RSS Feed

Category Archives: Yaxley

Dogs for a dollar

Posted on July 10, 2011 by Donna Black-Sword
Yaxley is ready to do his business at Buehler’s.
No, not that business, he’s selling hot dogs.

“You have dogs for sale?”
“That’s right.  One dollar for a hot dog and the brats are a dollar fifty“
[pause]
“Um. I mean the dogs . . . are they up for adoption or something?”
“oh.”

And so begins an awkward segue into explaining our pups in training for Canine Companions for Independence.

Yaxley and I spent a gorgeous Saturday afternoon with other CCI supporters at Buehler’s Fresh Foods in Delaware, Ohio. It was a Grilling Dogs with the CCI Dogs fundraising event located at the wonderfully shaded entrance to the store. A nice little setup with hot dogs, brats, drinks, and chips for sale. And slices of pie fresh from the bakery. Enough good stuff to draw a hungry crowd. 

As food booth volunteers, we were given the options of food prep, running the cash drawer or crowd socializing with the pups. I’m kinda stumped on how to share my job choice without sounding lazy, so I’ll just be up front about it and lay it all out there for you.

Look, I already cook a meal nearly every bleary-eyed evening after a long day at work goofing around with budgets. So thinking I’ll pass on any opportunities involving food or math. Socializing, though?  That sounds easy. Especially since I’ll be holding the leash of an adorable puppy that will be doing most of the work.

So with my work ethic safely stowed away, I pulled up a $29.99 lawn chair and awaited our audience.

Hey, it’s not like Yaxley had to do the work all by himself. He had lots of help in greeting folk. Jones was there to break up the heavy work load, so poor Yax didn’t have the carry that burden of greeting every little kid that stopped by to give a belly rub.

Jones and Yaxley ready to work the crowd
Just a little bit closer, kid.  Almost . . . close . . . enuf . . . to. . . lick

Then just in time as the lunch crowd is showing up, the relief team of Haiku and Dahl are there to assist.  In hindsight, in the photo below I now realize there’s a large red arrow that’s pointed directly at Dahl’s labrador noggin. And then yet another arrow is right there at her, um, tail.  Certainly not intentional and my apologies to Dahl for any loss of dignity. But still — it makes me giggle when I look at it.

Ok, everybody say Cookie!
Yaxley, Haiku and Dahl smile for the camera.

And then, oh the glory of it all, another young puppy shows up. Yaxley makes a seamless and immediate shift change from professional crowd socializer to six month puppy goofball.  Hey there cutie, he says.  What’s your name?

Girly girl Jada.
Check out those soulful brown eyes.

Yaxley meets the glorious Jada, an eight month old CCI pup in training. And his puppy brain short-circuits. Just as the neurons start misfiring and inspiring random puppy behavior, I’m handed Jada’s leash to hold for a minute. And Yaxley announces that it’s now Break Time!  Hey Jada, let’s rassle!

I unhinge Yaxley’s puppy snout from Jada’s front leg and try to explain that, Yax honey, Jada’s not that kind of girl.

She’s well-behaved.

We gather up some self-control and get back to work.  Then Yaxley tells me enough is enough, Food Lady.  I certainly can’t expect him to work all day.

Aw, can’t I just chew on her leg for a few minutes?
Please?

So Yaxley and Jada declare an official nap time for all working dogs.

Dahl shows the youngsters how the pros do it.

Dahl!  Dahl!  Lookit me!  I’m doing it!

3 Comments

Posted in CCI, friends, fundraising, Yaxley. Bookmark the permalink.

TYDTWD Eukanuba style

Posted on July 2, 2011 by Donna Black-Sword
Doggy smiles on CCI pups Yaxley & Red

Ok, so how many of you knew that last Friday was the official Take Your Dog to Work Day?

Anyone?

Uh huh.  Yeah, even in my dog riddled world, that kibble of info slipped past me. But then, it’s kinda every day that I take my dog to work with me. I’m rather blessed in that – working in a pet food business definitely has its perks. But apparently, this particular event has been going on for some time now.

