2009 June | Puppy In Training

Guide Dog Puppy Training At The Irvine Spectrum

June 29, 2009 By Colby 1 Comment

If you were at the Irvine Spectrum this past weekend you may have seen 10 or so Guide Dog Puppies in Training walking around, working on obedience, and having a little fun.

This past Saturday our Orange County Guide Dog group had a little scavenger hunt also know as The Greatest Puppy Race. We broke up into two teams and we were given several clues, instructions, pictures that we had to follow and rack up points for our teams. We were instructed to take pictures of our dogs in several different situations and places.

Sidney The Guide Dog Puppy In Training

As you all know Derby is waiting to be adopted and is no longer a puppy in training, however this past weekend I had the priveledge of working with a young 6 month old yellow Labrador Retriever named Sidney. He did great! Although he was beat by the end of the day. We met up at Champps for lunch and Sidney did not budge during the entire meal.

Here are a few photos from our adventure this past weekend:

Puppies In Training Reading Marley And Me

Guide Dogs Reading Marley And Me

Puppies In Training In A Sit Stay At The Fountain

Catalina Surfing At The Toy Store

Thanks to Jan, Barbara, and Anne for organizing and everyone else who participated in the OCGDA Scavenger hunt. We had a great time and hope to do it again next year.

Do You Take Your Dog To Work?

June 24, 2009 By Colby Leave a Comment

As a Guide Dog puppy raiser part of our job is to socialize our puppies and one way we do that is by brining our puppies to work. If you don’t have the luxury of brining your dog to work then you might be in luck this week. While browsing my RSS feed I came across an article about Take Your Dog To Work Day.

Take Your Dog To Work Day

Dog Computer Apparently this Friday (June 26, 2009) is the official Take Your Dog To Work Day.

So what does that mean to you? Well, if your employer is unaware that this Friday is Take Your Dog To Work Day then I’d let him/her know and see if it’s okay to bring your dog to work.

Here’s a little blurb from the official Take Your Dog To Work Day website:

First celebrated in 1999, Take Your Dog To Work Day was created to celebrate the great companions dogs make and to encourage their adoption from humane societies, animal shsleters and breed rescue clubs. This annual event encourages employers to experience the value of pets in their workplace for this one special day to promote pet adoptions.

We will have Nyah a GDA career change puppy and she’ll be accompanying us to work this Friday.

We love bringing our puppies to work and would highly encourage you to participate in Take Your Dog To Work Day!

Filed Under: Dog Events Tagged With: Take Your Dog To Work

Guide Dog Adoption

June 22, 2009 By Colby 6 Comments

Derby has been a part of the guide dog adoption program for almost two months now. I don’t mind keeping him at home during this process, but the longer he stays at home the more difficult it becomes to let him go. I received an email last week letting me know that they might have found a family for Derby. I was both excited (for Derby) and sad at the same time.

We took a few more pictures the past few days and gave Derby extra hugs and kisses during his final days at the condo. Here are a few images:

Derby and Stetson

Derby Loves Stetson and is always cuddling up against him. He’s a very affectionate dog.

Derby and Stetson at BBQ

We BBQ’d. Stetson still likes sitting by my feet. Derby likes laying on top of Stetson.

Derby and Colby at GDA

Derby’s last drop off.

Back when we first heard about Derby getting dropped we put together an article about retired guide dogs and guide dog rejects.

Guide Dog Adoption

As a puppy raiser I was given the first option to adopt Derby after he was dropped from the program. Unfortunately I have two other dogs to take care of and Derby really needs a home where he can run around and play. My little condo is just two small for Derby and his long legs.

There is a six year waitlist for career change puppies and retired guide dogs. We’ve been patiently waiting for GDA to find a suitable match for Derby.

Early today I found out that the family Derby met with was not the right match. I’m going to send out an email to find out more about Derby and how his placement is going.

I’m sure Derby will find a great home. I really miss him…I’m so used to him putting his head on my lap while I work at the office, cuddling up against my feet, or his snoring right in the middle of a phone call.

Filed Under: Puppy Career Change Tagged With: Guide Dog Adoption, Guide Dog Reject, Retired Guide Dog

Tink the Dachshund and Pink the Piglet Now on Video

June 12, 2009 By Colby 1 Comment

Do you guys remember Tink the mommy Dachshund and Pink the piglet from last year. They became so famous there was a children’s book written about them. If you haven’t seen it yet then check out The Pink Puppy.

Video footage of Pink and Tink

Some new video footage of Pink and Tink was just released on YouTube. Check out the two short videos:

Pig In The House

Pink, Tink, and the Rest of the Litter

It looks like Pink has an itch that needs some scratching in the first video. He also looked like he got the puppy zoomies…adorable.

