P is for Progress!

Tug-of-War is Their Favorite

Poppy is growing fast. She now weighs 16 lbs and trust me…I notice the difference when I pick her up from her exercise pen. While she feels heavier, she is still a petite little girl and looks especially tiny when she’s mixing it up with Daisy! Daisy LOVES Poppy…although at times Daisy treats her like a chew toy…Daisy is always patient with her even when Poppy’s puppy teeth dig into Daisy’s cheek or back legs. On the plus side, it’s great interaction for Poppy and really gets a lot of her energy out of them both.

Daisy enjoying break from the action!!
Enjoying some bonding time outside on Saturday morning

Our home-life (especially mine) has been enriched since bringing Poppy home. Even considering the late night potty outings (and I mean late and sometimes more than one), the goodness of what this puppy represents makes all the effort worth it. I no longer have to play soothing music when I return her to her crate after a late night potty break…she settles back in quickly…and as soon as I hear her little snore, I let myself fall back asleep, as well.

Pen time and crate time – both of which are very important for Poppy to learn – has improved considerably. Initially, Poppy was pretty unhappy being crated or surrounded by her exercise pen, but now, with consistent practice, her episodes of fussing have all but vanished. And, she now voluntarily goes into her crate to sleep. So why is exercise pen and crate time important? Well, when a GDA puppy returns to GDA for guide dog training, they will be kenneled, they will be transported during training outings in crates, and when that puppy completes its professional training and graduates the program, its new owner will be crating their new partner, too. To help Poppy learn (and to protect her and me when I’m in the kitchen cooking) I place her in her crate with a special toy and sometimes she just lies there watching me but mostly she sleeps.

I say, “Get Busy!”
She’s thinking, “Show me the treat!”

Potty training is also improving. While I take Poppy outside at regular intervals to pee and watch her like a hawk when I have her roaming free in our “safe place” (a.k.a. kitchen), it’s been a bit of a struggle to catch her every time when she needs to go. I think it’s a combination of things, the biggest one being that she has another dog that plays with her and the other being she learned QUICKLY that the “get busy” command yields a treat when she’s done squatting. Unfortunately, she’s a bit of a con artist…she only gives a small tinkle outside and comes back in the house not completely empty. We’re working on that. Hanna, GDA’s trainer, gave me a good tip which is beginning to yield results: if she only gives a little tinkle, put her back in her crate for 10 minutes and then try again. It’s working! In fact, yesterday was ACCIDENT FREE! So, I’m working to get a streak going (pun intended)!

She barks too fast to catch her mid-bark! But look at that MOUTH! She looks like Fozzie Bear!

Yapping – and by yap I mean a high-pitched, ear-splitting, can’t-believe-this-noise-is-coming-from-something-so-small bark – has become a bit of an issue. I think the barking is happening because she is growing more confident and feeling more at home and wants to be where the action is. Her morning feeding is at 8AM and since we get up earlier than that, I need to put her in her pen while I run upstairs to brush my teeth and get dressed for the day. Since Poppy is not yet housebroken AND since I need to be in the room to supervise their play time, Daisy gets a reprieve and hangs out on the couch. Poppy wants to let everyone within earshot know that she is NOT happy being in the pen by herself. So this is a skill we’re working on…I tell her, “Solitude happens. Deal with it.”

Sleeping Beauty

As I write this at the kitchen table, it’s nearly noon, which means the next feeding frenzy happens in an hour. (And it IS a frenzy…she looks like a miniature great white shark attacking kibble fishes in shallow waters.) Poppy is sleeping peacefully at my feet and my heart is melting…I wish this moment could last forever. But Poppy has been bred for a special destiny…and it’s my job to do everything in my power to help her get there.

#TeamPoppy


Ten Days In!

Friday, April 19th, Poppy turned 10 weeks old and marked ONE WEEK since we brought our little bundle of love home. She is growing so fast (she now weighs 13 lbs.!) that I’ve had to make her puppy collar bigger! And even though my days revolve around a three-a-day feeding schedule, training and middle-of-the night trips to the backyard, I couldn’t be having a better time than raising this sweet girl.

