Pompei Posts

Testing.... Testing...1..2...3....BARK!

So yes....um...this is Pompei, I know you haven't heard much from me lately, cause I have been busy, doing real work and stuffs like that. I had ta go to the grocery store and help mom buy food. THE RIGHT KIND. Den we had to go to a clothes place with mom and my other Auntie and her friend, den a piano store place, and a Zuma place, and a bookstore, and an ice cream shop place .....*phew 


"Me squished in the small space in da car" --->


The Zuma place was kind of scary at first, cause there was all these noises comin from the box things, all over the place, but then I got used to it, and it was ok. But there was like a lotta fun games for everybody! Even me...but mom was a meanie-butt and wouldn't let me. See here the people are throwin the balls and I wanted a turn too!                  

Butt now I had to do a lot of "sits" and "Downs" and "STtttaaays" and I couldn't even play wit the little kids, who kept runnin after following mom and me around. I heard mom say something like,she might have to kill someones kid today, butt...i could have magined it. 
But I got pretty bored of just sitting and downin cause it was no fun, so when mom topped lookin, I just crawled away as far as I could, and ate the snacks peoples always leave. But den mom saw me and made my leash really short. *sigh* Outside dare was a lot more stuff for humon's to do. and notin fur us dogs. Which I thoughts was stoopid. Dat is discrimination against service dogs I thinks.

Me in front of a fake hooman house.

I thinks it would make a great doggie house? Don't you?

Mom says dat school will start next week, and dat I will need to be on my "best behavior". She gaves me a "Pep" talk on Saturday, cause of my behavior wasn't "da best", and I have to be still and quiet the whooollle time. Mom thinks this may be hard cause we have lots of classes like bam - BAM- BAM! But I tole her notta worry, cause I wouldn't do anything too get her in trouble. 


hee hee hee


I sure hope we get to see dat other dog while we're dear, he was cool cause he had this harness thingy on dat mom says I'll get to wear one day! And I want to see all the ducks cause they are fun to scare outta the bushes, cause it makes mom scream cause she's not "spectin" it. And I can't wait ta see all my teacher friend peoples, cause sometimes they say I don't have to sit with mom, and I go and sit with them and lots of luvin. And then we can see the FA peoples and get lots of pets from them too! BOY! I can't wait for school!!!

Randoms...March 19, 2010

I miss having four dogs.

I feel ridiculously lazy with just these three.

Bubbles and Texas probably require at MAX 30 minutes of exercise a day to be mentally satisfied, though they didn't quite a bit more…

Pompei is still young so about 20 minutes of walking, and he's out for the rest of the evening.

Over the last 6-8 months, I've been used to about two hours of hard walking, or play times just to get the house semi-calm in the evenings, and then lots of training and food toys to keep these little minds busy enough for me to relax a bit.

Yes there were some days I wished it weren't so, but for the most part I loved the work of it.

Now when my dogs are snoozing the evening away, I sometimes wonder if its because they are actually tired, or just because there is nothing else to do.

I know I know. Who cares why they are sleeping.

It's just that were constantly running nowadays, I don't feel we're getting out enough for them to be tired..though I time myself.

I am thinking about sending Pompei and/or Texas to daycare at least once a week, but have some concerns about that…1 Texas doesn't "meet and greet" really well, and two when he was with me at when I worked at doggie daycares he alternated between sleeping or "screaming at the gate"…so I don't know how well that would go over with daycare staff…

We'll see about Pompei, he could use the dog socialization and I could use the savings in gas money…


I cAnNoT wait for summer.


But in other news.

Pompei is officially legal in the shots arena.

We went to class this morning, and then wandered around that side of town for about 4 hours until our appointment time at 2:30pm. (Our vet is near my school, which is about 35 minutes away from my house) We walked around the trails on campus; (No Dogs allowed there so we were safe.) went two a couple of stores looking for house décor…Pompei were really pushing some boundaries with his sniffing today. Gotta work on that. A couple of times I literally pried his nose away from a display full of breakable items…as he wasn't budging. We got some down/stay practice in as well.

Short Shopping Blurb:
Most of my puppies have considered shopping, and extremely boring event, so I'll normally put them in a down/stay at some point in the aisle (depending on the crowd in the store) and browse at my leisure. So far no "run aways":)

Anyway after that, we got some lunch..er.. I got some lunch and went to the vets office to wait for our appt time…only about an hour and a half away. The weather was BEATIFUL, and there was a huge field next too the office, so Pompei and I got out and walked. And walked, and walked, and then sat in the sunshine, Pompei in my lap…I love this dog. For real.

