Growin' Up Guide

Welcome to the Bronx

2009-07-02T17:45:00.001-07:00

Our newest puppy, puppy number five, is Bronx.

Tai the Guide

2009-06-09T12:56:00.000-07:00

Tai is a Guide.

2009-03-11T20:47:00.000-07:00

We just recieved word yesterday that Tai has been matched and will be part of the Advanced Class that is now up at GDA. He will be living with his new partner in Northern California.

Needless to say we are very proud of him and can't wait to see him and meet his new partner. The Class Dinner is the evening of the 20th at GDA and is private and not open to the public.

The Advanced Class is for returning guide dog users and they will spend only two week at the school instead of the usuall four.

Thank you to everyone for the comments and support and thank you to all of our GDA puppy raisers for all of your help with our boy.

Nice little surprise

2009-02-05T21:35:00.000-08:00

So I get home and check the mail today and what do I find????

A beautiful picture of Tai in harness!! It was a complete surprise (but a welcome one)! We have heard that he is doing well with his training and hopefully they will have a match for him soon.

Postcard #4

2008-12-23T15:42:00.001-08:00

We received postcard #4... the one that ends "some of my friends have gone home, but I think I will stay and try to learn more". Tai is going strong up at the school, and we have faith in him that he will continue to do well. We didn't update this when we got the postcard (a couple of weeks ago) because we were in the midst of Zoe's first flu bug and the onset of the holiday season. Still, although we won't see him until he graduates or decides to come home, it's still the best Christmas gift Tai can give us!

Happy Holidays to the readers of our blog, even with all of its inconsistency. Have the most wonderful of holidays and the happiest of new years!

Gda on TV

2008-11-18T15:55:00.000-08:00

Watch a local news story about the wild fire, how it affected GDA and how they delt with it.

Watch the video

I don't know how long this video will be on the website, so I apologize in advance if you go looking for it and it is not there.

p.s. See if you can find Tai!

Wildfires in Southern California

2008-11-16T19:51:00.000-08:00

First: at the time of this writing, 7:52 on Sunday, November 16, everything is fine. The Sayre fire in Sylmar is still raging, but Guide Dogs of America is still there and everyone is fine. The dogs were evacuated early Saturday morning. So, as longtime volunteers and puppyraisers, we got the email: all those who want to take an evacuated dog home, drive to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

We jumped in the car and drove.

This is what I love about our organization: there were 70 dogs... and about 100 people showed up. The school released the in-for-training dogs to their puppyraisers, and those who weren't there went home with other puppyraisers for the weekend. That means...

WE HAVE TAI.

Tai only got to spend one day with our daughter Zoe, before he was turned in. Tai is in LOVE with her, although he wants to kiss her just a tad bit too emphatically (pictures to follow). But he is HERE! This doesn't happen with our school - we don't see the dogs after they go in. He looks fabulous - BIG and gorgeous and so sweet. He hasn't changed a bit. We love him.

So, at the time of this writing, he goes back tomorrow. It was a weekend pass, a wonderful day and a half where he got to play with Big Sister Paige and The Brudder himself, Truman. It will be hard to give him back again, but we were able to help keep him safe, and he will continue his progress to be someone else's dog. We wouldn't change it for anything.

p.s. Kind of ironic that I finished the last post wondering how big Tai is, how he is doing, and what we/ he would do when we saw him again. I wrote that the day before we got him back. Amazing.

Tai Passed Prelims!

2008-11-14T21:48:00.000-08:00

Just about a month ago, although it seems far too long, we got a postcard from Tai, saying that he was working left and right turns up at GDA. We got the third postcard yesterday (Zoe was asleep, so we did the quietest happy dance ever), saying that Tai had passed his first preliminary test. The trainers go under blindfold and the dog goes through a basic route, everything they have learned up until now.

He passed. Yay! (Yay also to Velo, his buddy up at the school and also from South Bay group who got the same postcard.)

