into barking at my daddy! Daddy went into the garage and came out with a gardening hat and a shovel so Snowy started barking (he doesn't like gardeners he told me). I heard Snowy sound the alarm so without thinking twice I joined in because no one is going to hurt my pal Snowy! Only a few barks in I realized that I recognized the gardener-- it was Daddy! Oops, I felt really silly and made sure he knew I didn't mean it. Snowy also came with us to the hardware and pet stores, it was pretty fun! When we got back to our place we played a little more and then Snowy went home and I took a looooong nap.

Next thing I knew mom and dad were waking me up and saying we were going to go meet up with Snowy and Storm! We walked over to the park near our house and it was dark out so I guess Snowy couldn't see us very well, so he started sounding the alarm at us! I was pretty worried because I heard Snowy sounding an alarm and I couldn't tell what he was sounding it at, but soon I realized it was me and Snowy said he was sorry for barking at me! Storm and I said hi, and I was still a little worried about him, and worried that I needed to protect Snowy so we went on a walk around the neighborhood. Storm and I relaxed around each other (well, I relaxed around Storm, Storm was already relaxed!) and it was a lot of fun! I think Storm and I are getting along better and better, though we still have the occasional miscommunication. Anyway, the humans were having a good time talking, they seemed to get along really really well! And after all that walking I was exhausted and almost fell asleep on the way home!

Making friends with Storm

My dogster pal Storm is here visiting me and Snowy! I was really excited when mom told me he was coming up, but also worried because it always makes me nervous to meet new dogs. We met in a park near our house and before we were allowed to say hi, mom and his mom practiced the CGC meeting a stranger with a dog (I don't do that very well when I'm not vested!). I only needed two treats, other than that I was perfect! Then we got to sniff butts and we started to become friends.

But then we went back to my house where Storm and his mom were spending the night. Storm and I had some miscommunications because he was interested in the cats and I thought he was upset with me! I have to admit that I overreacted a teensy bit (OK, mom says a lot!). Anyway, that next night we met up with Storm and Snowy for dinner! I was very excited to see Snowy, but also worried because I still hadn't made up my mind about Storm yet. It's lucky that Storm and his mom like to do a lot of training, too, because we spent a long time working on that type of stuff! Then yesterday after dinner just Storm (and his mom of course!) came over and we met in the park again. Storm and I got things sorted out and now I realize that he's not going to hurt me. I think that we'll be good pals very very soon! I hear that tonight we're going to get all three of us together again (right now Storm and Snowy are spending their nights together) so that should be a lot of fun!

I can't alert if you don't look at me!

Yesterday I tried to alert mom that she needed to go home but she wasn't paying attention to me! See, she was in the other lab room, and usually she comes over to visually check on me frequently. If she needs alerting or if I need to sniff her closer to tell if she needs an alert I stand up. If she doesn't, I continue laying down.

Well yesterday mom started to come into the room but then got into a conversation while standing in the doorway. I was standing up, trying to tell her to come over so I could alert her (I'm not supposed to walk on the floor of the lab because there might be chemicals there), but she wasn't looking at me! How am I supposed to alert if she doesn't look at me?

Anyway, I got fed up and started to walk over to mom to give her the alert which wasn't what I was supposed to do! Mom was pretty upset with me! But I tried to tell her it was all her fault for not looking at me so that I could tell her in the way I was supposed to. Oh well, at least I got her alerted and she was able to get home right as she was starting to get really sick. Silly mom, I hope that teaches her to look at me when she comes in the room!

Saw a friend on the BART!

Yesterday on my way home I saw a friend on the way to the BART station-- we'd met before in the BART station when she asked mom about service dogs. I was happy to see her, and when we got to the station I even got to visit with her, yippie! Plus, she said I was a very well behaved dog, which made me feel really really good! Mom was feeling badly about my behavior yesterday so I was happy someone told her how good I was-- see mom, I'm very well behaved!

My pet peeve!

This afternoon after visiting the computer store and returning without the computer mom had been promised we went to work. Mom was meeting a few of her fellow students who she'll be teaching with next year. We all went outside for them to have their meeting, so mom took me off duty, yeah! I was having fun relaxing in the sun when all of the sudden on off leash dog starts coming over. The lady with the off leash dog called out to mom

"Is your dog friendly?"

Mom said "I'm doing group work right now so I'd rather you not let your dog come over"

The lady said "I'm just asking if your dog is friendly or aggressive?" At this point her dog is already approaching and giving off dominant body language-- I stayed in my down stay, but was getting a little nervous about the situation!

Mom said "Actually, she'd rather your dog not come over right now"

So the lady said "Well, all I'm asking is if my dog says hi will your dog get aggressive?" At this point the dog was about 4 ft from me and posturing.

Mom said "Well, she'll bark if your dog keeps giving off aggressive body language"

So at that point the lady tries to call her dog away unsuccessfully, the dog is paying no attention at all and keeps approaching me aggressively! I kept trying to not get up but when the dog was about 2 ft away I just couldn't help it anymore-- I barked at the dog! Mom was very embarrassed because she hates it when I bark (she doesn't want me to bark ever, even when I am off duty!), but at least it scared the dog away. Mom and I just hate it when people have off leash dogs that aren't under control and they let them approach me without asking, or worse yet, ignoring it when mom asks them not to let their dog approach!

