Andy Service Dog

11:58am: Friday November 24, 2006 Thanksgiving, Birthday, and Puppies!

Happy Thanksgiving Holiday to all! As one can imagine these last couple days have been very busy as we got ready for Thanksgiving and my daughter’s 12th Birthday yesterday! She also had a ceremony at her school where her whole school was State Champions of the Presidential Physical Fitness Award. It is a series of 5 physical fitness tests and to receive the Presidential level the kids have to pass all 5 at the highest level for each test. My daughter was one of 33 in her whole school who achieved that! Then her school went on to become the State Champs of the State of Washington! The school put on a nice awards assembly! :) I took lots of pictures, but stupid me erased them when I took this series of puppy pictures as I forgot they were on there and thought it was just my older pictures! Arg!!

On to puppy news, the proud Mom couldn’t resist sharing that tidbit! The puppies are growing so fast it dizzies the mind! Both Mommy Doodles are working on weaning the puppies. The give little growly warnings when they are done nursing to let the puppies know enough is enough. This is very important as it is teaching the puppies to accept discipline.

Mindy is such an imp herself that she just adores playing with her puppies. It is comical to see her rolling around in a wrestling match with her boys! I would have grabbed the camera but it was in my study! They love to jump on her and they love to play with her tail! She plays until they want to nurse again then she warns them and usually jumps up on the couch to get away!

I think Circe is abit overwhelmed with all 9 of her swarm to try playing with them. They all like to pull and shake her tail and ears and after awhile she escapes to the whelping box. The puppies will try and climb in after her but she knocks them back out with her nose and a little warning growl. So then they all line up on the outside of the box and whine at her. Silly puppies but it really is quite funny and the puppies never take offense! I usually rescue Circe about then and lift her out of the x-pen area.

Both Mommies like to take breaks and go play or hang out in the kitchen with the other Doods!

I have both sets of pictures of the puppies! I tried to get two pictures each of the Circe puppies but I didn’t quite manage it for all of them. Sometimes getting that one good “say cheese and smile for the camera” shot, can be tricky! These puppies are just yummy adorable! They really are very cute, so cute they got the “Oh so Cute Award” from my oldest son!

Happy 6 Weeks to our Circe Cuties!

Pink Girl When I got out the scale to weigh her she tipped it to “ERR” I had to break out the big scale!
5 Lbs 3 oz! One of our biggest but one of our sweetest! She is our darkest little girl.



Green Boy I thought he might tip the scale too as he one of the biggest boys but he was only 4 lbs 2 oz.





Red Boy 4 lbs 7 oz. Isn’t he just adorable! He has one of the wavier fleece coats! This little guy is a Lapdoodle!



Pink Hearts Girl 3 lbs 15 oz. This little girl did not want to hold still for her pictures! She has a teacup tail, you can see it curled by her side there. Once she saw the TV she just had to go investigate!





Blue Boy 4 lbs 14 oz. Isn’t he just an adorable little man! Look at those lady killer eyes!





Purple Girl She is our smallest one at 3 lbs 10 oz. She has a very curly wavy coat and is a soft creamy color.





Orange Girl 4 lbs 11 oz. She was so mellow for pictures! Look closely and you can see the tip of her tongue! Just too cute!





Green Paw Boy 4 lbs 15 oz. He is another of our curlier puppies and I always can pick him out because of his adorable dark curly ears! I just love his ears!



Yellow Boy 4 lbs 2 oz This little guy is just a butter ball!! Don’t you just love that expression!





I’ll be working on allocations next week after things settle down from the holidays.

Happy 7 weeks to our Mindy Boys!

I have gotten quite a few compliments on this litter and their fabulous coats! These boys are truly wonderful! They are very laid back and mellow. Sweet but playful! I have been very happy with the results of this litter. This litter was done for a couple of reasons. I’m working on my own line of a blend of the American x Australian lines. With emphasis on temperament, structure, strong hips, and new blood lines. This is a line that I would like (hope) to develop into my own line of Therapy and Service Dogs.

