Off to College (by: Gerrit)

I did it!!! I'm off to college (aka Advanced Training)! And, boy oh boy what a send off it was!

First, as I already wrote about, we had a Big Dog party last week. Our party was so happening, it even made the news! Check it out: "College Next for Service Dogs". If you look really close, you'll see me... I'm the very first dog they show when they squeak the toy. The squeaking toy made me very happy!

As if that wasn't super duper cool enough, this Friday (before I went to college), my puppy raiser took me and Carlo to a place called Dillon Beach. A bunch of my doggie buddies and their puppy raisers were there too!

Dillon Beach had these HUGE sand dunes that were so much fun to play in. We rolled... and frolicked... and ran... and pounced! It was the best! Here is a photo of me, Nick, and Idelle posing in front of the sand dunes...

And, here's a photo of us wearing our shades under the sun umbrella. Yeah, we're gonna make quite the cool crew in doggie college!...

Late in the afternoon, we all headed over to CCI. And, guess what? We got to play there too! By the time my puppy raiser took my official matriculation photo (which is the photo at the top of this blog entry), I had played so much that my tongue was just about hangin' on the floor. You know you've had a good time when that happens!

My puppy raiser then took me to the "turn in room". My puppy raiser was told that my kennel mate is going to be a pup named Storm. I was really hoping that my kennel mate would be Nick, my bestest buddy in the whole world. But, I've met Storm before... and loves to play! Cool!!!

Before the CCI trainers took me to my room to get settled in, my puppy raiser gave me a big hug and told me to be a good boy. She also told me that know matter what happens, to always be my happy clown-like self. No problem there! That's easy to do!!! Well, I gotta go... I gotta clown around with Storm!

PARRRRTTTTYYY!!! (by: Gerrit)

Friday night was our Big Dog Party!!! It was a party for all of us Big Dogs that are heading off to doggie college NEXT FRIDAY!

There were lots and lots of people and dogs at the party... cause everyone in our chapter of CCI was invited. There was even a guy there from the news filming us!

The part that I didn't get is that even though it was a party... us Big Dogs still had to have class! First we had distraction training. We all had to stay in a down position while the trainer tried to distract us with all kinds of cool looking and sounding toys. Talk about tough! Then, we had to go to all of these stations and do different commands. Each station had written commands posted on the fence. Our puppy raisers had to read all of the commands and then give us the commands... and we had to do 'em all. So, for example, a station might have been something like: Jump, Off, Heel, Jump, Off, Down, Side, Let's Go on Right. There were a ton of stations and it was sort of tough. But, because I'm a Big Dog, I knew all of the commands and my puppy raiser said I did really well!

When we were done with class, the real party started! Each of us Big Dogs got special treats... and the puppy raisers all ate ice cream. The puppy raisers talked and talked and talked. It was nice laying on the grass while the puppy raisers talked... but, I was really wishin' they would finish talking and eating ice cream so the real REAL party could start!

Finally, the puppy raisers were done with all of their gabbin' and eatin'... and we got to PLAY! What a parrrtty! Oh boy oh boy was it fun! As soon as I was released, I ran around looking for a toy to play with. When I couldn't find one, I grabbed the nearest thing I could find... a CCI cape! I grabbed it and ran... tempting all of the other dogs to chase me! They chased me... but, didn't try to take the cape away from me cause well... we're not supposed to play with our CCI capes. Oops! Soon, I found a errrr... more appropriate toy... a ball! So, I dropped the cape, grabbed the ball and took off running!

I finished the party off by drinking about a gallon of water. I would have had more, but my puppy raiser yelled, "Gerrit, stop tanking!". It was the best party EVER! I can't wait to go to doggie college! I hope we all get to party there!

Nick's Photo Shoot (by: Gerrit)

The other day my bestest buddy in the whole world, Nick, came over to our house! We got to play outside for a bit, and then my puppy raiser brought Nick into her photo studio to do a photo shoot of him.

My puppy raiser wouldn't let Lucky, Carlo, and Me into the photo studio to watch. She told us we had to stay out cause the room was too small... especially for us 3 clowns who would want to just goof around. Like we would do that... ;-)

So, we were good dogs, and stayed outside the room. Well, Lucky was a good dog. Carlo and I did our best to mess with Nick from outside the room. Hee hee! First, I peeked into the room...

Then, I grabbed a toy and Carlo and I both peeked into the room...

And, finally, we took a step in and dropped a toy on the floor for Nick...

Staying outside the photo studio sure did turn out to be fun! I can't wait for our next victim... I mean model... to come over!

My Stepping Stone (by: Gerrit)

This weekend we made my stepping stone! My puppy raiser has made a stepping stone for all of the CCI dogs she has raised [Side note by Lucky: Ummmm... aren't you forgetting someone?]. Oh yeah! AND she has made one for Lucky.

Anywaysssssss... today was all about ME and MY stepping stone! It was lots of fun making my stepping stone! Carlo laid on his bed and watched as I put my paw in the cement. Lucky stayed in the house and hid. She likes her stepping stone now that it's done, but she wasn't a big fan of making it. I think she didn't like it cause the cement felt funny. It was cold and really squishy between my paw pads. My puppy raiser made me stick my paw in the cement a few times cause we kept messing up. Every time we messed up, she wiped the cement off my paw and we'd start all over. I didn't mind so much cause heck... I love attention... any kind of attention!

