Whew!! can I just say this has been one busy week!!! I think that Mom and I have gone somewhere almost every day!!! Today we are at the garage ... getting the "oil changed in the jeep" (whatever that means). All I can say is that when we arrived there, everyone said "so this is your new one!!! We have been waiting to meet him"... I guess Mom has brought other puppies here..... but now, it's my turn...
It was fun - at first - meeting all the new people.. walking around the garage (lots of strange sounds and smells) but then .. we had to wait. Which meant, it was time for me to settle down and be good.....
and can I say, as a puppy, being "good" isn't always easy. I would much rather move about, visit, explore... but my Mom.... says that sometimes a puppy just has to "chill"...
so here I am... "Chillin' "........
On another day, we were off again. This time Mom said she had to get her hair cut, and the girls at the salon where also waiting to meet me!!! I am thinking that a lot of people knew I would be coming to the farm.
This is my new friend Sherry... she cuts Mom's hair. And not only does she love puppies, but she really loves Labs... because she has two of her own. She made quite a fuss over me, and I have a feeling that I will be seeing her somewhat often while I live at the farm. By the way, I had to sit quietly here too while Mom had her hair cut, but it didn't take as long as it did at the garage!!!!
And on another day this week, we were off again. Mom said that this was called a "therapy visit" and we would be seeing some very special kids... but can you see how happy I was when I found out that many of my puppy pals were there too....
Our humans let us all play together a little bit before going in to see the kids. They said it would help us get the sillies out!!! Everyone was there, I just kissed them all and wagged my tail as fast as I could!!!!
Today, Bernice is going to work with me... because Mom brought both Camille and Livy along with us, and she really can't manage all three of us at the same time. That's fine with me... I love my aunties..... (Bernice and Kathleen!!!)
We went into the school and were greeted by the staff.... then everyone was "assigned" to different class rooms and away we went. It was such fun visiting with all the kids, and for the most part they seemed pretty happy to see all of us too.....
Camille is a therapy dog, and Livy is learning to be one. I'm not sure if I will do something like this or not, but Mom said it's good for all of us to meet new people. I'm a people puppy... so I have to agree!!! It was a super fun day, but like the city, it gets pretty tiring at the end.....
The last big outing of the week... pay a call to the nice people at the DownMaine vet clinic. These are the wonderful people who take care of all our medical needs when we are at the farm. Mom says they are the best folks in the world!!! First stop, the scale.... I weight almost 30 pounds (heavier than any of the cockers).. and Mom says this is just the start and no wonder she gets tired carrying me!!!!
Hunter and Tazzy had to see the vet too, so we all went at the same time. Neither one seemed too anxious about being there.. Tazzy was a little nervous, but not too bad..... Hunter and I just laid quietly and waited our turn...
oh.. and leave it to Mom... she sees this nice bench and says "Danny, let's practice an under"... OK... sure Mom, whatever!!!!
I had to have a couple of shots, and that pinched a bit, but the doctor gave me dog cookies right after, and that made everything OK. I only have to see the vet a few times while I am here, but the work that they do for all of us is amazing.. and Mom always has a huge thank you for them!!!!
so, it's been a great, busy, fun week.. but chalk up another one in...
the year with Danny Boy!!!!
My first family cookout... from what I understand, once the "nice" weather comes, this family of mine gets together often!!! Today they were celebrating Father's Day.... and there are alot of people in Mom's family when they all come together!!!! Boy all that food smelled good, but course, none for dogs.....
So Livy and I entertain ourselves and shared a stick!!!!
Good friends can share everything......
Mom says this is "summer"... all I know is that it's fun to be outside, to be a part of all the things that are going on.. and to have a pal to share it with.... I have to say, I am a very happy puppy!!!
a year with Danny Boy!!!!
Today is a very special day... and I got to go!!! My little friend Abbie is graduating from pre-school. She was so happy and excited to see us walk in.... (she waved to everyone )....
This is Abbie with all her school friends. They put on a show... sang songs, told stories, showed of their art work and received awards. People clapped and cheered for them....
I laid nice and quiet and watched everything that went on. Some people noticed that I was there, but for the most part, they were far more interested in the children... Mom was happy about that. She said it was nice to go some where and not have too many people interested in me!!!
While she watched Abbie, she had me practice staying out of the way. We figured a great place to "hide" was between Mom's feet.
After graduation, we took lots of pictures of Abbie and her friends... but I was pretty excited when Abbie said... "Let's take one of me and Danny together"... I think she thinks I am pretty special... and that makes me so happy....
Reagan was there as well... he likes me too.... I think that kids (especially "my" kids) are the best!!!!
a year with Danny Boy!!!!
So, you know that I live on a farm with my family... and you know that my special little friend is Abbie. But, what you might not know is ... Abbie is a special friend to all of us who live here. This is Tonka.....