I was just starting to calm down from that dog when another off leash dog approached! This one was friendly, but it started running around the group which scared me a little bit! I was still worried about that last dog that came over, and I just wanted this dog to go away, too! The owners tried calling it, but of course, no one on campus has voice control over their dog! So I barked at that dog, too (though I stayed laying down when I barked). Poor mom, she was really embarrassed now-- her face was really really red! I tried to tell her I was sorry, that I was just scared of the second dog because it was so soon after the first one came over, but she still says I shouldn't have barked. And now mom says she's not going to take me off duty even when we're doing work with her peers outside. Boo hiss! See the punishment I get because other people don't have control over their off leash dogs?! Sometimes mom says that people should have to pass a test in order to get a dog, and today I'm inclined to agree!

Don't go to Petco on a Sunday afternoon!

Yesterday we were out doing our grocery shopping and we needed to stop by Petco on the way home. Normally we don't like to go at the more crowded times, but since Daddy has to sleep in Davis three nights a week now we don't really have many other times to go!

As we walked up to the door we saw a dog wearing a guide dog harness enter the store in front of us. But I am not so sure it was a guide dog (maybe it was still in training?) because it got away from it's handler and started running around the front of the store. The two people with the dog kept calling it to come back and chasing it but it wouldn't go back to them. So instead of put ourselves in the middle of that mess mom and dad decided to go in another door. That meant we had to walk by the checkout and we saw a lady trying to keep a hold of her collarless, leashless kitten who was scared by the loose guide? dog.

We went over to the cat section to look a litterboxes (how boring!) and we were sitting there minding our own business when a little boy probably about 8-10 years old came over. He was holding a pom (no collar or leash) in his arms and when the pom saw me it started barking and snarling and trying to come attack me! The little boy could hardly hold on to the pom, but he thought his dog trying to attack me was hilarious. I didn't think so! I thought it wasn't very nice of the boy to do that to me or to his dog! But I was still very good and stayed in my sit with my eyes on mom until the boy got about 5 feet away. At that point mom decided she didn't want to trust that the little boy could hold onto the dog so we went down an aisle and daddy ran interference. The mom who was about 6 aisles away kept calling her kid back over, but as soon as he got over to his mom he'd start walking back over to our area to do it all over again. It was very frustrating!

Mom and dad decided that we should just leave the store since we hadn't yet seen any animals in the store that were under responsible control, so we went to the checkout. We got in line behind a family with a 6 week old chihuahua puppy in their arms. The puppy looked very very sick, and it seemed to have been an impulse purchase because they were buying all the supplies. But in their checking out we didn't see any wet puppy food or any milk substitute (just Puppy Chow dry food), which I know pups that young need. Now instead of mom training me in the store, this time I had to train her! I could tell she was getting fed up with all the irresponsible people we'd seen in the store so I showed off how well I could wait my turn at the checkout (normally I try to cut in front of the people already up there!).

But when we got to the checkout I was rewarded for my good behavior in the store-- they gave me lots of yummy treats! Yippie, I love getting treats from the cashiers!

I think we learned our lesson-- only go to Petco on the off times, otherwise there are lots of people you'd rather not run into in the store!

Green Dew-Claw

That's what you can call me (because a dew-claw kind of is in the same spot as a human thumb)! This afternoon I've been helping out in the garden, and I think I've really done a great job. First I helped out with the compost pile. Dad was collecting compost dirt and mom was sitting next to the pile looking at all the interesting bugs that were in there, and since they took the barrier down and were back there, they let me be back there, too! It was a lot of fun because compost piles are full of interesting things like rotting (or sometimes sprouting) veggies and fruits, and lots of insects, worms, and fun smells. I thought daddy might like some help with his work so I tried to do a little bit of digging (and eating- shhhh!) in the compost pile, but for some reason mom and dad didn't appreciate my work as much as I did.

The next step in the gardening process was to transplant a bunch of seedlings into holes in the ground. I was also able to help out when mom was doing this, too! See, first mom had to dig up the seedlings from the too-crowded areas where they sprouted (she didn't expect all the seeds in the packet to grow!). This means that she has to lay the seedlings down on the ground while she was digging up the next ones, and I decided to help her figure out which seedlings were the hardiest by stepping on them. I don't know why, but mom didn't really like this way of going through seelings!

Next mom had to put the seedlings in the little holes and fill them up with dirt and compost. I noticed that she had a few seedlings that I didn't think would make it in there, so I decided to point that out to her buy sitting and laying on those seedlings. I figured it would be easy for her to tell which seedlings I didn't approve of, but again she didn't seem to appreciate the help! I told her that she would see-- the seedlings I didn't approve of will probably die or not grow as well as the others, I just know it!

Agility Zoomies!

That's what I got this morning! Mom's been sick all week and dad's been gone so I haven't gotten a good chance to release a lot of energy lately. So when we went to agility this morning I was so excited! We were supposed to be warming up and I just wanted to run around and sniff things and then I did a flying leap off of the teeter-totter (what can I say-- I saw a particlarly nice patch of grass to sniff right next to the obstacle!). Anyway, when it was time to go out and actually work on the course I was so excited that I started zooming around and not listening to mom at all! He he he, it was a lot of fun, but I don't think mom was too pleased.

