Israel Guide Dog Mitzvah Club

Gibor Goes To College

2008-08-13T12:48:00.002+03:00

I just got this picture of my buddy, Gibor, from Jeff Lambert, who is raising him for us all the way across the world in Long Island, New York.
You know, Puppy Raisers need to bring us pups wherever they go--- school, work, shopping... so we can get used to all kinds of situations.
This time, Jeff needed to go to Williams College in Williamstown, MA, so, of course, Gibor went with him.
See the statue of two eyes in the background. Neat symbolism, don't you think?

Izzy

Puppies galore!

2008-08-07T11:59:00.003+03:00

More congratulations are in store- this time for Mom, Zoe, and Dad, Ben and the nine (count' um----nine!) puppies of the SH Litter. SH? Well, you know in Hebrew, there's this letter "Shin" that sounds like an SH as in Shadow, Sheleg (which means "Snow") and Shoko (which means "Chocolate".
See? From us dogs at the Israel Guide Dog Center for the Blind, not only can you learn all about Guide Dogs; you can learn Hebrew too!

Izzy

R Litter Check Up

2008-07-17T14:34:00.003+03:00

Today, Timora took each of Daisy's 9 pups, the R Litter, and, one by one, brought them into our on-site veterinary clinic for a quick check-up. The pups all passed with flying colors. Now, they are weaned, checked and ready to go. Next stop: Nine Puppy Raising Families ready to receive them with open arms and hearts.

Izzy

Guess who's coming to...lunch?

2008-07-10T13:26:00.006+03:00

Remember I told you that those 10 adorable T puppies are back at the Center? And what ever happened to that poodle puppy from our friends in Canada?

Well, here they are at lunchtime in our kennels a year later, and boy, have they GROWN! Good thing that there's plenty of food here (thanks to our friends at ProPlan) or I would be worried that there'd be none left for ME!

Taylor, Tao and the rest of the Ts, Chetz, a couple of H's and practically all the others are here for assessment. That means that they finished their year of puppyhood with Adoptive Families and now, the staff has started to work with them more closely to decide who gets to be a Breeding Dog, who gets to be a Guide Dog and who needs a Career Change.

It's sort of like the Olympic Trials.... only more important. We are all wonderful dogs, but only the best of the best get to be Guide Dogs or Breeding Stock at the Israel Guide Dog Center for the Blind. For us, getting to contribute so much to the lives of visually-disabled people is better than any medal --- bronze, silver or gold!

Izzy

3 Great Reasons To Celebrate

2008-06-19T13:15:00.004+03:00

#1: Happy "Birthing Day"!: Hooray for Lichee, Daisy's mom, who gave birth to two beautiful, healthy pups within a week of the birth of her Grandpuppies. And a happy belated Father's Day to their dad, Lance.

#2: Happy Birthday, Ts: Remember those 10 cute little puppies all lined up on a park bench? Well, believe it or not, they are already a year old! Soon they will come back to the Center for assessment, selection and training as Guide Dogs. Good luck, Ts. Keep your paws crossed...

#3: Happy Pecan Park Pathways Day: And here is our entire staff laying paths for our new Pecan Park Pathways Project--- Try saying that with a bone between your teeth, why don't you. The six students in our current class were just out there yesterday running their new dogs through their paces on the cool, flat surface in the shade of our enormous pecan trees.

Life is good!
Izzy

Mother-Daughter Team

2008-06-03T13:19:00.006+03:00

Three cheers for Daisy and Apollo... or maybe nine would be better. Just today Daisy gave birth to her very first litter, nine beautiful Lab/Golden Mixes. The red color in the picture is the light from the special lamp that is keeping everyone warm and toasty.

And what's more, Daisy's mom, Lichee, is due to give birth any day now! More good news is on its way...

Izzy

The K Litter is HERE!!

2008-05-20T12:55:00.005+03:00

Congratulations to Tara (aka Mom) and Apollo (aka Dad) on these 11 tiny, squiggly, adorable pups born on May 18th. This photo was taken just one day after they joined our Israel Guide Dog Center Family.

Can you believe that they can get any cuter than this?

Just wait and see...

Izzy

Post-Pesach Peek at the P's

2008-05-04T13:23:00.002+03:00

Here they are again, the P Litter, the youngest members of our Israel Guide Dog Center family. See how each one has a different color ribbon around it's neck so the staff can tell which is which? I have never really understood that. I mean, each one smells completely different from the others. How could anyone mix them up? Sometimes I think they put those ribbons on us just because we look so cute with them.

Rumor has it that the P Litter will not remain our youngest members for long. It seems we may soon have more pups on the way. Stay tuned...

Izzy

Why Is This Day Different From All Other Days?

