HOT HOT HOT!

It's been crazy hot here in South Texas and we have to get creative with training walks with "Gigantor". Not only is it just plain hot, his puppy coat makes him extra hot, and the pavement is insanely hot and we have to avoid the the three footed hop about.

The first trick after getting out of the car is getting the pup dressed to work. Not as easy as it sounds when hes four feet of motion!
To accomplish all the things on a puppy's to-do list we have to walk early in the mornings, later in the evenings, and spend a lot of training time indoors. This week we did all of the above. We walked downtown in the early mornings, we took a stroll in Stone Oak to go to the Sonic Drive In for happy hour in the evening and watch all the traffic go by in the dusk. We also spent some time at Northstar Mall. With all the school kids on summer vacation, there were a LOT of people at the mall. Every one of them wanted to pet him. That's understandable considering he is so stinking cute.

We worked on going up and down the stairs while not trying to sniff the person walking the other way. We had a little rest break in front of Godiva Chocolate (that might have been more for me) and we then we practiced some of the "find" commands that are new to me with this puppy. I didn't have to teach the "finds" with the last three guide dog puppies, so it's a lot of learning for me to, thankfully the puppy raising program manager is there to teach me as I school Gigantor. A "find" is a unique command where the pup has to scan its environment and find the item you are looking for, quite useful if you're blind. This week we are working on "find the seat" which is a command to find anything you can sit on. Right now its a lot of me doing the work, but he'll get it pretty soon!

We had a fun treat this week, we had two new guide dog puppies, Lola and Izzie, fly in from New York, the came and spent a few hours with Gigantor before their vet visit. They has lots of fun, and were nicely tired when it was time to go to the vet. They are only 11 days younger than Gigantor, and the weighed TWENTY POUNDS LESS!!! let's hope they are just extra tiny, and Gigantor doesn't live up to his nickname!

Calling All I-Phone Users!

Have I got a deal for you!! You know you've always wanted to be a puppy raiser just like us, bit didn't want to have to go through the hassle of house breaking, the long sleepless nights and long training walks in the 100 degree heat! Well here you go! Get on the information super highway an head over to the Apple ITunes store and down load the "pocket puppy raiser" for only $2.99 -- less than the cost of a bag of biscuits -- you get endless kisses (and slobber to wipe away) tummy rubs and tug of war that you get to win!! Guide Dogs of Texas gets $1 for every down load and you don't get chewed up furniture! What could be better!?!

Have fun with it and feel free to tell everyone you know, and a few you don't! Its a great app and an even greater cause!

If you want to read more about the guy who wrote the app (my SON!) read the article here :)

http://wacotrib.com/search/content/news/stories/2009/04/23/04232009waciPhoneapps.html

Jethro is doing well, a busy week of working and growing and trying to beat up the other dogs in the house and failing at it miserably. He had a play date with his sister Twist, and she is an inch TALLER than him, but he weighs 5 pounds more. They were really fun to watch play!

He like to hide while he sleeps, but he doesn't fit where he thinks he can, so he improvises.

Thanks for all the support!! Stop in and see the Gigantor pup sometime!

Giant Baby!

OH MY!

we went to the vet this week for the next in our series of vaccinations. I'm getting good at this and made sure we did a walk at the mall BEFORE we went to the vet so he wouldn't be his usual crazy self. It WORKED! Well it worked after the vet tech tried to weigh him on the baby scale which he maxed out. He is now 30 pounds at 13 weeks! The vet called him a freak of nature, just like LeBron James. hes going to give him a complex!

After the vet we went and had lunch at one of our favorite haunts, and VERY guide dog friendly, Habanero's Grill. Best burrito joint in San Antonio, we had the best queso on the planet, and he had a nap! that going to the vet part is hard work!

Later in the week we took a trip to Target (it happens to have a Starbucks in it).

We took a tour of the pet section and bought some pupperoni to reward the extra hard work. We wondered around produce and frozen food, and the deli and meat section, he did really well. We stopped and had our Starbucks, which he wasn't impressed with then off to do some straight line work.

Then home for a nap...for both of us!