And one day when Mom and Dad were working on the fence lines (they call it "opening the pasture") Tonka and Abbie were very interested in what they were doing. But Abbie likes to play with all of us....
And she and Tonka were playing "follow me!!!". Abbie loves us all so much and we feel very lucky to have such a sweet little girl around here.
Mom and I keep busy much of the time... she always has me going here or there. She says that it's part of my "socialization"... fine with me, I like seeing new places and things..... today we went to some stores....
She has me doing all sorts of silly things... this is what she called "under"... course, I'm so little, I can "under" anything.... she says that when I get bigger, this might not be so easy, so I'd best enjoy doing it this way for now!!!!
This command is called "up"... goodness, put a cheese stick in front of my face and encourage me to put my front paws "up" on something.... easy!!! (I love cheese sticks!!!)
Then I wanted to show Mom that I could do it all by myself... "hey Mom, where's that cheese stick.. do you see where my front feet are???"
This odd thing is a called a "merry go round".. it was fun to watch... it moved round and round and played music...... I sat and watched it for a long time...
The next ride thing we saw... I thought it was a good place to show off my "up" word again... "Mom are you watching???"
Stairs!!! I know how to do them, except that Mom wants me to do them her way.....
which means... go up and down at her speed. Sometimes that is quickly and sometimes it's slow... in fact, so slow that we only take one step at a time.. and have to stop in between... I can do it, but it just isn't as much fun ......
My life isn't all work... I love being outside with all the dogs, especially with Livy.... we are great pals... and even though she is my size she is older than me. Mom says that Livy better enjoy this time of being the same size, because I am going to grow much bigger than she is....
We have all kinds of things that we like to do together... exploring the fence line is always fun... with the woods just beyond, we like to see "who has been there".....
Livy thinks she sees "something" on the other side!!!! So, another month sped by... I am learning and doing so many great things.... it's a happy time.....
a year with Danny Boy!!!!!
Mom says that "tomorrow" is a very big day... so "big" in fact, that she said I needed to have a bath!!!! Good thing I'm a lab... because I don't mind the water (or baths) at all... I actually thought it was rather fun, much easier to splash and "swim" in the tub than it is the water bowl.....
Abbie came and watched, wanting to be sure that everything was OK with me. I assured her it was...... but it's always so nice to have a friend that carefully watches over you.....
We got up early in the morning, left all the others behind and met up with my other neads puppy friends. Yup, it's back to visit at neads today and to have a look at the big city. This is my first trip....Mom said we were going to have great fun... not sure how I feel about the city, but I certainly like being with everyone....
I got to hang out with Dave too.... (he's my buddy).... Dave said I was being a good little boy, and did that make me feel good!!!!
The city was pretty exciting and yes, a bit fun too... but goodness ... it's noisy. Certainly not like the farm!!!!
And I have to say, I felt very little here. Mom thought I looked very little, and she kept a careful eye on me and encouraged me all the way......
We went into the hospital.. I take it neads puppies go here a lot, because everyone seemed to know us!!! Course, me, being the smallest.... I got all the attention!!!!!
The humans sat, talked and had lunch together.....
The puppies???????? well, you can see what we did... (walking around the city takes a lot of energy!!!!)
Sasha got a little nap in too......
Up and with it... we're off to the see the bus station and the trains.......
And just like at the hospital.. everyone wants to say hello to me..... I have a feeling that people like puppies!!!!!
When we got to the train station, I learned a couple of new things. One... my Mom is afraid of the trains!!!!She really isn't around them much and just doesn't like the way the roll into the station... so, when Dave wanted us to hop on and off the train, Mom said... "please do this with Danny"... she thinks that I might misstep and fall between the train and the platform. But Dave and I knew that I could jump over that little space between... which, of course... I did.....
After hopping on and off a few times, we just waited for the train to leave. Dave likes us to see and hear what a train is like. I suppose I should have been paying better attention....
But, I couldn't resist resting my head between Dave's feet and taking a little snooze.... needless to say, trains don't worry me in the least!!!!!
As we were leaving the train station and heading back to the car... the sky was looking rather grey. Mom said she hoped we could get back "before the weather'.....
We didn't...... but rain or shine, if I become a service dog... I will still have to do my "work"... so leave it to Mom to say... "good practice Danny!!!" That's OK.. I don't mind the wet ... but it was beginning to feel like a really long day.....
I was more than happy to hike back to the car...... (I can move right along when I need to!!!)
Let's just say, once I was back in the car... that is where I stayed!!!! I was pretty tired.... we went back to neads, picked up some dog food and all the other things that the humans needed... and headed for home. It was a super fun day... but I was so happy to just sleep, and I hardly moved the whole ride home!!!
a year with Danny Boy!!!
