Catching up - Part III


The work week was business as usual, except for Friday... It was my boss, Sheldon's birthday (it was really Saturday, but we celebrated on Friday).  I won't share his age because I'd like to keep my job.  :-)  Everyone but me had a great lunch from Leroy Selmons and key lime pie from J.J. Gandy's.  It was torture having to smell all of that great BBQ and desert, but I managed to survive.


Saturday morning we met Sheldon, his kids Lauren and Jack, as well as, Ingrid from the office and represented Tampa Bay Financial Planning at the Junior Achievement Pirate Bowl at Pin Chasers in Tampa.  Wow, what an incredible experience!  Lots of people, loud noises, flashing lights, etc., what more could a puppy in training ask for???

Checking out our lanes...

Dad & I trying to get settled in

I'll bet this little girl can bowl better than Mom

What's all the fuss about?

Just hanging out watching all the action

Mom's trying to remember what to do
 - it's been about 15 years since her last game

Loud music, lots of people and flashing
disco lights - what's the big deal?

Lauren & Jack warming up

Lots of Donna Summer music to go along
with the disco lights
(R.I.P. Donna - she had just passed away that morning)

The rock'n team of Tampa Bay Financial Planning
(Ingrid, Sheldon, Lauren, Me, Jack & Mom)

That's all folks!  Check back soon for my next post...

Catching up - Part II


The following weekend took us back down to the campus for an open house to celebrate SEGD's 30th anniversary (www.guidedogs.org).    A lot of people attended, as well as, a number of pups-in-training. It was a great event, and hopefully everyone learned more about how puppies like me can change someone's life.  I got to meet some really nice people, including a little girl that called me "precious"!  Precious, can you believe it?  I love it!

Standing around looking cute :-)

The trainers are waiting to take people on blindfold walks

Mom was guided on a blindfold walk by Derrick
and trainer Karen

Derrick was obviously a much better student
for Karen than I was...

People just can't resist a cute puppy

Getting ready for a ride in the golf cart

A brick in the Freedom Walk
in memory of Gizmo & Gadget

Gizmo

Gadget

While we were there we got to see my puppy class trainer, Karen, as well as Jen, another trainer at the campus. When Jen saw me approach, she knew exactly who I was... uh, oh, that wasn't a good sign! The only time I've seen Jen was at my first puppy raiser meeting when I was 10 weeks old, she was there to make a presentation and I didn't even get to meet her personally. I couldn't imagine why she knew who I was. As it turns out, Karen had spoken to her about the issue that I was having with pulling extremely hard against my collar and leash, and Jen had a suggestion about how to deal with it. She lent me her dog Scortchy's (I hope I spelled that right) Easy Walk harness for the morning while we walked around during the open house. It didn't completely stop the pulling, but it did make it a bit easier for Mom to control me and at least I wasn't hurting my neck. Before we left we returned the harness to Jen and said that we would stop and buy one for me later that day.

Taking Scortchy's Easy Walk harness for a test walk

We left the campus and headed down to Ft. Myers to visit Grandma for her 79th birthday (oops, I probably wasn't supposed to share that part) and Mother's Day. She really likes P.F. Changs, and I think their floor menu is pretty good so we took her there for lunch.  Everything was going really well until I decided that I was bored and barked a few times. The good news is that everyone was done eating so we made a fairly quick exit. Sorry I don't have any pictures to share, Grandma doesn't like to have her picture taken.  Do you think she's a spy, or maybe in the witness protection program???


We had been pretty busy lately so we decided to just chill out at home on Sunday.


Check back soon for Catching Up - Part III (final chapter)

Catching up - Part I


I guess it's time to stop goofing off and get back to work, although as you'll see below, I've actually been quite busy these past couple of weeks...


Saturday, May 5th took us to Raymond James Stadium (where the Bucs play) for Symphony Under the Stars. What could be better than a tailgate party with all of your best puppy in training friends followed by a night of classical music performed by the Florida Orchestra? Of course tailgate and orchestra in the same sentence does sound a little odd.


It turned out to be a great evening and all us puppies were on our best behavior, even with the many distractions that we were presented with. Unfortunately, we did have to leave a little bit early... at the start of the 1812 Overture (The Year 1812, Festival Overture in E flat major, Op. 49 for those musical purists out there) we quickly gathered our things and hightailed it out of the stadium because the cannons were going to be fired during the song. We were just outside the stadium when they were fired and even that was a little too close.

Next up was my final night of puppy obedience class down at the SEGD campus.  That night turned out to be much better than the previous 3 times, I actually got to stand in the circle of training the entire night!  While I didn't graduate Summa Cum Laude, I did manage to complete the course and showed improvement (at least that's what Karen told me) it must've been those 100 "I will not bark, jump or nip" exercises that I had to complete.  We'll see how things go, but I may want (need) to go back for a continuing education course.

See, I can stay still...

Learning how to be part of the "circle"

Edgar found a leaf

Puppy swap time - Ahhh, I love getting my belly rubbed!

The next day took Dad and me to Country Day School http://countrydaylargo.com/ in Largo.  They had chosen to raise funds for SEGD with a mini-walkathon at the school so we went down to participate.  Dad wasn't too sure about going since I had been having issues with pulling on the leash, but we decided to go and I got to meet a lot of great kids.  I also got to see a horse and some other barnyard animals while we were there.

Sylvia with Denny & Sunny

Stephanie introduces Coastie to the group

And they're off...

Oops, I almost forgot, these clients came all the way from Texas to see me, well, at least I'd like to think they did...

Larry, Kim & Sheldon