Playing with my friends

Playing fetch with my friends best ever! The other dogs are all hearing dogs from CCI. They alert their humans to noises by touching their human and then leading them to the sound.

The dog in front staring at her human is Maya II. She's even smaller than me and has to jump to touch her human's leg. The black dog is Mimi and the other yellow dog is Cali. They both graduated in January. Cali and I have the same dad. We look alike and both love the same things -- our human, food and tennis balls. Me, I'm standing looking back wondering why people are taking photos instead of playing fetch.

When we took a walk, Maya alerted her human to a fire truck even though she's never been to our town before. She got a treat for that. My human was impressed. I wish I could have gotten a treat.

Blackberry dog

Here am I facing away from the Blackberry like a good service dog with most of my family except for one human puppy. My human wouldn't let me greet this guy dressed up in the Blackberry costume. So I turned away and she gave me a pat. It was hot and Blackberry was even more hot and sweaty, so was cheered by my presence. But my human said I had to leave Blackberry alone.

I did spread my magic around other parts of this festival in our town including to two women in wheelchairs. They noticed me right away and my human talked to them about CCI and what I do for her... A LOT. I even sit on hot tarmac while my human talks about how wonderful I am. I had fun, but was glad to get home and drink some water.

Graduation of other dogs and humans

One of the humans who was in my puppy class took these photos of me and my human. Here am I am waiting to see if she'll move or not.

Best day ever. I rode in a mini van with a really nice dog named Isabella. She has puppies for CCI but she's between puppies right now. I saw her last litter of puppies from a distance behind a gate as I was going to Isabella's back yard. I wasn't allowed to play with them or even sniff them. I dunno why I get to play with human puppies and not dog puppies. [Because puppies haven't had their shots yet.] Isabella plays chase very well.

We tried to play in the back, but my human kept telling me DOWN. I'd DOWN for a while and then my human'd start talking to Isabella's humans and then..well Isabella's so interesting! I wanted to play. Finally my human started paying more attention to me and how great I was being about staying DOWN even though Isabella is my best friend ever. So I stayed DOWN and took a nap.

We got to this place full of DOGS...DOGS that smelled similar to ME. And some of them had vests like me. And lots of humans of the dogs. Oh so exciting! My human was excited! I had to keep track of her at the same time. It was hard and she praised me.

Then she sat for a real long time with Isabella's humans. So I took another nap. Isabella kept getting up. She told me it was boring and she wanted to do something more interesting. "When the humans start yapping, start napping." That's what I told her. I said afterwards you do exciting things for your job. Isabella said she didn't go out to human places. I was telling her all about it, and about watching your human and Isabella got closer and closer then her humans pulled her back. And I snoozed again. Snoozing is very important.

Eventually Isabella's male human took her outside. My human patted me and told me Isabella has a hard job of having puppies for CCI. I don't get the whole puppy thing, except that human puppies sure seem to be loud and demand a lot from my human, but they sure give good cuddles and are fun to lick and play with. Isabella didn't remember too well about puppies, but she said dog puppies are about the same.

Thida's turn:
This was our first graduation together and was a graduation of kids. I found it very sweet and touching. I enjoyed watching two of the dogs that were in our class graduate. One of the dogs had always been super eager to please to the point where he paid attention in class while the other dogs snoozed. He even did some of the commands when the demo dog did them. It was funny. He always seemed slightly goofy. I thought he was his personality, but I was wrong. On stage he seemed serious and the most relaxed and calm I've ever seen him. He'd found his girl, so he didn't need to show off anymore.

Back to ME again:
My human and I took a hurry break and my human met this other service dog and her human. Then we met so many humans and so many dogs.

And here my human told me to sit, but there's such an interesting dog over there.

My human made a big fuss over this dog who had puppies inside her. They kicked a lot and made it hard to greet her. I had to curve around to greet her and avoid the kicks. But my human actually put her hands to feel the kicks. Go figure. Then she got tired and I told her with a touch of my nose.

