Goughnut Fun Run

Jazzy had so much fun on Christmas, but is still very busy having more fun for the holidays so here is just one fun time.

Jazzy got her goughnuts.

It was the cutest thing ever: Jazzy and I walked to pick up her goughnut toys from Paul at the Coppermill and she was very excited to get them into her mouth.  Usually after just a minute or so into a walk she will drop her toy she thought she wanted to take.  But this time it was different.  Jazzy immediately chose the goughnut stick and walked off so proud of herself and her new toy.  She carried the green toy in her mouth with all of the cute red tags still on it.  She just kept walking and walking with the toy in her mouth.  I expected her to drop it at any minute, but she did not let this toy go.  We ran the whole mile home (with an occasional walk if the snow got too deep) and she never dropped the toy.  She carried the green toy in her mouth the whole way home, with her head up high and so very proud.  SO CUTE!

I wasn't able to get a picture of her carrying it all the way home, but we took her to the tennis courts afterward so she could run all around in the snow.  This is a picture of Ryan and Jazzy just after Jazzy won the goughnut tug of war.

 It is a very fun snow toy.  She would run after it and then throw it up in the air, lose it in the snow and then pounce on it.  This is her pouncing on the goughnut.

Jazzy has been very busy!

Jazzy has been up to a lot this last month or so.  From Thanksgiving to searching for a Christmas tree in the mountains to getting spayed.  This last month was mostly spent palying in the snow and with family and napping.  She has had a great time.

When we brought everything out to decorate the tree she smelled the Christmas tree skirt for a while and then laid right on it despite her comfy bed and a blanket on the floor.  She could smell Ellison on the skirt.  it was pretty cute.  She has since then laid on the Christmas tree skirt while it has been on the tree and she has to duck under the branches. 

Jazzy had a fun Thanksgiving.  She went to Cleveland Utah to visit Ryan's family and their was a lot of family.  One of Ryan's nephews followed Jazzy around almost the entire time (really).  He LOVED her.  Several of Ryan's neices and nephews loved Jazzy so she received a lot of attention.  I only know of a couple people that escaped getting at least one kiss from Jazzy.  Ryan's brother and baby received several kisses.

And the cute kids that followed her everywhere! They loved to let her in and out of the sun room.

Sleep and play, Sleep and play.  That is what Jazzy has been up to.  Her favorite friend to do all of this with is Daisy.  She loves her!  If you say Daisy's name she perks right up. (Jazzy alos perks right up when Karen is on the phone, she looks around intently but can't find Karen).  We have gone to visit Daisy quite a bit lately because Jazzy just loves to play with her in the snow.  There was one especially fun time for Jazzy this last month and that was getting a Christmas tree in the mountains.  We thought it might be hard for since there was about 4 feet of fresh snow, but she loved it.  Ryan made tracks with his snow shoes and then she lept from one track to the next.  She went off the track some of the time and literally swam through the snow.   I didn't get any photos in the mountains, but many of the other times she was in the snow!

And a golden fluffy dog and a cute black lab Jazzy make the cutest sleeping duo!  But really - this is soooo cute.

Puppy Trade

When we were trading back puppies, Jazzy came home and was able to play with Jaya before she had to leave.  They had A LOT of fun! When we weighted Jazzy and Jaya at the pre-vet class Jazzy was 39 lbs. and Jaya was 38 lbs., so the fun of this post is to see if you can tell which one is Jazzy and which one is Jaya.  Good luck!  One of our favorite pictures is from a walk on the River Walk trail.....

They walked very cute togther.  Jaya had been timid to walk before Jazzy got home, but when they walked together Jaya had a great time walking with her sister! 

Ryan and I cheated a little bit to get the puppies to relax with each other for a miute rather than tackle; we gave them ice!  Jaya and Jazzy were quite competitive at eating ice.  When there was only one ice cube remaining the dog without the ice went and sat right under the pup with the ice, just in case it dropped from their mouth.   That is why Jazzy learned to eat the ice with her nose in the air; she did not want to lose one little piece.

Jaya and Jazzy played tug with almost every toy we had laying on the floor. They play extremely well together because they play nearly identical; neither one is dominant or intimidated.  They are so fun!

This is one of my favorite pictures; they were often standing side by side not wanting to move or else they would lose hold of the small toy they were tugging.  Can you tell who is who?  I can tell by their tails!

When dinner came around Jaya somehow got food all over her face.  You can see the light colored spots on her nose.

