Termination

Dash has been terminated from the Dogs with Wings Service Dog Training program. Actually, all of her siblings of any age (14 dogs) have been terminated. It isn't specific to her or related to her abilities or lack of abilities directly. The organization has had issues with some of the older dogs of her parentage and at the same time has had 11 new puppies from their in-house breeding program who have demonstrated that they are tried and true service animals. So with limited resources in staff and space, they've decided to cut their losses with this crew and move on to dogs who are more likely to be successful. We were offered Dash as a pet but our busy family is unable to keep a pet who has never been left alone and has not been kenneled. They will be finding a home, hopefully with young children and a mom at home, as Dash is very patient, loving and protective of children. She will make a wonderful pet.

So here ends Dash's blog. I hope you've enjoyed hearing about Dash's journey as a service dog.

Having Supper

Me and my girl

Exhausted

My girl had another balloon job in a town far away (near Lac LaBiche). We took a long drive and when we got there the smells were AMAZING. I've never spent so much time sniffing before. While trucks and strange cars raced around, I enjoyed the shade. I met a number of friendly stray dogs, and met many people unfamiliar with service dogs. Eventually I got very tired - so tired that I fell asleep in my water bowl. It might have been shielding for the distracting smells!

Vacation

Well, I've been home a week now, but my vacation really was spectacular. Mom keeps saying that I came home "sleek, slim, and sedate". I guess all the playing with Schooner and trips to the off leash park were good for me! I hope I can go back sometime soon! My girl brought me back a new stuffed bull. I can't wait to dig into it, but she says it's for supervised play only. Sigh.

Our training this week was in Ikea. My girl says that for once I wasn't the class clown. I'm very good at escalators and elevators, so it wasn't difficult for me. My "up sits" are getting very good on the left side, but I have no idea what they mean when they ask for it on the other side. When they give the "up sit" command I need to sit right close squashed up beside them, touching their legs. Sometimes they move farther from me and say "closer" and I slide into position again. It's always worth some good kibble and makes them quite happy, which makes me happy!

But now, my bone is waiting...

Rodeo Pup

My girl is off to the Strathmore Heritage Days Rodeo this weekend, so to get in the spirit I tried on a cowboy hat. They all thought it looked pretty good!

Have a great long weekend everyone. I bet my vacation is going to be spectacular. I get a built in buddy who lives just off the off leash park. Can life get better than this?

On the Bus

Last week my litter had our bus class. We practiced getting on and off the bus with grace. I didn't like going under the seat too much, there were bars in my way. I did managed to do it but I preferred to sit in front of my girl. There were lots of loud noises on the bus. Fortunately I don't care about those. We did a few difficult down-stays. We all lined up in a row and the end dog did a down stay until their person called them. They expected us not to play with all the other dogs in the row, but come directly to our person. Not everyone had time to do that at the bus station, so afterwards we all lined up in the office with our jackets on and did more down-stays so everyone got a chance. I did well, but truthfully, I the other dogs were distracting, as I just want to play. We did get a chance to play afterward and I met Gidget.

At the Fire Hall

Today, I went for a fantastic romp in the off leash park, something we haven't done during the day for a long time. I often go in evenings with Dad now. We played search and rescue and I "found" my girl hiding in the bushes a bunch of times, that was fun! Then we went off to a really noisy place. They said it was Fire Hall 17 in Castle Downs. I met some of my fellow puppies in training and the fireman introduced us to all the interesting noises in the fire hall. The man wore a funny suit, smelled like smoke, and talked really funny when wearing his breather, but I couldn't resist licking his masked face when he came to greet me. We also got to walk up and down the long grates in the floor too. I don't mind that sort of thing, but it doesn't feel great on the paws.



When I got home I was so tired. I know this is not my blanket, but a corner was dragging on the floor off the sofa, and it just fell on me, really! Well, I had to wiggle quite a bit to get it to fall just right, but it did, honest! It's really not my fault!

Socks

After Clipper and I did demonstrations at a school, I decided to try one of the tricks he did.

Agility

I've been so busy playing in the yard and attending puppy classes that I haven't had much chance to post. My girl and her mom take so many pictures of me, I can hardly keep up, and typing is pretty hard on the paws.

Here we are playing great games in the yard. It's my second favorite game, after fetching balls, and I often jump over the obstacles even when I'm not told to. Since this video they've moved the weave poles closer and closer and now they're in a straight line.





Here's a pic of me and my brothers and sisters after a hard puppy class. We always finish with Puppy Yoga, which is my favorite part. It just feels so good!




























Sometimes I just get tired.

Pull

OOPS, I uploaded the wrong video (after Dash lost interest). Here's the new first time video!

Today my girl taught me a new trick after I brought her a sock this morning. She put the sock on the end of her foot, told me to 'take it' and then 'pull'. She eventually tied a piece of scrap sock with a hole to the drawer and then told me to 'take it' and then 'pull'. I did really well for it being my first time.

