Learning to Swim

Good Morning
I am starting my new post early this weekend.  Mom and Dad are watching the HUSKERS play Michigan St. and Dad has banned Ruthie and I to the mud room.  He doesn't want any interruptions or horse playing to distract him from the game.  He doesn't know however that I hid my lap top to write in the mud room.  During commercial breaks Dad comes in and gives us a treat or takes us out to "Hurry up"  so I have to keep an eye out so he doesn't see me writing.  I am not suppose to take the lap top out of the office. 

First I need to tell you about my day last Sunday.  Mom and Dad got up and read the paper then Dad had to go to the office so Mom, Ruthie and I went to the lake for a long walk and more swimming lessons.  I think this was my fourth lesson - probably getting close to my last with cold temps around the corner - and I LEARNED to SWIM !!  I kind of surprised myself and everyone else too.  Mom threw out a stick for Ruthie and I just followed along.  We did this over and over for about an hour.  I was sooooooo tired after all of the swimming that I had a hard time walking back to the car.  Dinner when we got back home and naps for Ruthie and I in the mud room since we were still wet and had sand in our hair. 

Monday Mom took Ruthie and I back over to the lake for a walk and more swimming.   However, there was this big thing in the lake that made these big waves and I didn't like them so I stayed mostly on the beach digging up pine cones.  Prickly little things.  Ruthie was a swimming machine and went out and back over and over.  When we got back home we all took a nap. 

Tuesday I found out where my beach name came from.  Dad was watching HGTV-House Hunters and all of a sudden they said Avalon Beach - New Jersey.  As soon as I heard that I started watching.  Mom was in the office working so Dad yelled at her to come to the hearth room.  The family on TV bought a vacation house on Avalon beach !  Looked like a pretty nice one.  I should contact them to see if I can come visit. 

On Wednesday Mom gave me my little pink pill then went for her run.  After lunch we headed to the commissary at Offutt Air Force Base.  It it like a HUGE Walmart but everything is groceries.  Mom usually goes there once a month and fills one, sometimes two grocery carts.  We entered the base at the gate and Mom had to show her I.D.  I didn't have one so I just showed them my KSDS vest.  At the Commissary Mom said I did pretty good considering it took us 3 hours to do our shopping.  I didn't get car sick so was feeling pretty good in the store.  I watched out for my tail because there were lots of carts buzzing by and didn't want it rolled over.  Had that happen once before with a wheelchair and it doesn't feel to good !  People were interested in us and some stopped and talked to me and Mom.  Mom even let some kids and their parents pet me.  I tried as much as possible to sit/stay but at times my curiosity got the best of me and I wondered around.  Mom had the leash hooked to the cart so I couldn't go far.   She found that gentle lead thing which I totally despise.  I really need to find that thing one night when they are sleeping and hide it.


This week I kind of blew my confidence with Dad by taking a "Hurry up" late one evening on the nice rug in the living room. Dad woke Mom up from a deep sleep to show her. I am not sure if Mom was more upset about my accident or the fact Dad woke her up to see it ? At least it wasn't my BIG business and no one had to light candles or spray something from the can. 

My Aunt Allison with her two boys and Grandma Keuter stopped by on Friday.  Right before they came I found some more toilet paper and we know what happens when I do that.  Mom was not a happy camper.  She said it was funny the first time around but it is old now.  She cleaned up the paper and tried to flushed it down the toilet but it stuck so she had to get this stick with a bowl on the bottom and pound the water ?  She also told them I am hitting my terrible two's.  Kind of challenging my commands and having a "mind of my own" as she put it. 

Need to sign off - Dad is coming. It is halftime and I think we are going outside.  I heard him say he was going to throw the ball for Ruthie and I so we could burn up some energy.  I think he has burned up all of his energy jumping and yelling at the game.  It makes is distracting to write and hard to take a nap.

Happy Halloween from the Farmstead here in Papillion, Nebraska !

Road Trips

It is a foggy day this morning - You can hardly see out the windows.  When I went out to "Hurry up" this morning it looked soooo cool !  I even woke my Mom up at 3:00 am this morning and got to see the fog.

