Rich and Jazzy

Jazzy's graduation was Awesome!  She was matched perfectly!  Rich met Jazzy only a couple weeks before they graduated together but they had an amazing connection.  When they brought Jazzy in she was so excited, but when Rich asked her to go to work she knew exactly what to do.  

Jazzy in harness.

After Jazzy said Hi to all of us she went right into her bag searching for toys just like she always did.  We had taken one of her old bones and she found it right away.

We are so glad that Jazzy was placed with Rich.  He treats her so well.  It was so fun to meet Rich and get to know him better.  He sent us pictures of her in his backyard, at work, and all of her toys.  My favorite picture was the one below because Jazzy LOVES sticks and loves to play with other dogs. 

 Good job Jazzy and Congratulations Rich!  

Jus Chillin

Come on Dad, lets go

Hi from Rich and Jazzy

I wanted to let everyone know that Jaz and I are doing well. I am so fortunate to have such an awesome Guide and companion. I feel like I have the best of both worlds. She has learned my routes at work very well, takes me right to the elevator buttons, to the cafeteria, didn't think that would be a problem as it involves lots of great smells and occasionally getting away with swiping a morsel when dad's not paying attention, and she has learned the route rather quickly to an office at the otehr end of the hospital. We travel to stores frequently, mostly Lowes and the grocery store. For one reason or another when we walk down the baking isle she always stops and tries to sniff the bags of marshmellows; she leaves everyting else alone. Maybe there is a story behind that, not sure. It is pretty funny though. I have no sidewalks in my neighborhood and since Jazzy loved walking on trails this works rather well and she loves it.

The house I rent is on a double lot so I have a HUGE yard. The first night I got back with Jazzy it was dark and I don't think she quite got the jist of how big teh yard was when I took her out to relieve. But the next morning she figured it out. It was pretty funny. I took her out to leash relieve and then took the leash off when she was done. She sat there and looked around the yard and back at me as if to say "WOW, is this really my playpen?" It took a little bit of me walking with her throught the yard but now she is very comfortable as you can see from the pictures.

One more thing about the Guide work, she does give people an attitude look if they are following too close. I have a cab driver that comes into the stores with me sometimes and another friend that I ride home with once in awhile. Both individuals have received looks of "You better back off" "This is my job!" It is soooo funny and I couln't be prouder of her. So all in all I have to say "The Jazmeister Rocks!"

You ALL should be very proud of the committment, time, love and effort that goes into raising a Guide puppy. Audrey, Ryan, Bruce and Karen, I did say all but especially for you, you did an awesome job and I personally will always be very grateful and appreciative of that. Now, enjoy the pictures!!

Sweetie Jazzy Pants

Before we left to go to the ocean on our last weekend before we took Jazzy to class we went to so many parks.  The first picture is at Elk River Fall which we went to a few times.  There was a nice swimming hole in front of the falls, but I felt so bad when I went in it because Jazzy got so worried.  When I would come near her she would reach out her paws and try to get me to come back in.  And then hen I did come back to the shore she would sit on me so that I would not go back in.  She makes me feel so good.

The very last day before we left I took Jazzy to her two favorite parks.  One is in Moscow where she often gets to meet some other dogs and she loves to meet them and then play in the water.  The other park is the park right by our house.  I took a couple pictures of her at this park and she looks so sophisticated so I put one in:

As we were leaving our house for the last time Jazzy knew something was up because first of all she did not want to even go outside.  Then when I got her outside she didn't want to leave the front porch.  She just sat there and would not move, she even took a last sniff of the flowers on the porch:

We had so much fun with Jazzy before she went back to school in Oregon.  We went  berry picking (which she loved because once in a while she would pick a berry off of the bush all by herself), hiking in Oregon, and playing on the beach and in the ocean.  She loved the beach and loved to roll/tackle the sand.

We also climbed a huge sand dune and she just trotted along like it was hard ground while we fell back half way on every step.  She didn’t get in the ocean too much, but she would go in to cool off and once in a while she would go in to jump the waves with me.  It was so cute – we would walk in together until a couple waves hit us and then when there was a larger wave coming we would both run out while trying to keep in front of the wave.  She is a pretty good water hopper.

A couple other fun things that we got to do with Jazzy was take her on a hike to a beautiful water fall.  She loves hiking.  When I think of Jazzy I always picture her as she looks when we went hiking because she was always so excited and smiling so big.  She loves to hold the leash herself in her mouth when we go hiking, it is so cute.  

The picture on the right is us at the falls and the one on the left is us in front of the Yaquina Head Lighthouse.  Because she is a Guide Dog Training she got to go up in the light house and the stairs were so steep but she went up and down them like a pro.

