Pupdate: Congrats to Ruby's Sis, Rowena

Just got a tweet from puppy raiser @KatieEGriffin letting me know that Ruby's sister, Rowena, finished advanced training and has been paired up with a partner! Congratulations to Rowena, her new partner, and Rowena's puppy raisers and trainers.

Rowena's the little yellow triplet on the right.


Thanks for the pupdate, Katie! You and your family raised an awesome dog!

6/16 - Very Special Pupdate!  Rowena's new partner, Shannon, left some very kind words in the comments that truly touched my heart. Be sure to visit Shannon's blog, Living with a Service Dog, where she'll share stories of her and her family's life with service dog Rowena.

Letting Her Lead

The other day, my friend Tamara tweeted a touching little story that I was lucky enough to catch:

"Saw something special on my way to work this am...an elderly golden retriever walking with her mom. Mom was very patient with her slow walk. I thought now that is a lovely relationship. :o)"

The vignette made me smile and stayed with me. My friend's words inspired me to share a very important part of this journey I'd always meant to write about.

Two peas, a long time ago when we were both pups.

Kiva was 11 years old when I made the decision to raise a service puppy. I had debated for months about bringing a new dog into my one-senior-dog household. Kiva is tolerant, very well socialized, and she's met hundreds of other dogs in her lifetime without issue, but she had never shared her home with anyone. I wanted very much to be a service puppy raiser, but I worried if my gentle oldster could accept a toddler superball bouncing all over her space. If they did bond, would Kiva have trouble with the loss when it was time for the puppy to move on? Would she feel threatened or jealous of all the attention I'd need to devote to training a service puppy? Was I asking too much of my precious girl?

I worried constantly in the weeks leading up to the puppy’s arrival. I should have known that I didn’t have to. As soon as our service puppy, Ruby, arrived, Kiva accepted the puppy without reservation, scattering my shadowy doubts to the breeze like dandelions. She always turns my worries into wishes and makes them all come true.





Kiva nurtured Ruby, guiding with her gentle nature and the experience of age. She imparted a calmness into the puppy that only a dog can convey to another. Kiva’s invaluable lessons will serve Ruby well as she becomes a service dog whose actions are careful and deliberate. And, throughout that year and a half, Kiva gave me as many gifts as she gave Ruby. She accepted Ruby with a level of patience I can only ever try to live up to. She let me delight in the whole experience, enjoying it with me. And the morning after Ruby left us to move on to advanced training, Kiva glanced around the bedroom for a moment or two...then flipped a toy in the air and never questioned me.

These days, at nearly 13 years old, Kiva needs me to walk a little more slowly with her, too. But no matter how long it takes her to get me there, she still always leads me where I need to go.

Pupdate: That's My Girl

If there's one talent Ruby's cultivated from day one, it would be her excellent behavior while shopping. The raiser who was at the other end of her leash loves to shop, so Roo did get a lot of practice in those days...





...and for us, it was always equal-opportunity shopping!

Where she really shined, though, was the supermarket. Aside from a very early puppy fascination with licking the wheels of the cart as they spun – which was REVOLTING and I put a stop to IMMEDIATELY – she was fantastic.

I wrote a post back in August 2009 about one of baby Roo's adventures in food shopping. She was fearful of big boxes, but we worked through it that day and never had a problem again.


Now that Ruby's moved on to advanced training, I'm lucky to have been receiving photos from Sue, a very thoughtful person whom I have never actually met. She has photographed some of Ruby's advanced sessions and outings, and I am grateful to Ruby's advanced trainer and to Sue for giving me this window into Roo's education.

The photos are always a surprise. I never know what Sue's going to send me and I've never requested a specific shot...except one. I asked Sue if there was ever the possibility to snap Ruby training in the market, it would mean the world to me.

It's funny. I took thousands of photos during the time I spent with Ruby, but grocery shopping was such a part of an ordinary day, I never even thought to shoot one of the hundreds of trips we made to the store as she grew older. Walking the aisles with Roo beside my cart plays like a movie in my memory, though, and there was something about the familiarity of our routine that made our market trips so special.

That's why I was thrilled to receive this photo:


I get choked up each time I look at it; the gentle beauty of her training and how far she's come.

I don't yet know if Ruby will go on to graduate and assist someone with everyday tasks such as shopping at the market. But if she does, I can only imagine the love and partnership the two will share, how comforting their routines together will be.

Photo Pupdate: A Skill She Was Born To Learn

Service dogs in training learn to pick up their bowls to make the feeding routine easier for their partners with mobility issues. If I know my ravenous chowhound puppy, I'll bet she got the hang of this skill in about three seconds!


Adorable photo courtesy S.

Pupdate: Report From Advanced Training

The other night, I had a dream about Ruby. She stood on a dock over a brilliant lake, eager for the water but timid to dive in. I encouraged her and she jumped, but then disappeared below the surface.

