Lowe and Vannie

Lowe dog is almost 10 months now and headed for surgery tomorrow because he has OCD in both shoulders..Poor guy..He has been limping less lately, but we're all looking at 6+ weeks of "resting" him...so that will be interesting!
Luckily, he will get to go to a puppysitter with no other dogs for 2 weeks..Before she gets her 1st puppy-a FYL "C" puppy..

(Lowe and my pet dog, Sidney)

Vannie is going to her new raiser (in our club) on Halloween...The raiser raised Doug's sister, Deanna, and currently has FYL Karma..She loves Vannie already and I think it will work great-she's a spitfire of a puppy!

(Vannie)

I am having puppy fever (like every few months!)..I need a little red or yellow female pup to foster/raise or keep....Decisions..Decisions..

Lowe Dog..

Lowell got neutered last week--woohoo..We were happy to no longer have the 65 pound intact boy :)...Lowell is 9 months old and 65 pounds of solid pup! He takes after his daddy and is stubborn as any dog I know!

Poor Lowe dog has to have shoulder surgery on both of his shoulders on October 20th..He will be recouperating for a while and spend some time with a new raiser in our club that has no other dogs. We're told her will be just fine to head into training in the spring!

One of my favorite pups in our club became a breeder and was bred to Baker a few weeks ago..We can't wait to see little Tabetha puppies!

Many of the pups in our club have evals this week..Simon has had FOUR litters in the past few months and were told has another breeding date set...I can't wait to see some of them..I would love to get a Simon/Mochi or Simon/Peach puppy, but chances are slim to none since we can't request Simon pups...Hopefully some will come up to Oregon so we can see them!

Short term Puppy #14..

4 new pups arrived in our club yesterday..We will be helping with "Vannie" (6/24/11 Sarita/Hurley)..She is 10 weeks old tomorrow and we will be helping with her until her 1st time raisers can take her to school. She's a tiny little girl-seemed a little "soft" compared to the other pups, so it will be interesting to see how she progresses..

Vannie's sister, Valkyrie joined our club as her raisers 1st baby puppy, FYL Sapphire (6/25/11 Pomonoa/Marino) came to her 1st time raiser and Golden Girl Ginger (6/30/11 GEDs Mia/Patrick) came to her long time raisers as their 1st golden!

Vancouver, Lennox and Jodianne were the pups on the truck for recall (we think!)..and there were 2 more "V" pups and 2 more "S" pups headed up north..Super Cute!

Fun Day

Fun Day was a long, long day!! Was really great to spend the day with Tabetha and say goodbye to her and Zuni..Tabetha's off to California tonight for breeder evals..Zuni went in for training today..

We got to see Lowe dog's 2 brothers and a few other Simon pups as well as Vino, Jethro and Vona:)

We still have some cute t-shirts and oval stickers for sale if anyone is interested-email kimberly1488@hotmail.com

The T-shirts are grey or white and say "In the heart of every guide dog beats the heart of a puppyraiser"..

The oval stickers say "I love my guide dog puppy", "I love my career change guide dog puppy" and "Guide Dog puppy raiser"...I will post photos tomorrow...

T-shirts are $15 and stickers are $5!

Foster Pup..

Our foster pup is looking for an AMAZING home and has her own blog
www.hoppylookingforlove.blogspot.com

Lowell, Kelsa and Simon..

Last week we puppysat Kelsa for the week..She is an incredibly sweet 8 month old girl. I very much enjoyed having her hang out for the week. She is a reluctant reliever so was actually a good fit to hang out at home with me:) She's very mellow and all of our dogs liked her-which is rare as my pet dog is a bit of a dog snob!

Lowell had 2 puppysitters last week and seems to have found his inner BRAT while away..He's been VERY demanding of attention and wanting to annoy the other dogs since he came home..Maybe he missed them!?

Lowe went to graduation yesterday and continues to be scared of clapping..Such a laid back, goofy guy-we apparently need to clap more..

I've been thinking alot lately that I really want another CC Simon puppy..We don't have many Simon pups in our area, but if anyone knows one in need of a home-I'm interested!..Unlikely scenario, but one can hope!

