Saturday, April 18, 2009

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?

Friday, April 17, 2009

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.... :)

Thursday, April 16, 2009

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!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

3 Days!


MySpace Countdowns
There 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?

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Disneyland has gone to the dogs!

A while back, I promised a post on my trip to Disneyland with a puppy in tow.  I took Savannah, a (then) 15 month old female black labbie - she is now older and goes IFT next month!  

It all started with begging and pleading (by me) for a trip to Disneyland - I hadn't been for about a year and was desperate to go with a puppy in training.  My mom finally agreed and we called up Savannah's puppy raisers to ask for a one-night trade.

Come Saturday, we swapped pups at about 10am and then headed for Disney!  Savannah got to go on several rides including Pirates of the Caribbean, The Haunted Mansion, The Train, The Jungle Cruise, It's A Small World, and a few more that I'm not thinking of.  She was swapped on Splash Mountain and Indiana Jones.  

Although we didn't meet any other puppies in training or working dogs, we came across a few puppy raisers!  We met one family who is waiting for their first GDA puppy (we have talked to them at a few Sylmar meetings) and another man who used to raise for GDB! The GDB former raiser mentioned something hilarious.  He said that everyone used to tell him (we have all heard this), "I love dogs too much, I could NEVER give it up" and  he sometimes used to reply "Well, I really don't like dogs, so it's easy!"  Of course, he was kidding, but it was a funny comment.  

Here are some pictures from the big day:









An extra note:
I am probably going to post either another video or pictures of Mikah because I just uploaded more onto my computer; please don't feel obligated to watch/comment them.  They are open for everyone to view and you are welcome to do so, but I really am posting them for my own personal use. Seriously. Really. 

P.P.S.
SIX DAYS! :)