Corona LRT Station

Today we joined Debbie's puppy class and met at Corona (indoor) LRT station downtown where we practiced a variety of obedience work, rode the LRT to a couple of other stations and went on an escalator. I am blogging today's class because today was the first day that Breton rode on an escalator! She has been an eager and happy puppy to hang out on the escalator platform for a couple of months now, but with a little nudge to her bum and encouragement, today she found herself leaving the platform behind. Breton earned lots of praise, yummy treats and bum scratches for a job well done and in typical Breton character, she returned the affection with tail wags and wiggles. I know we have more work to do to keep her comfortable and confident at going up them, but today was a big step! I have been waiting patiently for Breton to take the first step on her own as I know that without an experienced Dogs with Wings trainer to help guide us, that I would not have taken her up without Debbie being there to assist us with getting on and off. It is very important that Dogs with Wings show us when and how to introduce the escalator to our puppy and that we not take them on before we have been shown how. Thanks so much Debbie for your help and encouragement in getting Breton on and off of the escalator and for having us in your class today!

Morning Kisses

S-p-r-i-n-g

We seem to have a reoccurring pattern that has developed with Breton. As mentioned in previous blog postings, we have always encouraged the motto "four on the floor" with her. The only time it is okay for four to leave the floor is when we give her the queue "raise." There aren't a lot of rules that DWW asks us to abide by, but one of them is that dogs are not allowed on the furniture. Even when Breton was the tiniest baby we never even held her on our lap on the furniture, _ever_.

Now, in the morning while I am still sleeping, Breton springs up on to the bed and lands perfectly, right between Greg and I and starts licking and nibbling my ear while her tail wags at a joyous speed. I've sort of become used to this ritual in that my heart doesn't stop with fear when I feel her land beside me anymore, but my heart does ache when I concentrate on remaining boring and apathetic so she doesn't think it is fun to stay on the bed, all the while saying "off" so that she will get down.

I'm not sure when this behaviour will subside but I will remain steadfast in encouraging that she remain on the floor and will continue to ensure that she leaves the bed promptly. Allow me to say, this is not easy for me because it just feels so darn good having her sweet face so close to me first thing in the morning (Greg, you know I love you too).

I hope I am not the only one who will appreciate ear kisses from this poo eating dog?

Birthday Fun

Birthday treatsie


Morning run in the field with Bentley

Afternoon run at the off leash park

On Feb. 12, I spent the day with Breton doing most of her favorite things. I gave her a new tug rope for her and Bentley to play with in the backyard, but that was shredded before I had a chance to get a picture of them with it. We had a great day and she slept soundly that night. My biggest birthday wish for her is to have many happy, healthy years with lots of happy birthdays ahead.

Breton is 1-Year Old Today! Could Have Been a Better Birthday...

Breton spent her first Birthday under anesthetic at the Crestwood Vetrinary Clinic. Today she had her PennHIP X-ray to assess the quality of her hips. PennHIP stands for University of Pennsylvania Hip Improvement Program. Before she can become a service/assistance dog, her hips need to be in good health and this is what the x-ray will tell us. This form of x-ray is an accurate way of predicting the onset canine hip displaysia.

I dropped her off at the vetrinary office early this morning, and picked her up at three o'clock. The anesthetic left her groggy and a bit confused. She whimpered and paced for the first three hours after I brought her home, but after a small dinner, she settled down and now is only crying occasionally. As I type this she is laying behind me sound asleep (passing gas).

We will have a fun day together tomorrow. Happy Birthday Breton! We love you.

PS - She weighs 55 lbs. now

Gotta Trust my Dog

On Friday night's class at Waggin' Tails, Maria asked how our dogs are doing at loose leash walking without their Halti's on. I said Breton still pulls without her Halti and realized that meant we had home work to do. After class, I was thinking and just assumed she would pull without it and that I haven't really given her much of a chance to show me otherwise. Yesterday and this morning, we went to Southgate Shopping Center and walked with out the Halti. Breton did very well , and thanks to Andrew's tip (Rigger's dad) we practice the "watch me" cue as we walked. We spent time walking in the busy part of the mall with only a couple of minor distractions. By the end of our outing yesterday, I had her clipped on to my belt and walking beside me through the mall and out to the van with a coffee in my hand, and Breton's eyes focused on me. Way to go Breton!

Skill

On Sunday morning, we went to Home Depot to have a look at area rugs. Who knew it would be so difficult to determine what kind of area rug to buy because of our two mover and shaker dogs. Not too light, not too much money, not too cheap, not one that encourages digging...we're still looking. Breton was very cool as you can see.