Then Isabella and I ran and ran and with some other dogs in the CCI dog park. I got to meet several other dogs. Best friends ever except for this one strange golden retriever guy who's constantly available unlike the other males I play with who are never available or are too young.

I sent my doggygram all about me including that I wasn't available. But this guy tried to go on a date with me twice. And he wasn't trying to show he who was boss, because I've had that before. He wanted to go on a date. I told "Dude, I'm not available!" This other female dog also in the yard was just available. My human was laughing. I didn't see what was so funny. I went over to my human hoping she'd explain, but he wouldn't listen. And he tried again. Then his human told him to come over. And he stopped trying. Phew! And we played some more.

And Isabella's human puppy played fetch with me until I was too tired to play! He's my best friend ever! I lay near his feet when my human and Isabella's humans ate. I hoped he might sneak me some food. But my human wouldn't let me. I went home with my human and got FOOD and went to bed. Best day ever.

One of my many jobs

My human's male puppy puts his head back and it's my job to lick his hair. He laughs a lot. I do my best to keep him clean, but he also has to take a bath. I try my best.

Parade

I and my human and her family marched in a parade today. My human was impressed that I didn't care about the marching band, the loud music or the big enormous drums that we watched when we were done marching. Why should I care? I'm just hanging with my family.

[CCI is an amazing organization and Hermione's co-puppyraisers and her trainers took a lot of time to expose Hermione to many different environments, so she remains calm and serene during a noisy downtown parade.]

Hermione alerts me to a boy with autism by Thida

This boy about my daughter's age kept following Hermione in the park. I was too distracted to notice him properly

Finally I noticed that Hermione kept looking at me and back at this boy. Not in a worried way. Just asking me to pay attention. I finally stopped and looked at him. He was a sweet gentle boy who was fixated on Hermione. Hermione was very still and quiet with him and he just petted her a couple times. Normally with kids especially, she wags her tail and offers to lick. His mom came up and said "he has autism." I wanted to say "I know. My dog told me." but that would have sounded rather odd.

Instead I told her about CCI and how they have dogs for kids with autism and in fact that's how I found out about CCI. Hermione did her best to interact with the boy and also keep on the leash as he stood a distance from me. I tried to talk to this mom and keep track of my kids at the same time. Only my feeling that this moment might be very important for this boy who had picked out Hermione and whom Hermione had recognized kept me there talking. Eventually I just had to go.

Later I saw them getting into their car and rushed over a CCI brochure to them. That's the day I realized I had to carry CCI brochures in my vest.

Watching Children

Here's another tough part of my job watching children. Next to me is my human male puppy and in behind me is my human's niece. They move fast. My human male puppy likes to put his feet really close to my face. He knows kicking me is bad, but he puts his feet close enough that my human, his mom, notices and he gets attention. I just lie still. I like to smell his feet and his shoes. The smells tell me all the places he's been. He gets tired of the game pretty quickly. These puppies don't have much focus.

With the baby niece, I have to be still enough so she doesn't get excited and shriek in my ear, but also not let her pull on my nose. She doesn't pull very much, but the humans get excited about it. I really love babies. They squeal with delight to see me.

Things going well by Thida

Things have been very busy and intense for me in a good way. Hermione has changed my life. I just never realized how much I struggled each day to just get by. Hermione does more than just pick things up for me and open my fridge door. People treat me better. Folks open doors for me. When I ask for a straw, I get one directly in my cup. No fumbling around awkwardly with the wrapper or worse a straw in my cup with the "straw condom" on. Folks are patient with me if I'm slow or drop things even without my adorable kids.

It has just been a huge adjustment. Good, but huge

I was worried about integrating her needs into my daily routine. I'm still tweeking things, but it's been a lot more fun than I expected. Exercising with a dog is fun. We've walked everyday. Thanks to Hermione's wonderful BCs and PRs for teaching her house manners. She knows them all. Just testing me on one house manners thing (not eating the tons of food my kids drop on the floor. Testing is normal when switching handlers and especially normal for someone like me who's never had a dog before, but mostly stopped this weekend.