We got back to the car and sat there and waited for the last 15 minutes..I think Pompei recognized where we were at this point, as he started to get antsy and wanted to leave the car. When we finally made our way into the building, his little tail went crazy in anticipation of the "love session". The receptionist comes out to "love on him" then, he'll cast loving looks and wiggles to anyone else in the lobby who succumb to his charms quickly. Then its his turn and he bounces to the scale and tries to throw himself at the vet tech, while I'm holding him in place. J

Then we move into our assigned room, where the vet tech will give him lots of hugs and kisses while the tech surreptitiously tried to take his temperature.

Any Concerns? Nope

Diarrhea cleared up? Yep!

Sneezing? Coughing? Over amounts of urination? Normal amount of water intake? Eating Good? - Nope, Nope, Nope, Noope, YESssss,

{Pompei lies in the floor facing the door, hoping for another human victim to succumb to his charms}

One question that always makes me…I don't know wonder is even though I've been there almost every three weeks they still ask if he's only Heartworm and Flea meds…somehow I was under the impression that they lasted for thirty days…

Silly Me.

Anyway the vet came in, and basically repeats the above question, and plays with Pompei…

Then its shot time!!

This time Pompei actually noticed them shots as he was uber excited to have TWO NEW PEOPLE touching him AT THE SAME TIME!

Wiggling + Shots = Puppy feeling the Pain.

So he was biting at his butt area for a few minutes after the procedure was over. Tsk tsk.

But his attention was quickly placed else were when the vet presented him with a a RAWHIDE (AH AH AAAAH sung in heavenly tones)

He was loathe to part with his new toy, as we bagged it up for the trip home.

But after a firm command from me relinquished it for a cookie.

We came home and played the afternoon away.

{Pompei being held still while his callous mother takes a photo of him}

Trained for part of our dinner, and then "worked" the other part out of our Tug-A-Jug toy..

And he's been sleeping a very tired puppy induced sleep.

Aah.

Success!

Today was another school day for Mr.Pompei and I; it was the first class since lasts week escapades......

Last Week:
I knew I needed to exercise him before subjecting him to 4 hours of class time, but it was cold, and I was feeling very lazy about getting out and doing it. So I walked him around a little bit before heading to class.

Boy did I pay the price for that! The first 50 minutes of my 55 minute class was spent: "Pompei Sit" .."Down" Good..Noo SIT" "PoMpEi". And Pompei is not one to take these things quietly, noo he's gotten to let me know vocally. While he didn't bark, his whining was insistent.

It was very easy to let myself get frustrated and be harsh, but I had to realize that I was so focused on his "negative" behaviors, that I was failing to reward his positive behaviors. Such as responding to my commands.

So I had to mentally pull myself together and go back at it.

• "Pompei Down ... Goood Boy!" *kibbles
• 10 seconds late
• "Good boy" Kibbles
• 10 seconds later
• "No, Down" 
• "Good job" 

I had to teach him, what I needed him to do was lie quietly, and I knew jerking him or being harsh wouldn't teach anything, and could set us back, that and I could tell he was starting to pant and stress out and I needed to get him calmed.

Needless to say we both were worn out by the time we made it through our last class, and was beating myself up pretty good for being lazy! But we survived.

This week, I knew what I had to do, and we got out and pounded some pavement for about 20 minutes before heading to class. And this was the results: Success Baby!

 

As he grows, I will expect him to do this regardless of his energy level, but until that point I have to set him up for success, so that he will know what to do later. 

Thoughtful Thursday

{Pompei Laying in the floor with his head half wedged under a computer chair}

This is what good guide puppies are SUPPOSED to do while attending class with their humans. The challenge is  teaching them to be calm and quiet during this  time when they'd rather play. As my area coordinator likes to say..."If they were perfect, we wouldn't have them." 

:)

February

Wow February is here already! January seemed to drag on for so long...I'm hoping February won't be as crazy! There will be some craziness as I'm still trying to move, and then get the dogs adjusted to a new home..but as long as my dog numbers stay at or around three I should be ok. (crosses fingers hopefully)

Bubbles & Texas are still adjusting to my schedule/Victoria being gone/Pompei's arrival...so I'm sure this move couldn't come at a worse time. Bubbles has displaying some 'out-of-the-norm' behaviors, that I've come to associate with change. Guess there is some truth to the "Cant teach an old dog new tricks" statement.

