Protecting Our Country, One Nose at a Time.

Need a Puppy Fix?

2011-03-09T20:32:00.000-08:00

Check out this link which shows some of the puppies at the kennels of Lackland Air Force Base. Too cute!

CBDC Made the News...Again!

2011-03-07T19:21:00.000-08:00

Random Picture of Ggoody around Christmas time

Today marks the two year anniversary since I had received Llarson to raise. Crazy how time flies! It's been about four months since I last posted which is way too long for my liking. Between school, club meetings, and work I have been super busy which leaves hardly anytime to update. However, I have a bit of free time now so I thought I would update the blog with what has been happening.

Back in November Llarson graduated with his handler and is currently working in Minnesota as a member of the National Explosive Canine Team Program. I couldn't be more proud of him. I haven't been able to get in contact with his handler, but I am sure Llarson is doing just fine. I hope he can handle the cold weather since he grew up in Texas!

Ggoody is doing well. I miss having her around all the time since I am in college now and dogs are not allowed in the dorms. She is still her very laid back, loving self. I love going back home during the breaks to see her. Over the Christmas break I tried to make up for lost time during the fall school semester and took her to several dog parks to burn off excess energy. She loved it! Over Spring Break I plan to do the same thing and possibly take her golfing with me at a course that is dog friendly.

In December my family and I fostered a seven year old long haired dachshund named Elwood from the local humane society. He was such a sweet dog, but had some severe health issues (heartworms and severe dental decay) that the humane society was trying to correct. We offered him a loving home for the holidays. He fit right in and enjoyed sleeping on Ggoody's bed. Sadly we couldn't keep him so we had to take him back to the humane society, but I think he was adopted soon after we returned him since he was removed from the website listing and the shelter is no kill. I sure hope Elwood found a loving home.

Elwood and Ggoody sleeping

Now to the title of the post. A fellow TSA Puppy Raiser shared a link with me about Lackland Air Force Base's Working Dog Program. It was a news story from ABC; it made the national news! The video is awesome and gives a good perspective of what the program is all about. Scott Thomas who is interviewed in the video is the Puppy Raising Program's manager. Too cool! Enjoy. Here is the link.

-Addie

P.S There may be some exciting news coming up regarding puppy raising, but I am not 100% sure so I don't want to jinx it quite yet. But stay tuned!

BIG NEWS!!!

2010-11-08T20:27:00.000-08:00

Okay, it might be a little early to say this, but I have to announce it anway...

This afternoon I talked to my mom and she told me she had some news about Llarson and I knew that could go one of two ways. Then she told me...

Llarson is graduating! That is right folks, after nearly year of training Llarson has found a handler and is officially an explosive detection dog (well almost). Right now as long as everything goes according to plan (and no changes are made), he will be leaving Lackland Air Force Base on November 19 to work in the Minneapolis Airport. I am crossing my fingers that I will be able to meet Llarson's handler and say goodbye to the big guy before he departs for work. Right now it is sort of a mess because of when I get off of school for Fall Break and being in Colorado for school doesn't help, but hopefully everything will work out and I will be able to find a flight back to Texas to see him.

To be honest I can't even put into words what I am feeling. All I know is that I am so proud of Llarson. I know he will do great things. I really can't believe that goofy, crazy pup I raised a year ago has matured enough to make it through the rigorous training that he has. I can't think of one moment that I have been more proud than this. I have called a lot of my friends and family to tell them the news. It is an amazing feeling knowing that I helped raise such an amazing dog. Congratulations Llarson!!

Almost a Puppy Sitter!

2010-09-30T08:20:00.000-07:00

Last night I attended my 3rd meeting for Guide Dogs for the Blind. I filled out the paper work to be a puppy sitter and all that's left is reading the manual. I am so excited and can't wait to start watching some pups!

New Half Siblings!

2010-09-27T13:36:00.001-07:00

Llarson is a big brother to 9 new labrador pups! His father Aabel was the father of the newest Z litter. The other neat thing about the litter is that they are the first litter in the program to be born on September 11. These pups truly are a tribute to those who lost their lives on that tragic day nine years ago.

Check out the link from a local news station that talks about the newest litter.

Also here are some pictures of his half siblings both from the Y litter (they are purebred Vizslas) and the Z litter (the labs).

The Z litter with mom Bbarbara

The Y litter

As one puppy raiser put it "A Y litter pup being modest."

Remembrance

2010-09-11T14:22:00.000-07:00

Every year I like to take time to remember those who lost their lives in the tragedy of 9/11.

I would like to say to Harry Goody III and Scott A. Larsen, that you will never be forgotten. I am proud to say I have raised two wonderful dogs who are named after two extraordinary people. I couldn't be more proud of what these dogs exemplify and I only hope that they demonstrate the true bravery of both of these men. I express my deepest condolences to the Goody and Larsen families.

I also would like to recognize both the men and women in our armed services who risk their lives everyday to protect our country. I hope everyday for the safe return of our nation's soldiers.

God Bless America.

Addie

First GDB Puppy Meeting

2010-09-08T20:00:00.000-07:00

I just got back from my first puppy meeting with Guide Dogs for the Blind! I had a great time and everyone was so helpful. One raiser let me borrow her career change dog Hoss for awhile, then we switched and I got to work with her puppy in training, black lab Oliver. Oliver was so sweet, but had a bit of a stubborn streak, especially with the down command. Overall I really enjoyed it. The only thing I am going to have to adjust to are the training methods. The puppies I raised basically had the complete opposite approach to training (basically obedience was not overly emphasized with the explosive detection dogs). Oh well, it will be fun learning new techniques. I can't wait for the next event!

First GDB Event!

2010-09-06T21:37:00.000-07:00

I have to say I completely love GDB (not that I didn't before), but now I know why so many people continue to be a part of this great organization.

Today I went to volunteer as a "gate watcher". A neighborhood pool was shutting down for the year and invited all pups in training, as well as career changed dogs, guides, and retirees. I helped make sure that no dogs escaped while people entered or exited. It was really fun and the dogs were so sweet! Some of the pups that I saw were: Spruce (male golden retriever), Chet (male black lab), Covey (male black lab), Tatum (female black lab), Hugo (male yellow lab), and Macaroon (female yellow lab/golden mix, I think). I hope I spelled their names right!

I had a great time talking with another woman helped guard the gate with me. Overall I really enjoyed the experience. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming. I cannot wait to attend my first official meeting.

Addie

New News

2010-09-06T12:55:00.001-07:00

First off, I don't think I mentioned it before, but I am off at college now! Currently I am dogless, living in the dorms and all. However, there is a guide dog puppy raising group near me (Yay!), so I am hoping to get involved with them, maybe as a puppy sitter? I will update on the progress of that.

I received an update on Llarson and he is still in training. (Come on big guy, no need to stay in school forever!) But I did learn that his sister Llangone has been placed with a handler and should graduate in early September. His brother Llevin on the other hand seems to have been dropped from the national explosive detection dog program and is now awaiting to be picked up by a police agency to work.

Also some exciting news, Llarson's mom just a litter of eight puppies! They are purebred viszla's and their names will all start with the letter "Y". They are absolutely adorable and I wish I could raise a Llarson half-sibling.

Anyway here is a picture of Llarson's newest siblings.

The newest "Y" litter.

Addie

Llane Has Graduated!

2010-08-26T14:06:00.000-07:00

Llarson's sister Llane has graduated! She graduated back at the end of July and is currently working in Pennsylvania. Congrats to Llane and her handler and great job Llane's puppy raisers.

Llarson and his two sisters Llenoir and Llangone are still in training. Let's hope for a graduation sometime soon!

-Addie & Ggoody

Bowser Update

2010-08-02T22:02:00.000-07:00

Bowser aka Marley's owners have been so sweet in sending us updates. About a month ago they sent an e-mail that said Bowser has settled into his new home and is a wonderful addition to their family. I am so happy Bowser found such a wonderful home. They even sent a few pictures. Enjoy!

-Addie & Ggoody

Summer Vacation

2010-07-30T22:10:00.000-07:00

Well Ggoody and I returned from our vacation to Lake LBJ on Friday, July 30. (Yes, that was a long time ago!) We were gone for about six days and had a blast! I still miss the lake and I am sure Ggoody does too being a true water dog an all.

Just to recap, we arrived to our lake house Sunday, July 25, in the afternoon. We mainly lounged and unpacked while Ggoody took it upon herself to smell every last inch of the house to make sure everything was ok.

On Monday my family and I rented a ski boat, but Ggoody had to stay behind for safety reasons (ie: high speed of the boat for tubing, choppy water, etc.)

Tuesday we rented a pontoon boat that Ggoody was allowed to go on. She loved it, except when she fell into the water by accident, but all was well after she got back onto the boat. After that ordeal she fell asleep on the bench inside the boat.

