Getting Big!

Here are some recent pictures of Hobbs. He is growing so fast but has not started to get that awkward gangly look yet. He is still a very handsome boy.

Laying on the cold kitchen floor

Kinda fuzy but he just doesn't hold still for any amount of time...and I think my camera is dying because it takes longer and longer to take the picture when you press the button.

The only clear picture out of like 25!!

I realy like this one

Then he started being a monster!

He kept bitting towards his back leg....and then

He gave up and went for the front one!

All in all Hobbs is being a great puppy and has only just started chewing a little on naughty things.

Calliope News

I heard from Calliope's partner today. She sent me a very brief letter (letters are really hard for her but she doesn't have email right now) saying that... "Calliope has been very good and is so smart and loving. She likes to act like a puppy still, but is such a blessing to me." They moved from Fresno to Sonora which is about 30 min northwest of Fresno...if I am not mistaken.

I am just going to take a minute and brag about my Calliope. First here is her picture from graduation:

She was a transfer and was always such a wonderful dog....except in the house alone. She barked, she would pull anything and everything down through the top of her crate and shred it into tiny bits. She got into the trash and into papers (only the important ones lol). But she was by far the smartest puppy I have raised. She knew that my alarm in the morning ment I was supposed to get out of bed. The few times that it went off and I stayed in bed she would pull the covers off of me and then lick my face until I got up. If my phone vibrated she would go find it and then come look at me and then run to the phone again and back. Same with the door (she never barked at the door but would be very excited) and she also knew that if the TV was on and I turned it off it ment we were going outside to "work"... She was just a very attentive dog. I knew she would make a wonderful service dog even if it wasn't as a guide.

Then about two weeks after she graduated I heard that she had been on the news. Here is the link to the story:

http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=local&id=4876469

or

http://ww2.abc30.com/global/video/popup/pop_player.asp?clipid1=1136560&at1=News&vt1=v&h1=Local+Guide+Dog+Hailed+a+Hero&d1=166467&redirUrl=www.abc30.com&activePane=info&LaunchPageAdTag=homepage&playerVersion=1&hostPageUrl=http%3A//ww2.abc30.com/global/video/popup/pop_playerLaunch.asp%3Fclipid1%3D1136560%26at1%3DNews%26vt1%3Dv%26h1%3DLocal+Guide+Dog+Hailed+a+Hero%26d1%3D166467%26redirUrl%3Dwww.abc30.com%26activePane%3Dinfo%26LaunchPageAdTag%3Dhomepage&rnd=24638788


If neither of those work please tell me!

Anyways Hobbs is doing well, just being a really good puppy, and is just starting to think grabbing his leash in his mouth is fun. We will fix that one soon lol.

Littermates

I found out today that there were seven puppies in Hobbs' litter, five boys and two girls. So far I know all but two of their names. Hobbs, Hal, Hansel, Howell, and Hope. There is just one boy and one girl that I don't have names for. If anyone hears of these puppies let me know!

Update: Here is the listing in the Fun Day littermate book for Hobbs' litter:

3/21/2007 LAB
11:30 am Krewe of Rex

Sire David Color Yellow
Dam Gabriela Color Black

Hal M Black
Hansel M Black
Higgins M Black
Hobbs M Black
Hope F Black
Howell M Yellow
Hydra F Yellow

Hopefully some of them will be at Fun Day so we can meet them and take pictures!

Brag about my perfect puppy!

Tonight Hobbs and I went to his first puppy meeting, and he was such an angel! We went and sat inside Target, so Hobbs and I just sad on the floor. He was so good meeting all the older puppies and was almost on the shy side when his brother wanted to ecstatically say hi. It was so cute though when he met the only female dog, a black lab named Amity. He sniffed her and then did a kind of double take and then was so attached to her! He went right over and licked her nose and when she walked away to walk around Target he watched her until she went around the corner! I think he thought she looked like his mom. After he cooled down from being outside in the heat he just laid down on the floor and calmly watched the customers going in and out of the store! I was so incredibly proud of my baby boy! He has been really stressed about new situations so I thought puppy class would be too much but he did great.
That brings me to my little frustration about the club here in Bakersfield.

