Fall Colors

Our neighbor has this beautiful tree and around this time every year all the leaves turn this red/yellow color and it is a perfect picture spot! Ryder is now 4 months old, which means no more lunch feedings! He is almost there with being trusted in vest, potty wise, but besides that he is an awesome little guy!

2011 Calender Photo?

Focus is in phase 7! He`s only been in training for about a month and he`s 70% done! I am so proud of him and hope he keeps up the good work.

Off to puppy meeting in an hour, hopefully he will be a star!

Katlynn & Ryder

Advancing Boys

Ryder has been growing and maturing like a weed! As you can probably tell from the pictures he is in a medium vest. He got is 16 week old shots today and he weighed in at 35lbs! He has gained 11 pounds from his 12 week shots. The vet estimated him to be about 80lbs when he`s full grown.

He is getting more and more trust worthy in vest and can go in a store for about 15-20 minutes before we start to worry, we are down to about taking him out every hour or so to relieve rather then ever 20 minutes at home. He sleeps through the night great and has not had an accident in a while.

He is a very good little guy in stores, despite the garbage mouth, which we now use a halti to help out with that problem. I hope I will not have to use it very long, just use it to get him out of the "eat everything in sight" phase. I plan on taking him to school in the next couple of weeks, and I am excited to do that! I know he will do great behavior wise, but I am still a little concerned about the relieving issues, since he is not 100% trust worthy.

Our lives have been pretty boring, we got two new puppies in our group, Keno and Gordie. They are both very cute and Gordie seems to be quite the handful! Our club is back to all puppies again except Patrice (8-9 months old?) and Morgana who is going back in October, and Tahoe who lucked out on not getting recalled! Good girl Tahoe. :) I am excited to watch all these guys grow up and hopefully all become guides one day!

Ryder enjoying the fall colors and sporting off his medium jacket!

I think this picture really makes him look tall.

I got the phase report yesterday and Mr. Focus is in phase 5! I am so proud of him and hope he gets to become a working guide. If not, that`s okay too, maybe another job would suite him.

Have a good weekend everybody!

Katlynn & Ryder

Slowly but Surely

I was very surprised to see Focus in phase 2, because since he has already been through breeder evaluations he should be in 3, but I guess 2 is better then a career change call. I do not have any pictures, but I plan on doing a Ryder post this weekend!

Katlynn & Ryder

Focus Has Arrvied

In training that is! After being at the campus for about a month and being evaluated for breeding and living in the boarding kennels, he made his way into the training department. He was not chosen as a breeder because he had a small case of heart murmurers, but not bad enough to be CC`d.

I am so happy he was placed in the September string, as I was getting anxious to see his name on the phase reports and watch him fly through them!

Focus 4S45 LAB M 1

Good luck Focus! I can`t wait to see you in harness someday, if that is what you decide.

Katlynn & Ryder

Off To The Sitters

Well Ryder is off the the sitters today for the weekend because my family and I are going camping and since he has not had all his shots, we decided it was not best for him to go. So Kelsey with Tahoe so kindly agreed to take him for the weekend which I really appreciate! I know Ryder will be on his best behavior, as he is at my house. He really is an easy going mellow little guy, I just love him and his temperament.

We finally have gotten over him dieherra, we changed his food to Pro Plan and that did the trick, we have come to a conclusion that the science diet puppy food is just way to rich for their little bodies to digest. He has been sleeping through the nights for a couple weeks now, which is great! He is growing like a week, his legs are very tall, so we think he is going to a big gentle giant like Burgess was. I am looking forward to spending the next year with him and taking him to school, which I probably will sometime in October.

For now, I leave you with this adorable face.

Katlynn & Ryder

Hello To Ryder

Today was Ryder`s first puppy meeting, which means we say the hello poem! The hello poem is a tradition on our club that we do with all new puppies as well as we say a goodbye poem which of course is the least favorite. Even though Ryder was in a crate most of the time because my CFR did not want him on the grass because he had not had all his shots and it was a dog friendly area where we met. 

Ryder behaved himself pretty well, barked in the crate for a few minutes before laying down and going to sleep. After saying the hello poem I got my scholarship award for raising DeSoto. Our club gives scholarships to any teen raiser who has had a dog graduate as a guide or breeder, to be used toward college. Now I know it was more then six months ago that DeSoto graduated but I just got around to finishing his album, maybe I should start Focus`s album? 

On another note, my CFR almost gave me a hear attack when she asked if she could talk to me about Focus. I said sure what`s going on. For the 30 seconds it took for her to respond, my head was filled with ideas that he was Career Changed, chosen as a breeder, and many others. But as it turned out she just wanted to tell me that he was neutered. I am actually kinda happy he was not chosen as a breeder because I think with all the energy he has working would be a better job for him. She also said that since they already have a lot of dogs in for training he probably will not show up on the phase reports for a month or so. So now he is in the boarding kennels recovering from his sugary and having a great time!

