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