The official TYDTWD website officially states . . .

First celebrated in 1999, Pet Sitters International’s Take Your Dog To Work Day® was created to celebrate the great companions dogs make and to encourage their adoption from humane societies, animal shelters and breed rescue clubs. This annual event asks pet lovers to celebrate the humane-canine bond and promote pet adoption by encouraging their employers to support TYDTWDay by opening their workplace to employees’ four-legged friends on this one special day.

Well, who knew? But any efforts to raise awareness of adopting shelter and rescue dogs grabs my attention. And even better, my office celebrated this auspicious event by coordinating some fun lunchtime activities with our fuzzy co-workers.  Now, there’s many of us that do bring our dogs into the office to spend the work day with us, so we get the occasional impromptu play date in our company pet park when the potty schedules coincide.  But since this was an official holiday, on this day we had some creative organized activities.

So, we started off with the Longest Sit/Stay. Ah, I thought, this should go well.  I’ll try to keep my poker face and not obnoxiously gloat when Yaxley knocks the socks off everyone with his solid Sit/Stay.  Right.  Once again, I overestimated my dog handling skills expecting a six month old puppy to have conscious free-flowing thoughts while surrounded by gobs of dogs. Yax’s noggin kinda short-circuited.  While he wasn’t the first to break his Stay, he wasn’t the third one either.
 

Alrighty then, let’s do a quiet time-out and watch the older dogs do the next activity.

Next up – the Potato Walk. This involved walking a straight line while a potato is balanced on a serving spoon in one hand, the dog on leash in the other hand.  Last to drop their potato wins.  Sure, I tell Yaxley, we could have done that one, kid.  Naw, we couldn’t. Let’s be real. Maybe in another six months.
Last event was a twist on musical chairs. From our vantage point, this may have much more fun to spectate than participate. In place of chairs, pawprints were set about in a circle. Dogs and owners walked around the pawprints to music; when the music stopped, the dogs were to sit on the pawprint.  Now CCI pups are taught to walk, Sit and Down on unusual surfaces.  Many pet dogs are not. That was fun part to watch – utter refusal to place their doggy rump down on that. The rules were quickly adjusted to allow the dogs to just stand on a pawprint. The players were eliminated as a pawprint was taken away each turn, the winner is the last dog standing.
Here ‘s Yaxley and his co-workers burning off some energy before the games.  You’ll see the pawprints on the ground that were so carefully measured out and placed in a circle being scattered about by the excited dogs.
Now check out the faces on these pups. You don’t need to be an expert in canine body language to see that these are dog smiles.
Yaxley and Diamond
Yaxley and his BFF, Natas
Of course we had refreshments for the fuzzies, as well.  A round of Frosty Paws for everyone. Yaxley got a euphoric Zen moment going with his cup.  

We had a bit of a side discussion about Frosty Paws.  Someone asked if anyone thought a person could buy these dog treats by mistake and actually eat it? What would happen?

Well, it ain’t gonna kill ya. But you probably won’t enjoy it as much as your pup does, that lack of sugar and all. Guessing it would be a once in a lifetime experience. Self-correcting behavior, as it were.

Frosty (Paws) Nose

 
More photos of the event are on the Eukanuba and Iams pages for those of you who partake in the Facebook experience.

3 Comments

Posted in friends, work, Yaxley. Bookmark the permalink.

A food motivated dog is a piece o’cake

Posted on June 19, 2011 by Donna Black-Sword

Puppy kindergarten

Our little boy has started school ~sniff~. They grow up so fast, don’t they?  One minute you’re inhaling puppy breath like it’s snickerdoodle scented or something and then [blink] next thing you know, the dog is asking for a lift to Petsmart so he can meet up with that cute golden-doodle he met in puppy class.

People remark on how well-behaved Yaxley behaves in public. Well, the dog is kinda with me all the time, so he’s bound to get some attitude adjustment during the day. So when we head off for some structured obedience training, I have a talk with the trainer at Petsmart just to give her a heads up.