Katlynn & Ryder

Ryder Update

Sorry guys for the lack of posting! Since I got Ryder I really have had no time to sit down and do a good update. So today I finally did and I have a lot of info over the week in a half I have had him. He is such a mellow puppy, does not mouth on people, not really a chewer, sometimes a good little walker, and has slept through the night 4 nights in a row!  He has had about 3 accidents in the house or kennel some of which being my fault, but most of the time he can go for an hour or so without going potty. 

Ryder`s first night home, exploring his surroundings and all the toys. As you will see later in this post he has grown a lot! 
His first weekend was spent at home and just running around outside. This picture makes me laugh because I have one of just like it only it was Focus and he was a little bit older. 

Sorry this picture was supposed to be at the end of my post, but it ended up being right here. This is a picture of Ryder`s name embossed on my leash, something I mentioned in my last post that I had done at Fun Day. I think it looks really good. I would have taken a picture of all 3 names, but you would have not been able to see the embossing. 

Last Friday, we went up to the Reno Aces Baseball game. We had it planned for about 2 months, so we knew we would have a puppy. We went there knowing we might have to leave if Ryder was freaked out by all the noise but he ended up sleeping through the entire game! We left in the 8th inning because we knew the fire works would be way to loud for him. Overall I was very happy with how he handled it and only being 2 months!

Ryder right when he got there, before he settled down and went to sleep.

This weekend my family and I went up to Lake Tahoe as a last outing before school kinda thing. I decided to take Ryder. We just shopped around at the Heavenly Stores and it was great. Ryder walker 50% percent of the time and was carried the reset. I was really happy with him, he had no accidents, no major issues in the stores, and just behaved himself. 

Ryder in the North Face Store. 

As you can see, he is such a bad dog while at dinner. 

On Sunday the day before school we went shopping up at the summit mall. We were maybe there 3 hours but since it`s an outdoor mall it`s easy to potty a dog. He was very good while I bought shoes, clothes, and my favorite purchase a Macbook, which I love! 

In this picture he looks a lot bigger then he does in the first picture! Why do all puppies have to grow up so fast?! 

Katlynn & Ryder

P.S. On a Focus note, he will not show up on the phase report for a while because he is in breeder evaluations. So when GDB decides to breed him I will know, or if they neuter him he will just show up on the phase report.

Walk With the Trainer, Fun Day, and Goodbye

On Thursday evening my mom and I made the 4 hour trip to the bay area. We left a day early because we decided to spend the night in San Jose with my aunt (about 1 hour from GDB) and visit with her and let her see Focus one more time. Focus was very good in the car, except when it was 2 hours past dinner (we did not want to feed him an hour early, but didn`t wanna feed him on the road) he let us know, and we gave in and fed him and after that he was a much better dog. This is how Focus rode in the car for part of the ride.

After spending the night with my Aunt, my mom and I had 5 hours to kill so we headed to some outlet malls. I scored some cute hats and my mom got some stuff for herself as well. Focus was very well behaved happy to be working after sleeping for so long! After about 5 hours of shopping we headed up to San Rafael, to do the walk with the trainer. We arrived at the campus around 1:00 p.m. and I dropped of Focus in the puppy raising department, where he would be kenneled for the 2 hours I was gone.

We then drove about 15 minutes to downtown San Rafael, where would would meet the trainers and follow them and learn all about what they do. There were 5 people in each group and there was a trainer that worked the dog and a trainer the talked to us, answered questions, told us what the trainer was doing and why, and told us more about the advanced training and new new program. I learned a lot and it really gave me more appreciation for the trainers and that they actually love our dogs and work them and give them every chance possible to learn before the make the decision to career change a dog.

Each group got to see three dogs work, a dog that just came into training, (which in our group was Fidelity, Focus` sister) a dog that is in phase 5-6, and a dog that is just about class ready. It really is amazing that they now can train dogs in 8 weeks and have them class ready. Overall the experience was great and I think every puppy raiser should do it.

After we were done, we headed back to the campus to get Focus. From what I heard he was not on his best behavior, he barked a lot in the kennel (which he did at my house but usually stopped after 5-10 minutes) I think he barked more then usual, because he could see all the dogs in the room and wanted to play.

Fantom, a dog raised in my club that is in phase 5 I think.

After we picked up Focus we headed to our hotel to check in and get ready to go out for the night. We originally were going to go to San Francisco but decided we were too tired and just went to the mall and came back and went in the pool for a while and then hung out on the pool deck with my friend Taylor and GDB puppy Patch. Focus was very well behaved shopping, eating dinner, and hanging out at the pool.

Focus in the hotel room resting.

I think we all went to bed around 1:00 a.m. or so and we had to get up at 7:30 to get ready for Fun Day and eat breakfast. I was still very tired and could have used another 3-4 hours of sleep but there was no way I was gonna miss Fun Day! Especially since I was getting a puppy!

We arrived a little late, as breakfast took a little longer then expected. We arrived right in time for the opening ceremonies. We then ventured out to all the booths that were selling items and opportunity tickets. My mom bought a lot of tickets and I was really hoping she would with this big basket of toys, grooming equipment, treats, and other little goodies. The basket and all the items was worth about $250. The day was not hot, but not enjoyable cool weather. After looking and all the booths we played water balloon toss which our balloon would never pop! It did eventually, not on me though!