Pompei on the other hand is not only growing leaps and bounds, but is excersising his brain more and more each day! I think he's going to win the Smartest Puppy award in my house.

On Monday and Wednesday's he's normally very antsy during my first class period, due to getting a good 35 minute nap on the way over...pretty much dissovling any exercise efforts we put into him before we leave.

So this week I employed a couple of different strategies to help him feel more inclined to sleep during class. On Monday I fed him his breakfast in a KONG, hoping that would keep him busy for at least half of our trip. Five minutes later, the kong was empty and he was settling in for a quick nap.

Sure enough, I spent the first part of my classes, reminding him what position he needed to be in, though during the second class, he went to sleep pretty quickly and with only a little bit of whining.

So Wednesday, I volunteered to take my sister to class (she has class about 40 minutes before mine) and I gave Pompei his breakfast in a bigger and much more frozen KONG. It worked! We were pulling off the campus exit as he finished;

Once we found a parking spot, Walked walked through a couple of buildings, than Potty'ed, before going to our building, and walking around each level. By the time we reached the third level he was more than ready to lay down. And slept through class. #phew

I was just as tired as he was, as I was hauling around all of his stuff, as well as my camera bag, and school books; I was more than happy to find out that my next class was canceled and I could run home.

Pompei is also proving too be a very vocal puppy, thankfully the public has been very forgiving, as Pompei tries to communicate with me vocally....

Yesterday while in Krispy Kreme, he gave the manager a good scare, when he barked at me for not letting him go after a crumb on the floor. It would have been embarrassing if everyone hadn't of been laughing.

I love this little guy. :)

Pompei Posts #2

Hi Guys!

Mom has been telling me allll week that today I had to go and get some medisine that is supposed to help me not get sick when I go outside. I was a little skared but my tweeter friends told me it was not too bad.

1. LittleRedDog 
     
   @GuidePupPompei Shots dont hurt as bad as everyone says they do so no worries. Plus you'll get TONS of treats afterwards. Totally worth it!2:48 PM Jan 25th from UberTwitter in reply to GuidePupPompei
   • Reply
   • Retweet
2. Persephoneie 
   @GuidePupPompei My shots are always followed with a treat!2:42 PM Jan 25th from UberTwitter in reply to GuidePupPompei
3. shelby05 
   @GuidePupPompei there's no good way to say it - shots suck. But they're normally followed by treats so that's cool!

So than I was excited about it!! ANd I waited and waited all day so I could go to the place and get my treats!    ..and my shots too.

But when we got there the people didn't want to send the money paper all the way to the Guide Dog Foundation, they wanted mom to pay for it right than. But mom says she gots me cause she didn't have to pay for that kinds of things, and cause she doesn't have that money.
So she called my aunt Libby, (Note From Erin: She's our Area Coordinator for the GDF) who talked to the vet lady and another lady for a while, but they still did not budge. So Mom and I left, cause there are lots of other places who would probably want our busyness.

So after that we went to Wal-Mart AGAIN. Mom let me walk for a little bit, and I was doing real reall good, cept I just had to taste everything we walked by, so she put me in the buggy thing.

I didn't really like that cause it was more fun to see things on the floor, but it was cool to fasst!!!!

Mom swiped her card thingy and we got in the car, and than we were home! (I went to sleep on the way back).

Uh mom? You forgot something!!

Anyway mom says I'll get my shot treats later on this week at a different place. Oh boy I can't wait!!!

Gotta go nap before dinner!

BAYL!

What Did the Dog Say?

Hi Guys!
I am so tired furum my day that mom is gonna write dis posts fur me. BAYL!


Ah weekends, the best time to get some fun socialization with the puppies in. My friends and I had made plans earlier in the week to go see "Aladdin" put on by a local theatre troupe, along with doing some shopping together afterwards.

I woke up this morning to a mess. Poop was everywhere, on the his pen, blankets, on the floor....but somehow he managed to stay completely clean. I wiped him down with a damp cloth and brushed some "doggie perfume" into his fur just in case.

After getting that cleaned up, I ran all the dogs outside, to get in what little exercise we could, before Pompei and I left.

Tired puppies are Good Puppies.

That plan backfired on me when Pompei slept the entire 30 minute trip to the Playhouse. Halfway there I woke him up and played with him a little, in an attempt to give him more 'sleep time' during the play.

