Happy Thanksgiving

by Lani and Waffle

We the resident dogs are thankful for a lot of things, people are spending today eating themselves silly, so us dogs - who would like to- but lack opposable thumbs, used our noses to post this message. (wait til carrie sees the laptop :))

The dogs are thankful for:

kibble, warm blankets, dry grass, kibble, heaters in the winter, fans in the summer, kibble, toddlers who drop snacks on the floor, toddlers who smear snacks all over the family dog, Kibble, sunrises (time to play), kibble, sunset (time to snuggle up), kibble, walks around the neighborhood, our human mom and BFF, costco dog beds, kibble, people pillows that fall on the floor, tummy rubs, ear sudgies, clean water and kibble...

Pillows in the Sun

Snuggly Friends

Big Girl Kennels

Nylabones, and Jollyballs

Peanut Butter (Lani: Peanut What?)

Silly Humans

Runs on the Beach

sharing with friends.

'Cuz here is one thing us dogs know that humans seem slow to pick up on. Until your paws are empty they will never be free to receive all the good things the universe has to offer (like kibble). So we are thankful for being able to share what we have EVERYDAY.

You have opposable thumbs what are you waiting for?

Guide Dogs for the Blind

Kiva

****No turkeys were harmed in the making of this post. ****

Man...

My pups are sooooooooooo LA. (and were not talkin' Louisiana)

Just how LA are they? Well we are seeing possibly the 1st rain Lani has ever had to pee in and she doesn't like it. I had to drag both girls out to the wet soggy lawn, I even had to block Waffle's dash back into the house, and in the process lost Lani. I had to get her leash and take her. And yes they both practiced the famous tri-pod pee method.

I tired to explain to Lani that GDB has a lot of rain and she'd better get used to it. Why do I always get the labs who haven't read the lab hand book.

Los Angeles Rain a rare sight to behold

Puppy Daddy

This in from the latest post from GDB's blog, all about new careers for career changed pups. One of them was as cancer detectors. Several former GDB dogs tried out to be part of the study but guess who made the cut? Freeman - My Taco Bell's -Dad!

Tacoma
Taco as she is now called by her forever family is known to have been my problem child. But she always has been the most beautiful and wickedly smart of all my pups. She is bright but also slightly ADHD *sigh* remember she is the one who ate the paper clip and had to have emergency surgery at Funday, and later she chowed on 3lbs of grapes......but she is loved by all.

Daddy Freeman

They had a nice write up about all of the dogs chosen for the study at the Pine Street Foundation. The agency doing the study. They have found that pups can actually find and detect cancer just from the breath! Wow amazing.

I think the last black lab in the cancer segment is Freeman. Don't know him personally, but his collar tags match his picture. So yeah GO DADDY!

Dear Mom

I miss you!

When are you coming home? You flew all the way to eat turkey with Eggo? Lani and I would have shared our kibble with you. I hear Minesoooota is cold and that they make their dogs jump into cold lakes to pick up dead ducks. YUCK!

Aren't you cold? They told me about snow, and who wants to pee in that? I mean Eggo is your daughter and all that, but she has thumbs she can feed herself. Lani and I need you at home.

Speaking of yuck, Carrie dumped me into the tub and scrubbed me good. Now I smell like soap, and not like Labrador. Tonight Carrie tricked me and said "mom's home!" I ran to your bed room looking for you, but you weren't there.

I mean things aren't so bad, your bed is comfortable and Lani goes to work everyday-so I have the house to myself. Carrie has been walking me a lot more, and it is not like I'm starving. But it is not the same. I think Lani misses you more though, in the evening she sits at Carrie's feet and cries and barks, I think she misses how you used to sit with her at night.

All I can say is it that better be some good turkey.

Remember that phone call.....

Well.... I left home and my mom came home about 20 mins later to find this in my room. I put the puppy in the kennel but forgot to latch it. Separate the pups are nice, non-destructive, well mannered dogs. Put them together and it is a different story. As the pictures bare witness.

I think they started wrestling and managed to drag out the round bed, and toss around the square bed and a floor pillow. The sheet, a towel (a good one too....my bad) and the floor pillow all were casualties of the battle.

All the black paper is left over tissue paper, I had an event last week and I made these tissue 'snowflakes' called papel picado, what is all around the room are the little cut outs that came from making these.

My little 'angels' - I made good use of the red sheet. All wrapped up for Christmas- any takers?

Marley and Me

Hobbie, my leader's CC'd MYL tried out for the part of Marley, while plenty naught (a counter surfer extraordinar) he didn't make the cut. Anyone know about the dog that did?




A former leader of mine said when this happens....

run the other way so the puppy will follow, yeah right

Fire Update

Thanks to Joanna I reccieved an update about the fires in Sylmar. I saw the news late last night and it looked awefully close to where GDA is located. Here is an email from Joann's blog.

