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
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Sunday, October 11, 2009
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
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
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
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
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
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