On Wednesday we were supposed to have a ski boat however the boat we had, had issues so instead we took out another pontoon boat. Ggoody tagged along again. She loved the wind in her face! When we got back, I went fishing that evening and caught a small bluegill! Ggoody had no idea what to do with the fish. She just smelled it and looked at it funny, then watched it swim away when I released it. I didn't have my camera with me so no pictures of the fish.

Thursday was another ski boat day so Ggoody spent the day with my grandma and grandpa liked she did on Monday. She even got a rawhide bone because she was being so good!

Then Friday came and we had to leave. Ggoody got one last round of fetch in before we had to head out. Overall it was a great trip. I think Ggoody proved herself worthy of accompaning our family on more trips. Sadly vacation is over and we are back to reality...

Ggoody is all packed and ready for vacation!

One pooped pup!

Ggoody was fascinated by the waves in the lake.

Ggoody on the boat

Checking out the water by our boat dock

Until next time,

Addie and Ggoody

Quick Update

2010-07-28T20:03:00.001-07:00

Our lake trip is going well so far. I just wanted to update on what has been happening so far. We arrived Sunday at Lake LBJ and Ggoody settled in quickly. On Monday my family and I rented a ski boat, but Ggoody had to stay home. On Tuesday however, we rented a pontoon boat and Ggoody got to tag along. She loved it! After about an hour we stopped to swim and Ggoody slipped into the water. She loves to swim, but the middle of the lake is hard for a dog to swim without tiring. My mom and I hoisted her up on our tube so she could rest and get back into the boat. After her 5 minute dip in the water, Ggoody was tired. And she slept for the rest of the boat trip. That's all for now, more to follow later.

Megan and Picassa's Green Leash Giveaway!

2010-07-22T19:34:00.000-07:00

Megan and Picassa, her puppy in training for Guide Dogs for the Blind, are hosting a leash giveaway. Megan knows how to make service dog leashes that can adjust to two different lengths and come in a few different colors. Check out her blog to enter the giveaway. Don't miss out on this great opportunity!

Long Overdue Summer Update

2010-07-21T21:26:00.000-07:00

It has been way to long since I have posted last. The end of school, graduation, work, and summer have consumed much of my time, but nonetheless I have an update on Llarson and his siblings. Llarson is currently still in training. I was really hoping he would have graduated either in June or July because I head off to college in August, but I guess he is progressing at his own rate. Congrats to Llinnane and Llane! His sister Llinnane graduated on June 25 and his sister Llane is set to graduate in July. Llangley, another sister, has been transferred to the Department of Defense Military Working Dog Program (DoD MWD). The rest of the L litter is still in training with the National Explosive Detection Canine Team Program (NEDCTP).

In further news I will be heading to the lake in a few days and Ggoody gets to tag along. I will try and take some pictures of Ggoody's first vacation with us. I hope everyone is having a great summer.

Until next time,

Addie & Ggoody

Happy 4th Birthday Ggoody!

2010-04-12T16:44:00.001-07:00

Today is Ggoody's 4th birthday. I can't believe four years have gone by. Wow time really does fly when you are having fun. It's weird cause now I can see a small amount of grey coming in on her muzzle and she's only 28 in human years! I took some pictures of Ggoody's day. Enjoy!

When I came home from school I made Ggoody's favorite treat: a peanut butter/kibble filled kong.

Ggoody eagerly waiting for her treat.

Ggoody enjoying her kong.

Then later we went a long walk. I stopped by some really pretty flowers to get some pictures of the birtday girl. Of course she wouldn't look at the camera the one day I really want her too. Silly dog!

-Addie & Ggoody

Spring Break

2010-03-26T17:16:00.000-07:00

Over Spring Break (last week), my family and I went skiing in New Mexico. The weather was perfect for skiing, but sadly Ggoody had to stay at home. My wonderful neighbor Lois watched her for us and my friend walked her.

While shopping around Santa Fe we walked into a store that sold dog collars, leashes, and portable water dishes. Since Ggoody was left at home, I figured a new collar and portable water dish was a must. Her old water dish was just getting old from years of use and her collar, well it was time for a change of pace. Missy, Lois' cocker spaniel who we watched over Christmas Break, also got a collar. Missy got a red collar with a matching textile design while Ggoody's is turquoise with a textile design. I took a few pictures of the collar, but for some reason I can't find the pictures.

Other than that not much to report. A newsletter (Pawprints) from the puppy program came yesterday. Llarson is still progressing in his training. A few "K" litter pups are set to graduate soon so I am keeping my fingers crossed Llarson is next.

Until next time,

-Addie & Ggoody

One Year Ago...(from yesterday)

2010-03-08T14:33:00.000-08:00

One year ago from yesterday little Llarson came home with me to start our wonderful puppy raising adventure. I miss the little bugger, but I am so proud of him and cannot wait for graduation.

On a side note, I have started some "detection" work with Ggoody. I figure she may not be able to work for the Department of Homeland Security, but she can work for me. Her drive to find things needs to be put to work. Over the last few days I have been teaching Ggoody to find treats I hide in the car. So far she has done well and I hope to film her progress to see how she progresses. Here is a clip of her trying to "detect" a dog treat. It's Ggoody the great kibble detector.

Llarson Update

2010-03-05T16:47:00.000-08:00

The February Pawprints came this week so I wanted to share an update about the L litter. 8 out of 9 puppies in the L litter are currently in formal training. That is fantastic! I want to say congrats to Llarson, Llangley, Llinnane, Llenoir, Llilore, Llevin, Llane, and Llangone. Great job L litter, cannot wait to see you at graduation.

-Addie & Ggoody

Snow Day!

2010-03-03T15:40:00.000-08:00

Last Wednesday (February 24) we had a snow day! Austin normally never gets any snow. Once in a blue moon we will get a ice storm where everthing freezes over, but never actual fluffy snow. Our school day was cut short (however our teacher's were great and let us outside to play in the snow, until snowball fights broke out INSIDE the school) and then the next day we had a delayed start. When my brother and I got home we put warm clothes on and headed outside with Ggoody to enjoy a rare event in Texas. Enjoy the pictures.

Ggoody's first few steps in the snow

Ggoody with her squeaky orange toy

Our backyard

Snow prints!

Dog Park and IWYPRS

2010-02-20T16:54:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a great way to end a rather long and stressful week. I am happy to say that both me and my sister participated in International Wear Your Puppy Raiser Shirt Day. Unfortunately I do not have a picture of us with our shirts on, but we did wear them. After school and golf practice I decided to take Ggoody to the dog park to burn off some energy. I have been pretty bad about walking her these last few weeks because golf season has started up and missing school causes an extra amount of weekday homework. The dog park was packed! I would guess at least 15 dogs while we were there, if not more. We even ran into a working guide at the dog park. I brought my camera and took some pictures of her. Enjoy!

Ggoody, today taking a nap on the floor Ggoody looking good wearing my Grandpa's hat. Getting ready to fetch. Ggoody with an old soccer ball she found. Ggoody trying to destroy the soccer ball.

No Foster Dog

2010-02-15T14:05:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the lack of an update, but it ended up not working out with the foster dog. We were going to foster a female German Shepherd mix named Gracie, however, my dad was not completely on board with the idea so we had to put fostering on hold. My dad likes animals, but he is not in love with them like me and mom are. I am going to talk with him in the next few weeks and see if we can work out some sort of compromise. I was devastated when my mom told me we were not fostering dogs for awhile. I love fostering and raising dogs that I cannot see myself giving this up. I am going off to college in August and raising dogs will be on hold for a few years so I want to be as involved as I can for the time being. My dad has been supportive of me raising Ggoody and Llarson, even Bowser (I think he secretly loved that dog and was sad to see him go) that I think he just wanted a break from "visiting" dogs. In the meantime I think I will go up to our local animal shelter and walk dogs to get my complete dog fix.

I am happy to report that Gracie found her forever home no more than two weeks after being in the foster program. Hopefully I will be able to foster dogs in the near future and I will definitely update with any news.

-Addie & Ggoody

New Foster Dog Coming Soon

2010-02-03T15:56:00.000-08:00

We received a call today that Austin Dog Alliance has several dogs in need of foster homes. We happily obliged to take one in. As far as I know, right now we are getting a female shepherd mix that is about 10-11 months old. However, we will see as situations can change and we may end up with a completely different dog. I will update as soon as possbile when I know for sure what dog we are to receive.

-Addie & Ggoody

Bowser/Llarson Update

2010-01-28T15:04:00.000-08:00

I have great news...I have updates for both of my boys.

