Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Double digits

The Rock star turned 10 months old today!!! The past 8 months have flown by; seems like just yesterday Rocky was 18.2 lbs and a chubby little thing! Rocky spent his 10 month birthday in class with me. Granted, not the most exciting day ever - playing with his friends would have been a lot better, but now that he is almost a year old, he gets to behave during class for his month day. I got to school a little early, so I walked him around in the beautiful weather that we are having. Traffic does not bother him one bit. Since we are uptown, there are sirens, trucks, buses, cars honking and just a loud commotion of cars. Rocky walks down the sidewalk with not a care in the world. He also gets exposed to talking crosswalks since there are quite a few visually impaired individuals who are on campus.

[Close up of Rocky’s head, he is looking to the left. In the background is a gray sidewalk]

After our walk, Rocky found the elevator for me and we headed up to our math class. Since there is a class before us, we waited in the hall; Rocky decided it was a great place to take a nap. I then had to wake him up so that he could go sleep under my desk. My math class got out a little early so we took the long way to get to my next class so we could enjoy some more sun. Sign language is pretty quiet, so Rocky took a very good nap. After 2 hours of lab, we headed back across campus to our car and then the lovely drive home in all the rush hour traffic. Then we were off for a walk and some play time. Now I have a snoring Rocky lying at my feet. So it was not the most fun day, but not all days can be fun.

[Rocky and I outside in front of a fence. Rocky is sitting with his head tilted towards the camera, I am kneeling beside him wearing jeans and a blue and white striped shirt]

In honor of Rocky’s 10 month birthday 10 things I love about Rocky 1) His personality- He has a great, easy going personality which makes him extremely easy to take places and know that he is going to be on his best behavior. He is really calm and has never met a stranger. 2) His ears- he has the most expressive ears; when he gets happy he lays them back and wags his tail. He also has the cleanest ears I have seen on a lab, I don’t think he has ever had a dirty ear (though he still gets his ears cleaned every week) I guess it is because he always has his happy ears on so they air out. 3) The way he eats- Rocky is the messiest, slowest eater when it comes to mealtime that I have met. It takes him 2-3 minutes to finish a bowl of food; he takes a mouth full of food and then drops it all over the floor. It is like he is saving some for dessert. With treats he makes a big mess and loses part of the treat because Ely snarfs down his and goes over to check out what Rocky dropped (Ely is working on his manners some more) 4) His noise- He snores pretty much every night, thankfully I can sleep through most anything since Ely and Rocky alternate between snoring. He is also really cute when he yawns really big and dreams, other than that he is a quiet dog ( I think he has only barked around 5 times in his life) 5) His 'focusness'- He enjoys watching birds, cats or other dogs, but when you tell him to leave it he looks away. He would make a horrible hunting dog, since he looks at the rabbits and squirrels in our yard and walks the other way (he picked that up from Ely) he is very focused on his job, he knows that he has to pay attention to where he is going or he is going to run into something (he has never run into anything)

[Rocky standing on gray sidewalk looking up at the camera, he is wearing his blue puppy in training coat]

6) His coloring- when I went to pick Rocky up when he was 9 weeks old he was almost a white coloring with very light tan freckles. As he has gotten older, he has gotten darker, but he still has freckles of coloring. 7)His name- I have always loved the name Rocky, it was actually on my list of names when I sponsored Ely. Rocky’s name fits him perfectly! When he was a baby he was a Rock on the end of the leash, since he enjoyed sleeping. He is now eager to go (kind of like Rocky in the Rocky movies)- to go on adventures and of course he is a Rock Star wherever he goes! I think he also likes that he has a theme song! 8) The way he plays- I could watch Rocky run after a toy a million times! He prances when he runs, kind of like a deer, but he also has the charging fast speed of a tiger. It is also fun to watch him play with all of his friends! 9) He is a mama’s boy- I think that explains some of his watchfulness, but he also loves for everyone to be together. On walks if I go with my mom he will occasionally look back to make sure they are ok. I have asked him several times if he was sure he didn’t have some golden in him, since labs are supposed to be independent! 10) Because he is himself- there is not another dog in the world with the personality, looks, and willingness to work as Rocky. He is a great combination to have- a smart, confident, loving dog named Rocky. He makes it extremely easy to love and spoil him!