This week was a week of road trips with my Mom.  Some went OK while others did not.  Let me tell you about them.  Our first trip was on Tuesday after the sprinkler guy came and turned off the sprinklers for the year.  Ruthie and I had FUN chasing the sprinkler heads but had to spend time in the mud room drying off.  Mom gave me my pink pill after they left then went for her run while my pill did it's job and this time it worked !  Mom and I headed out to Petsmart and Penney's.  I was not a happy camper at Petsmart.  Mom bought me a gentle lead which I did not ask for and I highly protested !!  I put the breaks on and refused to walk with her but she tricked me with treats.  Not fair.  We then stopped at Penney's and made a return.  I was the entertainment in the return line.  There was a fly which would not leave me alone and I kept breaking command and chasing it around and around.  I finally caught it and ate it.  Not as good as a grasshopper though. 

On Wednesday my Mom worked in the office till the carpet cleaners came to the house.  Mom has a doggie bed under her desk for Ruthie and I but this day I got to be there all by myself.  It is so cozy under her desk and she even snuggles her toes under my belly sometimes when I let her.  Baby the cat likes to be there too but I usually chase her away.  This is DOG country !  After the carpet cleaners left Mom took Ruthie and I for a long walk at the lake.  NO gentle lead !  I didn't get sick since it was a short ride but could feel it coming on - No pink pill.

Thursday was another day on the road.  Again, Mom gave me my pink pill then went for her run.  After lunch we headed out.  My Mom thought maybe if I rode in the front seat that my car sickness might not haunt me as much.  Let me tell you the story.  First we stopped at Penney's.  I stayed in the car while my Mom made a quick return.  We then headed off to see my Uncle Jeff at his work place to give him some peppers from the garden.   That is when everything broke loose !  My Mom went inside to give him the peppers then they came outside to see me.  Well, while Mom was in there you can guess what happened and all over the front seat and sacks on the floor of the front seat.  Mom opened the door and said "#@*!" but then hugged me knowing I was feeling sick.  She lifted me out of the car and Uncle Jeff watched me while my Mom cleaned everything up.  Uncle Jeff is a COOL guy !

Next we stopped at Lowes and I was a hit at the check out lane.
The staff even took a picture of me to post in their break room. Mom was into the gentle lead thing again and I will tell you I protested most of the time I was in Lowes.  Before we headed home we stopped at Walmart and bought some groceries.  My first real grocery shopping trip.  Mom finally took off the gentle lead.  She might have understood puppy talk for the first time but probably it was because she was out of treats and I was not cooperating.  I hope she loses that thing !  I might try and find it and hide it.  Ruthie can help me.

Saturday did not start out to good.  Mom got up and let us out to "Hurry up" then fed Ruthie and I.  She went to her office thinking Dad was getting up and letting us out to do our BIG business.  He didn't and I did my business in the mud room.  When I did Ruthie told me Dad was not going to be too happy and he wasn't.  Mom lit candles and sprayed something out of a can ? 

Another thing Mom is trying with this "hurry up" business is bells on the back door.  She learned that some of the other puppy raisers with KSDS teach their puppies to ring the bells to go outside so Mom wants me to be up to par with the other puppies.  I rang the bell a couple of times this week because I get a treat when I do.  I am thinking about this bell thing and if I want to continue with it ?  Makes me feel like I am a Pavlov dog instead of a service dog.   She has my Dad trained to ring the bell.  He does it every time he lets me out. 

Saturday came and it was HUSKER time again.  We all went outside and put up Little Red.  We played around outside with Dad then Ruthie and I did our BIG business way down my the dirt road.  Dad made us trek up the lane and get his poo shovel so he could flip it out in the field.  He is a great poo flipper !  While the game was on my Mom made Runzas for the first time.  I made sure I was right under her feet in case any thing fell on the floor.  Ruthie usually does this but let me try my hand for the first time.  One thing I also got to try for the first time was something my Dad usually drinks during the games.  It comes in a blue can and when he gets ready to throw it in the trash he sometimes turns it upside down.  Ruthie showed me what to do.   I asked him in puppy talk if I could have my own can but just like my Mom he doesn't understand puppy talk.  Ruthie however said you have to be 21 before you can have your own can.

