A much needed update...

First- Ellie graduated her puppy obedience class. YAY!!! Thanks to *Mr. Bob* we have pictures to prove it! :)

Thanks Bob and Sue!!!

^Ellie playing with Big Joe^

^"Forward, Hup Hup"^

^Ellie and pretty Isolde^

 ^Ellie's perfect sit after going down the steps^

 

^Our graduate ;-) Ellie even got a diploma, but it got sat on by Ellie and is now crumpled beyond recognition ;-)^

^My pretty girlie^

 ^Talking with the Booses^

 

^Our group... (L-R) Jeannie, Echo, Jock, Isolde, Flora, Kelton, Gato, Barkley, Joey, Ellie and Popi^

^Echo, Kelton, Joey and Ellie^

Ellie went to the vet today. She weighs 67.8 pounds, and has a nice ear infection. I knew that with her having big, heavy and floppy ears, we'd have to keep a close eye on them and keep them clean. But with all the humidity and rain we've had, it's pretty much impossible to keep them dry. Time to bust out the plain vanilla yogurt. Yum yum! Hooray for ear solution and Otomax.

Ellie also got a cortisone shot to help her itchy paws (yes, that issue is back) and itchy tail.  Poor baby. Good thing she LOVES going to the vet!

           Love,

              Meagan and Ellie

9 Months Ago Today...

This little girl was born...

Nine things about Ellie...

1. Ellie has come a long way in her short 5 months of training. In the beginning, she was very shy and nervous around anything new. Buggies at the grocery store, busy streets, crowds of people, car horns, my hair dryer, you name it.
Thanks to Trainers, AC's and much patience (on both mine and Ellie's part) Ellie is doing wonderful. She takes everything in stride and acts as if she's seen everything already and nothing is new... except those new puppies in our group... those babies will never grow old :)

2. Ellie's new found love is thunder/lightning storms. She is not fazed one bit by the loud booms and bright cracks of light in the sky. She WANTS to be out on the porch watching the storm. Silly girl.

3. If I received a dollar every time someone pets Ellie and says "Oh, she's SO soft", I'd be able to pay for a brand new car... in cash.

4. Saying Ellie loves TV is an understatement. Today we were watching "National Velvet" (Elizabeth Taylor stars with Mickey Rooney when they were really young). The movie is about a little girl (Taylor) who, in a round about way, ends up riding in a horse race. For almost the entire race, Ellie watched the horses run the track. It's so entertaining watching Ellie watch TV!

5. Ellie lives for her blue coat. She has learned that "Let's go get your coat on!" means "super, happy, fun stuff happens!" Thankfully, she is now jumping into the car by herself!

6. This might be weird or gross to some people, but out of the four dogs I have raised (all girls mind you) Ellie has the cutest way of squatting to pee. She squats so low and holds her head up so high. She makes me laugh every time she "busies".

7. Ellie likes to cut in front of people if she thinks "their in the way". If there is a slower paced, older couple in front of us, Ellie will look up to me as if to say "Pleeeeeease mom, there going soooooooo sloooooow". Most of the time, we will politely go around them. But remember, "patience is a virtue", young Ellie May.

8. Ellie loves to lick/chew her toes. Sadie tends to look at Ellie with a "your so gross" look. But Ellie happily continues to chew her feet..... Ellie doesn't care one bit about germs...Sadie tends to be the "germaphobe".

9. Ellie now knows almost every command that I, as a puppy raiser, have to teach her. Ellie's favorite command is switch. I think it's because she starts sitting on my left and gazing at my face, I say "switch", and she walks behind me to sit on my right.....and her favorite part, she can still see my face!


Happy nine months Ell Bell. Love you :)

              Meagan

Happy-Go-Lucky-Clarkey

Friday, Meagan told me that "I need to go get my coat and leash on, we're going shopping!"... the coat and leash part, I got excited about, the shopping part, not so much :)

But this shopping ended up being so much fun!

I had the important job of picking out a toy for Clarke.

