This is what the morning looked like when Mom and I were up and heading out...the sun was just coming up, the wind was blowing and it was very cold. I don't mind the winter, but something must be up if we are out the door this early......
As we pull up to Kathleen's house (this is the temp) and now I know where we are going... this must be a day that we go to see Dave!!! Which means, Mom and I have the whole day together, with our friends!!! Yeah, one of my favorite things to do!!!!
And here we are... one thing that I noticed right away, they don't have nearly the amount of snow that we have on the farm. But it's still cold, so I guess the winter is here too.....
It was nice and warm inside, and we all just waited quietly for Dave to arrive... Mom and everyone love talking to Sherry and everyone else at Neads. Mom says she feels so "special" when we are there......
Mookie..... just waiting (Dave where are you???)
Well, we can only wait so long and act perfectly... we are puppies, we do get bored, so what better thing to do than play with you best friends????
But, when Dave shows up, it's back to business... got to look serious about this sort of thing ya know.....
Because it was such a cold day, everyone decided that going to the city wouldn't be such a good idea. Dave thought that exploring the kennels might be good for us, since at one point and time, we will be living here for a bit.
I found the kennels very interesting, there was much to explore in my world. Mom just followed me about, sometimes pointing out things that she thought I had missed.
It was kind of cool looking things over, but I am just a little confused... "live here for a bit".. does that mean that I won't always be living on the farm with Mom and Dad. I'm going to have to think about that... not so sure if I really like that idea....
CAT!!! I LOVE cats... we have them on the farm, Mona, Darci and Annabelle. Mona and I are good friends, and sometimes we get into some real chasing games at home. Mom ALWAYS stops them and says that's not a good idea. This Kitty lives at NEADS and like Mona, she could hardly care about dogs... but I certainly cared about her.
Dave pulled out all sorts of things to see what we thought of them. Here Mookie looks at the vacuum... we don't care about those sorts of things!!!
I watched Dave vacuum for a bit, (he does a good job by the way)... but it was kind of boring....
I just wanted to see that cat again (Mom said NO CATS!!!) I did my work, but I have to admit, I was always just checking to see where the kitty went, I'd really like to be her friend...
I thought I heard the word puppy, and sure enough, before we left for home, we stopped by the puppy house. Looks like Matty is going home with Linda......
And Cappy is coming home with us???? I have a new buddy in the house?? Mom says it's just for a while, but I don't mind, the cockers don't play games with me, but maybe Cappy will.....
so another check in done... more puppies on the horizon, and I wonder what changes are ahead for me....
in the meantime, it's another Day with Debbie....
We are out the door again... my Mom has a way of keeping me busy and we do all sorts of different things. She says that thinking of different adventures is what will help make me a good service dog..... right now, as you can see, I am "under" the chair, being good and staying out of sight....
"can you see me????"
Today's adventure is with another service dog friend, Friday and his Mom Suzan. We have been invited to visit a group of women and talk about service dogs and the work that they do..... Friday is a graduate, and he and Suzan have been together for a couple of years....
Suzan did a very nice talk, and not just told about service dogs in general, but also shared some of the day to day things that she and Friday do together. After the talk, people asked questions, and even wanted my Mom to tell them a bit about puppy raising.
I like being out in the public, even if mostly I do this... lay quietly and watched what is going on around me.... though my favorite is when Mom lets me say hello to people...
aren't we cute together.......
Just don't tell Brutus that I gave Friday a little kiss!!!!!
The next day, Mom and I were off again... can you believe that we had two service dog talks to do in two days!!!! Mom says that when it "rains it pours"... (whatever that means)....
This time, it was Mom that was giving the talk. We went to a college that is just for seniors, and these folks have all kinds of different people come and talk with them. I guess talks on dogs are very popular, because there were 80 people who came to here Mom talk about service dogs, and to see me.
After Mom had everything set up for her talk, we were invited to join the college folks for lunch. We walked into a very crowded cafeteria.. and Mom could tell that some were very surprised to see me walking in. I knew that I had to be very good, and we could hear people talking about how impressed they were with my behavior... I know how to do this, how to behave around food and people eating... this is easy!!!!