2008-04-17T14:32:00.003+03:00

Because TODAY, not only did staff, volunteers and friends get together to toast the upcoming Pesach holiday. TODAY, Yariv and Ami received their certificates (and funny caricatures too) to celebrate their becoming our first Israel-trained Mobility Instructors. Go Yariv and Ami! Congratulations to all of us!

And a happy. happy Pesach to everyone!

A Tale of Two Shepherds

2008-04-16T10:31:00.003+03:00

First, here's the update on our friend, Zita, the German Shepherd that disappeared one fateful night in Yafo and reappeared two years later when a vet spotted her ID chip and called us. Thanks to her ID chip, she was returned to us for training and, believe it of not, she has now gone home. That's right! She has returned to the blind person she was helping when she disappeared- back to her work as a full-fledged Guide Dog after a two year break! How about that!

Ready for another German Shepherd story? Here she is snuggling with kennel volunteer Abigail Fox. Happy. Happy was happily working for a family in Beersheba when something terrible happened. Happy's owner was hit by a car and killed. Happy was uninjured but confused. Without her blind handler, she had no direction or purpose. Thankfully, Happy has been back in the kennel with us for several weeks and she is responding well to retraining. We hope to match her with another visually-impaired Israeli as soon as possible.

Coming up--- Puppy Update! Don't miss it!

Izzy

Hooray For Super Mom

2008-03-23T13:15:00.005+02:00

Congratulations to Jinny who gave birth to eight beautiful pups just before Purim! Once her pups are big enough to fend for themselves, chances are that Jinny will go back into training and become a Guide Dog! A Mom AND a Guide Dog????

All I can say is "Bow-----WOW!!"

Izzy

Anita & Josh

2008-03-18T11:17:00.008+02:00

Neither rain nor sleet nor dark of night, nothing stops us Guide Dog puppies from getting our training. But, now that Spring is here, we'll have plenty of warm, sunny days for work and play.

Speaking of work and play, we had to say goodbye to Anita and Josh, Young Judea Year-Course volunteers who worked with us and played with us for three whole months. They promised us they would come and visit. I sure hope they do!

Not only did they spend lots of time with us in the kennels. If you are staying in touch with us through Facebook, donating to us on-line or building your own Fundraising Page for us through Firstgiving , then you have Anita and Josh to thank. They were the ones who really go us moving on-line.

We have some new volunteers here now... but more about them later.

Izzy

Bye-bye Lisa!

2008-02-19T12:14:00.004+02:00

Lisa, one of the nicest and most beautiful German Shepherds you'll ever meet finally fulfilled her dream of becoming a Guide Dog. Timora, our Kennel Manager, got her all prettied up and ready to go to a blind individual for home-based training. She'll be living pretty close to the Center so I hope she'll come visit and let us puppies know what it's like to "make it to the top".

Way to go, Lisa!

Izzy

Storybook Ending

2008-01-28T09:49:00.000+02:00

Wait 'til you hear this!
Two years ago, one of our Guide Dogs, a German Shepherd named Zita, disappeared on the streets of Jaffa. Everyone searched high and low for her. They walked the streets at night calling her name and put up posters. Nothing happened.
Two years later (that was a few days ago), we got a phone call from a veterinarian. A family brought in a dog for a check up and, as part of his routine check he looked for a microchip. It was ZITA!!!!!
Zita is back in the kennels with us now. She is really happy to be home. It's unbelievable how much of her training she still remembers after two years. The trainers are working with her in hopes that she will be able to get back to work, helping another blind person. The moral of the story: NEVER give up! Welcome back, Zita!

Izzy

New Country, New Friend

2008-01-21T21:38:00.001+02:00

Hey, that's Miry and her sister, Leah! She and her service dog, Leroy, are new olim - immigrants to Israel. Lots of friends and family offered to help her with her expenses but she said she and Leroy only needed each other. However, she said she would really like it if they would help US instead. She has started a fundraising page and everything. They are trying to raise enough money for a whole Partnership! Look at the Hero's Greeting she got when she came to visit our kennels for the first time...
Way to go, Miry!

And speaking of new friends, Welcome to the Center "V W" Litter!!! They were just brought from their Puppy-Raising Families and are having a great time getting to know each other and starting their training!

P.S. We call them the "V W" litter because all of their names start with the Hebrew letter "Vav", which sometimes sounds like a "V" as in "Valley" and sometimes sounds like a "W" as in "Walter". Just a little Hebrew lesson for ya...

Izzy

Oh, Boy! Visitors!

2007-12-26T12:56:00.000+02:00

My friends in the kennel told me that we had a whole herd of visitors today including the Sachs Family from Ottawa, Canada, a whole litter from Temple Emanu-el in Dallas, Texas and several nice folks from the Lauder Family.

