Meeting 2-25-2010

Hi all,

We had a meeting today at the library in Albemarle. We got to meet Hope's new guide dog, Shannon. Shannon is from The Seeing Eye in New Jersey. Hope had to travel to New Jersey to learn to work with Shannon as a team, and what team they make! Hope is part of the Graduate Council at Southeastern Guide Dogs. She helps the school by letting them know what blind people need and also helps people by answering any questions they may have. Hope's former guide, Muffin, lives with her and Shannon and is enjoying her retirement.

Our meeting tonight was inside. It was very cold and windy today. My mom said she even saw a light dusting of snow on the ground this morning. We practiced our basic obedience by doing stand-stays (always the hardest for us to learn); going in a square to practice forward, left-left/right-right, and right-about; sits; and downs. Our raisers traded dogs for a little while to get us puppies used to being worked by someone new. I recognized Susan immediately (she was the one I went to puppy camp with the first time). She didn't work me though.

After we got our wiggles out, our handlers traded back and then they practiced eating beside us while sitting on the floor. The purpose of this exercise is to make sure that they can keep us under control while they eat and we are not trying to get any people food. We are NOT allowed any people food whatsoever. There are some things that humans can eat that we cannot, for instance, chocolate. Another reason is that it teaches us bad house manners. We could learn to start stealing food from people or from their plates while they are not looking and that would just not be good. It is impolite. Good guide dogs should resist the urge to eat anything unless it is their specific diet and even then, they should wait for the 'okay' release before they eat. I did very good on the exercises we practiced today.

I have some pictures to show you that I will post soon. I have tried to post them in this post, but for some reason they will not upload. I am going to try a few things and see if I can get it to work. They are really good pictures and I would love to share them with you.

One more thing: instead of leaving to go to Florida for the weekend, we will be taking a trip to the beach instead. It is a lot closer to out home and is less costly, plus mom and dad are trying to save their money to go to Florida so, if Hugh were to get matched with a blind or visually impaired person, they could go see him. It is called Puppy Raiser Day and it is a very special day in which the puppy raisers get to watch the dog that they raised walk their graduation route with their new handler/owner. As soon as we get back from the beach, I will be going on a short puppy swap with Legion and his family. I will be in Concord and Legion will be here. He will get to blog in my place.

Lots of love,
Cameron

New Pictures of Me

hey there


I'm sleepy





The day after my surgery


Practicing my obedience training. This is my sit-stay


Here is my stand-stay






sleeping at my masters' feet

I sure am growing. I am already up to 47.4 pounds! I am 3/4 the size of Bristol and I am only 7 months old. As you can see in some of the pictures above, I had to graduate into the really big boy coat. The other was just too short for me. I am a strong and healthy dog.

Cameron

Pictures From Snow Day

Hey there,

Mom couldn't find the pictures she was looking for when she posted our snow day blog (I think she would lose her head if it wasn't attached to her body), but here they are now.


Bristol waiting for the frisbee to be thrown


me watching Bristol


haha I have the frisbee now


try and catch me, Bristol


Bristol bringing back the frisbee

There wasn't a whole lot of snow but it was still fun just the same.

Puppy Love,
Cameron

Vet Visit...Oh Boy

Last Friday I had to go to the vet to get neutered. That was not so fun. I do have a slight eye infection though in which the humans have to put ointment in my eye twice a day to make it better. My bottom eyelid does not form to my eye quite like it should so it allows dirt, pollen, etc. to get in there and cause an infection. The vet said she hopes I will grow out of it.

When I was finished with my surgery, the vet glued the area back together. I got to come home the same day. Our vet lets us come home the same day with some pain medicine and activity instructions. I am not in any pain which is good, but my mom still gives me my pain medicine to be sure. A day or two after my surgery, I messed with my incision area and opened it back up.
Since I keep messing with my incision area, I have to wear a cone on my head. I had to go have the area glued back together on Tuesday. At 6 o'clock that afternoon when my mom got home from babysitting, she noticed that I had already gotten the area back open again. This time she decided to leave the area open but watch me very closely to make sure that that particular area does not become infected.

I keep running into everything with the cone on my head because I can't see to the side. It gets stuck on some things when I am going around the house, but I can always get free when I back up and try again. It is loose enough where I will not be strangled. Mom and dad make sure I am safe from any harm with the cone on my head.

I need to be calm for the next week or two while the area heals....that's a hard thing for a Vizsla to do. We have tons and tons of energy to expel and staying in one spot is not our thing. If you know a Vizsla, you know what I mean.

Will keep you posted,
Cameron

Snow Day (Last Week)

Cameron here,

We had some snow/ice at our house last week. We got to go outside and play. Bristol and I played with a frisbee while the humans watched us and pushed the baby around in her little buggy. Our driveway ended up being like an ice-skating ring. Our pond behind the house was frozen. It was a lot of fun though.


Baby all bundled up


our frozen pond

Puppy Love,
Cameron