Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Dembre's 14 for 14

I am still looking for suggestions! I always try to give people time to comment on posts, but I don't want to miss Dembre's 14 months birthday! If you have any suggestions for ways "Miraculous Journey" can improve you can comment on this post or on my last post!

  1. Dembre is AMAZING! That probably sounds a little over the top, but to me it's true! He's such a good puppy and I love him!
  2. I had a hard time leash training my Golden Retriever, Pepin. She was the first puppy that I ever had in the house and I was 9 when I got her. She remains my beloved pet to this day! I fostered many dogs since then, but I still regret not having a dog who loves to heal! Dembre gave me an opportunity to have a dog trotting by my side, not pulling ahead or lagging behind! That's a good trait in a PIT!
  3. Dembre has fans! Places we visit often (like the library) always have employees asking how Dembre is doing and when he goes back for AT! I'm not surprised. Number one it's not common to see a dog out in public places. Number two Dembre loves everyone and therefore people love him.
  4. I take Dembre out in public and he always impresses me! I've had a couple of embarrassing moments along the way, but most of the time Dembre is better than I thought he would be. He walks on a loose leash, and listens quickly!
  5. I love to watch Dembre play. He is extremely cute. He wiggles like a fish and and then takes a handsome bow and then does it again. Eventually he'll roll over on his back and kick his feet up in the air and then suddenly flip back over and if there's another dog they'll be rolling around batting each other with their paws.
  6. Talking comes easily for me and Dembre gives me something to talk about. Dog in public= questions/excitement. I get questions like these. "Why is he wearing that thing on his nose?", "What's his name?" "Is it going to be a guide dog?" and comments like "I could never do that!", "You're doing such a good thing.", "I should do that!" All of those questions need an answer and so that's what I give!
  7. Yesterday I was doing a training session and Dembre responded to every command until we got to "stand" then he got confused. He tried a "down" and a "sit", but I had to show him what to do! I'm so happy that he's come to the point where he can do more than 20 commands.
  8. Now I've started to leave Dembre alone out of the crate for up to an hour! He's really good! So far I've only left him inside alone while we work outside, but soon I'll actually leave him! That's a big accomplishment.
  9. Dembre must be cute, because he's been offered food twice in public in the last month. I was at Friendly's with some friends on Mother's Day when the waiter asked if Dembre could have some soft serve vanilla ice cream. I hadn't seen that coming. I had to explain that he isn't allowed to eat people food. "Not even on Mother's Day?" the waiter asked. I had to say no again. Then a couple of days ago I was getting tea at Tim Horton's when the server asked if Dembre could have a plain timbit. Once again I had to explain CCI rules.
  10. As turn-in draws near Dembre has some things that he has to touch up on. It's a big job preparing a puppy for advanced training. Dembre needs work on "out" and "stand" he needs a little work on long down stays as well. I have a few things that I want to do with him before he's gone, including a 3 day conference. When he turns-in I want a puppy that listens well and has a good chance of graduating.
  11. By this point you might not be reading anymore, because this is a really long post, but Dembre's ability to remain calm in the face of distractions impresses me!
  12. Dembre loves attention. In public he usually shuts down for the many little girls that want to pet him. He lets them pet him, but isn't really paying any attention. His problem is the people he knows. When he sees certain people he goes wild! I need to work on that! A LOT!!!
  13. Dembre makes me proud. I have trained hard and have put a lot of time into his training. According to our program manager preparing the puppy for advanced training is the goal, not preparing them for graduation. That's pretty much saying that you give the puppy you raise your best shot and hope that they do well in AT. The trainers get them to the graduating point (even though puppy raisers do the majority of the work) 
  14. 14 months! Really! That means I only have a little more than 2 1/2 months with Dembre. It's time to make some more memories and work hard to prepare for the next step of Dembre's Miraculous Journey!
~Elijah & Dembre

4 comments:

  1. Dembre sounds amazing! I always have people continually ask about my pups to; they ask to say goodbye to them before they leave for AT and continually ask how they are doing when they are in AT and whether they graduate or not. I love it when I get to these dogs touch so many lives and to see people become involved in their progress! One time when I was out with my second PIT a lady came up to me and said "this is a new dog isn't it" and told me that she remembered meeting me and my first pup out in public! Then she asked me a bunch of questions on how my first dog was and what she was doing now! Just one of the many reasons to love puppy raising!

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  2. Hi Y'all,

    What a great post! Sounds like Dembre will make you proud when he returns for AT.

    Your blog is just fine the way it is. The point is to make your blog your own. Some people keep it as a diary.

    The way my blog has evolved is to closely watch the posts people read the most. Then I try to add more of those type of posts.

    What you want to avoid is changing the focus of your blog. You have a unique focus. You need to keep your blog yours.

    Another way to get ideas is to visit other blogs you like and see what they are doing.

    There is one other place, a blog, you can go for ideas: BlogPaws (www.blogpaws.com) They actually host a conference with seminars on blogging. However, you only need to follow their blog to get answers to many of your questions. Read back through some of their older posts for helpful ideas.

    Sorry, blogger is making me use BrownDog's Live Journal account to post here. We're still at blogspot.

    BrownDog's Momma

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  3. Thanks both for your suggestions!
    Ashley- it really is the most amazing thing I've ever done! And I hope to do it again and again!

    BrownDog's Momma- I'll check out blogpaws! I'm happy that you like the blog :D

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Elijah and Hobart