I will start with Llarson because the news is pretty short, but I am glad to have heard something. I e-mailed Diana, the program specialist, to ask her how Llarson and his siblings are doing in training. She said they are doing well. I also e-mailed her to let her know I have a friend at school who is an editor for my school's newspaper and she is writing an article about the program. I asked my friend before winter break if it would be possible to write an article about the CBDC, to promote the program. My friend got the topic approved, so in the February issue of the Trailblazer (our school paper) there will be an article featuring the CBDC. I am so excited! I will try and post the article when it comes out.

Now on to Bowser. Bowser's new family was extremely kind and e-mailed us an update on how the little guy is doing. So far he seems to have adjusted well to his new home. He went to the park for a walk on his first day home, but this week would be his first few days home alone because his family had to go to work. He also has a new name: Marley. Too cute! His new family also sent some pictures that are pretty adorable. Enjoy!

-Addie and Ggoody

Bowser Has Found his Forever Home

2010-01-24T14:53:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the lack of updates, I feel like such a bad blogger. I have been extremely busy with school and golf because the spring season kicked into gear.

Well, just as the title of the post reads, Bowser did find his forever home. He was adopted by a nice couple, who were looking for a companion dog. They were new dog owners, but seemed to have done their research and were quite knowledgable about dog care. A week ago another family was interested in Bowser, but it did not work out because their youngest child was afraid of him.

For the two weeks we had him, I did not update about him at all on my blog. Here is the bio I put up about Bowser on the Austin Dog Alliance website, just give some detail about his personality.

Hi my name is Bowser! I have been with my foster family for about a week now and I must say I am quite the charmer. After only a few days of being with my foster family, I settled into their routine and my full personality is starting to bloom. I absolutely love walks! Show me the leash and I am ready to go. Car rides are great too! I love to be out and about around people. I am very playful as well. I love kongs, tennis balls, and rope toys in particular. I love to play fetch and I am very good about bringing the toy back for another round. Playing with other dogs is another favorite of mine. I get along quite well with my foster family’s Labrador, who I love to play tag with in the backyard. After exercise I love to curl up by people’s feet (or in their laps if they let me) and take a nice nap.

My foster family also discovered I know several commands. I know “sit”, “stay”, “come”, and I know my name. My leash manners are also quite good. I have excellent house manners; I am house broken, crate trained, and I only chew on dog toys. I recently met the pet parakeets at my foster home. I am very curious about them and kept trying to figure out what these strange animals were. I am just trying to be friendly, but my foster family says I may need supervision around small pet animals.

If you are looking for a dog that loves to be out and about, play fetch, and take mid-afternoon naps with you, I might be the perfect dog for you.

I have to say I really bonded with Bowser in the short time we had him. He was such a great little dog with a wonderful personality. The experience of giving him up compared to giving Llarson up was actually harder. With Llarson I knew he was going to be recalled; I knew the day I picked him up. With Bowser, I felt the back up plan could always be we could adopt him. It was so hard to say good-bye. In fact it was quite tearful, but now a few hours after he left I feel happy that I provided someone else a loving companion. I think back to how excited I was when Llarson and Ggoody came home and I am happy to have provided that joy to someone else.

Here are a few pictures of Bowser while he was here with us.

Bowser, I hope you and your new family have a wonderful start together and enjoy many years to come.

-Addie & Ggoody

Introducing...

2010-01-06T19:59:00.000-08:00

Bowser! (like the Mario character)

After some persuasion, my parents gave in and allowed my siblings and me to foster dogs for Austin Dog Alliance. We keep the dog until it finds its forever home.

Bowser is a 9 month old Terrier mix. The shelter he was at originally said he is a Rat Terrier, but I do not see that at all. I would say he is more of a Border Terrier mix. Or a mini German Shepherd! Anyway I will post as we discover more about his personality, but I do know he is a sweetie so far.

-Addie, Ggoody & Bowser

New Phone, Old Pictures

2010-01-04T16:14:00.000-08:00

Today I got a new phone (Yay!), so I had to save all of my pictures from my old phone to my computer. I found several pictures of Llarson on our many adventures to the middle school's field. I also found a picture of Ggoody wearing a pair of Raybans. She is one stylin' dog! Enjoy.

-Addie & Ggoody

P.S Possible foster dogs coming soon! I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Mud Puppies

2010-01-03T11:23:00.000-08:00

Well I just got back from a self dog wash place called Mud Puppies. I would have brought my camera, but it probably would not have worked by the end of the bath due to water damage. Anyway Ggoody got a bath and smells great especially after a long hike two days ago (swimming included), days at the dog park, and sadly a seizure that happened in her kennel. (If I have not mentioned on my blog, Ggoody does have epilepsy which started about a year ago. She has a seizure about once a month.)

Anyway, Mud Puppies is a self dog wash place combined with a doggy daycare and professional grooming. We did the self dog wash and it was a ton of fun. They have a non-slip ramp that the dog walks up to get to the grooming platform which then leads to the bathtub.

It took some coaxing to get Ggoody in the tub, but once she was in she was fine. They also have these tie downs that keeps your dog from jumping out of the tub and off the grooming platform. In fact tie downs are everywhere at this place. Very convenient I must say! After her bath, we towel dried her and brushed her. Then we used the fur dryer. I was hesitant that Ggoody would be afraid, but she handled it like a pro. I was very impressed with how clean the establishment was as well as how easy it was to groom Ggoody. They also provide all of the supplies such as shampoo, brushes, towels, etc. Of course you are welcome to bring your own supplies if you wish. We will definitely be heading back especially during the winter months.

Here is the link to Mud Puppies if you want more information. I highly recommend this place, of course if you don't live in the Austin area look around in your area and try a self service dog wash. It is worth it!

-Addie & Ggoody

L Litter Update

2009-12-30T10:34:00.001-08:00

Although this is a bit late, Merry Christmas, but for Friday, Happy New Year! A few days ago I received an update about the L litter and I figure I would post about how Llarson's litter is doing.

Llenoir, Llangley, Llinnane, and Llarson were the four puppies from the litter to enter official training with the Canine Training and Evaluation Branch early at 11 months. Llane, Llangone, Lleavey, Llevin, and Llilore are still undergoing evaluations with the Canine Breeding and Development Center (the puppy program) and are looking forward to joining their brother and sisters soon.

Just a quick clarification about the training departments. Unlike Guide Dogs for the Blind or other similar programs that trains and breeds their working dogs, the Canine Breeding and Development Center (CBDC) is strictly a breeding program that relies on puppy raisers to help raise the puppies and prepare them for future work. The CBDC is essenitially the puppy training aspect of things.

Once the puppies reach 12 months and in Llarson's case 11 months, they are evaluated for official training by the CBDC. This evaluation includes both medical screening and traning ability. If they pass then they are sent to the Canine Training and Evaluation Branch (CTEB) for official training. If they dog not pass then the dog will be offered for adoption to the general public. If all goes well and the dog completes offical training, the dog will graduate and become apart of the National Explosives Detection Canine Team Program (NEDCTP). The dog will then work in airports or other mass transit areas to protect our country.

Sometimes dogs do not make it all the way through official training for what ever reason. (The standards are extremely high to become a part of the NEDCTP.) In this case they will generally be offered to Customs and Border Protection or other police agencies to do other detection work such as drug detection, currency, etc.

I hope this helped clarify the order of how training works to prepare a dog to become an explosive detection dog. A lot of work, but in the end it truly pays off to have these dogs protect our country.

Happy Holidays!

-Addie & Ggoody

Dog Park

2009-12-17T15:34:00.000-08:00

In March a new dog park opened up in my area, but I never had the chance to go. Today I had some free time and took Ggoody up to the park to check it out. It was awesome. There was a lot of mud because it had just rained, but the park is great. Ggoody got a chance to run around with a lot of dogs plus there were tennis balls everywhere, her favorite! She started annoying some lady who was wanting her dog to fetch, but Ggoody kept interrupting her, begging for the ball to get thrown. Once I grabbed her and moved her away, Ggoody was fine. Overall a very fun outing. I might take Ggoody there tomorrow. I will bring my camera if I do.

-Addie & Ggoody

Christmas Tree Shopping

2009-12-13T12:48:00.000-08:00

Every year Ggoody tags along to pick out a tree with us. Unfortunately we could not go the Christmas tree farm like last year to cut down the tree. But we did go to our favorite Christmas tree lot and found a nice frasier Christmas tree. Here are a few cell phone pictures of Ggoody at the tree lot.

Just a quick note: I think after Christmas we might foster some puppies for a local rescue group! As the time gets closer and I get more information I will update. I am also thinking of getting Ggoody certified as a therapy dog from the same organization, but I need to look into the idea a little bit more before I do. Anyway...

Happy Holidays!

Addie & Ggoody

Happy Birthday Llarson!