For the past six months, we've battled the crowds at Super Store on a weekly basis together. Actually, we cheat and go during the weekday so it's a lot easier than going on the weekend. Grocery shopping with a puppy added an entirely new dimension to the regular grocery shop routine. In the beginning, it took a lot more time than I was used to because of the distractions, objections and challenges. Now it seems the only work to our weekly grocery shop outing is the actual grocery shopping. Here are some of the challenges we have over come:

• We were stopped by the door greeter every week for the first month we started going together so the door greeter lady could page the "manager" to make sure it was okay that I bring Breton into the store and of course, it always was. On one occasion, she even came looking for us in the store while we were shopping because a customer told her there was a "dog" in the store. After the fourth visit, she started remembering us and now greets us with a wide grin and asks me every time, "still training 'ey? How is she? She's a good dog?" I always smile and say, "yes, she's a very good dog."
• The first four months down the produce isle was always the most challenging part. There was always torn pieces of lettuce, smooshed grapes and pistachio nut shells on the floor for me to anticipate and correct Breton from helping herself to. While maneuvering my cart, and watching the floor I was also watching for people who used their carts to "push" Breton out of their way. That's right, it happened, a lady pushed her cart right into Breton as if to shuffle her along! Thankfully there was no harm done, Breton didn't really notice and I was too caught off guard to say anything. Keeping her tail tucked in when she is sitting so that it doesn't get run over by a cart is another skill I've learned to watch for. These days, Breton can down-stay in the produce isle while staying focused on me as I casually shop from counter to counter. She no longer dives for pieces of food on the floor like she used to and instead just stares at it. She stays close to my leg and follows every cue (almost).
• Unloading the groceries from the cart at the check out stand has gotten a lot easier too. There is often pieces of candy or other food on the floor that Breton used to get on her belly and try to crawl towards, or twist and pull me around for. I was always the "slow" one at check out, unloading my groceries with one hand, and holding Breton's leash in the other. At Super Store, you have to pack your own groceries, so as soon as we had everything unloaded and scanned, I would be re-loading one handed again. Yes, I was the "slow lady" at the grocery store line up that people cringed at getting caught behind. Not anymore though! I put Breton in a down-stay, I unload, load and pay and am no longer holding up the line up (except when I forget my purse in the van and the cashier tells me to "run" while she waits for me. That happened yesterday).

Yesterday we had class with Breton's sibblings, Schooner and Digby. We went to West Edmonton Mall where Maria had us practice off leash walking in the mall! We went to a safe quiet area, just in case anyone decided to bolt, but no one did. Breton did very good and stayed with me while I did left circles, walked backwards, zig-zagged and changed pace. She only left me twice to go visit her brother's who were watching from the side.

Breton has a Slide Show

Check out the bottom of Breton's Blog to watch her slide show. It's still a work in progress as I sort through photos to catch it up to present time but so far it's complete up to July. Check back often to watch it (or "her,") as it (she) grows.

Breton is 11 Months Old Today!

I can't believe we have only one more month before Breton is a year old. I was standing in the backyard last night with her, and the temperature, the silence and the snow around me felt so similar to the first night I brought her home from the airport and we were in the backyard together. Time goes fast. Her face seems to look different when she looks up at me while we are walking together lately, more mature or something. She is a strong, healthy girl and is doing very well. Her "watch me" cue is very good. We are working on her excitability and the barking that comes with that and I'm sure we will get that taken care of. As she is getting older, it's getting harder to put it out of my mind that her time with us is drawing closer to the end and I keep finding myself wondering about the next puppy we might raise. Breton is getting so mature, she's not my baby anymore, but definitely my girl. I just know that she is meant to go on to bigger things when she leaves us. It will be so sad for us when she leaves, but I can feel in my heart that she is meant to have a future partner to love and take care of. I am cherishing every moment with her for now and not taking anything for granted (even when she comes in the house with poo breath). I want her to be happy and enjoy every one of her moments with me as well, so I try to focus on that for her. In the mean time, there will be lots of runs in the park, walks, Jolly ball playing and wrestling in the backyard with her Bentley. Her favorite things. Next time, it's her 12-month update and I've heard there might be a party involved?

A Doggy Winter

(Greg has become quite smitten with his Breton).

We took advantage of the perfect snow conditions today and brought the dogs out to the farmer's field behind our house for some good old fashion snowball chasing. When Greg comes along, he can throw snowball's much better than I can, so Bentley was in for a treat because chasing snowball's is his favorite winter time sport. Breton just loves to chase her Bentley (and the odd snowball) and so they both played hard! Gotta love the January Thaw!