I can't say enough about Ruthie.  She is so much fun to play with and teaches me a lot about dog life.  She is a grown up therapy dog and knows a lot more words then I do but is patient with me and ever so kind.  I hope I grow up to be just like her.

I am a TV Star !

It was another WONDERFUL week on the Farmstead !  Nice fall temps with a little rain here and there.   More trips out to the garden with my Mom saying the last harvest of the peppers !  I saw her cutting up those long orange things one night this week which turned her fingers a funny color.  There were a few still in a basket in the mud room which I tried to taste one morning but Mom caught me and took them away. 

We went for two walks at the lake this week.  I surprised myself again by swimming out with Ruthie but when I discovered I was swimming I panicked and pounded on the water coming back.  Mom then threw the sticks closer for me so I didn't have to swim to go get them.  Water is getting COLD so don't know if we will be getting in again.  I was shivering on the way home so Mom turned on the car heater. 

Off to the Vet for my last set of shots for a year ?  They gave my Mom my rabies tags for my new collar but I am calling it my new Bling !  All of the pretty pink is now gone.  No more pink food bowls, collar, leash or baby diaper bag.  I now have blue and black to match my puppy in training vest.  I weighed in at 29 pounds. 

I heard the Vet and my Mom whispering about something called surgery ?  that I will need in a couple of months.  I was trying to listen to what they were saying but this cat in the Vet's office would not leave me alone.  I asked him if he knew anything about something called surgery and he said you won't like it.  I will have to ask Ruthie about this.  After we left the Vet's office we stopped at Shadow Lake Mall and Hy-Vee.  I will remember Hy-Vee because they give out puppy treats !

Friday night Mom and Dad took my sisters Aunna and Meghann out for their birthdays.  I was hoping I was going to get to go to my first restaurant and have Italian food but Ruthie and I had to stay at home.  Mom felt sorry for us having to stay in the mud room for the evening so she gave us a special treat to chew on.  When they got home I was soooo excited when I heard them talking about all of the dogie bags they brought home.  I was thinking treats for Ruthie and I but I was wrong.  Ruthie explained to me that they should really call them human baggies because it is the food leftover from dinner that they bring home to eat later.

Now to the BIG EVENT of the week.  My Mom entered us in a contest on a local TV startion WOWT Channel 6 and we won breakfast with Serese the morning anchor at the Hy-Vee store out on 132nd and Dodge.  This Hy-Vee store was way out in west Omaha so it was a big trip for us.  My Mom woke me up at 5:00am and let me "hurry up" outside but I didn't get breakfast.  Instead Mom gave me a little pink pill that she said would help me not to get car sick.  She told me we would all be having breakfast at Hy-Vee however I saw Mom putting puppy food in a baggie in the back pack so I knew it would be puppy food for me not human food.                       

We arrived at Hy-Vee a little before 7:00 and were live on TV around 7:20 and again about 20 minutes later.  The first time I was not on TV so before the second interview Mom picked me up and a STAR was born !  We had a GREAT time and got to see a lot of people plus talk to some of them about puppy raising and service/guide dogs.  I wore my KSDS vest with pride !


On Saturday my Dad thought it was time to make sure I understood Kansas football for when I go back to KSDS so we watched the
K-State game.  Really though I think it was only because the HUSKERS didn't play this weekend.  Either way I love to watch football with my Daddy !  I even got to get up on the couch and watch.   

On Sunday Mom and  Dad along with my sisters and other aunts, uncles, cousins and some friends went to Wahoo to the care center to see my Grandma Schense and go to Mass.  Mom woke me up again early to have me take my pink pill because I was going to get to go along but things kind of went down hill from there.   The Ford was all loaded up when she went out to get in the car and she had a flat tire.  I heard Mom and Dad talking out in the garage from the mud room where I was waiting and I think they said some words I can't repeat again.  So a long story short I didn't get to go because Mom had to drive my Grandma Keuter's car and just in case the pink pill didn't work Mom didn't want a mess in her nice car.

