 |
| First day with Newport |
 |
| Newport at the College Library |
 |
| Newport in Yosemite |
 |
| Newport and I in History class |
 |
| Newports first night home as a Career Change! |
 |
| Newport at a race |
Since I haven't really introduced my dogs, both pet and GDB dogs, I decided to (try) and do one dog a day. So, over the next 5 days, you'll get to meet all my pups! Today, I have decided to introduce my first GDB puppy, Newport. Newport is a male black lab born on July 14th, 2010. His parents are Jenkins and Molly. His siblings are Nisha, Niles, Nicolet, and Nicolina. I picked him up at GDB on October 13th, 2010. He was a HUGE puppy, and they had to walk him in, as opposed to carrying him. He had a super cute cone head, and very sad puppy eyes. I loved him even before I got him home. His first night went great. He barked for about 10 minutes, then fell asleep and slept all night. After 2 weeks had passed, I noticed that Newport was not having solid poop...and that he was pooping up to 8 times a day. We took him to the vet and discovered that he had Giarrdia. He had it until he was about 8 months old. Regardless, he was a joy to take places. He was always super calm and could settle and go to sleep anywhere. He started going to College with me at 5 months old, and he was always a perfect "student". At 9 months old, it was clear that Newport was having relieving issues. He was having more accidents on walks, and in stores. He was also proving to be a "soft" puppy. That is, he would get stressed or feel unsure in some situations. So, he was sent to a very experienced raiser in another club a few hours from me. He was gone for 2 months, and although it was very hard to be away from him, I got to puppysit a lot of other dogs in our club! Hermes, Luigi, Cayenne, (who are ALL Guide Dogs now!!) and Gaston ( In Formal Training in Oregon) were the dogs I puppysat, and I loved them all :) I got him back the day before his 11 month Bday, and he was so huge! He had done a lot of growing and maturing while he was gone. Up until his recall, Newport was an angel. He was one of those dogs you could take anywhere and not worry about them acting up. He was recalled on December 17th, 2011, just shy of his 18 month birth date. Giving him back was one of the hardest things I've ever done. But, I did get to pick up puppy #2 the same day which helped a lot. 5 days later, my leader called me to tell me that Newport had been Career Changed. He had Bilateral Cataracts in both eyes, though they don't think they'll affect his vision at all. We chose to adopt him, and he is now our forever boy and mentor to future puppies. He will be getting certified as a Therapy Dog in May! But right now, Newport is enjoying his life as a pet :)
Wow, I am so far behind on my Blog already! A lot has happened since Friday. First off, I will start by introducing you to yet another one of my dogs. This time, it's Keith's turn! Keith is my second Guide Dog Puppy. He is a yellow lab, born on October 8th, 2011. His parents are Suzanne and Jenkins. (Yes, he's a half brother to Newport!) He is now 7 months old, and has been a complete joy to raise so far. He's sassy confident, playful, and just an all around good boy. He is ALWAYS happy to see anyone, and his tail is always wagging at a mile a minute. He's got fairly dog fur, and it is very curly, which I find surprising in a lab. He is often mistaken for a Lab/Golden cross because if this. He's got super saggy eyes, and wrinkles galore! People will also ask me if he is part hound dog or Shar-Pei. He has awesome relieving skills and is perfect in the house. (Well....almost perfect. The trash can gets the best of him sometimes!) He is also a lot of to take on outings because he's extremely calm and well behaved. Well, as you can tell, I can't say enough good things about this boy! He currently has what we think is Pano (I really hope that it is Pano and not something else...), so he's been hobbling around, and is on bed rest for a few days. Luckily, today was my last day of school so he doesn't have to stay crated while I'm gone. 
Molly is a mini Australian Shepherd mix (well, we think anyway). We don't know her age, but we're guessing that she's between 6 and 8. She's VERY high energy, and loves any and all forms of play. She excels in agility, and is a very good "trick" dog as well. We found her in an almond orchard about 4 years ago. Someone had dumped her off and she was just sitting in a pile of branches and thorns. My dad went and picked her up, and we groomed all of the stickers and thorns out of her and fed her. She is an extremely sweet dog, but she has a HUGE fear of men. We are almost certain that she was abused and then abandoned. We took her in with the intent of finding her a new home. My dad said he would give me two weeks to find her a new home. Well, 2 weeks went by and nobody had claimed her or wanted to adopt her. So, one thing led to another...and now she's ours! She is such a good dog with our guide dog puppies, and is so much fun to take to the park, on hikes, to the beach, etc. She has an amazing recall and can be off leash anywhere without me having to worry about her. We house trained her in a day, and she learned how to walk on a leash in less than a week. She's so incredibly smart, and we can't see why someone would have just abandoned her. She is still very fearful of men, but has come to like all the men in our family. She's a big dog in a little body, and I am so glad that this little mutt chose us as her family :)
