puppies inside

Thursday, January 15, 2015

UP presence

October 21, 2014

en route to Baraga

Road trip!

FLD Henry and I take the day driving to Baraga to catch up with Deb Donnelly. She has been on a longer road trip herself. After visits at correctional facilities in Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, she'll meet with the inmate raisers at Baraga in the morning and at Chippewa the next day. All part of her fact-finding tour to help Leader Dogs for the Blind build consistency into the prison puppy-raising program.

I have been invited to continue documenting things. On the way north with FLD Henry, I pause to drink in the natural beauty of the UP, which for me is always a welcome backdrop to our monthly trips.

CUT RIVER BRIDGE

First stop, the Cut River Bridge. Turns out to be a great place for Henry to practice stairs.

Looking down at a young yellow lab/golden retriever mix puppy that is standing on the wooden landing of a flight of open metal grated stairs going down. The puppy is looking up at the camera and is licking his nose.

FLD Henry is a bit taken aback by the open-grated stairs. "I think I can lick this!"

A long view looking down a long staircase with wooden railings. In the background is Lake Michigan behind a few bare fall trees and some with yellow leaves.

Even I am a bit disconcerted over the long staircase. But the view is beautiful!

Another photo from above of the lab/golden puppy, now walking down the metal grated stairs. He is looking at the camera again, but with a more relaxed look on his face, and his tail is wagging.

After a few flights, FLD Henry is more relaxed.

A view looking up at the underside of the Cut River Bridge from far below. The bridge has green girders. Underneath are fall trees with bright yellow leaves, way below the bridge.

The Cut River Bridge from below.

A landscape view of Lake Michigan, with fall trees in the foreground. Blue sky above with a cloud bank near the horizon.

A fairly calm Lake Michigan stretches out before us.

The young lab/golden mix puppy is leaning to take a drink from a stream. There are tall grasses all around

FLD Henry takes a drink from the Cut River. Stairs like that can make a pup thirsty!

LAKE SUPERIOR

We take another break along M-28 to walk along the Lake Superior shore.

A scenic view of a beach with whitecap waves breaking. There are several trees in the distance on the right, and puffy white clouds dot the blue sky above.

Looking east.

A low shot of the lab/retriever puppy. He is standing on the beach facing the camera, but his head is turned to the right toward the waves of the lake. There are trees stretching off into the distance on the left.

FLD Henry, intrigued by the waves.

A landscape view of the Lake Superior shoreline. There are tall grasses in the foreground and trees in the background, waves break on the beach.

Looking west.

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Sit, down, stay, play

September 25, 2014

Chippewa

RELAXATION PROTOCOL

In three positions...

A woman wearing blue jeans and a teal t-shirt is standing on the right side with an orange piece of paper in her hands. She is reading from the paper. Three men are standing on the left, each are wearing white t-shirts, the one on the far left and the one in the middle are wearing orange shorts, the third man is wearing blue prison pants and is standing with his arms folded at his chest. The middle man is looking down at a small yellow lab/golden retriever puppy that is lying on the tile floor looking up at him.

Tammy gets started on the relaxation protocol. She asks the teams to have their puppies in the "down" position to start.

A black lab (left) and a yellow lab (right) are lying on a tile floor, both are wearing the blue Future Leader Dog bandanas. The puppies are looking up to the left at their handlers, who are only visilbe from the waist down. The man on hte left is wearing maroon sweat pants and a white t-shirt, the other man is wearing orange shorts and a white t-shirt. Both puppies' leashes are lying on the floor.

FLDs Ashley and Adell keep an eye on their handlers.

A young chocolate lab is lying on a tile floor looking up at his handler that is standing on the left. The puppy is wearing the blue Future Leader Dog bandana and his leash is lying on the floor in front of him. Only the handler's lower legs and feet are in the frame. He is wearing maroon sweatpants and white shoes. The legs of another man are on the right, he is wearing orange shorts and white shoes.

FLD Bandit. Focused.

Three men are handling three puppies. The man on the left is wearing orange shorts and a white sleeveless t-shirt and he is holding the leash of a yellow lab puppy that is sitting on his left side looking up at him. The man is looking down at the puppy and reaching toward him with his left hand. The man in the middle is wearing orange shorts and the blue prison shirt; he is looking down at a yellow lab/golden retriever mix puppy that is lying on the tile floor facing the man, his leash draped on the floor. The man on the right is wearing the blue prison pants and a white t-shirt with his hand folded at his waist and looking down at a small black lab. The lab is sitting on the floor facing the man with its back to the camera. There is a fourth man in the background sitting on a lunchroom stool.