Paige didn't make it this far - this was the point where she became my mom's couch potato. We are SO PROUD of Tai and there is no end to the fun of speculating on A) how big he is B) how well he is doing, and C) what he will do (and what we will do) when we see him again.

Mr. December

2008-10-15T16:18:00.000-07:00

At our annual Halloween meeting, our South Bay GDA calendar was released. Previous stars of the calendar have included....

Jetta and Liam

Liam, Voight, and Mika

Tai and Truman

and now, introducing Mr. December....

Tai (in quite possibly the most ridiculous picture ever - we love him!!)

Another One

2008-10-15T16:14:00.000-07:00

Today we got postcard #2. YAY!!! Tai writes that he's learned right and left turns and that he knows how to cross streets, and that they will begin higher traffic areas soon. We've been doing this long enough to know that about ten or eleven weeks out the dogs are tested... that should be soon. Tai's been in training a little over eight weeks - one week less than Zoe has been with us!

It's good to know that he continues to do well - thank goodness! I think I must have written it before about Voight, Liam, or Paige, but while WE know that Tai is a good boy, it's good to know that the school knows it too!

While Mom's Away...

2008-09-28T11:37:00.000-07:00

Truman is at our house, hanging out with Zoe.

Happy Birthday, Brudders!!

2008-09-21T15:15:00.000-07:00

Happy fourth birthday to Liam and brudder Lomax!!

Postcard!

2008-09-16T19:46:00.001-07:00

Just a couple of quick updates...

1) We got the first postcard from Tai up at GDA. We can now pretty much recite them by heart since they are always the same (not that we are complaining, we do the happy dance when we get a postcard), but it said that Tai is in harness and learning to pull, and will be learning turns next.

2) Last Friday I had emailed GDA, asking for an update. My source said that he is doing very well, the trainers like him very much, and he has adjusted very well. Yep, three 'very's in three sentences.

I can sleep more peacefully now...between Zoe's feedings, anyway.

The two legged variety...

2008-09-02T09:59:00.001-07:00

We are taking a break from puppy raising to try the two-legged variety...

This is our daughter, Zoe, born 8-5-08.

Where it all stands

2008-09-01T14:25:00.000-07:00

Tai is in formal training as of 8-9-08
Paige is still a loving pet and the sweetest dog ever!

Liam has been Re-matched with his new partner.

Voight has been re-matched with his new partner.

Blog upkeep

2008-02-16T12:56:00.000-08:00

we want to thank Jenny for helping us keep up our blog.

for more on Tai and his adventures please see Jenny's & Truman's blog.

here, here, and here.

thanks Jenny!

Voight

2008-01-20T08:39:00.000-08:00

We appreciate the patience some readers have had for our somewhat cryptic post a few weeks ago. We feel that we can explain a bit more now, especially with the events of this past week.

Our first dog, Voight, was matched in 2005 with a wonderful person who lived not to far from us. We saw them often, and he and his partners were even in our wedding in 2006 as our ringbearers (Voight did the driving, his partner held the pillow with our rings).

Voight's partner passed away early this year. It was completely unexpected, and we were devastated. We were asked to take Voight back by his partner's spouse, in order that Voight be kept active and in a working mindset, as well as to have the attention that he needs. So we've had Voight and Tai at home for a few weeks, and fortunately they got along swimmingly. Voight also got to see friends of his puppyhood in Mika, Jetta (his first crush), Luke, and Tallee and make new friends in Dusty, as well as see his favorite people, his aunties and unkies from when he was small. (He practically knocked his Auntie Tina off the bench she was sitting on and DID tackle his Auntie Cindi)

The decision was made by Voight's partner's spouse that Voight would return to GDA to be reassessed to see if he can be regraduated. So yesterday, we took Voight to the school. To give him back. Again. No one should have to do this twice, even when we firmly believe it is the right thing to do. But if you're keeping score, that's 3 dogs we've turned in (or re-turned in) in two and a half years.

