and the countdown begins...

1 more week. 7 more days. 168 more hours. 10080 more minutes. 604800 more seconds.


Until Betsy is officially out of heat!

It's been nice having a break from taking her out with me, but it's been more of a pain having both of us stuck at home. Betsy is getting sick of being stuck in her kennel all day. When she wasn't in her kennel very often I started using it to hold some clothes. Now that she is in her kennel for several hours a day she has decided that pulling my clothes into her kennel through the holes and laying on them is fun. I had to clean off her kennel and have started putting lots of toys in with her during the day. Poor girl just wants to get out and have some fun. I tried leaving her loose for two hours and well, we'll just go with she didn't pass. She got into my school bag and pulled out a book and proceeded to shred it. I guess she has a thing against homework.

Maddie and Betsy (waiting for the week to be over!)

bad, Bad, BAd, BAD BLOGGER!!!!

Holy cow! Where did the past month and a half go? It feels like I just updated. Until like looked at the little thing that tells me when I last posted. February 17! Yikes! Sorry guys!
But as most puppy raisers know, no news is good news! There isn't anything exciting going on here. Betsy went into season a week ago. So she is on house arrest for 3 more weeks. She doesn't like that idea, but she's dealing. I'm just glad she isn't a high energy dog. I would hate trying to wear her out without being able to take her out of the backyard. A game of tug or session of obedience is plenty of exercise in her book. Of course she misses her nightly walks, but they will be back before she knows it!

In other news, Betsy isn't on the recall list for May 9th or June 25th. Which comes as a relief to me...kinda. May 9th is the week before finals so I would hate to be adjusting to a new puppy! And June 25th I will have a girl from Texas here for 4-H exchange. The only bad thing about not getting a new puppy then is that now I don't know when I will get one! If there isn't a puppy truck in the beginning of July I might be in trouble. My puppy has to be able to stay in its kennel for 2.5 hours before school starts. I don't like to kennel them this long until they are at least 3.5 months old! Even though my leader says a 2 month old puppy should be fine in their kennel for 4 hours...I just think that's too long. I might be recruiting help from my puppy club for the first month or so of school if there isn't a early July puppy truck.

Betsy continues to be a great puppy. She basically has no issues and it just an easy going puppy. I'm glad I get to keep her through a good part of summer :)

In non guide dog news...I turned 16 last Thursday and got my license. That's been fun! :) 

That's about all the news I have for now. I'll try really hard to update more often, but no promises. 

Happy Easer,

Maddie and Betsy

PS those pictures were taken one day apart. We went from 75 degree weather to 10 inches of snow.! 

Graduation...

Graduation was amazing! I am going to start at the very beginning of the trip. And well, I haven't unpacked yet and my camera cord is in my bag so no pictures just yet.
On Thursday I finished packing and finally fell asleep at 12am. I was just a little excited(:
Friday I got up at 2am to head to the airport. We got there at 3, checked in, went through security, and boarded the plane at 5:30. I slept the entire flight! We flew into Arizona where we had a layover that consisted of getting off the plane walking to the other terminal and getting on a plane. Then I slept on the flight to San Francisco. We were off the plane and out of airport by 10. The very first thing we did was head to GDB campus. We got lost a few times, but we got there! I was amazed at how many people there are everywhere! We stopped at an In and Out Burger on the way to campus and I swear there were like 100 people in there! It was crazy and no one seemed to notice that there were tons of people. In Colorado at the busiest time of day there are like 20 people, tops! Anyways, we got to campus and it was raining! We went on a tour anyways and I loved it! There were only two other people on the tour so I got to ask all the questions I wanted! :) After the tour we drove around San Francisco and San Rafael. We went over lots of bridges and I saw some sea lions! The last time I was at the ocean I was 4 so it was really exciting for me! Then we went out for dinner and headed to the hotel for bed!
On Saturday I got up nice and early and got ready to go. We got to campus at 10, went to the gift shop, took some pictures, and finally headed in to check in. At 11:45 they brought Gabrina and her partner, L, out. Gabrina pulled L all the way down the hallway and climbed into my lap even though I was sitting in a chair. I guess you could say she remembered me :). She was so excited and wigglely, just like I remembered!
We never found out how old her partner is, but we guessed around 70. She has children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. She has RP and started losing her sight around 50 years ago. L lives in San Diego in an apartment alone. Despite her age she is very active and happy to have Gabrina as her 3rd guide dog. They seemed perfect for each other! Finally it was time for graduation to start. I was the 3rd to last one to present. When L walked away to go on stage, Gabrina looked really concerned. She didn't understand why L was leaving her! That's when I knew they were the perfect match. Gabrina was excited to see me, but she knew that she belonged with L. When I went to hand over Gabrina and give my speech I realized that I still had no idea what I was going to say. I had been so busy I didn't really think about it. So when L handed over the microphone I said what came to mind. I was going to talk longer than I did, but I was on the verge of crying and when I cry I can't talk anymore, so I wrapped it up real fast before I lost it. I know there were many blogger friends there. I didn't get the chance to meet anyone and I know most of you were there for other reasons, but thank for coming anyways!
After graduation L had to catch a flight right away so we said goodbye and headed to the beach. It was amazing and I played in the sand and in the cold water for 4 hours! I really liked it :)We went out for dinner and then went on a night hike and looked at San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge at night! It was beautiful.
On Sunday we went to the beach again and hung out. We went to a lighthouse and I saw a whale! More animal excitement! Then we drove through the mountains and redwood forest. It was beautiful! Then we went to dinner and headed to the airport. Our flight left at 6:30 and we were on our way to Arizona. We had a two hour layover this time so we walked around and at ice cream and had fun! I love traveling and airports so I love flights with layovers! Then we flew to Denver and got home around 2 am.
It was a very busy but fun weekend! And the best part was that I didn't cry the whole time! I got close to it while giving my speech, but I didn't! Saying goodbye to Gabrina and L was really easy because Gabrina was so happy. Her tail wagged the entire day and I knew she was where she belonged.

