Outings

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!

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

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

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

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!

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...

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