We don't really do much at meetings in this club. we mostly just get together, take roll, talk about any problems or questions people have, and then go home. I have been to one meeting where they worked on obedience and the extent of that was a "sit" and "Down" and a 30 second "stay" that's it!! I have never heard one word about the food induced recall! It makes me nervous for the new puppy raisers coming into the club. I want to at least do exercises like dog, or people, or food distractions! But I guess that is not what this club does. I just don't know a nice way to express my opinion to the leader.

Anyways I just wanted to brag about my boy being such an angel at puppy class! I just hope when his hormones kick in he doesn't turn into a hellion. His potty training is going much better as well and he has still not started chewing everything in sight or biting! And his barking when he is super excited is slowly but surly going away. I have a feeling he is going to be one of the puppies that you get SUPER attached to....the kind that kill you to give back.

THE VET!!!!

Ok I am going to vent for a little while about my visit to the vet and I posted some pictures of Hobbs.

I just went to a vet where they refused to take the reimbursement form and insisted that I was to pay for the services myself. I am assuming that I just fill out the form and send it in to get reimbursed but I don't know for sure.

Also I specifialy told the vet that I only wanted the DA2PP shot like it says on the papers, but I just looked at my invoice and they gave him the Corona virus shot as well! Without my permission! I just assumed that the DA2PP shot came at two separate shots....stupid of me I guess. So now I am out $20 because I know that GDB wont pay for the Corona virus shot. I am wondering if I can get my money back from the vet for the second (unotherized) shot....lol I am not expecting to.

I wonder how many puppy raisers have this problem with their vets. I am definatly not going back to them for his second set of shots! I wonder if having GDB call them and explain the reimbursements and shot schedule would help keep this from happening to other raisers. Anyways here are the pictures:





Trying to make a break for it off the table!



Sitting nicely!




In the car afterwards....feeling a little icky.

More Pictures

Here are some more pictures of my baby boy.

His first day at work with me!

He has a very inappropriate sleeping position

Hobbs drug most of his toys to this very cool part of my apartment and then played with them most of the day.

A shot of him and all the toys in the hallway

He thought it was great that I was trying to take a cute picture and so he would move right as I took the picture. lol

And again he moved....

and again!

This is a great one Finally!!

Can we go a whole day???

Well I officially think it was too much water because I decreased the amount of his water and he hasn't had an accident all day!! That will be a first if we make it clear until tomorrow!

He is so increadably good in other ways though! He has almost compleatly stopped being vocal in his crate, he doesn't need to be told to sit or wait for food, his leash behavior is good (he would just rather walk on the grass), and he almost has sit learned....at least in the house. I am hoping after this potty trial things will get easier with him. Until he gets his hormones that is lol!

How can something so cute be sooooo frustraiting?!?!

As much as I love this puppy his relieving issues are getting a little out of hand. First it was the poop eating, which has mostly stopped (the only time he goes for it is if he has an accident) Next he stopped waking me up at night but would still have an accident and either just lay in it or eat it! Then yesterday, twice, he was sleeping on tiedown and he peed without even waking up!! He has had soooo many baths in the last week it isn't funny. But I think part of the peeing issue is that he may be getting too much water during the day. I messure it but he is still getting too much. Hopefully cutting down will help.

Otherwise he is doing well. We go to work on thursday and friday and he is usually pretty good, but then is a wild man when we get home. He went to subway with me and slipped on the floor and it kinda freaked him out but we went back the next day and he had a much better experience. We went to church with me today and was an angel the whole hour he was there. He has started to want to run full tilt through my apartment and looks really cute but I have to spoil the fun because a 70 lb dog doing the same wouldn't be cute at all.

I think it is the most fun thing when you realise for the first time that your puppy has grown since you got it! Last night I realised that Hobbs has grown! Not a ton but enough to where I could tell. I am realy excited to see his brother next monday at our puppy meeting. I am just hoping that his brother doesn't have the same potty issues!

Coprophagy?

Hobbs decided while at the puppysitter's house to start the habit of eating his own poop (sorry there is just no other way to say it) Now he has a huge problem because he goes after it immediately after pooping! Most dogs i have seen at least wait until they come back the next time!