During the lunch, I snoozed under the table.... people thought I had left because I was so good and they didn't even know I was there. And the talk went very well.... (no pictures because Mom was busy!!!). But I showed them my basic commands, and Mom told them why I wear the gentle leader and cape.. and we had a slide show about NEADS and the two hours went zooming by (though Mom was worried if we could fill that length of time)...
so, it's been a busy few days with field trips and talks... plus going to puppy school at night... it's amazing what we do to fill the cold winter days....
but for me... its a day with Debbie!!!!
Hi, it's me... Debbie!!! and today Mom and I are off on an adventure......
We brought friends... This is Brutus (he's one of my best friends!!!) and his mom is Kathleen... Brutus does work for his mom....
This is what it looked like outside this morning.... ice, ice, ice... everywhere... and my Mom is not a big fan. It's so hard to get any work done with this kind of weather....
Which is why, we are at the mall today. Mom said she needed to get out of the house and doing something fun, so working at the mall qualifies!!!!
I like going to the mall... it's warm and we get to do a lot of walking. There are new people to watch (as they watch us) and Mom and Kathleen got a coffee and had a nice time visiting. Both Brutus and I got to practice our commands... here I am doing "under!!!"
A couple of days later, I went with Mom and Dad to a "gun show".... neither Mom or Dad are really into guns, but Nate and his friend Mike have a small shop and they were at the show with some of their things. Mom thought it would be a good field trip for me, and as you can see... there were lots of people there.
I have to say, it's one of the few places that I have been where I didn't draw much attention. (Mom thought that was pretty nice)... most of the places we go, everyone wants to talk to me.. but here, I guess the guns were more exciting than I was. And that's OK, because I do find that it's hard to do my work when everyone wants to talk. I, of course, was perfectly behaved... and even when we went out to dinner afterwards.
The winter has seemed long and cold... Mom says she doesn't mind the snow, she just isn't a huge fan of cold and ice. The horses seem to be doing well... but I have to say, my trips down to the barn with Mom are generally pretty quick....
by the way, Tonka... this is a service dog blog.. not a a horse one!!! LOL
and that's a day with Debbie!!!!
I thought that Christmas was the only holiday .. but I found out today.. there is another one.. It's called "new years"... Mom says it's not as much fun as Christmas, but you know... it's all fun to me, and as long as we have this wonderful snow to play in... what do I care? This is a picture of the house that the horses live in... (they don't live inside with me!!!)
And here's my house.... it's much warmer than the horse's house, I do love laying beside the woodstove... especially when I have been outside in the cold....
Here are our horses..... and just to tell you who they are... there's Mocha, Silver, Twinkle, Duke and Tonka.... Mom says she has as many horses as she has dogs!!!
The Christmas tree is still up, and Camille just loves being under it.... Mom says that Camille must think she is a Christmas present.....
Mom was up very early this morning, I heard her working around in the kitchen. Now I know that she had this wonderful turkey to cook, which can only mean that we have company coming.... she usually only cooks these when we have lots of people coming to the house....
Part way threw the day, I heard a sound that I haven't heard before. Mom was all excited and ran to look out the window... so did I.. and this is what I saw. Two very strange looking motor vehicles.... Mom calls them "sleds"....
Soon everyone was getting on their winter gear and heading outside.... I had to stay in and watch, but I saw that these "sleds" are for riding on, and boy did the humans have a good time with them. Mom said that we were having an "open house" and all day long, people came by to see us, have some food, play with the sleds, and then went on their way.
And we didn't just have human visitors... when Kathleen came. she brought Mookie with her. I was so happy to have someone to play with because Mom let us out in the pen to run and race.....
We had lots of friends, family and canines come by. The day was very cold, but everyone wanted to spend some time outside. I guess if you live in a place that has snow, you learn how to have fun in it... I know that I have!!!
It's been a very exciting and busy time of year... and one afternoon, I just had to take a little snooze.... Mom found me up on the couch. The cockers get up there all the time, so I didn't see what the trouble was...
But after Mom got these photos, I was quickly shooed off and told that "service dogs do not get up on the furniture"... hummm... that doesn't seem quite fair that the others can and I can't. But, I see too that I can go places that the others can't, which means I often go with Mom while the other dogs have to stay at home... so.. maybe that's the trade.. they get "stuck home" but can get on the furniture.. and I can go but have to stay off... oh well, I guess that it's for me to figure out....
Mom says the days to come will be quieter and more "normal"... but, I don't mind what the days are because I love them all.... and that's a day with Debbie!!!!
