Kennel Camp at GDA

Poppy went to "day camp" at Guide Dogs of America today. It looks like jail but the kennel director promised me that the puppies have a great time playing with each other. Then when they come for guide dog boot camp at 16 months of age adjustment is a breeze for them. One of the problems GDA encountered was that many dogs were dropped from the program because of "kennel stress". Since they started the "doggy day camps" the kennel stress has decreased substantially!!

Five Months of Poppy

First time at the beach

Poppy went to the beach and experienced the ocean for the very first time. It was HEAVEN for Poppy. She loved the sand and the smells, the waves. We walked for 2 hours in the surf and if I had unhooked the leash I think she would have thanked me in English. The experience was so magical for her.

Perfectly matched playmates

A lot of love

Poppy requires a LOT of exercise and a LOT of play. She doesn't even notice when a dog tries to dominate her. I don't think she realizes how aggressive she is. Her BFF is a pitbull named Lucy who is the only dog who can match her energy. They have a ball together.

Dean and Poppy at Poquito Mas

Thank God we started taking Poppy to restaurants early on because she really absorbed good restaurant behavior.

Lindsey took Poppy to school with her

Lindsey took her to Chaminade High School and Poppy went to class with her. I was prepared to go pick Poppy up if she was distracting or unruly but she surprised us all with absolutely PERFECT behavior.

Pretty Poppy

Poppy is TERRIFIC at riding in the car

Not allowed on the couch

Poppy and Buddy L O V E

Four Months of Poppy

Happy Half Birthday Poppy

Poppy is six months old and growing up to be a strong healthy young lady.

She is curious about everyone and everything. The most important thing to her is love. In the morning she wants hugs first, not food or to go outside. She follows me from room to room in the house and goes with me everywhere. Except the mall, she is puppy non grata at the mall until she learns to go pee pee and poo poo BEFORE we hit those marble floors.

Haley walks Poppy around the golf course

Poppy takes takes a 3 mile walk with me most mornings around Balboa Park. She likes romping through the grass and is fascinated by the geese, ducks and swans.

Poppy faces off with a swan hopping like a kangaroo

Her favorite dog training class is Sha Newman's class on Sunday mornings and she is actually pretty good in it. Sometimes we put the dogs in a sit and walk away, humans walking around the circle. So far Poppy hasn't been the one to break the stay. After class the dogs have an off-leash romp and get all their energy out.

Poppy and Danny romp after class

We went to the GDA Puppy group this month and Poppy did their skill course, which had several different stations where the puppies demonstrated their ability to listen, wait and understand.

Poppy's A+ report card from GDA ;)

The great thing about these GDA meetings is that we get to see all of Poppy's litter mates. Cute cute cute puppies.

What happened to her leash?

Poppy's favorite thing to do it CHEW. Dean's classic car, the rugs, the walls, my flip flops, yoga block, many leashes and hundreds of chew toys. At some point during this short car ride Poppy managed to turn her leash into a useless pendant.

Three Months of Poppy

adorable

Poppy is 38 pounds now and my finger is black and blue from a popped blood vessels. She loves to pull.

Last month I realized that everyone else was taking their puppy to class even though they hadn't received their shots and also using treats for training purposes!!! Let me tell you, when training a tiny puppy to understand english treats are a BIG help. They already get so much adoration and approval.

Poppy, Buddy, Sally

Poppy is making great strides.
We started class with Jessica K who used to be a guide dog trainer for GDA and she gave me useful tips. My favorite was "get a leather leash" it doesn't cut into your hand so much.

Dean and Haley training Poppy at Jessica's

Before we could take our second class I took Poppy for an overnight stay at GDA and she got spayed.
She was beside herself with excitement when I dropped her off and she saw her friends Carter and Lorri. Compared to the other puppy, who was there helping her puppy raiser give tours to girl scouts, Poppy was shamefully ferrel.

Too cool for school

I came home feeling sick to my stomach. Was I doing Poppy a disservice? I'm not a dog trainer. Buddy and Sally are only trained to get along with me and my family.

Noelle Nasca, dog trainer

My sister Noelle, on the other hand, is an amazing dog trainer. Everywhere she goes dogs are transformed by her presence. Do you understand what I am saying? Not that she is a good dog trainer, but when untrained dogs come near her they magically act exactly like fully trained dogs.
She just knows how to speak "Dog". They understand her gestures, her tone, her words, and the look in her eyes.

Unfortunately she lives in New York State. Here's a video of her well trained dog, Uta, attacking MY big padded arm.

I put feelers out to a few other puppy raisers and I got a call from a woman named Ronni who cheerfully assured me that I could do this.

Stay.

Down Poppy

She hooked me up with a dog trainer near my house named Sha Newman. Sha used to be a GDA trainer and now she works for Guide Dogs of the Desert. Every Sunday morning Sha has a free class for any dog associated with GDA or GDD and she so very kindly allowed me to come with Poppy.
Sha's class was inspiring for me and Poppy was thoroughly fascinated.

Spotted

Sha was funny and frank and totally accepting and supportive. She loved Poppy. The class was filled with nice people and cute dogs. I am looking forward to rapid growth in understanding for Poppy and her raisers.

The Final Frontier

 Poppy seems to have decided that her favorite place to pee AND POOP is the mall! Yuk. No matter how long I walk her back and forth in the grass outside the mall, as soon as we step inside, the first thing she wants to do is poop. A little later... pee.
Why Poppy, why?

Your welcome, Nortdstroms

Irritated = Irritating

Poor Poppy, I think her incision must be itchy today. She is supper whiny and irritated.

Yuk

I've given her pain killers and extra food and love. But somedays only a nasty, stinky, gross pig ear will do...

makes her happy

Poppy Got Spayed

Awww, my sweet Poppy girl having one new experience after the other. Just spent three days in the hospital kennel and is coming home with stitches.

Poppy got spayed! They don't wait around at GDA. The lady who grooms my other dog told me that when you spay a dog this young their head doesn't grow anymore so they end up having a small head and fat body. The girls at GDA laughed out loud when I told them that. I really hope that's not true. The dogs I saw at graduation looked like they had normal heads.

Poppy is accepting of the cone. She has no expectations that life is supposed to be cone free so she has no resentment about wearing it. But she doesn't like it. She won't go on the grass with the cone on so she is pooping and peeing in all the wrong spots, like the living room, the flower beds, or right in the middle of the walkway.

She's on drugs too, Rimadyl, which is an anti-inflamatory. I think it makes her loopy.

The cone has turned her into Puppy-non-grata. It hurts like hell when she runs into your shins! I saw Buddy finally growl menacingly at her. He has to let her know that she is hurting him. She followed me around the backyard where I was gardening and each time she sniffed a newly planted flower the cone dug it right back up. Sigh.

Is this what recovery is going to be like?

Ahhhh, much better!

Bad Girl Bad Girl, Whatcha Gonna Do?

I knew I put three blueberry muffins on that countertop. So when I came back and there were only two I figured that Dean ate one. Then I realized that Poppy was no where to be found. She had scurried upstairs and was busy wolfing down that muffin, paper and all.

"NO POPPY!"

likely to re-offend