Well......Jazzy was definitely going to take advantage of that situation.  Jaya had got off all of the food she could possibly get off her own nose so she let Jazzy get the rest.  It was as if they were working as a team and knew what each other had to do.  Jazzy got the better end of the deal!

Jazzy wanted to make sure she did not miss one speck.......

And, of course, they finished with a game of toy tug!

Puppies and vets

I don't think that the puppies especially liked the last puppy meeting!  Baths, toe nail clipping, and anal gland checks are not something the puppies enjoyed! Jazzy especially did not like the pre-vets giving her a bath.  I almost couldn't post this picture because of how sad Jazzy looks.

 I believe Jakota was expressing how all of the puppies felt as she was trying to jump back into Cloey's arms.

Before Jazzy's bath she was a bit more curious and was checking things out in the sink.  She didn't find anything, then just as she was getting up they started to take her tempurate; she did NOT like that.

There was one big showoff, Nigella; she just smiled her way through the process, although she didn't look so happy when she was getting her temperature taken.

Chad and Jazzy - one last time

Chad and Jazzy had a great time the day before Chad left.  It was a perfect sunny day and they had so much fun.  Before the second play time Karen brought out a nice big bowl of ice water for the puppies, but they had wrestled, tipped, and splashed the water in 10 seconds, so they just laid down and ate the small bits of ice from the ground.

After each ice bit was eaten the puppies played keep away.  Chad usually had the bone and would run around egging Jazzy on so she would keep chasing him.  He galloped around so proud of himself while Jazzy was trying to manuever around his body to get her teeth on just one end of the bone.  I told Roger that Chad was just getting his revenge from when he had to run and run and run to try to catch Ellison.

Jazzy tried to sneak up on Chad and pounce quickly to see if she could get the bone that way. It didn't work and Chad wasn't intimidated at all. 

 Chad and Jazzy had such a great time together!

MEDICINE OR SNACK?



I am not sure if something is wrong with Jazzy because I have never seen a Guide Dog pup leave their bowl of food.  Jazzy loves her food, but the Heartguard must have had sugar in it or something because when she found it this time she took off into the other room.  She quickly laid down to intently munch on her Heartguard (to her it must have been a new and tasty snack).  I captured a picture of the unattended bowl of food and Jazzy in the other room searching for more Heartguard.

Empty bowl...

 And Jazzy in the other room trying to find any lost bits of Heartguard........................

 Crazy and cute puppies!

Slip and Slide Jazzy

I haven't been able to post for a while because I wanted to leave Ellison's news as it is so incredible and it is one of my favorite.

But...Jazzy has been up to some fun playing days and I think she is quite excited to show off how much of a dare devil she is, despite the fact that she is scared of walking in a parking lot or even getting out of the car.  We discovered that Jazzy likes to go down slides. 

 

  At first she was kind of hesitant; but she put her paws out and began to slide down after which she jumped off the end and ran in those crazy circles that funny puppies do, she didn't know what happened but she was excited about it.  She ran straight up the stairs 2 more times, both with the same result of crazy circles and excitedness.  We weren't able to get a picture of the twirly slide fun because we were not expecting it, but we did get some of her going down the regular straight ones.  She also liked playing jollyball in the tennis courts just as it started to rain.

And the result.....................crazy circles

Ellison and cute little Audrey

Handsome Pants Ellison was a meant to be dog.  He landed in the perfect home, not only for him but for the amazing family he was placed with.  The child with which he was placed is one years old and is blind;

 Her name is Audrey!  She is so cute and already loves Ellison.

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Audrey's birthday was just a week before Ellison arrived at her home, so he made the perfect late birthday present.  Audrey's mom has left Audrey and Ellison alone in a room together only to come back to find a hysterically excited daughter.  Audrey loves his tail, petting his soft fur, and to hear his collar jingle as he walks through the house.  I guess Audrey doesn't know what to think when he licks her face though.  One time Audrey's mom found Audrey flicking food from her high chair straight into Ellison's mouth.

From the pictures Audrey's mom, Ashley, sent it is so easy to see that Ellison is having a great time with his family and is so loved by them.  He is so lucky, there is a tennis ball thrower in one of the pictures and they even let him step on the towel.  He got to spend a day at the dog park at Mission Bay and gets to go on  two walks every day.  Ellison is so happy!  

I am so excited he was placed with this family and know that he is exactly where he was meant to be!

Jazzy's Special Day

Jazzy had a special day last Thursday. My sister helps with a class of children with special needs and they wanted Jazzy to come for a visit. I talked to the children about how to approach a guide dog puppy and a little bit about what we do, but then just let them pet Jazzy and ask questions. They LOVED her.

