Last Meeting

Cameron here,

Mom and I went to my last meeting today. I got to see some of the puppy raisers for the last time before I go IFT. They gave me a lot of loving and wished me luck. It was a pretty good meeting where we learned two new things: Watch-Watch which is where the puppy raiser will stop at an object that is hanging in the way of our path (I can fit under it but my raiser cannot), make us sit, and will tell us to 'watch-watch' while touching the object and then leading us around he object; and Forward-Straight which is used at an intersection when we are crossing. It seems pretty simple.

We practiced walking down a sidewalk and using the new techniques. We listened to one of the puppy raisers speak about what else she had learned at the AC conference not long ago. We moved into the building to continue our meeting since it had gotten dark and we practiced walking past each other without being distracted. There were only three of us puppies at this meeting (Spunky is in VA with the raiser that had me for a couple of weeks) me, SNAP, and CW. I did really good passing the two pups and not getting distracted. Mom was proud of me and our AC gave me praise and said that I was ready to go! That is good news!

We will leave next Friday morning really early for the long journey down to Florida. I can't believe my time here with mom and dad is almost up. I will be reunited with my siblings. It has been a long time since I have seen any of them. It should be fun. Wish Spunky and me luck at the guide dog school. :)

Here are some pictures of me and mom at my last meeting:


I am all dressed for Halloween






I wait patiently while SNAP walks by. She was so hyper but it was funny.


Me and mom.




SNAP


CW and his raiser. (CW is SNAP's brother)


Mom and I listening to a puppy raiser speaker.

Wish me luck next week as I start a new chapter in my life....

Love,
Cameron

A Little Bird Told Me...

That Cameron is doing great with the puppy raiser he is with while Spunky AKA Spunkmeister/Spunky Monkey is at our house. I have been told that he is working beautifully in his harness and that he gets LOTS of attention at church and in the classroom that the raiser teaches in. She has also informed of his wonderful house manners. I am pleased with all of this good news about Cameron! That has made me a proud puppy raiser mom hearing all of these complements on my pup! What more could I ask for? She loves him and is enjoying his company. C

Cameron will be returning in a couple of weeks to spend his final week in our home before he returns to Southeastern Guide Dogs. Spunky will leave our house when Cameron returns to stay with the raiser in VA (where Cameron is) and then go back to his primary raiser for a few days before coming back here to make the long journey down to Florida. Sounds complicated, I know, but it really is not. We are just playing puppy shuffle.

On the subject of Spunky,
He is doing good. He is a very sweet, young boy and he is pretty gentle for the most part. He is loving his daily run in the yard (several times a day) with my other two dogs. I think that is his favorite part of being here...just being a dog at home. He works nicely in harness and he has recently done a presentation with our AC for school children. He did great! I am also very pleased with him.

I love all of the dogs no matter who they are or where they come from. That is all I have for you right now. Will blog again later.

Bye for now,
Cameron's mom

Puppy Camp Tomorrow

Cameron here,

I will be leaving for Puppy Camp tomorrow afternoon to stay with a raiser in Virginia. I will be with her for a couple of weeks while Spunky comes to our house...actually, Spunky is already here. Mom went to pick him up last night at his house so that he can camp with her for a couple of weeks.

We have a meeting tomorrow at 4:00 in Albemarle and we might be doing a downtown walk if it is not raining. We shall see what the weather has in store for us tomorrow.

Mom, dad, Spunky, and I will be headed down to Florida the first weekend in November for mine and Spunky's IFT. I am looking forward to the journey and to start this new journey on my own. Mom will keep you posted on my progress as she finds out.

I will blog in a couple of weeks when I return, until then, Spunky will be here and you can hear about his adventures in the meantime.

Love,
Cameron

We Just Got A Letter.....

And it just so happens to be my In-For-Training letter. It is the letter telling the puppy raisers what days we dogs are to return to the school. It also gives a brief explanation of what happens during the IFT time and what to expect.

Mom is excited for me to start the next phase of training on my own, but she will miss me.

While I am on the subject of IFT, I just want to say good luck to all of the October IFT dogs in our group: Sandy, Riley-Jack, Laura and Ranger. I wish you all the very best of luck and I will see you again soon.

Mom and I had a local event today at a PetSense store. It was their Adopt-A-Thon and we were invited to represent Southeastern Guide Dogs and maybe even recruit new puppy raisers. We will be continuing the even tomorrow. It went well today, so I am hoping the same for tomorrow.

Puppy love from,
Cameron

Mom and I Practicing Obedience

Mom and went outside today to practice some obedience training out in the heat, which is not my favorite. I do not like the heat but she says I better get used to it because where I'm going in another month, is going to be a lot hotter. Back to the place I was born...Southeastern Guide Dogs Inc. in Palmetto, Florida.

