L Litter Update

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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...

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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)

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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