When Mom got back though we had a nice evening.  Mom let Ruthie and I out to play while she mowed the field grass then we messed around outside with Dad when he got back from Wahoo.  Ruthie and I even  got to have dinner outside just like a picnic.

After dinner Dad went to the office and we went inside and watched Extreme Makeover.  It is one of Mom's show she likes to watch.  I helped her fold some laundry - actually I just liked steeling the socks before we all went to bed early after a busy weekend.

Training Vest Arrived

It was a WONDERFUL Fall week on the Farmstead.  A little windy at times but still GREAT outside weather.  Mom, Ruthie and I spent a lot of time outside in the garden and going for walks while Dad took us out after work and we scanned the farm with him.  I really like going out with Dad because he is about playing and messing around outside while when Mom and I go out I usually have to do some work on puppy training. 

One of our walks was at the lake again this week.  We walked with one of my Mom's friends and her dog.  It was a long walk since we went around the lake twice.  We even got to get in the water again.  However, on the way home it was not so good.  A day of FUN can sure be spoiled by car sickness.  I was trying so hard not to get sick because Mom had forgotten to put the blanket down but right before we pulled up to the house it happened !!  I can't believe Mom took a picture !!

Ruthie and I played a lot together this week.  Mom lets us out of the mud room to play now since I am pretty much "Hurry Up" broken.  I think I only had two accidents this whole week.  One when Mom ran some errands and I drank too much of Ruthie's water then last night when Dad was letting us out during the Nebraska football game and he let Ruthie out first instead of me and said "Hurry Up" and I was still inside.  He picked me up when he saw what was happening and outside we went missing the game braking touchdown for the Huskers.  Thank goodness they replayed it over and over several times.  We didn't get to bed till late since it was another evening game and Dad is always so excited.

I was going to go out with my Mom to have lunch with my sister Aunna for her birthday but my vest had not arrived yet and people don't know why I would be in a restaurant unless I have that on.  Ruthie and I played in the mud room then took a nap while Mom was out.  We were going to go on a visitation but it was rescheduled.  Something to do with the school system's policies on having service puppies in the classrooms.

On Friday we had company or kind of company.  My Mom got new curtains upstairs and downstairs.  At first Ruthie and I got to stay out with everyone but after we kept taking stuff and thinking they were play toys I had to go to my kennel and Ruthie went to the bedroom with the door shut.  Good thing was that after they left we went for a LONG walk out on the county road. 

This Saturday was game day again.  Late game.  Little Red stayed in the garage this weekend.  WINDY !!  I was concerned if he didn't come out that would jinx the game and it almost did.  We pulled it out at the last minute! I don't think I have ever heard my Dad yell and jump around as much as he did last night.

One thing exciting that happened for me on Saturday was my training vest arrived.  I tried it on and it is a fit! I jumped and yelled just like my Dad.

On Sunday Mom and Dad  worked out in the garden while Ruthie and I played outside.  They said they were harvesting the last of the crop but I have heard that before.  Mom had a lot of long orange things she was working on.  Ruthie snuck one and was eating it - Dad was not to happy.  Mom  took a break and gave me a motion sickness pill so that when she was done she and I could go out for our first official outing.  We went to Bed, Bath and Beyond, Penney's and the Dollar Store at the Mall then walked around for a bit.  I even deposited a large poo that my Mom cleaned up - so proud that it all happened outside when she told me to "hurry up" and not inside plus I didn't get car sick ! 

Mom also stopped at Petsmart but I didn't get to go in.  She finally bought that new LARGER food bowl along with a new water bowl.   When we got home we tried it out.  Nice silver ones. 

After dinner my Mom put the new collar on me she bought at Petsmart.  A grown up one.  It kind of matches my new vest.  Need to keep up with the fashion trends. 

Tonight everyone is going to bed early.  We all stayed up too late after the HUSKER victory.  I still think I need to watch some Kansas games so when I go back to KSDS I know what is what and can hold my own down there.

Fall is Here !

