10.5 weeks!

We've been busy! Puppy #8 and Mary's aunt graduated as a Service Dog on Friday in a special side placement class! It was fun for Mary to get to meet her! 

Lots of play time in Gittinger Hall!! 

All packed and ready to go! 

First chiropractor appointment at 10 weeks! She was great!! 

Puppy kisses for Nordic! He's 1 day younger than Mary and being raised by my friend in Sacramento! They're going to have fun! 

McKinley Park to check out the ducks on our lunch break! It is great for her there with all the kids, ducks and sounds. She doesn't have all her shots yet, so I had to hold her the whole time. 

Jack Urban Eats! Went inside to drop off a donation request for the Crab Feed Raffle! 

 

Stopped at the California Railroad museum to drop off a raffle item request!

First official puppy class!

Today was Mary's first official puppy class! It's a pretty big clas and some of the older puppies will be moving to Basic next semester. We have a lot of brand new babies! Mary did great! We worked on cradling, dress, let's go, sit, auto sit, and here. 

Off to the first day of school photo! 

Good down. 

After some cradling...

Mary and her soon to be best friend Nordic who is being raised by my friend Jennifer. Mary and Nordic are 1 day apart! It's going to be a lot of fun raising these puppies together!

And they woke up!

After KPT class I stayed and watched Basic and Riffraff. Mary slept next to me the entire time! 

We had a busy day! She's such a good girl!!

Day 2 at the office!

Today Mary learned about a tie down. This is a short cable that we use to get the puppies ready for Advanced Training. The trainers use the tie downs a lot with their strings of dogs. Mary did great! She had her bed and her chew toy and she was very happy.

It was pouring rain today, thanks to El Niño. House training an 8 week old puppy in a crazy rainstorm isn't fun. 

Sweet girl in her x-pen at the office.

Mary has been great at her auto sits, sitting at doorways and has very nice leash manners! 

First full day at the office!

Today Mary joined me for her first full day at the office. Today was the 4th day she's been home with me and our first Monday together. I stopped at the Sacramento Animal Hospital to pick up some safe puppy CET chews, then a quick stop at Wendy's house for a x-pen for my office. This was a life saver today. I put Mary's toys in, her bed and water dish. She didn't make one sound!

At lunch time I took her to Old Sac. It's a great place for puppies to see people and different things. It was a busy day today because of MLK Day and I held Mary the whole time. We sat on a bench and just observed. At this age I don't let anyone pet the puppies out in public. She did great! 

The Sacramento River. It's getting higher, thanks to El Niño! 

Sitting on a bench in the quieter side of Old Sac. A few people came by to say what a cute puppy she is. They didn't pet her, but they did talk to her and she was very confident and happy! 

Sitting on one of the boxes in the train station.

Tonight we had a DogFest meeting in the game room. Omeeka came with her BC, Omeeka was my 5th puppy and she is Mary's Grandma! Oz was from her 2nd litter with Zorba.

Mary is a smart puppy! She knows SIT, and is auto-sitting about 90% of the time now. She is great with house training and is quiet in her kennel now. I love this little puppy!!

Sunday Funday

Today was Mary's first Sunday Funday! We watched football playoff games and enjoyed being home. There was a lot of playtime and kennel practice today! Tomorrow we will attempt her first day at the office. I'm hoping she can handle it and not bark in her kennel! 

When I woke up I took her out of her kennel and put her in her x-pen with her breakfast. She eats one kibble at a time! So far she only eats maybe 1/4 or 1/2 cup per meal. She's still a tiny girl at only 11 lbs.

She's pretty cute!! 

Sleeping with her head all the way back!

And she found the toy box! 

My friend gave me this tiny bed after her dog grew out of it. My puppies have loved it!! 

Today it has been pouring down rain, thanks to El Niño this year! We need the rain, but it sure isn't fun to house train a puppy in.

Day 2!

We had such a busy day yesterday that Mary actually slept pretty well! We went to bed early around 10:30 pm, she whined to go out at 12:30 am and 4am. I took her out and she peed. Normally I limit the puppy's water at 7pm, but she came dehydrated, so I want to make sure she's getting plenty of water.

Today we worked on her name, sit, recall and crate training. She is really improving in the crate! A few fussy minutes, but then she settles down and sleeps with her toy.

It's funny, Mary eats very slow like her Great Grandma Chandra (aka Shawn). It would take Shawn 5 minutes to eat 1 cup of food. Mary eats each piece and makes sure she chews it all the way. I don't think I'll have to use a slow bowl with her!

Some snuggles before going to bed. A little bonding session too. 

Keys! It's great to get puppies used to all sorts of different items. Metal is something that they will have to pick up as a Graduate dogs. 

Puppy class wore her out! Today we just had people meet her and I held her on my lap. She fell asleep on the pool table while the basic puppy class was going over Q&A's with a wonderful Gold Rush Chapter Grad. 

Mary thought carrying the newspaper was great! She was very happy about her accomplishment. 

Checking out the Basic puppy class. These puppies are around 6 months old. 

A little rain won't stop us. Our contract trainer in Sacramento always says that Service Dogs work in the rain, so we will too! 

Mary loves this bed! I bought it about 3 weeks before Shawn passed away. I'm so happy that she will get to enjoy this bed that her Great Grandma did. 

Welcome home Mary!

Little Mary V became an official puppy in training for Canine Companions for Independence yesterday at 2pm! I went to Santa Rosa is a huge rain storm (thanks El Niño) to pick her up! 

Mary is a Golden Retriever and her parents are KC III and Oz III. Both of them are related to my Breeder Chandra who passed away unexpectedly on 12/8/15.

Mary has 7 siblings: Malloy, Mays, Magic, Merlin, Mucha, Moby and Mender. 

Pick up time at CCI! 

Visiting with my 2nd puppy Hiltie and current Skilled Companion team! Hiltie is 13 years old.

Hiltie -13 years and Mary 8 weeks.

Zzzzz...

We didn't get much sleep last night since Mare Bear decided it was a good idea to scream in her kennel for most of the night! Hoping to get her nice and tired today!