State Fair 2012 :-)

On Tuesday I drove to a friends house close by to where the State Fair is. After I got there the dogs all played outside. Besides my three (Dahlia, Ben, and Teddy) there were released GEB pups Wren (black lab) and Kilroy (golden), Blue (a pet border collie), Max (a pet schnoodle), GEB pup Jackson (black lab), GEB pup Duffy (black lab), and GEB pup Ribbon (black and tan lab). After they all played my friends and I took Ben, Teddy, Duffy, and Jackson to the local mall. We walked around some, went into stores, Jackson's raiser & I made teddy Build A Bear's :) and then we went back to the house.

 

Teddy in the mall

 

 Teddy and Jackson

 

Teddy helps stuff my bear :)

 

 Ben and Duffy

 

 Ben in Build A Bear

 

Teddy and the "Teddy" Bear :)

 

 

We headed to the fairgrounds and practiced obedience and grooming & handling with Dahlia and Blue.

Dahlia and Blue 3 minute down stay 

 

 

Then we headed back to the house and let the dogs play and then went to bed. Day 1 of the Dog Show was Wednesday and was Obedience, Agility, Four Man Team, Drill Team, Brace Team, and Service Dog Class. I showed Dahlia in Graduate Beginner Novice A Obedience and Prenovice Agility. In Obedience we walked a pattern, did a figure eight around two people, did a stand for exam off leash, sit stay off leash, and then come off leash. After that we did our 1 minute sit stay and 3 minute down stay. Dahlia did perfect on the stays and all of the other Obedience stuff except for the heel pattern. haha I talked to her the whole time (you aren't suppose to) and she still sniffed some, but it's alright. :) I'm just doing this for the fun of it! :)

 

 Dahlia sit stay

 

Dahlia doing a come

 

 

 

 

After Obedience with Dahlia I did Service Dog with Teddy. We did a heel pattern I told the judge about GEB, she did an exam on him, and that was it. And we got a perfect 100 score, a blue ribbon, and a Grand Champion ribbon. :) I was quite excited and happy and the annoucer when we got our awards was great and was saying how Jackson's raiser and I were doing something great raising them and we got an extra round of clapping. :) haha

Teddy in the Service Dog class 

 

 

Then I did Agility with Dahlia. The course was through a tunnel, then to the dog walk, through another tunnel, over a jump, pause table, over a jump, through the tire jump, up the a frame, and then over another jump. We did it in 65.21 seconds and we were suppose to do it in under 45 seconds, but it was our first real course ever and I think it went pretty darn well. :) She didn't do the dog walk, but I never got to have her try to dog walk really so that's alright. :)

 On the a frame

 

 Teddy in his kennel

 

 

Day 2 of the Dog Show was Grooming and Handling and Rally. Grooming and Handling went pretty well, we got a red ribbon and a score of 84 1/2 out of 100. This was my first year doing Grooming and Handling so I think it went well. :) I ended up scratching from Rally because in the morning Dahlia had puked and then after G&H she puked again and had diarrhea. Dahlia eats poop a lot if I don't watch her and that morning she was outside and I wasn't out the whole time so I think she ate a lot of poop and when she eats a lot of poop she pukes and gets sick so after she puked a 2nd time I scratched because she also just did not look like herself. But by the end of the day she was acting like herself again! :)

 In the Grooming and Handling ring
 

 Ben and Teddy!

 

 Teddy :)

Teddy, Dahlia, and Ben tired puppies!

 

After Day 2 of the show was over I packed my car and headed home. It was a great time at the fair and I'm looking forward to next summer for my last show, I'll be aging out of 4-H next year!

Wordless Wednesday - Halsa's puppies!

Happy 16 months Ben!!!

Bummed.....

Remember this guy? He was super sweet, super cuddly, and all around adorable?

 

I got some bad news yesterday. Toby (the 5th puppy I started from February '11-June'11) was released from training last week for lack of confidence and harness sensitivity. Though I'm sad he didn't make it as a guide, I know he'll be an awesome pet for a family who has been waiting for a long time to adopt a released dog. He's going to make a family very happy with his loving, sweet, cuddly personality!

His finisher raiser can't adopt him so here's to hoping that they family who adopts him will want to stay in contact!!

Puppy Switch - Gallagher

Gallagher is a male black lab born January 29^th, 2012 (he is almost 7 months old) born to Chicklet and Sammy. We are doing a switch August 19^th – 23^rd.

On the 19^th I picked up Gallagher at 5:00PM. We played with Thurber, Dahlia, and Ben when we got home.

 

 Thurber, Gallagher, and Ben

 

Sweet Gallagher

 

 

 On the 20^th after I got home from work everyone played outside for 30 mins then Bella and Charlie came over to play for 30 mins. After that I took Thurber and Gallagher for a walk in town. Gallagher did really well! Then Maestro came over to play for about a half hour.

 Nice LLW Gallagher!

 Stopping to pose for a picture :)

 Walking up some stairs

 

On the 21^st Gallagher didn’t really do anything. They all pretty much just slept all afternoon.
On the 22^nd I took Gallagher to work and he did really well! Not perfect, but good for his first time. He’s pretty well connected, he just needs to work on staying in a down when I walk away in a row to put away books, but he’s never been to my work before so it’s something totally different for him.

Gallagher at work 

 

 Sleeping at the end of our shift at work

 

 On the 23^rd I took Gallagher to work again with me and we went to the store quick. I met his raiser at 7:30PM and got Teddy back. :)

 

Gallagher in the store

Here are some pictures of Teddy from his switch. :) He got to expierence working in the city with Gallagher's raiser!

Puppy Sitting - Thurber

Thurber is a male black lab born March 18^th, 2012 (he is 5 months old) born to Boise and Kramer. He is visiting August 17^th-21^st.
On the 17^th I picked up Thurber at 7:30PM. We came home and played outside for a while.

On the 18^th I had my annual teen raiser’s summer picnic, there were 11 dogs (counting Thurber) and they all did great together! After we ate and hung out at my house for a while we took 7 of the dogs to the mall to walk around and do an outing together. Thurber was worked by a girl who is co-raising his sister Trusty and he did really good at the mall.

 Thurber hanging out after playing for a while

On the 19^th I took Thurber to church with me and then we went to the grocery store after. When we got home my neighbors dogs game over and played. I met up with another raiser to do another switch with her black lab Gallagher at 5:00PM.

Thurber at church 

 Starting to fall asleep

 Walking through the store

 Posing in the store :)

 Eating some ice outside

On the 20^th there was lots of play time outside and I took Gallagher and Thurber on a walk. We headed to Puppy Kindergarten with Thurber at 6:20PM.

 Thurber playing outside

 Thurber in a shop on our walk in town

 Thurber at Puppy K

 Thurber and Gallagher

Gallagher and Thurber
On the 21^st Thurber went home at 2:00PM. He was a really sweet boy and I was glad to have him! :)