We arrived, pottied and walked to get in line for tickets. (Just over the last couple of days his leash walking is coming along nicely.) He was doing really well sitting and watching the people behind us, until a little boy ran up and flopped down in front of us. I gently reminded him about asking before petting strange dogs, and he backed up, and than asked.

I didn't have the heart to tell him no, so I had Pompei sit, and let the boy pet him.

Once inside, I laid down my coat and let him check out his new surrounds, before asking him to "down" which he did.

For about 30 seconds anyway.

By the time the play started, he'd settled himself halfway under the seat in front of us, so I just let him be.

He periodically moved further and further under the seat, until I had no choice but to fish him out, before he started nibbling the person shoes in front of us.

He gave up and slept for the remainder of the play.

After that we headed back towards town and stopped for some lunch, and than went through a local used bookstore. Since my friends and I all are bookworms, we were in there for a while.

Pomp was still pretty sleeping from our last excursion and was plodded along for a while, until he just curled up into a ball and went to sleep. So I carried him and my books for a while.

Who knew a 10wo puppy could be sooo heavy!! I finally collapsed on the nearest stool, and waited for my friends to finish their perusal of the store. Pompei was laying at my feet, charming all that passed him; he got up and I called his name, and asked him to sit.

He did, but looking for some kind of edible reward; but unfortunately for him, all I had to offer was praise.

That was not good enough for his Highness. So he let out a bark to fill me in.

A couple of aisle over I heard a little voice pipe up:

"Mom?? What did the dog say?"

Erin & Pompeii

Pompei's Post #1

January 13, 2010

I have been at my new house for a whole entire week now! I don't even miss my mommy and brothers and sisters in New Yorks much! I have two rooms at my new house, one is big, and one is little just like me! I have three brothers & sisters. Two are dachshunds and their names are Bubbles & Texas. Bubbles is SUPER old, like 175!! Oh. Mom says she's only 10, that is still WAaaay old to me.
She doesn't do anything but sleep all day, and growl at me if I get too close to her.

Texas is a lot more fun, cause he plays with me, and he's just my size! We have lots of fun together. My sister Victoria is a Golden Retriever (Like I am! ....Partly)she is a lot of fun to cuddle with, thou she doesn't really like sharing her toys with me. I just say whatever, and wait until she's not looking. And go grab that too speedy quick!!! And she doesn't even know where it went!!!

Mom says since I am a guide dog puppy, that I get to go in places that Bubbles,Texas and now Victoria can't.

Its been a lot of fun too, cause there are always a lots of people who want to see me!! Like yesterday, I went to this college place with mom. They went into a room and talked to this lady for a loooong time.I had to go to sleep cause I'd just been playing outside before we left. But when I woke up, Mom was handing me to the lady, and she carried me around the place showing me to people. They all like making funny noises at me. Don't know what's up with that. But Hey I don't care as long as they are petting me!

Mom says that she might have to limit that if, I start wanting to be petting everytime we go out! Oh NO!!!

Wow all this writing sure tires a guy out.

Bark At Ya Later!



P.S.(Note from Erin: Those of you who have been following my twitter updates, will know that I've had some issues with my college about letting him come, even though I'm not disabled. But as of today I got a note saying that he is allowed in the class room,and to just come by their office with my credentials and they would notify my teachers.)

A Play

**WARNING RANDOM PHOTOS THAT HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH POST INCLUDED***

So since about August, I've had at least two service dogs in my home, the difficulty in that is making sure they get an equal amount of exposures during the week. And since I work another job, its makes that ideal just a little bit harder, but we do our best.

I posed a question to my Puppy Raising group, a little while back, to see if any of my other Multi-SD-Pup friends, had ever attempted to take both their dogs out at the same time. Not many were brave enough to do so; and I was more nervous about the reaction of the establishment, more so than if the dogs would behave with each other.

{Bubbles in her Coat}

There have been a couple of times, when I've asked me sister to handle one, while I had the other, but backed out at the last minute.

Well Sunday, I was presented with a Dilemma. We were going to see a Nativity play in Downtown K-vIlle, which pup to take? Bishop had already been crate during church and pooped while in there. (MY FAULT OF COURSE) and Victoria would be stuck at home for the next week, and I really wanted to get her out....hmmm....

I finally decided to see if my dear sister, would handle one of the pups while we were out. To which she said she would.

So after church, i ran home, hauled crate outside, cleaned pup, threw blankets in the wash, took Bubbles and Texas out to potty, and loaded the others into the vehicle.

