We took advantage of a beautiful fall day yesterday to hike Esme up to my favorite overlook for some pictures (since it will be very snowy when she is recalled!).

What a pretty girl!

Such a nice head for a girl!

Rudy, Esme, and Dillon

Not naptime, Esme...

The Dogs with L'il M who shows promise as a trail runner!

I love how this location gives such different mountain valley views by moving just a few feet in a different direction.

Running Again

We said goodbye to Levi on Monday, September 23rd.  Another life lost to the destruction of an aggressive lymphoma with T-cells.  Over the weekend, I kept thinking that giving up my GDB puppies for formal training scarcely holds a candle to the pain and torture of putting your beloved dog to sleep.  I wish it was not a choice that I have to make every decade or so.  Argh.  Why do I love these puppy dogs so?

Levi joined our family when he was 8-weeks-old.  The cutest little guy.  He was to be my running partner. He did not disappoint!  In 2006, I ran a marathon.  My last long run before race day was 26 miles.  Levi ran 22 of those miles with me!  He came home, took a good nap, and was back at his normal routine in the yard.

Levi at 8-weeks-old

Levi was a "smiler".  When he was naughty (which as a young dog happened a fair amount), he would curl his lip and tuck and twist his head in apology.  We attempted to teach the Smile on cue, but were never successful.

It was not until Rudy came to live with us that I discovered one of his naughtiest hobbies.   When my children were young, we had quiet time in the early afternoon (the toddler & I caught a little nap).  Apparently, Levi used this time to chase the pony and latch onto her tail while she ran about the field with a little Jack Russell hanging from her.  Rudy went into a crazy barking fit to be missing the fun.  I had been wondering what was happening to her previously beautiful tail...  In an instant I knew.  When I ran outside to rescue the pony, guess what Levi did? Smile.

Levi and his bestie, Dillon

For all his naughtiness when left to his own devices, Levi was extremely obedient.  He showed the utmost respect to both people and other dogs.  He loved big dogs, and equally hated small ones.  The dogs bigger than him were revered and kissed and attempted to be played with.  No comment on what potentially evil plots he had for the little dogs he saw.  I can say that I saw the mental wheels turning in his head...  Levi developed a kindred spirit for the guide dog puppies that came through our home over the years.

A life too short.  Potential unfulfilled.  Levi lived his life to his fullest ability.  Our home & family will miss him.  Words cannot express the dog that Levi was, or the special soul that he possesses.

RIP (Run in Peace)

 Levi

Oct 18, 2003 - September 23, 2013

Levi's Prayer

IF IT SHOULD BE

If it should be that I grow weak
And pain should keep me from my sleep,
Then you must do what must be done
For this last battle cannot be won.

You will be sad I understand,
Don't let grief then stay your hand.

For this day more than all the rest,
Your love for me must stand the test.

We've had so many happy years,
What is to come can hold no fears,

You'd not want me to suffer so,
The time has come to let me go.

Take me where my need they'll tend,
And please stay with me until the end.

Hold me firm and speak to me.
Until my eyes no longer see.

I know in time that you will see,
The kindness that you did for me.

Although my tail its last has waved,
From pain and suffering I've been saved.

Please do not grieve it must be you,
Who has this painful thing to do,

We've been so close, we two, these years
Don't let your heart hold back its tears.

For I am now in a better place,
And will be waiting to see your happy face.

So when you cross that final bridge,
Look for me...
I'll be standing next to the fridge.

Author Unknown

Go Utes!

The last big football day for a few years in Utah today- BYU vs the U of U.  GO UTES!  In all honesty, I don't really follow football, but I have loved college rivalry football games since I attended Washington State University (ah, the good old days) and we played the University of Washington in the Apple Cup.

After putting our U flag out on the lawn, L'il M and I took Dillon and Rudy on a short hike to enjoy the gorgeous weather with a wonderful breeze!  The trees in the mountains are just beginning to turn red (really late this year).  The views were just amazing today!  I wish I had taken more pictures.