I don't have much knowledge about the changing seasons but I think I heard Mom say "Fall is here" and I sure like it, however going out in the morning has challenges.  Mom and Dad don't like to get their shoes wet in the frost so I  kind of get free range on going but I don't like to get my feet wet either. I then have to get them wiped down before I come in.  All this takes to long before I can have breakfast.  Also, it is sooooo chilly in the morning when you have been snuggled up in your warm bed all night. 

I just want you to know I discovered something new this week !!  Toilet paper.  Once in the mud room but the big discovery was in my parent's bathroom.  Mom brought me in there while she was getting dressed and I had a hay day before she discover what I was doing.  I thought I was really on the fast lane thinking this was a GREAT way to let her know I needed to go out.  I see them using it when they "hurry up" however my Mom didn't think so.  She thinks I need a bell at the door to ring.  She says other KSDS puppies use it. 

This week I had a new adventure !  The weather was so nice my Mom took me to the lake where they use to live.  Ruthie went too.  I have never seen a bath tub that BIG !  Mom was throwing play toys out for Ruthie to swim out and get so I thought I would go out with her.  Didn't know I could dog paddle ?  However when I figured out what I was doing I panicked and slapped at the water on the way back.  I decided after that to stay on the beach and dig in the sand. I buried some of Ruthie's toys so when we got ready to leave we were on a search and find mission.  

The only bad thing about my adventure was that Ruthie and I had to spend time in the mud room so we took a nap till we dried enough to get out.  My sister takes such good care of me !  My Dad asked my Mom the next day where we had gone the day before and she told him the lake - he then understood why my poo looked so funny !  I will tell you though sand is not as good as grasshoppers. 

Car sickness is always haunting me.  This time it really wasn't pretty.  Mom and me were going for a quick trip out to run some errands and everything happened before we even got off the dirt road from our house.  Mom put an old blanket down just for this and it really came in handy.  First it was the front end with Mom stopping and shaking out the blanket then as quickly as the first one happened the other end produced and it was smelly.  Mom got out again and shook the rug out and unfortunately it landed on her shoe so back home we went.  The short story is that I didn't get to run errands with her. 

We were out in the garden a lot this week.  Finishing up the fall harvest along with picking the few tomatoes that are still trying to turn red.  I was out helping but mostly I was chasing the grasshoppers and eating them.  Someone should invent grasshopper dog food - they are sooo good to eat and there are sooo many of them.  I want you to look at those legs - My Mom says I am all legs !

Mom and I had a long talk this week about my choice profession when I go back to KSDS college..  She thinks I should switch my major from service dog to a bomb sniffing dog.  I am excellent at sniffing out DEER POO !  my new snack of choice.  It is all over here on the farmstead.  My mission is to search, eat and ignore my parents till I am done.  My Dad has issues with my new snack of choice and says my breath smells like S _ _ _ !  I can't say that word since I was told it was a bad word  - however I was told adults can say that word now and then.  I don't think he has smelled Ruthie's breath lately because he hasn't said that about her breath and she is usually out there with me snacking. 

The weekend came and Mom and me did fall decorating.  I mostly sniffed at the corn stock and hay and wondered what those funny orange things were.  Mom explained they were pumpkins and around Halloween we will carve them.  Not sure what that means but anything I get to do with Mom is cool with me.  I might ask Ruthie about pumpkin carving since she has been around during Halloween before.  I also heard my Mom talk to my sister Aunna about Howl-o-ween - a dog trick or treating - and it sounded so cool.  Will update you after we attend.  I think I will go as a HUSKER FAN. 

Saturday it was game day again in Nebraska.  We put Little Red out in the morning so he could remind everyone driving up and down 63rd street to watch the game.  My parents had company over this weekend since it was an away game.  Mom made chili and let it cook all day.  It smelled sooo good but I was told it was people food and I would not be getting any.  Rats !  During the game which started in the evening Ruthie and I spent most of the time upstairs with a young girl who came with a couple my parents invited.  She was sooo much fun to play with and kept us company while the adults yelled and stomped downstairs.  It was not a good night for the HUSKERS or my Dad. 

Check out the things on my TO-DO-LIST.  I am getting some DONE !