Presentations

Today I'm going on a field trip. I'll be at a senior's home in Morinville. Yesterday I had an all-day field trip! I went to Bon Accord Community School. My girl didn't take any pictures, but I got to speak to and show off all the stuff I've been learning to 10 classes for 25 min each. It took all day and I was pretty tired, but it was fun. I know they understood my tail wagging message pretty clearly, as they all petted me everywhere. Some of the preschool class even put their fingers in my ears and mouth, but I didn't mind. Most kids had never seen a service dog before, but some had uncles or parents that are or have used one.

Trash Dog

I'm not wearing my cone anymore, and my stitches will be out shortly. Maybe subconsciously I miss it. Or maybe I just can't resist getting into trouble. You'll never guess what trouble I got in today. I confess, the tissues in the garbage were too tempting.

Rock Fishing

Today my girl and her mom glued together the rock inukshuk they have had at their front door since they moved in. First they washed the rocks (they have gotten really dirty over the winter) and I helped out. I went rock fishing in the bucket of water they were using.

Day After

My girl took me to the vet yesterday to get spayed. I hurt now and I have to wear that cone. I hate that cone, I can’t do anything with it! I find it really hard to chew on my bones while wearing that thing. I’m very tired today and slept most of the day. Yesterday I wasn’t feeling too good and was finding it hard to walk. The worst thing of all is that I can’t go to the dog park for the next two weeks! I least I can go for walks.

Bed

My girl Charis caught me doing something different today. She had put my bed up on her bed so that the Roomba could do it's job. I was so tired after today's puppy class with Pilot, Gunner, and Skye so I went and jumped right into my bed. I'm usually allowed in my bed, but never on her bed...

Now after all that commotion I think it's time for a snooze...

Dead Bull

In the past couple of weeks I have lost my favorite toy- my stuffed bull. My girl was quilting and doing her schoolwork by video one day when she peeked on me to see what I was doing she found me chewing on the stuffing of my bull. A picture is worth a thousand words they say... This bull has had a new shirt, a few holes patched and is finally retired from service. Unfortunately that means I just lost my favorite toy!

Since then my girl has tried to get me to play a few new games, the latest one being catch.

Roomba

It's taken me a while, but I'm pretty used to the Roomba now. Here I am, relaxing with my ball while the Roomba does it's thing. I've even let it run into me. Sometimes though, when Mom is getting dressed, I'll turn it on from the docking station...then it turns around and chases me into a corner and I don't know what to do! Normally though, I only turn it on when I'm told to.

Mom thinks it's great. What's better than getting a dog to work your robot!

A Day in the Life of Dash

Did you ever wonder what a day in the life of a service puppy is like? It’s a busy day. It’s really hard to get all those naps in!

When I wake up, it’s 6 am, and I REALLY have to pee. When I come in, I can relax again and get back to sleep until Dad is finished with his shower, around 6:30. Then Dad feeds me ½ c of kibble and I watch him read the news on the computer. Sometimes he has cool pictures to show me, but I’m still pretty tired. Before he goes to work, he puts me back to bed and I sleep until 8:30 or so.

I let Charis have her breakfast and get ready for school, but then it’s time for her to play with me. I get kibble for ‘sit’, ‘stay’, ‘down’ (lie down), ‘raise’, ‘off’, ‘stay’, ‘get the keys’, ‘get the coins’, ‘get the ball’, ‘get the toy’, ‘leave it’, ‘shake,’ and ‘push’. By then, I’m so worn out, I need a nap. After a couple hours of sleep, I’m ready for lunch. After lunch I’ll play with my toys, a bone, my stuffies, and that wears me out too, so I have another nap. Most days, I have to go do something, like go to the mall, or the park, or the library, but don’t worry, if I miss my late afternoon nap, I’ll just make up for it later!  And I like to sleep in the car anyway. If we are at home in the afternoon, I normally get another training session and play lots of games like Hide-and-go-call, fetch, off leash walking in the house/backyard, and other games. Fetch is my favorite

In the evening, I like to watch TV and snooze in front of the fire. I like being nice and cozy warm and am a wimp outside and play the three-legged dog when it’s cold. They like to keep me awake during the evening so I will sleep at night by either taking me for a walk. Usually I don’t have trouble sleeping at night, as long as I have a play session around 8:30 or 9:30. I usually go to bed at 10pm. Occasionally I get up and down during the night, but it’s really unusual for me to need to go out to the bathroom.



For food, I get 3 cups of kibble during the day, and sometimes, another ½ c at bedtime. At meals, I get ½ cup and the other ½ is saved for training, games, and going out. I get cheese at the off leash park, to make sure I come! Any kind works best - I’m a pretty hungry pup!

To be fed, my food is laid out while I ‘sit’ and ‘wait’. Then Charis gets me fresh water, while I keep waiting. Then when it’s ready, I’m told to ‘eat up’. It takes a lot longer to wait than to eat up!

Playing at the Office

This morning my girl took me to the Dogs With Wings office to play with the other big dogs and to get a new halti, my old one was getting small and hurting my nose. I had fun playing with Everest and Capper. After we where done playing we went to Home Depot to walk around. I was very good with walking beside my girl and leaving Everest alone. We worked a little on stay but mostly just walking.

Here I am, sitting side by side with Everest while my girl flashed the thing she calls a phone at our faces. He's just a little bigger than me!