The next time it was our turn on the course I was a little calmer, but since mom is still in so much pain her head was all fuzzy and she was mixing up her hand signals and the words for the obstacles! I did as well as I could, but mom kept messing up! Well, plus there were lots of treats on the ground that I had to clean up (noone wants a messy course!)-- but that's just me being nice and making things easier for the next pup!

It was a pretty interesting class... aside from me making mom look silly on the course we also had a loose dog come and attack my pal Slick! Slick is fearful of other dogs like me and he was tied to a tree while my trainer was out helping the others on the course. All of the sudden a dog not in the class came running over to jump on him! Mom and I were the only ones who saw what was coming, and mom said she had two choices-- either keep me focus on her or call out to warn people and loose my attention. Well, she called out and daddy was able to run over there and get the dog away before it got too bad but since mom called out I thought I should help her warn people so I barked a couple of times, too! Mom didn't like that very much, but I figued I was only trying to help warn people, sheesh!

At the very end of class daddy got to run me since mom was in too much pain to get up. That was a lot of fun! Usually mom's my only handler so it was fun to show daddy how we're supposed to do agility. I don't think he was as enthused about my interpretation of the course as I wanted him to be, though! Oh well, at least it was fun and now I've gotten some of my energy out! I wish we had agility class again tomorrow!

DADDY'S HOME!!!!!!!!!!!! and a Snowy look alike

YIPPIE! I am so happy, Daddy is home! He picked us up from work today but I was wearing my pack so I couldn't say hi. Luckily mom took of my pack right away so I could say hello! I was so so so so soooooooooo happy to see him!

We had to stop by the Apple store to drop mom's computer off to get fixed, and even though I really wanted to play with daddy I sat nicely on the floor while we waited for our turn. When it was almost time for us to go up to the counter for our appointment another doggy walked into the store. It was a mini-poodle (not service dog) and looked very similar to my friend Snowy! I really wanted to say hi to the Snowy look alike but mom said I couldn't. I stayed very nicely in my down stay even when the lady with the Snowy look alike stood right next to us! Then when we went up to the counter and mom was distracted talking with the guy about her computer I laid down very quietly and didn't even try to go see the Snowy look alike. Yeah for me!

When we got home I ran around in circles and rubbed my face all over everything because I was so happy that I could play with daddy! I hope he takes me out for a run this weekend while he is home!

Broken computer + sick mom + away dad = sad doggie!

Well, these last few days have not been fun at all! Not only is mom's computer broken so we can't get on dogster when we're at home, mom's also been very sick this past week. That means she hasn't been going anywhere or doing anything- just lying on the couch reading, doing crosswords or watching TV. It is pretty boring, and since she hasn't been going anywhere it means I haven't been able to get on dogster! Plus, this week is dad's first week of teaching a real class at Davis. Since his class is at 7:30 AM and it takes an hour and a half to get to Davis from our house, that means he is living in Davis three days a week. That means no one to play with this whole week! Every night I lay by the door waiting for daddy to come home- I surely miss him! Luckily he is coming back this afternoon and I can't wait! Also, mom is feeling a bit better and we have an appointment to get her computer fixed this afternoon, so things are looking better! I hope I didn't miss too much while I was away!

Broken computer!

Yesterday mom's computer broke! Apparently some part of the power supply thing broke off inside of the computer, so mom has only 4 battery hours of computer time to last us from now until Thursday when we have an appointment to get it fixed. You know what that means.... I don't get much dogster time! I'll miss talking with everyone for the next few days, but hopefully mom can get her computer fixed soon and I'll be back on as much as usual!

Paws-Up Ettiquite Activities 6 and 7

Here are mom's answers for the Paws Up Ettiquite Workbook activities 6 and 7:

Activity 6
List the behaviors you need to train your assistance dog to ensure he or she behaves appropriately in a theater or other performance event. Discuss in class how to train these behaviors.

Of course for any type of event like this it's important to train your dog to a long sit/down stay, to leave any food on the floor, and not to respond to shouting or sudden noises. Sabrina hasn't been to too many theater or preformance events, and the ones she has been to have all been essentially just like the movie theater! I can imagine if I were going to one that had gunfire or other sudden loud noises or people playfighting she might get a little worried, though!

For me, a big factor in success for a preformance even would have to be where we were seated. If we were going to a play where I thought there might be cannons going off or something, I'd make sure we sat well back away from the stage where there would be less intense sound. Another factor of success for us is Sabrina's ability to feel comfortable. She gets cold fairly easily, so I find if I want her to be able to do a longer down-stay I bring a thick pad for her to lay on. That way she stays warm and comfortable and doesn't have to adjust her position during the performance very much. Also, having her mat there tells her that we will be staying there for a long time so she isn't watching me closely waiting for me to give her the signal to get up and leave.

