Photos of the Rory-Cassidy Puppies!

Karen went down to Southeastern Guide Dogs and was able to get some photos of Rory and Cassidy's puppies.

Word on the street is that Cassidy is an amazing mom.  So amazing that when another new guide dog mom gave birth and wasn't able to nurse her puppies, Cassidy said, bring 'em on!

Good girl!

Birthing Some Puppies! Essie and Rory Become Parents

Our very own Essie is pregnant! Breeder hosts Brian and Susan are very excited about Essie's first litter which is due at the end of January.  The vet department just did the sonogram and confirmed the pregnancy down at Southeastern Guide Dogs.

Photo of Brian hugging Essie.  Essie went into heat shortly after leaving the  November meeting.

We are also proud to announce the birth of a litter of 4 pups born to Rory who is one of the newest breeders to our group. Rory, the male, is being hosted by Karen, who is puppy raising Lightning.  He is the proud father of 3 girls and 1 boy.  They are all black.  Rory is black and the kids' mom, Cassidy, is yellow.

Congratulations to Rory, Karen, Lightning, and ESPECIALLY Cassidy, who did 99% of the work!!! Can't wait to see the pups on the camera at Southeastern. They were born on 12/19/2012 via C-section. So sleep well, Cassidy, your job is just starting. Rory, your work here is done. Sleep well tonight.

Michele is sitting on the patio and holding Rory who is looking back over his right shoulder.
Karen his breeder host was probably off doing obedience with Lightning.

Puppy Brunch

On December 8th, we had our 2nd annual Puppy Brunch at the McLean's house.  We started off with some obedience outside to get the puppies a bit tired before taking them inside for the humans to eat!

Carolyn and a sitting Coach talk with the group about the
next set of obedience commands.

AC Carolyn had us in a semi-circle and used Coach to try and demonstrate what she wanted us to do.  Little did she know that it was 10 o'clock and Coach usually has a 10 o'clock poo, so every time she wanted him to do something, all he could think about was "I need to poo."

Well, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.  Especially because when I heard his little poo whine, I took him and he did, indeed, poo.  Victory!

Nancy and her yellow lab Orchid are waiting patiently
for the next command.

We also had some distractions such as a ratty wheel barrow full of weeds jangle by (thanks for noticing that Carolyn! 8-).  In general, all the puppies were very good and did a great job on the obedience part of things.

Then Carolyn upped the ante and sent the puppies on an experience walk: Go see the large wind chimes, and cross over the koi bridge.

Lightning did great walking on the bridge, but had a little trouble walking down the bridge.  But then later, ran across it just fine.  So, everyone did awesome.

Alex and Sue sitting in chairs by the koi pond.

Then we had some time to sit around and relax. And eat.  And eat some more.  Did I mention, we did some eating?

A look at most of the group sitting out by the koi ponds (from left: Sue, Sylvia,  and Bev.  Carolyn is in the middle and behind her is  Brian (I think, the face is a bit blurred), then standing: Bill, Blake in front of him, Nance, Susan and Stephanie.  Photo by Barbara Lindley.

Oh, and there was quite a bit of talking.  We had three sets of new potential puppy raisers with us for this meeting, which was fabulous: Julie and Brian, Alex and Susan.

Nancy gives Orchid a big hug and then rests her head on Orchid's. Photo by Barbara Lindley.

They got to see the mechanics of a meeting (obedience), but also witness the benefits of becoming a puppy raiser as shown in Nancy's sweet photo above with her resting her head on Orchid's head and also in seeing the close relationships that form between repeat raisers over time.

Stephanie, with Coastie lying in front of her, Bev and Michele, holding Coach, all sitting by the side of the pond.
Photo by Barbara Lindley.

Sylvia gives a big smile while Denny looks slightly sleepy
(must be the pumpkin dog biscuits!).
Photo by Barbara Lindley.

It is such a nice feeling to wrap up the year with a party with good friends and sweet pups!  Of course, sometimes, knowing everyone too well can lead to a too nice Naughty Santa game! ;-)  We played Naughty Santa, where you are able to steal presents, but everyone was so nice, I think there were only three steals and there were apologies for those.  Perhaps next year!