After we did my paw print, we carefully designed my stepping stone with green and blue glass chips... and a heart! My puppy raiser said the heart was cause she loves me, the blue was cause I'm a boy, and the green was cause that was my color when I was a puppy. When us CCI pups are first born, we are assigned a color. The color is based on the order in which we were born. My color was neon green... which means that I was the 4th puppy born! This helps the breeder caretaker keep track of all of the pups in a litter. Of course I didn't really need a color to distinguish me cause I've got my special wish spot between my eyes! But, I do think I look pretty dang cute in green. Here's a photo of me wearing my neon green collar when I was a puppy...

The grand finale of my stepping stone was when my puppy raiser wrote my name in big letters on it. The stepping stone is out in the garage right now drying. I can't wait until it's all dry and we can put it out in the backyard with all of the other doggie stepping stones! I feel like I've just made the Hollywood walk of fame!

Summer Camp (by: Gerrit)

Geesh, I go to "summer camp" and while I'm gone Carlo totally hogs the blog and just writes about his fun times! He doesn't even write about ME! It sure is a good thing I'm back. I wouldn't want you all to forget about me and how cute and fun I am. Here are some photos of ME and the fun times I had while at "camp" (aka staying with another puppy raiser).

Here I am kayaking. I'm such the adventurer extraordinaire!

And, here I am swimming in the hopes of some day beating Michael Phelps. I betcha he can't swim and hold a ball in his mouth at the same time!

And, finally here I am being the poster child (errr... I mean dog) for the Fourth of July! I sure do look good in red, white, and blue. Dang, I make a good model!

While at "camp" I decided that if I don't make it as an assistance dog, I'm going to be an adventurer seeking Olympic swimmer model! But, my puppy raiser took one look at the photo of me on top of this blog entry and said she sees clown written all over my future!

P.S. All photos are courtesy of Rachel Rosenthal. Thanks for a great time at "summer camp"!

Hounds and Rebounds (by: Carlo)

Yesterday was Hounds and Rebounds night at the Monarchs Game. That means that since I'm a hound, I got to go on a special outing with my pal to watch a basketball game!!! We went with my hound buddy, Hope, and her person.

The fun started on the drive there. I kept floating some stinky biscuits. Every time it happened, my pal gasped and rolled down all the windows. She immediately blamed it on me. What's up with that?! It could have been Hope (or not... hee hee!).

Once we got to the arena, my pal made Hope and me pose for some obligatory photos. Ugh.

To be honest, the photo taking session wasn't all that bad. From where we were taking photos, there was a lot of interesting stuff going on. There were lots of dogs... all getting ready to watch the game. And, check this out... there was even a little tiny dog whose hair was painted purple (I'm not kidding!)! And, it was wearing a gold cape AND gold booties (again, I'm not kidding!)! I sure felt sorry for the little thing... but, the weird thing is that the dog didn't even seem to mind... it actually seemed proud of its funky get up.

We finally got into the arena and walked up a TON of stairs to get to our seats. All of us hounds and our peeps were in the nosebleed section. But, it wasn't all that bad. We could still could still see all the activity down on the court below. During halftime, we saw dogs playing some kind of game on the court where they raced each other over hurtles to get a ball. Those dogs were really fast... I didn't see why the dogs would be in such a rush to get a ball. I personally believe in the idea of taking your time. It ain't like the ball is going anywhere. But, the dogs racing each other were kinda ball crazy. There was one dog sitting behind us in the stands who got so excited with the halftime show, that it barked non-stop. Hope and I were trying to snooze, but that little dog kept going on and on and on. ANNOYING!

The drive back home was pretty uneventful. To be honest, I was pretty zonked. I was even too tired to float any more biscuits... that made my pal VERY happy.

4th of July Fun (by: Carlo)

Gerrit is staying at another puppy raiser's house right now cause we were supposed to go on a road trip for the 4th of July and my pal only wanted to take two dogs (and Lucky and I were the lucky two!). Unfortunately, the road trip plans fell through. BUT, this weekend still turned out to be a blast cause without Gerrit around, I finally got to go places for a change! 'Bout time!

Yesterday we drove to this place that had all kinds of 4th of July festivities going on! There was live music and food and firetrucks. There was even a parade with kids and dogs. We watched the parade for a bit and then joined in! It was such a fun outing!

At night, we all stayed in and didn't go out to watch fireworks. Lucky was kinda scared... [sidenote by Lucky: I was not scared!]. Errrr.... she was kinda... concerned... about the fireworks. And, she kept whining and panting and pacing all over the house. After we went to bed, she wouldn't even stay on her bed. So, what's a dog gonna do, but take the opportunity of her not being on her alpha bed? While she was pacing around, I quietly grabbed the alpha bed spot (which is on the side right next to my pal!).

The only problem was that not long after I had curled up in sleepy bliss, Lucky came back and practically sat on my head as she whined at my pal to get up and check out what was going on outside. My pal didn't go outside. Instead, she groggily told Lucky everything was ok and to go back to bed. But, then she saw that I was meekly laying on Lucky's bed and Lucky's fat butt was sitting on me... [sidenote by Lucky: My butt is not fat!]. So, my pal sighed, grabbed the other dog bed (my bed), which was at the foot of the bed and pulled it right next to the alpha bed. Lucky immediately jumped on it and and fell asleep.

The next morning, my pal looked over and noticed that Lucky was no longer on the dog bed, which she had moved the night before. She got out of her bed, looked around, and then noticed that Lucky was hiding under her bed... probably cause she was so scared the night before [sidenote by Lucky: Carlo, I'm warning you!]. Errrrrrrr.... so, my pal called Lucky to come out from under the bed. Lucky started crawling, but when she was only half way out, she stood up and got stuck cause her butt is kinda fat... [sidenote by Lucky: That's it Carlo! You are so going to get it!]. And, my pal had to rescue her and help her get unstuck. Ummmmm... I gotta run... hope you all had a happy 4th!