Mom was a little worried that the snow we got yesterday would keep us from doing our check-in today at NEADS. But since the snow has stopped, and Mom doesn't mind driving...the chapter folks decided that we would go. As we pulled out this morning, this is what the farm looked like..... it's pretty snowy around here.
We met at Rick and Moxie's house, and while we were waiting for everyone to show up.. Mom took this picture out of the front window of Moxie's house. She says that she is getting tired of all the snow.. but I notice that she likes to take lots of pictures of it..... I, of course, just think the snow is great, so I don't mind it one little bit!!!!
We arrived at NEADS, and met with Dave in the conference room. Everyone seems to be doing quite well, and Dave wanted all the humans to do another puppy swap. I later learned that I wouldn't be going home with Mom today... Vega ( the new york puppy) will be going to the farm...Moxie is staying at NEADS for abit, Marv is actually going to the farm too, because his Mommy is going away for a little while... Mercury - who is new to us - is going with Rick and I am going to Kathleen's... whew.. it's hard to keep up with our adventures...
However, before we left for the city... Mom and I popped in to say hi to Gerry. She always likes to check in and see how he is doing. He has Mom's last dog... Bogey.... and she likes to hear how things are going. Bogey loves being Gerry's pet dog.....(and he'll get to do lots of swimming at their lake)....
And Bernice got a nice surprise... her last puppy, T, came for a visit. T is doing great as a pet dog too... it's nice for me to know that if I don't make it as a "service dog"..I will have a very nice family to go to.....but, Mom and I don't like to think about that right now...
Ok.. I'm ready... let's head to the big city.....I might be a country dog.. but I can handle the city!!!!!
It was a cold day .... so we decided to go and work inside at the hospital.....
Our humans had some lunch and then as we were heading over to the elevators.. this nice gentleman came over to me. He loved me and Mom had a hard time pulling us away..... I like people, I would have been happy to just stay with him all afternoon... I didn't need to do any work....
Riding in the elevator.... quite the view from here. I wonder if that is my friend walking down there..... "hello to you, my friend!!!"
Here we are... Moxie, Marv and me... just waiting to see what Dave wants us to do next......
There was time enough to hurry over and see the train. It pulled in just as we arrived.... Trains are fine... I kind of like them...We practiced on the stairs in the station, walked on slippery floors, did "unders" with the seats that are there... just all kinds of things that good service dogs have to do... Mom said I was perfect with everything (of course!!!)
As I said before, we have a new member of the Maine team.. this is Mercury.. he's going to be Kathleen's buddy (after I do my puppy swap with her). He seems like a nice chap and I am sure we will get to be good friends. Mom says that's what "puppy raisers do"... they bring up their puppies, and move onto more puppies... It makes me a little sad to think that Mom isn't always going to be my Mom... but she says I have a very special "job" to do and when it's time for me to move on... I will.... but we'll talk about that at another time...
for now, I'm heading home with Kathleen and see what things she has to show me... and that's "the life of... Rylie!!!"
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And still... more snow!!! This snow is a bit different from the last storm.. Mom says it's a "wet" snow (which sounds silly because I thought all snow was wet!!) but I do have to say this snow sticks to everything. Look at the fence in the dog yard!!!!
Dad says this snow is heavy to plow......
Mom says she is waiting for the farm to have a spring look and not this winter look..... ( I still like it though.....)
We went outside to play for abit, Abbie made a snow man. Mom says that when the snow is sticky like this it's good snow man snow... so I guess snow can be "dry", "wet" "heavy" "light"... I didn't realize it came in so many different ways!!!!
After we were outside, Abbie and I played inside. Today was "dress up day"... Abbie loves to do dressing up with me.....
She said I look beautiful in the Minnie Mouse ears.... I think my ears look fine, but if Abbie wants to try different ones on me... I don't mind at all.....
We are quite the pair!!!!
Because of the snow today, Mom Camille and I won't be teaching dog classes tonite, and it's Sadie's birthday. So Abbie and Mom got a little cake and Abbie decorated it....
After a fun day of being outside, and playing inside... the night will have a birthday celebration.... I love being with my family...
life of.... Rylie!!!!!
I know... it's very hard to see me in this picture... and I'm being very quiet... because we are at the movies!!!! I really don't know what all the fuss is, it's sort of like the TV at home, except there are other people here, and it's kind of crowded here on the floor between the seats....
Moxie came with us too... our humans said that we haven't done "movies" on our training list, so that's why we are here.... we have to be very good and nice and quiet... which we do all the time.....
Our humans got popcorn to eat while watching the movie.... it smells so good, it's hard for any service dog not to give it some attention and a small sniff!!!!!
My Mom made one mistake though, she often brings a small rug for me to lay on when we are out like this. Tonite she forgot it, and I have to say, not only are we crowded, but this floor is cold. In fact, part way threw the movie I just had to stand up and get off that floor.. at first Mom didn't know what was going on, and then figured it out. She felt sad she forgot my rug and promised next time she will pay more attention... (thanks, Mom!!!)
It was snowing again on the ride home... and now all the trees and bushes are covered with a new snow. I don't mind, but my humans are starting to get tired of it....
Dad went out to fill the wood furnace (did you know that is how we keep our house warm.... by burning just wood in the furnace)... and Mom and I went in... I just wanted to get to bed and warm up... so my opinion of the movies... they're OK... just bring your rug with you!!!!!!
life of ....Rylie!!!!