Our plan was to keep a girl from this litter. Well Mindy had other plans, so we will keep a boy instead and not spay Mindy right away, though at this point we are not planning another litter, but will keep our options open. There is a pill you can give them to keep them from going into heat and the vet and I will put Mindy on this so she can concentrate on being my daughter’s 4H dog.

We also had another special reason for this litter. One of these puppies is going to a very special girl to be her Service Dog. We are very pleased that one of these boys will be going to Florida to a wonderful breeder where we can watch his lines develop there!

Here are our Mindy boys! Because there was only 4 puppies I named them. It was an impulsive thing as all 4 names just came to me! Of course our families are welcome to name them what they wish! Allocations are close to being done for our boys!

Sailor Blue Boy! 8 lbs 8 oz He is our darkest, waviest boy!



Joe Joe Green! 9 lbs 8 oz I love this shot as it shows his beautiful gray eyes! Very soft coat and beautiful cream color with dark highlights.



Tiny Timmy Red! 7 lbs 14 oz Smallest but he keeps up with his brothers, very soft fleecy cream coat. You can see his Daddy in that face!



Purple Hart to Hart! 9 lbs 14 oz Our biggest guy with the thickest coat and a soft creamy brown apricot color. Very unique color.




Happy Holidays and Doodle kisses!

12:46pm: Oh woe is me, my days are mixed up!
It just dawned on me that I was a day early on saying Happy Two Weeks to Circe’s puppies! For some reason I just had it in my head that yesterday was the day I was taking individual pictures. Even though I typed “Tuesday” on my journal entry, even looking at my puppy chart which read Day 13! I remember thinking that was odd but I was on a little war path! I was going to get those pictures and that journal entry out and nothing was stopping me! Not even myself it seems :)

This morning I was going over in my head, today’s tasks. Thinking I was doing individual Mindy Puppy pictures (of course the day after Circe’s puppies) and thinking through my plan for introducing their solid food. I was playing with the puppies saying, “ohh boy yummy mush on Thursday” That was when the light went on in my head, “Wait today is Wednesday, 3 weeks on Thursday! Ohh that makes Circe’s puppies, two weeks old today” of course then I did the slap to the ‘ole noggin!

I apologize for that! Happy Two Weeks to Circe’s puppies today! Their pictures are just too cute to redo :) I’ll do Mindy’s 3 week pictures tomorrow on time!

Mindy’s puppies are just so cute and I am in love with them all! Purple Hart actually came over to me in the whelping box, ohh a heart melter that one is! Joe Joe Green wagged his tail at me, my heart is just mush! Then Tiny Timmy looked up at me with those big eyes of his, my heart is now a puddle, then Sailor Blue nuzzled my shirt and gave a little tug, and my heart was completely theirs!

I had to laugh at Purple Hart as he struggled up on all fours, succeeded, and then gave out a big puppy woof and fell over! It was just too funny! They are starting to do little puppy growls when they play and I just can’t resist their play. They are just too adorable. They are taking an interest in the toys in their whelping box too, playing or nosing at them.

I went to visit Circe’s puppies and as I scratched a little puppy and did a sing song of “Puppy Puppy” the whole group, like a little herd, all migrated over to me. They are just too cute with their little puppy sounds and as they all try to wobble over, fall down, but get up and wobble some more. Of course Mommy Circe had to ruin my fun and climb in the box which made the little Doodle Herd migrate over the other way to the food source. Oh well can’t compete with that at this age, but just wait until they are older and I am armed with my tasty liver treats! Though it won’t be much of a migration as a stampede of Doodles!

Back to Doodle Land!

9:04pm: Happy Birthday Mindy Puppies!
The puppies are here! The first puppy was born at 3 PM! Oh my gosh, I think all Mindy did was burp and out came a puppy! I was starting to think that we were going to wait until tomorrow. She didn’t pace, pant, or really carry on. She whined a bit on and off and did some nesting, but mostly she napped.