Lois and Bill smile for the camera, while Charity looks directly into the camera.
Fred is photobombing in the back! Photo by Barbara Lindley.

Carolyn did give out a few gifts.  The first was a gift that will be our traveling gift.

Carolyn holds a bouquet of blue and green poo bags arranged in a flower pot (I did you not! 8-).
She is announcing who the lucky winner will be!  Photo by Barbara Lindley.

I was the lucky winner.  Whoever made it was very creative!  Poo bag flowers...

Carolyn and Cheryl smiling with Cheryl holding the poo bag arrangement.
Is Carolyn smiling because she no longer owns it? Photo by Barbara Lindley.

But, I don't think I will pass it on with filled poo bags! LOL!  I'm not sure I can duplicate the poo bag roses, so I think I may have to keep it intact for a year.

Susan, with Liz and I think Lightning and Susan one of our
new potential puppy raisers. Photo by Barbara Lindley.

There were plenty of extra dogs to go around, so that the new people had a chance to work the pups.

Cheryl sitting with Coach between her legs.  he is staring at the
camera with mouth open.Photo by Barbara Lindley.

Brian and Essie/Liz? (I'm not sure).  He is looking at the camera and his
sweet black lab pup has her head down looking at the patio. Photo by Barbara Lindley.

A photo of our whole group! Thanks Brian.

Finally, although it took quite a bit of holiday magic (Many thanks Brian!!), but we were able to get a complete photo of the group (with everyone who was at the party, that is! We are so sorry that there were several members who were sick and couldn't make it).  As you can see, we are a good looking, fun loving group!

Join us!

Tic, Tac, Toe in the Park

During our park outing, we also played puppy tic tac toe.

We were divided into two teams: here is the yellow team (plus one chocolate!).

Here is team black!

Essie and Brian sat out tic tac toe.  But you can tell she really wants to play.

Brian loves him some Essie!  Here he is captured giving her a big bear hug, which she loves. 

You might think it is a tic, tac, toe, but it is actually two blacks and a chocolate.

Hershey played for the yellows, so the above photo was not a win for the black team.  Sigh.

In the end we kept coming up with a draw.

Do you see it?  Every dog on a square?  It's a draw!

Pretty impressive, everyone on a down stay, everyone so close together!  Go North Pinellas puppies!

Liberty and Lightning, just chilling.  Of course, Karen and Steve are chilling too.

Denny, the old golden pro, was a ringer. 

Coastie looked for Stephanie and Denny looked for Sylvia.

Each dog looking for his raiser.

In the end though, it was a fun game.  I put together a little video of the game itself.  You'll have to click off the ads.

Puppies in the Park

Yesterday, we had our Saturday meeting in the park. We did the usual line up and drill for obedience.

Photo looking down the line of the raisers and their dogs all in a down stay to their left.

But then we moved on to practice the new come command.  At least the new way we are teaching the command: with treats!

Stephanie and Coastie, a yellow lab male practice the come command perfectly.  Coastie is waiting in front of her for the treat.

At first, all went well.  All the dogs were doing great.

Little Lightning is paying rapt attention to what raiser Karen is telling him.

Chocolate lab female Hershey waits patiently for the come command to be issued from raiser Tim.

Lightning leaps into action as Karen gives the command.

Hershey is still waiting patiently.

Liz, a black lab female is on her way to raiser Brian after he gives the command.

Then our AC mixed it up.  Change dogs, she said.

"Oh my!" If you watch the video at the end of the post, you will see that our pups were still 100% on the money for this command.  Right on!!!  Go PUPS!

Then we headed off for some duck and dock distractions and after that to some bleachers to experience metal seating.

Coach is a bit of a show off at the bleachers and he climbed right up to the top.

Lightning isn't afraid of bleachers, though.  Here he is with his front paws up on the seats.

After the seating experiment, we did puppy bingo like we have in the past.  I think I will save that for another blog post though! Enjoy the video. 8-)

New Puppy Parade: Liberty, Lightning, Charity, Hershey, Ava

We have some new puppies in our group! Five to be exact.  It's a little strange to be so generational.  We have the older dogs, who are getting things down, and then we have the little nut balls, who are just getting the hang of it.  