This morning, Mom put me in the tub and we had a good grooming session. She said that we were going to go and meet with some very special people... some "brownies", she called them. I was a bit confused... aren't "brownies" the things that you bake in the oven??? I didn't know that "brownies" were people. We went to a school where a group of wonderful girls were very excited to meet me.... and I was told that these were the "brownies!!" Needless to say, I was almost excited as they were!!!
Mom allowed me to go "out of work mode" and gave me time to smooze with all the girls.... I got tons of hugs and kisses... but then I had to settle down (and the girls did too) while Mom gave a little talk about being a puppy raiser and the jobs that service dogs do. I laid quietly at her feet while she talked, just to show the girls how good I can be. (No one believed that I am just 8 months old!!!)
After the talk, the girls asked questions, Mom said they had some really good questions. It made her happy to know how carefully the girls were listening and how interested they were in service dogs. Then they wanted to take a group photo with me.... just where I like to be... in the very center of things!!!!!!
One of the questions the girls had, was what kind of service dog work could I do. Mom explained that she does not teach any "tasks", but she said I did know a couple of task commands... "lap" being one. So, the girls wanted to see how I could do "lap".... everyone wanted me to do it for them. I that was a lot of work!!!) but each time I was asked... I did "lap" for them.
Now, there was one little girl who wasn't as excited as the others. She was a little bit afraid of me, and it took her a long time to pet me. When she saw all the other girls asking for the "lap" command, she said she didn't want to do it. Mom told her that was completely fine, that she didn't have to. But as she watched all the others, she finally decided that she would try. She very softly asked me to "lap" and I carefully crawled up into her lap, being as gentle as I could. A big smile came to her face, and she even gave me a hug, which surprised everyone. I know how to turn on the charm when I have to.. and I made a brand new friend in doing it....
Just before we had to leave, the girls put a brownie cap on my head and made me an official brownie member!!!!! So, one day I might be a service dog... but I am already a brownie!!!!!!
life of ..... Rylie!!!!
The snow went on for a couple of days... and the family mostly stayed inside, or worked outside moving it out of the way.....
Mom made sure that all the animals in the barn stayed nice and cozy. She and Dad walked down several time threw out the day checking on everyone.
The horses seem to like the snow as much as I do... they were outside a lot, and then Mom finally decided to lock them inside...
Annabelle, the barn cat, stayed inside.. Mom has a nice warm bed for her to stay in when it's cold and stormy like this. She was so happy in her little bed, that she didn't even leave it when they checked on her....
This is Duke....
One thing I didn't say was we have another lab staying with us, this is my friend. He is much bigger than I am, so when we went out into the snow, he made the pathways for us. I loved following him around,
and we had such a good time, running, and swimming and playing in the snow... I know it's been a lot of work for my humans, and that they are getting a bit tired of winter.. but for us puppies... it is a wonder land....
I do wish I were a little bigger at times....
the life of Rylie!!!!!
Since it's been so cold, Abbie and I have been inside quite a bit. Mom wishes we could be outside more, but sometimes that can't be helped. Abbie comes up with all sorts of games for us to play.. and in this photo, our game is "birthday party".. and she said I had to dress up for the party. So she tied a balloon to my collar and said that I was good to go. Fine by me, as long as I can be with Abbie......
but, oh oh---- Abbie got into trouble... and had to go to "time out" for a while to settle down. She was so sad, I was too, so I decided to sit with her until she was free to go again. That's what you do when your best friend is in trouble, you stick close!!!!! (and I was very happy when she was "free" once again!!!)
This is what the farm looked like a few days ago... cold, but nice and clear.. Mom thought that maybe that ol groundhog knew what he was talking about... and then we began to hear about the snow that was coming... a big snow!!! So, Mom and the family got ready for yet another snow storm....
And in it came. The wind was very wind, the snow was heavy at times, but Mom and everyone just settled in and enjoyed their time together. I was a little bored, as were the other doggies, but that can't be helped.. Mom did send us out, but she didn't let us stay out too long.. she didn't want us to get "frost bite".... it snowed all night long...
And in the morning, when we went to go outside.... look at how deep the snow was!!!! We couldn't even get out the door (and it was still snowing!!!). So, until Mom (or someone) could get the door cleared out....
We had to run out the front door to do our business. One by one, Mom put the flexi leash on and we ran out to do "our thing". I wanted to stay and play out in all that wonderful new snow.. but Mom said we couldn't just yet..... (I can't wait to go and try it though).....
And it still snowed... all day long. The front of the farm sure doesn't look the way it did a few days ago.......
Part way threw the storm, Dad said he better do a break threw run. He was worried that if he waited until the end of the storm, there might be too much snow to handle. He worked with the tractor instead of the truck, and sometimes we could hardly see him......
Jesse volunteered to dig a path for us in the dog yard..... because of the wind, there was a big bare patch, so he decided to dig us a path over to the patch. Mom was very grateful that he did that for us.....
The cockers were happy to stay in the path, the snow was way over their heads........
But, for me... it was too much, I just had to explore. I have never seen so much snow before and I just knew it would such fun to to play in.
The cockers thought I was completely silly, but I couldn't help it... and it was 1-2-3 jump and dive into all that great snow!!!! It was wonderful.......
I pushed and "swam" for a long time. I made new paths for all of us to play in, and I did notice that when the cockers had a path to follow, they did. So I made lots of pathways for them (and for me!!!) I was very (very) tired when I came in from playing, but it was so much fun. And I for one have greatly enjoyed it all... Mom on the other hand is beginning to think that the groundhog has no idea what he was talking about!!!!
life with ....Rylie!!!!!!