Hey guys,for those of you who don't know, there is an awful awful fire right near GDA right now. It started late last night and is raging full on today. GDA employees evacuated dogs around 12am last night, and they are all safe. The GDA campus is still in danger itself, so please please pray the fire is stopped quickly before any more damage can be done.It's driving me crazy not being able to help. but all the freeways to where they are are closed so there's really no way to get there. I know some puppy raisers who are able to get there are helping walk the dogs to stretch out their legs. Right now they're staying in the vans and crates, so it's pretty cramped quarters.So please keep GDA in your prayers -- that the campus is safe and the dogs can return (SAFELY) soon. Please keep all the employees out there helping safe and sane. And also, keep the firefighters in your prayers!!

for those who don't live in fire country, we usually see stuff like this once every other year or so, but it seems like we've had quite a few in just the last few months. Let's hope the crazy's don't get an idea and decide to go out and start more.

LA Times Article

GDA

Does anyone know if GDA has an 'official blog'? We are sending wags and kisses to everyone in the path of the latest Cali wildfires. I hope everyone over at GDA is doing ok.

Wildfire flares up in Sylmar

Phone messages

Don't you love the messages you get from home regarding the dogs? I'm visiting someone in ICU at the hospital today after work so I left Lani home with my mom today. here is a sample of the phone call i got today.

Mom: "hey did you lock up the puppy in the kennel?"
me: "I think I did, I put her in - did I not latch it?"
Mom: " ummm yeah"
me: "oh....... is it bad?"
Mom: "I let you decide when you get home"

I'll post evidence later.

Puppy Meeting

Our club is small...in fact at the end of the month we will be positively tiny. Currently we have 4 dogs with two going back to San Rafael at the end of the month. Our CRF Rick, likes to see the pups before they go back so this Sunday we met up with him at Downtown Disney. Well you can't go to Disney without running into at least one service dog. So Guess who we saw?


Guide Puppy In Training.... Russell from Santa Barbara Sight Seers


'Oh whats that?!'
he is such a good boy, and he is in the same club as Lillibell, one of Lani's sisters. I asked Russell if he would pass my business card on to Lillibell's people, I'd love to hear from them.


I was having a hard time getting good pictures of the pup, she looks like a shrimp! Everything at Disney is sooo large and well she is kind of short and stubby. So here we are outside of one of our favorite potty spots. The Grand California has a nice lawn where she can do her business and chill in front of a nice warm fire.


Lani in front of the title mosaic check in desk

Mr. Goof Ball...aka Ritchie posing for the camera

Lani was a bit tired of taking pictures with her friend Melody

This would have been a great pic, but I cut off part of Ms. Melody

The Girls and a human puppy

Foxfire and Lani, who was a little upset when I told her we were NOT going into the park

All in all it was a nice day, sunny- not too hot with lots of blue sky. We did a good bit of training, working on walking on a loose leash in a crowd, and not eating the popcorn off the floor. Rick looked at her and said she was sweet. Sweet, Sweet WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? Waffle was sweet too but she flunked out. So it was a little frustrating that we didn't get too much feed back, but I guess no news is good news. I guess he saw some signs of stress in Ritchie and and mentioned that Foxfire needs a head collar. So I suppose we should be happy. Lani did fine with him but she kept turning around looking for me. She walked around the Rainforest Cafe, past the huge fish tank and over this metal grate and the air door for the restaurant. She was fantastic! wooo hoo what a good girl. So I guess I stick with 'Sweet' for now. I used to think my ego couldn't handle another CC pup, but then in conversation with Rick I come to find out that he hasn't graduated a pup either! His last pup went to Dogs4Diabetics and just graduated, but neither Rick or Melanie (my leader) has had a pup graduate.

One of these days. Until then I guess I'll go snuggle with my sweetie.

I voted

it's late but per Eggo's request....

She fits where?

in and odd cowinkidink Tues was homecoming election at the college where I work. I was staffing the polling station, it was cold and I didn't want Lani sleeping on the cold concrete- so I convinced her to hop up on the rolling cart we used to drag all the stuff out to the quad. She sat for a while and as you can see curled up for a nap. When I was breaking down the polls and popping the balloons, she was more curious than afraid. You just gotta lover her, she is really a good sport about most things, just goes with the flow. I lover her self confidence. It is something I notice that Waffle is a little low it. As long as you can make it sound fun Lani is up for anything.

Like this morning I decide on a whim that she needed a bath, usually we use the outside hose, but it was chilly so I tossed her int he shower and Viola. She now smells like cucumber melon. (I forgot the dog shampoo so I grabbed what was handy.) It was easy no drama, no tantrums, no pouting, no soaking wet labbie laps around the living room (eeheem Waffle)

I love my little pumpkin.

Why Sleeping dogs wish they could lay

Or is it lie?

anyway I was having fun with some socks fromt the Target $1.00 bins.

The Waffler with the 'don't even think it glare'

He, he, he, he

Tummy Time by Lani

Do any of you other pups have this problem? Your tummy says it's time to eat, but the clock doesn't agree. It has been especially bad since something called 'day light savings' my BFF said we moved the clocks back an hour so that we have more daylight during the morning. Ooooohhhh I wish she had explained this earlier to me.

You see on Sunday Waffle and I woke up the sun looked right and there was a rumbly in my tumbly so I went off to wake up the peeps. Well they rolled over and told us to get lost that it was too early. *HUH?* So we tried again a little less polite Waffle jumped up to plead our case and all we got was a scolding.

