Last agility class :-(

Today was OMSI's last agility class. We took two series of classes, and we had a lot of fun! Tonight we did a series of 5 obstacles (tire, jump, jump, jump, tunnel), but there were two rows of jumps and we practiced sending the dogs through in a zigzag pattern. This was the most difficult thing we've done so far, and after a couple tries we did it perfect! He runs faster than I can think of what to tell him next, especially if he does something unexpected, so all our mistakes are definitely my fault. Agility handling is much harder than it looks! OMSI is also doing very well with the weave poles, and they only need to be off-set a couple inches now. He is starting to stop on the contacts on command on all three contact obstacles, and he has never had any problem with the teeter-totter, which some other dogs in our class did not like. OMSI and I will definitely continue agility training if he decides that a career as a service dog is not for him :-) I have no pictures of him doing agility, but here's his 13 month birthday pictures.

Stanwood Fair

Today OMSI and I, plus Risa and her raiser Lisa, drove up to Stanwood and went to the Stanwood-Camano Island fair. I used to go to this fair when I was showing in 4-H, and it's a small, cute fair. OMSI and Risa got to meet lots of different animals, and their owners were nice enough to let them approach and say Hi. He got to meet a goat, a dairy cow, some pigs, some sheep, rabbits, chickens, and geese. Plus, we watched the horses for a while and some dogs practicing agility (boy, OMSI wanted to go practice, too!). We also walked around the rides area and through the food booths. It was a great experience for the dogs and they both did very well! We had numerous kids come up to us and ask to pet the dogs, and both pups were very calm while greeting them, and did very nice "shakes". Afterwards, we let the dogs run in a sports field by where we parked. Then we went to eat at Red Robbin, and the dogs enjoyed a nice nap on the floor under the booth. Enjoy the pictures!

Annual picnic

We had our annual puppy raiser appreciation picnic this afternoon, which is always a lot of fun. I think we have 13 puppies turning in from our area. In the picture below there is (L-R): Heidi, Tevy, Nariko (?), Hermione, Levi, Dacey, Lago. Missing are: Karilee, Mellis, Aiobe, Ella, Llano, Paris, Rebecca, and Darva.

Tashi

I've been puppy sitting Tashi for two weeks since her raisers had a family emergency, and she went to another raiser's house. She's a very cute, mellow 14 month black Lab. After working out a few house rules and reminding Tashi where the boundaries are, she did really well. I think OMSI had a lot of fun with her. Our pet dogs don't really want anything to do with him, so he enjoys having friends over to play especially now that Cody is gone.

Happy 1st Birthday OMSI!

Happy Birthday OMSI!!! OMSI had a full day today. We went to church in the morning, and OMSI had to wear his birthday hat. Poor guy, he tolerated it but wasn't thrilled about wearing it. Then, we went home for a bit before we left to go to the IMAX theater in Seattle to see the new Harry Potter movie. We got there about an hour and half early to get in line, then the movie was little over two hours. OMSI was great the whole time, and slept in line and through the movie. Afterwards, we went out to dinner. With the movie and dinner, we were out for about 8 hours, and OMSI was very good the whole time. Of course, when we got home he had a lot of energy. It's amazing how calm he can be when we're out somewhere and how puppyish he can be at home.

Farewell Cody

Farewell Cody. While he is not a CCI dog, I have been training him for the last year. Cody is one of the nicest Goldens I've had the pleasure of working with (plus he's good looking!), and he will be greatly missed. He has helped rehabilitate many dog-aggressive dogs at my work, he has been a great playmate for OMSI (which my other dogs very much appreciate), and he has taught me a lot about training. Plus, he has been a patient teacher to an 8 year old girl who has been coming to puppy class with me and learning how to handle and train dogs. Today Cody has moved on to the next phase in his life. Cody will fly down to Honduras on Tuesday, and will work with his new owner to educate people in Honduras about Service dogs.

I will miss how Cody picks up all the dog bowls on the floor after mealtime and brings them to me. I will miss cuddling with him on the bed at night (although Cody did not sleep on the bed through the night). I will miss how his lips get caught in his teeth, and the adorable wrinkles over his eyes. I will miss watching him trot across the yard...he has an effortless, floating gait. He is an amazing dog with a bright future.

"Take me out to the ball game..."

My dad and I decided to go to a Mariner's baseball game with our Church, and I also agreed to go with my best friend's family. I didn't realize that they were two nights in a row until about a week beforehand. So, I decided to take Cody the first night and OMSI the second night. Both boys were very good. And, the Mariner's won both nights! Both were fun games with home runs and stuff, and the weather was nice both nights, too.

Baja's "P" puppies!