2009-12-09T15:22:00.000-08:00

Today is the "L" litter's first birthday. Wishing them a happy birthday. I wish Llarson was here to celebrate, but I know he is now onto bigger and better things. Best of luck in training "L" litter.

Me and my younger siblings saying goodbye to Llarson at Lackland's kennels

Homework Time

2009-12-08T12:52:00.000-08:00

Last night while I was working on homework, I couldn't pass up the chance to snatch a few quick pictures of Ggoody. Every night while I work, she sleeps on my bed in the same spot.

Oh the life of a career changed dog!

Ggoody with her favorite toy, a tennis ball.

Ggoody looking back at me, while I take a picture from my desk.

Random close up

Seaworld and New Holiday Collar

2009-12-03T19:44:00.000-08:00

Every year before Christmas, Ggoody gets a new holdiay collar to help show her holiday spirit. Today while we picked up some dog food, we bought a new collar. It is green with white snowflakes and then outlined by red. It also has a HUGE reindeer bell, that could possibly get annoying in the future.

Ggoody with her new collar

Close up of collar and bell (sorry for fuziness)

I also decided to post some pictures from a field trip I went on. On Tuesday, I went to Seaworld in San Antonio, Texas with my Aquatic Science class. We went on a back stage tour of Seaworld and learned about how to become a trainer and what working at Seaworld is like. It was a fun trip, but the weather was pretty miserable. It was cold and raining, so I got a nice soak down. A killer whale decided I should have been even more wet and spit some 50 degree saltwater on me, which looking back at now is pretty funny. Enjoy the pictures!

King Penguins

Baby Beluga Whale

Adult Beluga Whale and baby

Monk Seal

Jumping Bottlenosed Dolphin

Pacific White-sided Dolphin

T Litter

2009-12-01T19:02:00.001-08:00

I have mentioned Dd'Atri (a black lab who is a breeder for the program) several times on my blog. I saw her at the puppywalker picnic as well as when I said goodbye to Llarson. I mentioned she was having puppies at the end of November, well....

Dd'Atri had four puppies on November 23, 2009. All of them are black labs and are absolutely adorable. As the title suggests this is the "T" litter. There was another litter, the "S" litter, born a few days prior with seven puppies. Perhaps one of these pups could be my next puppy in training... :)

Dd'Atri's four puppies

Off to New Adventures

2009-11-24T20:21:00.000-08:00

A week ago from last Sunday, my family and I drove down to Lackland Airforce Base to say goodbye to Llarson. When we arrived we saw several dogs that looked like Llarson and come to find out they were his sisters and brother. I even got to see the infamous, Llevin, who is 20 pounds heavier than the rest of the puppies in the litter. He looks like a giant black lab with brownish markings on his front paws. Hence his kennel nickname of "Turkey". *Just a quick note I believe four of his siblings were also recalled. I believe the four recalled includes Llarson, so three others recalled.

We returned the equipment (crate, collars, leash, toys, food, etc.) and got a quick look at two breeders who were due sometime last week. One was D'datri, a black lab, who I mentioned a few posts ago we saw at the puppywalker picnic. She was due last weekend (I believe) and I think she was expected to have five or so puppies.

Anyway, we finally got to see Llarson. He was his crazy usual self. The kennel staff was so accomodating, they gave us a large grassy run to let Llarson run around in and let us say our goodbyes. It was hard leaving him especially when he was trying to leave with us. I know that he will make me proud. He was officially sent to the training branch of the program last Wednesday, so I am sure by now he has started his official training in becoming an explosive detection dog.

As hard as it was letting him ago, I am adjusting much easier than I did with Ggoody. I think the reason is because I always had this feeling he would make it. His personality fits the job description perfectly and to be honest I don't think the program could ask for a better dog (from a slightly biased opinion, but hey, he's a great dog). When I got the call that he was recalled, it was as shock,but at the same time sort of already assumed.

Right now my parents want a break from puppy raising, although I would prefer to take on another one as soon as possible. So for the time being I am puppyless (except for Ggoody), so posts will be limited for awhile until I hear news about Llarson's training. I am hoping to foster some puppies for a local rescue group until the time is right for another bomb dog puppy. We'll see, but hopefully I will have another puppy to raise/foster in the near future.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

-Addie and Ggoody

The Time has Come...

2009-11-14T20:37:00.000-08:00

Llarson went back last Saturday for his 11 month evaluation. I was pretty sure that last week was his last week with us because he has done so well with his evaluations.

Sure enough, I got a call from my mom (I was out of town at a golf tournament) that Llarson was being recalled early. Which is a good thing considering not many dogs get recalled at 11 months. I am proud and sad because I really have grown attached to him. He is such a great dog. I guess evaluations have proved this because everyone in the program has high hopes for him in training.

Tomorrow my family and I are going down to Lackland Airforce Base to say our goodbyes and return our equipment. It is going to be hard, but it will all be worthwhile no matter what, although a graduation would be wonderful. I am not sure about raising another dog because my family wants a little break, but I am hoping to stay involved and maybe take an older puppy for a shorter amount of time. Only time will tell.

-Addie & Ggoody

October/11 month Evaluation

2009-11-07T14:54:00.000-08:00

Well it is November, so that means it is time for my October update. I don't why I do this or how it happens, I guess it just means that I am busy.

October was a pretty laid back month for us. Not much happened. A few weekends ago I had to drop my brother off at a swim meet at University of Texas-Austin so I invited my friend and we walked around the campus with Llarson. Sorry no pictures of this outing. The fountain I wanted to take a picture at was drained of water and forgot about my camera after that. Anyway, Llarson was great. He was not bothered at all by the large amounts of people or traffic. He just went with the flow. After walking around for about an hour or so, we decided to get lunch at a local burger stand called P. Terry's. Llarson was so tired by then he plopped down under the table while we ate, ignoring a ton of birds and two other dogs. I was very proud of him.

For Halloween the only costume Llarson wore was a Halloween bandanna. He probably would have tried to eat a costume if I put one on him. Ggoody dressed up as a bomb dog by wearing Llarson's vest. Silly dog! She loves wearing the vest, I think she feels official. Don't worry we don't let her leave the house with it on.

That brings everything up to date for today. Today Llarson left for his 11 month evaluation. I am not sure if he will be returning to us by the end of the week. Sometimes when the dogs are doing well in their evaluations they get recalled early at 11 months. Since Llarson did so well last time, I have a feeling that he has a chance of getting recalled early. I couldn't go to the drop off because I had a golf tournament, but I said my goodbyes before I left. Either way, whether he gets recalled early or not, I just hope he makes the program. It was hard to leave him this morning without truly knowing whether I will see him again, but I keep telling myself think of the big picture. He could end up saving thousands of lives one day. What ever happens I will be proud of him.

Hopefully by the end of the week I will know the status of his situation and I will update then. Until next time...

Addie, Ggoody & Llarson

Whatawalk

2009-10-14T21:42:00.000-07:00

Today on our walk I heard a woman say "excuse me" and I saw a car pull up next to me. I was a little nervous at first, but it turned out fine as she asked if Llarson was a service dog in training because she saw his vest. I explained that he was actually in training for explosive detection. She told me she had a friend that had a cadaver dog that searched during the aftermath of 9/11, which although is a morbid job it is a heroic job at that. The reason she was interested was because she had a service dog herself and was curious what group Llarson might have been from. Come to find out she actually trained her own service dog, which I thought was pretty neat. The last thing she said before she pulled away was "You are doing a great job." This made me realize why I keep raising and made me extremely proud of Llarson and my hard-work.

Llarson meanwhile for the rest of the walk was flawless. I think part of the reason was the weather. I found when we had some cooler weather last week (60s) he was really wound up every time he came out of his kennel, but now that it has warmed back up to the 90s the energy level has gone back down slightly. Overall a great inspiring walk!

-Addie, Ggoody & Llarson

Puppywalker Picnic

2009-10-11T20:59:00.000-07:00

Here goes my promised long post about the puppywalker picnic. Sorry I don't have pictures from the picnic, we were running late so both the camera and dogs got left behind.

Well after a bit of a rough late start, we were on our way to San Antonio around 10:30 on Saturday to get to the picnic around noon. Around 12:20 we pulled up the gates of Lackland Airforce Base. A few minutes later we were finally on base and at the picnic site.

We walked up to the pavilion and we saw two dogs playing. They looked extremely similar to Llarson and come to find out they were his sisters! I know one was Llilore and I believe the other was Lleavey. (They all look so much alike, plus we saw five of his siblings so it is hard to keep them all in order.) His sisters were red in color like Llarson, but considerably smaller than him. Plus Llilore had much better manners when we were petting her.

We talked to Llilore's raisers for awhile. They have raised two dogs (1 working and 1 breeder) and Llilore is their third. The second dog they raised was there with them. Her name is Dd'atri (I believe this is the spelling). Dd'atri is a black Labrador breeder, who was bred a few weeks ago, so hopefully she will be having some cute little puppies soon.