Look at those mountain trees!

Nothing like a little wind in your hair

It's been a crazy month!

A month has passed by... such busy days with back-to-school, birthdays, and a sick dog.

I decided (sub-consciously) to sprain my ankle coming down the stairs in August which seriously slowed down my ability to move into over-drive for this past month; really could've used that gear to stay on top of things.  For the first time, I finally tried to take the dogs & an overly-energetic 2-yr-old on a walk yesterday.  The ankle kills today.  <sigh>

In late August, young Prince came to stay with us for 8 days.  Prince is Esme's half brother (another Shawn puppy).  He was so good, and had a great time playing with Esme.  I was quite thankful to have him stay with us after spraining my ankle, since I could not walk Esme to wear her out.  The old saying about tired puppies being good puppies is so true.

Prince making a run for it with Esme hot on his heels.

Prince watching Disney Jr on the Ipad.  Seriously.

FUN trip to California to take my oldest daughter to her college.  We were able to get in a fantastic day at Huntington Beach before the great orientation weekend began.  L'il M loved the sand and waves.  She played happily for hours.  When the cool ocean water began to make her chilled, she went and rolled in the hot sand.  The child has no issue with being filthy, let me tell you.  :)  Unfortunately, I had forgotten my camera to capture the moment.

Looking cool in California

The college orientation was first rate all the way.  Excellent food, and a fine mix of family activities with the necessary orientation information.  Here is a picture at the carnival evening complete with In & Out burgers.

Gotta love the Green Screen- this is 9pm after a hot & humid day!  Someone looks tired...

After returning home, school for the other kiddos was well under way, as well as hockey, and very quickly arriving birthdays.  My little Levi is still hanging in there; the prednisone makes a huge difference.  Saturday was a rough day for him.  I thought we had reached the last days.  It was very sad.  However, he has rebounded again, so we will just call it a bad day.  My optimism for beating the odds has been checked as I feel lumps all over his body now, and his lymph node has become enlarged.  I know the cancer is raging through his body.  He whimpers when I pick him up, as well as when he is bumped into by a less than careful black labby...  So, we try to get frequent car rides, and very careful petting in the areas less tender.  It's so hard, and I know the days are measured now.  He will be 10 on Oct 18.  I hope he can make it to that day, but I honestly think that might be a stretch.

Love you, Levi

Alternative Ways

While waiting for the boys to come out of the Ice Rink last Sunday, L'il M, Esme and I relaxed in the shade of some grass.  L'il M thought she'd use the time to practice putting on/taking off of the vest.

She got it on right, but Esme rolled over preventing L'il M from buckling it

Trying it again

Hmmm...  that doesn't look right

Studying the situation

At this point, the boys returned so her attempts were done for the day.

Really bad news

I called my vet to check on biopsy reports on Levi's tumors.  I was, honestly, not expecting such horrible news.  The lab determined that Levi has a very aggressive form of Lymphoma under the dermis (I always thought lymphoma was only in the lymphs).  The lab said it has likely spread to other tissues (which it already has-vet removed another small lump about 2" over from the biggie).  Vet kind of implied that we are talking months.  Skin biopsy was not back yet, so that may add another whole element to this.  My poor boy.

As saddened as I am over this, I found out today that a most honorable, Christian man from my church had passed away this morning from a heart attack.  He was a high-school football coach, married, and has 3 boys.  He was coaching at the time.  He was only 39.  Life is precious.  We cannot take one day for granted.

Today has been a bit of a bummer.

"This is the day that the Lord has made.  Let us rejoice and be glad in it." Thank you for ten adventure-filled years.  Thank you that I know to love on Levi a bit more than normal.  Thank you for helping me hold my family a little closer tonight.