If she were to get worried about any of the things happening on stage, I think a good relaxation command would be nice to have. If Sabrina is getting worried about things and I want her to relax, I have a special command (it's a hand signal) that means she is not only supposed to lay down, she is supposed to be on her side with her head on the floor (like a dead dog command). She finds being in this position very relaxing, so if we are somewhere noises are bothering her or something, I can give this command and she is able to settle down quite quickly. But if she were overwhelmed by any noises or sounds, I'd want to be able to exit the theater quickly and easily. I think your first consideration has to be your SD, and if they are not able to handle the event, you should be able to leave and perhaps work on some training in the lobby area to refocus before trying to go back in. If your SD still can't handle it then I'd reccomend leaving and trying to schedule a time when you can come in during a dress rehearsal to practice training your dog that these sorts of things are OK and what they are supposed to do during a theater performance.

Activity 7 (edited to what I think they meant for it to read, before it read the same as 6!)
List the behaviors you need to train your assistance dog to ensure he or she behaves appropriately in a museum, amusement park or national park.

I'm going to deal with each of these separately. Art museums and such aren't much different than being out in regular public things. But science and natural history museums can present challenges! For example, in our building we have stuffed birds in display cases along the walls. One day Sabrina noticed these birds in display cases, all posed in the middle of swooping to attack a prey item and she got pretty spooked! She startled and then when we had to walk by them she would try to walk in places where she thought the birds wouldn't be able to see her. It was hilarious! But of course we had to work on it so I had her do sits and touches and easy stuff like that in front of the display case and now she's fine with them. I just hope she doesn't realize that there is a T rex skeleton we walk by every day BOL! Also in science and natural history museums they often have stuffed and sometimes even motorized life sized mammoths and other animals. Sabrina can get a liitle spooked of those too sometimes, but again I just have her do a few sits and watches or touches to get her attention refocused on me. Science museums like the exploratorium can be difficult with their interactive displays, too. These interactive displays often try to make you experience things through your senses differently, like "seeing" like a bat or whatever. The strange noises and sights can be scary or disorienting to a SD so I would excercise caution around those types of things. Again, if you see your SD getting distressed or worried or distracted by these things you need to be able to step out of the way somewhere and refocus your dog. If they aren't able to get focused on you again, then you should probably leave and plan on coming back for short training visits every once in a while to get your dog accustomed to those types of things.

Amusement parks are actually fairly easy for us. Your dog needs to be trained to not worry about loud mechanical noises like the rides make, not to worry about people screaming on the rides, and not worry about people dressed up as cartoon characters. Sabrina has never been bothered by these three things so we haven't had problems with amusement parks. But if you want to ride any of the amusement park rides you will need to make sure you have a plan for your SD! Some gentle rides will allow SDs on them, but rollercoasters and such no way! So far every time I've visited an amusement park my mom has been with us and she does not like rollercoasters. So I have her hold Sabrina while I ride. If it was just hubby and I, we would take turns riding and holding Sabrina. I know that Tena Lee Lee wrote up a great "how-to" guide for a few amusement parks in Southern California and I think it's in the yahoo alert dogs group. I have it saved for whenever I go to any of those parks, it details which rides you can and can't take your SD on, where to potty etc.

National Parks can be easy or they can be hard depending on what you're doing. In my opinion, if you're in a park where dogs aren't normally allowed, your dog should be behaving as a SD the whole time they're in the park. That means they should be at your side assisting you, not sniffing the ground, not off leash, not catching a ball or frisbee, not chasing wildlife, and not using the bathroom unless they've been cued to do so (and make sure you pick up their waste!). Being able to stay calm and in a working mode while out on a trail can be pretty difficult for a dog! Sabrina usually needs a few reminders at the start of our visit that she can't sniff and then she's fine, but I know it is hard for her so I always try to take her somewhere dogs are allowed afterwards to let her sniff around and play a little bit. And remember that SDs can be exluded from places where there are wildlife refuges and such if your SD might cause a disturbance to the animals there. If this is the case, at least in CA, they are required to provide a kennel and if you need it a guide to assist you during your visit to these areas. It can be scary to see wild animals and they might view your SD as a threat (like a wolf) or as prey so you need to be aware of these things and do what is safest. And even if you are told it is OK (like my experience with the elephant seals) to bring your SD, if your SD is at all not able to handle it you should leave immediately and retreat to somewhere you cannot bother the wildlife to work on some attention exercises and refocus your dog. Also, if the animals are disturbed by your SDs presence you should also step away to an area that won't disturb them.

I met two cool new people today!

Wow, today has been a fun day! This morning I was on the BART train and when the doors opened at the North Berkeley station a lady in a motorized scooter got on the train. She seemed very nice and started talking with mom about me and I really really reaaaaaaly wanted her to pet me! I was sending mom ESP messages through my tail telling her so mom asked the lady if she wanted to pet me. Yippie! I was so happy that I rubbed my head on her leg a lot! Turns out the lady has a friend who raises or trains service dogs, too! How cool! I wish I could have stayed and gotten some more pets with her, but we had to get off at the next stop.

Then later today we went to the "food room" for lunch which is always fun! I get to be off duty in the food room (office down the hall, mom says) and that means that mom's labmates pet me a whole lot and sometimes will even give me treats for doing tricks! I was having tons of fun being pet by my friend the fashion designer when all the sudden mom's advisor walked in with a friend of hers. She was really really cool! She showed us her bike helmet which had a big shiny gold and red turban on top of it! I said it would make a good toy, but I don't think that is why she made it that way. Everyone was impressed that I didn't care at all when she put it on, but mom's advisor told about how I'm the coolest pup in town! She also had really fun lacy bike gloves, and I think she would be a lot of fun to play with! I hope I get to see her again! I really think we should go to the food room more often!