After a nice discussion about raising pups from the L litter we headed up to get some food. They had great barbecue and a wonderful homemade cake that had blueberries and raspberries to make it look like the American flag. We sat down next to a family, that was raising a dog named Kkeating. Kkeating is a lab (I believe black) that is getting recalled in November. Their dog seemed to be a lot like Llarson energy wise, high strung.

Then after lunch we watched a demonstration of three dogs at different stages in training. They had five or so groups of luggage in a line with each group containing four pieces of luggage. The first dog was a novice so they did some pretty simple luggage searches, not extending past the third set of luggage. The second dog was a yellow lab named Iirgang (Ggoody's nephew) was next. He was more high strung than the first dog. He was in the middle of training so they extended the search further down the line. Finally the last dog was Ddanz, a black Labrador. He was the most advanced, so they put the aid (what they dog is trying to find) at the very end of the line and he found it with ease. It was really neat to see the different work ethics of all three dogs.

After the demo we headed over to the t-shirt stand and bought a new shirt plus they had car decals so I bought one for my car. Then it was time for my favorite part...the kennels.

We walked through the kennels and saw a lot of really cute dogs. We saw 4 of Llarson's siblings: Llinanne, Lleavey, Llangone, and I believe Llangley. We also saw Llarson's mom Cini. She was super sweet and looked a tiny bit like Llarson. The first group of dogs we saw was the R litter. They are all yellow labs about 14 weeks old. Some of the names that stuck out to me were Rrusso, Rreynolds, Rrall, and Rrand. Rrusso was my personal favorite. Cute name and adorable face. After looking and petting almost all of the dogs we were on our way home. It was a great picnic and totally worth the drive. Here are a few pictures to make things a little more interesting.

R litter (my guess a week or two old)

Back of T-shirt

Car Decal

Ggoody is ready for Halloween

Random picture of Llarson in Home Depot during the summer

Big Post Coming Soon!

2009-10-06T21:09:00.000-07:00

First, thank you to all who commented about my possible business idea. I decided to stick with it and I am currently working on the beginning phases of a business plan. I will update how that goes as the project progresses.

Second, the reason for the big post coming soon is because Saturday is the Puppywalker Picnic at Lackland Airforce Base. It is basically the equivalent of a Fun Day for all of those who raise for GDB, but on a smaller scale. There is a barbeque, raffle, a tour of the kennel and cuddles with the little pupppies, and a demonstration from a working dog. Overall it is a thank you for all of the hardwork the program's volunteers do. I can't wait! So look for a big updating post sometime this weekend.

Third, but not last...On Friday Llarson turns 10 months old! Double digits. It is hard to believe he goes back in almost two months. Well his 10 month old day is jammed packed with it being my high school's homecoming and the premier of season 9 Degrassi. Friday is looking good!

Until then,

-Addie, Ggoody & Llarson

Poll...Please Comment

2009-09-22T21:16:00.000-07:00

For my entrepreneurship class we have to come up with a business idea. I figured why not combine business with animals.

I was thinking of creating an online business, that would sell "puppy in training" equipment, but at a slightly discounted price. The business would sell service dog school approved toys, bones, leashes, collars, head halters, crates, food, etc. Maybe even flea/tick preventative and heartworm preventative? For instance nyla bones would be sold at a lower price. Another option that would be nice would be to buy in bulk. Instead of buying one bone, buy 10 and save the difference?

I don't know this is just an idea. I think this could work out ok, in that everyone who decides to raise a dog knows that there is a financial responsibility to raising a puppy. I figure why not "create" a business that has everything a puppy raiser would need on one site and at a slightly lower price and it is delivered to your house.

Please let me know what you think. Any comments are greatly appreciated!

-Addie

9 Month Evaluation

2009-09-12T13:03:00.000-07:00

Llarson is back after his week long evaluation! Unfortunately I could not go to the pick up because I was taking the ACT (I was mad when I saw the test and pick up were on the same day. I love going to pick ups.), but my mom and brother picked Llarson up. I asked if they could take a quick peek at Llevin, Llarson's brother, because he is the largest of the litter. Llevin is twenty pounds heavier than the other puppies in the litter. He is black with brown markings on his legs. My mom said he looked like a heavier set Ggoody.

Anyways on to the report...

Llarson did fantastic!! This is a quote from his evaluation.

"Llarson got a perfect score in his environmental test at the airport!! Keep up the good work."

I was sooo excited to see this when I got home. My mom was talking to the guy at pick up and I guess this is almost unheard of and is an extremely good sign. I am so proud of Llarson.

-Addie, Ggoody & Llarson

Remembering 9/11

2009-09-11T19:27:00.000-07:00

I would like to dedicate this post to all of the people who lost their lives on September 11, 2001. Today is a day that will never be forgotten in United States History. Remembering all of the firefighters, police officers, other public officials, and even just ordinary citizens who risked their lives to save others is something that can never be forgotten.

Part of the TSA Canine Breeding and Development Center's naming process is that all of the dogs are named after 9/11 victims.

Ggoody is named after Harry Goody III, a man who worked in the World Trade Center, loved science fiction, and riding bicycles. I would like to express my sympathy to his family remembers who lost their beloved family member in such a tragedy. I would also like to say that even though I did not know Mr. Goody, I will never forget to honor such a wonderful person.

Llarson is named after Scott A. Larsen, a firefighter who lost his life trying to save others. I would like to commend Mr. Larsen on his bravery for helping others and he will never be forgotten. Again I express my deepest sympathies for Mr. Larsen's family.

September 11, 2001

-Addie, Ggoody & Llarson

Happy 9 month day!

2009-09-09T18:45:00.000-07:00

Happy 9 month day "L" litter!

With Llarson gone this week for his evaluation, I do not have a picture of him at 9 months old yet. Here are some pictures of Ggoody that I took tonight at soccer practice. (Sorry of they are fuzzy, I used my cell phone.)

-Addie, Ggoody & Llarson

9 months...almost

2009-09-04T14:29:00.000-07:00

Llarson has actually been quite busy this week. On Monday since I had a nice break from homework, I decided to take the dogs up to our county park to run in an enclosed baseball field. Ggoody and Llarson had a blast! Once I got the outside gates of the dugouts closed, I let the dogs off leash. They both took off running. They ran laps around the field until both were exhausted.

Today Llarson went up to the outlet mall with us shopping. He did great! We walked through the outdoor part and he ignored any people passing by. A random balloon popped behind us and he wasn't phased at all. Then when we went a in few stores he again ignored people who were interested in him. The funniest thing was when we were in a store (Eddie Bauer, I think) they had mirrors up, you know the kind with three mirrors in a small arc so you can see what the clothes look like from behind? Well I walked Llarson up to it and he was shocked! He wasn't scared and didn't bark, he just had this really confused look on his face trying to figure out why there were so many dogs. The look on his face was priceless! I wish I got a picture of it.

Tomorrow Llarson goes back for his 9 month evaluation, so he has a week to reunite with his siblings. On September 9 Llarson will be 9 months old! A golden birthday...sort of. I will update next week with how Llarson's evaluation went. Until then...

-Addie, Ggoody & Llarson

August Update

2009-08-28T19:59:00.000-07:00

August has been pretty a pretty busy month for us because school started on the 25th. Prior to school starting we were out shopping and I took a short trip to Colorado. Anyway, on to the update of Llarson.

Llarson was returned for his weekly evaluation earlier in the month. When we picked him up we saw his sister Llinanne again. It was fun to talk to her raisers and hear some stories about Llinanne. Llarson's report was great and he is progressing well. The only issue was his left ear was a little dirty so he is getting that ear cleaned twice a week for two weeks.

As far as outings, Llarson is a regular at soccer practice. He loves going and walking around the park. Once he gets somewhat tired (he as an abundance of energy), I usually sit down to watch part of the practice and so does Llarson. He does pretty well laying down and waiting before I am ready to walk around again.

Since school started on Tuesday, Llarson has been in his crate more than he was during the summer. I have been working hard to walk him twice after I get home from school to try and drain some of his energy. Today I thought it would be fun to take him to the middle school field to run around. He did great! I put him on his long leash and let him run around as we walked the trail that goes around the entire field area. After, I let him explore the outside of the school and portables. He loves the doors of the school. I think he was expecting to go inside. After that I pulled out his favorite toy (a kong with a rope) and tugged with him and did two search sessions with him. I hid the toy on the bleachers and both times he found the toy very quickly despite one of them being under a step. I was very proud of him! Then we headed home for the evening with one tired puppy. Hopefully this weekend Llarson will be able to go to soccer scrimmages. Llarson goes back next weekend for his 9 month turn in, so look for an update after that. The picture of the black Lab is actually Llarson's dad, Aabel. He is currently working and hopefully Llarson will follow in his father's pawprints.