Luckily, Jimmy (he's a great Guide Dog) had a few spare minutes, so he volunteered to take a couple of the kids on a Blindfold Walk through our Obstacle Course- the one we dogs practice on when we are first learning to be Guide Dogs. Jimmy finished his walk with flying colors. And the girl who walked with him did a great job. In fact, when Jimmy finished, he felt so comfortable walking with her, he just turned in towards our building and headed for his office! When I grow up, I hope I'll be as good a Guide Dog as Jimmy!

Izzy

Here Come The Ds!

2007-12-24T12:39:00.000+02:00

Guess who joined us this week at the Center. The D Litter pups! What a great energetic bunch! Their Puppy Raising Families did a great job... and the toughest job of all... Bringing the pups they raised for a whole year back to the Center so we can get them ready to help blind Israelis gain their independence. Good going, Families!!!! And good luck to our newest trainees!

Chanukah 2007

2007-12-09T09:11:00.002+02:00

From Our House To Yours:
A Happy, Happy Chanukah!

That's our director, Noach helping Dorit light the first candle. It's not that Elsa ( the one in the harness) wasn't interested in the candles; she was just too busy playing dreidal...

Izzy

Reasons To Be Thankful!

2007-11-21T14:10:00.001+02:00

This past week we've had to say 'Thank You' and 'Goodbye' to some of our very favorite people. Karen and Emily came to us from Young Judea Year Course and worked in the kennels for 3 whole months: feeding, walking, cleaning, cuddling and playing with us. They have moved on now to help in other places. I am thankful that they were here but I sure will miss them...

...and this is Tomy. He's been a National Service volunteer with us in the kennel for A WHOLE YEAR! Now that he's done with his National Service, he says he needs to get ready to go to college and everything. I don't want Tomy to leave. He is really funny and gives great hugs. Still, I understand that he has to grow up and get ready to do an important job, just like us Guide Dog puppies. I just hope he comes to visit us a lot. That would be a whole NEW reason to be thankful!

Izzy

Happiness is a Warm N Puppy

2007-11-11T12:42:00.000+02:00

Here are five of our newest guests, Diamond and Neon's Magnificent Seven, the "N" Litter. Pretty darn cute, if you ask me.
In other Kennel news, we now have a Poodle--- yes, I said Poodle--- in training to become a Guide Dog. "Chetz" (that's "arrow" in Hebrew) was a gift from our friends in Ottawa, Canada. He's pretty new around here but he's picking up the Hebrew pretty quickly, even if he does have a pretty strong Canadian accent...
And he is definitely the shaggiest dog in the place. Folks around here say that poodles can make really good Guide Dogs and that it really helps that they don't shed. Personally, I don't see what the big deal is about shedding. I like to think of shedding as my way of leaving a little of myself everywhere I go... Izzy

A Brand New Year

2007-09-11T14:56:00.001+03:00

Happy New Year

From All of Us
at the Israel Guide Dog Center

for the Blind

And a warm welcome to
our newest additions
The puppies of the L Litter

"T" Litter Pups

2007-08-06T11:01:00.000+03:00

These fuzzy Guide Dog 'Wannabees' are just four of the ten pups of the "T" Litter. Eight-weeks old and raring to go, they are already on their way to their Adoptive Families. Congrats to Mom Toni and Dad Apollo on a beautiful and spunky litter!

Love,
Izzy

Tara's New Pups!!!!

2007-08-01T15:15:00.000+03:00

These are just two of the tiny new faces around here. These were taken just hours after Breeding Mom Tara gave birth to 7 puppies. Way to go, Tara!

Toni's 10 puppy troop is growing so fast! They are already seven weeks old and just about ready to split up and join their Adoptive Families for their first year of learning & growing.

I'll get someone to take a picture for all you proud puppy sponsors to see... as soon as I can get them to stand still for half a second... They still haven't learned "STAY!" yet...

Stay tuned for more great pictures and stories....

Your Friend,
IZZY

Welcome to the Mitzvah Club!

2007-07-01T14:34:00.000+03:00

Hi! I'm Izzy,the mascot of the Israel Guide Dog Center for the Blind Mitzvah Club.

I'm here to thank you for helping puppies like me become Israeli Guide Dogs. We want to grow up to help blind people in Israel achieve the highest level of independence possible.

As a member of our Mitzvah Club, you have two important missions: Teaching your community about Guide Dogs and raising funds to help one of us puppies get started on the road to Israeli Guide Dogship!

This blog is for you. It's a place to find out what's happening at the Center, to keep up with your "littermates" and to share ideas with other Club members.

So go ahead: Ask your questions. Share your ideas. Keep an eye on this blog.

And remember, OUR TAILS ARE WAGGING FOR YOU!

Your Friend,

Izzy