[Rocky sitting watching the vending machine]

Happy 10 month birthday to Rocky along with his siblings, Spike, Duchess, Toby and Cassidy! [Rocky sitting wearing his puppy coat looking off to the right. In the background is grass and a sidewalk and road] Rocky is now asleep on his back, dreaming and snoring while airing out his ears!

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Cold paws, warm heart

On Saturday, when it was in the mid 20’s outside, we headed indoors to an ice skating for our puppy meeting. It was actually warmer inside than outside! One of the other puppy groups was also there; it was good to see some old faces and meet some new ones. Since there were over 20 puppies there, we broke up into our local puppy groups for some obedience and announcements. We then headed inside to get warmed up and wait till the rink was free. It was actually a great test for the pups to behave themselves with all the distractions! Both of the groups have mostly black labs; there are only 4 yellow labs and a vizsla out of both groups. Thinking back, our group has either had mostly yellow pups or black pups; I normally have the color that not many others have.

[Rocky laying on a concrete floor with his head resting on his front paw, looking over his left. In the background are other puppies and people]

[Rocky laying on ice skating rink with his head resting on his paw]

[Rocky sitting in the middle of the ice skating rink looking towards the camera]

[Rocky standing on the ice watching the other pups explore the ice]

Once the rink was open we headed in there and let the pups check out the ice. I was surprised (though I shouldn’t be since he is a Rock Star at everything) at how well Rocky did on the ice. He just walked on like he had been walking on ice his whole life. There were a few dogs who took them a minute or so to get their footing right. Rocky and I worked on sitting, standing, laying and walking on the ice. Rocky’s favorite part was laying down on the ice!

I was able to get some cute pictures of him and most of his siblings on the ice by themselves. It is hard to believe that they are so old and don’t need their puppy raisers standing beside them to maintain a stay anymore.

[most of the puppies from both of the groups on the ice along with their puppy raisers]

[Rocky and Spike (black lab) best friends and brothers sitting on the ice]

[The 3 B09 boys, Rocky, Spike and Toby]

[Then there were 4. Cassidy, Rocky, Spike and Toby, 4 of the 5 B09 litter (Duchess had already left) sitting on the ice all by themselves looking to the left]

Rocky came home and passed out, of course he was tired from playing with his brother Spike before the meeting . It had been about a month since they saw each other last and you would have thought it was years. They were so cute playing together!

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Santa’s elf made a mistake :)

Santa’s elf delivered all of Sherman’s owner and Sherman’s presents up North, so I sent them down South. I just got an e-mail that they both love their Christmas presents. Sherman got a big nylabone like what Rocky got, a Busy Buddy toy, which is a lot like a kong, but is somewhat stronger. Healthy blueberry dog treats that smell amazing for dog treats.

Sherman’s partner got homemade chocolate chip cookies and they got a bags on board dispenser with bags for both of them to use.

Sherman apparently knew right away that there was something for him in the box. According his owner he went back and forth chewing on his bone to playing with his toy, and entertained himself for hours. Sherman’s person loved the cookies, they actually turned out a lot better than I thought they would (Santa’s elf is not much of a baker, except for dog treats!) He also loved the bags on board holder can attach to your leash so you never leave home without a bag.

[ from left to right: a blue bag of natural choice blueberry treats, a green toy that looks like a kong, but is a squirrel, a big nylabone with a knot on both ends, a clear bag of chocolate chips cookies tied with a green ribbon, some bags on board refills and a red fire hydrant bag holder. Everything is on a red blanket]

I am also glad to know they are surviving the cold (although compared to what we are getting, I might need to move down there!)

Friday, January 8, 2010

Happy 2010!

[Rocky and Ely on their bed in front of our glass door. Rocky is in front with Ely resting his head on Rocky’s back]

New Years Eve was somewhat busy, Rocky and Ely both went on a long walk. Then Rocky and I went shopping with my parents before heading out to the movies. We went to see Have you heard about the Morgan’s. We had been to see Blindside a few weeks before and that is a great movie! I would strongly recommend it! Rocky slept through the entire movie with the theater crammed packed. During the Morgan’s movie, Rocky watched a good part of it. Rocky is so good about walking right over a ton of popcorn on the floor or anything thing else for that matter, I am very happy for that! After the movie, we had a late dinner at a relatively new BBQ restaurant near our house. Rocky went in, lay down, and went to sleep and got told that he was so cute and so well behaved by several of the waitresses and other customers. We then went to pick up Ely from his babysitters and headed home.