Have a good weekend!

-Addie, Ggoody & Llarson

Full July Update

2009-08-02T19:12:00.001-07:00

July has been a really crazy month for me so I have only been able to throw in really brief updates. Here is basically what happened for us during July.

Well at the beginning of July, my family and I flew up to LA to visit my uncle who was slowly losing his battle with cancer. Sadly while we were there he passed away. It was a very emotional time for my family, but we are slowly dealing with the loss. During this time Llarson was at a puppy sitter's house. Llarson got a decent report as the only damage he did was chew a hole in a sheet that was used to cover his kennel. (Typical Llarson...)

Not more than two weeks later, my grandmother's health started to go downhill. She was 87 and had dementia, but my family and I cared for her for the past 8 years. Sadly July 19 she passed away. So we flew to San Diego for her funeral. Llarson was again sent to a puppy sitter's house (actually the same people graciously offered to watch him again. A big thank you to them!). After the funeral, my brother, sister, and I went to Sacramento to visit with my other uncle to get away from all of the events that had happened and just relax.

We had a great time in Sacramento. I got to play with my uncle's German Shepherds, Sasha and Kobe. They are great dogs! Kobe has a spine problem so he goes once a week for acupuncture so I went up to Davis with my uncle and watched the acupuncture. It was really neat. Later in the week on Wednesday my uncle took me up to UC Berkeley to tour the campus. Then on the way home I convinced my uncle, cousin and sister that we had to stop at Guide Dogs for the Blind for a tour. So we did! It was my second time touring the campus and again I loved it. There were some adorable puppies that I wanted to take home with me. We also saw a breeder on the video cam in the kitchen and I believe her name was Alanis (black lab). And then the tour guide pointed out another dog in training, a yellow lab named Arcadia.

Well now I am back from California and back with Llarson and Ggoody. Ggoody had developed a minor ear infection while we were gone so that is getting cleared up. Llarson is doing fine. He went to my sister's soccer practice and had a blast running around the baseball field. Since it is completely enclosed I let him off leash to run and explore. Anyway that was my crazy, emotion filled July.

Here are some pictures to end this post on a more joyful note. Enjoy!

Sasha

Kobe

Black Lab in formal training at Guide Dogs

Black Lab Puppy

Yellow Lab Puppies

6 week old yellow lab

Llarson on our evening walk today. (Sorry if this is a grainy picture I took it with my cell phone.)

-Addie, Ggoody & Llarson

Quick Update, More to Follow

2009-07-29T22:15:00.000-07:00

Wow! It has been a long time since I have updated. I have been in and out of town after the passing of both my uncle and grandmother, but things are slowly starting to get back in sync. Llarson was Llarson the last time he was at the puppy sitters and I am sure this past time he was his usual goofy self.

I am very excited to say that I went on my second tour of Guide Dogs for the Blind today. I absolutely love the campus and saw some adorable dogs and puppies. (I will post some pictures as soon as I get home.) I also went to Berkeley and saw a guide dog puppy in training for Guide Dogs of America. It was a very well behaved (and cute) yellow lab puppy.

Once I get home I will try and do a more throughout update with pictures from Guide Dogs as well as some pictures of the now 7 month well almost 8 month old Llarson.

-Addie, Ggoody & Llarson

We're Back! (Short Update)

2009-07-06T15:42:00.000-07:00

I am back from California and Llarson is back from the puppy sitters. This is just a quick update on Llarson's dad, the rest of the update will be a little later. The monthly news letter from the TSA Puppy Program came in today and I am proud to anounce that Llarson's dad made the program and graduated! Llarson's dad Aabel graduated and will be working in Colorado. Four of Aabel's siblings also graduated and are now working. Seeing Llarson's dad graduate gives me high hopes for Llarson.

-Addie, Ggoody & Llarson

More info about the TSA Puppy Program

2009-06-29T09:21:00.001-07:00

Today I decided to google the TSA Puppy Program and found a great link that talks about Vizsladors and why they started to use them. I also included a video of a dog named Kking who is now a working dog, but I got to see him in a demo when the program came to my school to give a presentation. Both links provide more information about the puppy raising program and the purpose and use of these dogs in our nation's mass transit areas. Enjoy!

http://cbs5.com/30minutes/30.Minutes.Bay.2.447546.html

http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/BusinessTravel/story?id=4726159&page=1

Bye Llarson, Hello California

2009-06-28T20:31:00.000-07:00

Well since I will be leaving for California in a few days to visit my uncle, Llarson left for a puppy sitter a few hours ago. The puppy sitters who took him were very nice and offered to take him a few days in advance so we could get packed without the worry of what to do with Llarson. Come to find out the people who are watching Llarson had raised a dog named Zzipper who we watched one weekend when they went out of town. Small world! (Zzipper ended making the program and is now working for border control on the Texas and Mexico border.)

Anyway, I miss Llarson since I planned for us to go to the mall tomorrow to hang out and get an outing in. Oh well, when I come back we will go. I miss the little guy, but I know he will have a fun time with the puppy sitters, plus it is good exposure for him. I just want to thank the people watching Llarson for taking him in on such short notice, it really means a lot. I will definetly update when I get back and I will include some pictures of my uncle's german shepherds too!

-Addie, Ggoody & Llarson

Traveling Llarson

2009-06-27T15:05:00.000-07:00

Well it has been a few weeks since I have posted, so I figured before too much time passed I should post about Llarson's recent adventures.

To start off, Llarson went back to Lackland Airforce Base for his 6 month evaluation on June 6 and returned June 13. He got a great report that said he is progressing well for his breed and age. The only issue he had was "hupping" on different surfaces. "Hup" is a command we use to get the dog to jump up and put their front paws on a countertop or other surface. This shocked me since we haven't had an issue with that command at all, but we are taking extra measures to get him to "hup" when we are out on outings.

Speaking of outings, about two weeks ago Llarson had a nice outing. We went to Costco, Hobby Lobby (just a quick trip in), and finally Petsmart. He was great! Llarson loves the cool tile floors inside the stores since it has been really hot here in central Texas.

The next outing Llarson went on was on Thursday where we went to H-E-B (our grocery store) and we walked around the shopping center there. Llarson was fine. The only issue we need to work on is lunging for people. He gets really excited when he sees people and then he tries to jump on them. Once I got him to sit and wait he was fine. We also checked out a neat, new, little pet store that was in the shopping center. Llarson was awesome and even ignored the little bunnies and parakeets that were running or flying around the cages!

And finally we arrive at today. This morning I took Llarson up to the park to work with him on his long leash. We haven't used his long leash in awhile so I want to make the effort to use it more often. After he settled down and stopped chewing the leash he began exploring the field and playground.

Here are some pictures from the excursion...

This picture made me simile.

Use that nose Llarson!

This one makes me think of the African savannah and Llarson is a lion!

P.S I am going to California next week to visit my uncle so Llarson will be going to a puppy sitter during that time. I will try to post when I get back.

-Addie, Ggoody & Llarson

Siblings

2009-06-03T20:01:00.000-07:00

Hey check under Llarson's stats to see his siblings names! Personally I like Llane, Lleavey, Llevin and Llarson the best of all the names.

Summer = Swimming!

2009-06-01T19:34:00.000-07:00

My summer has basically begun since I am completely done with exams. Whoo! To celebrate I thought I would put the kiddy pool my mom bought for the dogs to good use. Llarson is definetly a water dog! He jumped right in and was biting the water coming out of the hose. He also liked sticking his nose under water and biting the floating bits of grass. I think he liked to cool down and burn off some excess energy. Ggoody is a water lover, but I think she wanted to stay out of the way of Llarson since he kept taking the kong away from her everytime she got it so she stayed on the patio and watched.

Here are some pictures and a video of the water day.

-Addie, Ggoody, & Llarson

The Return of Llarson

2009-05-28T21:46:00.000-07:00

Well Llarson is back and is actually improved. He used to have sort of these growling biting bursts, but we have only had one instance where it happened and I corrected him and it immediately stopped. We have a new technique to use in order to get him to respond in the appropriate way when he acts up. Basically all we have to do is pull up on the leash and he has learned that that means sit and he will sit and hold it until I say it is ok to leave. The only issue is barking in the crate, but I have to say it is a lot less than it used to be. So we are plugging our ears and trying to ignore it. I thought he would be bigger, but he has only gotten a little bit taller that's it. He still cannot fit into is full adult collar yet so he is borrowing one from the program until he grows into his adult one. Since summer is coming up next week I will be able to take Llarson every where with me, so more posts of our outings will be coming. This weekend I we might go somewhere, but we will see. Also we might be taking him to a baseball game (minor league) soon so be ready for a fun post about Llarson's first baseball game.

