Nuri AKA Spazz

So I figure that Nuri is now going to be nicknamed Spazz. She is crazy! Lately she has decided to run all over the place and bark at everything. Well, she has always barked, so that's really nothing new. Apparently she got her habit of barking (A LOT!) from her dad OMSI III, so I blame him! I will try to get her on video doing her little "push" thing. It's hilarious.

Well Nuri loves to go shopping, but only at PetsMart. She is getting better at heading out in publc, but still gets a bit antsy when we have been in a store for too long. Yesterday we were at Target and she was doing alright. I was surprised because normally she is pulling me towards the doors signaling, Let's GO! This time around she was alright for the entire time we were in the store. I know she misses following Wilara around, but at least now she doesn't pull as much as she used to.

I was hoping that, since today was so beautiful, that I could get in a nice walk outside. But of course! I had to work the day shift today, so no walk! It decided to rain instead once I got out of work. Typical. So Nuri ran around in the house instead.

After looking at CCI Breeder Chandra's blog the other day, I noticed that she and Nuri sometimes lay down the same way. Butt facing one direction with her head and upper body twisted the other way. Seriously, it looks so uncomfortable. But at least it's better than seeing the pup laying in their crate with their head hanging over the side like one of my other pups, Arey.

Wilara update

So I was hoping that today I would get some kind of update on my current puppy in Advanced training. Wilara was the 6th puppy that my family has raised and she's the 2nd one that I have had most of the training responsibility. On Saturday the 21st I had to say goodbye to Wilara as I turned her in to Advanced Training. Ok so it's only been like three days since she was turned-in but I was expecting something!
Wila's brother, Wexler, turned-in last November and has been in training for awhile. Wexler's report came through and it was encouraging to read his good report! Looks like he is on the path to become a Service Dog since he is being taught Light, Switch, and Pull. For those that don't know it, those three commands aren't taught to the other dogs set to become Skilled Companions or Facility Dogs. I have no idea about the Hearing Dogs, but I'm thinking they don't learn those either. Oh well.

Katrina, the NER Puppy Program Manager, had a new list of report dates sitting on the table at turn-in and I forgot to grab one. I would assume that there would be a report either in another week or they'll just wait until the end of March. This is the one thing I dread about puppy raising, waiting for the AT reports!
Crossing my fingers for good reports! Puppy Raiser mantra: No news is good news!!

Puppy Class

So last night was puppy class. The New Jersey Chapter gets together every 4th Tuesday of the month to hold a puppy class. I believe there were about 8 dogs there last night and we had a whole lot of fun! St Hubert's (where puppy class is held, located in Morristown area) had some agility equipment laying around so we decided to try our pups on that. Everyone LOVED the agility tunnel! It was a constant logjam of puppies trying to run through it! Too funny. Nuri had an exhausting time and was too tired when it actually came to get to work!

Last night we worked on a few commands and traded ideas for training. When we teach Shake we should do it without encouragement, such as holding out your hand. Who knew?! According to another Puppy Raiser, they use Shake to teach Light and Switch in Advanced Training. So we had a lot of fun trying to get dogs to Shake.

Like I said before, Nuri was exhausted! Playtime before class started really wiped her out and she fell asleep for the whole ride home. She snuggled up with her pillow on the back seat of the van and was asleep within minutes!

I know that I have an agility tunnel around the house somewhere. I have to go find it so that Nuri can practice and maybe I can get some pictures of her playing around it in.

Off to find the tunnel!

A Sweet Introduction

Hello all!

I'm relatively new at this whole blogging thing, but I'm going to give it a try anyways. My name is Lauren and I am a volunteer puppy raiser for Canine Companions for Independence (CCI). I'm currently raising my 7th puppy, Nuri, who is a pure Golden Retriever. Let me tell you a bit about this wonderful organization. CCI is a non-profit organization that provides highly trained assistance dogs to people with disabilities other than blindness. My job as a Puppy Raiser is to raise a little fluff-ball to one day become a working dog.

My current puppy is Nuri who was born on July 11, 2008 to mom Brynna and dad OMSI III. She's the oldest of 7 pups who are being raised by puppy raisers around the country. Nuri loves to train and play.

I hope that through this blog people can understand what a Service Dog learns and can travel along on this amazing journey with me.

I'll keep everyone posted!