Pictures!!!

Here are some of the pups in our group, right now we have 6 puppies out with fosters. This guy is Winston and he's a six-month-old Golden Retriever;



This is the newest puppy to the group, he's a Goldendoodle named Daniel, and he's also six-months-old.

Busy! (not)

I wish I had this super long post, catching up on all the things we've been doing around here.....but unfortunately I don't.

The most excitement I had was on Thursday trying to see if I could make an impromptu trip to AL on Friday....and try and find homes for all three of my dogs.

Lets just say that didn't happen. But we were able to drive to a city closer there, and meet up with some friends, for a birthday surprise :D Tim came with us (of course) and did well.

{the keys in my jacket pocket make this picture look weird...as well as my face expression}

Monday we were able to practice more harness work; I had one of my sisters leashed to his harness, and we worked on having him, "bring" her to me.
This means if she was straying away from me, or not just plain ol' not coming, he is to lean into the harness and pull her to me.
Most of you dog owners, know how much dogs (big dogs) love to pull against resistance, so this works perfectly! You could see the light bulb fly on upstairs, when he had something to do, besides just walk with me. He's going to be an awesome autism service dog :D

We're Coming

Hi Guys!
We're super sorry for not posting in a long time!! Seems like some of our followers left due to our lack of posting, so we plan to renew that promptly! Its hard to update with no internet!

Our Valentines Day

Our valentines day started out wet, rainy, and far too early for my taste. My friends had decided that we were going to "See Rock City" this day, which I heard tell was a hike, to a big rock or something. Trins' fiancée' was in town, so we wanted to do something "Fun" while he was here.

But looking at the rain, I was silently praying that we would scrap that idea, and do something else; I was planning to take Tim with me, and I was NOT looking forward to the prospect of a big, wet, muddy, stinky dog. But several quick text messages revealed that everything was still a "go".

So I packed some extra towels, and my sisters and I headed out. We reached my friends house, only 20 minutes late…..to find them all still in bed and/or in pajamas! Needless to say we weren't overly pleased at this discovery, think of all the valuable sleep we could have been doing!?! About an hour later, we decided to scrap the plans to go to Chattanooga TN, and headed to the over popular Gatlinburg.

Finally everyone was ready, and we figured out the car thing …Tim is like takes up two seats….and headed out!

Our first stop was at "The Apple Barn", apparently it was a huge apple orchard with a restaurant and souvenir shop. Anyways, Christina ran inside, and came back with some of the best apple fritters! At this stop I decided to let the girl's niece hold on to Tim's harness….1.) to keep up with her, and 2. So he could get some practice. She was more than happy to help!

After that we all piled back in the car, and decided to figure out what we were going to do….well Rebekah and Christina were trying to figure it out, I was eating. :D

I don't know what was decided, but we pulled back into traffic. (Or would that be whipped?) and headed into Gatlinburg; As we crawled the small town Gburg. I spotted a sign for "Hillbilly Golfing…Incline Mini Golf" after some quick calls back and forth between the vehicles, we decided to stop.

Despite the cold, and drizzle, it was pretty fun! I don't know who had the idea to put a golf course on the side of the mountain! By the time we were finished, my hands and feet were numb, be I was sure Tim would be ready for a long walk. (No I didn't take him…we did that once with Midnight…and he's a LOT bigger then she is)

Everyone was standing around trying to figure out what were going to do, Kimber, Tim and I just struck out on our own;

And we walked, and walked, and walked…..and walked some more…..and then walked some more!! We window shopped, and some of our group serenaded the masses, while the rest of us, sped up and walked faster.

We stopped and watched candy being made, at a candy factory; and then walked around a small "village" and squeezed our way in and out of the quaint shops housed there. We got lost a couple of times, and then lost some a couple of times….

All in all during this part, Tim was doing reasonably well; what I'm coming to find is typical Tim behavior; it wasn't overly bad, so I couldn't complain too much. But then it was time to eat. As we walked in, my dear, dear friend introduced our party as 8 people and a dog. That kind of freaked the head girl out, because she ran to the back, without a word to us. I knew what had happened as soon, as I saw her walking back with a guy; as they approached I assured them that he was a service dog, and everything was fine.

Now Tim has some kind of vendetta against restaurants, but we made it through lunch…or early dinner.

