Thursday, September 27, 2012

NEADS time!!!

"Life with Rylie" is going very well.. and it's so much fun to have a puppy in the house!!! She's growing fast and it amazes me (still) at how quickly puppies learn.. and how much time is often wasted when they are so young and can be learning...
She had her "first" vet visit this past week.. (first with me, she has seen a vet before).. and the wonderful people at Down Maine Vet Clinic have (yet again) agreed to sponsor my service dog. (Which means.. all vet care is donated)... I love these folks, not just for the care of the service dogs.. but for the care of all my pets... they are so welcoming and very clever when it comes to the care of animals!!!!!
Now, somewhere under this big (wonderful) lug of a dog is my little Rylie. Her new friend is "Monty" and he's just a little St. Bernard puppy (about 10 months old)  weighing in at about 130 lbs. He's a real sweetie pie...
Good thing when you see him next to his "daddy" and know that he's not done growing   yet!!!! The first dog that I can remember is a Saint, his name was Cesar, and there are tons of photos of me as a small child with a big Saint at my side. I loved that dog, and can remember the day we had to say goodbye to him. If it weren't for the slobber... I would have another....
Hard to believe that this was also our week to check in at NEADS.... another whole month has come (and almost) gone... Rylie got to meet up with her brother, Norton when we arrived. They were so happy to see each other again. There is one more pup related to these two being raised as a service dog.. but that one has gone into the prison program....so, we more than likely won't run into her, but it will be fun to watch these two together.
First part of the day.... the "round table"... where Dave goes over the "how has the month been". This was hard for little
Rylie to be still for so long, but she did a pretty good job of it.
And look who joined the party.... "muppet boy"... Dave is really enjoying him and he's doing good work with all the service puppies in training. So nice for me to be able to hug him once a month.......
Rylie, waiting to get the show on the road.....
EEWWWW.... who or what is this creepy guy???? Actually none other that our Dave!!! Test for the day... how do the dogs react when "something strange approaches the car".... happy to tell you, the puppies just looked at him like "really Dave...."  (whew test, passed!!!!)
Into the city we go. It was such a pretty day, that we took advantage and made some trips around the park. I think the dogs did better than I did... the park was pretty crowded. But not even that so much as the language that I heard. Ya, know, I just not used to hearing such fowl language used as everyday words... it was appalling... I didn't want my puppy hearing such words....sad to think that this is the "road our young people are on"....
Rylie looks so little in the big city.......
but, I have to say, she trucked right along and did everything that was asked of her. She also was the star of the show and drew alot of attention... which she took all in stride.
We camped out for awhile near a bus stop. Good exposure to sounds, smells and sights.... she was as "cool" as she could be ..Dave is very happy with her. My prediction is... she'll be a service dog without any trouble....
Because we spent time in the park, we missed out on the train this visit. And by the time we got to the hospital for a bite to eat and a little rest... this little girl was down for the count. One thing about puppies, they either running or sleeping......
Couple of quick trips in the elevator....














Which, for the older puppies is old hat, so Rylie thought "no big" deal... and then we were packing up and heading north. Another day, gone zooming by. There's hoping that next month's visit, we might be able to  see one of the prisons and meet some of the inmates that are in the puppy training program. For us who raise these little guys, it would be nice to see the next step that the puppies go to...but, we can't just walk into the prison, there are steps that have to be taken..so we'll wait and see if it can be worked out. And more than likely photos won't be allowed, but we'll see how it all goes.

And September comes to an end.. with the "fear" that October will zip by just as quick... we still have lots of projects to finish before the snow flies... it might be a race to the wire!!!!