Now Tammy asks the handlers to have their puppies "sit." FLDs Adell (left) and GeeGee (right) jump right up, but FLD Henry (middle) has to think about it.

The picture is taken from a weird angle so everyone could get into the shot. There are four men standing in the lunchroom (tables line the walls behind them) and each has a puppy sitting at his left side.

FLDs Teysen and Bandit show how "sit" is done.

A man dressed in the prison blue pants and a maroon sweatshirt is standing facing the camera. He is looking down to his left at the young golden retriever puppy that is standing on his left side. The puppy is wearing the blue bandana and the man is holding his leash with his right hand, held up at his chest.

Abe with FLD Andie in the last position: "stand." Now that is a loose leash!

TESTING

With everyone relaxed, Tammy announced that she would do AKC S.T.A.R Puppy and CGC testing on those puppies that were eligible. The other puppies could practice. FLD Coda was ready to take her In-For-Training (IFT) assessment and Tammy asked me to do it away from the others. I was happy to oblidge. FLD Coda happened to be in heat and was a bit distracted. Her raiser, Jeremy, was patient with her and she did just fine away from all the boys.

YARD WORK

We went into the yard to practice a modified version of the distraction training that we did at the last furlough. Instead of tape on the ground, Tammy had the handlers stand on their puppies' leashes on the grass, just long enough so the puppies could move onto the sidewalk. No pictures here because Tammy put me (and others) to work offering distractions. Someone bounced a ball, one guy crawled up and down the sidewalk, I dragged the stuffed squirrel on a rope, wiggling it to simulate a real squirrel. Not one puppy budged. Either the pupies were great at ignoring distractions, or they were super-well trained to stay off the sidewalk. (The men did say they had trained the puppies not to go past the sidewlak into the gardens on the other side.)

PLAYTIME

Before we leave, we let the puppies play. Brothers Henry and Harley are well-matched. They were moving too fast for me to get a clear focused shot. A little help from Photoshop and you can see the fun they had.

Two small yellow lab/golden retriever puppies run toward the camera, the one on the left, slightly behind the one on the right, has his mouth open and is going for the right ear of the other puppy.

FLD Harley (left) has FLD Henry on the run. Big ears are easy to grab.

Now the two puppies are facing each other. The pup on the left is wearing a red collar and is standing up with his left front paw in the air. The puppy on the right is lying on the cement. His tongue is sticking part way out of his closed mouth like he is taunting the other puppy.

Nah, nah, na nah, nah! FLD Henry might be down, but he's not out!

Saturday, January 10, 2015

Just a couple more

September 25, 2014
Chippewa

Robert isn't the only one getting attached to his puppy...

A man wearing a white t-shirt and orange shorts is squatting on a tile floor, snuggling with a small yellow lab/golden retriever mix. The man is resting his chin on the puppy's head and has his arms wrapped around the puppy. The puppy is wearing the blue Future Leader Dog bandana.

John and FLD Harley.

A man wearing a light maroon sweatshirt and blue prison pants is outside. He is facing the camera and squatting down on cement and looking down at a young golden retriever puppy that is sitting down in front of him facing him. The puppy has a blue collar around its neck. The man is holding the puppy's head with his hands.

Abe and FLD Andie.

A man wearing the blue prison uniform is sitting on a lunchroom table stool and bending over toward a young golden retriever puppy that is lying on his back between the man's legs. The puppy's front paws are in the air and his mouth is open. The man is scratching the puppy's chest with both of his hands and looking down at the puppy. There is another man half our of view on the right also sitting - he is holding the leash of a small black lab that is asleep between his legs on the floor.

FLD Andie enjoys a scratch from Carlos. (FLD GeeGee is on the right.)

Friday, January 9, 2015

Attachment happens

September 25, 2014

Chippewa

While Tammy was answering questions, FLD Ashley lost her lunch. Men leapt into action faster than a dedicated group of volunteer firemen. Morrison scooped up what he could with a poop bag; Harlin ran over with some paper towels to wipe up the wet stuff; Abe ran out and returned with a bottle of spray bleach and more towels.

In a jiff the mess was gone.

Robert said, "Ashley had a terrible day yesterday." A bee sting caused her face to swell up. After a call to the vet some Benadryl helped with the swelling, but the antihistamine wasn't setting right in her belly.

"I stayed up all night with her," he said, and added, "Until this happened, I didn't realize how attached I've become to her."

A black lab is lying on a tile floor with her chin on the floor between her front paws. She is facing to the left and she is between the legs of a man sitting down, only his legs dressed in green pants and black shoes are visible and his tatooed forearms and hands, which are massaging the puppy's ears.

FLD Ashley enjoys the "ear slide," a Tellington TTouch massage technique that can help calm a stressed puppy.