Yesterday I took Claudi to help me work an event for Oregon Dog Rescue..She won the costume contest wearing a vikings t-shirt and purple tu-tu..Alot of people commented on how calm and good she was-she's a pretty good ambassador for GDB :)

House of Dogs

This weekend we took a break from fostering and dogsitting and had Guide dog puppy, Lugano, come stay with us! He is Lowell's brother and Claudi's half brother (simon pup).

Claudine, Lowell, Lugano

Lugano is TALLER than Lowe! We thought Lowe was big at 50 pounds (they are 6 months old)! They have alot of similar traits and really love to play!!

Lowe is such a great boy-he is very mellow, very clumsy and loves attention. He's certainly not the brightest puppy, but we got used to our big, dumb, boy after Doug Dog:)

Simon Puppies!

3 new litters of Simon pups have gone out in the past few weeks and are going out..We would love any photos of his puppies...Simon/Dolly, Simon/Jakarta and Simon/Leslie!..We love our Simon and his puppies...His son, Lowell, is very much like his BIG daddy:-)

Simon at 6 months old!

Lowell at 5 months old!
you can e-mail me photos kimlexidog@hotmail.com

Photos..

Zuni-one of our starter pups-is staying with us for a while...Lowe and Claudi have the same dad...Zuni and Claudi have the same mom..It's a pretty cute family photo.

I got an email today from DOUGs new person...Doug looks so happy and has a little boy and a retired guide he is living with..I am so happy that all 3 of my pups that are working have very happy homes AND live with other dogs-I can't imagine them not having dog friends since they had so many with us!

cuteness

t-shirts and more for sale..

http://www.cafepress.com/EchoDog

i created a new store on Cafe Press with some Guide dog stuff..:-)

Goodbye and We love you Doug Dog!

Last Wednesday we went out to campus to say goodbye to Doug..He is leaving tomorrow to do his in home training with his new partner in Idaho..

Doug was very happy to see us and looked just the same-except a little fatter-as he did almost 7 months ago when we dropped him off. He still had the same confused and worried look on his face, and wagged his tail non-stop.

We can't wait to hear from his new partner and hope that he/she loves him as much as we do. He has been in foster care his entire time he has been in training, so no doubt his foster family will be missing him too-he's just a wonderful dog.

Some photos from our goodbye..

I love this puppy.

"Lowe" is just the cutest puppy! He's extremely mellow, hops when he tries to run, puts himself on tie-down even when he's not on one, is good with my other dogs and has THE best wiggle ever..Our entire house (3 people, 4 other dogs) just love him!..We are SO happy that we were able to get another Simon puppy.

Simon has been a BUSY boy lately..He had 3 litters born in March and 1 due in May! We're very happy that he is still being bred and has some big litters going into homes soon..If it weren't for potty training I would want 10 more Simon pups!

Lowe is our 5th Simon puppy..Emmy was the best puppy ever and became an amazing working guide..Claudine was a very strange puppy-very aloof and on her own schedule-Claudi was CCed for IBS and came home to live with us..Ogden was a big goofball we started-he also became a guide..Natara was a wild child and was CCed because of it and lives with a friend of ours...Lowe had some bigs shoes to fill, but he has won us all over and I know he will be a great guide, breeder or come live with us and be spoiled like his sister!

Our house now has 2 pet labs that are full sisters from different litters and 2 half siblings in Claudi and Lowe...It's just perfect!

Sidney & moxie Lowe & Claudine

Lowell..Claudi (CC).

Today was labrador playday at our work..We have breed specific playdays every Saturday and have "lab day" every 2-3 months since the labs come out in dozens! Today was probably our slowest playday to date with around 25 labs/lab mixes..

We invite all the CCs in the area as well and have so much fun/keep so busy watching them play..Our CC Claudine loves playday as well as our co-worker's CC, Riley..(they think they are king/queen of the playday)..

Here are some photos of Claudine and Riley..I think 5 other CCs were there today as well (Bonnie, Cooper, Lucy, Bordeaux, Mort).

Riley

Claudine

We carried Lowell through the room to let some friends see him-all 26 pounds of him..He's getting too big for me to carry-it's so sad!

Doug isn't coming home..

We were told today that Doug Dog is training to be a wheelchair guide and will be graduating in May. He will be going to Idaho for in home training.

