Focus Turns 1!

On Monday Focus turned a year old! I can`t believe he has grown up this fast, but at the same time he has turned into a wonderful dog, for the most part! Haha. Focus got to celebrate his Birthday at the puppy sitters and the report was not that great but I will not go into details, but let`s just say it could have turned into a bad situation. Focus ended up at my leader`s house sometime on Monday and was there till Wednesday when I picked him up. He got a great report from my leader and my leader just loves him. Overall I am glad Focus is home safe and sound and nothing serious happened, though it could have.

On Monday (11) before I left we had a puppy meeting with our CFR, Celeste. Focus got a good review overall and was put on Food Induced Training, where I can use treats and the word "nice" for basically anything with him. I am so happy I can do treats with him because he responds so much better, pays way more attention to me when out working, does his commands amazingly, (most of the time, he does have his moments) and is just a much better dog. The treats motivate him a lot more then the corrections. My goal before Focus gets recalled is to be having him to all his commands perfectly. So for the next few months Focus and I will be doing lost of treat training where ever we are!

Lastly, my trip was great! Disney World was awesome and I had a great time, even though it rained most of the time I was there and it was very hot. I enjoyed all the rides, my favorite probably having to be the Tower of Terror in Hollywood Studios. We also went to Cocoa Beach which was awesome though we had a big thunder storm arrive and decided it was best to leave so we headed to the Kennedy Space Center. I thought the space center was amazing! We got to take a bus tour around the a small portion of the property, and when I say small I mean small because the property must have been bigger then Carson City! Anyway off track, we got to see the both launching pads and one having a space craft on it launching today or tomorrow. I also saw the building where the make, fix, repair the space craft which was huge! I learned that there are a lot of "the worlds longest, biggest, tallest largest" things located at the space center. Overall my trip to Florida was awesome and I hope to go back in the future.

Here are some pictures to tide you over until I *hopefully* to a picture post of the big 1 year old!

This picture makes me laugh, I`m not really sure why but I guess it`s just his expression on his face and how he has his head cocked.

Finally, me and my boy.

Hope all of you school kids are counting the days till summer (10 for me, I think) as I of course am!

~Katlynn & Focus

A Few Notes

First off, I would like to say congratulations Diva, Diamond, and hopefully Dennison puppy raisers for a job well done! Diva and Diamond are now working guides and Dennison is in phase 10. Destiny unfortunately was career changed, but that still means if Dennison graduates there would be an 80% success rate of the litter!

Onto Focus now, Focus is will be a year old on the 18th, which is really hard to believe! He keeps impressing me daily with his commands and his willingness to work. He really has not been doing anything "fun" to report about. He goes to school with me daily and a few weeks ago he went with my mom and sister to a Girl Scout Event and got a good report. Also, I think 2 weeks ago I had Fantom. He was great a lot calmer then Focus which was nice and overall a great dog! I wish him luck in July when he goes back. Focus also got a good report from our leaders except that he barked when put in the kennel for a few minutes.

One more thing, Focus will be going with a puppy raiser on May 13-May 20 because my family and I are taking a trip to Disney World! I am looking forward to the trip but kinda sad I will not be here for my boy`s birthday, I guess he`ll just have to wait till I get back to get his presents. I think that is about it on what`s been going on around here. Wishing Dennison good luck from Carson City!

~Katlynn & Focus

Spring Break

Our spring break was last week and we enjoyed it very much. I spent mine on a 8th grade trip to D.C., New York City, and Philadelphia. It was very fun and a lot of sight seeing and very tiring, I was very happy to be back on Saturday! Since I don`t think you all want me to post 350 pictures I plan on putting them all in a sideshow and posting that at a later date. Focus got to stay in Nevada with my mom and got a overall good report, and was ecstatic to see me on Saturday night! Focus also got to go to the vet while I was gone because my mom has been walking him out in the desert and he got doggy pink eye pretty much, so he now has eye drops (which he is not thrilled about) that he gets for a week.