I should tell you Waffle has a great sense of time. The peeps usually tell her "7am or 8:15" and she is pretty spot on with getting us all up at that time. So I just trust her judgement on time and even though my tummy says it's time to eat all the time I watch her and follow lead. So when she started complaining about dinner being late I chimed in and started in too. Both of us sitting on the living room floor mumbling under our breaths, until finally my BFF said "that's enough both of you!"

By now even Waffle is trying to figure out whats up, so Monday morning when she woke up at the regular time and no response from the peeps, she hopped up on top of Carrie's chest and demanded some answers. That's when we got the whole day light savings time lecture. I have to admit it is a good idea, but people should take a lesson from us dogs. When the light comes up it is time to eat and play and when it's dark we sleep.

Watches! we don't need no stikin' watches. When it's Tummy Time it is Tummy Time

Happy Halloween

A long time ago when I started this blog it was just me and Waffle's human sister (my sister infact) in St. Paul, MN. It was a way for me to share pics and news with Eggo ( my sister). So Eggo here you go, the Halloween pics. Lani actually helped hand out cookies to kids. But she did a costume change and wore Waffle's old Incredibles outfit.

Other news, we took Lani to Costco and she was being a brat. Well not really but still kind of bratty. We've been trying to get her used to her halti, which she hates. All in all she is excellent walking on a loose leash, but at GDB they often train in a head collar, so I wanted her to be comfortable in one. Well the whole time she is there she is pouting about having to wear her halti. Ears down, puppy eyes and rubbing against me tying to get it off. Silly Labbie- suck it up! After a while she perked up, especially after she kept getting complements from people, after a while I gave her a break and took it off. She perked up and was well behaved the rest of the trip. She kept looking at me as if to say "see I don't need the halti". Other than that she was pretty good about the carts, kids and gunk on the floor. We looked at the moving, singing and twinkling lights that are on display for xmas and she didn't even blink an eye, I don't think she really noticed things up that high.

We got home and Waffle and I took a nap on the sofa (the perks of being a college drop out!) and after being put out by smelly dog breath, we did a little personal hygiene with the girls. The little one was much better at the teeth and ear thing than the big girl who just wanted to steal the tub of toothpaste and run into the yard.

Mom wanted a picture of the pups next to the plumeria tree with the de-constructed jack-o-lantern.

I told Waffle that she's turning into a grumpy old dog, so for Halloween I pulled out the Eeyore costume.

Lani was watching the Bee Movie on TV in preparation for her Halloween costume

Ok in the end they both looked so miserable that we just made them wear the costumes for the pictures. The video is of Waffle walking around in her outfit. The 'costume's are actually terry cloth toddler bath 'hoodies' - those towels you wrap kids up in after a bath.

I'mmmmmm Back!!!!!!!!!!

I'm back! yes after a nice stay at camp Linda (aka the puppy sitter) I'm home again. My BFF picked me up at our puppy meeting. Actually I was much more excited to see my puppy pals: Richie, Melody and Foxfire. I was so excited to see them I was hopping and jumping I didn't even notice that my BFF was even there. Then Linda (that's me and her) pointed her out to me. I was so excited my entire body wiggled.

This is Richie, the big boy of our club, he goes to college next month. Such a goofy guy he likes to 'talk' with his paws. If you're close enough he likes 'pat' you in the face. Some times he's a little rough but I know he means well.


But just in case I stayed clear of his big feet.

This is the way Melody likes to sit. It is kind of funny, I guess though this means she has good hips. Rick our CRF was very excited when he saw her.


Here is Foxfire, kind of a mouthful if you ask me. I mean that's almost a two bark name. But he is really fun, although I worry just how big he's going to be. You see I'm 11 months old and he is just 5 months and we are the same size!

Foxfire and Richie

We were waiting for a table at the Cheesecake Factory and the boys started goofying around. I don't mean to brag but those two kept playing under the table during dinner - not like me I was good (Carrie: aaahhemm, aaahheeem Lani, did you mention that you were seated on the far side of the table by yourself.....hhhhhmmmmm?)

Eeewwwhhh you have dog breath

Melody, Me, Ritchie and Foxfire

Our little club. Which by November will be getting a lot smaller, Ritchie and Meli go back at Thanksgiving, and no one wants to get a new dog just before Christmas, which I think is quite silly. Who wouldn't want one of us think of all the fun, the tree, the lights, great uncle Jimmy's cane. Sadly I think most will be waiting until spring, when we might be getting 3 new pups.

I was asking Waffle what college is like and she said it is pretty fun. Not as nice as being at home, I hear the dorms are a little spartan, but she said I'd get to eat fun things like peanut butter. I like to eat so I hope it's fun but I'm not sure I want to leave home.

Speaking of fun, at our meeting we got to hang out at this outdoor mall with these crazy fountains. They shot jets of water up high into the air, it went 'poof' and the water splashed, it was cool I had to stop and watch and watch and watch, then I realized that noise that I usually tune out was my BFF and it was time to go home.

Ahhhh there's no place like home.