Hope Springs Eternal

We can still hope.

Hi there everybody!

First off, thank you all so much for taking the time to submit photos to me for our annual contest for our Gift Shop calendar. The response we got was overwhelming, and we're thrilled with all of the photos. It was really hard to narrow down our choices for the 12 main photos that will be featured in each month of the calendar, but the selections have been made and the winners have been notified.

You are receiving this email because your submission has not been chosen as one of the large, main photos - but please do not despair! If you are familiar with the calendar, you know that in addition to the main photo at the top of every month, we include numerous smaller pictures throughout the calendar grid pages. It's my mission this year to include as many of the appropriate submissions as possible within the calendar as a whole - so there is a very good chance that your photo will still be included! (Keep in mind that the photos need to meet our resolution requirements in order to be printed - certain submissions, unfortunately, are too low-resolution to include in the final printed piece.) As promised, ALL submitted photos will be posted to our website in a photo slide show; the details and links to the slide show will be published in GDB's May enewsletter, due out next week.

So thank you again for submitting all of your great pictures, and I hope everyone looks forward to seeing the finished results (the calendar should be available in July).

Sincerely,

Morry Anne Angell
Creative Manager

But Wait there's more

my favorite band



even cooler

Not a dog post

But Way Cool Anyway

for more go to eepybird.com

Sunny Days.....

Chasing the clouds away....

The Furminator

So I did it. I was in a weak moment, I was reveling in all the things that I could now buy for Waffle, cute collars, leashes and dog treats I was in a buying mood. I dropped some big bucks for the thing.

I saw the red and white one at petco but I wasn't sure how well it worked and my will was still strong. "no way" I told myself that's a whole bag of dog food in that brush. We have tons of brushes: the zoom groom - Taco's fav, the shedding blade - Waffle's fav, a slicker brush - no one's fav, and a ton of other regular brush type of brush

But later on I was thinking I have two dogs now, there was hair all over the family room floor, I was looking fa stick vac so I could suck the hair up (yes I know a broom works for that) -But in my little mind I figured it was easier to brush her than to sweep it up later, especially if I brush her outside where I really don't have to sweep it up. aaaahhhhaaa cha-ching

all of this came from half of a full grown lab (not pictured Lani chased her away), she was sleeping on the other half

The verdict: Well it does get the hair off - does it do it better than the shedding blade yes and no. The furminator gets the deep undercoat and pulls hair that the blade misses and it seems to get the fur off in one sitting as opposed to a couple of brushings. Could we have done with just the shedding blade. Most likely - but hey I haven't had to sweep the floor this week.

Let's get ready to ruuuuuumbbbbbbbble

Pretty typical of their 'play', whose on top flips flops. Lani is wearing the yellow bandanna.

This goes on until someone gets their feelings hurt and then it's really on. Usually it is Lani who loses her cool, I can call Waffle off but the baby is still hot.

Yet somehow this is how they ended the night. Neither one wanted to give up the opportunity sleep with my mom.

Dominance

So the Waffle has finally figured out that she is staying, and has figured out that she is the big dog in the house. She has staked a claim on the bed in the kennel. Even though I have a bed outside of the kennel, she wants her old bed back! it is a race in the evening to see who gets there first. Who ever gets there 1st gets it for the night. Lani is still a pain in Waffle's ass, she takes toys that she is chewing on, bites her legs, jumps on her head ect... Alone with people Lani is great. All day today she walked on a loose leash, very little garbage mouth behavior no jumping, but place her with another dog and she becomes the devil's child! Everyone says that is normal, I hope she grows out of it.

I'm still watching to see if the play is dominance wrestling (a no-no with GDB), puppy play (ok, for a while) or Waffle just teaching Lani a lession. So tonight Waffle won the kennel race so Lani will have to sleep on tie-down at the foot of my bed.

So far the kennel score: WAFFLE 2, LANI 1

My Day

So on most Sunday's my pep's take me out to the local farmers market. I like it a lot bc I get soooo much attention! I guess I'm very sweet, well behaved, beautiful, and in need of much petting - gee I'm a rock star! That's what everyone kept telling me. Later we ran some errands Target, Costco and then we got a phone call. My Auntie Kathy called and said let's go to the Cherry Blossom Festival! Oooooohhhh more people and lots and lots of DOGS! Mom put my Halti on bc I was 'acting out'. One little sniff-- ok it was more than one but hey I'm still a pup.


Me - Laughing at convention


Mmmmm bacon


I'm being stalked by a small child


Is that popcorn I smell?

YUP!

Make sure to take time to smell the roses



Afterwards we ran a lot of errands, including a quick trip to the Cherry Blossom Festival.