Poppy is one of a litter of seven. The GDA uses puppy raising groups in Southern California and the active puppy raiser groups are in San Fernando Valley (Sylmar Group), Ventura, West Los Angeles, South Bay, Orange County, San Gabriel Valley and San Diego.

The San Diego group isn’t very large compared to some of the other puppy raising groups (understandable given the distance between San Diego and the GDA campus in Sylmar) so of the seven “P” litter puppies, two came to the San Diego group and the other five went to the Ventura group. San Diego is represented by the Jones Family with Pongo (front row) and the King Family (my husband Ted and me) with Poppy (back row, far right). The Ventura puppies are Palmer, Proxie, Piper, Poco and Peyton.

GDA “P” Litter Puppy Pick Up Day – Sylmar, CA – April 12, 2019

It’s been an awesome (and at times exhausting!) ten days but things are working out really well. I’m sure all proud puppy raisers think “their” puppy is the “best” but I want to go on record and say that THIS ONE IS. She is so smart and is – it sounds weird to say – a polite puppy. My experience with Daisy at feeding time was a frenzied, jumping puppy who could not wait to get to the bowl. Poppy? I am amazed to say that when she hears me open the microwave door (I heat up a bit of water to soften up her kibble) she runs to me and sits at attention….without being called. And when I move to put her kibble in the bowl, she follows me, sits at attention and just waits.

To get her used to feeding with another dog (just in case her future life partner has a pet dog) I feed Poppy and Daisy at the same time – and sitting close to each other. While I’m holding both kibble bowls, I have both dogs sit and wait.

Now, Daisy has had a lot of experience in her 24 months of life to learn this. But a 10 week old puppy???

I’ve gotta give credit where credit is due: the GDA has a puppy “head start” program that starts training the puppies before they ever get to their puppy raiser. Poppy obviously learned it at GDA but it still amazes me each time I feed her that she’s does this.

Poppy is also quickly learning her “sit, down, stand” and “let’s go” and “come” and “get busy” commands; “get busy” is the command to pee and poo. And since her training is “rewards” based (meaning whenever she does anything I want her to do, she gets a piece of puppy kibble) she has figured out that if she just squats and tinkles a tiny bit, she’ll get a kibble. Well, at first I was (again with this word) amazed – and thrilled – that she pees on command UNTIL I realized that she holding most of it and deposits it on the kitchen floor a short time after we get inside. So, we’re working on that.

Poppy also is not very keen on being crated. The first few nights she did OK but then she decided she really didn’t like going back in after the late night potty break. Imagine trying to fall back to sleep with a high-pitched, barking puppy…not easy. Out of desperation, I found a new age channel on Pandora and set the volume on low and set my phone next to her crate. It worked. I haven’t had to use the music the past few nights…she seems to be settling back down quickly and for that I am GRATEFUL!

Our two-year-old black Labrador, Daisy, is a terrific surrogate mommy. Daisy is gentle, shares all the toys, and doesn’t get mad when Poppy tries to horn in on her food bowl (I usually stand between them to run interference…but it’s happened a couple of times!) Overall, Daisy loves Poppy, although at times I’m sure she just tolerates her.

They love to play tug-of-war with one of the plush toys GDA sent home with Poppy…and steal from each other one of the several Nylabones that are strewn about the floor.

At times they play long and hard…

…and then they rest hard and long!

We have our second Puppy class tomorrow…can’t wait to see how this little one will do!


Puppy Class!

Today was Poppy’s first puppy training class! She did really well – and so did her littermate, Pongo. I’ve been been practicing basic commands with Poppy since last Saturday and the GDA trainer, Hanna, did an awesome job in class today. I got some really good tips – Hanna is a great teacher and enthusiastic cheerleader.

