Snapshot from a happy life

In church!!!

This makes me so happy!!!! Dembre is where he belongs! Imelda is happy, Dembre is happy! I've been hearing about their work together and I know that it is the best possible match. Dembre is an awesome pup and Imelda is an awesome person and they've become fast friends! My work isn't done yet, but mission one has been completed 110%!!! I'm so blessed to see snapshots from my (her) puppy's life!


Spring is here and Hobart and Pepin are enjoying the cold hard wood floors after playing outside in beautiful 80 degree weather! Hobart is loving this weather!!!!  

my two pups relaxing on a warm day

 

 

 

~Elijah & Hobart II

 

 

 

 

Dembre/ Hobart II update

I've been talking to Imelda recently and she just sent me a picture of Dembre! He's adjusting to his new life quite well and I think he's 10X happier with Imelda than he was with me, which makes me very happy!



Hobart is also doing well! We had a debate tournament over the weekend so he was out in public for his third full weekend in the last month, which is a lot. He did super well, though and I am very proud of him! Hopefully I  will get some pics up of him soon :)

~Elijah & Hobart II

It's My Birthday

YAY! IT's my birthday! today I'm fifteen! That means that I started considering puppy raising over 3 years ago now! WOW! I can't believe how the time flies! Today we'll be celebrating with a little party with some of my close friends and Hobart will be able to join in the festivities as well :P




~Elijah & Hobart II (with more pics of Hobo coming soon)

8 for 8 (another month gone by)

Hobart is 8 months old! Is that really true? YES! A few days ago I officially picked up Hobart six months ago!!!!!!

1. Hobart is handsome! I know that doesn't improve his chances of being a service dog, but he's certainly quite good looking. Everyone wants to pet him!!!

2. Hobart is good in public! Two weeks ago we went to a debate tournament and was out in public for like 40 hours straight. That was a lot for me and him! I was very proud of him for being so good.

3.Hobart is quite intelligent. He has a good brain and he tends to use it! Though, he's not always keen on using his commands, he does learn them very fast!

4. Hobart is a great companion. He's a good comforter and friend. He doesn't need to talk he just sits next to you and puts his head up against you and tries to understand. I'm not really even joking! He makes dog emotions very clear.

5. Hobart is friendly. Dembre was a one person dog overall. He got sick of having hundreds of people asking to pet him. Dembre never gets sick of attention. He's always wags his tail and gives his happy look when people constantly invade his personal space.

6. Hobart is playful. Playing, is his favorite. He can go from serious and perfect to complete clown and goof ball. I can't really get upset about that, because at 8 months old he still isn't an adult and he has his puppy craze moments. It's actually kind of funny!

7. Hobart is another reason to keep on raising for CCI. When I got Hobart I loved him and then he got to the age of about three months and kind of started to get on my nerve (mainly because of his puppy phases). We had our struggles and it took me three more months to get a grip on the idea of Hobart's personality. Now that I have realized how I can work with him I'm happy to say that we get along great and I think he's an amazing dog!

 8. Hobart makes so many memories. The look on his face when we go running; the play bow and wagging tail when I have his Wubba; playing with Pepin in his free time; and so many other adventures. He keeps me busy, but also keeps me sane!

This day seems so far away

and this day came so soon

~Elijah & Hobart II

MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!!!!!!

Merry Christmas, Everyone! I'm at my grandparent's house waiting to open gifts so I thought I'd jump online to wish you a very wonderful holiday! Remember the reason for the Season! The best Christmas wishes to all and have a wonderful new year! I can't believe that it's already almost 2011! Time flies when your having fun doesn't it! This is Dembre's only Christmas with me so I'm trying to make it a special one!

Merry Christmas,
~Elijah & Dembre

'Official' CCI pictures

I shot a couple of 'official' pics of Dembre on a stand table at CCI North Central! These pictures aren't the best quality, because I took them against a white wall, but they'll do.

Featured Toy... Nylabone Keys

(left-right) old keys, new keys

Old keys

new keys

Dembre loves his Nylabone keys. I saw a picture of his brother with keys when the litter was together so I assume that he got to play with them when he was little! I got my first set of keys awhile before Dembre came, but it didn't really get used until he showed up. Over the last six months he has chewed them... A LOT! Dembre got a shiny, new Nylabone keys for Christmas and is absolutely thrilled!!! In the pictures above it might be hard to see, but Dembre's old keys have been chewed so much that they would soon be chewed to stumps.

Christmas Time

It's a beautiful, snowy Ohio. Wreaths hang on most doors and people bustle about doing Christmas shopping. I love Christmas. It's a beautiful holiday and a good way to celebrate the birth of our Savior. Yesterday Dembre and I went caroling at a nursing home with friends. Dembre added a wonderful touch to the experience. Multiple people opened up and talked about the dogs they had owned in the past and their love for animals. All went well and Dembre worked just like a Therapy dog... until the end! I knew I needed to take Dembre out to "hurry", but I didn't realize that the door was locked from the inside and you needed a code to get out. An alarm went off and Dembre started to go just before we made it outside. Darn it!!! The nursing home workers were very kind and didn't freak out. I got Dembre outside quickly and Dembre finished going. We cleaned it up quickly up the mess and left. I felt so sorry for the people at the nursing home having to deal with that, but can only blame myself for the accident. I should have gotten Dembre out sooner since I knew he needed to go. I feel terrible for Dembre since he is a "housbroken" dog he obviously didn't want to go inside he was trying to hold it until we got out, but mistakes happen. Our puppy program manager said that at about eight months CCI pups usually give a have a bit of regress, especially in public. :( Well hope that doesn't happen again :D

