Puppy Central! The online home for Southeastern Guide Dog puppies being raised in Central Pinellas County, Florida ...and the people whose hearts they've stolen
Our puppy raiser meeting was to be a scavenger hunt at Bed, Bath and Beyond and Sports Authority. We were going to do some obedience outside and then inside for the fun. (although, true to my competitive nature, I was interested in completing my form first! 8-)
Little Ava, a black lab puppy, create quite a stir with her big belly. Here she is with raiser Nancy showing off her cute pink belly.
We all fell in love with Ava, a dark beauty and I am always reminded of Ava Gardner when I hear her name, although Ava Gardner didn't have a pot belly that gently swayed to and fro when she walked.
Golden Gail made the meeting and was calm as she was being greeted by Steve.
Golden Gail was at the meeting and she was fully recovered from her surgery. She had a cyst removed from the top of her head and wasn't wearing the cone of shame anymore. Coastie and Coach were with their raisers and Gail's raiser Roger were waiting in the parking lot for things to get started
Hershey, our group's first chocolate puppy, arrived. Here she is greeting Katie.
Our AC Carolyn was anxiously awaiting the arrival of Hershey, which her family sponsored. Hershey is a chocolate lab puppy and is being raised by one of our new puppy raiser families.
Carolyn comes over to say hello to little Hershey.
Poor Ava got knocked off her cute puppy pedestal in less than 30 minutes! But we all still love you Ava!
Hershey sits and gazes into the distance.
Then it was off to the obedience races and we were lined up and doing sit stays and down stays with our pups.
The group is lined up against the wall in various stages of doing a stay and return to your dog.
The camera catches Gail in a rare moment of calm sitting by her raiser Roger. (Roger told me to say that!)
Gail may have been near the edge of the circle of acceptance, but I think she was doing pretty well as the photo above shows (see Roger 8-). Our obedience continued with some distractions and then we heard an alarm sound.
Carolyn walks by with some paper mache corona bottles for a distraction.
Coastie was interested, but he didn't break his sit!
After the alarm sounded, we noticed that there were some people streaming out of the Bed, Bath and Beyond store. Then, we heard what sounded like a siren.
As you can see from the video, the puppies were amazingly good natured about the noise and the sirens.
Carolyn holds Hershey in her arms.
Carolyn took the opportunity to pose with Hershey. Turns out that there was some kind of fire on the roof and they sent out two fire trucks.
Photo of the ladder truck with firemen going up on the roof.
It was a great distraction for the dogs: men in fire suits, alarms, sirens, flashing lights, huge fire trucks and ladder trucks. The dogs were not impressed.
The puppies weren't impressed by the firetrucks. They were more captivated by each other.
We ended the meeting by doing a short scavenger hunt through Sports Authority. Coach teamed up with Ava (I think he has a little crush). Ava had a little accident inside (Nancy, you do NOT need to return the Shamwow! Keep it with my compliments. Ava may have future need of it. 8-), but we were very quick and efficient and cleaned it up before anyone even knew it was there.
We were going to take a cute photo of Ava in one of the tiny tents, but we didn't realize that they were all up on the shelves for display. It made the photo a bit difficult. So we passed on that.
“My family and I raised Suzy for all of 2011. On
Saturday, my husband John, my sons John and Chris, and I all got to meet Suzy’s
new person, Dee Wilson, who has been blind since birth. She was the only
surviving triplet, born three months premature, and she lost her vision to
retinopathy believed to be from too much oxygen in the incubator that saved her
life. Dee will be taking Suzy back to Pittsburgh this week so Suzy has a
few months to acclimate to the cooler weather before Dee takes her to church,
restaurants and outings with friends in the cold, snow and ice.
The agenda for Puppy Raiser Day was perfect. We loved
seeing Dee and Suzy walk together as we quietly looked on (we could swear Suzy
spotted us in the crowd!). They are a great team, and even though Suzy is
new at this, Dee is a pro – she has had many guide dogs she since the
70s. After their walk, we waited with great anticipation as Dee and Suzy
walked toward us as we stood by the pavilion. It was so wonderful to meet
Dee, but it was hard to do much more than a brief introduction as Suzy started
jumping on and licking our sons John (15) and Christopher (11)! Dee gave
us permission to say hello, and boy did we! It was so heart-warming to
hug Suzy again and give and get kisses from her. The abundant joy she
showed us was so pure and deep. We basked in it for as long as Dee’s arm
would withstand. Suzy then quieted down beautifully, and laid by Dee’s
feet, as if that spot had been marked for her a long time ago.
