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