I brief her on CCI’s command words and let her know we have the basics covered – Sit, Down, Bed, Heel, Come when called – but it would help to reinforce these in a distracting environment. Like, say, around hyper puppies who may not have the upper advantage of hanging with their person all day, every day.

Vulcan mind meld thing going on
with Food Lady

So she wants to see if Yax can test out of basic obedience and start directly into the intermediate class. As I step aside, she puts Yaxley in a Sit and walks a circle around him. She drops a dog treat onto the floor, but he doesn’t break eye contact with her. Another dog treat, then another, bounces off his paw. The two of them have some kind of Vulcan mind meld thing going on.  Yax doesn’t move.  She grabs a handful of tennis balls and bounces them one by one past him. The thought bubble over his head is “what’s a guy gotta do around here to get a dog biscuit, anyway?” And there’s a slobber string that’s now touching the floor.

Ok, she says.  Let’s try something else.  She tells me to walk Yaxley through the store, in Heel position, while she walks ahead of us.  Then she’s flinging dog treats on the floor — as we’re walking past the cat adoption section. So can you picture this: there’s kibble pinging off the vinyl flooring in front and cats all fuzzed up and flipping out and Yaxley is doing his thing.  Perfect.

We go back to the training room.  And she says, “what is it you want to work on again?” Um, basics with distractions?

Yeah, so we may need to kick things up a notch for the next class.

Why focus is so important

Because Yaxley is training to be an assistance dog, he needs to be focused on his handler. What is it you want me to do next, Food Lady?  An assistance dog will go anywhere his human partner wants to go, which would, of course, include restaurants. I’ll be up front about it and admit that my pet dog in a restaurant would only result in an embarrassing event that may or may not involve the authorities.

Not so with the CCI pup, though. These fuzzies are not pampered with people food or fed from the dinner table. You know that first rule of dogdom – “if it hits the floor it’s mine.”?  CCI pups have to waive that rule. The new rule is “it’s yours when you’re told it is.”

I realize that can sound a little harsh, maybe not the way you would treat the dog that you love so much.  But let’s think this through for a minute. So number one, the dog is not starving by any means. Instead he’s certainly well fed, well loved and (Bonus!) well behaved.  And the pup does get treats; lots of them actually. But each one is earned. No gimmies. A good Sit with eye contact is sometimes all that’s being asked.

And – this is the important part -a person going into a restaurant needs their assistance dog to focus on what’s going on.  Not what’s yummy on the floor.  Hoovering the carpet all the way to the table is not a desirable thing here.

It’s too late for Jager; way too late. Too much street dog in his history to do anything about his nasty little habit of food stealing. So he’s banished from the kitchen when I’m cooking up dinner. Not because I’m witchy mean in the evenings, but because I’ve tripped over the goober dog while he’s right there mentally willing stuff to drop from the counter.

The Yax man, however, is comfortable on the kitchen floor. Just watching and happy to be hanging with me. Pretty darn good for a little guy, I think.

Jager attended the school of hard knocks.

 

These aren’t dog biscuits.
They’re my puppy rocket blasters! POW POW

4 Comments

Posted in CCI, Jager, Training, Yaxley. Bookmark the permalink.

CCI Summer Camp

Posted on June 5, 2011 by Donna Black-Sword
CCI Summer Camp – June 2011

I have a deep respect for the Boy Scouts of America program. I’ve seen for myself how this organization, with the guidance of committed parents, can transform a seemingly goofy kid into a young man with leadership skills.

For a boy to advance among the BSA ranks, he’s required to earn a number of merit badges. By the time he’s working on Eagle, the highest rank, he’ll have completed at least 21 merit badges. He’ll have focused on life skills, survival techniques, and have been introduced to several vocational choices. This is the stuff he needs to not only get by in the world, but to excel. Be head and shoulders above others.
 
It’s really a good idea for the scout to go to a BSA summer camp to earn merit badges. Even a weekend camp will have specialized merit badge counselors offering opportunities to work on things that just aren’t available at home.  