I took my job very seriously.

After much consideration, I chose a stuffed frog with stretchy legs. Yes, this was the one.

The next day (Saturday), the Boyle's got up very early. Way too early for my liking.

They took their showers, ate a quick breakfast, fed and played with us dogs for a little bit. Then I got locked up (double locks now :) and off they went.... they got to go to my school.....no fair.
The rest Meagan will have to share...

  - To be courteous to the blind person who Clarke was matched with, I have not included a face photo of the student (even though I have a wonderful picture of all of us together, thanks to one of the guide dog trainers!). But I will be sure to ask the student, if I can post a picture for everyone to see how amazing Clarke and her forever person look together! -

We arrived at SEGDI at 8:30, the bio reading, rules about meeting your "baby" again, etc, started around 9:00.

We then all went outside to watch the blind students and our "babies" do a small walk/training route. It sure is amazing to see how the pups change....that 5 month old puppy that used to jerk you every which way when you went on a walk, tried eating everything it could, had a few accidents in the house (and not to mention the store), teethed on EVERYTHING, cried so much in it's kennel after you went to bed, it made you think that you would NEVER sleep through the night again, made you think this dog is NEVER going to learn how to jump in the car without me having to heave his back-end up..... the list could go on :)
It's so awesome to see how much they "grow up". They look so mature and majestic in their harness.... almost like an "I own this harness, I. Am. Important." look. Oh, gives me goosebumps thinking about how regal Clarke looked in her harness!

After everyone watched the walking, we all went inside and one by one, were introduced to the blind student and their dog (which let me remind you, we haven't seen for 6 months-1 year) The dogs tend to have OTHER idea's.....like tackling you before you could even ask the student "May I pet your dog".
Clarke was beside herself with joy. This picture doesn't do her justice...I wish I had gotten a video of how nuts she went!! She knew she had to behave, but she was wiggling and squirming so much...

This is Clarke's first raiser...it is absolutely amazing how well they remember you...

Clarke loves her "daddies"...

 It just so happens, I love this "little girl" too  :)

 

Well, I had some video's I wanted to share with you, but my computer never loaded them... bummer.

Well, we are off to start our day!

Love,

Meagan and Ellie May

We won!

Meagan follows a blog titled "Tails of a Carnivorous Convict: Life as a Prison Puppy". (click to see the blog!)
The blogger's name is Heather. Heather is a puppy raiser for the Prison Pup Program for NEADS (National Education for Assistance Dog Services) Heather takes her puppy to work with inmates at a prison during the week. Then on the weekends, Heather gets the pup back.

Heather used to work with a black lab puppy named Ellie, and she is now on a beautiful golden retriever named Kelly.

Well, Heather decided not to tell the "followers" of her blog what Kelly's name was. They had to find it in previous blog posts. If they found and guessed her name correctly, they emailed Heather their guess and would then be entered in a contest! So Meagan and I searched through Heathers blogs and found the name "Kelly".

And we were right! Six people guessed Kelly's name and Heather put all the names in Kelly's dog bowl. Kelly chose a piece of paper and it had our name on it!! So today we received our prize in the mail...

Thank you Heather and Kelly!!

Love,

 Meagan and Ellie May

My first time at the beach!!

I went to the dog beach for the first time today! I had so much fun. It was a beautiful day....nice and breezy. The water was really hot...Meagan and her dad think about 100 degrees...so I didn't stay in very long...

^My first time sniffing the beach!!^

 

 

^I didn't really like the waves^

^My "let's play" stance^

^Getting used to it...the water was really hot^

^Whoa, wave was too big^

^good girl Ellie!^

^Wild thing!^

^I saw a very strange bird^

^see?^

^ I finally got to swim....we went to an inlet area where the waves weren't as big^

^Rolling in the stinky sand^

^Playing ball.....trying to get me to relax a little^

^On the car ride home...^

^After my bath^

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had a super fun day. I want to go back to the beach.....but maybe when the water is a little cooler.

                 Love,

                           Ellie May