By this time, the masses were out in force, and walking down the sidewalk meant you were going to be walking shoulder to shoulder…add Tim and Kimber into the mix, and we were both (Kimber and I), walking into people, and narrowly avoiding poles, and benches.

A Guide Dog Tim is not, and never will be.

At this point, I think everyone was pretty tired, and so we dashed across the street, and headed back to our cars. Once we got there I was thourghly wiped out. I felt like I couldn't move. Tim felt the same way, and sprawled across me, and slept the entire way home.

This trip gave me some more insight on Tim, and how I should go about working with him in different ways; so that'll keep us busy.

Only about a month or so, until graduation!

*girl runs screaming from the room*

February

We'd like to wish Tim a Happy 1st Birthday as well as Texas is now 7-months-old!
Geez with all the hustle and bustle going on around here, I completely forgot!

Since Tim is a rescue they don't know his exact birth date...more than likely his family will be the ones to assign him a "birth date".
But for now we'll just celebrate his birthday with Texas....granted that was a couple of days ago.

{Does he really have to sit next to me?}

Happy Birthday Dude! Happy Month Day Texas!!

Tim and I attended our first WSD puppy meeting tonight, it was nice to see all the puppies; sorry no pictures Tim and I were....heh, concentrating on each other :D

But I am seeing improvement in him, so that's good!! :D
We had BEAUTIFUL weather yesterday, and so we spent a lot of time outside, taking pictures..we tried to get a group pic, we only had one where all dogs were looking in one direction at least. lol.

Texas - On a Nature Walk

Finally had some inspiration, and was able to create this page, out of pictures of one of our recent walks!
Enjoy!

Tim and Texas in the Snow

First snow of Winter!! Of course

Moving Blues

Hi Pup-Pals and Humans,
As Texas blogged earlier, we have made "the move" and now are settling into our new house. We are without internet for right now, and I'm currently bumming a friends wireless internet. But as soon as our first paycheck comes, that will be one of the first this we do. (YaHoO! But I have actually been surving ok with only getting online once a day)

Tim has been with us for about five days now, and we're starting to get used to each other, and I'm starting to learn the rules of this school. Tim and Texas have fully accepted each other, and Bubbles could really careless; Since Thursday Tim and I have been to Wasabi (Chinese Restaurant) where the cooks prepare your food right in front of you. Very CooL!! Our only other Wal-Mart, and a friends house, as I want to establish some sort of bond with him.

Tim is starting to adjust to our schedule somewhat, he's an early riser, where my dachshunds are content to stay in bed as long as I am. But not going to bed until 1 or 2 AM, is starting to cut back on the early mornings. lol.

Yesterday it snowed all day long, and Tim and Texas (yes I said Texas) had fun romping around in the snow, Hopefully I can get a picture post composed and transferred to this computer so you can see the photos of him in the snow that he loves so much!
Later on I took the dachshunds to my friends house for dinner...my dinner not theirs; it had been a while since they had gone anywhere; so Tim got to rest at home.
When we arrived, the dogs were really excited when they saw where we were, and dashed inside at top speed; acting as if they hadn't seen my friends in forever. That was really funny, since Texas always takes forever to warm up to anyone, and we hadn't come over THAT often.

Today Tim and I upped our training time, and I think its helped a lot, he's responding to me a loot better. Tomorrow I think we're going to try and find an off-leash dog park, and do some recall work..unless it snows.

So that's how things are so far!! I'll get some pics up ASAP.

TTYL

Erin, Bubbles, Texas and Timothy

Under Construction

This blog is under-construction, please excuse the mess.



Erin
Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind
Proud Puppy Walker of:
1. Jake - Male Golden - Career Changed
2. Rei - Female Black Lab - Guide Dog
3. Midnight - Female Black Lab - In Formal Training
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Wilderwoods Service Dogs
Advanced Trainer
1. Timothy - Male Lab/Flat Coat - In Training
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Pets:
1. Bubbles - Standard Dachshund - adopted: November 15,2002
2. Texas - Miniature Dachshund - adopted: November 29, 2008

About Timothy

Name: Timothy
Breed: Lab/Flat Coat Retriever
Color: Black
Sex: Male
Birth date: February 2008
Arrived: January 28, 2009
Departed: March 12, 2009
Graduated As: Autism Service Dog