That's the end of my puppyraising adventure with Gabrina. L promised to keep in touch, but my work with her is done. It couldn't have been a more perfect ending :)

Bye, Bye Colorado

Hello GDB!

It took some last minute scheduling changes, but on February 12th, my parents and I fly out to California! I am really excited! But I am also nervous for the speech...if anyone has any suggestions on what I should say please let me know! 

Thanks for all your support! I am hoping to catch up on blogs soon!

Maddie and Betsy 

I just got the best news EVER!

Gabrina is graduating on February 13th!
Sorry Ro, guess she isn't your dog! Bummer!
I am really excited for her,  the only problem is that I have so many things going on that weekend. I'm not sure if we are going to be able to fly out or not. I am really hoping to make things work!

:D

Betsy's dream life

**Disclaimer: That is not Betsy in the picture! Although, I'm sure she wishes it was!**


You can definitely see the retriever instincts in Betsy. If I am not holding onto her leash or touching her at all times she will go and find me something. She never chews it up, but she will bring me shoes, her food dish, pens, papers, book, basically anything she finds on the ground. After she has gotten her item she comes running back to me to show it off. She prances around in front of me until I ask her for the item. Then she immediately drops it in my hand. Or when she gets excited she grabs the closest thing to her to show you. Usually it's a bone or her dragline. When it's her dragline she is extra proud of herself, even though I have to take it away. Although it is not GDB approved, it is stinkin adorable! I am working on breaking the habit by encouraging her to carry around her toys instead of my things. 

Betsy would make an awesome service dog! You know, the ones that pick things up and carry them for disabled people. Unfortunately, GDB doesn't let us teach our dogs to carry our things. She would also rock at fetch! She loves to bring you anything and everything.
If she doesn't make it as a guide I can definitely see hunting in her future! 


Maddie and Betsy 

Quick Question

I have a real quick question before I write my next post....does anyone know if the GDB Salt Lake City high school program dogs will get recalled at the May truck or will it be in June/July?

Thanksss :)
Maddie and Betsy

Backing up..

I haven't updated in so long! I'm sorry guys! So let's back up to say...January 13th. That was the second Wednesday of the month and we had a puppy meeting! Before this meeting Betsy was wearing a Halti headcollar. But for quite a few days before the meeting it had been really irritating her bad eye. I'm sure I mentioned it before...but when Betsy was a baby she had a bottom eyelid that rolled in and irritated her eye. She has finally outgrown it...for the most part. My leader said he doesn't want her wearing the headcollar anymore because GDB is trying to avoid doing surgery on her eye. I was okay with her not wearing it, except for the fact that she has gotten so big that I can't correct her is she has her mind set on something. My leader recommended fitting her with a chain training collar. I said at the very beginning of my puppy raising experience that I would never make my puppy wear one of those. When I saw a dog wearing one I always thought that it was an unruly dog. I know this is not the case, but still! I didn't have any other choice with Betsy though. So I got her the training collar and oh my goodness, she is a completely different dog. She pays complete and total attention to me. She does everything I ask of her and she is happy. I was worried that the collar would hinder her confidence, but instead it has increased it! Now she LOVES working. She doesn't like working for long period of times, but she loves to work! So I guess I shouldn't have judged to collars so quickly, but I do still prefer headcollars!

The other major thing I learned in the past couple weeks is that Betsy doesn't handle crowds well. She has never liked going to school. I thought it was just because she didn't like working in general, but now I see that she likes stores so she must like working. At school she is very anxious and doesn't settle down easily. She sits beside me and continually tries to stand up and leave. I only ever bring her to one class, but I think I'm going to have to cut that back even more. So for now she is just going to be hanging out at home. I will work on bringing her to places where there is going to be a crowd but she can just hang out and relax and I can focus completely on her. I am going to try and have people pet her and show her that being in a crowd isn't a bad thing.  If anyone has any advice on what I can do to calm her in crowds I would love to hear it!

My only other major news is that Gabrina made it to phase 10! :D!

I'm sorry I don't have any pictures, I had a ton on her on my phone and then they all got deleted! Ah! Betsy will be 9 months on Thursday and I will try to take some new pictures by then. But don't count on it. Soccer has started up so I am super busying practicing!

Maddie and Betsy

But I wanna puppy!

My leader has sent out two emails today saying that GDB is shipping puppies out to Colorado and they REALLY need homes! I asked my parents if I could pretty please raise one. But alas no. Grr! I want some puppy breath :). I don't have time to take care of a young puppy during the school year, but still! I want one! Betsy would love to have a little brother or sister!

Okay enough whining...
I promise and update on Betsy will be coming soon. We haven't really been doing much, but she has been doing great. I have been watching her super close and she hasn't gotten into anything! Woo!


Maddie (wishing for puppy breath) and Betsy.

Picture Slam

First of all, sorry things have been so quiet around here lately. I have started back to school and writing more than is required just doesn't sound like much fun!

Please ignore the fact that the pups eyes look funky in some of these pictures.

This last picture is super important to me. The dog sitting in my lap is 14 years old. We have had her since I was 2. She has been fight cancer for several years now, and we think she is at the end of her battle. We are going to miss her. She was very good about growling when the puppies got out of line. :)

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Maddie and Betsy

PS. I think my ALT tags got off from the pictures so some of them might not have descriptions. I am kinda confused about what happened, but I don't have time to redo this post! Ask questions if you have any :). Sorry!