Although, I must admit, these puppies are very calm and collected. Not many true nut balls in the bunch! So, here are your official introductions of our newest members!

Lois holds Charity in front of her.  Charity is in a sit.  Lois is kneeling.

 This is Charity, being raised by Lois and Bill.  She is a black lab female and was born on June 28th.  She got a little timid when walking to the lake, but Lois got her over that real quick.  As you can see from the photo below, she has a beautiful sit.  I love the way she looks at Lois.

Side view of Lois giving Charity the sit command.  Charity is intently looking at Lois.  Charity's head is perfectly positioned.

Next up is Ava.  I may have talked about Ava before, but this is her official debut with the puppies.  Ava is being raised by Nancy and her boys.  Blair is the one who comes with her to the meetings.

Photo of Nancy holding Ava under the front paws so that Ava's belly is exposed to the viewer.  She has a big pink belly and is very cute.

Ava is so sweet, being a very tiny black lab female.  In the photo below, she is with Blair in the grocery store on her first visit and I think she is barely bigger than his tennis shoe!

Blair holding teeny tiny Ava in the produce section of the grocery.  Ava is in a sit by his tennis shoes.  Blair is smiling.

Next up is one of our potentially famous pups: Lightning!  Famous you say?  Well, perhaps.  Lightning is sponsored by the Tampa Bay Lightning Hockey team, but there is currently no hockey being played due to the lock out.  (wa-wah!) So, poor Lightning and his raiser Karen won't be able to go to any hockey games!  I was sort of looking forward to a meeting on ice.

Photo of Lightning and his raiser Karen sitting on a park bench.  Lightning is wearing his blue coat.

Here is a photo of yellow lab male Lightning with his raiser Karen. 

Photo of Lightning posing on the tile floor. He is lying down and looking back over his shoulder!

Photo of Karen and Liberty at the Lion's donation event at Publix.  Karen is walking up with Liberty on the leash.  Liberty is in coat.

I couldn't wait for a photo of Liberty, so I went with what I had. Liberty is the tiny yellow lab puppy in the center of the shot.  She is being raiser by veteran raisers Bob and Karen.  Liberty is sponsored by the courthouse where Karen works.

Photo of Hershey's raiser family.  Hershey is sitting in front sideways but looking at the camera.  She is in coat.

Here we have Hershey, named by the Hersh family who sponsored her, and her raiser family.  Hershey is a chocolate (of course!) lab female.

Photo of Carolyn standing with puppy Hershey in her arms.  Hershey is very small and looking into the camera.

Our area coordinator Carolyn Hersh and her husband Steve sponsored Hershey.  Carolyn is holding Hershey in the photo above.

So now you have the run down on all of our new pups.  Tomorrow I will get you the info on puppy bingo! Don't miss it!!!

Tabina's New Forever Home!Tab

Today, Tabina (9CPD12), was adopted by her new forever family!  They live in Bradenton.  Tabina will have three kids, ages 12, 8, and 3 and a 10-year-old yellow lab, who just so happens to be named Taby, to play with every day.   So, she will always have someone to keep her company.

Tabina reaches up to plant a kiss on her new mom's face.  Jaclyn is in between them.

It was love at first sight for the her forever family when they met Tabina.  Jaclyn, age 3, said, “Mom, she is the cutest puppy I have ever seen.”  Her mom agreed.  Jaclyn is home with her mom during the day and plans to spend lots of time with Tabina.  Until her brother and sister get home from school and take over, of course.  They are all already arguing over who Tabina is going to like more.  We think she is going to love them all the same.  She is full of both love and energy.

Her new family is also full of energy and is a very active family.  The kids will keep Tabina very busy.  She has lots of playtime and new friends to make in her future.  Their neighborhood is full of both kids and other dogs and Tabina loves being around both.  We all think she is going to be very happy with her new forever family.

Tabina and Jaclyn get to know each other. Tabina is on the back car seat sniffing an animal Jaclyn has.

Thank you to Bev and Blake for taking such good care in raising her!