Puppy Camp update #3 from sitter

Sunday, September 28, 2008- He has been being really really good, though I was having trouble getting him to listen to me on walks but I think he might have been testing his limits. he has shaped up a lot :) He is such a sweet heart. Tonight when I was studying Spanish on my floor he just came and snuggled into my lap. Absolutely just a gentle giant I can see why he is going to be hard to give up..I’m going to be sad after just three weeks!

Puppy Camp update #2 from sitter

Saturday, September 27, 2008 -Sherman went to lunch today and was very very good. He slept in the corner the whole time. We also went for another walk and played with his wubby. He is such a sweet heart :)

Puppy Camp update #1 from sitter

Friday, September 26, 2008- Sherman was a very good boy today at school. He did a really good job even though today was kind of a rough day for him because I had two tests so I had to lose part of my lunch time to stay and work. He sat right through though!

Puppy Camp

Sherman gets to participate in puppy camp for the next 3 weeks. He went with a really good puppy raiser who I know will spoil him and will give him lot of love. It will also be good for him to go to a larger school every day. It was quite sad giving him up and I already miss him. He did go happily with his puppy sitter, so that made me feel a little better.

Hike

On Wednesday, we went on a little hike to scope out where we are having a meeting in a few weeks. Once we got to Anna Springs, both Ely and Sherman went crazy with excitement. The first stop on the trail was Billy Graham’s grandfather’s house. They got to sit on the porch and sniff it out. We then went down a trail that had not been taken in a while and was starting to get overgrown. Sherman navigated it and found the trail when I could not even find it. Hopefully this will help him when he becomes a guide dog. The trail came out at a creek with a swinging bridge. I took Sherman across and he loved it. He was just bouncing along with the bridge as happy as could be, while Ely was more on the cautious side. On the other side of the bridge, we picked one of the three trails to walk on. We came out at the nature center and walked down to the lake where we met a lady with two dachshunds who were seizure alert dogs. All of the dogs totally ignored each other. We continued down the trail till we got to the lake. Both Ely and Sherman wanted to go swimming in the lake. On the way back we could tell that the boys were getting tired. Once we got back to the creek and the bridge, we decided to let the boys go into the creek. Sherman loved playing in the water and Ely enjoyed walking on the rocks. Once they were done playing in the creek we headed back up the trail past the goats but they didn’t want anything to do with us. We then passed the horses. We called them and they didn’t come so we stated to keep walking when they decided to come check us out. They were huge horses and Sherman didn’t know what to do about them. He barked and didn’t want to go near them. After some work, Sherman warmed up to them and wanted to eat grass with them. He got very close to them and didn’t care. We were getting ready to move on when Sherman decided to go nose to nose with the horse and gave him a kiss. After the horses we kept walking when a tractor came by, Sherman could have cared less about it. The boys came home and took a long nap. They both had a lot of fun and would be content to go on long hikes every day.

A Great Weekend

Sherman had a great weekend. We started out by playing in the yard a good part of the day on Saturday with Sherman's Aunt Ashley. Then Saturday night we went out to a new burger joint, where we sat out on the patio. There was a live band with a ton of people. Sherman did great with all of the burger smells. After we got done eating, we walked over to a fountain where there was a crowed and a band. Sherman was extremely interested in the fountain. I think he was thinking "let's go swimming". By the fountain there were two little boys playing ball and Sherman was so interested in them. But he behaved himself and just looked at them. Then something else caught his attention, two girls walked by and they had huge balloon hats on. Sherman got this funny look on his face, like what in the world is that. I was so proud of how he behaved himself. On Sunday, we went to church and Sherman got loved on as always. His fan club just keeps on getting bigger every week. He really likes it when Lucky, who is another SEGDI puppy in training, comes to church at the same service. They like to look at each other underneath the chairs. Sherman may have attracted another puppy raiser. I think it would be crazy, but fun if three puppies came to church during the same service. Sherman got to sit through two services since I work with the kids during the first service. I think that he enjoys his extra long naps. After church, he came home and passed out. I think sleeping in coat makes you even sleepier. After his nap, he got to play in the yard some more. Yesterday, he took his normal morning nap, then played before going to the library to be a reader dog. There were 10 kids who read to him and he just leaned up next to them and went to sleep. He has gotten to be quite the good reader dog. After the library we came home and the boys went swimming and played in the yard. Then both Sherman and Ely got a spa. They loved getting their teeth brushed, and the bath part, but Sherman didn't like his ears cleaned that much. They both smell a lot better now, though Sherman thought that he smelled pretty good before his bath.

Airport Meeting

This past Sunday, our puppy raising group had a unique opportunity to let our puppies get on a airplane. This is one of my favorite meetings. All of the puppies love going on and off the plane and none of them were afraid of anything. Sherman loved going into the cockpit and sitting in first class. He had a hard time sitting in the regular seats because he is so big. He liked the bulkhead better, because there was a lot more room. He had the honor of being the first puppy to go onto the plane. He sat at the bottom of the stairs then walked up the stairs like he had been doing it for years.

After the meeting half of the group decided to go out to lunch at Cracker Barrel. We had 15 people and 8 puppies go out to lunch. All the puppies were on their best behavior and Cracker Barrel invited us back anytime. Sherman enjoyed sitting next to Sandie during lunch. He had his feet on her head almost the entire time.