Our first stop was Taco Bell. Vicki has this thing about not wanting to get out of the car, so I left her and took Bishop as we ran inside. The we hurried onto the Collisiem, where the show was too be held.

One thing they forgot to tell me...was we were arriving 30 minutes early.

My sister and I walked the dogs in and found a seat, fairly empty, with nobody in front or behind. I had Victoria, since she's been showing some nervousness about being out in public..and I start to get her settled about five seats down from Bishop.

Wellll he decided he didn't want to be away from me, and threw a little fit; so I moved him over too "sit" with me. I had them down, and began rewarding every three seconds with tiny pieces of treats.

Being a new place, he really didn't want to lay down at that moment, so he walked over to "visit" with Victoria. Of course at that moment, a group of people come in and decide to sit down in front of us.

Note: the seats were so close together, you tip your head back you were hitting someone's leg...thankfully my claustrophobia isn't too severe.

Which meant that the puppies walking around meant they were bumping into the people in front of them. That (in puppy language) translates to "Oh a person! I must say hi".  Our seat mates seem  quite nervous about having the dogs behind them, but they didn't move, and neither did I. Cause we were there first.

15 minutes later I decided to walk them around some, to get some of the "jitters" out of their system. Since the Collissuem was huge, we walked up and down several flights of stairs, up and down the halls, and to the bathroom to collect any clean up supplies.

I have to remember to get myself into baby puppy mode.

 {Bishop }
After that we decided to go back to our seat, as the play started in 5 minutes. But unfortunately I wasn't fast enough, because another group came and sat on our row, which mean there really wasn't any room for two puppies to lay down.

Thankfully seeing both dogs, encouraged them to move to another row. By this time, our trek around the building had worn Bishop out, and he collapsed under my friends feet, never to be heard from again...until after the play.

Victoria however, wasn't so easily deterred. You never know what monster might come out and get you if you let your guard down!  And sat against my OTHER sisters leg, and let her pet her.

After the lights went down, I pulled out their treat (rawhide candy canes) and convinced her to lay down. Where she stayed, before finally stretching out and going to sleep.

There were a couple of parts where she looked up to see what was going on, but for the most part she stayed where she was.

{Victoria checking out the screaming child behind us}
After it was over, we stood around our seat talking/letting the arena clear out some, before leaving. BIshop did not move a muscle..which was fine with me.

{Bishop sleeping under a seat}

I carried him outside, let him "go potty" (which he's a champ at btw) and we went on home.

 Tired, but happy at a successful trip.

-We're not doing that again anytime soon....:)

Bath Time

Dear FurPals,

If someone knows, would you please mind telling me the reason for the torture, our humans call baths?? I can't figure it out, and don't know what it was I did to deserve a bath?

I'm really a very classy pup, and I rarely roll in stinky stuff like some I could name...(Texas: HEY!! MOM!??!) If I do roll, its only in something of the highest quality of smells. 


So there is really no need for a bath! Mom said something about me visiting my foster mom next week, and that I need to smell good or something. 

Seriously? 

She loves me just the way I am, so there is really no need for me to get all fancied up! *whew* But I survived, and I...uh..suppose..i smell..bEtTer..(gag)

Outings This Week
Monday mom introduced me to my service dog harness. I don't really like wearing that silly vest much, so mom was hoping that we could go ahead and move me into my vest, and me be ok with that.

Guess what? I"M NOT!!

We we were going to go see a friend's child who was playing in the Kville Youth Orchestra and it was my turn to go...whoopteedoo. Mom decided to go ahead and put my harness on about 20 minutes before we were supposed to leave.

This was my reaction:


I pouted all the way to to the Theater, and then tried to scratch it off as we walked in. Once We got settled, I went to sleep; and slept through the whole thing. Well except for the part where they were banging the drums around, but hey! I had a nap to get in, so it didn't disturb me much.


{Knoxville Youth Orchestra on stage in the grand TN Theater }
Tuesday, we were back out at the kennels for several hours, while Mom did whatever she does out there. Victoria and I just hang out in the yard for the most part, and play with whoever else gets put in with us.


{Hope and Victoria sit behind the fence in the playyard.}
When we get home, Texas is always soo happy to see us, but by this time, we are both completely zonked, and cannot even THINK about moving. So he'll sit and bark at us..but we ignore him.

Thursday, mom and I went on a long ride, to a place with lots of cars and people. She called it "college" and we walked around and went to lots of desks and then left.Good. That's over.

Or not...

