MERRRY CHRISTMAS! Wishing everyone and their pups a wonderful Christmas!

Phase 10

DeSoto 49N7 LAB M 10 No

I was very excited this morning when I saw the phase report in my inbox. I was hoping DeSoto would be in 9, but instead he was in 10! I am happy he decided to get with the program and not hang in 8 forever. I am very anxious to get a call. I am hoping for the good one, but if it is the CC`d call he will be picked up by me and be my forever pet. I am very proud of DeSoto for making it through all the phases, and I will be very proud of him for whatever he decides to be.

Katlynn & Focus

6th Folder 6th Photo Game

I was tagged by Elizabeth and Alana to play the photo game!

Rules: go to your picture folder, and in the 6th folder, choose the 6th picture and tell the story behind that photo. And then tag six more people to play!

This is a photo of DeSoto at Cabela`s in front of a big polar bear. DeSoto was around 5 moths old when this picture was taken. DeSoto did great with all the statues at Cabela`s for only being 5 months old!

Since I don`t know who has played this game, I tag everyone who has not played!

Katlynn & Focus

Hmmmmm

DeSoto 49N7 LAB M 8 No

Diva 400N LAB F 8 No

DeSoto, how sad is this?! Your sister is in the same phase you are and you have been there a month longer?

I am starting to wonder if I will be recieving a Christams present soon because DeSoto is in 8 and most of the other dogs in his string are in 10. I know DeSoto is doing the best he can. Maybe phase 8 is so much fun he just can`t leave?! Or maybe he just loves spending time with his sister. I know either phone call I will be sad. DeSoto will always have a special place in my heart wheather it be a guide or my forever pet.

Get moving little boy!

Katlynn & Focus

DeSoto Pictures!!

First off, I would like to thank Kelsey for the wonderful pictures of my boy!

While Emily and Kelsey were in the kennels picking up Suede, they happened to see a little friend of mine. I was so excited when I got the e-mail and could not wait to see them. DeSoto looks great and seems to be very happy playing. I now regret not going to the graduation, but I think it would have been very hard for me to see him and not even get to say hi. In this picture Kelsey said he just got corrected, seems like he is wanting to do his own thing.
This is a group picture of all the dogs, DeSoto is on the very far right.

Thanks again Kelsey!

Katlynn & Focus

San Francisco

San Francisco was great and so was Focus. The 4 hour car drive was great Focus mostly slept or chewed on his bones. When we got there is was dark but Focus needed some exercise so we decided to walk on down to the mall. I was anxious to see how Focus would react to all the noises, smells, etc. and he acted like it was no big deal. The main reason we went to San Francisco was because my mom won the raffle tickets for the Guide Dog Lunch-In. Focus by a old train car that was in a parking lot at one of are rest stops.
Focus at the Lunch-In. The Lunch-In was very great and had good food. Focus behaved himself well by sleeping the entire time. There were some guests speakers one being Morgan Watkins and his guide dog Will. His speech was great. Another lady and her guide came up and talked and than they presented puppies to the raisers. At the end everyone got to go up and see the puppies. They all were very cute and I wanted to take one home.

Focus on the cable car.

Focus at Pier 39 checking out the Sea Lions.

The Sea Lions.

How could I not have taken a picture of this?

Alcatraz.

The Golden Gate

With our our tickets we also got a tour of the San Rafael campus. I just had to take a picture of the 3/4 golden liter who`s mom happens to be Cheyenne. There are 9 in the litter, and I believe the lady said the letter started with an "F". Overall the trip was great and I hope to go there agaon with another guide dog puppy.

Hope everone has a great rest of their weekend!

Katlynn & Focus

Phase 8-Boring!

DeSoto 49N7 LAB M 8 No

Ok DeSoto, it`s really time to start making a move. Remember, graduation is January 31.
San Francisco post tomorrow!

Katlynn & Focus

25 Things I`ve Done

Things I've Done. To participate just copy and paste in your own blog, and bold all of the things you have done.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty (soon!)
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen an eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square (Soon!)
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House (Soon!)
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

Katlynn & Focus

Phase 8 Still

DeSoto 49N7 LAB M 8 No

Ok DeSoto I think it is time to stop flirting with all the cute girls, and get down to business.

Katlynn & Focus

Happy Thanksgiving!