Fortunately, we were able to turn him in as is proper, because we were the ones to take him back to the kennel , not the kennel techs. We were the ones to put him in the kennel. We were afraid that we would not be able to do those things because it wasn't a formal turn-in. And so much for Voight acting like he didn't want to be there - the big green Jollyball in his run made sure of that. He was happily pushing it all over the run, grunting with joy, when we left.

So our Little Man (his nickname from the time he was very small) is back at the school right now. We'll keep you posted as to how his assessment goes. Please continue to keep Voight and his partner's family in your thoughts.

Voight, who belongs to the "Big Tongue Happy Family"

The Post Behind The Post

2008-01-06T13:01:00.000-08:00

The following is a one-line post that I had meant to put up a while ago, when we had not blogged for awhile:

The posting will resume when the morning sickness passes.

Yep, you read it right.

This was the official-until-New Year reason why there was no posting for almost a month (and yes, we are very excited). Between my morning sickness, the loss of our friend, and having a puppy houseguest for awhile, things may be a bit more spotty than usual, but we hope that everyone is having a safe and wonderful New Year.

We are Overcome

2008-01-04T18:02:00.001-08:00

Out of respect for another's privacy, we cannot blog specifically about the guide dog related loss we have suffered in the past few days. Voight, Liam, Paige, and Tai are all fine, but we are without words for the loss of our friend.

Within our community, we meet people that otherwise we would have no way of knowing, and we are devastated at the loss of future time spent with our friend. We would ask for your thoughts, prayers, and meditations for our dear friend and the friends and family that are now grieving.

Tai's Evaluation

2007-11-22T14:03:00.000-08:00

Around nine months or so, a GDA dog goes to spend some time up at the kennels for their evaluation. The trainers (or puppy department) takes the puppy out into public, goes through their commands, and makes a general report of where the puppy needs to improve, what they do well, etc. We dropped Tai off, and then picked him up on the way to the mountains this past weekend.

We got the wiggly black dog back, and then noticed the envelope stuck to the wall - "Tai". We took a deep breath, opened our eyes, and read his eval.

First off - "energy level - high!". Complete with exclamation point. "General behavior - excited". Gee, you think? Tai has a TON of energy, however his brother Truman usually has more. And 'Rooman only got a MODERATE energy rating. Evidently, Tai didn't get all of his "play" out with his roomie at the kennel or had been pounding Red Bull, so he was rarin' to go when they came to get him for his eval. His obedience commands were rated good. He did fine in public, was excited but able to contain himself around other dogs, did NOT stalk the kennel cat this time, and over all did a good job.

In the comments section, they did comment that Tai can be a tougher dog to handle just because of his sheer size, but he knows exactly what is expected of him with commands and takes correction well. He's just 74 pounds of hurry-up-let's-go. No further evaluation planned. And since we've had him back, we see that he's turned a corner. His recall is really very good, and he is much faster at executing his commands.

All said and done... I think we'll keep him. At least until next August, anyway!

And Then We Said Goodbye

2007-11-19T19:10:00.001-08:00

We went to Lake Arrowhead in the local mountains this weekend. We met my parents, our brother, sister-in-law and our niece there at an uncle's cabin for the weekend. We took Paige and picked Tai up from GDA on our way, as he was up there for his nine month evaluation (see the next post).

We were up there to hang out with the family, but also to hand Paige off. She is going to live with my parents. My mom is very excited to have her, she's always loved Paige - they even share the same birthday.... and Paige is a sucker for anyone who rubs her belly. Mom and Paige have plans already - obedience (for mom and Paige to get used to each other), agility (I promise to get video of Paige the moose going through the weave-poles), and therapy dogs.

We've now been through three turn-ins, and IMO, this was harder. I know that my parents will be good to her (and from the looks of it, Paige already has them wrapped around her paws), and we will get regular updates. But still. It was still hard to drive away, with those huge brown eyes wondering where we were going with Tai.

I cried all the way down the mountain.