We had heard rumor of him being trained as a wheelchair guide and I was fearing the in-home training..I really wanted to meet his person-it makes it much easier to not have them come home..Marina was in-home trained also..Good thing Emmy wasn't!

I can't wait to go see Doug-atleast we get to go say goodbye in a few weeks..

Lowell is great. He is alot like Doug--super easy going and low energy. I really like him. Vona came for a visit last night--she is still the same tornado of a pup..She never sits still that one!..

I ordered doug some toys and a photo album for his person..I hope we can be in contact with him/her.. Kim

Doug Dog..

Doug is in phase 8 today...After being gone 5.5 months...Nothing is even near certain for his future, but I'm sad..I love the Dougie Dog and was convinced he would come home..His dog sisters and I miss the goofball!!...More waiting...

lowell...

Puppy Cuteness

Lowell and his half sister Claudine

Puppy!

Well, just as I decided to take a break from Guide Dogs and Bethany is getting attached to Jethro...we got a call yesterday that a SIMON puppy is available and will be here TOMORROW!..We have been wanting another Simon puppy for the past 8 pups!! Bethany raised Simon-I moved in with her when he ws 6 months old-we then raised his daughters Emmy, Claudine and Natara and started his son Ogden..We also got to co-raise his granddaughter Marina for a while..We love our big Simon boy and are sooo excited to get our MYL tomorrow!!

Sadly, Jethro will be getting transferred asap...He's a really nice puppy, but we couldn't resist....

dogs

Doug is still in foster care-hanging out in phase 3-he has been gone almost 5 months now..We really miss him ;-(

Jethro is growing up and loving people, dogs, toys-pretty much everything!

I have started another blog for my pet dog http://www.sidneyroo.blogspot.com/

What's new...

Doug dog is still in phase 3..He has been gone for over 4 months now and we really miss him..We hope they can decide something for him soon..

Jethro is fitting in well. He has been here a few weeks and is a pretty mellow little dude..He's doing good with our dogs and just kinda hangs out-he reminds us alot of Doug-Kinda dopey and silly.

Next week we get to watch Vino again-he is such a great puppy!..The new girls in the club seem to be doing well also (Karma/Kashi).

CC Claudine is at the beach with me for a few days..She's loving running free on the sand.

SDV 0010

WAITING...not my strong suit..

In October we sent Doug off to formal training..At that time we thought a transfer may be the best fit for our 3 dog house..We recieved 4 month old FYL "Vona".. Vona is a very sweet and spirited girl who thought the other dogs were there for her enjoyment! The girls weren't so sure about her and after a trial period we decided Vona may do best as an only dog. She is good with other dogs, we just think she may be able to concentrate and advance further with some one-on-one attention. Last week we transferred her to a single man who is a 1st time raiser in our club! (miss you doug dog)

As we were deciding what to do with miss Vona, we got 2 new puppies in our club-FBL "Bonnie" and MYL "Vino".I am head over heels for mister Vino! He is a calm, cuddly and adorable guy who luckily for me has a very busy raiser so I get to have Vino over often!
(Vino)

So, after Doug being the easiest dog we have ever had and Vino being my new love we decided to request a MYL starter puppy..We were assigned a MYL "L" puppy and we were super excited.

A few days later we heard about the parvo outbreak on campus and learned that we likely would not be getting our "L" boy..As of now the plan is to get a "MYL" starter pup on Jan 29th when they are released from the Oregon Campus..We don't have any details, but I'm anxious to meet him.

On Dec 30th Finesse/Simon had 8 yellow pups (6 boys/2 girls)..We hope that they will all stay healthy and go out to raiser homes in March. We desperately want to raise another Simon puppy, but only time will tell!! (last time we saw Simon-summer 2009)

Doug is still hanging out in phase 3..We wait for news on the doogie dog all the time, but having Vino around helps as he is very similar to Doug!


My pet dog, Sidney, earned one leg toward her CD a few months back, so we have her entered in a competition next month to hopefully complete her CD. She lives to train and we have so much fun training her!

(Sid learning to jump through a tire..CC Claudine waiting for Sidney to do the trick so she can get a treat too!)