At Target they have these really cute garden sets for kids all with different animal themes. Mom tried to get me to try on the giraffe boots, but I told her they weren't my color. Here I am posing for the new GDB calendar, except mom forgot to move my leash- it's covering my jacket. By then I was sooo tired I pretended that if I had to look at the camera I was going to die! So mom and Auntie Kathy gave up and got a snow cone and...

I got a nap!

Laters,

Lani

Calendar pics

So Mom and I cheated a bit- since we both are co-raisers we each submitted a picture of the Waffle. Here is one of her better pictures, we have others but none with her uniform.

This was taken just before we got into the car to drive her back to GDB.

Unfortunately we don't have many good pictures Lani in uniform, I guess we will have to work on that for next year's calendar.

Things are quieting down her at home. Waffle is slowly adjusting to life as a house pet. She is wary and kind of unsure of what is going on. Lani, who is Waffle's half niece, is certainly playing the role of the little sis to the fullest. Waffle has let her know in uncertain terms that she will only tolerate so much, but that just winds up Lani who thinks it's great that the big girl is willing to engage her. It is kind of monkey see monkey do. If Waffle is drinking water, well Lani wants water, what ever toy Waffle is playing with Lani wants, they are even fighting over the kennel. It is a race to see who will get there first, whoever is second has to sleep free in my room--wah wah wah. Go figure who knew that was a consolation prize.

Missed it

Missed it, Lani has these funny dreams. She grunts and her tail wags. It is hilarious! But it happens so fast I never catch it oh well. I wonder if she is dreaming of jumping into a doggy pool filled with kibble (Science Diet, Lamb and Rice Large Breed Puppy of course)

Hey Hey The Waffle's Back!

Well, it was a hard call, but she's Back!
Thanks to everyone for your kind words.

We are having some adjustment issues right now. She really doesn't like Lani. She seems to be afraid of her, Waffle is very aloof and moves away when the baby comes by. Poor Lani doesn't understand she brings her toys, does the little chase me wiggle- she keeps trying to engage Waffle, she really reminds me of a pesky little sister who keeps pecking and pecking and pecking away. So far Waffle is resisting but I'm putting my money on Lani.

My Weekend

Note I don't get control of the computer very often, so this post is very, very long

Lani writing her blog

Lani here- this is the 100th post so in honor of that Carrie let me take over the blog (Carrie: for now Lani, just for now)

I had a really big weekend I mean big I had a few friends over for the week end. My people's first GDB Dog Tacoma came over for a visit, her family went rock climbing and my friend Melody is coming over for a visit. My people said something about being an a lonely only. Whatever I didn't care I had so much fun.

Me and The Taco Bell

Tacoma is a big girl but I showed her, I needed her to remember that she was in my house. So I followed her around and whenever she peeed and I went right over and did my business right over it. That showed her!

Playing Tug with the Jolly Ball

She is BIG wow long legs and best of all she liked to play chase. I had two safe spots, one in the bushes and the other in the corner in the planter, I'd tag her turn and run, run, run and run, but she always got me - hence the safe spots. I'd catch my breath and then we'd start all over again. But then things got rough I had to show her who was boss - and you can see who learned the lesson.

But then Melody showed up...... and the party was on! Boy if you've never run wild with two of your best buds, you're missing out in life. It was a blast, mom was such a killjoy, we could run as much as we wanted outside. Inside was a different story- we were having so much fun only two of us could be out at a time. Something about wreaking havoc in the house - sshessh people live in the moment, you have Cesar Milan's book.

It was great they'd run left and I'd run left, they'd dart into the bushes and I'd take off after them as fast as my 4 month old legs could carry me. Mel is 10 months old and Taco is 3 years old so their legs are a lot longer and they have all their adult teeth. Mom says brushing mine should be a snap now - 'cuz most of them fell out!

This is pretty much how the whole weekend went. The two big girls playing and me tryin' to sneak in

Lani, Melody, and Taco

This is where Taco slept, all day she would go in and out of the kennel, but at bed time she refused! Man I need to take notes! My people gave in and let her sleep free, and while they were snoozing she jumped up on the bed/sofa what ever was around. Smoooooooth they never had clue.

Taco, Melody, and Lani all waiting for dinner, it was like musical bowls, once we were all done. Each of us would have to look to see if someone missed a bite.

Taco and Me

Mom says Taco is her problem child, what ever that means, she was the best behaved out of all of us. Mom would ask me to sit and Taco sat, I figured since one of us did it that we were good. Melody and I let Taco do all the commands all weekend. Couldn't figure out why mom was sooo cheesed off.