[Rocky and I in front of the movie posters for Have you Heard About the Morgan’s and The Blindside]

[Rocky under the table at the restaurant. He is tucked in a tight ball, looking up at the camera]

Rocky and Ely slept right through the last hour of 2009 and Ely didn’t enjoy the beginning of 2010. He has been a little concerned about thunder and fireworks since he was on so much pain medicine when he had his knee surgery. He was not happy that everyone around was shooting off fireworks and went to chill out under the dining room table. Rocky was so sweet and brought him a bone to chew on then decided he wanted the bone and lay down beside him to chew on his bone. After a little while, Ely calmed down and went to bed.

[Ely asleep on his brown bed in the last minutes of 2009]

[Rocky in the end of 2009 asleep on his tan bed]

New Years Day, we had the traditional New Year’s lunch at my grandparents’ house then we went for a long walk after lunch. There were quite a few people shooting off firecrackers; Ely was a little concerned when they first started, but accepted the noise and walked very nicely, Rocky didn’t care one bit about the noise. Of course this is the puppy who sleeps through fireworks that were shot off right down the road while we were outside on July 4th.

We hope everyone has had a great beginning to 2010! 2010 is going to hold lots of new adventures for Rocky. It is hard to believe that he is going to graduate from puppy hood and head off to college this year!