The second puppy was born 25 minutes later and then the third at 3:58. This guy was so tiny! I was chanting girl, girl, but it was a tiny little Timmy Boy! Then we waited almost two hours for the last puppy to make his showing. The last puppy was probably the most work for Mindy, I think she did three or four burps for that one! Really I am just amazed at how easy it was for her and how smoothly things went *knock on wood* Mindy is a wonderful little Mommy I couldn’t be more proud of her!

Unbelievably we ended up with four boys. I was so hoping that last puppy was a girl but we will just have to be happy with the boys!

Here are their stats and then some pictures:

3:00 PM Blue Boy Dark Apricot 10 ½ oz.
3:25 PM Green Boy Cream 8 7/8 oz
3:58 PM Red Boy Apricot 6 3/8 oz
5:52 PM Purple Boy Dark Apricot 10 oz

Here is our beautiful little Mommy! Isn’t she just so pretty as she waits for her puppies!



The first three boys! You can see Tiny Timmy on the left.



Mindy and Puppies! You can see all the colors we got!






Well back to the puppy room!

11:27pm: I am so proud of Andy and his training! He did exactly what he was trained to do!

There are so many little things in life that we take for granted, we just do them. Attach a phobia to them and they are no longer very little. They can become a struggle to do, something to be avoided, something that changes your life because of the avoidance.

( Continue with Andy's entry )

9:45am: Finally a post ...
May 18th, 2005

Again I am neglecting my writing though this time my reasons were health. I developed this very painful condition called Costochrondritis. It is where the joints that join the spine and/or breastbone become inflamed. In my case it was mostly in the spine and the joints had also stiffened up and pulled my ribs up into my spine. Ouch!

( Continue with Andy )

7:06am: Monday March, 28th, 2005

Monday was a good reminder why I have trained Andy. When days are good and I am strong it is often tempting to think about leaving Andy in the car. But each good day is a training day, a training day for a day like Monday.

( Read more... )

5:57am: Again I have been neglecting Andy’s journal. So much has happened too! I just kick myself for not keeping up! So I am going to try and work on some catch up entries today …

12:07pm: Andy Paws ...


Do you think if I print out the Liver Treat Recipe, Allie will get the hint and make some?

We're all out of those yummy treats and I know there is liver in the refrigerator I saw Allie buying it at the store ....

1:01pm: January 19th, 2004 Wednesday: Trip to School
Our highlight was a visit to the school. It was my daughter’s special day and she could bring a pet. She wanted to bring Andy. Before I went we did extra training. He is getting quite good about picking up my keys. I want to work this to the point where he picks them up automatically. I have also started working on picking up a variety of items, whatever I am pointing at. Of course we ran through all the basics!

We played outside for awhile to run off any excess energy and then got a good brushing! We were ready for our trip to the school!

The kids all just loved him and were full of interesting questions about both Labradoodles and Service Dogs. Andy had to be a bit of goof and played with his leash but other than that he was very well behaved.

One of the questions asked, "what tricks does he do?” I clarified that he has really only one trick, to shake hands (left or right) and that his other tasks, are tasks not tricks because a task is helping me. I showed them how Andy picks up my keys and he picked up a pencil too. They all applauded him which Andy just preened by sitting up straighter! Andy adores kids and loved it when they were all allowed to pet him. :)

9:43am: January 19, 2005 Shoe or not to Shoe
January 19, 2005 Shoe or not to Shoe

Andy just loves his new shoes, though they are not so new looking any more. Yesterday he brought me his shoe and we played with it for a few minutes but clueless me, missed that he wanted a treat for bringing it to me. So he dropped his shoe and ran for my shoe! Which I took from him, gave him a treat. He ran for my other shoe and then another shoe! On the 4th trip in he brought me his shoe! I got it! So this time I treated for his shoe and praised him. Next time he brought me my shoe I just said Thanks and didn’t give him the treat! He gave me this look, then looked at the treat bag and back at me. I ignored him and he ran off and brought me his shoe! His whole body was wagging he was so happy. I laughed and gave him his treat! Silly guy! The family has learned when they are missing a shoe to look on my desk as it most likely is there!

