Pickering Puppy Party

Today we had a VERY fun day! Petey and I went to Pickering Town Centre to have some fun with other foster puppies and also to do some mall work. Missy with Blossom and Chester drove us down along with Dee and Fortune. At the mall we met Lynn with Eden and Naveed (breeding program), Amy and Echo, Joanne and Easton, Amy and Polaris (now called Larry much to the annoyance of Amy who prefers Poley), Wendy, and two actual working dogs, both of whom were CVC's: Paula with Lincoln and Jim with Olsen.

Fortune, a gorgeous golden/lab cross ; Blossom giving Petey a kiss

Once there we made a quick stop at Timmy's for a bit of food and then we were off to walk around the mall. The puppies conquered open stairs(both up and down), the escalators, elevators, little fountain thingies and fire escape stairs. The open stairs and fire escape and elevator were new to Petey, and he did pretty well, if i do say so myself (which I do ;) ) He used to be scared of escalators, but he did much better today, i think because he didn't want to be left behind.

I've been toying with the idea of putting my picture up on the blog. I haven't before because I was a little uncomfortable with the idea, but I have to now because I've got the cutest picture :D

Left pic:Me and Petey! :D Right pic:AmyG, Petey and Me

After walking around the mall from 12-4, both puppies and humans were tired, so we ended up chatting for about 40 minutes sitting on the floor/bench. The only ones still moving were Petey and Polaris, the youngest and smallest ones. Go figure!

Here are a couple of my favourite pictures:

First row (L-R): Gorgeous Eden posing for the camera; Nav, Chester and Easton in a pile

Second row(L-R): Echo who licked my ice cream; Blossom passed out while AmyB and I ate our subs

Third Row(L-R): AmyG and Echo, Me and Petey, AmyB and Poley; Petey on Blossom

Hope you enjoyed the pictures, it took about an hour to get them right and shot my blood pressure right off the charts...but don't worry, I still love you all....or maybe just some of you...

Just kidding! I do love all of you! :D

Gotta Love that Squeaky

Thought I'd try a photo blog today...

I got it!!

I'm coming mom!!

See? Here I am!! With the squeaky! Proud of me aren't ya?

Can I eat the camera now?

The One in which i babble on and on....

Today has been a GOOD day- imagine my surprise when, upon avoiding making religion notes for my test, I log on to my blog instead, and find a comment from one of my favourite bloggers slash someone i pretend I'm friends with-cause she's THAT cool.

Jenny, I know you found that funny, SLIGHTLY weird Chewbacca one, but everyone HAS to visit Karlababble, one of the funniest blogs I've ever read-EVER :D

I'm pretty sure her most recent post, The Survey Parade Stops Here made me snort out loud....but only a little, i swear! It made my stomach hurt because i had to laugh very quietly because I was supposed to be doing homework. (Is it illegal to use because twice in a sentence?)

Anyways, I totally love Karla (in a platonic way!) and you will too- just don't go near her with surveys, staplers or any sharp objects :D

Karla- if you come back here and find this insanely disgustingly psycho post, don't worry, I'm not stalking you. The only person I stalk is AmyG, and she's hard enough to keep track of.

I think I should get some sleep now....maybe in the morning this post will make a lot more sense.

Oh right- http://karlababble.blogspot.com

Petey the Conehead

Looks like Petey has joined the Conehead Club, I hope Lomax and Calvin will give him a warm welcome! Long story not so short, in Petey's first assessment in Breslau two weeks ago, the vet suspected Petey of having mites, since he has been itching at his face and biting the tops of his paws for a while now. We were going to monitor him and wait til the next assessment to see what we should do, since the vet said she didnt' have the medicine there anyways.

Well it's been two weeks, and he's been losing fur on his face, so I got really worried and made my mom book an appointment with a Toronto vet since i didn't want to wait another three weeks for his Oakville appt.

At his vet appointment today, the vet said she was pretty sure it wasn't mites because the sypmtoms pointed to food allergies. So for now we are eliminating any treats for ten days to see if he is allergic to the treats or his Pro Plan Chicken and Rice. I will be calling the school on Monday to talk to his puppy supervisor.