First off I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I sure did! Thursday I helped my mom a little in the kitchen but I mostly helped get all the plates, silver wear, etc out and cleaned. We had friends and family come over and join us. Everything tasted delicious, I wish I could have eaten more! Thanksgiving dinner was great. Focus was locked up in the kennel just because I did not want him to bother anyone and be tempted to help himself. I did not hear a peep from him because that morning we took Dietrich (my pet) and Focus running in the hills. Focus of course did not get to go off leash, but he got a good 2 mile hike.

Today my mom got up at 4 a.m. and went shopping. I was too lazy to get up so I slept in. She got a some good deals, but my favorite was:




This is my Thanksgiving present and early Christmas present. I was in need of a camera before Christmas because I don`t think I mentioned this but my mom won a a raffle prize of 2 tickets to the annual Guide Dog lunch-in, in San Francisco at the Gala a few weeks ago. I just could not go and not have a camera to take pictures of Focus in the city. The lunch-in will be on December 10. So since I could not leave it in the box I had to take some photos of Focus!

Focus in his Large vest. I know he is growing up WAY too fast, he`s already 50 some pounds.

I have many things to be thankful for, way to many to list. So I will list one.

DeSoto 49N7 LAB M 8 No

Katlynn & Focus

Hanging in 8

DeSoto 49N7 LAB M 8 No

My fingers are crossed that next week he`ll be in 9!

Katlynn & Focus

P.S. I am filling out my application for my 3rd puppy who I hope is a male cross!

An Update

Focus today turned 6 months. My how time flies! On Saturday we had a club meeting at the Museum. Focus was very good. Sunday was the Dogs With Hearts of Gold Gala II. I really enjoyed the Gala and hope I can go next year. The 1st hour was a silent auction with some neat things. Focus and I were talking to people and answering questions etc. I also did some Juno work which was very fun. The last two houres were spent waiting lunch and listen to guest speakers. Morgans Watkins was one of them with his guide Will, who was raised in our club. His speech was very good! Focus was very well behaved the entire time and I was very happy. The last part was was the raffle. My mom actually won! She won 2 tickets to the guide dog banquet in San Francisco and a tour of the campus. Of course I will be going with Focus and he will get the experience of being in the city where his big brother DeSoto is working now. More on that later. After everyone left our CFR wanted to evaluate Focus, since in October he was doing to biting stuff, not aggressive though. She said he has really improved and that he can go back to school now! Today he went and was great, no problems. Everyone was very happy to see him and said how much bigger he was! Focus was not very photo energetic on Saturday so most of the pictures he was not looking.

On the compass

Hope everyone has a great week!

Katlynn & Focus

Lucky 8

DeSoto 49N7 LAB M 8 No

As you can see, he is still in 8, which is great I had not expected him to move to 9. Sunday is the Gayla and I am very excited! Look for a post later this weekend!

Katlynn & Focus

100th Post!

Sorry it`s a week late! Focus was a skunk for Halloween.

DeSoto 49N7 Lab M 8 N0

My boy is in 8! Yeah! So close to the goal!

Katlynn & Focus

Chillin

DeSoto 49N7 LAB M 7 No

No change. I am so proud of my boy for making it this far! Keep going.
It also looks like another one of the"D" pups made their way to the kennels this week!
Diamond 49N9 LAB F 1 Yes

Skipping By

DeSoto 49N7 LAB M 7 No

"Who needs to go through 6 anyway when you are as smart as I am?" I am very happy and shocked that in one week he accomplished the requirements for 5 and 6, which were not easy. In the next phases DeSoto will be going to San Francisco and improving his guiding skills. I am so happy DeSoto, thank you for making it this far and hopefully farther!

Katlynn & Focus

P.S. Though I wish DeSoto was here at my house playing ball, it would make me very happy to see him in harness doing the job he is supposed to do.

Outing at Scheel`s

Today since I had no school, my family and I headed on up to Scheel`s. Scheel`s is a sporting good store and has everything you could possibly want for sports! Though I am not a real sports person I found that store very fun! My favorite was probably the Ferris wheel! Of course Focus did not ride! We made are way upstairs and ran into this NASCAR simulator, where you get in a replica car and it feels like you are actually there. Focus was well behaved and was very curious about all the talking presidents scattered around the store. After Scheel`s we headed home where we met Emily and Kelsey. We were all going up to Virginia City to have an old time photo taken with us and our dogs. It turned out very cute and the dogs cooperated very well. Since all our faces are in it I can`t post it, sorry! But none the less here are some pictures of Focus at Scheel`s.

By some bears

By Thomas Jefferson

The Ferris Wheel.

