Send in your pictures!

Do you have wild, funny, unique or just plain CUTE pictures or video clips of your current or past puppies?  Westin and I know that you do! 

{I know that you can beat this silly picture of Mikah. I lack cute photos! That's where you come in!}

Send them to me to be included in a fun video slide-show!  Send in as many pictures as you'd like and tell your blog followers and puppy raising friends! I want to include as many puppies-in-training as possible.

Pictures of fun poses, unique locations, funny props, and silly faces are all great! You can't go wrong with a picture of a puppy!

Pictures/video can be sent to me via e-mail or posted on your own blog (please leave a comment here to let me know that you posted!)

Along with the photos, be sure to include your puppy's name and the service/guide dog school that you are from!

Email - beachysweets@yahoo.com

Please, please, please participate and tell others! 

Thanks everyone :) This should be fun.

Happy Monthday "W" Pups!

Today, Westin and his siblings are FOUR months old! Wow, I have had this little guy for more than half of his life :) He is amazing and continues to impress me most every day!

In other news, there's a new puppy in the blog-o-sphere and his name is.....

WINTER! That's right, Westin's own brother has started a blog! We saw Winter at Open House and he was looking great! I hope that you will follow Winter's blog at 

http://winterswonderlands.blogspot.com/

Park

Westin and I went to the {not dog} park today and had a picnic with my family. It was pretty enjoyable and he enjoyed a nice walk around a little lake.  While I forgot my camera, I will be sure to bring it next time.  I am toying around with the header thanks to the website that Mitch (and Meade) sent me!  

Arboretum

One weekend when I was out of town, Westin got to go out and about with my family.  One place that he got to visit was the Arboretum.  Here are some pictures that my sister gave me:

He's a BRANIAC!

Westin is a very smart puppy! He already knows how to sit, lie down, and stay on command.  I was very lucky that he was very willing to learn "down" because it tends to be a difficult command to teach.  The only problem is that Westin does not like to "perform" his commands in front of others. We will work on that!

School is out and I can't believe that I only have two years left of high school! Westin will be accompanying me in my classes next year.  I will have tennis the last period, so we are going to have to figure that one out - he will have lots of practice ignoring tennis balls this summer because once Westin is physically larger I will bring him to practices with me. 

How large was your pup when he/she fit into their "big boy/girl jacket?"

Westin playing with Jake

The big guy himself

Open House 2009

As expected, Open House was a blast!  It included everything from "puppy trials" with  llamas to a puppy kissing booth!  We had a wonderful time and Westin did a great job with the crowds.

Westin was looking pretty spiffy in his clean jacket and appropriately themed bandana. 

(thanks Denise for this awesome picture)

GDA Stadium

Puppy trials

A few of the puppies from our group

Westin got fourth place for his age in the puppy trials! We had an awesome time and encourage everyone to come next year.  We saw/met countless people, a ton of puppies in training and many graduates with their guides.  

I have a GDA group meeting tomorrow night which I am excited about because a graduate is speaking! There is also a Disneyland trip (with a puppy of course) in the works. 

GDA Open House

GDA Open House is coming up this Saturday! If you'll be in the area, I hope y'all will come :) It is going to be amazing!

The following has been taken from the GDA website:

"22 Annual GDA Open House
(Sports Day) on June 13th

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!

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

Come early so as not to miss any events and please leave your personal pets at home. Gates open at 10:45am to 4pm. Main events will wind down be around 2:30pm.

GDA is located at: 13445 Glenoaks Blvd Sylmar, CA 91342.
For more information: (818) 362-5834"

Puppy Meeting

Yesterday we had a fun-filled and educational puppy meeting! I absolutely LOVE my group, they are an awesome group of people!

This was the first meeting that I have been to without Parker (MGR) or Savannah (MBL)! They are two sweeties and I wish them the best of luck in formal training.  It was also the first meeting with Hercules, an ADORABLE 8 week old male black lab.  He has the sweetest face and he is a pretty big boy!

We had a wonderful guest at our meeting.  He is the director of programs at GDA.  He has an awesome story and actually used to be at GDB and CCI!

He worked with Westin:

And he also treated me like a dog!

The meeting aside, guess what? Since Westin is a sponsored puppy, his big boy jacket is embroidered.  It came the other day......

But maybe.....

...jst maybe we should stick with his baby bib.....

...especially because poor 6 month old Mandy doesn't have her big girl jacket!

At our meeting we also got to go through an obstacle course to practice for open house! Unfortunately it was outdoors and too dark to take pictures.

This is Westin with the camera at eye-level.

A Mother's Day Graduation

Congratulations to all of the graduating teams today!  Everyone looked oh so happy and all of the speeches were really thoughtful.

I really enjoyed talking to a bunch of puppy raisers today.  It was good seeing all of you!

And happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there! I hope your four-legged (and two-legged if you have them) children treat you well :) I personally was given many puppy kisses.

Circle Tail Wagging?

Westin sometimes wags his tail in a circle.  It is super cute and I hope to get it on video :) I took a picture, but my friend won't let me post it because she thought it was "puppy porn".... however, I thought it was super adorable. I guess that's the puppy raiser in me?

 Does anyone else's dog exhibit this amazingly cute behavior?

New Blogging Friend

Hi, everyone! I just wanted to tell you that my friend, Diana, who is raising her first puppy in my puppy raising group, started a new blog! She is awesome and her puppy, Viigo, is a super cute male yellow lab!

The link to her blog is:

http://mylillove.blogspot.com/