My problem is that she coneheaded him because she was afraid that he would damage his eyes with all that scratching, and now he won't eat, drink or walk anywhere. When I'm not cuddling him, he just stands there, head down, tail between legs and looking really depressed. Have any of your dogs done that while coneheaded?

In happier news, I took him to a new mall today, one where I've seen a CVC and a HED before, and it went pretty well. It seems he is deathly scared of escalators so we will have to work on that and how he greets people. I was afraid we might be kicked out of the mall, so i was a bit nervous when i saw a security guard approaching. He let us carry on though, because I flashed him a radiant smile (or he smiled at Petey and walked away, but you know-whatever). Overall it was a good outing.

Petey Questionnaire

Since I'm avoiding the dreaded homework, I decided to copy Echo's questionnaire, and fill it out for Petey. Hopefully some other people will decide to too, so that when i don't want to do homework, i can read them :D Of course, if i fail any courses, the blame will rest directly on your shoulders :D

Full name: Petey "PeePee" C. (the C is the initial of my last name)
Where were you born? Somewhere in Quebec, Canada
Where do you live? Toronto, Ontario
When is your birthday? November 15, 2005
Do you have siblings? Yes, but Natalie doesn't know how many- I was the only one donated
What do you want to be when you grow up? A HED or a Seizure Response dog
What is your favourite word(s)? "Yay Petey!"
Any nicknames? Of course- PeePee is Nat's favourite, and then there's Peewee, and widdle puppy ( i can hear Sam barfing as my secretary Natalie types)

WORD ASSOCIATION
Grey: What you get when you mix the colours of my fur together
Humans: Are yummy to bite
Fruit Loops: umm..I don't know what they are but Nat says they're yummy
Glove: I agree with Echo- Yummy!
Structure: What?? I guess my cozy crate
Race: I like to race and then pounce on my specially tiny tennis ball-fits right in my mouth!
Heart: I love a lot of people, but especially Natalie :D Oh, ok and my godmommy Sam :D
Parasite: Uh oh.....

RANDOM QUESTIONS
Do it fast or do it right? Well i like to do it fast but Nat says she likes me to do it right
Have you ever had surgery? No, but people keep talking about some kind of "snip snip" ? Nat tells me to ask Calvin and Lomax about that
Random fact about you: I have only ONE black toenail
Best compliment ever given to you? What a cute little puppy!
What do you do when you can't sleep? Chase my toys or cuddle with Nat
What is your favourite subject in school? I haven't gone to school yet.
What is your worst subject? It would probably be bio, as i would try to lick the yucky lab floor
Are you hyperactive? Let's just say this word was invented just for me
Do you talk in your sleep? Never, but i do snore sometimes
Have you ever been prescribed drugs? No, but I do have ear drops for my ear infection :(
Your current mood: Quiet, for once!!
Underwear colour? Like Echo, going commando!
Have you ever peed in public? Nope, not yet! :D
Who's your favourite canine family member? My mommy, and my godcousins Calvin, Patience, Polaris and Raleigh :D and even though he's not a family memeber, i love Echo as well :D

GO CANADA GO!!

Today are the Opening Ceremonies of the 2006 Winter Olympic Games taking place in Turin, Italy. I'd like to take a moment to say Good Luck to our Canadian athletes, the best ever!* :D

Since hockey is my favourite sport, I wish the two teams extra-special good luck, especially to my two favourite players- Hayley Wickenheiser, #22 a forward on the Women's Hockey Team, and who shares my birthday!!!! And Bryan McCabe #24, on defense for the Toronto Maple Leafs, and on the taxi squad for the Men's Hockey Team!

GO CANADA GO!!!!! :D

* No offense to my non-Canadian readers :P

Welcome Home Patience and Polaris!!

