Day 154

My people are on vacation for a couple weeks. Eli, Peter, and Mom went to Italy. Abram went home to Mexico. I am vacationing in Manhattan, a swanky address right on Central Park. Dawn and Ian, my puppy sitters, are caring for me. We are going to have excellent adventures! When I become a guide dog, I will not spend my vacation with puppy sitters. Instead, I will get to fly to Italy or where ever with my person. I am crossing my paws for first or business class, but the bulkhead economy seats would be just fine. I would sprawl and nap at my person's feet. In the meantime, I am sure that I will love spending time with Dawn and Ian even though I will miss my family! Here I am, in Central Park for the first time. Aren't I huge?

Day 153

The stairs never end, do they?

Day 152

I like the Mets, but I am a Yankees fan!

Day 151

Where's Rhythm?  Can you find me?

Day 150

Cover girl

Day 149

My people think I sleep funny.

Day 148

I went to the vet at the guide dog center today.  She wanted to look at my teeth.  My sister, Rumor, has two bottom teeth that are leaning in too far so that they touch the roof of her mouth.  Unfortunately, I have the same issue.  Rumor has temporary caps on her two leaning teeth.  The caps straighten the teeth out as they grow.  I need to get them too.  Puppy braces, what a bummer.  Mom needs to make an appointment with the dog dentist.  While I was at the vet, I got weighed, and I am 48 POUNDS. No wonder Mom no longer wants to carry me up and down stairs!

Day 147

Aren't my neighbor's flowers pretty?  And they taste good too!  I decapitate the flowers when I walk past, so now Mom avoids the sidewalk and walks me in the street. 

Day 146

Bird watching on my morning walk.

Archer update:  Archer, as you know, is my predecessor.  He is currently in harness training.  I received his progress report on May 23 and am just posting it now.  I apologize for the delay!

Archer has just finished his preliminary blindfold test to see how he is coming along in training.  Archer demonstrated that he is building a good foundation of a work pattern.  The evaluator wrote he is a soft worrier type dog, but that he is very willing to work for handler due to his relationship.  We will continue to build his confidence as we progress with his training and get him working with other handlers.  Archer worked at a moderate pace with an average pull.  He has been introduced to indoor work and has already had a couple of training sessions on the escalator.  During the next phase of training we will be heading to White Plains and will continue to develop his skills as a guide dog!  Archer lives with Misha, a female black Labrador.  Archer loves to run around during community run time.   He also likes to grab a Nylabone and hide in the tube and chew away!  Archer is a very sweet boy and we have also been working on his recall during community run time with which he is making good progress.

And here is a gorgeous photo of Archer's daughter, Dorothy.  Archer is a dual career dog and spent a brief period as a stud before he moved onto harness training.  The first is a photo of Dorothy at 14 weeks, and the second at 5 months. Doesn't Dorothy look like her dad?

Archer is a much loved dog, and my people miss him a lot!  Here's some photos of Archer, Abram, and Eli, the day Archer did his IFT test, a couple days after he was returned to the guide dog organization. 

Day 145

Got stairs?

Day 144

Look at me, Queen Of The Steps!  Yesterday, while I was walking with Mom, we went up and down all the neighborhood steps as usual.  I climbed them all, even this monster set of stairs!  Unfortunately, this morning I seem to have suffered some amnesia, and I refused to ascend these same steps.  Oh, well.

Day 143

Eli graduates today.  It's the last time I'll drop him off at school in the morning.  Here we are, with Eli's friend, Marshall.

Day 142

Here I am, practicing walking, sitting, and standing on weird under footings. 

Day 141

Me, Eli, and Mom went on a long hike yesterday.  It's my third or fourth time on this trail.  It's good for me to have repeat exposures.  In the first picture, if you focus on my puppy jacket and move your eye north, you can barely see a deer.  We saw deer three times, four deer all together.  First, we saw this doe.  Then, we saw a young buck alone, his antlers just peeking from his head.  Then we saw a young couple.  Some dogs would bark and carry on, but I ignore rather than chase them.  On this hike, I ascended four out of six flights of stairs.  Eli and Mom are proud of me, and I am too!!