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Christmas

I have been a terrible blogger, but I have been a little busy training for my new job and other fun things.
Christmas Eve eve, we had several families over for our annual chili dinner which is always a good exposure for the pups. This year there were 4 dogs in the house; Ely who was happy to take a nap in my room, Rocky who was by my side most of the night, Angel one of the new babies in our group who is no longer little, and a 9 week old little fluff ball of a thing (but I will share about her later). All of them fabulous and were on their best behavior!
[Rocky and Ely sitting in front of our Christmas tree, both are wearing red snowflake bandanas]
On Christmas Eve, it was kind of a lazy day. I left early afternoon to do some last minute Christmas shopping (where I learned my lesson not to go shopping on Christmas Eve because it was a mad house!) I then headed to church to watch a little boy with autism so his family could go to the service; hence Rocky got to stay home and come with my parents. Rocky was happy to see me once he got to church and slept through the Christmas Eve service. We then headed over to my grandparents house for our annual dinner. Rocky, Ely and the 9 week old puppy slept or chewed on a bone like good pups. Before all the puppies went to bed, I read them a dog’s night before Christmas, and read Rocky ‘twas the night before Christmas guide dog edition’.
[Rocky and I in front of a huge Christmas tree at the mall with red and gold balls, there are big presents in front of the tree and a gold fence in from of the gifts. Rocky is sitting to looking towards the camera; I am beside him wearing jeans and a white jacket. ]
Are you curious about the puppy yet?
[Leia, a very fluffy light golden puppy, the same coloring of a yellow lab, just a lot more fluffy. She is sitting very alert with a toy dog in front of her. In the background is a big blue toy box, a piano, and rocking chair]
We were asked to watch a Christmas puppy for a family at our church. She was a rescue puppy, so they don’t really know what she is. I think she has some collie, lab and probably about 6 or 7 other breeds. We got her 4 days before Christmas and she was terrified when she met Ely and made the mistake of growling and barking at him. Apparently Ely though that she said something not very nice and kept a good distance between them the entire time she was here. Towards the end of her stay she was trying to get Ely to play by jumping on him, all Ely would do was growl at her, which she didn’t seem to care to much about, and once Ely realized that she was not going to listen to him he would just walk away. If a dog or cat does not greet Ely friendly the first time, then there is no hope for friendship in Ely’s book. Rocky was quite interested in the pup when she first got here and was really good around her. She had not been around many other dogs in her short weeks of life and was not so sure about these giants.
[Rocky laying on a tan bed with Leia laying on top of Rocky’s front feet. Both are asleep]
By Christmas Eve she was Rocky’s shadow; Rocky would make a good big brother. It was so cute watching Rocky tell her that we don’t do that when he would snap at him. He took his paw and pinned her down; she responded very well to Rocky. It was adorable watching them play together. I also came to the conclusion that she had some kind of hound in her very quickly when she was put in the crate. I have never heard a dog scream so much about being in a crate. Rocky was very concerned for her and tried his hardest to find a way to bust her out. The only time she went into the crate quickly and without making any noise while in it was Christmas Eve. I took Rocky’s bed out of his crate and put it beside the crate and blocked off the inside of the crate and put her in there. She snuggled up as close to the side with Rocky as she could get and went to sleep. Wish I had thought of that 3 nights earlier!
[Rocky and Leia snuggled up on a white top, green bottom bed. Behind them is the Christmas tree and cabinet. Both are looking at the camera]
Christmas started way too early at our house, we were up at 5:30 to deliver the Christmas pup to her new house and, of course, it had to be pouring down rain! (Rocky was not happy to see her leave and apparently searched the house once we left) I put a huge red bow on a collar (she looked like a new car, the bow was so big!) Since it was pouring down rain by the time we got to their house, I let my dad be Santa’s elf! Not 20 seconds after he tied the leash to their front porch the screaming started. Let’s just say she will get lots of love and attention from the 5 kids not to mention the parents who had been keeping this a secret for a month! Her name is now Princess Leia. I am so thankful that all of my puppies have been well socialized since birth! I never knew how much of a difference it makes!
[Rocky laying on the carpet, looking to the left. In front of him is his kong tug and big nylabone]
Once we got back from our mission, Rocky helped me finish wrapping some Christmas presents. We had a huge breakfast once everyone, but my oldest sister( who had to work) got there. We then opened presents, well Rocky only opened one present and liked it so much that he was happy to chew on it and not open anything else. That boy sure does love his nylabones! Ely was enjoying his new bed that Rocky picked out for him and so he didn’t open any presents. I think we are set on dog treats for a few months or so, both of my sisters got them treats and I didn’t realize how many treats I go them so they got a huge bag, and around 9 bags/boxes of treats - along with a kong toy, a kong tug, two nylabones , some other toys, a blanket (for Ely), heartworm and flea meds for Ely, and a ton of other stuff! Apparently, they both have been very good!
[Rocky laying on his white bed, with a tan blanket, he is laying on his kong tug toy. He has his head facing the camera, but is looking to his right, he is wearing a red snowflake bandana]
For some reason people think I like dog stuff?! They just know me way too well! I got SEGDI shirts, doggy PJ’s, treat cookbooks, paw print blanket and all kinds of other stuff!
The rest of the afternoon was spent playing some Wii with the family, while the boys took a nap recovering from their busy early morning.
Rocky enjoyed his first Christmas and wishes that Santa would bring him new nylabones all year!
[Rocky, checking out all of their loot, all of their presents are on a dark brown bed, there are treats, toys, cotton balls, bags and more treats. Rocky is sniffing some of the treats, wearing a red snowflake bandana]
One of the best things Rocky got for Christmas was a little early. You might have noticed in some of the pictures in the last month or so, there was a bump right under Rocky’s nose. One of his friends decided to share the papilloma wart virus with Rocky. It is a harmless virus, but is contagious to other dogs, so Rocky had not been allowed to play with any of his friends. He went to the vet to get his first flu shot and we were able to talk to the skin/allergist specialty vet and she said it is kind of’ like doggy chicken pox’ that once they get them once and go away by themselves there is very small chance of them getting it again. It is pretty harmless, except in some very young or very old dogs; it is more of a cosmetic problem. She wanted to know how long Rocky had had it and said that the first 10-14 days that it appears it is the most contagious and then there is a small chance that it can be contagious the first two months,; since Rocky was mid way through his third month with it, she gave him the all clear. The next day I noticed part of it had changed colors and then it got smaller and smaller. Now it is just a tiny dot and getting smaller by the day! Rocky was very happy to get this present! I am just happy that he is healthy and hopefully won’t get this virus again!
[Ely, yellow lab, sitting in front of Christmas tree with white lights, Ely is looking towards the camera]
We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!