Must..... not..... eat.............. GUINEA PIG!!!!!!!

This morning before we left for work mom decided to clean the guinea pig cage. After about 5 years of living with the guinea pig mom and I have finally gotten me to the point where I can stay out of my crate and lay in the living room while mom cleans the guinea pig cage. She always keeps a close eye on me, though, because that guinea pig surely looks yummy! I just know one of these days she's going to feed it to me since I"m such a good pup!

Anyway, usually mom puts a little bit of shredded bills and stuff from the paper shredder mixed in with the carefresh bedding for the little squeaker. But recently mom and dad have been cleaning out their stuff and they shredded a lot more than usual! They shredded so many bills that the shredded paper container was too full to accept new things to shred! So mom decided to put all of that in the guinea cage at once since the guinea likes to burrow in it.

There was enough shredded paper to fill the entire 5 inches of the bottom tray to the cage! When mom put the guinea pig into the cage, she was very excited and immediately started burrowing in the shredded paper. Mom was taking oodles of pictures (which I think she might post one of on here later today!) so she still had the top off the cage and it was on the floor of the kitchen. All I could see was something rustling around underneath the shredded paper! My predatory instincts kicked in and I stood up to get a better look but I was twarted by mom who made me go even further away and lay down! No fair! It was sooooooooooooo hard, but I managed not to go and try to eat the guinea pig while she was burrowing around in the paper. Mom even gave me a chicken breast strip for how good I was!

After putting the cage back together and away, mom tried to get me to go to work with her but I was too enthralled by what had just happened! I didn't want to leave the guinea burrowing in the paper! I kept thinking she might burrow through the cage and if that happened I would be there to catch her in my mouth.... erm *looks over shoulder to see mom reading what I type*, and then I would give the guinea pig gently to mom! Can I have another treat?! Please, I'm such a good girl!

How to increase your licking quota

I don't know about other pups, but in this house I am only allowed to lick mom and dad for short periods of time and let me tell you it's just not long enough! I could sit there and lick daddy's face for 30 minutes if only he'd let me! But last night, I figured out the perfect way to get more licks in!

You have to wait until your parents are feeling like exercizing and then convince them to do things like handstands, headstands and bridges. All three of these positions put thier heads in perfect spots for licking. But you can't do it right away! You have to let them get a little comfortable first, let them do one or two without any licks. Then when they're on their third one and starting to really get into it, you run over and start licking up a storm! If you can also position your body so that it is hard for them to get down from their headstand or handstand without hurting you, you can prolong the fun!

I think that daddy really likes it when I do this because he starts laughing and talking to me a lot, which tells me I shoudl lick more and lick faster! Then finally when daddy was able to get down from whatever strange position he was in, he would hug me and cuddle with me. I got so many licks in last night, I think I've filled up my weekly licking quota! Hmmm, with this new trick in my belt I think I might be able to increase my quota even!

Another quiet Ultra Sound and a funny comment about my new- patch!

This morning we woke up reaaaaaaly early-- I told mom it was still sleepy time, but she said she had an appointment in the city for another Ultra Sound and that we would have commuter traffic to get through. I just don't understand why mom keeps getting all these Ultra Sounds, and most of all why they don't make any noise? Mom told me that they don't make any audible noise, so I asked her why they don't make them Ultra Quiets but she was not amused!

Anyway, there was not as much traffic as mom expected so we got to the office before it even opened! The person who gave mom the Ultra Quiet was very very nice-- she volunteers for Guide Dogs for the Blind! I liked her a lot, and she and mom talked about me and dogs for the whole time. Daddy was asking questions about how the Ultra Quiet worked, and why there were colors on the screen and lady explained that the machine has a Doppler weather station inside of it that they put in mom to tell about her blood flow to the possible endometriomas. Dad and mom seemed interested, but I didn't believe her! Those Doppler stations are huge with giant disc shaped things on top-- did the lady really think I would believe she fit one of those inside mom? Mom says it is just the same technology as in those giant things, but I don't know how they would shrink those big satellites enough to get it into mom!

After the Ultra Quiet we went to get a blood test for mom and then we stopped by the grocery store for mom to get some sushi for breakfast... I know, you don't have to tell me sushi is not a breakfast food! But mom didn't have time to eat before we left in the morning and since she has such strict dietary restrictions it was hard to find a place that was open and that had food mom could eat!

While we were in the grocery store, a man who worked there came up to us and stopped to read my vest. Then he made a really funny comment about my new "Don't Distract" patch-- he said that he knows it's for people not to distract me, but he thought it was funny that I was in a very very distracting place-- the meat section of the grocery store! He said I was very well behaved, and I must be trained very well not to get distracted by all the yummy food around me! I wanted to Bark Out Loud laughing, but I remembered I was working so I saved up my laughs for when we got to the car!

Now we're finally at work and I can take a well deserved nap!