Again, if you’re looking to read more about Tink and Pink then check out some of the related posts below or take a look at the book The Pink Puppy

Filed Under: Dog Friends Tagged With: Dachshund, Piglet, Pink, The Pink Puppy, Tink

Blog Carnival: Mosquitos, Dog Food, Pet Care, Socialization, Puppy or Dog, Wedding Pets, Exotic Pets

June 9, 2009 By Colby 3 Comments

I wanted to get a more descriptive title for this months edition of the Puppy In Training blog carnival. Speaking of editions this is the eleventh also known as XI! Dog Training Tips

Looking at the title it sure is a lot to cover. Pets and Mosquitos, Homemade Dog Food, Pet Care, Socializing Your Dog, Choosing a Puppy or Dog, Pets as Wedding Atendants, and Exotic Pets. Perhaps in the future we’ll work on targeting specific topics rather than the shotgun approach. For now, on with the show!

Blog Carnival

All About Rearing Exotic Pets – Are you interested in an exotic pet. Check out the article: All About Rearing Exotic Pets for information before you make the decision to purchase that exotic pet. Speaking of exotic pets check out these miniature pet pigs called Royal Dandies.

Pets and Mosquitos – Our first article comes from the Mosquito Info blog and covers the topic of Pets and Mosquitos. The author mainly focuses on Dogs, Cats, and Horses and talks about several viruse passed by mosquitos including heartworm and west nile. We use Frontline to prevent flea and tick infestation and Heartguard or Interceptor to prevent Heartworms in our dogs.

Pets As Wedding Attendants – I’ve often considered Pets as wedding attendants. One of my friends had their dog join them at the reception. This article gives many things to consider before including your pet in your wedding. I would feel comfortable with Stetson at my wedding, but I think Linus might freak out with all the people and strange activity.

Homemade Dog Food – Now this is a subject I might investigate more in the future. Right now I feed my dogs Natural Balance kibble. By the way, the idea mentioned that dog food manufacturers have not your dogs interest at heart, but your money is sure a valid point. Check out the homemade dog food article for more information. As mentioned in the article there are hundreds probably thousands of recipes listed just by googling, but I also wanted to mention that one of the free bonuses when purchasing the Secrets to Dog Training is an e-book about Gourmet Dog Food Recipes.

Don’t Skimp on Pet’s Care – A good reminder for everyone out there. The article talks about teeth and cleaning and how they may have saved several hundred dollars by being more proactive with there Cairn Terriers teeth. Don’t Skimp on Pet’s Care is just as important as not skimping on your own health or families health (afterall the dog is part of the family). We try to brush our dogs teeth at the minimum once a week. However, it has been recommended to brush daily.

How To Properly Socialize Your Dog – This article has some great tips on how to properly socialize your dog. All three of my dogs have been socialized since they were puppies and each has their own little problems. Stetson is good in most social situations, Linus gets nervous, and Derby gets overly excited. Check out this article for some hints on socializing your dog.

Should You Get A Puppy Or An Adult Dog – This is a very interesting article and a point that often comes up when I discuss getting a new dog with potential dog owners: Should You Get A Puppy Or An Adult Dog? There are definitely pros and cons for both puppies and adults. Check out this article for more information about dogs and puppies.

I hope you enjoyed the puppy in training blog carnival XI. Thank you everyone for contributing and we’ll see you next time.

Filed Under: Dog Training Tips Tagged With: Blog Carnival, Dog Food, Dog Socialization, Exotic Pets, Mosquitos, Pet Care

Guide Dogs of America Open House 2009

June 8, 2009 By Colby Leave a Comment

One of our favorite events of the year is coming up next weekend: the Guide Dogs of America Open House 2009. We’ve attended the last two GDA open houses held in Sylmar, CA. Two years ago Stetson participated, but didn’t place in the puppy trials. Last year Stetson was “in for training” and Derby was only a few weeks old (I didn’t even know that I was going to have Derby at that time). Once again I’m without puppy at this years open house so I’ll be a non-participant at the puppy trials. However, there are many other fun activities going on at the open house.

GDA Open House 2009

What: Guide Dogs of America Open House 2009
Where: GDA Campus, 13445 Glenoaks Boulevard Sylmar, CA 91342
When: Saturday, June 14th, 2008, 10:45am – 4:00pm

Here’s some info from the GDA website:

For more than 60 years Guide Dogs of America has offered blind and visually impaired people independence, confidence, and companionship in the form of a furry best friend- for free. Once a year, visitors are invited to tour the 7.5 acre GDA facility, see a guide dog demonstration, and observe puppies-in-training as they maneuver through and obstacle course of distractions.

Admission and parking are free! You might want to bring some extra cash just in case you find something you’d like to bid on at the auction.

Try to get there early especially if you’re coming from Orange County like me. Last year we caught a ton of traffic and ended up missing the Guide Dog demonstration and later found out that the Guide Dog used during the demo was our pal Dustin. Also, the main events start to wind down around 2:30pm.