On another note, I will be doing 3 way puppy swap tomorrow and I will be having Fantom a MBL and Focus will be going to our leaders house and Finnian (our leaders dog) will be going with Fantom`s raiser till Thursday evening. I am excited to have a black lab! I have not had one over night since DeSoto. I am sure Focus will get a great report and love all the walking they do! Well just thought I would let you know I am still alive and give you a mini report. Today Focus and i visited the city pool to visit someone. The pool really did not phase him at all which was great because our meeting next week is at the pool!
Saying "hi" to his buddy Sam in the pool and wondering why she is in there.

Hope everyone enjoyed there Spring Break (if they had one).

~Katlynn & Focus

101 Places

Just for fun, I decided to post 101 places that my puppies have been.

1. Eagle Valley Middle School
2. Nevada State Library
3. Chili`s
4. Public Library
5. Applebee`s
6. Carson High School
7. V&T Train
8. Virginia City
9. Hollister
10. San Francisco
10. Downtown Reno
11. Movie Theatre
12. Best Buy
13. Costco
14. Smith`s
15. Kohl`s
16. Walgreens
17. Sir Drake Frances Hotel
18. Apple Store
19. Hospital
20. Children's Home
21. Walmart
22. Savers
23. Classy Seconds
24. Ice Rink
25. Goodwill
26. PTSA Meetings
27. Girl Scout Meetings
28. Dillard`s
29. Gap
30. Old Navy
31. Resting Homes
32. Buffalo Wild Wings
33. Girl Scout Council
34. Friends Houses
35. Public Buses
36. Meadowood Mall
37. Staples
39. Ross
40. Olive Garden
41. Grand Central
42. Target
43. Candy Dance
44. Legislative Mall
45. Macy`s
46. Home Depot
47. Lowe`s
48. Abercrombie
49. Aeropostale
50. American eagle
51. Pacsun
52. Tilly`s
53. Lucky Brand Jeans
54. El Aguilia Real
55. Guide Dog Fun Day
56. Puppy Sitters
57. Orvis
58. Coach Stores
59. Nevada State Museum
60. I Paint for Joy
61. S.A.P.
61. Taco Bell
62. Out of Bounds
63. Petco
64. Petsmart
65. Petedge
66. Vet Office
67. Montessori School
68. Gottschalk`s
69. Jo-Ann`s
70. Fuji Park Meetings
71. Save-Mart
72. Subaru
73. Hyundai
74. Borders
75. World Market
76. Claire`s
78. Craft Market
79. Michael`s Craft Store
80. Fire Station
81. Health Department
82. Gotchy Shoe Store
83. Qdoba
84. Charlie`s Grill
85. Red`s Grill
86. Chocolate Bar
87. Christmas Tree Cutting
88. Cabela`s
89. Scheel`s
90. Coldwater Creek
91. Lane Bryant
92. Talbots
93. Hot Topic
94. Buckle
95. BJ`s Restaurant
96. Justice
97. Sunglasses Hut
98. Journey`s
99. Sephora
100. M.A.C. Cosmetics
101. Williams-Sonoma

So there you have 101 places Focus and DeSoto have been. I encourage all you puppy raisers to try and think of 101 places your puppies have been!

~Katlynn & Focus

Double Digits

On Wednesday Focus turned 10 months!! I can`t believe that we have been together for 8 months! He has matured so much since 8 months ago. It is hard to believe that I have roughly 5 months left with him.

The past week has been pretty boring, school, meetings, grocery shopping, etc. He did wear his green attire on St. Patty`s Day and I wore a green shirt. Focus is such an awesome dog to take to school that I forget sometimes he is there! I would like to trade with someone in our club that attends High School, so Focus could get a High School atmosphere experience, and I would be interested to see how he does with longer class periods. So hopefully that`ll happen before he is recalled. Besides school, Focus is usually always good when we go places, it is so nice to have a puppy that is a breeze to take places! Don`t get me wrong though, Focus is not a perfect puppy, he is great when his jacket is on but when it comes off, he is another dog.

Hopefully on Monday I will be able to take pictures of Focus at school so I can post about 'A Day in the Life.' So sometime this week there should be a post regarding that. Other then school and normal errands there is nothing really to post about now or in the weeks to come. But for now, enjoy the pictures of the big bot!

Hope everyone enjoys the rest of their weekend!

