Day before IFT

Its been almost a month since I last updated about Baity. The reason is that he has been recovering from getting surgery and hasn't been doing too much. But as I had mentioned in earlier posts, March 3 was Baity's In For Training date, which was this weekend.

The drive to the school is about 10 hrs, meaning it would be a very long trip. So we broke the trip up and left Thursday night, drove to Jacksonville and spent the night, then drove the rest of the way in the morning.

The school was having a puppy raiser open house on the main campus. It was great because not only was there some great information, but Baity's siblings were there as well! This included Austin (See previous posts), Ally, and JoJo. Us raisers had a good time sharing things about our dogs and also figuring out if our dogs were related! (Their Mom is Misty, Dad is Bently)

From Left: Ally, JoJo, Austin, and Baity (4 out of the 8)

We then headed over to the kennels to have a tour. While we were going to the different kennels we were able to put our dogs in the vans (they are used by the trainers to take the dogs to different locations). It was good for the puppies to get an idea of what they are going to be ridding in!

We then got to head over the puppy kennels and play with some of the puppies. I knew that the new puppy we were getting would be there, but because they were a donated litter (the school didn't not breed them) and had only been brought back a day or so earlier, they were under quarantine so we could not see them. One of the workers did offer to take a picture!

Golden Retrievers (One of these is ours! [6 in the litter])

 Playing with the puppies

New born puppies! (Note: The barrier is to keep the puppies in, not keep the mom out. She can easily get in)

We then headed to the beach to do a photo shoot with Baity. He was super excited to be at the beach and desperately wanted to go into the water. But because we are in a hotel and didn't want to worry about bathing him, we couldn't let him swim and get all dirty. We did sit and watch the water.

Back at our hotel I put Baity on his tie down right by my bed. He had no problem sleeping by me and anytime I would move throughout the night, he would pick up his Buddy (stuffed dog he's had since we got him), put his face right at mine, and wag his tail. It was sweet little thing he did that showed how much he cared.

The dreaded trip to the vet...

Friday morning we had to take Baity to the vet to get neutered. We felt so bad for Baity and I felt as if I was betraying the poor thing since he had no idea what was coming! In case you are wondering why we took so long to neuter him, the guide dog school has us wait to neuter and spay the dogs in order to see if they will be breeders. We weren't really given a reason as to why he needed to get neutered, but I'm assuming that once they saw all his vets visits, worms incidents, and problems with his tummy and food, they were like no way!
He is recovering just fine and has definitely been a little loopy today doing nothing but sleeping and staying put in my room. Sadly, he will be confined to the house for the next two wks (at least one wk depending on how he heels) which means he will miss his very last puppy meeting this Saturday. I was really hoping he would get to go since it is his half siblings birthday party and there will lots of playing and running around, but obviously those aren't very good conditions for him since he will still be healing. But I know he will be back to his regular self in no time :)'

Until the Next Adventure...

Police and Fire Station Meeting

On Saturday we got to go to a great meeting with the police department and fire department. It was great for the dogs because they were able to heard the sirens and see the different flashing lights and vehicles used by the police. They are VERY loud cars. For most dogs this is quite a frightening noise to hear so its important that they are introduced to it now so that they don't freak out later in life when a police car passes. We also got to have them walk around the fire trucks and small the different clothing and parts of the car. We even managed to get some photos of the dogs on the front and back of the cars!

Dogs:From left- Baity, Brandon, Fran, Emilee

 First time seeing a four wheeler

He barely fit on the back of the truck!

Until the Next Adventure...

In For Training/ Raising Again??

We officially got the notice for Baity's IFT date, and just like we had expected it's March 3rd. It's hard to believe we only have a month left until he goes back. I know that once he goes back everyone at school will be asking where he is. It's funny how you can be so well known just for your dog. March 3rd is also the date that the school is going to be having their WalkAThon, which I am really excited we get to be a part of. Baity was picked up during the WalkAThon last year (brought home by another raiser), and I find it funny that he is also going back the day of WalkAThon. I heard that a large group of puppies will be going back that day so I am hoping, and assuming, that his siblings will come back the same day. It will be a like one big family reunion!

On a happier note. A question I have been asked now that we are telling people Baity is going back, is if we are going to raise another puppy. Originally we had decided that we wanted to keep raising puppies, but then it looked like our schedules' over the summer were not going to really permit it. My schedule has been getting more hectic and I would need my sisters to want to commit to becoming more of a co-raiser with me. So we decided we would take a break. Then we got an email that some puppies are available for our group and that we would be able to get one when Baity went back. My sister/sisters' decided they really wanted to commit to it, so now we are going to be raising another puppy again! This time we decided it would be a good idea to get a girl because if my younger sister will be handling the dog more, we need one that won't actually be bigger than her! We are very excited to be getting her. She is a female golden retriever. What's great is that I will be on break for the whole week after we get the puppy (spring break) so it works out really well! So although IFT will be very sad, it ill also be exciting because we are getting another puppy.

Until the Next Adventure...

First Time In Harness

Today I had to run some errands and decided to take some shots of Baity in front of a fountain in the shopping center. It was Baity's first time getting to wear a harness today! (Note: We are not allowed to harness train them or use it in any way, it's simply a tool we use for them to get used to wearing a harness :) )

Until the Next Adventure...

Ikea Meeting

Last week our puppy meeting took place at Ikea. For the past few weeks I had been putting together the meeting. Ikea, for those who may not know, is huge furniture/ room display store (I believe it is swedish). I absolutely love that store and kind of think of it as a museum! The staff were great and it and had some great ideas of things to expose the puppies to. We had a recycling compactor which was really loud, a freight elevator, and we got to see and hear a fork lift! We also worked on some obedience training inside the store, which worked great because all the dogs were tired so they concentrated really well! I really enjoyed to meeting and hope all the other puppy raisers did as well! The staff was great and I hope they enjoy seeing what goes into all our puppy meetings!

 Dogs: Baity, Patty, Brandon, Kelly, Penny, Mick

 Baity is on bottom and his half sister kelly is at the top. During lunch they kept trying to inch their way towards each other. It was a cute sibling moment.

Until The Next Adventure...

Baity's First Birthday!

Today is an exciting day because...Baity is 1 years old!

He has grown SO fast over the past year and I can't believe we are already celebrating his first birthday. He's gotten spoiled with lots of treats and lots of extra love, hugs and kisses. My sister even put together a video of Baity's past year. I even managed to get some snap shots of Baity in a little birthday hat...he wasn't too big a fan of that but let me get some cute pictures!

All done!

                                                   Thanks to my sister for the video!

Untill the next adventure...