So, here’s an interesting fact that you may not know: a guide dog, when traveling in a car, bus, train, or airplane with their human, sits on the floor at their human’s feet curled up in a little ball. As a puppy raiser, it’s my job to begin this training as soon as possible. Since I was uncertain how to do this driving her by myself, I bundled her up in Daisy’s old puppy Pawaboo travel harness and clipped her into the backseat seatbelt buckle and off we went. I have to admit I was a bit nervous about putting Poppy in the harness (Daisy went berserk when I tried it on her the first time) but Poppy was born for this. She walked around with the harness on like this was her millionth time doing it. Well, OK, I thought, how will she be in the car?

Driving Miss Poppy

I kept glancing back on her waiting for her to let me know she wasn’t having any and – again – Poppy showed me that she was born for this! She sat up (probably wishing she was bigger so she could look out the windshield) and looked at me as if to say…hey! let’s go! How cool is that! But then I thought, what happens if she goes nuts when we’re on the freeway???

Hard to get a good picture hanging the phone over the back seat!

But, one mile into the I-15 North….you guessed it…she was born for this!

After the conclusion of puppy class, Hanna showed me how to travel with Poppy on the front passenger floor. You can either tie down the leash under the passenger seat (if you can) or close the leash in the glove box. I used the glove box method.

At the risk of sounding like a nervous Nellie (I know, too late), but in my defense not having done this before, I was a bit unsure of how Poppy would do…

…but honestly, I don’t know why I had any concerns. She WAS born for this!

June 2019

Ouch!

As closely as we keep an eye on the puppies that have been entrusted to our care, as the saying goes, things happen. On May 31st, just one day after completing her FINAL GDA Puppy K(indergarten) class and eight days shy of her four month birthday, Poppy had a “thing.”

It was a morning just like any other morning…out to pee and poo at 6:00 am, kibble at 7:00 am and outside to play in the glorious sunshine shortly thereafter. As I drank my first morning cup of coffee and slogged through my crossword puzzle on our patio, Poppy romped and played with Daisy. Friday puzzles are the second hardest of the week (Saturdays are the toughest) so it’s not usual that it takes TWO cups of coffee to finish a Friday. That was the case that day. So, into the house I went for a second cup but as I was walking back outside, Poppy was at the screen door and wanted to come in. Unusual, as time in the yard is her favorite time of day. Odder still, she went right into her kennel. Hmmm…..maybe she needs her morning nap earlier than usual??? So I sat at the family room table for a few minutes to see if she’d fall asleep and then I heard her whimper. And as I bent over to see what was the matter, I saw the blood on her pillow.

Some how, in some way, Princess Poppy’s right pinkie toe was literally hanging on by a thread. Poor Poppy!

After conferring with GDA, I took Poppy to my personal vet, where they were directed to bandage her paw to see if her toenail would “reattach.” Unfortunately, that was not to be. And on Wednesday, June 5th, Poppy’s scheduled follow-up vet visit and less than 24 hours before Ted and I were scheduled to leave for Hawaii to celebrate our wedding anniversary, Poppy had her toenail surgically removed.

[Footnote: Poppy’s toenail has never regrown. But there’s a silver lining! Every time I pick her up from her monthly kennel stay, I always check her paw to make sure I’m getting the right dog back!]

So what happened after I picked up groggy Poppy from the procedure? Let me introduce you to Poppy’s “village.”

It Takes a Village to Raise a Guide Dog

As any puppy raiser will tell you, you don’t raise the puppy alone. Besides your family, you have a whole network of people who are there to support you. From the amazing trainers at the GDA campus, who make a weekly (LONG) drive to teach the basics to our puppies (and who am I kidding, us!), the fellow puppy raiser friends you make along the way, to our Area Leaders who plan outings, organize and run the monthly meetings and keep all of us informed of and in touch and on track with GDA rules and responsibilities. It’s a terrific group of folks.