~Katlynn & Focus

Reno Outing

Today was our club`s annual meeting in Reno, where we ride the city bus downtown and walk through downtown Reno. All of our pups at are a great age to do this outing, (except Patrice who did not come) so it was the perfect time to do it. Oh course all the puppies were well behaved on the bus, downtown, and in the mall. Focus was great and acted like he done this even lots of times. Focus on the bus.

Finnian enjoying the outside.

We did puppy trading so I got Burgess. Burgess is the moose of the group and is in an XL jacket.

Tahoe and Amato looking at the ducks in the river.

Focus was very focused on all the ducks.

Overall the meeting was very enjoyable and great for the dogs. Focus will be 10 months on Wednesday which is hard to believe but I guess they have to grow up eventually. The last few weeks have been not very interesting. Focus went with Becky (one of our leaders) on Thursday because I had testing and it would not have been reasonable to take a dog. I got a great report though he never wanted to go potty for her for hours on end, but eventually did. So I guess that means Focus needs to be traded. Last Tuesday my mom and I went shopping at the mall just to waste some time, and Focus was great and enjoyed getting all the exercise. I think other then shopping at the mall and Focus going with Becky, that`s about all I have to update on.

~Katlynn & Focus

9 Months Old!

On Wednesday Focus turned 9 months old! I can`t believe it, the time with his has go too fast! Next month will be double digits......scary! Focus and I have done nothing really exciting, and that`s why there has been no posts lately, and I apologize for that.

Focus has been improving and maturing more and more each day and I couldn`t be happier. He goes to school daily and on Wednesday`s he goes to work with an experienced raiser that does not have a dog at the moment. I usually get great reports and she says he is always welcome and our leaders dog, Finnian comes to school with me for experience and he is great as well. Focus enjoys going places and is always on his best behavior, for the most part. He does have he moments! Since I have not posted pictures in a while, I figured you would like to see how big the boy is getting
Surprisingly, Focus was in a picture mood and I got some decent pictures.

Since I completely forgot about IWYPRSD I had to have Focus wear a GDB shirt. He was not so sure why he had to wear my shirt that he usually sees me wearing.

Tomorrow we have a puppy meeting at a place that involves horses so if I can get pictures i`ll try, so look for a post this weekend. Also Focus will be going with a puppy sitter tomorrow for the day because I have plans and it would be easier if I did not have him. So I am sure i`ll get a good report, but I never know with Focus.

~Katlynn & Focus

A Holly Puppy Arrival!

Today a puppy arrived at my house. No, not for me, though I am very jealous because Patrice is very cute! Patrice is a FYL and is a Kentucky/Holly puppy and will be raised by Nona. Nona, a member of our club got a call from GDB saying they needed a home for her and she had put in an application for a golden, but the golden is a year out. So how could she decline?! She is absolutely adorable and very funny. She has a cute personality as well. So, some of you may be wondering why she arrived at my house and not at Nona`s? Well, my dad was working in the bay area and heard that Nona would be getting a puppy on Saturday, and my dad offered to pick her up today on his way home, and save Nona a trip to GDB. Just for Elizabeth & Peyton I took pictures!

Sorry they are blurry, but we all know that puppies can not stay still for very long! But, you can at least see how cute she is! Better pictures to come in the future!

~Katlynn & Focus

Graduation

Wow! Graduation was amazing. The day started off by leaving at 5 a.m. and arriving in San Rafael around 10 a.m. On Thursday Seth and I talked about getting together before the puppy raiser check-in. I called Seth when we were 5 minutes away from the campus and he said he would meet us in front of the dormitory. We arrived before he did. When Seth was walking out he stopped and DeSoto would looked out the window of the door and locked eyes on me. I was expecting him to recognize me from just seeing me, but he did. When Seth came out DeSoto was trying so hard to be good. This is the first picture I got of him, he is waiting for Seth to tell him okay so he can see me. When DeSoto leaped into my arms, I realized that saying goodbye was totally worth it. We hung out with Seth and DeSoto for about and hour. We walked around the campus and we went over to the paddocks where the blind people can let there dogs off leash to play in an enclosed area. DeSoto was bouncing all over the place, but when he was eating grass, picking up stick, etc. Seth would say DeSoto no and than come and he would do it, I was very surprised because when I was raising him he would run the other direction. While walking back from the paddocks Seth put his harness on. DeSoto`s work was amazing, to me it was really neat to see DeSoto walking along and just stop at a curb. It was really impressive! We walked back to the dormitory and DeSoto was always looking back at me, but still doing a great job of guiding. We then let Seth and DeSoto go back to their room and get ready for graduation and we went to the mall to get something to eat.
DeSoto stopped at a curb looking for cars. Very impressive!