Laurier Park

Check it out, Breton is playing with an English Sheep dog. This was her first encounter with a Sheep dog since she was attacked by a different one at Terwillegar Park in the Fall. As you can see, she had no problem. In fact, she didn't show any signs of being nervous around any bigger dogs that we encountered. I had to get this on video, even though my bare fingers were subjected to the fridgid temperature and cold metal camera. I was happy to see her be herself. I love how dogs live in the moment. Way to go Breton!

Christmas Gifts

There are no boundaries as to whose hedge hog is whose.

Christmas Holiday's

Such a photogenic dog! Notice how there are no ribbons left on the bottom half of our tree. Once Breton figured out how to delicately "pluck" the ones off at her level, it was all over for the ribbons she could reach.

Christmas Morning. Who needs new dog toys when there is torn up wrapping paper to be had!

Christmas Eve

Backyard fun. Breton and Bentley got well acquainted with wrestling in the backyard this holiday. It was so cold out that it was difficult to get them out for their normal level of exercise.

Dogs with Wings Christmas Party. Christmas Photo: Schooner (far left), Breton, Clipper, Sable and Digby (far right)

Missing from the photo was Rigger and Hope (formerly known as Sydney)

After a nice Christmas break, we go back to school on Friday at Waggin' Tails and are looking forward to seeing all of Breton's littermates, their puppy raiser's and Maria.

Happy New Year!

Just imagine what this special dog could do for some lucky and deserving person's life this year. 2009 Holds big plans for this much loved girl. We are so proud of you Breton!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Are Breton and her Sister, Sydney, Communicating Telepathically?

I was aghast a few weeks ago when I read about Sydney counter cruising and stealing her human's dinner; "three" out of their four uncooked filet minot steaks! We had a repeat of Phew Puppy, a blog posting from July, where Breton ate her poo and puked it up all over our cream colored carpet in the wee hours of the morning, on the same night that Syndey ate poor Debbie and Don's dinner. The difference between our July incident and the December incident, was that poor Greg had to go outside into the freezing cold night this time to find the shop vac. in the garage. We had a rough night too.

I just read the newest blog posting about Miss Sydney. Today, she took poor Debbie's glasses and put a hole through the lens of her $300 glasses! The good news was, Sydney proved herself by giving them back when Debbie gave the command GIVE and, Sydney didn`t eat any of the glass from the lens either. Well Breton got up to some antics today too. I was wrapping gifts on the kitchen table and when my back was turned, Miss Breton put her little paws up on to the kitchen island and took the blade end of a paring knife into her soft mouth. I heard her when her paws touched back down on the floor, and when I turned around she looked at me with one foot headed towards the kitchen exit. Me, in my sweetest puppy voice too, said GIVE and thank goodness, with a tail wag, she too dropped the knife like Syndey gave back Debbie's glasses. Fortunately she didn't hurt herself and I'm not stuck with a bill for a new pair of glasses.

It seems like these two girls are in sync with each other's antics!

Fire Station Visit with My Brother Rigger's Human, Andrew

Hiya, it's me, Breton! I'm helping my human with this posting cause she has been real busy this month. We've been shopping a lot, had lots of visitors and been to more restaurants than I could ever imagine. When she's busy, that means I'm busy too. I got to go for a weekend at the Hank's for a mini-vacation because my human turned thirty, what ever that means. All I know is that when I came back, there were a lot of new human smells in my house, flower smells in the kitchen and a bouquet of balloons in the corner of my living room. I was happy to party at the Hank's while she partied at home. The day we went to the fire station was her birthday and she said she will never forget where she was on her 30th birthday. It was pretty cool! Rigger's human, Andrew, is a firefighter and we got to go to his station to smell the trucks, fire suits, oxygen tanks/ventilators and equipment. We also got to hear a fire truck siren up close (a call came while we were there) and it was loud, but I just sat and watched. Andrew is a good guy for taking the time to help us from being scared of firemen later in our lives. It's also reassuring to know that his station has an oxygen ventilator for my kind too, so I hope if I ever need that kind of help, Andrew will get the call. Maybe other fire stations around Edmonton and the country will have doggy ventilators soon too. Thanks Andrew! Woof, woof, tail wags and wiggles,

Breton

Puppy Park

Some one deocrated a tree at the puppy park. I couldn't get the whole tree in the picture, but thought it was so nice that some one did this. When we were there, it was a calm, quiet, warm day. We had a great walk!

