Antibiotics Once Again!

Hobbs is still here with me, and he has yet again been put on antibiotics for an overgrowth of bacteria in his system, which is causing the diarrhea. He has been on them for almost three days now, and everything is back to normal. They only gave us 5 days worth of the pills, so I am crossing my fingers that it works. He is allowed out for short, easy outings avoiding everything that may cause him to have a fear reaction. Then on Friday he is going to be evaluated by our CFR! So this will be quite the week for him!

On a more positive note, Hobbs was AMAZING on our walk today! We have been going to the mall to walk, and today in the parking lot a huge dump truck came around the corner and flew past us. Dump and Cement trucks have been Hobbs' most violent fear, and he hardly hesitated in his walking as the truck passed us! I was so proud of him I teared up! Ok, so maybe I have been a little emotional lately, but it was such a huge thing for him!

Funding the D.C. Trip

For our 2nd anniversary Robert and I are planning to go to Washington D.C. next spring. We probably wont go in February on our actual anniversary (it is way too cold then) but sometime. We want to have some extra spending money for the trip so Robert has been stripping left over copper wires from his work sites. Then we are going to recycle the Copper and get some money from it. In case you are thinking that will take forever to make some money here is a picture of how much we have stripped so far....in the last couple weeks. Imagine what we will have in 8 months!

This is a regular cardboard box

And the Copper up close

Home Sweet Home!

Hobbs is finally home, and it seemes like he feels fine! He has been playing non stop with Patriot since he got here. The diahrea has made him lose quite a bit of weight, but I guess that is normal. He is still seems stressed and jumpy, but like I said in the last post, he didn't get a very good evaluation. As soon as he is healthy I am expecting him to go back to her house again. I am pretty sure he is still on house arrest.

Patriot is sooooo happy to have his buddy home! Lol, he was grinning for the longest time when Hobbs first got home.


Drinking water


Back together again!

August is a long way off!

I finished "Eclipse" tonight, and it was amazing! The whole series has been great, and I don't know how I am going to stay sane waiting until August 2nd when the final book "Breaking Dawn" is released.

Robert's friend Cypher and his wife Trista adopted a new baby puppy! He is supposedly a Lab/German Shepherd Dog mix, but that remains to be seen once he is bigger.

Right now he is tiny! I don't remember what they named him though. Hopefully they can deal with both their kittens and a new puppy!

Tomorrow!!!

I just heard from my leader. Not bad news, but not super good news either.

Hobbs hasn't gotten to go anywhere or be evaluated at all since Tuesday!!! The reason? He has really bad diarrhea again!! She got him a new bag of food, and that is when it started. He has been on a bland diet since then, but nothing has helped....and he vomited today. So he has not gotten a sufficient evaluation, but he is still coming home tomorrow. If he doesn't get over the diarrhea by Tuesday he is going to go to the vet. I can't help but feel a sense of deja vu from last July and August, when it took three different antibiotics (all together) to kick the bacteria in his system. Hopefully that isn't what we are getting into again.

My boy is coming home!!!!

Puppyless Once Again

Texas went home to his raisers late last night. He was so much fun to have, but it made me apreciate the ease of having an adult dog. Puppies are a lot of work!

I haven't heard anything about Hobbs since monday, but hopefully I will hear from my leader soon. Every time my phone rings I get my hopes up that it will be her, calling to say she is bringing him back to me. I know whatever she decides will be what she thinks is best for him, but I have been having nightmares about the outcome of this evaluation! Last night I dreamed that he was transfered and I sent a note with him on the puppy truck begging the new raisers not to take him back as a pet if he were CC'd. Then in the dream he was CC'd and they kept him!! That would be the worst case senario for both Robert and me. I am pretty sure it wont come to that though.

In other news, Patriot is doing great. He is VERY happy that Texas is gone, but is also lonely being the only dog again. I know he definatly misses his buddy. We have been going hiking a lot lately, and he finds the least little bit of water to play in and get filthy in.

