Update on Gibbs

Wow, guess its been a while since I've updates. Gibbs is doing wonderfully. We finished our basic class, in which Gibbs was just bored. I'd been working with him for the 2 months I had him before classes started on the basics that I remembered from working with Toby, so Gibbs flew through that class. In fact, he did so well, Skye is having us skip the intermediate class and go straight to advanced.

I have been taking him out with me quite a bit and he accompanies me about 50% of the time now. Its funny to see because he is a completely different dog at home, and when we are out and that vest is on. He knows when it is work time, and play time. The only things we are still working on behavior wise while in vest is dealing with other dogs (he wants to play, he doesnt misbehave, just wants to meet them and will whine if he doesnt get to) and whining when he gets bored. But if thats all the misbehaving he does in public after 3 months of training, I cant say anything bad about that.

He's been such a wonderful addition to my treatment, and to my life. I love my Mr. Gibbs.

Salt City Service Dogs

Tammy and I are starting a group to raise money to help people pay for the service dogs they need. Please donate!

Update

Well, Toby has not worked out as a service dog. He just doesnt have the right temperament, or drive to work, so we have had to "wash him out" as they say. I am looking for a new home for him, and have hopefully found one in my friend Faith's cousin. He is going to go stay there next week on a "trial" basis, and if things work out okay, they will be keeping him.

So now I get to introduce my NEW service dog, Mr. Gibbs. He is a black lab, about 1.5 years old (dont know for sure) that we picked up at Davis Co. Animal Shelter, and is just a wonderful dog. We had him evaluated by the trainer, Skye, and she is in love with him. She said he is everything she looks for in a service dog. He is mellow, non reactive, willing to learn, and eager to please.

I will be starting classes over with Gibbs in the next week or two (as soon as Skye gets things settled around and knows how many people she has in this class). This class will be Monday nights at 5:15. I think that it will be much easier this time around, as 1) I'm going into it already knowing what we will be learning/how to teach it, and 2) he is a much more eager to please dog. I am very much looking forward to life with Mr. Gibbs.

P.S.--his name comes from the Disney "Pirates" movies...Captain Jack's first mate is "Mr. Gibbs"

Coat Change!

We have officially started coat change! Toby has a spot between his shoulder blades that is coarser and darker than everywhere else, and is getting a coarse stripe down his back. We will keep him cut short during coat change to help prevent matting. My baby is growing up!

Classes are going well. We have moved up from our beginning class to the intermediate class, and have our test in 4 weeks to see if we get our "BA" degree, and get to move into the "Masters Program". I'm not sure if we will get to move up or not, as Toby is in that "teenage" stage and doesnt want to listen half the time, so he is having some trouble with a few of the basics like "down" and loose leash walking(as long as no one is in front of him, he's pretty good). But he is really good at some of the other things. He can do stay and let me get a few feet away and even turn my back on him for a few seconds, he will wait to eat his food until I tell him its okay, and will wait at doorways, sit he has down (unless he wants to push your buttons), he can watch me when I tell him to, and loves the "touch" game. He's pretty good at leave it, and drop it. (which we havent even covered in class yet). So, we'll just have to see how our testing goes. As they say, "Slow is fast with service dogs". Its better to take your time and make sure they learn things well than to just speed though things for the sake of speeding through them.

Other than that, he's doing well. He was neutered last week and had his dews removed. Not sure yet if its helped calm him down at all, he's still my crazy goofball puppy.

Well, we did it! We graduated the PetSmart puppy class with flying colors. The trainer said we had a perfect test. So proud of my boy.

We started our service dog classes last Friday with Canines for a Cause and I think its going to go well. Everyone there is really nice, and the trainer is awesome. There are only 4 dogs in our class, and Toby is the only puppy. There was a chiweenie, a pom a german shepherd mix, and Toby. Two of the people are retired veterans, and the other girl appears to be just a little older than myself, and seemed very quiet and shy and a bit anxious (like myself). If the rest of the training is anything like this first class was, we will really enjoy ourselves.