I would like everyone to meet my new, and favourite goddaughter- PATIENCE! :D

Born on December 9th, 2005 [just one day and 15 years after me ;) ] at 10:41 a.m., this precious little chocolate girl has seven siblings-four brothers and three sisters. They are all black labs except for Patience-Pache to normal people, Patty to some others ;) heehee

Of course Patience is my favourite as she is my goddaughter, but there is another puppy that comes in at a close second. Please also welcome Polaris- Patience's black lab brother, who was born at 8:37 a.m.

You can read about Sam and Patience's adventures at http://fdgpatience.blogsppot.com and AmyB and Polaris's adventures at http://fosterpuppytails.blogspot.com


















Edited to add: Polaris is now my newest godson, not only because Amy threatened that she would never bring him to visit me, but because i love him very much! (Even though i have never emt him, so Amy, you better bring him over soon!!) Polaris is my one and only black lab godson, and I can already tell that he is a very special little puppy, as is Calvin, Patience and Raleigh.

Petey's First Bath

Wow, I'm surprised how quickly we're going through all these firsts! Today we gave Petey his first bath since he had accidentally sat down in his pee, and frankly, he STUNK! :P

It was quite an experience. At first, he really wanted to get out so he kept trying to throw himself out of the tub, but then he settled down and let us give him a good wash. It was weird though, because after the bath, he didn't smell like a dog anymore, he smelled like bath products :P

But the "finished product" is nicer to cuddle than the "before" because now he doesn't smell like pee! And he's fluffy!! :D

Sorry, the pictures a bit yucky, but he started shivering so i didn't want him to have to wait til i got a good picture ;)

Happy Groundhog Day!!

Happy Groundhog Day, everyone! Being Canadian, and Ontarian ;), the closest groundhog to me is Wiarton Willie! The adorable little white groundhog did not see his shadow today, which means spring's here! Well, Toronto's basically been having spring-like weather since December, but whatever. Looks like he'll finally be right this year!- according to my english teacher, he hasn't been right since 1997! But that's ok- I believe in the little guy :D

In other news, today i did my first dissection in biology! A sheep's heart- i thought it would be all red and squishy but it was actually gray(I cannot ever remember if the Canadian speeling is gray or grey) and not squishy at all. Being an animal lover and all, I initially thought i wouldn't be able to handle it, but decided I'd be better off having had at least an experience with it. In the end, it was worth it-it was actually kinda cool seeing all the valves, arteries, etc., but i definitely would not want to be doing that all day. The funniest part was definitely when i stuck my finger in the pulmonary artery to see what was in there and our VP who stopped by to visit, saw me, and while laughing, said, "Hey!! You got a heart on your finger!" :D Ok so it wasn't that funny, but please, it was BIOLOGY class-that's about as funny as it gets.

And now, to stick with the whole puppy theme of this blog, here is a picture of Petey behaving for two seconds before he turns into a Jack Russell Terror again. (just kidding-he is improving a lot, though i still wish all his teeth would fall out right now).

Small Breed Dogguides

Yuck, sorry for the lame title, but i couldn't think of anything else.

This post is a response to Jenny's question, as to what small breed dogguides are used for, in the comments under my last post, Puppy Party 2 and Another First.

Jenny, you're right, the smaller breeds aren't used as dogguides for the blind, or CVC's (Canine Vision Canada) as they're called under our foundation. They can be used for two different programs : HED (Hearing Ear Dogs of Canada) or SSD (Special Skills Dogs of Canada).

As HED's, they would be placed with clients who are deaf or hard of hearing. Their job is basically to alert their handler when they hear noises that they are trained to alert for by pawing/or jumping on them.

As SSD's, it would depend on the type of work needed, but Petey personally, if placed in SSD, would be under the Seizure Response Program. I'm not too sure EXACTLY what he would be doing, but obviously, their main job would be to take care of their client when or before they have a seizure.

Some small breeds that are used are Jack Russells :P, Border Terriers, and Mini Poodles.

As you can see, even though Petey is small, he has a big and important life ahead of him. I really hope that I'm doing everything that is right for him so that he can go on and change someone's life for the better :D

Hope this helped,
Nat and the ever-sleeping Petey :D