Update

Sutter left a little while ago, and I miss him. Sadly, my family decided that I can now only puppy-sit for a weekend or 2-3 days.Once a year I can do a puppy-sitting for longer than that. Sad. But I have a friend who is a costume designer and she said she'd help me make a slipcover for our car so I can try to get my parents to let me take Janda to school again. Yay.

Oh and I've switched my life blog to blogger, too: lostlosingloved.blogspot.com

Just Chillin'

Sorry I haven't been posting. Things just got a little on the busy side for me. I usually go to school, spend an hour-ish doing homework and then go straight to work so I always forget to post. But Sutter is such a great dog. Now that we understand eachother's schedules a little better, it's more fun and less frustration. I think my favorite thing about Sutter is that he's willing to adapt to whatever you want him to do. Especially since I came down with the flu last night and he's totally okay with just hanging out in my room, playing with me and his toys. We went and saw 2012 (amazing!) on Friday night and that went from 10:30pm-1:15am and he was just fine with having his schedule thrown off.

Friday Fun

Two new things at Anna's house:
1. wireless internet connection (glory be!)
2. box of doggie toys

I had lost my black Kong somewhere along the line and Sutter is a power chewer. So I knew I needed to get another black Kong. So I got one :) along with a Nylabone turkey leg which was Arturo's favorite toy. I sent mine to him for his birthday. Having Sutter here, I realized how few adult dog toys I have now. Most of them have been the baby ones I've had for my starter pups and for Bean when she was little. Yay for new toys. :)

Feeling Blind

Yesterday in my drama class we did a Juno walk type activity. We're starting work in scenes, and so our scene partner was our sighted guide and we switched half way through. I had Sutter at school with me and I had a very enlightening experience. When you're blind, you really can't tell what your dog is doing when you're just standing or sitting still!! It's really very frightening. Sutter is very leaf distracted so I was super nervous that he'd go lunge for one of them. I had him in his head collar so he wouldn't be pulling me, but still! If you've never gone on a sighted guide walk with your puppy, you should try it. I see my job in a whole new way, now.

Sutter's Echo Glen picture!

Mr. Volunteer

Today is a pretty boring day. We went on a walk and otherwise he's been in the house just hanging out. He's so good when I'm able to confine him to one or two rooms. Daniel still has a hard time with getting him excited. When he's too excited he jumps and get a little mouthy, so Daniel just doesn't get to play with him anymore.

Monday Drudgery

I don't know how days can ever be drudgery with a puppy, but today was a very dull day. All of my academic classes were cancelled so I basically ended up working out in the gym and waiting around for a long time. The gym is a semi-challenging place, so I was cautious taking Sutter there. I remember Janda didn't have reactions until the 2nd time there so tomorrow will be interesting. But funny enough, Sutter didn't mind the elliptical machine but HATED the treadmill!! Knowing he will have to work on a treadmill at GDB, I'm going to avoid that for now. But we did spend a few minutes just sitting by it, and eventually he was comfortable standing next to it.

Sutter also has a stair problem with a particular set of stairs at his raiser's work. He encountered a set of stairs that he DOES NOT LIKE at school. Food reward doesn't help, coaxing doesn't help, taking it slow doesn't help, so in a few days we're going to try a "mentor dog" as another PIT just got approved to come on campus. Otherwise we'll avoid those stairs, too.

But he did great at Echo Glen! Got along VERY well with the two other PITs there (CCI dogs Dilbert and Beeker) and stayed quiet in his crate. All the kids loved him and he kind of looks like Dilbert so they were all asking, "why do you have Burt? And why is he in a green vest?" :)

It looks like I'll always post pictures a day late. I don't want to hunt down my camera right now.

Sutter Pictures

I like that one :D

BIG boy! That's a big crate. He's only 8mos old, too!

Daniel got to take Sutter on a walk

He was very focused on doing everything right

I think Daniel likes Sutter

Maybe a lot.

At Daniel's soccer game, we sat outside of the field for the first round of the tournament because the sign on the field said "no dogs" but my mom talked to one of the coaches and he said since Sutter was a service dog it was fine for him to come on the field. It was a great experience for Sutter! The astro-turf is something most dogs don't get to walk on, and that yellow line was the out of bounds line. The ball came right up to it a few times. But Sutter was more concerned about the leaves floating around than the ball. (good boy!)

We always watched to make sure his paw didn't cross onto the field.

Tonight we're going downtown to see a show for school. That'll be fun!

Day 2

Well today we had quite a bit of fun! Decided that Daniel (my little brother) is going to be a 'junior puppy raiser' (since he's not 9 till December). So he gets a lot of opportunities to work with Sutter and also be responsible for him. That solves the problem of him riling up my dogs and walking away.

I ordered a black Kong finally! I don't know what happened to my last one but all I have are the whimpy red ones. Hopefully it'll get here before Sutter leaves. He's a power chewer! Loves toys. He's also a little goofy. But I love it. He's very energetic and loves running/prancing around the house.

Since it was Saturday, we did our chores and then Daniel got to take Sutter for a walk. His first time walking a dog without me having another leash attached. But Sutter WAS in his headcollar so I knew he'd be fine.

After chores, we went to Daniel's soccer game and since Sutter is a guide dog, he was allowed on the field. The kids play in the middle of an astro-turf baseball field. So the parents sit on the turf. Normally dogs aren't allowed, but Sutter's speeeecial. Then I had to go to work sadly.

I have some great pictures of Sutter that I'll post tomorrow as it is 11:30pm and I'm a wee bit tired from work.