Quiet alert

I spend a lot of time like this. My human calls it "quiet alert." It's a tough job, but somebody's gotta do it.

People snap photos. Sometimes they don't even know my human. My human's husband took this one.

Invisible dog

Dear readers,
I apologize for my joke yesterday. I was overcome with my desire for food. Now here I show you correct assistance dog behavior. You ask where is the dog in this picture? I'm invisible as an assistance dog should be. I'm tucked under the bench quiet and calm as this photo is taken.

Please send food

Dear readers,
Please send food. I am only fed twice a day with occasional treats. [kibble kept back from her meal.] My human has still not got the message that I LOVE FOOD.


[She has been fed twice a day since a young puppy and is fed the amount determined by CCI that's best for her health. She's a lab, so loves food, and this is a joke. I snapped this photo as I was offering a treat aka a piece of her kibble to SIT in a proper formation, but she's not sitting properly so isn't getting the treat and is trying to persuade me to give it to her anyway. This look is hard to resist. As the trainers say in Team Training, they're still dogs.]

My new home

I love my human's female puppy (and male one) and she loves me. I'm just never sure exactly what she's going to do. She moves fast. She loves me to lick her feet.

Graduation Day

My human drops me off at the bathing area again. Wait a minute? Didn't I just have a bath? What is going on?

Phew no!

It's play time and snooze time.

Then I see my co puppy raisers. I'm real happy to see them and I tell them all about my human. I think they kinda understand, because they seem happy and sad. They take lots of photos of me.

Then I get put in a big van and taken to this big place with lots of people. My co puppyraisers come and take more photos. I like having my photo taken. Then I sit with my co puppy raisers and watch these humans standing up above us and talking. These humans call it a stage. There's lots of talking. Then each of my classmates come on stage and is handed over to their human. My human comes on stage and sits down with her classmates. She stands up and more talking.

Then my co puppy raisers come on stage and hand over my leash to my human. She is crying from happiness. I'm happy to see her, but I just saw her this morning. I have no idea why everyone is crying and hugging, so I just am quiet and still, because that's the best thing to do when the humans are being confusing. I look over at the other dogs already on stage. They don't have a clue either. Oh, well.

My human looks pleased, but she doesn't say "Good girl." so I look at the audience. They admire me, so that's okay.
Then I do a DOWN because my human's sitting down. I am not sure when my human is going to get up again, but I think it could be a while.

Finally all the human talking is over and it's time for one last photo. My human's puppies are restless. It's hard to get them to look at the camera. I'm good at posing for photos, but there are so many interesting things going by. My human is still incredibly happy. I have to watch out that she doesn't stumble for joy.

Thida's turn:
I'm so incredibly grateful for all the hard work and love that Hermione's breeder caretakers, puppyraisers, and trainers put into raising this incredible dog. I found meeting Hermione's co-raisers and graduation a very moving and touching experience. I just wanted to share a humorous side, about how a graduating dog would probably see graduation.

Best and worst of times

Oh no! My human leaves me and I have to have a bath! Ugh! Well at least I got to see the bather again. Nice guy. Then I get stuffed in a crate like always. I hate bath days. I try to tell them I just had a bath, but they don't understand.

My human rescues me and says I smell good. I smell like shampoo. How is that good?

More human talking and not even new commands to do with my human. Snooze.

I go to Takoda's human's room and I play with Takoda and my human chats with Takoda's human. He tells her she'll learn how to be a better handler. She just needs time and patience with herself. Been trying to tell her that, but she doesn't speak dog very well. He gets her to relax more. My human works better when she's relaxed. By the end she's smiling.

And then I get left in my crate while my human goes off. I can smell the other dogs and the party. Why can't I go? [Soon to be graduate dogs aren't allowed to go to the puppyraiser homecoming in case the puppyraiser who raised the dog unexpectedly meets them.] Worst day ever.

FINALLY she comes back. She's tired again. I lick her and she says I'm the best dog ever. Best day ever.