And I know she's fine. She went home with my mom and dad, and has an upstairs bed, a downstairs bed, a dog run, a big backyard, and oh yeah, a huge fleecy squeaky bone that she's convinced is straight from heaven.

We get to see Paiges on Saturday when we go down there - we're going with my parents to San Diego to see my alma mater (Go Frogs!) play at San Diego State. As soon as we find the camera, we will post some pics from this past weekend.

The Return of the RamPaige and Tai-rade

2007-11-11T18:22:00.000-08:00

This is what happened when Tai got his big sister back. Can you even tell who is who?

The Last Call

2007-11-11T17:55:00.001-08:00

As some of you GDA people know, we got a call from GDA on Friday.

Paige has been released from the program.

When I spoke to the head of the puppy department, she said that Paige's dog distraction is too strong to continue. We knew this was a problem when we agreed to take her on just about a year ago. She made progress, but as many of you know, the stress of the harness and making decisions can bring out issues and difficulties in all dogs. She lamented that Paige is such a sweet girl and that her guide work was really excellent, but that this was one difficulty that she would not be able to overcome, and they did not want to break her spirit.

What followed next was a jumble of mixed emotions - and still kinda is, in a way. I called Matthew at work and explained what had happened, still feeling stunned - after all, we got Paige's second postcard not that long ago. He was able to leave work, especially since his supervisor had known Paige, with very little trouble. I, on the other hand, not being able to bring a dog to this job, had a harder time, complicated by the fact I couldn't find a single person higher than myself. I left my boss a phone message and email with a quick prayer for understanding, and left.

We called our wonderful area leaders, closest friends, and then dropped off Tai with his puppy friend Weeko. We had no idea what to expect - this is one part of the process we had not experienced, and did not want to have Tai the 72 pound teenager to distract from whatever might happen (more on him in a sec). The drive up there was odd, because while we were both sort of emotional, both of us were also feeling guilty for feeling happy. We were reminded that this truly is a win-win: it's a win if she's a guide, but it's also a win if she's not. We just didn't know what to do with this win, yet.

Paige had just had a bath and the head of the kennel department brought her to us still pretty damp, but it was a damp, wiggly, happy Paiges that barrelled towards us. She knocked off my sunglasses and me onto my butt much like her "big brother" Voight does when he sees us after a long absence. She immediately pushed her head into our chests as hard as she could - Paige's ultimate gesture of love and affection. We were told all the necessary paperwork would be mailed. We walked her to the truck, she jumped in like she'd never been gone, and sighed a very contented sigh.

Matthew picked up Tai, and I stayed with the Paiges. I got a text message before Matthew left to come home: he knows. Tai had glued his nose to Matthew as soon as he saw him - Tai was scenting his sister! When Tai came out into the backyard, they barrelled at each other, tails a-waggin'. Tai is now fully as big as Paige, weighs as much, with much bigger feet. We think that she's wondering what we fed him while she was gone.

Paige is not going to be staying with us. A part of why we do the whole GDA thing in the first place is that we don't have a dog door for a puppy and truly, we are pretty busy people (as our spotty blogging record attests). It would not be fair to take Tai everywhere and Paige hang out at home by herself. Paige is going to stay with my mom, whose last dog passed away the same day we turned in Liam, August 2006. Mom always wanted to do therapy dogs with her Watson, but he turned out to be ill of health and therefore cranky. Paige will be perfect.

So it turns out that from getting Paige to getting Paige BACK is almost a year precisely. We are still adjusting to the change. We are still pretty emotionally out of whack currently, but these past 36 hours have been amazing on so many levels. We will have Paige until next weekend, and then she will go on to her new home and next adventure.

Happy Birthday to our Paiges

2007-11-03T14:47:00.000-07:00

Our big, sweet baby girl is two years old today. It has been almost a year since she came to us, a silly moose with a lot of love in her heart to give.

We miss her dearly, but after passing her first test, we know she is exactly where she's supposed to be.

Happy Birthday Paige!!

That's our girl, part II

2007-10-23T22:06:00.000-07:00