Mom took some really good pictures of me while I was wearing the harness. I have really grown up to be a very handsome boy if I do say so myself! Want to see?

















Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Love,
Cameron

Did You See That?...No Probably Not

Hello there,

Tonight's Obedience Training meeting was very interesting and well thought out. We started off the evening by doing our regular obedience training but with a twist: we had used exposures that were never done before. One of our puppy raisers conducted the meeting instead of our Area Coordinator and she had some very good ideas about things we should work on.

We had a soft dog bed cover to walk over in the grass, a squeak toy laying on the ground to walk by, a bowl of treats to walk by, and a couple of wet trash bags to walk over. We had never used the wet trash bags before and this is not something I and a couple of others were sure of. For one thing, one of them was black and the second thing is that they were both wet. When we were all walking around in a circle past the items, I tried jumping over the bags or going way around them to avoid touching them....I wasn't the only one which means this is something we all need to work on. I wasn't sure about the dog bed cover laying on the ground until I realized that it was soft and pleasant to walk over, then I liked it. After walking around a little and incorporating OT into the mix of it all, we had to sit at/on each object...no I still did not want to sit on the wet bags, but that's okay, I just need to work on it. We decided to move onto another part of the training after that which was doing puppy push-ups over popcorn and cat food that was scattered all over the sidewalk. It was difficult to focus, but we did it!

We cleaned up the food outside and then it was time for our surprise for the meeting....blindfold time! Mom and all the other puppy raisers were blindfolded. They all had to put our coats on blindfolded and were led inside by a person who was not to the table where they were all going to eat. This is a blindfold dinner where each raiser gets the chance to see what it is like to be blind and they have to eat that way navigating with their hands and being given directions by someone else as to where everything is located. Blind people use the clock method where every item is placed at a time position, for example: beans at 9 o'clock, bread at 6 o'clock, etc. All of us dogs/puppies did great laying under the tables like we were supposed to waiting for our raisers to finish. Everyone ate and carried on conversations for a while and then were allowed to remove their blindfolds. I think they really liked that part.

Mom made a cake for dessert which had all of the dogs' names on it that are going IFT soon: In October it will be Sandy, Riley-Jack, Ranger, and Laura; November it will be me and Spunky. It was a pretty cake and everyone liked it.

Mom found out today that the puppies will be available November 2nd, so we will be making the trip to Florida soon. That means I will be going in early most likely.

Here is a picture of the cake:

It was already inside the cake box but hopefully you can see it.

I will post a video of the dinner later.

Good night all.

Love,
Cameron

Best of Badin Festival

Our guide dog group got to go to the Best of Badin festival this morning in Badin, North Carolina. This festival is not a big event, but it is enough for us. There are a lot of people, food, other dogs, vendors of all sorts, games for kids to play, and a LOT more distractions that were sure to keep us on our toes.

When we first got to the meeting, we practiced some puppy push-ups to get our minds going and to also help relieve some of the puppy wiggles. We practiced for about 15-20 minutes and then took a break to let us dogs get some water. While on the water break, mom got each one of us dogs induvidually and ran with us to help get even more of the wiggles out. She had as good a time as we dogs did getting to run with her! Since she is all healed up from her surgery a few weeks ago, she is able to run and play and boy is she glad about that! (So am I for that matter).

After that was over, we all decided it was time to go into the festivities for the exposure part of the outing. We were all excercised, focused, and now ready to work. There were a lot, and I do mean a lot, of things on our exposure checklist that we found at the meeting today like: people (young and older), food (on the ground and in peoples' hands), balloons, flags flapping in the wind, someone in a Smokey the Bear costume, other dogs, there was a squirrell that I thought I wanted to chase, loud noises from the vending areas and stage area, a train ride for the kids, golf carts, kid play areas (blow-up play areas), and so many more things to name. It was a great outing for us! While the Badin festival was not a large area, it was still packed full of things we need to be exposed to. It was a little hot today, but we need to get used to working in the heat of the day. At least there was a breeze to cool it down a little.

We stayed there for a couple of hours and after we got to see all that there was, we decided it was time to leave. I was tired from the meeting....I slept the whole ride home! Mom thought it was funny that I was so worn out by that meeting. I think we all had a great time....I know I did!

It was a good day. I hope all you readers and followers had as good a day as I have. Will blog again soon.

Love,
Cameron

P.S. Mom talked to Jesse, Hugh's forever person, today and she was so happy to hear that he had received his photo album in the mail containing pictures of Hugh growing up. He loved it! He wants to meet with mom and dad when they go down to Florida to take me In-For-Training. He may even come to Walk-A-Thon next year. Mom and dad are planning on attending since they have not been in two years. What fun it will be!