A Working Weekend

As I have "matured" in my guide dog puppy raising experience, I have found that it is truly unnecessary to drag (I mean, take) your puppy everywhere anytime you go somewhere.  Quality of outing definitely trumps quantity of outings, in my opinion.  Esme has been no exception.  Until recently, her monthly reports seemed eerily absent of outings.  That said, any place that she has gone, she demonstrated total confidence and appropriate behavior, so I have not been too concerned.

This weekend was different, she got to be a busy working dog!  Saturday morning, a Leaders Meeting, with two CFRs, followed by a statewide Puppy Raiser Workshop.  So, what did Esme think of a large room full of 40 or so dogs?

The exception was her brief reunion with Eagle, her brother.  She gave him a sweet kiss on the nose, and a few extra body wiggles upon greeting.  The two Shawn/Darice puppies look nearly identical in the head.  I was even surprised that Eagle is pretty much the same size (small) as Esme.  They are both very submissive dog-dog greeters, which was kind of comical.

Esme and Eagle kiss hello

 

Esme & Eagle

Sunday was back-to-school shopping and more!  While waiting for my teenage boys to pick out some shoes, I had Esme try kenneling under the bench.  She was more than happy to get her shoulders under, but kind of forgot about the rear end...

After a few more stores, we went to lunch where Esme happily snoozed on the cool concrete (notice the pattern?).

Then we drove to Salt Lake City and made a short trip through Costco before heading over to the ice rink for a hockey scrimmage that my younger son was participating in.  Again, Esme just settled quickly and went to sleep.  In fact, if there was an award for the dog that settled most quickly, Esme might win!

All in all, a good, outing filled weekend for a dog that doesn't go much, and she handled it like a pro!

Poor Levi

While you may have seen him in pictures on the blog, my almost 10-yr-old Levi has never been the subject of a post.  Levi is a Blue Heeler/Jack Russell mix.  As can only be assumed with that combination of breeds, Levi is one naughty dog.  The average dog owner would likely have given up on him.  Levi has bitten kids, killed chickens & a rabbit, found himself at the animal shelter, among other things we won't mention.  He just *is* trouble.  I, of course, appreciate Levi for who he is.  He's my running buddy, and actually very sweet and comical, with good intentions.  His genetics just get in the way sometimes.  I always tell my husband that Levi will live to be 18, just because he is naughty.  Levi, too, has proven to be our most expensive dog when it comes to vet bills.  He gets crazy tears in his skin in the yard.  Don't ask me how.  We've spent hundreds on stitches for him, and have even resorted to some superglue repairs on a few occasions. And since it has been more than a year since he had any injury requiring veterinary attention, I guess it was due time...

Levi earlier this year.  He hates it when I make him stay for a picture!

Levi had surgery this week to remove a few growths of undetermined cause from his shoulders.  They are definitely NOT mast cell or of cyst material.  Levi also has extremely irritated skin.  My vet does not feel the two are necessarily related, and is puzzled as to what is going on.  The tumor popped up in 3 days time.  Not kidding.  Last Thursday, I gave him a bath with a special skin shampoo.  No lumps.  On Sunday, I noticed 2 pretty good sized hard lumps.  On Monday, they were connected as one.

Pre-surgery blood work showed all normal.  So the both the lump and a skin biopsy sample were sent into the lab to aid in the determination of what is going on.  Results by Monday.  I hope this is some bizarre thing easily resolved as this has been tough on the poor guy.

Here he is post surgery:

Glabs

I was just reading an article about the training of bomb sniffing dogs by MSA Security (they utilize Puppies behind Bars) in the Smithsonian magazine.  They apparently refer to Lab/Golden crosses as Glabs!  Kind of glad we aren't using that terminology...  What do you think?

Adaptability

Suzanne Clothier has long been a favorite dog training guru of mine.  I wholeheartedly agree with her outspoken concept of the necessity of relationship in human-dog interaction.  It saddens me the extent that some people take the NILIF (nothing in life is free) concept with their dogs (especially those who compete with their dogs).  But, that is a whole other story.  Not today's blog topic!  :)

Suzanne recently posted a new article on her website http://suzanneclothier.com/the-articles/if-only-hadnt-happened-dog-would-be-fine that was not only a good read, as usual, but also a good reality check for puppy raisers. 