Baja's first litter shipped out to puppy raisers on Wednesday. The mom is Inez, and the pups are 7/8 lab and 1/8 Golden retriever. Cookie's raisers are raising a cute little girl named Playa (pronounced "PLY-a"), and they stopped by my work on Wednesday after they picked her up from the airport. She is absolutely adorable and looks a lot like Baja. She is the same light color, and has "freckles" on her ears like Baja did! Her coat is shorter (more like a typical lab's...Baja had longer hair than normal), but otherwise she definitely takes after her daddy! She is very snuggly when I was holding her, and spunky when we let her run around. I can't wait to see this little girl grow up! I also got pictures of two of her sisters: Paedra (below left) and Payton (below right).

Dillon and Cookie

For the last week and a half OMSI has been at other raiser's houses. First, he went with Julia for a week to experience high school. She said he did very well for the most part. He got corrected for being too interested in the food in the cafeteria, but did great with the noises and crowds. For the first couple days he went to half the classes and then spent the other half in a crate. Julia reported that he was great in class and quiet in the crate. He was very active at home with her and her COC Gia, and tried to play with the cats. Well, that's OMSI :-) Meanwhile, I had her pup Dillon. He is adorable and wiggly and made us all laugh. He is also mellow and easy-going. He did great at work and only barked a couple times when he was in a kennel run.

The last five days he was with Bill and Susan. He got to go to work at a mechanic's shop and walk along busy streets and over a pedestrian bridge that crosses a freeway. Again, they reported that he was active in the house, but did great at work and when out in public. He was even out in their backyard and watched while a flock of birds flew to the ground about 10 feet from him (without trying to chase them), and then came away from the birds when Susan called (without trying to chase them first). What a good boy! I had a cute little girl named Cookie for those five days. She is very mellow and sweet, and did great both at work and the places I took her.

Graduation

Pictures Below: Baja just before sneezing :-); Handsome Baja in his breeder Bandana (with me)

Baja was presented as a breeder last Saturday, and I flew down to California with OMSI to present him and meet his breeder-caretakers (BCs). I flew to Sacramento on Friday morning. The people at security were very friendly, and I talked to one of them who was interested in applying for a hearing dog for her daughter. My flight was delayed an hour, first because the prior flight arrived an half hour late and then because there was a problem with the cabin lights. I was very proud of Mr. OMSI, who took the whole airport/flying experience completely in stride. I was not quite sure how he would react since he has shown some sound sensitivity in the past, but he was perfect and acted like being in the airport and flying were completely routine. Actually, he was very good the entire weekend (besides some hormonal behavior)...my little Punk is growing up into a nice dog!
Picture below: Hemet (L), and Baja (R)
The BC for Baja's dad (and Jaba's dad), Hemet, picked me up from the airport and we went back to her house for a couple hours before driving to Santa Rosa. So, OMSI had his first swimming opportunity since he was a little puppy. At first, he watched the other dogs leaping into the pool after toys with a shocked expression on his face. Then he started running around the pool looking at the toys being thrown in. After watching the other dogs jump in several times, OMSI just leaped in after. I guess he didn't feel the need to start small and wade down the steps...he just jumped right in from the side of the pool, and then promptly sunk for a second and came up flailing. He finally splashed his way over to the stairs and climbed out, and then jumped right back in after another toy. He seemed to have no fear of going into the water, even though he really couldn't swim. He got a little better by the end, and the next time he went swimming (Saturday after we got back from Santa Rosa), he could even go a little way without splashing. I'll post a video of him swimming when I get it uploaded. He definitely has potential to be a dock jumping dog like his daddy!




We drove to Santa Rosa for the Friday night Reception where I met Baja and his BC. He was very excited to see me and looked as good as ever. I spent the night at Baja's BCs house, and got one last night of snuggling with Baja (now that he's a breeder, he can sleep on the bed :-). He and OMSI played very well together (Baja avoided OMSI as a puppy). Saturday we went to the CCI graduation, and I got to meet Baja's latest "date" Pala. Sadly, Blaze and his BCs were not able to come. I had found out a little while ago that Baja's current BCs are moving to Oregon, and I was able to meet the couple who are going to foster Baja and possibly become his new BC if he gets along with their current dogs.
After graduation we went to see a couple of Baja's litters. The first, Shira's "Z" litter, is 4 weeks old and absolutely adorable. The girls' names are Zeeda, Zalia, and Zaida, and the boys are Zale, Zico, Zolo, Zinji. Kashi's "D" litter was the second litter we visited and they are one week old. The girls are Danica II, Devi, Davielle II, Darlan, Davida II, Dulce, and Dee II. They boys are Darius, Denver II, Drake IV. This was the first time I've been able to visit any of CCI's litters and it was a lot of fun. I really hope some of these puppies come up to Washington to be raised!
I spent the night on Saturday at Hemet's BCs house, and OMSI got to swim for the second time. It was dark by the time we got home, and OMSI wasn't too sure about jumping into a dark pool (the pool lights weren't working). But, after a few minutes he took the leap. Sunday morning I went back to the airport for the flight home, and got to sit by another Puget Sound raiser who had just turned-in a dog. Again, OMSI was perfect in the airport and on the flight.