I am hoping that GDB allows puppy raisers to give their puppies the "forbid" that is made to stop this habit.

Sad without my puppy :((

Hobbs is at a puppy sitter until wednesday night and I am sad and can't sleep. The reason he is being puppysat is that my sister-in-law is in town and we are going to an amusment part and the beach for the next two days. Neither place is puppy friendly. I am just hoping he doesn't get too stressed because I have noticed that he is VERY easily stressed to the point that he sleeps for the rest of the day. Any suggestions on getting a puppy to handle stress better?

Siblings & Dad

The other puppies on the truck were named (list includes Hobbs): Hal, Hobbs, Hansel, Howell, Hope. I don't know if that is the whole litter though...I guess we will see at Fun Day! Hal is in my same group and I think the others went to Arizona but I am not positive. Here is a picture of the litter from the GDB website:

Here are some pictures of David who is Hobbs' dad: (Ally let me know if you don't want these on here. Otherwise thanks for the pictures)

I have not found Gabriela's raiser yet but I hope to and then I will post some pictures of Hobbs' mom!

Pictures of Hobbs

Here are some more pictures of Hobbs: Most are of him in our computer room on one of his tiedowns. I did include a couple pictures of his littermates who were on the truck with him.


He walks amazingly well on a leash already!




His favorite (but sadly not aproved) rubber chew toy.




This one is just adorable!




He is squinting in the flash



But with out the flash you can't see him :(




The three littermates (Hansel, Howell, Hope)



I am guessing David was dark like this?


Hobbs is doing well but is still VERY vocal about his crate. He screamed for 45 minutes today. Dodge is officialy sick of the puppy touching him...he moves away or jumps the "barrier" into the kitchen. But we only got up once last night to potty so we are making progress. Other than that he is doing very well and is sooo polite when waiting for his food. He just sits and waits for me to fix it and only needs to be held for a second before he will wait on his own in front of his bowl. We went to some of church today and he barked at a kid crawling on the floor (he though it was a puppy to play with ;) I was soo embarassed. I can't wait for him to have all his shots and then we can go socialize for real! I think we may go to a realy quiet little bookstore tomorrow though. Anyways that is all for today.

We survived the night

Well after three trips out to potty last night Hobbs and a very very tired me are getting more used to eachother. He has opened up a lot though and is quite active. Right now he is very bored and just wants to race around the house and run through all the moving stuff and chew whatever he can get. But he is cute and didn't mind the bath he got today. He is still very vocal and I was wondering if it is ok for them to bark a little when they are playing. Does anyone know?

I am hoping he is better at sleeping tonight...I kinda think his kennel is a little too big...or he just doesn't mind laying in his own pee. hopefully its the first one. More pictures coming soon, my camera ran out of batteries and I dont' have any in my house.

He is here!!!

My new little boy is here and his name is Hobbs! His birthday is 3/21/07 to David and Gabriela so that makes him almost 10 weeks old! I love the name and that was actually the only one syllable name that i liked. He is pretty mouthy and really likes to pick up leafs and garbage. But he is aparently on the international donation list. That means he may be given to an international guide or service dog foundation as a breeder or I think before he starts formal training (which would be super sad because I would never see him again. This pretty much means also that unless he turns into a HUGE monster he will not be altered until he is back at GDB and maybe never. Here are some pictures of him just off the puppy truck.....maybe if I can get them to work.



Here he is right when I got him.

The puppy farther away is his brother in our club Hal....I like hobbs' name better, but hal is still a cute name!

Here is a good head shot.

Anyways there are some pictures of him. I will have more tomorrow. He is pretty vocal about not liking his crate so we shall see how much sleep I get tonight. We moved Dodge's kennel in and put it next to Hobbs' and he is much happier, but I don't want Dodge to become a crutch for him. Also he has to pee like every half hour, but he only goes for about two seconds (literaly). But I am hoping it is because of the meds he is getting for diarrea...umm Metronidazole. Otherwise he is actually a great puppy! He is already very confident and suprise! He can do stairs!!