On June 8th 2019, Poppy turned four months old in San Diego, while Ted and I woke up in paradise on day two of our “celebration vacation.” To those wondering, “Where was Poppy?,” let me simply say that we were able to be in Kona because of our group’s dedicated puppy raisers who stepped forward to help!

Enter Lonnie Raimond, a high school nurse and a veteran puppy raiser! Lonnie did our home interview in 2018 when we applied to raise a guide puppy and she has been an invaluable source of information and advice since.

After Poppy injured herself – and knowing that Poppy would now need health care from her puppy sitter – I asked Lonnie if she would take her. Lonnie has a house full of pets (cats and dogs – including a newly re-homed guide puppy, Bauer) and a busy life but she readily agreed. And Poppy lucked out with Lonnie. Lonnie brought Poppy to school with her and Poppy became the school celebrity! I mean, really, who doesn’t think a four month old Lab puppy is the cutest thing on earth??? And not only that, it was a GREAT socialization opportunity for Poppy.

Lonnie taking on two at a time! Labs are so motivated by food….and Poppy learned obedience when she was a little one in the GDA puppy nursery!
Poppy LOVES her new home-away-from home. And Lonnie made Poppy feel very welcome and safe.

<– Meet High School Principal Dave Napoleon (it’s HARD to pose with a pup who has a bubble collar on)! And Lonnie ROCKED IT with Poppy’s girly-pink bandage change.
Poppy taking a snooze at Lonnie’s home with her career changed pup Nixon. Poppy looks so little next to him!

Aloha Kona and Aloha Home!

While we had a wonderful time celebrating our anniversary in a beautiful place, we were so happy to get back to our own village and our girls! Sincerest thanks once again to Lonnie and her “healing touch.” We could NOT have had the care-free time we had without her help.

Forgive Me WordPress…

…for not having written, it has been nearly a year(!) since my last submission!!

As sincere as my commitment was in April 2019 to faithfully chronicle my “adventures in guide dog puppy raising,” I definitely fell off the wagon when life raising a guide dog puppy took over! So into the web confessional I go…and for my penance, I am going to catch you up on Poppy’s (and my!) adventures.

Check back soon for the June 2019 installment (which I actually began in June 2019) of Life with Poppy!

Growing Pains…

It’s been almost four weeks since my last Poppy post. Trust me…all is good with her…and me, for that matter. I had started a post about a week after the last one but my time became consumed on things needed for a May 19th event in Seattle honoring my late father-in-law (he passed away in March). Glad to say it was time well spent…not only was it very productive…but introspective, as well, thinking about my FIL and the person he was. It was a beautiful event and tribute to an amazing human being and Pacific Northwest jazz educator. While this is off-topic for Poppy readers, take a moment to read about his life’s work. It’s a feel good story about a man who touched so many lives in incredibly positive ways. He lived a life well loved. I’ll miss you Waldo…

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While we were in Seattle, fellow puppy raisers Courtney and Oscar took our sweet girl for three days (their puppy, Farrin, was doing a kennel stay in Sylmar). Poppy had an amazing time and Courtney played dress up with her using her Shakespearian BarkBox props. Oscar is QUITE the photographer and Poppy DOES looks totally regal in these photographs!

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I wound up subscribing to Bark Box! Their themes are hilarious and I can’t wait for some “dress up” pics of my own!

Poppy now weighs a solid 26 pounds, which I feel in my lower back every time I have to pick her up. Gratefully, it’s not too often but it did happen this morning. Since bringing Poppy home April 12th, I relocated myself to our downstairs guest room knowing I would need to take Poppy out multiple times in the middle of the night and didn’t want to attempt carrying her downstairs half-asleep (me half-asleep, not Poppy). Well, last night marked my triumphant return to the master bedroom. I bought a larger crate for Poppy, decorated it as a night stand, and had my first night upstairs with her! She did great. She woke up at 4AM with a short whimper but promptly fell back to sleep when I opened her crate door. I sat there for about five minutes wondering if she’d want to “get busy” but, no. She was out. It took me awhile, though, to fall back to sleep but when Poppy did wake up, it was 7AM. Unfortunately, she was a little reluctant to walk down the stairs so I had to pick up that 26 pounds of wiggly love and carry her. Glad to report we did it. Now, we are working on going up and coming down…stairs!

