He likes it!!

Sherman makes me laugh. He just has the sweetest personality and has so many weird quirks that make me laugh. Like his obsession with resting his rump on everything, be it a shelf, his bowl, my lap, my backpack, pretty much anything so that his bum doesn't have to go all the way to the floor. :) Anyway, for Christmas he got a Jolly Ball. (I got one for him before he came and it has been destroyed, so it has been a few months since he has had one.) He absolutely adores his Jolly Ball and will even abandon his beloved gough-nut to play with it. So last night around bedtime I opened up the kennel and told him to get in. Usually he goes straight in no ifs, ands, or buts and curls up and goes to sleep. Well, last night I told him to go to bed, he ran the other direction and grabbed his Jolly Ball which was in his toy bin and then ran in his kennel and curled up around it. It was so funny. I felt so bad taking it away and he gave me the most pathetic look. He has never tried to take a toy in the kennel with him before. My silly boy just keeps me smiling. :)

Oh, and he turns one year old in 21 days. I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!! He had a tiny growth spurt too I weighed him a few days ago and he is now a whopping 54.8 pounds. WOOHOO!

Hey, I'm Back!

Hey all,
Me and Sherman had a good Christmas holiday. We spent our vacation puppy sitting for a lady that I met at the GDB Christmas party. She has three dogs a pug/Boston Terrier mix, a Black Lab, and a cocker spaniel mix (?). They were great fun and we had a good time. Sherman did not like the lab at first, I was trying to bring the dogs out of the kennels one at a time to meet because I didn't want to overwhelm anyone. I had Sherm meet the cocker mix first and they hit it off and were buddies, then I brought out the pug mix, a little to hyper for Sherman and it took them a little longer to get along. I brought out the lab last and he is about twice Sherman's size and the first thing he did was pounce Sherman which Sherm didn't appreciate. He kind of avoided the lab while we were there but they were fine together. :) The three boys are very sweet and I am looking forward to puppy sitting for them again. Their owner is a very sweet lady! Oh, the reason I was puppy sitting and met her at the holiday party was because the lab is a career changed GDB dog that she adopted. So pretty cool.

On the 23rd me and my family took Trax up to Temple Square. This was Shermans second time on trax, the first time being 8 months old. He did really well, still popped up at every stop ready to get off. After about four of five times I told him to lay down and I would tell him when it was time to get off. I think he understood because he didn't budge until our stop. :) It was pretty funny because he didn't lay down the first 5-10 minutes of the trip and was cocking his head from side to side trying to figure out why the ground was moving and looking out the windows. My whole fam was laughing at him. :) Silly boy!

This is the Salt Lake Temple. I was hoping the picture would turn out better it is a little blurry but it was so cool how you could see the moon between the spires.
Me and the fam and the lights on Temple Square. They are gorgeous!
This was my last day with the boys. And this is the only time that all three of them were laying down and being still. They are fun dogs. It was fun taking care of several dogs again. I enjoyed walking three dogs at once. The lab was really good on leash so it was easy to walk him and Sherman, the pug liked to tug and run and zig-zag. It was pretty entertaining. And gave me practice for maybe. . . overlapping puppies. (After I heard about Shermans rumored recall I turned in my application for my next puppy and I am really hoping that it works out to overlap this time. Only time will tell but I am crossing my fingers!) I am going to miss those silly boys they were great. (I am not going to miss the drive. It was 40 minutes away from my house and work so I had quite the commute. Oh Well!) I liked it!
I am excited to spend the rest of my break at home relaxing until I go back to school in a few weeks. :) Hope everyone else is having a great break!

Merry Christmas

I hope that everyone is having a wonderful Christmas and that Santa brought you all you asked for today. Have a great day and hug those pups for me!

Happy Holidays!!!

Love,
Megan & Sherman (who is busy enjoying his new jolly ball, a few bones and a new tug rope)

Happy Holidays!!

Any of you heard of Elf Yourself? I have had a bunch of family and friends make clips of themselves elfed that I just had to get in on the action. Click here to watch me, Prudy, Tahoma, and Sherman in our little elfed movie. :) Too much fun!!

