Puppy Meeting, STRAZ Style....

Today our puppy group went to the STRAZ center for preforming arts in Tampa. Talk about a boat-load of exposures. We did not have the privilege of seeing a performance, but almost even better, we got to walk all over the largest theater at the STRAZ center. One of the puppy raisers in our group works at the STRAZ center, so he gave us a lot of neat info!
We went on an elevator, tons and tons and TONS of stairs, we went inside the theater to sit in the seats and do a "down-under", we went on the actual stage to walk up to the edge to see the dogs reactions, we went inside a dressing room, walked the back-stage halls and then went up MORE stairs to go up into the very top of the theaters seats. I have no problem saying I'm afraid of heights, but there would be no way in the world I could sit and watch a play at that height. Seeing it once was great, good exposure. Unfortunately, the pictures I took inside of the theater are pretty dark, so I've lightened them up a bit... which means in order for you to see the true beauty of the theater, you'll just have to visit it in person! But at least you get to see some of what we saw.

Before we went inside the theater, we walked around by the water...

 

 

 

Then we went inside to try out some theater seats...

^Dave really would have liked to taste that jelly-bean, but he never did try to eat it^

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

^On the stage with Dave's glowing eyes.... he looks like something out of a Star Trek movie...^

 

^In the dressing room^

 

^The height.... ekkk^

^Made me^

^Feel kinda^

^Nauseous^

 

Then we went outside to discuss our agenda and say goodbye to everyone...

^Dave told me he wants to see Annie one day... I asked him why and he said because of the dog!^

 

 

Thanks Sue Croley and Lorrin Shepard for working this meeting out... it was great!

A special Thank You

Every couple months, a trainer at SEGDI will host an Obedience class once a week for dogs in the general area. (One of the many perks of living close to SEGDI :) This trainer's name is Karen. SEGDI has a whole "string" (hee hee) of amazing trainers, some of which I have had the pleasure to meet. Karen, being one of them :) Everyone is astounded by how many little tips for raising guide dog puppies she has!

Thank you so much Karen, for all your help these past few weeks!

^As you can see, we only love her a little bit :) ^

 

And of course, I have to throw in a picture of good ol' Dave-man in front of the SEGDI stone :)

6 months old... say what?!?!?!?

HAPPY SIX MONTH BIRTHDAY

to

MEG AND SPIRIT'S LITTER!

I cannot believe Dave is already 6 months old. I was shocked when our AC emailed me and said I needed to fill out Dave's six month evals. Wasn't it just yesterday I picked up this sweet bundle of joy?

I mean come on! How can this tiny little guy...

Have already gained enough weight for the scale to say 65 pounds, wear a choker collar, and be learning some of the "big dog" commands?!?!?!?

I don't know.

Six things about Dave...

Dave is such a handsome guy. Since I don't have a "special someone" in my life yet, I like to call him "my man".

Dave likes to help with laundry. He really likes it when we bring all the dirty clothes out to sort them in their correct color piles. Dave prefers to sniff, dig around and lay on the whites and lights... lots of socks, wash clothes and yes, even underwear.

Dave's current favorite commands are "Forward", "In", "Take-a-Break", "Switch" and "Heel". Switch is his most favorite though. Thanks to his first "long-time-away-from-mommy" sitters, he has "Switch" mastered!

Dave's nicknames would be "Dave-Man" (thanks to the vet :), "Booboo", and "Little Man". He is "David" or "David Kelly" when he is in trouble... :)

Dave has learned what the word "carrot" means. Dave LOVES to roll the carrot around the house, find the perfect spot to shred it and then eat the tiny shredded pieces.

Dave is probably the best dog I've raised that will conform to any schedule. Most mornings, now that I'm working a part-time job, I get up around 6 and he is ready to go. Other mornings, (like on the weekends) I won't get up until 8 or 9. (what else are weekends for but sleeping in!?!?)

Happy six months Dave-man.

Dave's busy Saturday

Dave has had a few really busy, outing packed days lately. But today I remembered to charge and bring my camera :)
Saturday started out by getting up and heading into Brandon. Our car needed new tires and the bumper checked out... ehem. We won't go into why the bumper needed to be looked at, just know it was an accident and I wasn't behind the wheel :) All is well now and the evidence that the bumper was slightly damaged is now gone.

We were told the car's appointment could take anywhere from 45 minutes - 2 hours. Thankfully, the auto shop we took the car to is in the middle of some strip malls and restaurants. So we dropped the car off and walked around.

I couldn't have asked for a more well behaved, almost 6 month old puppy! Dave walked across a crazy busy six-lane highway and acted totally calm and collected. No fear of traffic here!
We walked across the street and went into Office Depot to look around.

Sharpie: Write out dog? Or Write out Dave?

We then we out to busy (Dave made good friends with a squirrel) and went into Dollar General to grab some cold water. Then we walked around to a Badcock Furniture store (the store options weren't all that great, but it was something to do while we waited).
We then went over to McDonalds (McChoke) to get a Mocha Frappe (ever had those things? talk about am-az-ing!). After our snack, we decided to head back to the car shop to see if our car was done. Walking back, we noticed it had new tires and the bumper was *ehem* decent. Dave laid on the floor of the waiting room and crashed for the remaining 30 minutes it took for them to align the car. The auto techs remarked at how Dave was better behaved then some of their customers!

Once our car was finished, and after we dropped Kaitlyn off for a play date with friends, mom, Dave and I headed to Kohls. Dave is such a goof. Some dogs will lay down and not move when they are done shopping. Others go crazy. Dave prefers to go crazy and then once in the car, lay down and not move :)
We got home and mom and I thought Dave deserved a treat for being such a good boy all day long. So he had his first carrot.

 

Good boy Dave-man.

We made the paper!

The day we picked our little Dave-man up, someone at SEGDI (you know who you are!) wanted to take some pictures of our family with Dave. She mentioned she might write a story, or post the picture somewhere just because the story of "Dave" is so exciting!


This person at SEGDI has been writing articles for "The Bradenton Patch" for a few weeks based on Southeastern Guide Dogs and all the effort that goes into breeding, raising, training and matching a perfect guide dog.

She inserted 4 separate pictures with this article, and one of them is of us! It's amazing to look back at how tiny Dave was... now I can't even pick him up!

Please check out the article by clicking HERE

    Love,
       Meagan and Dave

So long, farewell...

One of our family's favorite movies is "Sound of Music". We quote it quite a bit, mainly the songs. If someone starts a sentence with "So" everyone chimes in and starts singing "Soooooo, a needle pulling thread".

Today was Evan's last day with us. So I thought a blog post titled and "sung" to the song "So long, farewell" was appropriate.

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, good night, I hate to go and leave this pretty sight

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, adieu. Adieu, adieu, to yieu and yieu and yieu

So long, farewell, au revoir, auf wiedersehen, I'd like to stay and taste my first champane,

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye, I leave and heave a sigh and say goodbye--- goodbye!

I'm glad to go, I cannot tell a lie, I flit, I float, I fleety flee I fly,

The sun has gone to bed and so must I

 So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen good bye!

 We love and will miss you very much little Evan! Always remember us! I think of everyone, Dave will miss you the most! Just like Ellie, it's time for you to move on to bigger and better places! You rock little boo-boo :)

Love,

Meagan and Dave