Last weeks happenings

Last week, Keith, Newport and I stayed at another raisers house to "kid-sit" her daughters, and her two puppies in training. She has a 10 month old male black lab named Cabo, and a 5 month old female black lab named Alita. Keith had a ton of fun playing with her dogs all weekend, and was a perfect puppy on all the outings we took them on. We went to the movies, restaurants, Target, and a big Mall that had a carousel! Keith was very well behaved the whole time! He even slept on a tie down again at their house!

Keith by the carousel at the Mall

Keith and Cabo at dinner

Alita at her first movie!

Keith, Newport, Cabo, and Alita

On Monday, Sydney and her two puppies in Training, Carrie and Partner, came and stayed for a few days! Partner is her newest puppy. He is a 11 week old male Golden Retriever and SOOO cute! We took Keith and Carrie to the Bass Pro Shop, the Mall, and hiking in Knights Ferry! Keith did great everywhere we went, and wasn't afraid of the animals at Bass Pro Shop at all!

Partner!

Keith and Carrie at Build a Bear

Newport hiking in Knights Ferry with us

While we were hiking, Sydney got a call from her leader saying that Carrie was on the June recall. It's sad, but I know Carrie is going to do great in training! Whoever gets her is going to be getting a VERY good dog :)

Allergies and Adventures

Well, since I haven't posted in awhile, I am going to do separate posts, so I don't have one huge post. First things first, Keith update.

Probably the biggest thing that has happened with Keith lately is that he had a major allergic reaction to something unknown. On Sunday (Mothers Day), Keith and I went to the grocery store to get my mom some flowers and a card. We didn't go anywhere else that day, not even a walk. Around 12pm, I notices a few bumps on his head. I texted my leader and told her that Keith looked like he was getting hives. She said to watch him and let her know if he gets worse. At 1pm there were a few more bumps, but he seemed normal otherwise. I left home to go to a BBQ at my Uncles house, and my mom stayed home to watch Keith. 3 hours later, she texted me saying Keith was a lot worse and to get home right away. I raced home, and was greeted by a foreign looking dog. Keiths face had swelled up so badly that he looked like a totally different dog. His eyes were swelled shut, his cheeks were huge, and his nose was the size of a baseball. I frantically called my leader and she instructed me to take Keith to the Emergency vet right away. So, I loaded Keith into the car and raced there (probably breaking a few speed limits and running a few lights on the way...) Oh, and this was all at 10pm Sunday night I might add. They took Keith in the back right away and gave him a steroid shot and a benadryl shot. They told me to leave him there for a few hours to make sure the reaction didn't get worse. I left for 2 hours, and came back at midnight. Keith had responded well to the shots, and I could take him home. I was so incredibly relieved! But, the next morning, I took him out of his crate, and the swelling was back :( We took him to our regular Vet, and he gave him another steroid shot and some prednisone tablets. We still aren't sure what caused it, but whatever it is, Keith is HIGHLY allergic to it. Glad to say he has been healthy and happy since then!

My poor swollen boy :(

Over the rest of the week, Keith took it pretty easy. The medication was making him want to drink a ton of water, so he was having some accidents. He did go to the movies and a puppy meeting, and had a few playdates with another puppy in training.

This past weekend was a very fun and busy weekend for both Keith and I! On Friday evening, Keith and I went up to the mountains to have dinner with my grandmother. Keith did extremely well. He had to sit in a very cramped place, and he was a trooper. On Saturday, Keith and I went to the Relay for Life with my mom. It was such a good experience for Keith. Lots of noise, people, and smells, and he did wonderful. EVERYONE wanted to pet him there!

Keith at Relay for Life

This is what Keith walked for :)

Later on Saturday, Keith and I joined our puppy club at a Fire station for a Girl Scout Doggy Day! 3 local girl scouts put on this event for us to earn their silver award. They had all sorts of distractions and fun things for the dogs, and Keith did very well and had so much fun!

Keith and I on a bus they had for us to walk on

A running vacuum cleaner to walk past...Keith wasn't frightened at all!

Doggy Day group picture!

Keith's certificate!

On Sunday, Keith and I got up bright and early at 4:30 A.M. to go with my mom to a half marathon an hour away. This race was in honor of a runner who died from cancer. It was called "Randy's Run", and all the runner wore orange hats, shirts, and ribbons in honor of Randy, as that is the color he always wore. We were there until about 11:45 A.M., and Keith did so awesome! We walked around and then patiently waited at the finish line for all the runners to come in.