It took a couple of the kids a few minutes to get close to her and pet her, but the girl who was so shy at first and could barely touch the back of her was one of the children that ended up loving her the most. (this is the girl on the right side with a huge smile). They were all crouched around her as close as they could get and she did great. Some of them did not know where to touch her so I showed them the body handling exercises that we do. They loved it when I showed them her teeth and she was so great to let me show them.

Another child that really liked Jazzy was the boy holding her leash. He loved to get by her and pet her and jumped up every time she moved because he was so excited. Two of the other boys were so genuine and asked so very many questions. It was a great experience for the class and for Jazzy.

When I was leaving one of the little boys was continually telling me something about the gym, but I didn't understand him. Finally one of the teachers told me that he was telling me that Jazzy needed to go have her picture taken in the gym because it was school picture day. He was very serious; it was pretty cute.

Jazzy and Nigella on a Tuedsay

It is not hard to tell from the pictures that Jazzy had a great time at Nigella's house. 

They got to play in a nice fenced in area, but....

I think they wondered why the cat got to be out, especially as the cat showed off by basking in the sunlight just outside the fence.  Or maybe they were just taking a nap together.

I am not sure why, but when Jazzy is playing her favorite position is on her back.  She loves to plop herself down, no matter what is in the way or how hard of a surface it is, and then let the other puppy try to get her while she fends them of with her feet and her little snapper.

I Didn't Know that Puppies Love to Wash Cars

Jazzy was outside yesterday and I decided to wash the car. She loved helping! She liked to help hold the rag while washing, create more bubbles, and spray the car with the hose.  One time while I was crouching down to wash the front of the car she came up behind me, put her paws on my shoulder, and then stood on her hind legs just watching me as I washed the car. She just stood there watching over my shoulder for about three minutes before I had to get up.

After she stirred up the water she wad quite a few bubbles on her face!

By the end of the car wash we had the cranberry juice, which had spilled through a crack of our table and dripped onto her, all out of her fur.

My nephew, Jazzy's Uncle Payton, came with all of his geese and ducks.  Jazzy and Daisy were very interested in them, but didn't dare get too close.  Payton really wishes that he could take Jazzy hunting because she would be such a great retriever (especially since he had to walk 120 yards in 3 feet deep mud today to retrieve a Mallard).

Jaya and Jazzy's 4 Month Birthday

Saturday was Jaya and Jazzy's 4 month birthday.  It is the age at which the pups begin to go many places they couldn't before, so for the big celebration we took the pups to Bearlake.  

It is easy to tell these pups are sisters, they are alike in so many ways; Ryan and I had to look at their tags to see which dog we had.  While they played it seemed that they did not know who was who either.  Jaya was chewing on her own foot at one time and Jazzy really liked to lick Jaya's ears. Yuck! 

When we began driving to Bearlake Jazzy and Jaya were already tired and slept all the way.  For the last half of the drive Jazzy and Jaya lay intertwined on the passenger's seat floor.  They were sleeping with paws crossed over and each one had their paw on the other's face. 

Once we arrived the puppies were so excited to get out on the beach and explore.  We headed straight toward the water, but Jazzy and Jaya were not sure what to think of all this water, and all the sand that looked so tasty to them.

They played tug and wrestle in the water, but neither of them really liked getting splashed and they could not figure out how to stop that.  While walking in and out Jaya would lift her feet high up in the air everytime as if she were trying not to hurt the sand underneath.  They liked to sneak up on each other and then pounce towards each other.  They started crouching down...

Then...pounced, splashed, and tackled!

Ryan and I had fun with them too.  I took each of them out deep enough where they could barely touch the bottom so that they could try swimming.  Jazzy did NOT like it.  Jaya was not sure what to think, but she swam around a few times before deciding it was not great.

This is Jaya swimming....

After a lot of play in the water AND the sand, it was definitely time for a nap.  Jaya chose the nice comfy and clean, previous to her getting on, blanket.  (Not really, it already had sand all over it). 

While Jaya was taking a nice afternoon nap I caught Jazzy being a curious pup.  I am not sure what she was looking for, but soon she had her head in the sand and her back end barreling up in the air.

.....Result..............................

They played one last game in the water and then we headed home with two very tired puppies, Ryan was pretty tired too.

After we arrived home we had to get all of that sand out of their fur, so we gave them a bath, TOGETHER!  They did not like it, but hopefully it helped that the other pup was in the tub with them.

They had a GREAT time playing together!