DeSoto looking back at me, to make sure I am not leaving him again.

When we got back from lunch, we checked in and they took us back to Seth`s room. The dorms are very nice! I brought DeSoto a bone to take home and I made Seth a album of some of my favorite pictures while raising him. I also got to met Heather, she trained DeSoto. She was very nice and I could tell that she and DeSoto had really bonded. She also told me that DeSoto got the highest marks on his final test out of all the other dogs in his string. It really did show too! After a few minutes of visiting, they took us to get our official graduation pictures. Seth also gave me an official graduation picture of him and DeSoto that they did a week or so ago.

After the pictures we went out onto the stage where Seth`s mom came to greet him and us. She said she had been convincing Seth to get a dog for quite a while and thanked me for changing his life. Seth wanted to show his mom around the campus so we did! We went to the gift shop, the kennels, the paddocks, and all around.

It was now time for the graduation ceremony. They escorted Seth out onto the stage and handed me DeSoto. I went and sat down in the room and waited for our turn to go out. I got to spend about 20 minutes with DeSoto. When it was our turn DeSoto literally pulled me out there and I handed the leash to Seth. My speech was short and sweet as I was crying through the entire ceremony practically! We went and sat down in the chairs and waited for all the other dogs to graduate. There were 11 dogs that graduated Saturday.

After the ceremony we walked around some more and then it was time to say goodbye. Seth handed me the leash and I said goodbye. DeSoto was very sad to see me walk away I think but I know he`ll be an amazing guide for Seth. He invited me to come and see them when ever and they even said they would be willing to met us some where in the San Francisco area. After saying goodbye DeSoto was off the the San Francisco to spend the night and fly home today. Overall graduation was very special and I loved seeing DeSoto. The new team.

Katlynn & Focus (who got a good report from the puppy sitter)

A Fully Loaded Update

Focus is now 8 months old, which is very hard to believe! It seems like just yesterday I got him! So need less to say I probably only have about 5-6 months left with my boy. Focus is maturing every day and becoming a great dog that I love more and more. He is attending school with me every day and does great and is well liked. On Wednesdays Focus goes to work with an experienced raiser just to get different experiences and mainly because he does not like to relieve for anyone else but me. Instead of being dog less on Wednesday`s our leader`s dog, Finnian, comes to school with me. Finnian in 6 months old and is great at school. Focus always gets good reports, which is excellent!

Besides school nothing else is worth mentioning. We go to the grocery store weekly and other various places. On Monday our club had a meeting at the community college. Focus was great as usual and we just walked around at talked to an English class.

Needless to say graduation is on Saturday, and I am very excited! Focus will not be going he will be staying with a sitter starting tomorrow. I have been e-mailing Seth through out the month and he seems like a great guy and has thanked me a lot for raising DeSoto as he just loves him. I am so glad Seth is keeping in contact as it will be fun to hear about their adventures together. I pretty much have my graduation speech ready just got to add a few details. Today when I was home, my phone rang. I did not recognize the number but I answered it anyway. It was Seth! I was very excited to hear from him as I gave him my number a few weeks ago. I was probably on the phone with him for about 15-20 minutes. We had a good conversation and he told me all about DeSoto and his life. He told me he and DeSoto have been to downtown San Francisco and DeSoto did perfect! I found out that Heather was the girl that trained my boy and just some fun facts. He said tonight DeSoto and him were going to do some night work in San Rafael. It seems like DeSoto is loving life and could not be happier.

Focus at school.
Focus with his new green gentle leader.

Last Friday, my mom watched Finnian and she said he was great!

Finnian, Focus.

I just thought I would post a picture of the last time I saw him. So here it is!

I am so excited for graduation and am very proud of DeSoto. I am sure he has changed physically and mentally, and from all if it, changed into a great guide for Seth. Look for a graduation post on Sunday or Monday!

Katlynn & Focus