-Addie, Ggoody & Llarson

Namesake

2009-05-19T15:00:00.000-07:00

Since all TSA dogs are named after 9/11 victims, I thought it would be appropriate to share who Llarson is named after.

Llarson is named after a firefighter from 9/11, Scott A. Larsen. The following is a paragraph about Scott A. Larsen from the book "Portraits 9/11/01".

"When Scott A. Larsen finished a shift at the firehouse — "He was very good with the tools; he fit right into the place," said Brian Cleary, his friend from Ladder Company 163 — off he'd go in pursuit of more activity, usually with his three children. He outfitted them with Rollerblades, and got them onto their bicycles on summer days. He could spend an entire day at the beach, then fix dinner on the grill. During the midwinter school break, he packed everyone into the car and drove from their home in Glendale, Queens, to Disney World, stopping to spend the night in North Carolina, to buy sparklers in South Carolina, to sample as many Dairy Queens as possible below the Mason-Dixon line.

It meant 12 hours of driving at a stretch, but he loved it. On arrival, Firefighter Larsen, who was 35, headed for Space Mountain, where he usually rode solo. "He'd try to convince the kids to go on it," said his wife, Carolann. "Once he bribed them with a stuffed animal. They came off scared like anything."

His wife, Carolann was pregnant at the time of 9/11. Two days later September 13 she gave birth to another son. She named him "August" after her husband's father, the name Scott wanted. The other children are Marisa, 9; Brenda, 8; and Scott, 5."

With Llarson's namesake it really makes me hope that Llarson will make the program to do what he was born to do. To the Larsen family: I am sorry for your loss and I hope Llarson lives up to his namesake and becomes a protector of our country.

-Addie, Ggoody, and Llarson

P.S Llarson comes home Monday! Update on that later.

May Update

2009-05-15T19:51:00.000-07:00

I just realized this will be my first May update, so let it begin. I forgot about this link, but here is a link from our local news station about the TSA Puppy Raising program and it will give you more insight about the program. Also the litter shown is Llarson's litter!

http://www.news8austin.com/shared/video/video_pop.asp?destlist=62025

We haven't heard much about Llarson in awhile because several of the people who will be working with him are out of town for a week or so. We did hear about a week ago that Llarson has been making progress with his behavior so hopefully he will be able to come home soon. I can't wait to see how big he has gotten as he is now 5 and 1/2 months old! Here are some pictures of Llarson in the morning right before he left.

Ggoody has been enjoying herself lately, being the top dog again. Although there is some bad news, but with a good prognosis for Ggoody. Back in October, Ggoody had a seizure and it scared us to death, but she only had one and we figured maybe she got into some fertilizer that one of the neighbors might have put down so we did not worry to much since she seemed fine after that. She had another one in April, but again it was just one seizure. Then about 2-3 weeks ago she had another seizure and one of the worst ones since she lost complete bowel control and seemed much more disoriented afterward. My mom rushed her to the vet and she got a complete blood work up, but everything was normal. We think she could possibly have epilepsy, but there is nothing we can do since she only has seizures every so often and the medication severly damages the liver so in the long run it would not be worth it to put her on medication. The good news for Ggoody is that she will be fine, but might experience a seizure every so often, so we are taking every precaution to make sure nothing bad happens to her and she stays safe.

On a brighter note last weekend we had the pleasure of taking care of our neighbor's cocker spaniel, Missy, while she went away for a Mother's Day weekend. We had a lot of fun with Missy. We brought her to our house during the day so she would have some company and plus Ggoody and Missy are best friends. Here are some pictures of Missy in my room on a dog bed that I put down for her so she could be comfortable while I was on the computer.

Also here is a picture of Ggoody tucked into all of the blankets on my bed. My dad wrapped her up and she fell asleep! It cracked me up so I had to get a picture of it.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

-Addie, Ggoody, and Llarson

Kennel Time for Llarson

2009-04-29T18:04:00.000-07:00

Well it has been a big gap between posts, but really nothing new has been going on. The usual outings to soccer practice and games although Llarson did go to Lowes last Sunday was great.

The main topic of this post is that Llarson is going back to Lackland Air Force Base for a couple of weeks. We have been having some behavioral issues him and the best thing right now is for him to return to the kennels to get evaluated with the people in charge of the program to see if they can help with this issue. Llarson will probably be there for 2-3 weeks and in the mean time I will be puppyless (well except for Ggoody of course) so updates will be pretty limited for the next few weeks. We are all crossing our fingers that his behavior can get corrected and he will be back at our house very soon.

Keeping our fingers and paws crossed,
Addie, Ggoody, & Llarson

Outings

2009-04-18T20:06:00.000-07:00

Well it has been awhile since I have posted so I figured an update was needed. Llarson has been doing very well and is progressing nicely. He is basically housbroken now, the only issue he has had in this area is peeing in his crate, but we learned quickly that if he barks/whines and keeps persisting when in his crate it usually means he has to go. He has started to go to the back door when he needs to "take a break" which shows he is learning where he needs to do his business. On walks Llarson has a lot more confidence and is a lot better around barking dogs.

Last weekend Llarson went to a large shopping center and walked around the outside of the stores and a movie theater. He did great and loved being out and about and even ignored the tons of popcorn on the ground by the movie theater. He also did great when we took his kong out to play with him.

On Friday (yesterday) Llarson went to Petsmart and Target. He was great in both. I made the trips quick just because although he is pretty much housebroken I would rather not take the risk. So it was a quick trip in Petsmart for some parakeet food and a quick loop inside Target to get used to "human" stores. Llarson was great and I gave him a rope toy to tug with outside of Target and he was focused during the entire quick play session. I am hoping that tomorrow, I might get to take him to my brother's soccer game and maybe Home Depot for some more exposure.

And the post would not be complete with out some pictures!

Llarson getting out of his crate and getting ready to go into Petsmart.

Llarson ready for action!

Llarson demonstrating the "hup" command.

Next outing I will try and get some pictures of Llarson inside the stores. I hope everyone has a great weekend.

-Addie, Ggoody, and Llarson

Llarson is back!

2009-04-07T15:03:00.001-07:00

Well I thought I would start this post with some pictures first. (*Note: The black part in two of the pictures is part of a chair, I was reading outside and had to take the picture quickly before he got up and ran off.)

Well Llarson got a good report and a clean bill of health for his monthly evaluation. He officially has his 16 week shots and can go anywhere. Yay! They also noted that he had good play drive which is great and exactly what he needs for his future job. He has shown some signs of aggression, growling and biting, but I think part of it is from just frustration and excitement so we got some tips on how to correct this, so hopefully this problem will die down soon. Overall his evaluation was great.

When we picked up Llarson we saw several of his siblings (names unknown at the moment), but one of his sisters we met and her name is Llinnane (I think this is how it is spelled). She is a black Viszlador and is half the size of Llarson. She was pretty tiny, but then again it seemed like Llarson grew quite a bit. Llinnane and Llarson got to play and we talked to Llinnane's raisers about walking the dogs and outings. Llinnane is their first puppy to raise.

Well I will post any new things that happen in the week to come. Have a good rest of the week.

-Addie, Ggoody, and Llarson

A Blast to the Past

2009-03-28T12:07:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Llarson has been doing good. The past few days he has been a little crazy, but overall he is doing good. He has been scared on walks by dogs barking and other loud noises, but at public places he does fine. We are trying to work with him to overcome his fear. Llarson went back this morning for a week for his monthly evaluation at Lackland Airforce Base as well as a vet checkup, so I will let you know how that goes. For now though here are some pictures of Ggoody when she was a puppy in training.

Here is Ggoody the day we got her.

Another puppy picture.

Ggoody with our old dog Bailey, a border collie/cattle dog mix.

Here is Ggoody the night before her recall.

Ggoody a few days ago on our walk next to some blue bonnets.

For some reason we did not take a lot of pictures Ggoody with her vest on. Although Ggoody was featured in the USAA insurance kids magazine that had a lot of good pictures of her with her vest on, so I will see if I can scan some of the pictures and post them. Other than that Ggoody is doing great with Llarson and I think she can't wait until he is a little bigger so they can play more. Ggoody's birthday is coming up and she is turning 3 on Easter. Time goes by so fast! I hope everyone has a good weekend.

-Addie, Ggoody,and Llarson

First Major Outing

2009-03-22T19:39:00.001-07:00

I am very proud, I managed two posts in one weekend! Any way, Llarson went on his first official outing today. He went to Academy and Petsmart. Unfortunately I did not bring my camera today, but I will next time. Llarson did very well. Since he is not completly house broken (he is almost there) he only walked in the front of the store. I walked him in and out of the store a few times and he did great. He was not afraid of the sliding doors at all. He also loved this one bench, that he got all the way up on and loved to lay on it. Llarson also tugged and played with his toy in front of the store which is great because he has to be able to play in all environments. He also got many comments on how cute he was. Then after Academy we headed over to Petsmart to get some parakeet food. He was great! On walks he gets a little nervous when dogs bark so this was perfect for him. A dog barked in the store and he ignored it.