In the next image, I was watching her as if I were underwater too, but she couldn't see me. Her paws were still and she drifted straight down, her yellow coat fading against the darkening grey as she sunk. But she was more stunned than afraid, I thought. I wasn't able to call to her, yet I wasn't worried. I waited, then suddenly she found herself and paddled with all her little might, straight to the surface. Once she got there, she just kept on swimming.

The thin symbolism of the dream was no mystery, of course. But the timing of my subconscious was ironic – I received the first "official" email about Ruby from her organization, Canine Partners of the Rockies, the very next day.

So...how are you doing, little bathing beauty?


Making good progress! The notes said that Ruby loves to learn and she picks up new cues quickly. Her eye contact is great, she's very comfortable in public, always checks in with her handler, and her training on city buses went very well.

Our plucky Roo is holding longer down stays in meetings, great news! But she does need a little work on improving her chill skills.

She still has some issues with dog distraction (no surprise there); only time and maturity will tell. She also shares a litter trait with her crew – they all have some alarm/alert barking issues. I can't say that she was much of a barker when she was with us; she usually deferred to her big sister, Kiva, who always makes sure to have the first and last woof on strangers and bunnies.

What else... Oh, Ruby likes to get her toes done. Such a girl.

Most importantly, Ruby is ready to begin working on all cues while her trainer is using a wheelchair. Thanks to thoughtful Sue who often sends me Roo photos, I was able to get a glimpse of this training.


Whether Ruby ultimately becomes a service dog or she takes another path, this beautiful shot of her learning makes me so happy and proud of her. Will share more as I hear it!

Guest Post...From Roo (and Sue)!

Hi Mom,
Happy Belated Birthday! I had an extra treat to celebrate your special day. I know you're not "over the hill" but that's the only birthday hat I could find. :)


I'm learning lots at Fido Beta Kappa college. You will be so proud of me! Sending oodles and oodles of doggie kisses.

Love you...Woof,
Roo


As you can imagine, finding this in my inbox was the best birthday present ever. Many thanks to wonderful Sue. And the hat speaks the truth – I had to put on my brand new reading glasses to read Roo's letter! —Christine

P.S. On the last post, Miss Roo is on the right.

Birthday Quiz: Who's Roo?

Today is my birthday and I've been celebrating all week long with a bunch of wonderful Roo photos arriving from the lovely and talented S. This happy shot of Roo and her sister Racine fooled yours truly -- I guessed Roo as Race and Race as Roo! But Mr. Raiser got it right, of course! Can you?

Photo Pupdate: The Roo-kettes Take The Stage

Photo courtesy of the wonderful S!

Pupdate: We Want To Pump...Roo Up!

My, Ruby is looking pretty buff, dontcha think? Actually, the "weight" she's holding is really just a light plastic tool used to train her to hold things in her mouth and carry them around.


It's important for a service dog to be accustomed to the mouthfeel of different objects and materials. I'd introduced this concept to Roo as a puppy by letting her experience the sensation of things like keys, remote controls, utensils, a plastic cup, phones, etc. Now in advanced training, she's learning to take lots of items and hold on to them. It's a valuable skill many service dogs need when partnered with individuals with mobility-related disabilities.

And you never know what they might need to retrieve! I remember one night while Roo was living with us, I accidentally dropped half a lemon in the kitchen. Both dogs responded to "Leave It," but they were intrigued, so the whole thing turned into a practice session. First, I let Kiva pick it up. She spit it right out, then picked it up again very gingerly with just the tippy tips of her teeth, then spit it out again and made a PTOOEY! face. (Yep, dogs can, and it is hilarious!) Then I let Roo have the lemon, and she just held it like a ball — no problem with the taste — in fact, she seemed to like it!

As always, so many thanks to S for the photos.

Traveling With Your Pets

I'm so glad to have been able to contribute a guest post to one of my favorite sites, GoPetFriendly.com. If you travel with your pets (or plan to) you won't want to miss this article, "Pet-Friendly Should Always Be Human-Friendly, Too!"

Having your dogs with you on vacation is awesome, and when it comes to accommodations, pet-friendly rooms should always be extremely clean and up to the standard of non-pet rooms. Even with many years of experience traveling with the canines, you still never know what you might encounter. So check out my tips to ensure your hotel stay is as much fun for the humans as it is for your pets!

A great pet-friendly hotel makes everyone feel welcome!

Photo Pupdate: Courtside

I never did get the chance to take Ruby to an indoor sporting event. She behaved really well when I had her on the sidelines of outdoor sports like soccer, but the sights, sounds, echoes, and noise indoors can be a whole different ballgame for a service puppy in training.

Happily, I've heard that Roo attended her first indoor basketball game and behaved like a champ. Check out this concentration!


I understand that she loved all the action, and the hoopla (ha!) didn't faze her a bit. Attagirl Roo!

Thanks to S for this keen photo of our little yellow fangirl.