I am about two and a half weeks away from being done working at PetSmart!!! I can't wait to get out of that place! My Advanced class graduated on saturday, and that was the only class I really liked teaching. The dogs in there were near the guide dog puppy level of obedience! Even though I don't like teaching there, I do have to admit that it is a good place for people to get their dogs trained. Their curiculum is really pretty effective.

No more pictures (ok one) because the dog part of my life basically looks like this:

Texas

Here are some early pictures of this cute little boy! So far he is a bit of a spit-fire, and is VERY whiney when he is on tie-down or in the crate.

Patriot is less than thrilled.








Its a medium jacket that I had lying around, he really isn't that big. (no I didn't use it to take him anywhere!)

Puppy Proofing

Today we are getting Texas to puppy sit over the weekend! I am so excited since I haven't puppy sat since....well since just after I had Calliope! I think the last puppy I sat was Berta from Megan's club.

Since we have never had a baby puppy here in this apartment I am spending the morning puppy proofing and trying to remember all the little tricks to keeping the puppy from having too many accidents in the house. The biggest thing I have been doing is finding all of Turtle's toys and putting them away or in her room. They are just the right size for a baby puppy to choke on. Hopefully Turtle will be as good with Texas as she was with Hobbs.....except for the attacking part.

I am a little bit worried about Patriot being grumpy around the little one. He is 6, and lived with an "anti-puppy" dog for quite a while. He was pretty good with Hobbs when we visited while he was like 4 months. But I don't think Patriot has EVER been around a 9 week old puppy. I am soooo excited to have a baby puppy again!!

Hobbs is still at my leader's house, and I still don't know when I am getting him back. I hope it will be soon, but I am ok to just have two dogs for the weekend....not three! I will post pictures when I get him later this afternoon.

New Family Member

Ok, for all of you who read that and thought I am pregnant.....I am not!!!

Robert and I have wanted to get a Dyson Vacuum for quite a while, and have been saving up. Our current vacuum has been good for us for quite a while.....until today that is. I turned it on, and it whined for a minute and made some other noises, then promptly died. I took it apart (for the 5th time this week) but nothing was wrong. So I thought "what better time to get that Dyson?"

So here is our new....rather expensive....family member!

Dyson DCO7 Animal

The whole Dyson kit

The "Never looses suction" main vacuum

The hard surface attachment

The furniture "Mini Turbo" attachment

The carpet care kit

I have already used it on our living room where the dog hair gets sooooo out of control, and it was amazing!! The Vacuum is so quiet and it picked up most of the hair in just one pass! Our old one would leave tracks of hair and it took at least 6-8 passes to get an acceptable amount off the floor.

Time for an Update

Not a whole lot has been going on. Hobbs is still at the puppysitter's house and will be until next monday at the latest. We are going to be puppy sitting the newest addition to our club though. He is a really small black lab named Texas (see my other blog for a picture of him). Patriot is lonely again. He really doesn't like being an only dog. Hopefully when Hobbs goes back for formal training he wont be too sad. Maybe I will foster a dog from the Humane Society or something.

Robert and I are making tons of plans to go to CA for several business training trips. The first is going to probably be just him in early June. Then a week in the middle of June and I may go with him on that one. Then in July we will both be going to San Francisco CA for almost a week together before I go up to OR for my internship. I don't know how summers can possibly be sooooo busy!!!

We have gotten to go out with friends a couple times this month and we always have a great time. This last time we went to the drive in theater here in SLC to see "Narnia: Prince Caspian" It was only two couples; Me and Robert, and Cypher and Trista. I took my camera, and then forgot to take any pictures....I really need to get better at the whole documenting our lives thing lol.

I am still reading the Twilight books....even though the second one took me a while to get through. You know you are way too into a book, when something in that book happens, and you have to take a break from reading it! Now I am onto the third one, which is supposed to be better than the first two.

Puppy Meeting

Tonight's meeting was bittersweet. Seeing my wonderful puppy was the best part of my week! It wasn't too bad to see Texas either. He is such a small sleepy guy! I can't wait until I get him on friday. We worked on planning puppy sitting for the summer, and then puppy handling. All the puppies handled it well and Hobbs had a great time going around to all the handlers.