Stray doggie

Today after work we all piled in the car to go to the pet store, yeah! For those of you wondering why we need to go to yet another petstore, the reason is that we get things for different animals at different stores... The guinea pig food, cat litter, and flea medications at PetVet/PetFood, the guinea pig litter and lots of my treats at Pet Club, and crickets and mealworms at either Pet Club or Petco. Anyway, so we were heading off to PetVet and soon after leaving the house mom's eagle eye spotted a stray doggie on the side of the road!

We did a u-turn and parked the car, and then instead of me getting to help find the dog, mom and dad left me in the car all alone! They rolled the windows down, but still I thought that was very rude! About 10 minutes later, a tired mom and dad returned to the car missing lots of treats and with mom's belt wrapped around the dog's collar! Apparently it was a big doggie and my leash designed for dogs 40 lbs and under (I know I weigh more than that, but I don't pull) wasn't quite up to snuff for this 80+ lb pittie mix who liked to pull!

The doggie didn't have any tags on, so mom got me out of my seatbelt and left me in the car while they tried to put my seatbelt on Mr. Bigg (that's what I called him!) But, owing to his name (or maybe that's why I called him that!) my seatbelt didn't quite fit. Mom and I walked home, and daddy went to drive Mr. Bigg off to the animal shelter.

Daddy just called, though, and said that all the drop boxes at the Berkeley shelter were full, so now he's driving Mr. Bigg to the Contra Costa animal shelter. At least he says Mr. Bigg seems to like the car!

As for me, I'm kind of sad that I didn't get to go to the pet store today, but I am glad that we were able to catch the stray doggie and hopefully he'll find a wonderful new home!

One Wiped Out Pup!

I have had such a fun day, but now I'm sooooo tired!

The day started with our weekly agility class, yippie! I loooooove agility (and I love my trainer, too! She's the best!). Last week there were only two other doggies in the class, but this week there were 5 handlers and two of the handlers had two dogs and were switching them out during class. That is a lot of dogs all out on the course at the same time! Some of the dogs I was not familiar with, either, but I did such a good job! I wasn't worried about any of the new doggies in the class, and I wasn't bothered by the dogs that walked by or stopped to watch us do our class, either! Mom was so proud of me, and I was, too! Two years ago a strange dog sitting and watching me would have freaked me out so much that I wouldn't have been able to focus on mom, but now I don't care who is watching me as long as they're not acting like they want to attack me!

Anyway, I was also a very good pup in agility class-- though I can't say the same for mom! I tell you what, I know all the obstacles out there like the back of my paw (well, OK except for those darned weave poles) but mom has such a hard time telling me which one to go to! Sometimes she'll say one thing but her body tells me something else and it's very confusing! Plus, mom always makes me slow down-- like when I go over the A frame mom makes me go really slow coming down when I think it would be much better to zoom and jump off the end! Though she may be right about the zooming and the teeter totter, though. That one if you zoom on it, the teeter totter goes down really fast and it makes a loud and violent BANG on the ground! I don't mind it so much, but it does tend to knock me off the teeter which people seem to think is funny. Oh, and that table thing where you have to sit and wait-- who thought that up? It certainly wasn't a dog!

I was pretty tired after agility so I came home and took a nap. I was woken up by a familiar smell and jingle-- Snowy was at my door! Woo Hoo! I hadn't seen Snowy since before I went to Ohio so we had to get a good sniff and play in! For a while I didn't even remember that I was tired from agility and we played a lot! We also went outside and took turns peeing on top of each others' pee spots. Now that is fun! Snowy told me he's been feeling a bit ill, but I couldn't tell-- he seemed full of energy to me! Pretty soon, though, I got tired and had to resort to my still-playing. THat means I lay on the ground and only move my head and Snowy jumps around enough for the two of us. It's pretty fun! And much easier on me!

When Snowy left, I wanted to go right to sleep but instead we had to go and get some fuses for the car or something like that. I was so tired I fell asleep while mom and dad were looking at stuff in the store! So I was happy to get home and now I'm going to sleep all night tonight and all day tomorrow, too!

The cutest pup ever!

That's me! Or at least that's what everyone was saying at the pet store today!

Daddy picked us up from mom's work and we did a lot of errands this afternoon. We went to two grocery stores, a pharmacy and we ended up at the pet store! I was very excited when I smelled the pet store, and I thought after such a long hard day I deserved something special. We went in the store and there were so many things to sniff! I sniffed everything until we got to the toy aisle. Now normally I'm not much of a toy girl in the pet store because there are just so many fun things to sniff. But today a certain toy caught my eye. It was the best, most perfect toy I had ever seen! It was a small round aligator, with a soft plush exterior and a nice squawker (you know, it makes a deeper noise) inside. It was perfect!

So, I did something I've never done before in a pet store... I picked the toy up out of the bin it was in and gave it to daddy! I told daddy, "please buy me this toy! It is perfect and I've worked soooooo hard all day today!". But daddy kept trying to get me interested in a tough toy that is supposed to be indestructable. I told him that I didn't want an indestructable toy, I wanted the perfect alligator. Daddy took the aligator, looked at it and said "well, this toy would only last 5 minutes so I don't think we should get it" and he put it down!