Sherman had a great time at the meeting and lunch. He came home and crashed the rest of the afternoon.

Meet Sherman

Meet Sherman, a 13 month old black goldador (lab golden mix). I am his puppy raiser Rebecca. I have had Sherman since he was 10 weeks old. He is a puppy in training for Southeastern Guide dogs. I have trained and socialized him for the past 11 months. He is the 4th puppy that I have raised for Southeastern so he has some big shoes to follow. Sherman is a very sweet puppy who loves to be touched. He loves to play and give kisses as well. He adores going new places in coat and is always on his best behavior. I have been asked to train other people’s dogs, as well as their kids. Sherman tops out (right now) at 80lbs and has finally grown into his long legs and tail. He has the most expressive ears and will put them at full attention or lay them back depending on his mood. His eyes are the cutest puppy eyes. They are light camel and he can get pretty much whatever he wants with them. Sherman loves to play with other puppies when he is not working. He has lots of doggy friends in the neighborhood who stop by and play. There are a ton of puppy friends in the puppy group as well that he loves to play with. He does try his hardest to get Ely, his older brother to play, but Ely is “too old” for him at the ripe age of two. They do have their moments when they will tear around the backyard and run through the doggie pools. I know that Sherman will be a great guide dog in the future and change someone’s life forever.

Summer Vacation

At the beginning of summer, Sherman went on vacation to the beach with us. It was a long 7 hour drive north with two very big dogs. We stopped in Virginia Beach for a night to see family and Sherman got to meet his cousins. Hannah, the Australian shepherd, only likes my black puppies and so Sherman was okay with her from a distance. He also got to meet, through the door, his other cousins, Sophie a pit bull and Abby a Dalmatian. One of his favorite people was my Uncle who always has treats in his car for the puppies. The next day we got in the car again and headed back south a few hours till we made it to Nags Head, NC. We got to the house and he went crazy, it smelled like other dogs and sea air. He loved going up and down the stairs and looking over into the living room from the loft area. One of his favorite places was the big deck were he could watch traffic go by, birds in the lake below us, and in the distance, the ocean. Ely enjoyed being back at the beach. That night we walked over to the beach. As we walked up the stairs to get to the beach, Sherman got so excited. Once we got to the top he saw the water and took off running, dragging me behind him. He jumped right into the ocean. He loved it and didn’t mind the waves at all. He also loved playing in the sand with Ely, since Ely does not like the ocean. They both came back and crashed for the rest of the night. Sherman did not even mind when got the salt water rinsed off of him. Both Ely and Sherman enjoyed their week at the beach. The only thing that I was not too thrilled about was what occurred every night when I took the boys out to go busy one last time. I would get back inside and not a minute later there was this screaming outside. It turned out to be a fox and it was always sitting in the driveway when you looked back outside. I think it was waiting for us every night when we went out. Its baby/cat like cry was disturbing! Sherman and Ely enjoyed their long walks on the beach and on the golf course. Sherman did think that it was not very fair that Ely got to run loose on the beach and he had to be stuck on the leash, but he soon got over it and enjoyed his beach time. The thing the boys enjoyed most was going to Jockey’s Ridge which is the tallest natural sand dune system in the Eastern United States. Sherman thought that it was a big sand box to play in. Ely remembered it from last year and went just as crazy as soon as his feet hit the sand. We wondered around the dunes and Ely and Sherman both decided to try and dig to the bottom of one of the tallest dunes. Ely decided that he wanted run down one of the taller dunes and so Sherman pulled to join him. So I ran down the dune with Sherman. Sherman was very interacted in the stuffed fox. They both had a blast on the dunes playing in the sand. In the visitors center they had stuffed dead animals behind wire cases. One night Sherman put himself to bed in his crate upstairs. I went to check on him and I turned to go upstairs and found him asleep on the stairs where he had fallen asleep on his way downstairs. He was one tired puppy by the time we got done with the day. Another thing that Sherman enjoyed was going shopping. He was always so good and everyone had to talk about how such a sweet good boy he was. Unfortunately, the day we shopped the longest, it rained, so we had a smelly ride home! Sherman also enjoyed going to the aquarium, though he thought that there were some boring things. He enjoyed looking at the turtles, the otters, and the huge sharks. The sharks came and checked Sherman out to see what he was. Sherman didn’t like it very much when my mom, sister, and I left him with my dad while we did a behind the scenes tour. He did enjoy his nap with my dad. We had to make our annual stop at the marina to get a picture of Sherman with a box that said “Lucky Dog”, which is exactly what he is. Although Ely who is a lab, didn’t like swimming much in the sound, Sherman loved every minute of it. The water was way down, so Sherman didn’t get to try to swim but he had a ton of fun playing in the water. We got Ely to go out in the water by having my dad throw treats out as he walked down the dock. Ely was not too thrilled with the water. He did help Sherman get out by coming back down into the water and guided him out. Ely would have been a great guide dog. Sherman loved being able to play in the water. Sherman got to experience many new experiences while at the beach and would be happy to be a beach bum for the rest of his life. Both Sherman and Ely were on their best behavior the entire week and had the time of their life.

Sherman the Lucky dog.

Sherman and his new friend.

Wet puppies.

The boys on the dunes.

Ely on the dunes.

Sherman in the ocean.

Ely coming out of the ocean.

Sherman asleep on the stairs.

Sherman and the sunset.