I got more of a report about Hobbs, and this time it wasn't as promising. Although he was great most of the time, there were a few situations he reacted to that make his future as a guide pretty shaky. Which is why she is keeping him a few more days. It will give her a chance to push him a little bit and see if he steps up or breaks down. That is all I am going to say about the report. He is being a great dog though, and I can tell that my leader really likes him.

All in all I am pretty bummed tonight, for several reasons, not just about Hobbs. Hopefully Hobbs will prove that he has what it takes to step up and build some confidence.

Extension

I was so excited to get Hobbs back later tonight at our puppy meeting! Well about 10 minutes ago my leader called to tell me she is keeping Hobbs possibly for another week!!! I am soooo sad! The small report I got from my leader was positive, and she said that I have done a good job with him. She says she has some pictures of him playing in a fountain so when I get them I will definatly post them. I think she is going to start him on food rewards, so hopefully that will help him be calmer.

On to happier news! I am going to be puppy sitting Texas, who I posted about before. I will have him from friday until monday. Hopefully this will give me my puppy fix so that I don't want a new one as much.

Patriot is enjoying his time as an only dog, but is a little lonely I think. We have been going to the dog park almost every day, and he loves it every time. Other than that, not much has been going on!

Patriot Pictures

So, in my boredom on not having a puppy, I scanned some of Patriot's puppy pictures. These were in my scrapbook from a loooong time ago, so that is why they are all different sizes.


Megan and me the day we got our "P" puppies....they were just a day shy of 8 weeks old!
Ok, and Blogger is being stupid with these pictures, so here they are. Most of them don't need an explanation.




The above picture is my FAVORITE baby picture of him



















I dressed him up and he just sat there patiently, but wouldn't walk around at all.

New Arrival!

Our club got a new puppy yesterday! The raisers who recieved him weren't expecting a puppy until the puppy truck in June, but this puppy was already slated to come to Utah and then suddenly didn't have a raiser! Megan I am pretty sure this is the little guy you were supposed to get!
So this couple agreed to take him. He is a black lab and his name is Texas! His raisers had a loooooong night last night because he was aparently whining almost the whole time. Not a suprise, because he spent the day in a crate on the plane. They also said that they like his name, but it will take some getting used to. Here is a camera-phone picture of him. I will get some better ones on Monday at the meeting.

Update Since The Last Post

I CAN NOT PUT THIS BOOK DOWN!!!!

I can't believe how addicted I am to this book! I am fairly certain that I am not going to be able wait until JULY to listen to the other two! December is when the movie comes out so I thought I would post the trailer here for all to see. I don't really like who they chose as Edward (the main vampire) but, oh well. Enjoy! Oh and if you cant tell I would recommend this book in a heartbeat!

Hanging In!

Well after a day and a half of House arrest, Hobbs is still sane, and so am I! Yesterday was pretty hard, but today he has been calmer, and isn't constantly insisting on going on a walk. I get the feeling he is just happy to not have to go outside. I had a similar situation with Maria. The whole time I had her she could go days on end without ever wanting to even go outside. She hated her walks, and hated even more socializing outings.

I haven't figured out yet what triggered this sudden breakdown. I hope that with a little off time, he will relax and I can slowly get him out in public again. I am trying to prepare myself for if he is cc'd, but I really think if they put him on food protocal I could get him past this. I hope they don't just give up on him.

Patriot on the other hand is LOVING going out on walks just with me. I think he feels a little left out when he doesn't get to go out by himself. I will have to try to remember to walk them seperatly every once in a while.

I got sucked in! AGH!!

Last week I decided to try reading the first book in the Twilight series....and now I am completely hooked! I am only about 1/8 of the way through the first one, but I don't know if I will be able to wait until my trip to OR to listen to the 2nd and 3rd one on cd. I may just read them all before then.