Earlier in the day, I took Llarson on one of his many daily walks and I decided to go to the elementary school near my house. I brought his long leash to let him explore and he loved it. He "hupped" on the benches when I asked him. ("Hup" is a command Llarson has to know, which is when he jumps up with his two front paws on the bench to allow him to explore the surface with his nose.) He also climbed up and down the stairs of the playscape with ease. Llarson loved this bridge on the playscape and was not scared when it moved when he walked across it. Overall Llarson was great and now we have one tired puppy on our hands!

-Addie, Ggoody, and Llarson

Long Awaited Update

2009-03-21T18:08:00.000-07:00

Well Llarson has been pretty busy lately for a 13 week old pup. Before we left on Sunday to go to Memphis for Spring Break, Llarson went to the park with his long lead to explore. His vest finally fits him now, so he got to wear his vest to the park. He did great on his long leash and loves to go all the way out and sniff around. He also played with his toy for a while at the park, which is a good sign because he has to have a lot of toy drive for his future job. Here is a few pics of Llarson in his vest. He is hard to photograph because he is so energetic.

Before we left Llarson was dropped off at his puppy sitters, who had raised a dog for the program and adopted it after it did not make it. I met the dog they raised which was a wired-haired Viszla and very tall might I add. Overall Llarson got a good report. They took him downtown and said he did great. They also said he started digging a little bit.

Once we picked him up he has been great. And I think he grew some. An increase in his food migh be in store. He went to Blockbuster the other night (well the outside) as he is not completely house broken yet. He was good although a bit of a garbage mouth so we are working on that. Llarson has been so much fun so far. I will try and post weekly, but next weekend Llarson goes back for a week for his final shots and first evaluation. I will let you know how that goes the following week.

An update on Ggoody: Ggoody has done very well adjusting to Llarson. She puts up with his antics. I think she enjoyed her few days home alone though, with our neighbor taking care of her while we were gone.

-Addie, Ggoody, and Llarson

Introducing...Llarson!

2009-03-08T12:54:00.000-07:00

Llarson it is! He is an adorable yellow/reddish colored Vizslador. So far he has been great. He slept through the night, although he sometimes refuses to go in his crate and once we get him in he barks, but that is a typical 12 week old puppy. He also has a great appetite which shows with his endless amount of energy. He loves chewing on his bones and playing with a rope toy that is in the shape of a circle with a squeaky plush middle. Here is a picture of him. More coming soon.

-Addie, Ggoody, and Llarson

Awaiting the Arrival of...

2009-02-27T20:33:00.000-08:00

Mr./Miss "L"!

Hi everyone! Sorry for not posting for a while, but not much has been happening until now. Oh by the way, this is Addie and I am Ggoody's owner. I am posting instead of Ggoody because this story gets a little bit complicated and I want the story to have all the details from the human perspective.

Well we have been waiting for some time for another puppy to raise, but unfortunately there have not been any puppies in our area for a while for us to raise. I heard back in early December that a litter in our area was expected return for formal training in mid December. That got my hopes up because if those puppy raisers decided to raise another puppy then that would mean a new litter and a potential puppy for me. Well those puppies got turned in and had we not heard anything other than there were a few litters born or expected during December and early January.

I thought that there might not be a new puppy for a while and I am patient and wanted to wait, but in the mean time I wanted to do something to help out some shelter dogs. My family and I decided we would foster some puppies from a local rescue group until they were placed in their forever home. I was really excited for this, but then the best e-mail came in...

The program had a litter available for our area! I was ecstatic, but at the same time I remembered the foster dog program. The thing is though, I have already been committed to the explosive detection canine team puppy raising program for a long time now and could not pass up this offer. We e-mailed back and said we would love to have a puppy!

All I know about our new arrival is that the puppy's name will start with an "L" and the name will be the last name of a person (I believe) they name most of the dogs after 9/11 victims or fallen soldiers. The puppy was born December 9, 2008 and is a Vizslador (A mix between a Vizsla and a Labrador Retriever). I am thrilled and little "L" comes home on Saturday, March 7. I will be sure to post some pictures of the new arrival.

Oh feel free to comment and guess what you think the puppy's name might be. I know that one of the puppy's name is Llane.

-Addie

Happy Holidays!

2008-12-23T07:14:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays everyone! Sorry for the huge gap in between posts, but I have been really busy. About two weekends ago, my family and I went to a Christmas tree farm to pick out and cut down our own Christmas tree. I loved it! I got to ride on a hay ride and was very well behaved. I also met a goat who wanted to headbutt me so I stayed away from him. And I met a horse who was very friendly. (Sorry no pictures we forgot the camera.)

We decorated the tree nearly a week after we got because we were so busy, but it got finished. I got in trouble though because I could not resist this one wooden ornament and I chewed it up. My owner was not happy.

Lately I have been working on my obedience and really am getting good. The reason is because on Christmas day I get to go visit my owner's grandma who lives in an assisted living. I get to visit with all the seniors, but I have to be on my best behavior.

As far as the puppy goes... It all depends on how many applications are turned in for our area for us to get an explosive detection puppy again. If there are not enough applications, my owner is considering possibly raising a guide dog because she really wants to raise another puppy. (Oh as far as my vest, my owner got a very nice leather leash for me instead so I am just going to use my backpack.)

Happy Holidays!
Ggoody

New Vest, New Puppy?

2008-11-20T19:06:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! It has been awhile since I posted lately, but not much has been going on. My owner has been trying to get out and put flyers up, but with school now in full swing it is hard to find any spare time. I heard that I am getting a new vest though. This vest will be much more official than the backpack I have. It will look like the puppy raising vests although it will say something along the lines of "TSA Puppy Raising Program" and have a patch saying "I am friendly. Ask to pet me." I think the vest will either be green or red. As soon as I get pictures of my new vest I will post some.

Also on the puppy front, right now there are no puppies to be placed in our area. We need more volunteers bad! There is a litter coming at the beginning of December and a couple more after that. So hopefully in early 2009 a puppy will be ready for us to raise. Other than that I will try and keep everyone posted about how the flyers and vest works out.

-Ggoody

My New Job in Advertising...

2008-08-18T11:19:00.000-07:00

Well this week I am officially starting my new job as advertiser. My owner and I have been going out to pet stores, grocery stores, and any where else that allows flyers to be put up. The flyers are to help promote the TSA Puppy Raising Program so we can get more volunteers. My job is to wear a "back pack" with a sign on it that says "Keep our nation safe, ask about raising a TSA puppy." This way when people come up to pet me they get interested in the program. I take my new job very seriously. I sleep in the car on the way to the stores, but once out of the car I am all business and I love all of the attention I get too! Here are some pictures of the flyer and me with my "back pack".
-Ggoody

Hi! My Name is Ggoody.

2008-08-13T22:13:00.000-07:00

My name is Ggoody and I am a 2 year old black labrador. My first purpose was to become an explosive detection dog for the government. I was raised by a wonderful family called puppy raisers from the time I was 10 weeks old to 1 year of age. My name is pretty special too. I was named in honor of a September 11th victim, Harry Goody III. My name has two "G's" because I was from the "G" litter meaning all of my siblings name starts with a "G".

My puppy raisers's job was to get me exposed to all sorts of sights, sounds, and smells that would be in airports, mass transit areas, and cargo systems. That meant I got to wear a red vest and go to public places such as hardware stores, parks, crowded parking areas, etc. My puppy raisers also had to build up my play drive which meant I had to really become interested in working to earn my toy. My puppy raisers would tug with me and hide the toy in simple spots to encourage me to use my nose to find the toy. I also had to become crate trained. I spent a lot of time in the crate to simulate what I would be doing if I was working. When out of the crate I played a lot or got walked then it was back in the crate for a rest.

About once a month I would return to the TSA Canine Breeding and Development Center to be evaluated and see where improvement might be needed to help give me edge to make the program. When I turned 1 year old, I was officially turned back to the TSA Canine Breeding and Development Center to be tested to see if I would be able to continue on as an explosive detection dog. Some tears were shed that day, but everyone had the better cause in mind.

Unfortunately about 2 months after I had been turned in, it was decided I would not advance to the explosive dection program because of my bad allergies. The bittersweet outcome was that I was able to return to my puppy raisers with a new purpose, pet dog.

Now after my return my puppy raisers are anxiously awaiting a new puppy to raise. At least I can help show the newcomer some of the ropes!

-Ggoody