Darby Kills Chicken!

I'm always amazed by how much puppies adore squeaky toys.  When Tucker just hears this video (on my i-Phone) he jumps up and wants to eat the phone. He's such a mild-mannered fellow, a squeaky toy is the only thing he'll ever try to take from another dog (and then he must be stopped, as he will rip it to shreds within minutes).  Darby's sharp little teeth are not yet strong enough to eviscerate Mr. Chicken. But she's trying.

Pros and Cons

Note to myself:
The Pros of Puppies include:
-- the way they rear up and race at 100 miles per hour when they see you
-- their hilarious moves
-- their softness and holdability
-- their unquenchable curiosity

The Cons include:
-- being awakened by them in the middle of the night and having to take them downstairs and outside into the rain to pee
-- teaching them to urinate and defecate outside, on our schedule, instead of randomly throughout the house, on theirs.

I think she looks older in this picture than she does most of the time.

Much Improved

Our visit to the vet yesterday confirmed the cause of Darby's constant urge to pee: a nasty infection. But this morning after 24 hours on Clavamox, and three applications of cortisone cream, she appears to be vastly improved.

She also settled down much more last night, whimpering only minimally when she was ushered into her kennel (as opposed to the frantic screams of our first night together).  She and I made one trip outside a little before 1 a.m., and then she rousted me from bed again at 5:50 a.m. 

So I'm feeling tired. But she is FULL of beans, or rather, palm tree seeds, which she apparently has concluded are even tastier than Eukanuba Large-Breed Puppy Chow.

De Wyze Wolfe Pack Welcomes Darby!

Darby, a little damp after her "swim"

I picked up our newest CCI pup just a few hours ago. Her name is Darby, and she's the offspring of a black lab named Paxton III and a golden retriever (or golden/lab cross) name Ina III.  She's the fourth pup to whom CCI has given the name Darby, and for us, she is our biggest CCI pup to date. Whereas Yuli at 8 weeks weighed 13 pounds and 13 ounces, Brando weighed 14', 9.5 ounces, and Tucker weighed an even 15 pounds, Darby (at 8 weeks and 1 day) weighs a full 16 pounds.  Her coat seems softer and fluffier than Yuli's (doubtless her golden genes at work). And she also holds the record for falling into the pool  -- less than 30 minutes after her arrival here (versus days or weeks for the other guys.)

Unfortunately, she also appears to be suffering from a bladder infection that's making her feel like she needs to pee every minute or so. I'll take her to the vet's first thing tomorrow to confirm that -- and hopefully get something to cure her.



Yuli at 9 weeks.  Not all black puppies look alike!

Despite that ailment, she's a spunky thing, who has already raced around the yard with Tucker.  He seems to like her too (though we'll see how long that lasts!)

News from our trainee

We just received this copy of the official photo taken at Brando's turn-in on February 11th, along with a cutesy note allegedly written by Brando, telling us how much fun he's been having.  He looks a little worried to me in this picture, and frankly, I'm a little worried too since hearing there's been an outbreak of kennel cough.  But we know he was immunized for that shortly before turning in, so we hope he's faring well.  We won't get our first real report on his progress for another whole month.

Goodbye, puppy friend!

Here we are, about to turn Brando in for his advanced training.  The dreaded moment came today.  After living with us for almost 19 months, Brando is now in a kennel up in Oceanside.  He's sharing it with another young male pup, and I'm hoping his buddy's presence will distract and comfort him amidst the strangeness of his surroundings. On Monday, the CCI staff will start doing the physical exams and temperament testing that will take up most of the puppies' next few weeks.  By the beginning of March they should begin working in earnest on transforming the pups into service dogs.

People constantly comment to me that they could never raise a puppy and give it up, and I always respond that you can never volunteer to be a puppy raiser unless you understand that it's not your dog. You get to take care of these really cool animal for a year and a half or so, but you steel yourself from the start for what's coming.

That's all true, but the psychological truth is that I don't much think about Turn-in Day until it's almost upon us.  And then it's horrible.  It helps to see the graduate dogs being awarded to the people whose lives they'll change -- kids in wheelchairs with awful diseases; ex-soldiers who's limbs have been blown off; even the facility dogs who'll be going to work with victims of violent crimes or strokes or the like. It doesn't help to see the slide show of images of the incoming puppy class, always adorably cute and comic and surrounded by their loving puppy raisers.  The crying starts then, and overtakes us periodically from then till we drive away, with an empty kennel.

Will Mr. Brando make it?  Fulfill the destiny he was bred for and enter a life of service?  Steve and I say he has a fighting chance.  He's the easiest dog we've ever raised, a total sweetheart and an ever-entertaining companion.  But only he can demonstrate that he has the right stuff.  We'll continue to follow his journey here.

Brando Does Vegas!

We've just returned from Brando's first tour of Vegas, and he was a HUGE hit.  Although the original plan was to accompany Steve to the conference he had to attend there, Brando was the star of the outing, as things turned out. We stayed on the 24th floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel, and while toileting was always a challenge (exactly how well can a puppy hold it while walking down a loooong corridor, waiting for the elevator, making his way through the Mandalay's "beach" (read ground) floor level and out the door to the not so near stones and grass?), he performed like a champion.

Brando will turn in for his advanced training in mid-February, and if there was ever any great opportunity to practice avoiding distractions in preparation for that, this was it.  A few times, walking down the Strip in the early evening, with all the crowds and noise and lights, his flattened ears gave me an inkling that he was uneasy.  But he never acted fearful or inappropriately.

And the big surprise and delight of the trip was people's reaction to Brando. CCI puppies often get a warm reaction when they're out in public, but I have NEVER seen a response like we got here.  Everywhere we went, people pointed and smiled and made kissy noises or exclaimed, "What a good baby!" Some burst into spontaneous chuckles, and we never rode in the elevator without once getting warm nods or comments and usually extended conversations.

Steve supposed this meant that Vegas attracted an unusually high percentage of animals lovers, but I have another theory.  It seemed to me that Brando's innocence and cuteness contrasted so sharply with the jaded artifice of the place that it startled people into smiling or laughing. I felt like I was accompanying a rock star.

Here are a few choice moments from our adventures:

Our home away from home

Brando enjoyed all the pharoanic art...

...though that large creature made him a little nervous.

We wish we could take him with us to Paris later this month, but the Vegas Paris will have to suffice.

A pup can get sleepy even he could have a bird's eye view of the Strip.