A pretty quiet day for Andy and I both. We did a small practise session at the gym, lots of distractions for him to work around. He needs a few reminders as the kids all love Andy and come by to give him pats and loves! He tried to break a down stay by crawling over to someone but I caught him and pushed him back. He then rolls over onto his back and lets his tongue roll out, “ok, ok, I got nabbed”, we all laughed at his silliness! He is such a big goof!

11:54am: January 17, 2004 Dragging, Rainy Day!
January 17, 2004 Dragging, Rainy Day!

I dragged myself around all day. I forced myself to do my workout though I didn’t finish my arms set. I was just too fatigued. I even skipped Andy’s training session and did grooming instead. I was surprised that his coat didn’t just reek, but I could only smell the smoke just faintly in one spot on his shoulder! I was thinking I would have to give him a bath! I rubbed him down with baby wipes, brushed him really good, and finished with a light spray of frebreze.

Rounded up the kids, which included picking my daughter up at a friend’s house and headed for the gym. Today was grocery day. Andy was being a bit of a brat! He kept lying down in the deli area which had little puddles of water all over. I would make him get back up to a sitting position, which he then would try to scratch. I would tell him stop, and he would lie down again! We did several rounds of this! I swore he was doing it on purpose! Then he kept breaking his heal to go sniff my daughter, who had joined us. Then he decided he wanted to play with the end of his leash! Luckily our trip was short as I needed to finish quickly, so I could get my daughter back in time for her class!

At the gym Andy kept trying to stuff his head under the sofa where we wait for the kids. Must have been something tasty there! Then he kept trying to crawl from his down stay after some tidbit on the floor! Silly guy. Guess it was pay back time for all the good behavior this weekend!

Speaking of this weekend, a forgotten tidbit. One of Andy’s tasks that we are working on is to hold a brace and help me up from a crouched position. My legs will seize up if I hold a crouch for very long and it is painful to get up. I usually try to pull up with my arms to make it easier, but there isn’t always something available to pull up on. This is where Andy helps by allowing me to use him much like a stool. While we have been working on this, I don’t try to put weight on him at his age and growth development. At Pennies I had crouched down to look at some socks. Andy was in a down stay next to me. My legs did seize and tighten. I had Andy go to a sit, then a stand, and I very lightly used him as I told him “Brace” and got up. I also grabbed my daughter to help me up too. But I was very pleased at how easily and smoothly Andy did everything! I need to work on going straight from the down to a stand but one step at a time!

1:02pm: January 16, 2005 Bowling for Access …

This weekend turned out to be one large access shoe for Andy to be stepping into! Gizmo has really been showing his age lately. Poor guy, so Andy has been stepping up to the plate more and more.

My older son had several friends over this weekend. They decided they wanted to go bowling as on Sunday is 50 cent games. I told them to time it so I could see a movie after dropping them off so I didn’t have to drive back and forth. Of course teenagers are not very good about planning things in a timely nor thought out manner!

( Read more... )

11:00am: January 15, 2005 Another access challenge …

I actually sat her for a few moments trying to remember what I did Saturday! A very disconcerting feeling especially when it is only the Monday after! I did finally remember …

( Read more... )

10:19am: January 14, 2005 A trip to the mall …
Thursday was pretty uneventful. We worked on the variety of tasks I have noticed we needed to work on, turning around in tight corners, sitting up from a sleepy lounge, and picking my keys up. I noticed that Andy has been smelling me a lot prior to the fatigue hitting. I’m keeping an eye on this. I’ve noticed it before and I would like to fine tune it so he actually can tell when a fatigue attack is coming and that I am over doing it.

That was as far as I got on Friday, behind again :)!! Though my excuse is a busy computer weekend by my teenage son and his friends! Hard to find time to write, even harder to find a quiet moment to write!

Friday I decided to catch the J.C. Penny sale, so my daughter and I headed over to do a little shopping spree. ( Read more... )

11:32am: Tuesday and Wednesday
Slipping all ready!! Andy says get to work! I think he really means get to work and feed him!