Murray for a day and Guide Dogs Christmas Party

I got Murray for the day today. I think he is absolutely gorgeous! His raiser flew to Oregon for her previous dogs graduation (GO CHAMP!!) and then back today so I kept Murray while she was gone. He is a very sweet boy and I really enjoyed having him.

He has a funnier looking run than Sherman. :)

Today was also our Utah State Guide Dog Christmas Party. It was a lot of fun as well. We invited a bunch of kids from the blind center to attend and learn about guide dogs and taking care of dogs and such. We set up stations and each club was in charge of a station where we did a guide dog related activity. Our club did puppy games. We taught the body parts of a dog and then played Simon says using the body parts (Simon says: touch the dogs nose, Simon says: touch the dogs leg, and stuff like that) The other stations were grooming, Juno work, dog training, and what its like to work with a guide dog. It went really well I think. One of the highlights for me was talking to Aerial Gilbert from GDB and her guide Hedda (a Female Black GSD) Hedda is gorgeous by the way. :) I asked her about the new harness. I haven't seen one up close before and she took it off of Hedda and let me look at it. It is so nice. The leather is really pretty on it and the handle snaps off and on really easy. It is really lightweight and seems to contour to the dog better. It looks like it would be a lot more comfortable for the dog too. She was also telling me that she got to try all the prototypes when the new harness was being designed so she got to put a lot of input on how to make the harness better. She really likes it, I can tell why. It is a really nice harness. She is a pretty amazing lady, I talked to her about all that she has been through and about all her travels with her dogs. She has had a pretty exciting life. :) It was a great meeting.

Oh, and I cooked. :) We had to bring a potluck desert, or salad and I am a horrible cook. (I can make a mean bowl of raman thought) I decided to try and bake something. I decided on lemon bars and it went really well I think. They were quite popular, I made a HUGE pan of them and they were gone by the end of the night. (Darn, I wanted to try one.) I got some complements on them too. Maybe I will try to cook something else sometime. :)

After the meeting I took Murray home and I got there just as his raiser got back from the airport. She is a pretty young kid I think 11-13 years. (I am bad at guessing age) It was so fun to hear her talk about Champs graduation. She gave me the whole run through of graduation and it sounds like Champ is going to be just fine. He is already really attached to his handler because when she left to room to line up on stage Champ tried to follow her and was looking for her while they were in the room waiting to go on stage. Champs raiser even showed me a picture of Champ and his new handler. It was fun to talk with her about it we chatted for about a half an hour before I had to go. She was really excited about it. She was telling me all the things she wanted to work on with Murray so that he could be a guide dog too. I really love the youth raisers in our group, they are so enthusiastic and just great dog handlers who raise puppies for the right reasons. :)

Happy Sunday everyone!

Guide Dog Sighting

Today me and Sherman went to the mall to finish Christmas shopping. (YAY! I am done!) Anyway, we were there for a few hours and were heading out to go to my car when we ran into a working guide dog. I didn't see him at first, a lady walked up to me and asked me what school I raised for. (That was a new question) I said Guide Dogs for the Blind." and then I saw behind her a man with his guide dog. She said "Oh, that is where his dog is from." He was a really handsome Male Yellow Lab named Murphy. We let Murphy and Sherman say a quick hello and then both boys laid down and waited while we chatted for a while. (I was very proud of Sherman for behaving himself) I learned that they graduated together from the San Rafael campus three years ago. I had parked on the other side of the mall so I walked with them for a bit while we talked since they were going the same direction. It was so amazing to watch them work. Murphy was so protective of his handler and was so alert and watching everything and navigating the crowds wonderfully. (I am always in awe when I see people work with their dogs) They said that I was the first raiser they have ever run into and it was great to learn where the dogs come from. I said that I never run into working guides and it was wonderful to see him in action. Maybe that will sink in for Sherman so he will know what an important job he has ahead of him. :) They thanked me for raising puppies and I went on my way. I really enjoyed talking with Murphy and his handler. It is great to see the final result and makes me want to work that much harder to help my dogs become perfect guides!

More fun in the snow. . .