I told daddy "no, this is the most perfect toy I've ever seen!" but he had already moved on to looking at other toys so I picked the alligator up in my mouth and made a bee-line for the checkout. I know I'm not supposed to pull, but I knew I just had to get up to that checkout with my toy as quickly as possible before daddy took it away, and mom was laughing so I don't think she was too mad! See, at the checkout whatever you put on the little counter you get to take home with you, so I had to stay focused. Mom and dad thought this was hillarious, and everyone we passed on the way to the checkout thought I was super cute! Since I had never ever done anything like this before, mom and dad relented and said I could have the toy!

When we got to the checkout there was a line! No problem, I thought, I'll just go in front-- they'll let a cute pup like me with this super awesome toy in for sure! Unfortunately, mom made me stop-- it was torture waiting for our turn! And I found it difficult to hold the toy while sitting because I was just too excited and wanted to squeak it all the time. But finally it was our turn! Mom put the toy on the counter and I raced to my normal begging position near the cashier. She thought my toy was perfect, too, and she said I get cuter and cuter every time I come into the store! So she gave me two treats, and then she handed mom a bag of some broken treats to take for free! Whoopie, it is my lucky day!

I couldn't wait to get home, but before mom and dad would give me my toy they had to get out the camera. I was dying from excitement, and finally I got to play with my toy! I squeaked and squawked, tossed and fetched, rolled around on the floor and play bowed at my toy. It was so much fun! But it also wore me out. So after playing with my toy and eating dinner I went to take a nap and I think I'll go to bed early-- with my new perfect alligator toy of course!

It was torture!

Today mom apparently wanted to torture me... She has been going to this training thing for the 7th grade teaching program she'll be in next year for the past few weeks. Well, between naps I heard them planning two big activities that they'll be teaching other teachers. One involved measuring leaves and talking about photowhatchamacallit, and the other involved collecting plants and bugs from outside.

So this morning we went outside and mom and her group gave the lesson on photodowahdiddy and leaves. It seemed like people liked the lesson, and I was happy to snooze outside! It was a pretty relaxing morning.

But in the afternoon the other group did their lesson which is where I was tortured. They split the humans into groups and some humans collected leaves, others collected bugs that live on land, and others collected bugs and animals living in the creek. Guess which group mom and I were in? That's right, the creak! Mom put on these big rubber boots and then put me in a sit-stay at the edge of the creek. I was really excited because I thought she was going to take me off duty and let me play in the creak with her! But instead, I had to sit the entire time while mom and the other people had fun playing in the water! They caught all kinds of things that I would have liked to sample, but I wasn't allowed to! To make the torture even worse, mom had me cross the creek so that we could move to a different place! I had to totally ignore the water I was walking through! It was pretty hard!

I couldn't believe it, but I made it through the torture OK. On the way back inside I told mom she owed me a really big walk this weekend to make up for today!

Which is more important-- the person with the disability or the tool they use for- assistance?

I'm going to let mom take over writing this one...


I just don't understand why people are so hung up on the "dog" part of "service dog". A service animal, according to the ADA, is an animal that is trained to do work or perform tasks to mitigate the life limiting disability of their handler, and the dog must also be trained to behave in public. That definition has two important parts to it-- the disabled handler and the animal. While I think that a service dog's training is important, I don't understand why what the dog specifically does should be more important than their disabled handler having their disability mitigated.

Let's take for example what I saw the other day-- a woman with a mobility impairment using a Segway (one of those motorized two wheeled thingies that balances itself) instead of a wheelchair. I personally think that is awesome, what a great use of technology to mitigate her disability! And if she is more comfortable on a Segway than in a traditional wheelchair, more power to her! I don't think we should be limited by thinking a wheelchair can only have 4 wheels and a seat part. A wheelchair is simply a term that describes an assistive device. Legislating the size, weight, shape, manufacturer, power source etc of the wheelchair just doesn't make sense to me. Why would you want to deprive someone of the assistive device that works for them?

Let's compare that wheelchair analogy now to a service dog. What is important about a service dog? In my opinion it is how much the disabled handler is helped by the service dog. I don't care about the size or shape of the dog, who trained it, or how it works. Some service dogs do work by doing physical tasks. Other service dogs do work by providing emotional support. Both things can be extremely helpful to the disabled handler and can mitigate their disability. Why is one type of disabilty given preference over another disability? Is an agorophobic person any less deserving of assistance than a hearing imparied person?

I think that the ADA was written with the idea that it would protect people with disabilities-- not that it would limit the ways that people with disabilities could mitigate their disabilities!

A loooonng day leads to stupid humans!

Mom and I had a very long day today! We had her teacher training thing during the day, and after that we met up with my friends Kari and Margarita. For some reason, though, they were more interested in "looking at data" on the computer than playing with me! How rude!

Daddy picked us up from campus and drove us to the apple store where mom had to trade in her battery. When we got back to the car we noticed that the automatic door unlocker thingie wasn't working. We got in the car and started to drive off, but mom and dad noticed that there was an open door light on. They openened and closed all the doors in the car multiple times but it didn't go away, and then they realized they couldn't roll the windows down either! Dad said it must be a fuse, which I guessed wasn't urgent because we drove over to the Public Market (a food court with about 30 ethnic restaurants in it) for dinner.