Terwillegar Park

Last month, Breton and I were walking back to the parking lot at Terwillegar Park, practicing loose leash walking when a very excited, young, English Sheep dog came charging towards us from the parking lot. When he got close and wasn't slowing down, I stomped my feet to get him to back off, but he went around us and then he was on top of Breton, growling with way too much energy. I let go of her leash, and all I could see was this big hairy dog on top of Breton, while I could hear Breton crying. The owner was able to call his dog off of her, and I examined Breton, and she seemed okay, just shaken up. It wasn't a moment later that another excited, young, Bernese Mountain dog who was in the background during the attack came barreling towards us, and of course, Breton who was nervous tried to run away, and the Berner, chased her and then was on top of her too. The Sheep dog attacked her, but the Berner seemed more playful, because he got off of her when she wasn't reciprocating play. I was shaken up too, but didn't want to share that energy with Breton. When she was safe in her kennel, I drove to Safeway and went in by myself and shopped alone so that I could calm down. It was a helpless feeling, not being able to stop the attack myself. The next morning, I noticed a big scab on Breton's shoulder and took her to Dr. Scott four days later, when the scab fell off and I could see a puncture about an inch deep. I have never experienced having a dog with a bite wound, and so after I let DWW know what happened, we wanted to make sure it wasn't going to get infected, or that she didn't need a stitch. I am so proud of how well DWW takes care of all of their dogs. Too me, it looked like she needed at least one stitch, but Dr. Scott said, nope, she's fine and that it will heal on its own, and of course he was right. She wasn't bothered by it at all, and it did heal completely fine. Unfortunately, she's been acting very submissive around bigger dogs at the off leash park and progressively worse, to a point where our girl pees, tucks her tail and or runs away from big dogs. I've been trying to ease her through it on my own, but in the new year, we're going to hang out with some of the dogs at the office and build her confidence up again. For now, we aren't going to Terwillegar Park anymore either. Maria doesn't want her to associate the negative experience she had there, with other dogs there. Eventually, Maria and I will take her to the puppy park with some of DWW dogs to help her feel confident. So, for now, we're going to hang at the puppy park (when it warms up)!

Play Day with Schooner!

I had the pleasure of puppy sitting Schooner today. Having three dogs in the house, two of which are still puppies, made for an exciting day! I had visions of all three of them laying quietly on their dogs beds while I decorated the Christmas tree, and although I did get in 45 min. of stringing lights on the tree, the rest of the day seems to be a bit of a blur. The cold spell over the weekend had stopped us from getting the dogs out for their regular exercise, and so all dogs were in fine form for a day of wrestling, tugging and romping around the backyard. The weather is still bitterly cold outside, so even the play time they had outside had to be watched as their paws got cold so fast (funny how they get cold faster when they are outside by themselves though).

Around mid-morning, I tried to get them to all relax on their beds with a nice raw hide to chew on that Leah brought over as a treat for them. The only one who was in to that was Breton, being in the comfort of her own home, and on her doggy bed, she had no problem settling in (and stealing Schooner's bone for a chew when he wasn't watching). Unfortunately, Schooner wasn't quite settled in enough to get in to the "chew zone", so every few minutes, he would get up and see what I was doing (trying to relax on the couch) or watch Breton chew her bone. Mr. Bentley was too grumpy to handle chewing with the group, so he had his morning kennel time instead (part of his routine anyway).

In an effort to drain some of Schooner's energy, I piled on the layers, warmed the van, dug out the dog booties and decided to try and take them for a quick game of fetch in the field behind our house. The temperature had warmed up to -19 with a -28 Celsius wind chill which was "better" than the -35 wind chill earlier in the day. When we got to the field, Schooner had no problem with wearing dog booties, but Breton on the other hand wasn't so sure about having "socks" on her dainty little paws. I threw the ball twice before it was lost and had the dogs back in the van, racing away from the field with numb finger tips (they still hurt) straight to Starbucks for a much needed pick me up. Schooner sat like such a gentleman on one of the captain's seats in the back seat of the van, and as I kept looking back at him in the rear view mirror, it was all he could do to keep his heavy eyes open - but he did! When we got home, he was relaxed enough to chew his rawhide. I offered Breton half of another one to keep her busy, but instead she "buried" hers under the Christmas tree and curled up for her first nap of the day. When Schooner finished his bone, he fought back sleeping, and woke Breton up for another wrestle. The three of them spent the last 45 min. of the play day tugging outside with warm up and water breaks inside in between.

I had the best day with them! I am shocked at how similar Breton and Schooner's mannerisms are. After spending the day with this good boy, I can see why he is loved so much. Come back any time Schooner! All four of us will have a good sleep tonight and the Christmas tree will wait until tomorrow.

Breton is 10 Months Old Today!

time n. 1 the unlimited continued progress of existence and events in the past, present, and future...in time 2 time will tell the truth about something that will be established in the future.



timekeeper n. 1 a person who records the amount of time taken by a process or activity.

time-lapse adj. (of a photographic technique) taking a sequence of frames at set intervals to record changes that take place slowly over time.