I raised a nut-case puppy once (said with the utmost love!).  Don't get me wrong, he was sweet, and well-behaved, but he exuded stress and anxiety in way too many situations.  With intentional management, good handling skills, and a bonded relationship, he appeared okay.  This puppy continued in the puppy raising program until he was recalled for formal training, where he fell apart in a way I never thought would happen, and was career changed.  At that moment, I realized how much he had been using me to support him emotionally.  I rationalized that it was a specific incident in the fear period of his life that caused his anxiety, but reality is that his nature just couldn't handle the specific experience, whereas another puppy may have been fine.

This article by Suzanne Clothier speaks to the nature vs nurture debate.  I had to agree with having heard many of the excuses that Suzanne mentioned having heard from dog owners.  Ditto.  It's not just nature, or nurture, but how each impacts the other.  When she talks about dogs on the different ends of the spectrums of adaptability, flexibility, and emotional stability,  I saw the ideal guide dog puppy jump out.  To quote Suzanne, "On the other end of the behavior spectrum are the animals who can adjust, continue to function, who have coping skills. These animals are "take them anywhere, do anything with them!" hardy souls remaining highly functional under even extreme situations. They are able to recover quickly even from distressing experiences. Their behavior is robust, flexible, adaptive, and resilient. Typically, these animals can move easily between varying environments and a wide range of demands without any significant changes in their behavior. Since they can adapt to their environment, the environment does not need to be adapted for them.

This is why puppy raising programs can be so effective.  If a group of people can be taught to raise puppies in the same sort of way, then we truly allow for the nature of these carefully bred puppies to come to life by the generally homogenous nurturing they receive.  The puppies who are on the end of the behavior spectrum mentioned above thrive no matter where they lived or the dog savvy of their raiser.  They are going to be guide dogs no matter what.   And then there are puppies who's nature is not stamped with "guide dog"; they have natural tendencies to be anxious about some or many things (which again, could be due in part to early experiences impacting genetic tendencies thereby affecting consequent behavior-  hard to pinpoint for us).  These puppies do in fact benefit from the more dog savvy or diligent raiser who can effectively influence behavior enough that the dog learns to compensate for it's area of weakness.  But sometimes, that is not enough.  Sometimes, the handler-puppy relationship is the glue holding the dog together, and when that glue is broken, the dog cannot stand on his own (in the way necessary for a dog making life-saving decisions).  And that is okay.  Every carefully bred puppy cannot possibly have the specific combination of nature and nurture needed to be a guide dog.  We do our puppies a lot of injustice when we deny them the opportunity to achieve their highest calling in life.  For some dogs that might be loving on people in a therapy setting, or competing in dog sports, or search & rescue .  Of course, there is the most commonly seen, yet no less regarded and treasured, family dog.  They are who they are, and we must consider each puppy as an individual with different limits, capabilities, and sensitivities.

Too funny!

As many puppy raisers for Guide Dogs for the Blind know, GDB has a flickr site that has a host of fantastic pictures of litters from the past few years, as well as graduations.  Since I have yet to receive my picture/DVD of Pilgrim's graduation, I decided to go on and take a peek to see if it was there yet.  It was, and is, of course, a beautiful picture of a beautiful partnership.  I never tire of hearing about Suzy's adventures with Pilgrim, and seeing that handsome Golden dog in harness!



See what I mean?  Gorgeous!

Now for the funny part.  After scrolling through the pictures, I came across Esme's litter pictures, and decided to take a look.  I wasn't expecting much.  In reality, who can tell who's who with 4-week-old only black puppies?  But then, I saw it, and almost fell off my ball (I sit on an exercise ball at the computer).

