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"

GDA Obedience

Some of the many things I love about GDA are the free monthly obedience classes that they host and  encourage all the pups to go to.  Although I was unable to attend, my mom stepped in and took Westin to the class.   After a little bit of obedience and advice from the trainers, the pups got to play with their siblings!!!!!  Westin was THRILLED to play with three of his siblings who came - Wiki, Winter and Wheely! There was a baby pool, play equipment and plenty of toys to go around. Of course, he was tired after the class.

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.

Growing like a weed

Sorry for the lack of updates; Westin is just busy GROWING!

It is HOT

The weather here is so warm, too hot for right now! It is 95 outside and all of us humans and canines are burning up!!! I feel bad for Westin because it is so warm.

Swimming!

Today it is a beautiful day - nice and sunny!! Westin loves to play outside on the grass.  It has been hot lately so we decided to let Westin play in the water!!! 

The hose is a no-no, and I think that a full-sized, chlorinated pool is too much for a teeny puppy, we decided to go with a little baby pool.  

Puppy love

I LOVE my little man! He is amazing!  Not even 24 hours down and there are already dozens of things I love about him :)

Ten things I love about Westin:

1) He is SO loving

2) He likes to play with practically any toy

3) He comes prancing whenever I call his name with a happy voice :)

4) He doesn't mind the crate

5) He slept all through the night - he didn't cry to go out when I took him out at 7 this morning

6) He is adorable (but he could be three-legged and I would still know so)

7) He likes to play with people

8) He likes to play with dogs

9) He has puppy breath and puppy fur :)

10) I just LOVE LOVE LOVE him!!!

What do you LOVE about your puppy?

HE'S HERE!

Meet Westin!

He is well worth the wait - Westin is so cute, so sweet, so loving, so wonderful!!!

Right now he is passed out in his crate, but it wasn't always that way....it started off when I arrived at Guide Dogs of America about 15 minutes before eleven, when orientation was scheduled to start.  To my surprise, there were already three families there who were also getting puppies!!! One of the families is the one that we saw at Disneyland and we were thrilled to be getting littermates.  Lorri, who works at GDA and is also a GDA graduate came in and chatted with all of us for a little bit - she is so funny and has a great sense of humor.  The last person who was getting a puppy today finally arrived and orientation began.  I learned that there were actually eight puppies in the litter - one puppy is going to Washington and two are going somewhere else (I don't remember..Oregon possibly?) and that the litter is 100% YELLOW (that is rare at GDA).

After the hour-long orientation (three of the families out of five were first time puppy raisers so it was pretty lengthy), everyone got handed puppy bags filled with a bowl, a sterilized bone, a stuffed toy, a puppy blanket with littermate scent on it, a few baby pictures, folders with info/shot records, collars, leash, brush, etc.  Everyone also got a small bag of dog food - we got a big bag because Westin is sponsored (thanks Vons!).   It was finally time to get our puppies!!!

Westin and one of his sisters, Wailea, were the first two pups out of the nursery!

We then got to introduce the pups to grass. This is Westin playing with one of his sisters, Wheely (I may have spelled that wrong).

First Cradle

We've got a big future ahead of us, little man..

Once we got home, I relieved Westin and fed him (boy does he like to eat!).  He looked, tired, so I put him in his crate.

{puppy just woke up, play break}

30 minutes later.....

Where was I? Oh yes, he only cried for about 30 seconds before going right to sleep :) He is such a good boy!

This is it!

In just two hours, I will leave my house and come back with a 7 1/2 week old puppy in my arms!
Now to just make those hours short.... :)

Waiting..

...for there to be a neck to put this collar on!!! 

I am tempted to go to bed early just so I can wake up and it be tomorrow, but I don't want to wake up at 5 am like the last puppy pick up! Come on, everyone! Do you have ideas to help me pass the time? Just 14 hours left!

24 Hours to go!!!!!

ONE DAY LEFT!!!

Tomorrow at this time, I will be watching my puppy on the puppy-cam from the orientation room, squirming in my seat, trying to guess which yellow baby is mine!!!!  

I hope it's a short orientation :) I don't know how long I can last!

3 Days!

MySpace CountdownsThere are just a few days left until Westin comes home.  Right now I'm on a mini-vacation 2 hours away from my house and I come back tomorrow.   A silver heart tag that says WESTIN came in the mail the other day along with a very cute summery collar.   Friday just can't come soon enough!  What did you do to prepare for your new bundle of joy?

Say it with sign!

That's right, eight days left until Westin comes home!  Although I'm not screaming "I WANT MY PUPPY!" every five minutes like I did for two weeks before Mikah came home, next Friday just can't come soon enough.  

Puppy pick up is SO special and I hope I have butterflies in my stomach on that day like I did the first time around.  A few months ago, a woman in my puppy raising group who has raised some eight or nine puppies said that she loved being a first time puppy raiser because of the "sweetness and innocence of it all."  I kind of feel like that innocence was stripped away from me far too early. I am really hoping that I still feel all the excitement and jittery-ness this time .  I think I will once April 17 is closer (like one day away :) )  

Did your second puppy pick up feel different than your first one?