Poppy is losing that “puppy” look and growing into a beautiful Labrador Retriever. Her coat, which was nearly white, is beginning to take on a beautiful yellow hue. The “stripe” of light yellow she had down her back as a new pup is now spreading out across her coat. Her face, though, is changing the most. You can see in the head shot above that if you didn’t know she was a puppy, you think you were looking at an adult dog. My favorite time with Poppy is when she is just waking up…she no longer whines or barks to get out…in fact, she usually lies there for several minutes looking at me when when I open the crate door. In the early morning light her little black nose, muzzle and eyes, pop from her pale adorable face. The look she gives me melts my heart! But after that??? She’s awake, goes out to pee, poo, eats, goes crazy, bites at my ankles, yanks on my clothes, chews on the corners of the area rug, etc., etc., and I have to wait another 24 hours for that look of love. Sigh. It’s tough raising a puppy!

Poppy is also now going through a stage that I think is equivalent to the “terrible twos” of babyhood. No longer am I the center of her universe…no…she’s decided that my commands are merely suggestions and will stop during a loose leash walk and just stare at me with a look that says, “What? You can go on if you want to but I’m staying here.” So, I wait her out. And wait…and wait…and wait some more. This is a stage I remember (not so fondly) from raising Daisy.

So during my moments of exasperation, LIKE THIS ONE!, I tell myself that this too shall pass and remind myself what an amazing dog Daisy has grown into. And I can’t COUNT how many times Daisy did this with my stock of paper towels! Small price to pay for the privilege of raising her.

#TeamPoppy…out.

Team Poppy

April 16, 2019

In just two short months, on June 17th, it will be 8 years since I entered the hallowed realm of retirement. During this time, I’ve studied art history, learned to draw and paint, took piano lessons, traveled to many interesting places with my husband, golfed, enjoyed family vacations in Hawaii and family BBQs at our home, welcomed three grandchildren into our family, spent many wonderful evenings enjoying dinners with friends, and most recently, raised our dog Daisy from puppyhood (she’ll be two years old May 3rd). During all this time, the one thing I haven’t done is actively donate my time to an agency in need. That is, until now.  

On Friday, April 12, 2019, my husband and I welcomed into our home a tiny, yellow ball of fluff and energy that we named Poppy. Through the puppy raiser program at Guide Dogs of America https://www.guidedogsofamerica.org, we’ve begun our adventure of raising a dog who has a truly special purpose. She has been bred for the gift of sight. 

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There will be puppy classes, advanced training classes, trips to and from the GDA campus in Sylmar, monthly meetings and outings with our regional puppy raising group, gadding about town and our neighborhood with Poppy in her GDA jacket and…if Poppy passes all medical checks, we will return her to GDA in 16 to 18 months for guide dog training school. IF Poppy completes that training, she will be teamed up with a person who needs a sharp set of eyes and a brain full of knowledge to get her new human from place to place.

As I sit outside with Poppy on this beautiful morning, watching her nap peacefully after a fun play time of squeaky toys and tug-of-war, I am overwhelmed with emotion thinking of and praying for the possibility of Poppy being the gift of sight for someone in need. I’ve witnessed first hand what that gift means and how it’s given life back to that person and can think of no other thing I want to do with my time than to help play a part of giving that gift to someone else.

So, the journey has begun! This is our sweet Poppy.

You can find more information about becoming a puppy raiser here. https://www.guidedogsofamerica.org/gda-programs/puppy-raising/

Hello world!

I have NO idea how I will use this forum but I was inspired to create a blog after watching “Julie & Julia.”  I’m not going to cook everything in Julia Child’s cookbook but I’m sure when the right opportunity to blog about something comes along, I’ll know it and put this resource to good use!