Keith at the Start line

Just waiting around :)

Waiting in the car for awhile...

We don't really have any adventures planned for this week, so we will see what happens!

Flashback Friday.....my life before Puppy Raising

Riding Midnight

My favorite thing to do <3

Showing J.D.

Wordless Wednesday

Happy Mothers Day!

Happy Mothers Day from Keith!

Patches and Ponies...

Newport's patches for his Therapy Dog vest came in today!!

Newport's CKC patch

One side of the vest

Top of the vest

The other side of the vest only has the Therapy Dog crescent patch so far. We are still waiting for the official Therapy Dog Organization patch to come in that will go above it. He will also be receiving a CKC Id tag with all of his and my info on it in case he gets lost, a bandana from the Therapy Dog Org., and an ID badge with his head shot on it :) This should all be coming within a few weeks. I am also going to get him a new collar to match the vest....the blue anchor one he has now clashes with the red vest lol.

I also took Keith to a horse barn today! Before puppy raising, I rode horses for about 8 years. I gave it up to puppy raise though. While I really miss riding, I LOVE puppy raising even more. Keith did fairly well. He was a little scared of the horses, but who can blame him? They must look huge and scary to him. I will definitely be bringing him around horses more often before he's recalled. I forgot to take pics of Keith at the Stable this morning :( so here's a cute picture I took the other day when Keith and I went for our daily walk! On our walks, we practice different commands so the walk stays fun and is never the same. I take him on a few different routes, and we practice some obedience at every corner or lamp post. Here is Keith in a down stay!

Keith on a walk

And Keith slept on a tie down successfully last night! I was super proud of him! (The last time he slept on a tie down at home, he chewed on my bed, but this time he stuck to his Nylabones and slept soundly all night!) Weirdly, Keith sleeps perfectly on a tie down when we do over night babysits....silly boy :)

Keith on the tie down last night!

Flashback Friday!

When I was raising Newport....

Newport at 4 months old in Monterey

Newport's first day at home!

Newport and his sister Nisha at Funday 2011

Newport meeting farm animals

Thursday...Phase Report day!

Stealing this idea from Sydney! ;)

                          Gaston-Career Changed in Phase 1 for Fear reactions due to stress

                                                                   Elton-Phase 6

                                                                  Lloyd-Phase 6

                                                 Sammy-Phase 8 and waiting for a match!

7 things at 7 months

Yesterday, my sweet yellow boy turned 7 months old :) I can't believe that he is already this old! He has come such a long way since the first day I got him. So here are 7 things that I love about Keith/what he has accomplished so far :)

 1.  I LOVE his coloring! Keith is a dark yellow lab with a white splash on his chest, and he has a cute little white butt :)

2. I love his personality. He's confident, sassy, and bold, but is also a very sweet and loving little boy.

3. He's food motivated! If there is food involved, Keith will do just about anything.

4. All of his saggy, loose skin :) You can make a whole other dog with the amount of extra skin Keith has!

5. Getting in and out of cars. Keith used to have a pretty big problem with getting in and out of any vehicle. But now (with a teeny bit of coaxing), he will hop in and out of cars without any problems!

6. Fear of the Gentle Leader. Keith used to run away at the sight of the head collar. Over time and with lots of work (and kibble!), he will now sit and let me put the head collar on without any problems! This has been Keiths biggest problem, and I am so proud that he has overcome it!

7. Mr. Happy Go Lucky :) Keith is ALWAYS happy, and that is what I love most about him. No matter the situation, Keiths tail is always wagging and he has a big, goofy lab smile on his face :)

Keith asleep on the way home from the grocery store

We cut our tree down today, and Keith decided to play in the branches

        

Random Updates

Well, my puppy meeting was cancelled tonight, so now I have time to Blog!

Keith update: Keith has been doing very well. Today was his last day of taking his medicine for the Pano. He's been on it for 14 days, and seems to be doing really well. The Vet says it may return, which in that case he'll just go back on the meds. He went to the movies with us on Sunday night to see the Avengers. He was really, really good and slept through the whole thing. Today we went grocery shopping for over an hour and we took Keith. I was surprised at how well he did despite the crowds, noise, and length of time we were in there. He was one tired pup when we got home! This weekend I will be taking him to a Triathalon about an hour away. Should be a fun experience for him!