The last 5 pictures are just her on the morning before we took her back.  She took the dragon out with her to relieve in the morning and carried it all the way out and back and kept it in her mouth until I mentioned breakfast.

She always liked searching through her bag to find the exact toy she was looking for and of course she did it the last morning before she left.

 Her last nap in the hotel:

 

On the last morning we went to four different parks on our way to Boring and she loved each one.  2 of them were state parks and were gorgeous.  At one of the state parks she got stung by a bee and I felt so bad.  After going to all of the parks she only wanted to lay on the cool floor in the car and we drove to the Guide Dog campus.  

When we dropped her off she was not very interested in Ryan and I because she could hear so many dogs.  They let us take her right in and put her in her kennel.  We saw Jaya while we were there and Jazzy said Hi to her.  Just before we put Jazzy in her kennel I gave her a big kiss on the top of her head (because she would not look at me with all of the dogs around) and then she went in and they gave her a bone and a bed. 

Jazzy is progressing so well and we really hope she makes it as a guide.  Jazzy is so awesome.

Jazzy's fun

Although Jazzy has missed her friends back home, she has loved exploring so many new places. She has been to numerous new parks and she loves all of the trails around here. Jazzy’s favorite things to do are go for walks on the trail, in the mountains, and by the lakes. In the morning before I go to work I take Jazzy to the park where the trail starts. We go for a walk and play at the park and afterwards I take her to a small creek and she tries to get as much of her body submerged as possible. It is so funny how she flips about in the water trying to get as wet as she can. We have visited Manito park in Spokane a couple of times and she just loves it. There are many different sections to the park, but the one we like the most is the one that has large grassy inclines and declines and is super shady. After we had walked around the hills for a while we went by the duck pond and she really enjoyed watching the ducks. This is me and her at the duck pond.

Also while at Manito park we went to the rose garden and Jazzy was so cute. Every time we stopped for just a minute she sprawled out flat onto the grass – it was super cute.

Jazzy was very curious about all of the sweet smells around in the rose garden. We just missed a picture of her sniffing a giant yellow rose - but did take one with me and Jazzy in the back of the garden. It was a hot day so we headed off the get a drink after going through the roses.

And….I had to add one picture from Jazzy and Jaya’s birthday party (even though it was before we came up here). It was such a great day for Jazzy and Jaya – and even Sloan got in on some of the play time. The cutest part was when all three pups had a hold of the same tug rope and were all trying so hard to win.

Well….Jazzy has been having a great time and even got to see her grandma Karen a couple of weeks ago. Jazzy is off to puppy fun days next Saturday so everyone should come!

Jazzy's life in Moscow

Jazzy has been having a lot of fun in Moscow, but sure misses the Cache Valley Puppy club.  I lost my camera somewhere in the move so I will post some pictures when I find it.  We have been to so many new places and parks and she enjoys exploring every new place.  Today Ryan, Jazzy and I went to the track with my niece and nephew and we had a small track meet.  Jazzy was so cute and LOVED running with me.  When I was running a relay with my niece and nephew we were using Jazzy's sterilized bone for the baton.  When we were about 50 meters from the end Jazzy wanted to hold her bone so I handed it to her and she sprinted to the finish as if she new exactly what she was doing.  It was so cute how she ran to the finish with her ears perked back and holding the bone.

Jazzy in Moscow, Idaho

Jazzy went to Moscow Idaho for a couple weeks and had so much fun.  She explored new trails, went to new places, and had a bunny friend while we were there.  She especially enjoyed all of the new walking places we went to.  One of them was at Phillips farm - and she had a blast.  My niece and nephew loved Jazzy so much.  Here are some pictures of her on the farm trails.  She loved the water at Phillip's farm.

My nephew Brock went rolling down the hill and Jazzy licked him all the way down.  He was laughing so hard.

Brock was investigating a large stick and Jazzy went over to inspect it too.  She really wanted to pull the stick around and Brock thought it was so fun.

Another place Jazzy like to go was the arboretum.  It was right by the golf course so we would go to look for golf balls.  She was not really good at finding them, but did sniff one out.

Jazzy has had so much fun and many new adventures while we have been in Moscow.  My niece and nephew love Jazzy so much.  They loved to play and pet her and she would wake them up every morning with a wet nose.  This is a picture of my niece, Addi, and Jazzy napping together.  Addi was just lying there when Jazzy decided to lay right by her.  It was so cute.

Jazzy is such a great puppy and had so much fun with Addi and Brock.