When mom and dad got out of the car they realized the car doors wouldn't lock automatically! They didn't know what to do... I tried to tell them that I've seen people in other cars push down on the little buttons that stick out on the top of the door but they didn't listen to me. They spent about 5 minutes talking about how they could lock the car before they figured out that they could do it manually! Silly humans! Then just to be safe, they took out the special extra key that has to be in for the car to turn on (they rarely take this special key out).

After dinner when they got back to the car, they were able to unlock the doors manually (I was very proud of them for this!) and then they tried to start the car. It wouldn't start! They spent about 10 minutes trying to figure out what was wrong before they realized they needed to put the special key back in! Oops! Silly mom and dad, they didn't have their heads screwed on right today! Luckily we made it back home OK, but I was really worried for a while!

Cold nose in my butt!

I have an eventful trip from work to the BART today! First, right when I stepped outside the building I saw an off leash doggie running around. I was a little worried at first that he'd come over and jump on me, but his owner was good and called him back. Then when we were crossing the street we had to pass by another doggie!

But none of that compared to what happened when I got into the BART station... We went in the station and down the stairs and kept walking towards our usual waiting spot near the end of the platform when all the sudden there was a cold wet nose in my butt! I was very surprised and jumped a little bit BOL! It was a guide dog (one I've seen before that gets very distracted by me) who had apparently run up behind me from the looks of the handler to sniff my butt. The handler appeared confused so mom called out our location and the direction we were heading, then told me to watch her as we walked away. I was sooooo good! Even after getting that suprise I just turned my head back towards the direction we were walking and stayed in a perfect heel! Yeah for me! Mom says she'll have to be extra vigilant looking out for this particular guide because this is the second time he's done something like that to me. I told mom I don't mind so much because mom always gives me some yummy treats afterward!

ADA restoration act-- call today!!!

Mom just called our senators and representative and it was so easy! They already have all the information, all your human has to do is say "I want to urge so-and-so to support the ADA restoration act" and then give their name and address.

To find out the phone numbers for your people go to http://www.congress.org and type in your zip code in the box on the left side of the page.

The action alert can be found here:

http://www.bazelon.org/takeaction/2007/ADA_Restorat ion07-23-07.htm

We also found the talking points here:

http://www.bazelon.org/takeaction/2007/ADARestore_T Ps.htm

to be helpful.

It really takes just a few seconds to call and urge your representatives to support this legislation! Please take advantage of this opportunity!

ADA restoration act

Good news! Urge your representative to support the ADA restoration act!!!

http://www.bazelon.org/takeaction/2007/ADA_Restoration07-23-07.htm

Support Needed Now to Restore ADA Rights

July 23, 2007--This Thursday, July 26, on the 17th anniversary of enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and Congressman James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) will introduce the ADA Restoration Act of 2007.

Court decisions have seriously eroded the rights of people with disabilities under the ADA, creating a Catch-22 that allows employers to say a person is “too disabled” to do the job but “not disabled enough” to be protected by the law.

People with conditions like mental illness, epilepsy, diabetes, HIV, cancer and hearing loss who manage their disabilities with medication, prosthetics, hearing aids, etc. – or “mitigating measures” – are viewed as “too functional” to have a disability and are denied the ADA’s protection from employment discrimination.

People who are turned down for a job or fired because an employer mistakenly believes they cannot perform the job – or because the employer does not want “people like that” in the workplace – are also denied the ADA’s protection from employment discrimination.

This Is Wrong!

Congress should correct this to ensure that the courts will interpret the ADA fairly, and as Congress intended.

Many voices are needed now to help Congressmen Hoyer and Sensenbrenner gather as many original co-sponsors as possible to show strength and support for this effort.

Please Act Now!

Call your Representative immediately at 202-224-3121 and ask him or her to become an original co-sponsor of the ADA Restoration Act of 2007. (You can also get a direct phone number via congress.org.)
Ask your Representative (or the staff member you speak to) to contact Representative Hoyer’s (ext. 5-3130) or Sensenbrenner’s (ext. 5-5101) office today to sign on as an original co-sponsor.
Forward this Action Alert to your network to get as many people as possible people to call their House member immediately with the same message.
What if you miss Thursday’s deadline? Not to worry! Co-sponsors will still be needed after July 27th, so do call your Representative’s office.

See some talking points on the ADA Restoration Act and, below, a sample telephone message for seeking original cosponsors:

“ Hi. My name is_______ and I live in ________. I would like Representative______ to be an original cosponsor of the ADA Restoration Act of 2007. A Dear Colleague letter was just sent to you on Friday, July 20 from Representatives Hoyer and Sensenbrenner to let you know that they will be introducing the ADA Restoration Act this Thursday, July 26, the 17th anniversary of the original enactment of the ADA.

“ People with disabilities are still too often treated unfairly in the workplace. When they go to court with a claim of discrimination, they are treated unfairly again, often by a court that says they do not even have disability and are not eligible for coverage under the Americans with Disabilities Act – even when they have been fired or refused employment because of their disability! The ADA needs to cover the people the U.S. Congress originally intended it to cover when it was passed in 1990, people with mental illnesses, epilepsy, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, intellectual and developmental disabilities or cancer. But that is not what is happening now.

“ Please solve this problem by becoming an original cosponsor of the ADA Restoration Act of 2007.”





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