Newport update: Newport went into the Vet on Monday for a check up, and to get some tests done to be registered with the Therapy Dog Organization. Everything looked great on him, but he did have a very sever ear infection in his right ear. The entire ear canal was completely blocked with wax and gunk. They took him into the backyard and showed me how to flush his ears. Immediately, the debris started flowing out of his ears, and when they looked in his ear again, they could see down the canal. But, every 3 days I have to flush his ear out, and he also gets this cream medicine injected into his ears everyday for a few weeks. Newport has had bad ear infections since day one. We battled them all throughout his training, and when he was recalled, they had to put him under and clean his ears out. Hopefully we can get a handle on these ear infections in the future. The Vet also said that Newport is a little overweight. He weighs 80 pounds, and his ideal weight is in the low 70's. So Newport is on a doggy diet!! He gets less food, more exercise, and no fattening doggy treats! We bought a bunch of healthy snacks for him including apples, carrots, and green beans. I found a bunch of healthy dog treat recipes online that I am going to try too.

Newport went for a bike ride with me yesterday

I also ordered all of Newports patches for his vest today! They should be here on Saturday or Monday.

I love this vest!

Newport, Keith, and Molly....losing weight together!

And, here's a cute picture to brighten your day :)

Keith and Newport sharing the bed (unwillingly, I might add)

Saturday Adventures :)

Keith at Bass Pro Shop

Well, I didn't really do much with Keith on Friday. I took him to Blockbuster at 9pm, but that was it. Today after I got off work, I decided to challenge Keith a bit and go on an "out of town" outing. I chose to take him to the Bass Pro Shop in Manteca, about 20 minutes away, and to the West Valley Mall in Tracy, about 45 minutes away. At the Bass Pro Shop, Keith did extremely well. Their we're stuffed, fake animals all over the place, including a giant Grizzly Bear. Keith seemed interested by them, but not frightened at all. He walked right up to the Grizzly Bear, sniffed it's paw and mouth, and turned to walk away. It's like he was saying, "Hmm, that's cool I guess. Can we go now?" This surprised me a lot because my first puppy, Newport, was frightened by statues and fake animals. He took a lot of coaxing to get near them. I'm really glad that even though Keith and Newport are half brothers, they are very different in confidence levels. We spent about 45 minutes in the store. We explored both floors, walked up the stairs and rode the glass elevator, looked at the giant tanks of fish, walked through the arcade of gun games, and walked through the room where all the boats and ATV's are kept. Keith walked perfectly through the whole place, and wasn't distracted by anything.

Keith and the Grizzly Bear

Next, we went to the West Valley Mall. This mall is HUGE! It has a carousel, movie theater, a dog adoption store, and a reptile store! Keith did really well here too. We were there for about an hour and a half.

Keith looking at turtles in the reptile store

Keith looking at a Komodo Dragon

This was such a great day for Keith. He did so well, and had some fun experiences too!

Pictures!!

Newport graduates as a Therapy Dog!

 

 

 

Keith update

All 3 pups at breakfast

Keith at Cabo's house!

Keith has been doing extremely well on the medication he received last week. He was limping a bit last week, but now he doesn't seem to be limping at all! Last weekend, Keith, Newport and I went over to another raisers house to watch her kids (and her dogs) for the weekend. They are raising two puppies, 10 month old male black lab "Cabo", and 4 month old female black lab, "Alita". They all enjoyed playing in their big backyard all weekend. I have stayed the weekend there with Keith before when he was 15 weeks old, and he was a little dog distracted while we were there. This time, he was much more well behaved and calm. He even slept on a tie-down while we were there! He didn't chew on anything, and stayed on his bed the whole night. I was super proud of him. We took all three dogs out to breakfast and to Target, and they all did really well. On Monday, Keith mostly just rested at home all day. Tuesday was Newports Therapy test, so he stayed home until I got back. After, I took him and Newport over to my friends house so they could play with her dogs before our puppy meeting. He played for almost 2 hours, and STILL didn't fall asleep! Luckily, he was still very well behaved at our meeting. We went to a hotel for this weeks meeting, and Keith did great. We walked up and down the stairs, sat in the lobby, and rode the elevator to the top, and back down. This was such a good outing for the dogs. If and when they become Guides, they will almost certainly stay in a Hotel a few times. Keith will be staying in a hotel with my family and I in about a month, so this was a good experience for him.

I am not sure what I will be doing with Keith for the rest of this week/weekend, but I'm hoping to do something fun!