 

 

 

Anyone who has been reading this blog for long knows that this is signature Esme sleeping pose.  And since there were only 2 females, I'm willing to wager...  They are who they are!

 



 

7-months-old!

Esme turned 7-months-old yesterday.  She is a really nice little puppy.  She is a bit puppyish at times, but is incredible on outings.   I can take her anywhere it seems, and be confident in her ability to handle herself and be comfortable.  Esme is a bit s-l-o-w on outings that follow a longer car ride- I think there is some residual car-sickness still going on).  However, that has improved a lot in the last month, so we'll hope it completely resolves in the next year!

I love how her eyes have lightened!  Makes a black lab so much more photogenic!

Wordless Wednesday

2+2

Putting 2 and 2 together led to the conclusion that Pilgrim was now Suzy's Guide Dog.  I could not be more excited to have a fellow blogger continue to share the life of Pilgrim. 

Pilgrim looks so amazing in his harness!  Beauty and Brains.  Isn't that what the Golden Retriever is supposed to possess?  Congratulations, Pilgrim.  You did it!

Congratulations, Suzy.  A match made in heaven! How does Guide Dogs for the Blind always find that perfect someone for our sweet puppies?  Love it.  :)

Once again!

Much to my relief and with perfect timing, Pilgrim is In Class to graduate May 11. 

I am sooo thankful that his "training issue" was quickly resolved, and that he is again deemed Class Ready.  Since the following Class comes on a very busy holiday weekend, and just days before my oldest child graduates from high school, this graduation date gives much relief that I won't have to make hard choices again.  Oh happy day!

Pilgrim was a "late add" to the class, which gives me an inkling of who he might have been placed with...  Updates when they come!

Rainy Days for dogs

What should you do if you are a dog and the skies are dumping rain?


Dillon, Esme, Levi

In spite of the fact that there are 3 dog beds for our four dogs, this is the best way to cozy up by the fire.  The April showers (and snow, and bitter cold!) have ended for the next week now.  Time to get back outside!

What warms my heart..

What warms a dog-loving mommy's heart?

 Being awakened by a sweet 2-yr-old little girl who says (before anything else), in her best impression of happy voice, "E-me, Come... grab collar".  <Smile>.  Like a sponge they are.  As the previous post mentioned, recalls are a frequent occurance in our house lately.   Did I even need to say that?

In other news, Esme lost 6 teeth today... Didn't find a one.

Esme

Our little Esme girl has not had much time in the spotlight!  She is almost 5 months, I say, 5 months already.  Where does the time go?  Esme is super sweet and morphs into your body when held.  She had that beautiful puppy breath until about 2 weeks ago when the nasty smells of teething took over her mouth.  Esme is fairly confident, although not necessarily the most outgoing puppy when we are out.

 

 

Esme had some issues with the recall, so we began practicing it by the book (always a kibble) and now she *loves* to come when called.

Good Girl, Esme!



 

 

 

 

Holding onto hope, Pilgrim

First of all, I am needing a Pilgrim hug.  Pilgrim is a hugger.  I know that, in general, dogs do not like hugs from humans (they feel very dominated by the behavior), but it always felt like Pilgrim hugged back rather than just tolerated the hugs.

Pilgrim hugging L'il M



For the first time (well, since that first week or two) since Pilgrim left for formal training, I feel a hole in my heart when looking at other Goldens.  My eyes tear up.  The unknown of what is going on with Pilgrim's training saddens me.  I just wish I could know the severity of his "training issue" and what the expected outcome will be.  I feel empathy for Pilgrim getting to have that special week being someone's buddy again only to be returned to the kennel.  What must Pilgrim be feeling?  I know he's probably adjusted by now, but that first night and day really eats at me.  Pilgrim will not be returning to our family if he gets career changed, and the prospect of never seeing him again...  oh, let's just say, he needs to graduate!  Come on, Gold Dog, you can get it!  Hugs, Pilgrim.

Esme needs a post update- I'll get it together this week!