So Taco is a career change pup so she to me that just means she gets to eat snacks and sleep on the sofa, so while she was watching Oprah at home, Mel and I went to work. I went to my first movie. Horton Hears a Who. Can't say if I recommend it I never really saw much of it, during the Kung Fu Panda previews I got scared and bolted for the door. I don't care what you say, there is just something not right with a talking Panda (carrie's note: eehmm, eehhmm ah Lani a typing dog? ) So I spent the movie in the hallway. Afterwards we walked around the mall and did a little browsing at Borders, the Marley book is out in paper back.

Mom said something about lunch and I got happy, I used to get lunch but they cut that out a while ago. But you can tell by my expression, we weren't the ones eating.

So I won some sort of contest from GDB and they sent me a box full of beauty supplies, which I thought was pretty cool until I learned they all involved water. So my people set up a dog wash assembly line. Someone washed, the other dried.

Mel has the best hazel eyes, I've ever seen

Mom went photo crazy so embarrassing.

Well my weekend was a blast, lots of friends coming and going, shopping, movies even the bath wasn't so bad. My people said they have another surprise, something about Waffles. MMM covered in syrup and butter....... more about that later.

The Call

So we got 'the call' about Waffle. You're never ready for it, I was picking up a friend at the airport when my leader called, it was crazy and it really didn't sink in until much latter.


Here's her drop notice

SUMMARY: Waffle is a small female with high energy. She was a very willing worker while in training as well as being very food motivated. She showed tendencies to become wet mouth at times. She took a while to warm up to her primary instructor, once she did she became more affectionate and respectful. She had an average to below average distraction level and seem to take on a very serious working attitude in guidework. At times, Waffle had fear reactions towards people in the kennel environment and her recovery was slow in these situations. A set-up situation with an unusual looking person opening an umbrella was done outside of the kennels to further evaluate her temperament. Waffle had a significant fear reaction by barking and bolting away. She did well in CR with other dogs and bones – she seem to prefer chewing on her bone than playing with dogs. She has been roomed with another dog, she played appropriately but has been known to dive for her roommate food. I had a great time with Waffle, she is a fun dog and I wish her well.

She is currently eating 3C SD L & R as well as a stuffed kong a day.
RELEASE REASON(S): 21101 - BEH: Fearful Behavior People Generalized
LOCATION (if applicable):
IMPORTANCE: Primary

I guess they really liked her work drive, they kept working with her on her fear issues but I guess it was too much. It is interesting about the whole food issue because of all our pups, she is the most delicate eaters. She would pick up one kibble at a time crunch it and enjoy her meal. I wonder if that and th e whole 'wet mouth' thing is due to kennel stress. My dogs have never been kenneled prior to being recalled. I know that GDA encourages their pups to spend time in the kennel so they are less stressed when they go in. I think we will start putting Lani in a kennel for a short period of time to get her adjusted to the crazy-ness of it all.

So now comes the hard part, the reality of it is we are not sure if we can handle two dogs at one time. Lani can be puppy sat, but Waffle.... plus could she be happy with us or does she deserve to be with a young family like Tacoma's. Grapes aside, they take her hiking, to the beach, skiing, she has play dates, she gets to sleep on the sofa, and eat snacks - hey come to think of it can be adopted by these people. She is coming home this weekend, so we are going to see how that works out. It would be nice to have an older pup around, one who can show the new kids what's up. But I worry that she will be resentful that she can't go places and has to stay home a lot without her friends.

there is a lot to think about.

GDB Calendar

Dog Bloggers it's here. I just want to encourage all my GDB dog blog friends to send your pictures in for the new calander. I just read my monthly email and I saw the 'call'. I love hearing all your stories (as well as all my other puppy raising friends) and watching your pups grow. So Angel, Sherman, Suede, Eagle, Spike, Chris, Kimora, Lester, Hobbs, Lyn, Andy-ros, Myra and anyone else that I have missed, get your photos in for the new calander.

here is the link
http://www.guidedogs.com/site/PageServer?pagename=news_newsletters_monthly_2008april

Carrie

Always the look of suprise

I'm sure Waffle feels like quoting Harry Potter -"always to tone of surprise" when we open up the phase report and find that she has moved up!

Waffle is in phase 9!

that's all I'm goin to say 'cuz I don't want to jinx it.

But I will say to my girl, never doubted you for a sec. :p

everyone is a critic

Not sure if this is a sign that at 4 months Lani and I have achieved a level of trust around food.........

or

it is a comment on my taste in snacks. (I vote the later, the soyjoy bar sucked!, I didn't even finish it)