Puppy Withdrawl

Since Faulkner has left, I have not spent very much time "puppyless."

The day that he left I took on Niven (a 13 month old black lab) for a few days. He was pretty fun and a good distraction to have right after Faulkner got on the puppy truck. Once Niven went back home, I only had a couple days before I took on a pup being raised through a local service dog organization called Genesis Service Dogs. The puppy is a 6 month old labradoodle (lab/standard poodle mix) named Chester. He's been a bit of an adventure and has reminded me of the huge differences between labs and poodles. The past week was a true learning experience for us both! Chester has gone to spend some time with another of our currently "puppyless" raisers so that we can continue to try to help him succeed. But, that leaves without a dog again.

I don't know what to do with myself when I don't have a puppy in training with me. Really, I'm lost.



I always forget what a huge part of my life puppy raising really is. If I had to pick one title to describe myself, it would be "Puppy Raiser." Plain and simple, I have an addiction. And I'm going into withdrawls. No matter how many pups I have go through my home, if I'm not raising one of my own, I don't feel like a complete person. I've noticed for the past three years that I always have a dog with me in my dreams. The dreams are VERY rarely about the dog, though. Most of the time, I'm just holding a leash with a dog attatched because that's what I do. And the dog just goes with me.

I've been told that my club has puppies reserved that will be leaving California around December 15th and I can't wait to get my hands on one!!!!

Faulkner!!

FAULKNER

Faulkner (AKA the Nerd) - 40S1
black lab, male
current puppy in training

Faulkner will be one year old on June 8th of this year. He is an absolute goofball! The older that he gets, the more he reminds me of my second puppy in training, Baskin. This boy is wonderful. He knows his commands and does pretty much everything that I ask of him. We're still working on staying when Honey (our pet dog) is in the same room, but that's a hard one to accomplish.

Faulkner is pretty much the top of his class. Not only is he great with his commands, he is an excellent house dog. I've always had issues with my pups in the house. They are wanting to run around crazily and get into trouble all the time. Not Faulkner. He has the best house manners of any dog that I've worked with.

Now, while I sing his praises, the Nerd is not without fault. He has been known to dig and have the occasional accident. Every day shows improvement and I am SO happy with him! Today is Wednesday which means the club will be meeting. It'll be a short meeting since all we're doing today is showing up at the mall and trading puppies.

Why do we trade puppies? Well, it's a training tool for both us and our pups. The trade allows our puppies to experience a different life style than they're used to which is great for Guides and also allows the raiser to learn from a new pup. We can see what the puppy is doing differently and if they have problems for someone else that they don't normally have in their raiser home.

This week I'll be working with a Genesis Service Dogs pup named Valentine. She's a 6 month old Great Dane. And she's already huge!! She's having some issues with listening and self confidence so that will be what I'm working on this week.

Genesis Service Dogs is a local organization in Boise, Idaho that raises dogs for a variety of disabilities. Those of us working with Guide Dogs for the Blind sometimes help them out by taking in a pup to give us an experience with a different breed of dog and impart some of our training techniques if they are needed.

Below are some more pictures of Faulkner. The two "puppy" pictures are from when he was about 4 months old and the one in the snow is from when he was about 7 months old.