Focus by the fish tank. "wow these things actually move!"

Katlynn & Focus

Fall Photos and Focus Update

I know, I know I have not done an update on Focus in quite a while. So I will start with our CFR coming to town.

About 2 weeks ago our CFR came to town and she taught use the new command 'go to bed' and the marker word 'nice' which we are aloud to use treats for. There were 2 groups one in the morning and an afternoon group with a picnic in between with everyone. Focus and I were the morning group. Focus was probably the worst and picking up the requirements in order to get the treat, he rather just jump at you and get it himself. :) Some of the other puppies picked it up very quick and were doing awesome! After everyone and there pup got to go, we had lunch. After lunch I talked with Celeste and explained all the issues Focus has been having (growling at you when he does not want to stay still it`s not a mean growl it`s kinda like no I am not going to do this, eating everything off the floor, barking for food, having bad tie down manners) and she suggested we use treats for everything for a month and than she would like to evaluate him. I was happy to hear that because Focus is quite food motivated. He basically knows all his command pretty well except stand we are working on that. His growling has improved so much that all I have to do know is give him a correction and say "nice" and he stops and waits for me to give him a treat.

Focus has also been staying with my mom every day while I go to school because of the growling thing, so maybe after Celeste evaluates him he will be able to go again. He has been going lots of places with my mom during the day: our shop, grocery stores, malls, restaurants and walking up in the hills. So hopefully he`ll be able to get a lot of experiences while not at school which is great!

He also has had a yeast and bacterial infection in his ears for about two weeks and is on medication. Also, since about 3 other puppies in our groups have bacterial infections and is causing dierreah, Focus decided to have it too! We took him in yesterday after him having dierreah all night and they were not able to test his stool sample because they did not have the right staff to do it. So maybe by the end of the week we`ll know. But for know he is on medication to help clear up the dierreah and a chicken and rice diet. They also looked at his ears and said there is still bacteria in there so he is still on medication for his ears.

He acts normal for the most part, sleeps a little more than usual. I hope he will be up for out club`s annual trip to Virginia City. Hopefully if we go I will post sometime this weekend!





And yes it is Thursday, we all know what that means!
DeSoto 49N7 LAB M 5 No
Yeah he moved up! Go DeSoto you are 50% done keep up the good work!
In phase 5 DeSoto is doing some guide work in San Rafael. He instructor is blindfolded for about 14 blocks while being spotted by another instructor. His instructor will be able to tell where is strengths and weakness lie. He will have many opportunities to pass the test. But we all know you can do it the 1st time! :) He will also be having some more medical tests.

Katlynn & Focus

Still There :)

DeSoto 49N7 LAB M 4 No

Did not move up, but at least he is still there. :)

Katlynn & Focus

Phase Report

Well it is Thursday! After reading other people`s blogs and hearing about all the Career Changes, I am just so happy to see that his name is still there every week!

DeSoto 49N7 LAB M 4 No
Diva 400N LAB F 1 No
Orwell 45N7 LAB M 1 No
Sherwood 46M3 LAB M 7 No

Keep up the good work Soto!

Katlynn & Focus

Candy Dance

Today Taylor (a puppy raiser in my club) and I decided it would be fun to go to the annual Candy Dance in Genoa. Fantom and Focus were very well behaved and did great! For those of you who don`t know what it is, it is basically a lot of people that make crafts and it is a large craft fair. I was really happy with Focus because he delt with all the people very good and got lots of attention! Towards the end he was very tired, we must have walked about a mile or so. We were there for about 3 houres and on the way back into town we stopped at Chili`s to get lunch! The dogs were awesome they were so tired they just slept and you would not have known they were there!

We stopped at a both and bought each of the dogs a Kool Hat. They are very nice and even have a cloth material inside so you can wet it with water and keep your dog kool. Fantom already had one, but it was to small so he got a bigger one.
Focus not so thrilled about the hat, but being tolerant of it.


On another note, Focus was with my leaders all week and I got him back on Thursday. They said he was very good and has great house manners. They also enjoyed taking him on walks and out in the public. I was happy to hear that!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Katlynn & Focus

New Comers!

DeSoto 49N7 LAB M 3 No
Diva 400N LAB F 1 Yes
Orwell 45N7 LAB M 1 No

It looks like DeSoto`s sister Diva has joined the fun (Soto you better lead her down the right road) and Orwell a dog in our club that went back Saturday. I wish the best of luck to all these guys!

Katlynn & Focus