The Guilt!

Ok, the guilt has set in... I will try to update the blog more frequently (thanks Jenny!)

It was much easier to blog about Honey when she was doing funny and cute things every day. And while she is still cute, there really is not too much to report aside from training - and that is quite boring. Since our puppy training Saturday we are focusing on 'under down' at meals. This is a little challenging since we were feeding Honey during our mealtimes. So after a tweak in our schedule Honey eats her supper after our dinner and her under down practice time. So far, so good!

Blog, Clog, Flog, Pog, DOG!

This is Jenny and the last time I saw little Honey was at Christmas vacation. Since then, I have checked everyday for updates on her and there never are any! I know that things at home have been kind of crazy with everyone having 75840572 places to be at the same exact time. Hopefully if I add a post, this blog will be revived! But since I have not seen Honey since Christmas, I'm not the person who can say anything meaningful about her. So instead, of doing my psychology homework I've decided that I must admit that I can no longer fight fate: Honey will never be a true Hot Hot Dog. So instead, she will become a Flower Dog! (Thankful she's not an ugly pug.)

Foundation Fighting Blindness Puppy Training Meeting

Today we attended the kick off for the Foundation Fighting Blindness walkathon luncheon. It was also Puppy Training day. I learned a lot! I primarily learned that most folks go out to eat A LOT! All the other puppies had multiple restaurant 'under down' exposures each week. I felt bad for Honey as we do not eat out (and I blame Dave Ramsey for that [Dave Ramsey is our 'Get Out of Debt' Guru]).

Each time Honey and her brother, Moose, are together craziness ensues. I am not certain if it is due to the fact they are siblings, if Honey is not being raised with other dogs, if it is because they are just shy of 6 months old so this is typical puppy behaviors or if we are doing a poor job as puppy raisers. But today was better as Honey, after much cajoling, finally stopped trying to play with Moose and did pretty well with 'under down' throughout much of the luncheon. The pictures afterwards tell a different story but for her first exposure to 'under down' since she went to the mall with us several months ago, Honey did a great job!

Foundation Fighting Blindness Luncheon

Today we headed out with the pups to a restaurant for the Foundation Fighting Blindness kick off meeting. In attendance were...

Moose (left), Diva (background right) and Honey (foreground)
Pat with Moose, Lyndsea with Diva and Karen with Honey

Pat received her SEGD volunteer award!

Honey - Destined to be a 'sniffer'

I love Honey, I really do  BUT sometimes I wonder if she is really cut out for this 'Guide Dog' stuff.  Loyal to her partner - yes.  Drive and determination - yes.  Sweet and trainable - yes.  BUT Honey has never met a stranger.  She wants to greet everyone with a slobbery lick.  Although she is smart - very smart - she does not quite yet understand not to lick everyone.  Since there is no career change to 'professional licker' I think Honey wants to be a 'sniffer'.  Maybe an arson dog?  Maybe Bomb sniffing dog?  Maybe Customs or Police cadaver dog but almost certainly not guide work.  Honey can stay perfectly still for hours - the only time she is still - while sniffing the air.  She is curious about everything and her activity level is very high - not the greatest traits for guide work but I believe highly sought after for 'sniffer' dogs.  We keep working with Honey, hopeful she will settle down, but my money is on Honey helping people through leading investigators rather than the blind.  We will be proud of Honey no matter what career she chooses!

Been Busy?

It would be easy to blame my recent lack of blogging on any number of things: Trying to get a new business off the ground, having children who catch the ‘germ of the week’ at school, southern snowfalls and the subsequent ‘no school today so you have to keep your own children busy’ school cancellation days, suffering from a horrible head cold, making valentines gifts, the ever time consuming Destination ImagiNation team meetings several times a week… I could go on but it is really just a busy life taking me away from the computer and Honeys blog.
But just because I have not blogged does not mean Honey has not been doing fun and funny things lately. Honey is now 50 pounds and still growing! She has lost most of her puppy teeth including her canines – or as the kids and I say – her fangs (she had both upper canines come in without the baby ones falling out) – so we can no longer call her Jaws or Fang Face. Honey absolutely loves snow – eating it, playing in it, and burying her nose in it (although I suspect she is secretly trying to scavenge for rocks, dirt or grass!). It appears that she cannot go out in the snow without coming in with a beard of snow, hence the new nickname Old Woman.
Today was our puppy raiser meeting. We had some quick obedience lessons and then Honey and her brother, Moose, boarded the trolley and rode around town for an hour. Honey did very well until the 45 minute mark when she decided it was time to busy. It was hard to keep her in a down, under (or was it an under, down?). Luckily, Honey was able to hold on and busied after the ride. Honey then sat through a DI Instant Challenge meeting for 1 ½ hours. I let her stay home instead of attending the Boy Scout meeting today since she was tuckered out from all the morning and afternoon activities. Now the sweet girl is sleeping next to my chair as I type away. Of course, she is sleeping on the hard plastic mat my chair rolls on instead of the soft carpet a foot away or the brand new bed I bought her today! Gotta’ love her!

String Stealer

I love Honey (the dog, not the condiment) but sometimes I really want to kill her. Take today for example....

I woke up, brought Honey out to busy, fed her breakfast then headed to the bathroom where Honey (usually) patiently waits while I shower. Today Honey decided to mix things up a little. Unstead of patiently hanging out in the bathroom while I shower, Honey decided it would be fun to try to grab the 'new toy' I was wearing. The problem was that the 'new toy' was the string to my pajama pants. In a single bound, Honey jumped up grabbed the string and started to pull. She pulled hard enough to turn the little string into a long string. The other end was about half way around my waistband. I always love the puppy, but some days it is tough to love puppy antics!