Guide Dog Puppy Update

There is a new member in our home- a big, black Lab named Keiko.  He is a 16-month-old guide dog puppy who needed just a little more time before his October recall.  Since our home is lonely quiet without a guide dog puppy, of course we could not deny him those extra 6-weeks.  Keiko has been fantastic.  He is so sweet, and absolutely incredible on leash, and outings.  He is overweight and grossly out of shape, so we will make sure those things improve before the rigors of being a guide dog.  Keiko has fit in so well and seamlessly into our household that I am more seriously contemplating another transfer before we raise a 10-week-old puppy with needle teeth on the same level as Baby M, who is just getting mobile.


Janetta has moved on to phase 2 of training where she has many difficult challenges including leading a blindfolded instructor through an obstacle course, learning up-curbs, and passing heavy distractions.  It has been such a relief to see her move along now that she has recovered from her entropian surgery.  We miss you, Janetta, but can't wait for you to do what you were born to do!  

Agility Trial-SUCCESS!

Friday's runs were fanatastic!  I was a bit worried about Open, but we had clean runs that were 10-20 seconds below SCT, thus earning a JWW leg and Std leg, as well.  Saturday was equally as good with a minor hiccup that was so sweet, who could really be disappointed.  During our JWW class, we were off to a fantastic start, on a course that had caught many dogs (or maybe it was the handlers) off-guard due to the skew of the jumps (leading to many dogs going around).  Rudy had stayed on course with great speed when we went over a jump into the corner pocket and who should be just outside the ring and coincidentally cry?  Little Miss M!!!!  Big brother was holding her and she fussed at that moment leading Rudy to stop dead in his tracks and find her among the people.  I was able to call him back (but that was considered a refusal), and then after we had finished the weaves, baby M protested again, causing Rudy to distract, and me to re-cue him (therefore another refusal and NQ).  But, we finished with great speed and no other faults.  Gotta love the GSD who loves his family so much that no other activity would have stopped him like that.  Many spectators commented later that they knew exactly who the baby belonged to after seeing his reaction.  Rudy seems to have a mini fan club!  Lesson learned- baby M must stay away from ring when we run unless she's asleep! 


Sunday, we went to the International Invitational Sheepdog trial at Soldier Hollow and did a small GDB Presentation.  Pretty uneventful, but I think there may be at least one more Puppy Raiser (not my county), as a result!  Woo Hoo!


Labor Day, back to agility, where I think we all suffered fatigue from so many days of being on the go, and I could not wake Rudy for his Std run.  We got a refusal going into the weaves, and then he missed the last jump and another refusal- NQ.  All throughout, we felt like we were struggling, and Rudy was s-l-o-w.  Turns out, had he not missed the last jump, we would have Q'd.  I thought it was over long before so I wonder if I quit "handling" and therefore he didn't take the jump.  Later, had a clean run in JWW and another leg.  So, we ended up with 2 JWW and 2 Std legs from the weekend.  Excellent, we are almost there!


Fun weekend, albeit very exhausting when you have an infant along, and "babysitter" children that require frequent deposits into their bottomless bellies, in return for their childcare services. ;)


Next trial- Oct 7-9!