The weather was perfect for us to sit and chat under the
trees. We had our photo taken with Dee, then feasted on a delicious
brunch while having some more time to get to know Dee and one of the
trainers. Overall, it was a beautiful day filled with great blessings and
love. None of us cried until the end when we were saying good-bye.
Then we all hugged and let the tears flow. I think for all of my family,
they were tears of joy for Dee and her new companion, Suzy, who happily said
good-bye to us then wagged her tail and followed Dee out of the dining room and
into their new life together. It was a precious moment and I thank God
that we were able to raise Suzy for Dee.
June standing next to Dee with Suzy at Dee's side.
But nothing like some puppy love to soothe an aching
heart! Carolyn brought us down to the puppy kennel where we got to pet those
soft little balls of fluff and get more kisses. It was a perfect way to
end our morning.
June and Johnny with a yellow lab puppy.
Many, many thanks to Leslie and all of the Southeastern team who
made the morning as special as it was. There were a LOT of details and
nothing got overlooked. A super special thank you to the trainers who fix
our mistakes (!) and turn out puppies who become amazing guides for people like
Dee.”
The Simons' family didn't waste any time. They dropped Orchid off at IFT and picked up glamour gal Ava, an 8-week old black lab puppy to take home the same morning. Ava, is without a doubt, a super cutie, as seen in the following photos.
Ava sitting before Blair in Publix's produce aisle.
Ava and Blair made a big splash at Publix. Well, she's so small, it was more a tiny splash, but to good effect! 8-)
Blair with Ava in his arms at puppy hugging.
Ava strutting her stuff on the lawn.
Welcome Ava! We look forward to watching you grow into a lovely young lady.
Today we had a great pool safety meeting at second in command Stephanie's house. AC Carolyn was on vacation so Stephanie hosted and ran the meeting, starting with a rundown of all the news that we needed to be updated on.
Stephanie and yellow lab Coastie. Stephanie is sitting in a chair and Coastie is lying on the ground next to her.
We were a little concerned that the rain might be an unwelcome guest, but it only sprinkled a bit and actually provided for some nice overcast clouds and a cool breeze.
Puppy raisers from left to right Lois, Fred, Susan and Brian. Lois has Babe on her left, Fred has Coach on his right, Susan is sitting next to Brian and puppy Liz is sitting on Brian's right.
We all sat in a big circle on the deck out back and listened to the news. Our next meeting will be broken into two spots: Up north in Palm Harbor with Sylvia and here in Clearwater at the white cane day with Cheryl on Oct. 6th. Stephanie and Carolyn will be at the AC training day.
Sue and Katie and Bev and Tabina smile for the camera. Katie is sitting between Sue's legs and Tabina is lying on the floor under Bev's chair.
Lois and Babe. Babe is in the process of lying down on Lois's left. Lois is smiling and looking left.
Stephanie goes over the list of things we need to know.
Fred leans down to pat Coach's shoulders.
Susan is smiling as Brian gives Liz a hug.
We did have a visitor to our meeting, a guide dog user: Debbie and her guide dog Luke. She got Luke, who is her first guide dog in May and will be speaking with us at our Nov. meeting.
Visitor Debbie and her guide dog Luke
Gail is staring at the pool waiting to jump in as Michele listens to the meeting.
We also heard some sad news from Bev about Tabina. Seems Tabina has been diagnosed with bi-lateral hip dysplasia. The final word and decision will come probably next week, but in all likelyhood she will be career-changed.
Bev gives Tabina a little kiss.
Bev places a kiss on top of Tabina's head.
Tabina and Coach were the youngsters of the group, but starting today, Nancy will be picking up Ava. Karen and Bob will be getting Liberty soon as well. So Coach will just be one of the gang now!
