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| Photo courtesy Canine Companions for Independence and Eukanuba |
Puppies, they are a’cookin. Taya shows us her upcoming E litter for Canine Companions for Independence. How many do you see in there?
However many, each of these tiny images will be born in the world with the destiny of being someone’s miracle. Assistance dogs in the making, rather literally.
Does anyone else think this is completely and totally awesome?
What a sugar cookie, this charming dog of mine. Micron does his stuff at a meet & greet booth for the Miami Valley Pet Therapy Association. It was a beautiful weekend to work the crowds for our neighborhood’s annual Fine Arts Festival.
Fine Art, indeed. The dog has a gift.
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| Vote for your favorite puppy name |
I have to admit, I tell my Favorite Kid. I hate feeling like such a noob. I’m just not getting this Twitter thing.
It’s where you type in status updates that can only be 140 characters . . ., he begins to explain.
Yeah, I guess I know that. But I don’t get why. I mean, what do people talk about with such urgent need? Honestly, what could I be doing that needs to be announced like, right now? My imagination is cranking as I think about something clever that would net me some followers, though.
Well, there’s those thoughtful quotes that I could borrow from another puppy raiser’s Facebook statuses (thanks D.N.!), like . . .
Every time I read ROFL, I hear Scooby Doo trying to say waffle.
or maybe
I just watched my dog chase his tail for ten minutes and thought “Wow, dogs are easily entertained.” Then I realized I just watched my dog chase his tail for ten minutes.
Well, you could do that, says the kid. Or you might tweet when you’ve updated the dog blog and add a link to the site. Post some cute photos of the dogs doing something funny. Stuff like that. Sometimes, Ma, it’s fun just to follow others to see what they’re doing.
Why does that sound like stalking? I wonder. Oh, because it kinda is.
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| Follow @PuppySword |
I created my PuppySword Twitter account earlier in the year, but just could not get myself inspired to use it much. While I’m trying to build up some street cred, I’ve started following some folk who share such profundities as to make it all worth my while. Celebs like Jim Gaffigan (“so suddenly wearing a sombrero while I jog makes me a wierdo?”) and Simon Pegg (“Minnie won’t sit still. Think it’s because she had her bum shaved today. She usual experiences a little discomfort post groom. I know I do”) are great for making me snort when I laugh. Extra special when I imagine the words in their voices.
And the other dog bloggers out there keep me motivated. PupFan and Pamela at S_Wagging are always a good source of dog-related info and Elizabeth at the Chronicles of Cardigan is just a genius writer. (When I grow up, I want to be like them. And have long legs. I want that too.) I’ve added NPR and CNN updates because I wanna be all smart that way. My Twitter newsfeed is on a constant roll providing all the trivia an information voyeur like me wants to see in 140 characters or less.
Ah, but just this past week I’m starting to see why instant news at your fingertips can be useful to the information hungry masses.
With the upcoming CCI E litter showing up so soon, there’s some rather important stuff that’s gotta get out there all timely like. Taya’s E litter is due this week, possibly on September 15. There’s the important task of voting for the name of the first born pup. Whether the first pup will be a girl or boy is a secret that Taya’s keeping for now. So we get to vote on two names.
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| CCI’s Y litter (Yaxley in green collar). Photo courtesy S. Nash |
Hey, choose whatever name is meaningful to you, of course. But I have to just get out there that I don’t think there are nearly enough assistance dogs named Elvis. We need at least one more.
And I voted for Emma for a little girly girl pup that is destined to grow up to be a miracle for someone.
Click on the caption under the CCI photo on top or click here to vote for your favorite puppy name.
And once the fun buns are out of the oven, Eukanuba has arranged for a live stream of their fuzzy goodness. Teeth-gritting meetings at work? No problem, hook your laptop into the feed and feel the stress melt away as you watch the live action. Slipping out of your chair during another boring presentation? No matter, you know where to turn now, don’t you?
Over the next eight weeks, never will you lament there’s nothing good to watch on cable. Instead, you’ll just wave your hand dismissively at the TV and crank up the laptop to watch bouncy retriever pups at play.
When the pups are named, you can pick your favorite cotton ball or two to follow. After eight weeks, the pups will go out to their puppy raisers. And many of these folk will be online in the various social media forums to share their pup’s derring-do over the next sixteen months.
Sounds like you just yourself got a full calendar of puppy goodness.
Ok, so here’s where to get the latest scoop on this Eukanuba sponsored CCI E litter.
CCI on Twitter and CCI on Facebook.
Eukanuba on Twitter and Eukanuba on Facebook
Donna, the future puppy raiser of an E puppy (woot woot!) on Twitter: Follow @PuppySword
Oh, and of course right here on the dog blog. I’ll give you a heads up now to add memory to your laptops. I’m gonna be sharing puppy photos soon. Lots and lots of ’em. !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=”//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js”;fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,”script”,”twitter-wjs”);
I am one lucky duck that my job allows me to work from home on occasion. With the natural light to uplift my mood and some good old-fashioned classic rock softly thumping in the background (smoke on the waaaahta, fire in the sky . . .), it lends to a productive environment.
Until the cat shows up.
After he’s leapt onto the table to tip my coffee mug, Bodine settles his furry mass comfortably on my documents. Rather absent-mindedly, he bats about my pen with a lazy paw and asks, so whatcha doin’?
Please don’t think less of me when I tell you that I had to set up a trap. The cat left me no choice, you see.
It’s the only thing that will contain him effectively.
The Cardboard Box Cat Trap.
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| Yeah, ok. But they feed you here, right? |
For those of us that have sent our favorite kids off to college to grow their wings, well, you know how that feels? With a kiss and a long hug, you give them the nudge as they move on to grasp the responsibilities of adulthood. Make good choices now, we say holding back a tear.
And now are they making friends, but paying attention to their studies? Remembering to eat right? Oh, I hope he’s getting the sleep he needs.
For some of us puppy raisers, it takes a while to relax and let go of these same worries about our former furry charges in Advanced Training. That first phone call from CCI helps the mental process move along. We talked with Yaxley’s trainer this week.
She tells me that he is adjusting just fine to his new digs and playing nicely with his roommate. He’s met more dogs in group play and building his confidence. They’re moving through the initial health checks now with Yaxley, but only worked with assessing training skills briefly.
Over the next month Yaxley will be introduced to the more complex commands he’ll need to know as an assistance dog. So, we hang loose until the end of September when we’ll get the next update.
Do well, our awesome yellow dog. You’ll be in our thoughts every day.
Go. Do. Be Dog. 