Then we went to like 3 other places; I didn't really like going, since I had to where that stupid thing on my back; not only that but mom kept holding the HANDLE; which I most DEFTNTLY hated.

Boy was I glad to be back home.

Victoria went out yesterday to a play and dinner. I was happy to hang out with Texas and Bubbles at home.

Outings

I'm really proud of myself for getting completing my goal of getting both pups out and about this week!!

At the beginning of the week, Victoria went with me to a Social Media meeting at my job with UTPD. It took her a little bit to settle down, and I couldn't get her to "go in" under the table.

Hope accompanied me through Food City and Staples she seems to have some aversion to her jacket, and walked with her head and tail down the entire time. We'll need to work on boosting her self confidence. :))

Victoria got the biggest outing purely by accident; and she wasn't overly excited about it either, but she and I went to Ruby Tuesday for Lunch today. Once again we had the "go in" struggle. So this is obviously something she and I need to work on.
What was funny is that the staff thought I was blind and gave me a braille menu.

We walked through the mall; and then headed to the Sprint Store. Both places she walked nicely, though had to watch and make sure she wasn't licking peoples hands as we walked by them.

A Good Week!!

My Week with 4

Hey Guys,

Wow when we say "Busy" we mean "BUSY". With my new schedule, I have been running all day everyday...or at least it seems that way. Typically though the service pups come with me at least 3 times a week, while I'm at the kennels, so they aren't lacking much exposure oppurtunities.

Monday - Wednesday - Friday are office days for me, those are the days I'm working at the University of Tennessee. I haven't convinced the to allow the SD pups just yet, so while I'm there they are crated with a stuffed Kong to keep them busy during the morning hours.

(KONG's are the BEST toys ever...we are up to 8 now)

Here's where having 4 dogs becomes a pain. I was sitting here trying to figure out how it was that I used to be able to just jump and run in 5 minutes, and how now it takes 20-30 minutes to get out of the house.
Here's what I came up with:

1. Midnight/Rei both went to work with me, so I could feed them on the way to work/ when I got to work, and could leave Bubbles food on the floor for whenever she decided to get up. (She's lazy) 
2. I had dogs then who would go potty as soon as I let them outside. 
3. If they didn't go at home they had another opportunity to go when we got to our destination...etc etcc

Now I'm having to pry ALL dogs out of MY bed, hook them on their long lines, go back and fish Bubbles out of bed, convince Texas to go outside (where he'll stand on the porch and whine) get their food ready, have everyone sit/wait (stay); and while they are eating run around getting dressed, and doing my hair.

By this time I normally have about 5 minutes left, send Texas BACK outside and convince him to potty...possible chase him around the neighborhood, if I send him out off leash... send Victoria back outside so she can potty, and than crate them.

Does anyone else see why I sometimes feel like a single mother??

Tuesday - Thursday - Saturday are a little easier; I set my own schedule with Wilderwood, and gave myself plenty of time to feed/potty and exercise Texas and Bubbles at the very least; and then make the 45-50 minute trip out to our kennels.

Its a good thing these pups like car rides! During my time there, Gideon and Victoria are in the play yard, pretty much  by themselves, as the others pups are up for their nap by the time we arrive.

They seem to keep themselves pretty busy in there.

{Hi sister! Let me bite your face}

Once home again, THEY are worn out,and its time to wear Bubbles & Texas out...which isn't very hard at all. But after that trip its defiantly an effort for me to pry myself out of the vehicle and go back outside for another 20-30 minutes.

And to make this long post a little longer...

Victoria is feeling TONS better, and is pretty much almost to the bouncing of the wall stage, she's still very good in the house, and only has carried around some "no-no" dog toys. She is on her way to loosing a couple teeth and is bleeding on everything. I took her on her first outing (with me) to Kroger's and she behaved beutifully. The parking lot and going through the double doors where a little intense for her, but once she realized nothing had attacked her she was great.

She sat beautifully while I shopped, and stood quietly while checked out. The parking lot was still scary for her, but we have time to work with that. :))


I wound up taking both her and Gideon into Petsmart and was astonished at how well behaved they were....this is not to say there wasn't pulling, or times I had to slam on the brakes....for the most part they did very well.

Even as I check outed they sat and let the cashier give them treats.They both got hugs in the car for jobs well done!!

---Texas says:
Fall is Officially Here

P.S.( We are very active on Twitter, Texas now has his own account at @TexasTheDoxie and whatever SD I have in the house will be tweeting @ServicePups ...and of course I'm on @Fidography  follow us if you tweet!)