Close-up of Coach looking back at the camera.
Stephanie announced that there was a closed Facebook users group for Southeastern puppy raisers that was run by Jen Gerrity, the trainer. If you search on southeastern puppy raisers, you should be able to find it. Just request access. If you have any questions, let Stephanie know.
Michele and Gail.
After the announcements, we did some obedience work and Stephanie showed us the turn command again.
The obedience circle.
Then we did pool safety. The object was to slowly introduce your dog to the pool, make sure they knew where the steps were and also that they didn't just jump into the pool. They need to only go in the pool when they are given permission to do so. Jumping in on their own is not permitted. So, if your puppy is currently doing that, you need to stop them and work on having them enter the pool on command. It is a dangerous distraction if a guide dog jumps into bodies of water on their own.
Coach is on the edge of the pool steps, but won't get in on his own.
Brian and Liz show the group how swimming is really done.
Liz shakes off the water!
Finally, Gail gets to swim in the water and swims to Michele.
Everyone watches the experts in the pool.
Guide dog Luke wants to go in!
Gail and Luke, swimming and playing in the pool.
Stephanie helped Luke get his pool safety lessons.
Gail and Luke running loose after getting out of the pool.
Debbie and a very wet Luke!
Coastie and Tabina have a moment to play together.
On August 9, 2012, Susan and Essie walked on to the big stage at the Florida Chapter of the Meeting Planners International (MPI), the group who had sponsored and named Essie.
As you can see by the above photo, it is a very big stage, but Essie was very composed and sweet, as she normally is, which is why she has been chosen for the Southeastern Guide Dogs breeding program and will be staying with Brian and Susan has a breeder mom.
Susan said that she has the opportunity to address the group at this year's SEC meeting and tell them how well there money had been spent.
She also talked about how their investment didn't just change one life, but with Essie becoming a breeder will now have the ability to change countless lives as she brings more guide dogs into this world.
All we can say is if they are as gentle and lovely as Essie, they will all be a success! Congratulations to Susan and Brian and to Southeastern! And a big Thank You to the MPI for their support of Southeastern Guide Dogs and of Susan!
Saturday was our Southeastern Guide Dog puppy raiser monthly meeting and we had it at the clubhouse at Waterchase. AC Carolyn brought along a host of noisy and innovative distractions with which to subject our puppies and we also used the public.
Children walk by our puppies and serve as distractions as the puppies try to maintain a down stay.
A mom and her two children were just coming out of the pool, so Carolyn had them walk by the puppies a couple of times to see if any of them would break their down stays. The kids seemed to enjoy being the center of attention and the dogs really liked them as well.
Gail sitting up and staring at the red and black broom making its way toward her.
Carolyn also brought a broom and swept up the sidewalk. Some pups were curious, like Gail in the above photo. Some didn't care (like Coach).
Carolyn also used silk flowers which she flapped together in front of the dogs. Here she is in front of Gail, but Gail didn't break.
Carolyn also used silk flowers and a very small red wagon. It was interesting to note which items the dogs reacted to. Gail had no reaction to the flowers. Coach went to smell them. Coach didn't have any interest in the wagon, but Gail was fearful of it.
Gail runs behind Michele when the wagon comes her way. She did come out and go sniff the wagon though!
These distractions also give Carolyn a good idea of what needs to be worked on with each puppy raiser's dog and she can then give helpful advice to the puppy raiser about what can be done if any of the dogs exhibit any fear reactions. In Gail's case, they were pretty easily able to get her to go sniff the wagon.
Orchid, a yellow goldadore, sniffs at the wagon, but doesn't break her sit stay.
Babe, a yellow lab, gets some loving by Tim, a new puppy raiser waiting on a puppy.
Then we all went on a walk that included a wooden bridge that went over a river/creek. Coach did a nifty poo on the move, which was interesting. This was despite my pulling over a couple of times and giving him the opportunity to poo. Sigh.
Puppies laid out on the tic tac toe board on the shady parking lot. All are in a down stay but one in the far corner.
Then we played a couple of games of puppy tic tac toe and took off for our air-conditioned cars and home!