( Read more... )

9:53am: January 11, 2005 Wish I had a fur coat too!
Brrrrr is this weather cold! I wish I had a fuzzy fur coat like Andy! Thank goodness I have trained him to go potty quickly! Brrr!!

We took a trip into the school to pick up my daughter and ended up talking to a whole group of people about Labradoodles, Fibromyalgia, and Service Dogs. The Fibro really turned me into a hermit so this is very therapeutic for me. Time consuming as my boys pointed out as I got back to the car later than just a few minutes and we were late to the gym!

Monday is my usual grocery shopping day and Andy has been going in pretty regular lately with me. My plan was to shift him into full time work closer to a year mark but he is doing incredibly well and Gizmo has been really showing his age lately. Last time I took Gizmo into the grocery store he just started shaking, I felt so bad for him. So I am trying to ease up on some of his work load.

The grocery store is becoming almost old hat to Andy. He is getting use to the big carts that roll around on the floor. They make tons of noise and are intimidating in size. Speaking of intimidation, we were in the produce section, just leaving in fact, when this other customer’s daughter spoke up, “Oh look Mom, isn’t that dog beautiful?” The lady shrieked so loud, I turned around, watching her run behind her husband. Obviously she was afraid of dogs. I hadn’t run into anyone with such a strong fear reaction before. I felt bad for her but just kept going forward since that direction seemed to be the opposite way their shopping cart was pointed. As I left I heard the daughter, “But Mom, that is a really nice dog! …” We did come across them again, passing in opposite directions in an aisle. I gave Andy a “Heel Tight” command to pull him in closer to me. I heard a final, “But Mom … “ but didn’t hear the rest of the comment. I thought I had run into them again by the orange juice, so I pulled off to the side and had Andy do a sit stay while I waited for them to finish. It turned out to be a different lady with the opposite attitude! Her first comment was, “Oh that is the type of dog I want to get next, I love the Labradoodle!” Of course she stopped us for a chat :)!

Yikes, got sidetracked yesterday and never got to finish this post … I think the rest of the evening was uneventful! Or I just can’t remember :)

12:33pm: October 2004 Memory: Mint Patty
I was watching a movie, Field of Dreams, and eating one of those mini York Mint Patties. A Halloween treat I had bought, normally an addiction for me!

( continue with Andy's journal )

10:32am: First Gymnastics Meet
I have been just terrible about writing in Andy’s journal! One of my New Year Resolutions was to pick it back up, catch up on some memory entries, and keep up with it throughout the year! This is starting with yesterday’s event and I will try to work on some past posts later today and this week.

Yesterday was our first gymnastics meet of the year and Andy’s first official meet! ( Continue with Andy's Journal )

8:08am: Oh how I have neglected Andy’s journal! I have had so much to write about and just could not get my fingers to do the walking! I have lassoed them and tied them to my keyboard and have threatened hot pink with purple stars nail job if they don’t get to work …

To start with I will post my belated Halloween pictures since my plan is to do some Thanksgiving pictures later today …

( Halloween Pictures )

11:36am: Andy Paws …
Allie has not been very good about writing and when I nudged her about it she told me, “Paws at it!”
Allie thinks she is funny but I know I am the true comic here!

Allie says I can type better with my tongue hanging out of the side of my mouth … so here I go …

This weekend we went to a Doodle Romp. I didn’t know what she meant and thought I was going to go play with my sister and brother again. Instead we went to a place with a fence and gates and when we got inside all these dogs rushed me. It scared me and I kept my tail tucked between my legs and close to my Allie. I checked to see how Allie was taking it and she was smiling and talking softly to the other dogs, so I knew everything was just fine. I warmed up quickly and decided a Doodle Romp was a fun thing after all! I romped and romped and took rests at Allie’s feet.

I even discovered I had something called a Doodle Cousin! We had the same Grandpa. Allie said I was extra good as she got dizzy getting up from her chair and tripped. I rushed to her side and pressed against her as she grabbed her chair. I didn’t want her to fall over! She said I was the best Doodle ever!