Focus was not on his best behavior, he was distracted by all the dogs and wanted to sniff, play, and say "hi" to all of them. After a while though he got a lot better. By 12 or so I was getting a little hot and was ready to get on the road to go home, but that was not an option. I sat in the shade for a while and listened to a trainer speak about soft puppies and how to handle them, which was interesting. After that I got bored of sitting so I ventured back to booths and found the booth I had been looking for! It was the booth that embossed your dogs names on your leather leash. (I`ll post a picture later.) Last year I got another one of my leashed done (I have 4 leather leashes haha) and it did not really last long and it did not look good. I was very happy with how it turned out and I even got little Ryder on there too!

Pretty soon it was time to do puppy presentation and the raffle drawings for all the opportunity tickets people purchased. I went up on the stage as asked, and then I waited for about 10 minutes and they finally called my name and I received my little boy Ryder! The opportunity drawing was next and my mom actually won a handmade quilt and the basket full of toys, grooming equipment, and goodies! I was so happy she won as I wanted a lot of the toys and Focus chewed a lot of my bones.

We of course got to meet some of Focus` litter mates, and they were all going back in for training as well. L-R, Fritter, Foxfire, Focus, & Fairfield.
After getting Focus it was time to start making the walk towards the kennels, something that every puppy raiser hates.
Focus in the kennel reception office. I was checking him in and giving him all his details. How much he eats, what brand, etc. I was already getting pretty teary eyed at this point cause I knew it would not be long before I walked him to the kennel and said "goodbye."

Focus seemed to like the kennel, sniffed it all out, drank some water and thought life was great. I on the other hand was all teary eyed and Focus wanted to know why I was like that.

He seemed pretty settled in and I thought it was a good time to go. I was probably in there 5-10 minutes and then I left because weather I stayed an hour there or just dropped him in the the kennel reception it still would have been very hard.

Focus thought me leaving was not a big deal, but he wanted to play with his brother next to him so he started barking and I just kept walking. It was very hard to say goodbye to him as I miss him very much already. Though I must say having a puppy to come out to and hug was very good, I think it helped a lot. Good luck Focus! Whether you are a breeder or a guide, or whatever else you choose I will always love you! I miss you big guy!

Katlynn & Ryder

Puppy Number 3

Today was the Fun Day at the California Campus and is was going to be a bittersweet day for me. One, it was Focus` recall and two, I would be getting my third puppy. Fun Day all together was very fun (will post about Fun Day, Goodbye to Focus, and Walk With the Trainer tomorrow hopefully.) All in all Fun Day was very fun and towards 2:00 I was getting very anxious, it meant puppy delivery would start!

It was finally 2:00 and they were right on schedule. They called all the raisers that would be getting a puppy to come up to the stage. They started reading off the raiser and then the puppy would be handed to you with the name announced. Mick read about 10 raiser`s names before he got to mine. I was getting very excited to meet my "R" boy! Finally he announced his litter and I was the third raiser to get a puppy. When they announced my name I went to the center of the stage, and racing through my mind was all the horrible "R" names there were and that I was going to get one of those names.

So without further or do I would like to introduce my new little puppy...... Ryder!!!

Don`t you all like the picture? We were leaving campus and I offered him a drink of water and this is what he did, and at one point he did drink laying like this! We all figured he was hot, and I got the lucky job of carrying him all the way to car.

I was very exited about the name, it was a name I really liked! Funny thing about his name is, my friend about a year and a half ago raised her first GDB puppy and his name was Ryder! Unfortunately he was Career Changed and did not make it. So having a Ryder again in our club is pretty cool and unusual.

On the way home he was great, he slept most of the way and was awake very little. I found out that he was a snuggler and wanted to sleep only on my lap. He was great the entire 4 hour drive and caused no problems. When I got home, my family was very excited to meet him! So while they played with him I prepared his food which I found out very fast that he does not like to eat. He maybe ate 1/4 cup but after 3 hours I threw the rest away. So hopefully he will realize that he needs to eat!

A Year Together

A year ago today I was at Fun Day with DeSoto and waiting patiently all day to receive my new "F" puppy. The day went by fairly fast but not fast enough, when it finally came time to presenting puppies I waited until they called my name and said I will be receiving Focus. I was not a big fan of the name, but as you can see it grew on me a lot. :)

Raising Focus this year has been a great experience I will never forget. Though he was difficult in his puppy ages we got through it, and he turned into the a great mature dog I will love forever. Of course we had our rough days and some days I wanted to let him out the front door and never see him again, we got through it together. Focus has taught me many things especially patience. I am very thankful I got to have him a full year and then some. Though he is leaving in 13 days, I plan on making to most of them.

Focus will always have a special place in my heart and what ever career he chooses weather it be guiding or playing ball at my house, I will love him no matter what.

Katlynn & Focus