Who knew a book about a Vampire could be so facinating!?! When I first heard about the series, I wasn't really interested because all the other books I have ever started that were about vampires....just didn't catch my attention. But this one is completely opposite! I stayed up for hours the first night I was reading, because I simply couldn't put it down. Hopefully the other two, soon to be three, live up to the first one. I am also planning to go see the movie in December with a friend.

Goslings

Hobbs and I went to Wheeler Farms for a walk and to work on Obedience. While we were there we ran across a whole family of geese and their goslings. I was lucky enough to get pretty close to them and took some precious pictures. All of them are MUCH better enlarged, so just click on them.


This is a close as I got before they started to get up, so I waited for them to settle down and then slowly got a lot closer

There were several other adult geese, but these four were sticking the closest to the little ones.

The group in the water

Mother and Brother's Day

I had a wonderful Mother's Day! Even though I am not a mom yet, I spent the day with my mom and the rest of my family. Here are some other pictures of my mom.


My Family

She has always been there for me, and has set a good example of how a mother should raise her children. I can't believe how lucky I was to get such an amazing mother. I was so lucky last year to be able to fly up for the day to be with her. This year it was easy for Robert and me to drive down for dinner sunday afternoon. We had a great dinner of Chicken Mango Salad that my dad made for us. The evening was partly to celebrate my little brother's 18th birthday.

After dinner we watched a slideshow that my mom put together of pictures of my brother. It was so great to see the pictures and remember how wonderful my little brother is and always have been. Somehow I have a whole lot more pictures of my brother than I do of my mom! I will have to work on that.

Daniel roasting marshmallows

Daniel sleeping sunday afternoon

Daniel Playing with the dogs

House Arrest :(

We had our weekly puppy meeting tonight. We talked about basic principles of puppy raising because we have a couple new people in the club that are interested in raising. It was great to see the new pups in the club learning to behave around the chaos that meetings can be. Maury and Agueree did a good job of just settling down and chewing on the toys. Maury reminds me soooo much of how Patriot was as a puppy, and I remember just how frustraiting a hard headed little puppy can be.

Hobbs did well at the meeting, but the verdict on his fear issue is that he is going to be evaluated by my leader.....starting friday. The only bad part about this is that he is on TOTAL house arrest until then!!! That is right! He can go outside to go potty and play on a longline or play tug. No outings, no trips to practice obedience, no walks, absolutly no anything outside! I am sure that this is going to be a tough few days. Hobbs gets antsy after about a day of not going on a walk.....how is he going to handle three whole days?

I am nervous beyond belief about Hobbs going to be evaluated. While I know this is the only way to get an objective view of his behavior, it makes me nervous. The one thing I don't want to hear is that he was absolutly perfect for my leader. If that happens I am sure they are going to consider that it is my fault. On the other hand I don't want him to be bad to the point where they want to take him back to GDB for a formal evaluation. For sure this weekend is going to be very stressful for me....and for Hobbs.

In The Hail

Well today the weather once again went crazy and it was hailing!! Just when I thought I might get a whole week of nice sunny weather.

Because Hobbs had been banned from actual walks, due to fear issues, I have been trying to figure out things to do to keep him from going crazy. Today we went over to Wheeler Farms and worked on obedience and FIR on my 50' leash. Hobbs did wonderfully! He got to the point where he could be doing labby scoots with his favorite toy in his mouth, I would call out "that's enough" and "Hobbs Come" and he would drop the toy and come flying over to me! I got a video of it, you may want to turn down your volume....it ended up being really loud on my computer. I really wasn't yelling while I was filming it.

Obviously Hobbs forgot what "Look" means as well as the informal come command I use which is "here"
It was hailing at first when we got to the farms, but lucky I had gloves so we still got to practice. Hobbs wasn't thrilled that it was hailing on him, but he still had fun. Here are some pictures of us on our walk after the obedience practice.


This is my favorite one!


I love how green it is getting!


Behind Hobbs is the grass field we were practicing in


He really needed to go potty just before I made him sit for this picture so he looks miserable!