Allie and I have been working on training stuff. She scrunches her face and body up and if I nudge her hand she unscrunches everything and opens her hand and I get the treat! Yummy! Allie says unscrunches isn’t a word, I slurped her face!

She also does this thing where she has itchy arms and if I nudge her hand she stops scratching … scratching is a word, right? … and gives me the treat. I like these training games, they are yummy! Allie calls them Panic/Stress Attack Response Training. So long as they involve my yummy liver treats Allie can call them what she wants!

I know what my true duties are! I check her shoes for spiders! I take them by those laces and I shake them up real hard! Allie doesn’t like spiders, she is afraid they will bite her. If she sees one, she tells me, “Look Spider.” Grrr I jump on it, paw at it, shake it, and spit it back out! No spider is going to get my Allie while I am on duty!

Allie says it is time for a training session … oh she is getting those liver treats ………………………….

7:01am: Anniversary
My anniversary, 19th! Andy’s 6 months!

I was sitting here at my computer trying to find an anniversary virtual card to send … out of the corner of my eye I see Andy prance back from his wanderings … hmmm I look over … what has he got now? I get up and see … my daughter’s hair brush. I take that away and put it away in the bathroom then give Andy a chew toy. Back I go searching for a card and this time I hear a tearing sound. Andy has a piece of paper. I take it away and give him his stuffed monkey. Back I go through a few more sites and I hear a crunching noise! Wait I recognize that sound! Another pencil bites the dust!

I see Andy take off again just as I settle back in my chair! “Oh no you little monster!” I grab his leash and hook it over my foot and give him his favorite bear to cuddle with. I finally find a virtual card I like and start to fill it out when Andy grabs his leash and decides to play tug-o-war! My chair is on wheels! I go skidding across the study room floor grabbing the desk as I go by!

We proceed to play tug-o-war … I type in a couple of letters, Andy’s gleefully yanking, shaking, and pulling, I grab the desk and pull myself back, type in a few letters, Andy growling and pulling, grab the desk, type a few, yanked away, grab the desk, type a few …. Laughing through this whole silly game!

I did finally get my card sent off though I had to unhook the leash from my foot as I got pulled to far away and had to grab the bookcase! Silly guy!

1:33pm: I made it smaller but lost some quality ... lol

1:03pm: Ohhh my gosh it came out huge! I guess I need to learn to size them down!! But there you go a picture of Andy and my current Service Dog Gizmo! :)

1:00pm: Trying to post a picture ... Let's see if this works :)

( Picture ... )

12:51pm: A penny in the can …
Andy has been quite the little pest about getting into household trash cans, his favorite the laundry room one! I decided to booby trap it since tapping it and telling him NO was not working. I tied a piece of yarn to a sock I had thrown away (one he had retrieved several times since it being thrown in the trash can) and taped the other end to a tin can which I deposited about 6 or 7 pennies.

Andy decided he was no longer interested in that sock! He did find an old piece of bone, so I tossed that in the trash can. That stinker got that piece of bone back out without triggering the can! So I tied the yarn to the piece of bone and wouldn’t you know, it slipped off and he came prancing back out with it, as pleased as can be! This time I tied it very tight! That worked!

Andy pulled his bone out, which pulled the yarn, which toppled the can of pennies, which made a loud clamor! Andy came running to me with such a funny look on his face that I couldn’t help but laugh. I picked up the pennies and set the booby trap again. After a few minutes Andy tried to get his bone and again set off the booby trap. After that he would have nothing to do with that trash can!

I left the booby trap up for several more days. Several family members, myself included, accidentally set the trap off. Poor Andy would look at me with this funny look of his but it seemed to cement in his mind that the trash can was dangerous!

I was very pleased when at the gym, my daughter was tossing a toy for him and it landed in their trash can. Andy walked up to it, sniffed the air above but refused to get the toy! Good for him! He got lavish praise and a treat!

So far, knock on wood, or shall I say knock over a penny can, Andy has not gotten into any more of the trashcans!