Here’s a schedule of events:

11:30 – 2pm – Puppy Trials
1pm – Guide Dog Demonstration
2:30pm – Silent Auction Closes
Tours (every 30 min), Raffles, Food, Merchandise
All proceeds go to GDA.

Tuesday is our Orange County GDA group meeting and we’ll be practing for this weekend puppy trials. If you’re interested in joining us our meetings are held the second Tuesday of the month at 6:30pm at:

Peralta Recreation Building
115 Pinney Dr
Anaheim Hills, CA 92807

We plan on heading up to GDA bright in early and hopefully we win one of the baskets at the auction.

Have you been to GDA open house before? Are you going this year?

Filed Under: Dog Events, Guide Dogs Tagged With: GDA Open House, Guide Dogs

Drug Sniffing Dogs And…DVD Sniffing Dogs?

June 4, 2009 By Colby 3 Comments

I’ve heard of drug sniffing dogs and I’ve actually been thinking about enrolling Stetson, my black lab, in a Scent Tracking – Nose Works dog training class. Afterall, we like to call Stetson Mr. Sniffers as he seems to be tracking all the dogs in the neighborhood.

I started to do my normal research and came across some unusual dog careers and thought to myself maybe Derby could put that dog nose to good use and change careers to a dog sniffer. The only problem is Derby has trouble focusing and probably would have issues as a certified sniffer.

Sniffing Dogs

Anyhow, back to dog sniffers…dog’s have great noses and as mentioned earlier they can work with police officers as drug sniffing dogs. However, did you know they can also sniff out a DVD? Here are a few other strange and not so strange things a dog can sniff out:

DVD’s
Explosives
Cancer
Accelerant, Flammable Liquid, Lighter Fluid – Arson Dogs
Underwater drowning victims
Cadavers
Missing People

DVD Sniffing Dogs

DVD Sniffer dogs now…that just sounds crazy. How can a dog find a DVD? and even if it did, how would the dog know if that DVD was a pirated copy?

First of all a dog can be trained to sniff out the polycarbonate used in DVD’s. However, as mentioned in the Wired article: “The dogs cannot decipher the difference between pirated and authentic DVDs.” The article does mention: “…Some day, he might be able to train his dogs to alert on subtle chemical differences between authorized DVDs and the cheaper knockoffs produced by crooks.” Now that would be amazing. Then again the recent Oprah article says that “the average canine can detect scents 10,000 to 100,000 times better than the average human.”

Cancer Sniffing Dogs

A second article I read today was on Cancer Sniffing Dogs which led to my earlier statement about Derby and a possible career in sniffing.

The dog in this story named Tessy was destined to be a Guide Dog…just like Derby. However, her plans were sidetracked when an infection left her blind in one eye ending any chances for a career as a Guide Dog. Lucky for Tessy she still had her nose leading her to her second career as an Ovarian Cancer Sniffing Dog.

How does it work? Tumors release tiny amounts of chemicals different than those of healthy tissue. It is this subtle difference that a dog can detect.

Check out the entire article on Dogs Who Can Sniff Out Cancer.

Stetson AKA “Mr. Sniffers”

Some of our friends including Nexxus and Nadia are already taking scenting classes and we think that Stetson would enjoy a sniffing career of his own. Hopefully this summer we can enroll Mr Sniffers in training and see if he has the stuff to be a true scenting dog. I’ll keep everyone informed and do my best to chronicle his journey in the world of sniffing!

Do you know of any unual dog careers? Have you taken your dog to scenting class? I’d love to hear about it in the coments below.

Filed Under: Featured, Working Dog Tagged With: Cancer Sniffing Dogs, Dog Nose, Drug Sniffing Dogs, DVD Sniffing Dogs, Scenting Dogs

Black And Tan Labrador Retriever Puppy

June 1, 2009 By Colby 5 Comments

I was just going back through my email and I noticed that I had black and tan labrador retriever puppy photos from one of my readers sitting in my inbox. Unfortunately I sometimes fall behind on my posting duties and I wanted to get this one on the site asap.

How can you resist adorable lab puppies?

Black and Tan Lab Puppies

A note from our reader:

Here is a picture of my male black and tan lab. He was born 1-29-2009 and he is out of a litter of 10; he is 5
weeks old now. This little guy has one heck of a personality on him. The parents to him are yellow and black; Momma is yellow and daddy is black. I own both parents and this is the first time that they have ever thrown a black and tan puppy. The daddy to him is a great duck hunting dog and I think this little guy is going to be just like him. I am also sending you a picture of Leo (the daddy) and Lacy (the mom) the other picture is of his brothers and sister.

Black and Tan Lab Puppy

Black and Tan Lab Puppy