It snowed again, this time we got about six or seven inches. I love snow! (Have I said that yet) So after a fresh sheet fell we went out to play again. (and for the record, Sherman is relieving regularly in the snow and doing great!) Sherman is doing great. I can't believe he is nearly 11 months old. That is just scary to me. :) I think he knows everything he should it is just polishing it all that needs to be done. :) He is still the sweet little boy he has always been with a little extra exuberance lately. I blame the snow, that is when it started. But he still keeps me laughing and still has such a great personality. I love him dearly. It will be sad to see him go. Anywho, back the the snow. I love the way Sherman runs, it just looks funny. So enjoy these clips and photos.

Looks like he is doing a somersault but really he is grabbing a big bite of snow as he runs. Goof!
Snow on the nose. Classic!
He kicks his legs out when he runs, it looks so funny!

Excuse the scream, I nearly fell on my fanny in the beginning of the video.

After running around he was shivering like mad, I felt so bad for him. So he got wrapped up and warmed by the heater. Such a baby!

Walking in a Winter Wonderland. . .

I love the snow! Sherman on the other hand was not a fan when he first saw it. (He is more interested in eating it.) It started snowing on Friday night and didn't let up until Sunday morning. Sherman was having some problems relieving in the cold, white stuff. When we got up early Saturday morning there was a good three inches on the ground. (by the time the snow stopped we had about six inches) I took him out to our usual place in the gravel (which was covered in snow) and I gave him the "do your business" command. He walked around in a circle and ate the snow as he went around. He did not even make an effort to go potty. I was getting frustrated and told him if he didn't go he would have to hold it for a long time. He still didn't go, so we left for our work meeting at 7am. He was good but fidgety all through the meeting and was doing a constant potty dance. We left at about 9:45 and I decided to stop by the house to see if he would go before puppy class. I stood out in the snow forever and still nothing. So, I told him he would have to wait until after puppy class if he didn't go. (I was determined to out-stubborn him until he went in the snow.) So off to puppy class we went. Sherman was a bit of a pill still doing the potty dance through puppy class.

It was a really neat puppy class though, because we did puppy handling while blindfolded. It was pretty neat to experience. :) I handled Sherman the first round and then past him onto a new raiser and she did really well with him. Also the "R" word (recall) came up during class and Sherman might be going with the next batch of pups :( so sad I wasn't even thinking about recall yet. Then I got thinking he is 10 1/2 months old now so in two weeks he will be 11 months old and that means in 6 weeks he will be a YEAR OLD! YIKES! The next puppy truck to Utah will come the end of March or early April which will mean almost exactly a year with my boy. It is still a while away, but I guess I should get my application in for my next pup. :( Now what should I apply for. . . I have missed my girls but Sherman is such a love that I may ask for another male. We will see. :) Oh, two of the pups from our group are in class now, Champ who I puppy sat a few times. He is an awesome dog and will be a great guide for his person. And Darwin who has been in training over two years, because he was specially trained to be a wheelchair guide. We are so excited for him finally getting to live with and help his person. Way to go Champ and Darwin!!!!

After puppy class I went home and tried to relieve Sherman again he still wouldn't go. I was getting so frustrated and knew he was going to have an accident. We went inside I gave him some water and then he went in the crate. We did this all day and he still didn't go. Finally yesterday morning he went pee. I was so happy he got a lot of praise. (And let me tell you it was like Lake Sherman) He seriously peed for about 5 minutes straight. (I may have given him tons of water yesterday to get him to go. :) But still no #2. He held that all Sunday and finally today i took him out and he did his #2 in the snow (that reminded me of the big Triceratops in Jurassic Park. lol) So I am sure he feels a lot better now and hopefully has learned that the snow is okay to potty in. And we don't have anymore issues like that. So Me 1 Sherman 0. I WIN!! (I about gave up, and almost shoveled a patch of gravel for him, but I resisted!!)

Here are a couple videos of Sherman in the snow. I think he likes it now. Sorry about the post about pee and poo. That is kinda gross, but hey, we are all dog people right. :) In the first one he is running around and then the second one he scared the horse that lives in the field next door and the horse started running. Sherman was staring at it, it was pretty funny. Also in the second one Sherman got on our tramp which he never gets on but I guess the snow makes it not bounce as much. ha ha