So with this in mind, we set off to CCI summer camp with little Yaxley in tow. 

Yaxley:  I don’t wanna go to camp! I just wanna stay home and chew on Jager.
Me:   You’ll love it. Really.
Yaxley: (whining)   I won’t know anyone there.
Me:   That’s the point, kiddo. You’ll make new friends. Got your stuff packed?
Yaxley:   aww
Me:   Criminy kid. Enuf already. Just get in the car.

Well, that brought back memories.  Except for the chewing on Jager part.

And like at every BSA summer camp where you have that one kid running rings around the campfire with a stick on fire, Yaxley was determined to show us how much we still have to teach him.

Our CCI camp counselors, Mary Beth and Jenny, set up an obstacle course for the pups. The intention is to introduce the pups to new experiences. It’s all about working towards that been-there-done-that mental state they need as assistance dogs.

Our first station was at the tires. The point was to simply walk through and move on. Yax had some trouble getting his head around this one.  A little gentle coaxing with a dog biscuit from co-puppy raiser and then me putting down the camera and stuffing his body into the first tire was all it took. Once sitting inside the tire, he realized it was not indeed a Pit of Doom and found a reasonable comfort level. Ok then, let’s move on to the ladder station.

This went much better now that Yax knew a dog biscuit would be involved. He stepped in, looked to see that, yup, there’s a treat in hand over there, then moved along.

Check out that look of concentration he has in the second shot. Furrowed brow, tongue pressed between lips, and tail up for balance. He’s all over this one.

 

must…earn…dog…biscuit

Now for the weird surface of the wading pool. No problems here. We also want the pup to be able to perform a Sit and Down on these new surfaces. Which Yax did do, but I can’t post the photo of the Down since he took the opportunity to roll onto his back to look like some kind of furry dead lizard baking in the sun.

biscuit?


Almost done. Now for the crate surface. A walk across, with another Sit and Down. A pro, he is. Well done, yellow dog.

Ok, so CCI doesn’t really give out merit badges at summer camp. And that’s ok, I think, since it would just end up being something else to finger swipe out of a puppy maw. Instead Mary Beth had a much better reward for achieving all the accomplishments this morning.

The pups had a chance earlier in the day to meet a pony, duck and a rather ticked off rooster. Now time to meet the milk goat. 

Manna from heaven, ambrosia from the sky. Fresh goat milk comin’ at ya.  Just a couple of squirts to get the idea of the thing, then Yax closes his eyes to fully enjoy the experience.

Got goat?

Yaxley tells me now that summer camp is great!  He wants to go again next month.  Not a problem, kid.  I think we will.
 

Aww, I don’t wanna go home

4 Comments

Posted in CCI, summer camp, Yaxley. Bookmark the permalink.

Yaxley’s Five for Five

Posted on May 29, 2011 by Donna Black-Sword

A co-worker had overhead me talking about Yaxley’s Dog Blog the other day.  “Oh, good stuff, I bet,” says my friend, “things like first I slept all day, then I ate dog food.”

“No, silly,” I say, “that’s his Twitter. The blog has pictures.”

Yeah, I know. Managing a Twitter account for Yaxley would be a little much.  But a Dog Blog stuffed with puppy photos? Oh, I’m all over that.

Yaxley is now five months old and growing up quite nicely. What a sturdy temperament; he has been so easy to work with.  For his five month birthday milestone let’s catch up on five things happening in his puppy life right now.

Puppy chewing is reduced to Yellow Alert
Yaxley is working on his adult teeth; nearly all the new white chiclets are in. The need to chew something is not so intense anymore. You can just hear the furniture in the house breath a sigh of relief.  Jager, too.

I found a puppy molar on the carpet at work. While what I thought was kinda exciting (Look! A puppy tooth!), others apparently saw the bloody little nub in a different light. Ugh, sorry about that, guys.