We have worked it out with our friend Tammy who lives in our neighbor hood (and who's son has a dog in training at Canines also, their class is right after ours) to watch Ninja while we are at class, and then she will just bring him down there and drop him off to us between classes. Its going to work out great and is so nice of her to offer to do. I really like Tammy and am fast becoming good friends with her.

Here's to looking forward!

Well, its official

We start our classes with Canines for a Cause on Friday. What a fun anniversary gift! I'm very excited, and so happy that things are coming together. Toby's been such a joy to have around, and definitely helps with my moods.

He's now 5 months old, and we take our test to "graduate" from the Petsmart puppy class on Saturday. The trainer said he doesn't see any reason we shouldn't pass. Hopefully this will give him a head start in our Canines class. We are starting in the "Beginner" class, which basically covers the same things we have been learning in the petsmart class, but because we are starting him a month younger than they usually let pups in, they want us to start with that class. Fine by me, he still needs work on getting those commands down solid, even though he is doing better than I expected.

Wish us luck as we really dive in to becoming a Service Dog Team!

Update

Toby is now 19 weeks old and getting big. Last week when we were at the vet he was 30 lbs and 20 inches tall. He is a goof ball and is constantly making me laugh, and constantly getting into puppy trouble (like counter surfing, and trying to chew everything cuz he's still teething).

We have been taking a petsmart puppy class and he is doing well. His list of commands is growing every day. They include: sit, leave it, an emergency recall to a whistle, and drop it. We are still working on down, come, loose leash walking, and wait. These are ones we have covered in class but he is still working on getting. We have 3 more weeks of this class.

Yesterday I got a call from the service dog school, and although they haven't gone through our application in detail, they don't see any reason we cant start soon. They like pups to be 6 months old before they start, but they were going to check with the trainer and see if we could start a little early (their next class starts May 6, and Toby will be 5 months old). If not, a month or so isn't that long to wait and it will give us time to keep working on his basics. Very excited/nervous.

Leash Training and Sit

Yesterday we had a lazy day around the house and decided to work on Toby's Sit. He picked it up right away, figuring out that sitting on command earns him yummies (he's now settled in enough to figure out treats are good)!

Last night we went to Petsmart with our friend Faith and her doggies, the greys, Rocket and Cassie, and our friend the Crested, Stella. We worked on leash walking, our sits, and leave it. Toby did GREAT! I'm so proud of my little man. He is even figuring out that mom wants the leash to stay loose, or he doesn't get to keep moving forward. He's such a smart cookie.

He's here!

On March 22, I brought home Toby, my new pup, who will one day be my PSD. He is an Apricot Standard Poodle and will be 16 weeks on April 4th. I was worried I would have a hard time choosing between him and his brother, but he made the choice easy, he choose me!

He is settling in nicely, we havent had any accidents so far, and he is getting along with his "sister" Zoe just fine. He is learning to respond to his name (the breeder was calling him "Turbo" so its not too far off). He is a very laid back dog, just taking everything so far in stride.

He had a play date last night with my best friend's Chinese Crested Pup, Stella and he had a blast, and this morning he went for a car ride to drop Ninja off at daycare and he was so good and just layed in the back nicely.

I'm still trying to figure out what is going to be the best way to train him and get his attention, as he doesnt seem to be food/treat motivated, and I've never had a dog that wasnt totally into yummies before. He likes praise, but I'm not sure how to get his attention in order to teach the commands...I'm sure we'll figure something out though, he's a very smart boy, and we seem to be bonding well. He follows me around where ever I go, and if we are outside he checks in frequently to make sure I am still "where he left me". Right now he's asleep with his head on my feet.

My goal for this week is to expose him to as many new people as I can, and try to get him used to his leash. He still needs one more round of puppy shots before I take him out to too many places where dogs have been though.