Day 140

I feel sad.  I thought Muffin and I were BFFs - Best Friends Forever - but suddenly he's lost interest in playing with me.  It happened quickly, over the past week or so - whenever I walk into a room, he walks out.  Even my people are sad since they loved watching us wrestle.  Muffin has morphed from kitten to cat, and in that metamorphosis he has become B-O-R-I-N-G. 

Day 139

See the boat behind me?  It belongs to a neighbor, and it's FOR SALE along with the enormous truck to which it's attached.  The truck even has a dingy on the roof!  How awesome is that?  How cool would I look, standing on the bow of the boat, with the wind blowing past my ears?  I think Peter and Mom should buy it, don't you?

Day 138

Does that say "Dog Thru"?  I am not a very good reader.  Well, anyway, I took Mom to the pharmacy today so she could drop off a prescription.

Day 137

Meet Chloe, my new friend.

Day 136

Now that it's warm outside, I prefer to sleep in the nice cool basement.  The cats like to hang out in the basement too, so I always have company.

Day 135

Mom just snapped this photo when we were returning home from dropping Eli off at school.  She was trying to capture the roses hanging over the fence.  You can just see a peek of them at the top of the photo.  I like to try to eat the rose petals when we walk by.  They are sweet and tasty.  I have to snap them up quickly and chew with great subtlety, otherwise Mom catches me and makes me "out" them.  

Day 134

Look how big I am!

Small, January 31

Medium, March 26

Large, June 10

Day 133

Tonight in puppy class I did not behave very well.  It was a stressful evening.  Mom locked the car and house keys INSIDE the car when we were preparing to leave, and our neighbor had to break into the car with a hanger.  Surprisingly, it took about 10 minutes.  Then, we went to class and although the entire fiasco took 20 minutes to resolve, I was only a few minutes late.  I think all the commotion made me a bit snarky, though.  As guide dogs, we must learn to tolerate wearing a harness, so as puppies we wear clothes to help us get used to wearing something other than our fur.  I hate wearing this t-shirt.  Below are my friends and classmates, Scooter and Georgie, wearing their shirts.  I need to practice by playing dress up more at home.

Day 132

I know that I am born and bred to be a guide dog, and I will LOVE that career, but sometimes I wonder if being a fire dog would be fun too. 

Day 131

If you look to the left of me, you can see the teeny tiny sliver of paint missing from the molding.  Mom alleges that I chewed it when she went to the basement briefly to put the wash in the dryer.  Moi?  I swear I didn't do it!  Don't you believe me?  Aren't the sneaky cats more likely culprits?  On behalf of dogs everywhere, I am offended by the accusation. The slander. Maybe the paint was just old or defective and fell off the molding.  There are plenty of other viable explanations.

Day 130

When I picked Eli up from school today, I met a hunky golden retriever.  Isn't he handsome? 

Day 129

I have a confession:  I am still afraid of stairs.  Not ALL stairs.  I expertly climb the stairs to my own house with my head down and with great purpose, like The Little Engine That Could.  However, other stairs scare me.  So, Abram and Mom practice stairs with me when we walk.  We climb the neighborhood stairs.  I am hoping that we do not get in trouble for trespassing!  These first stairs, I climbed on the second try.

These next stairs, I could only manage to apply my paws to the first step.  We tried three times - the golden number - and then moved on.  No pressure.

These third stairs, nailed.  I will expertly climb them all soon, I promise!

Day 128

Study buddies!

Day 127

I love picking up E and Christopher from school!  I take E to school in the morning too, but picking him up is much more fun.

Day 126

I like playing Army with Christopher and Eli.  In this scene, I am a wounded soldier, and Christopher and Eli are coming to my aid.  They will need to get me off the battlefield and to safety.

Day 125

I love playing with Grandma and Monique!