We got us new digs
Spending our workdays in the new office. Getting used to the new place and Yaxley’s been spending most of his time working on his fan base there.  He really has settled in nicely; folk are impressed that a five month old puppy is so well-behaved. But, being a CCI pup, I wouldn’t expect anything less of him. The CCI pups are just made that way.

People ask if my pet dog is as well-behaved as this little yellow CCI pup.  At this point, I drop eye contact and say quietly, not really. No, actually Jager is a little freaky.  But to my defense, Jager was a rescue who found us.  So all his weirdness is stuff he kinda just showed up with. Like the time I walk into the dining room to see Jager standing on the table. He’s shoulder-deep munching in a Mikesell’s potato chip bag like it’s the first meal he’s had since the last full moon. He didn’t get that bad behavior from me. I sit down to eat potato chips.

Making new fuzzy friends
Because the new office is pet friendly, the company has provided a dog park for the fuzzies to get outside for a good run and have some green grass to do their duty. And also because all office dogs are required to pass a behavioral assessment and health check, there’s a confidence that everybody will pretty much get along just fine out there.

Yaxley’s new best friend at the office is a gorgeous German Shepherd.  A big teddy bear of a dog.  And big he is. Natas and Yax do indeed play well together, in a kinda big brother – little brother way. Natas could easily body slam the little yellow guy into the well fertilized turf, but he doesn’t. They take turns rolling each other onto the ground in a give and take. Adorable to watch, unless it’s just rained, which was a learning for me.  I now know to keep a large bath towel at my desk to recover from mucky play sessions.

It’s all about choices, you know. Do I want a bored, restless puppy at my desk in the afternoon? Or a damp, stinky one? My philosophy? A tired puppy is a good puppy.  By good, I mean napping.

Now on the other paw, Yaxley doesn’t seem to understand the big brother rules for his fellow Yorkie and Chihuahua office friends. Yax says, Let’s run!  Let’s roll around!  Let me carry you around for a minute!  It’s taking a little bit more time for these closer-to-the-ground guys to warm up to him.

Steppin’ out

Yaxley is now working on his socialization skills by visiting new places. In addition to puppy obedience classes, he’s made it to our local library and that emergency trip to the shoe store. Now usually a girl doesn’t have to claim an emergency just to buy shoes, but I was getting desperate. A bit of a double whammy to me last Monday.  The office is a huge campus, about a million and two acres big spread across three floors. Of course, it’s not really, but wear the wrong shoes and that 1:00 meeting might as well be in BFE, excuse my French.

Anyway, I’m over an hour from home and we have puppy class in the evening. So Yaxley got the shoe shopping experience. Holy dog, he says, just look at all these chew toys!  Yeah, that was interesting, but really it went very well. And I wobbled straight back to the car and gnawed the plastic tag off my snappy new flip flops. I got black ones to match my dress slacks, so as to keep that polished look.

Hand me downs

Weighing in at 41 pounds, Yax is where he should be at his age. Like the teenage boy that will someday grow into those size 11 feet, Yax’s body will need to catch up to his lanky build and basset hound ears.

Yaxley on his five month birthday, May 2011

Now the ironically named Micron at five months was just a little bigger of a fellow. He just started life as a big-boned dog and by the five month mark was a massive 53 pounds.

At Micron’s turn-in a couple weeks ago, CCI requested for his puppy cape to be returned as well. Because I am a forward thinker, yet sadly not a deep thinker, I asked if I could hang onto it as Yaxley was nearly five months. He would be wearing the logo cape soon, so it was agreed Micron’s cape would be handed down to Yaxley.

A good idea, however not a great idea.  In 20/20 hindsight, we shoulda traded in Micron’s cape for one just a bit smaller.

Micron on his five month birthday, Feb 2010

So hang tight, we have more dog adventures to come now with Yaxley as he grows into a CCI pup in training.  Promise – it will be more than just sleeping and eating from here on out.

7 Comments

Posted in birthday, Micron, Yaxley. Bookmark the permalink.
← Older Posts
Newer Posts →