Crazy Weekend (long post)

Last week the pastor of our church passed away after a long battle with cancer. We our happy by the fact that he has gone to be with the Father, but many people around the globe will miss his leadership and friendship.
People from all over the world came in for the funeral so right now a pastor from the Philippines is staying with me and my family. On Friday my Dad wanted to show the pastor around Columbus so our whole family including Dembre went out to lunch and then to the Ohio Statehouse. Dembre sat quietly at lunch and was a perfect pup. I can now say that my CCI pup has been in the Senate meeting room and house of representatives for Ohio. Dembre got a warm welcome from the state troopers working at the state house and there were no problems as to access.
After our statehouse visit we went straight to the calling hours for our pastor. So Dembre rested for that time, though still in public, I allowed him to lie down and sleep. Everybody was hungry after the calling hours so we went to Chipotle to get some dinner. I wasn't sure how it would go taking Dembre to Chipotle, because last time we took him to a mexican grill he got kicked out, but we had no problems.
On Saturday morning we went straight to the funeral for our pastor. Dembre was very serious and quiet for the service and from watching how he reacted to the moods of people and how he's always looking for ways to be of use I think he'd make a great Service dog. After the funeral we went to a friends house for lunch and then on to a graduation party at our church. Dembre was able to sleep a little bit at the party and then on the way home, but when we reached my house I took his cape and gentle leader off and he curled up in a ball and went to sleep. I seriously think he slept for four hours without moving a muscle!
You might be thinking that and 8 month old puppy shouldn't do that much in one weekend and usually I would agree. Both days that we went out it would have been too long to crate him and Dembre's just different. He takes everything in stride and stays calm. The only thing that I have seen a problem with in public is greetings, which he did very well over the weekend, and a little bit of stress when trying to rest in a public place. I think he feels like he needs to work not relax so he gets a little funny.

Dembre in the snow on Friday morning

Dembre in the main rotunda at the statehouse

A blurry picture of Dembre  in the main rotunda at the statehouse

Dembre in the house of representatives (the meeting room for Ohio)

Dembre visiting the house of representatives meeting room

Dembre in the senate room

Dembre in the senate room

Dembre and I sitting on the floor map of all the Ohio counties

 God bless and merry Christmas,
~Elijah & Dembre

8 Month Photoshoot Part 1 (sunset)

To get these pictures I ran through the woods, across the creek, through a pricker patch, and into a snow covered field. But, WOW, was it worth it! Truly God's creation is awesome!

A Christmas Thank You Letter *By Dembre*

 Dear Friends and Family,
I would like to say thank you for reading my blog. I know I'm a good looking pup, but I also no that you must make great efforts to keep up with me and my journey. Someday I will hopefully go and help someone who need me. I hope that someday I'll get to open doors and turn on lights, Yippee! I would like to wish you all many kisses, but I'm told by my puppy raiser a lot that I am not to use licking as a way of saying 'Hi'. I wonder why. My PR will continue to write his wonderful posts, but I thought that it was only fair that I got a turn writing to you all and telling you about my life.
I like to learn new things and I like to play. I found out last week that there's this white stuff called snow. It's really fun to play in it. Now when I go out to stores and things, there are trees with lights, and some big guy with rosy cheeks and a red outfit. Also when I go out in public everybody wants me to 'kiss' them and my puppy raiser tells me "no". I'm a popular pup. I have a blog and I have a Shutterfly and I even got a facebook page of my very own!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year,

Lots of love,
Dembre

Update

I went to an indoor waterpark for the weekend so Dembre went off to the puppy sitter. He just got back :)

When Dembre was about 5 months old I clipped his nails and he was struggling a little bit. As many of you know it's hard to cut the nails of a squirming dog with black nails. So I hit a quick on one of his front paws. His nail bled for awhile, but the blood stopped within a couple of minutes. Since then nail clipping has been a struggle, but whenever he goes to another PR for awhile and they cut his nails they never talk about him being bad.  I started to give him treats when I had the nail clippers and praised him when he allowed  out and praisedToday when I picked up Dembre the puppy sitter said that she clipped his nails and he was perfect. No problem!!! Realization... Dembre is scared of me when I have the nail clippers. I don't need to change his fear of nail clipping. I need to turn around his fear of me clipping his nails!

Everybody PLEASE stop by and follow CCI breeder Cara's blog. Cara is Dembre's mom and recently whelped her 5th and final litter. The 'O' pups are now just a little over a week old. There are three boys and 6 girls. So PLEASE go visit this blog. The photographs are beautiful :)

~ Elijah & Dembre

P.S. I'll post some pictures of Dembre in the snow soon :)

My little boy :P (long post)

Dembre is my little boy or is he! I think of him as my little boy, but is he little. The answer is NO! He is 60 pounds and is very, very mature. I don't know if I'll stop calling him my little boy while he's still with me. At turn-in next year I'll still probably think of him as the little 14 pound puppy who, when I first saw him, my heart stopped beating and I suddenly really realized for the first time that I was picking up a little puppy that could someday be a life changing miracle for someone with a disability. It hit me that this was a big step in my life that I was now a Canine Companions for Independence Volunteer puppy raiser. I had dreamed of that moment, prayed that that moment would come true, and wondered when it would be, if ever. Dembre has been such a blessing to raise. I know I sound like it's turn-in or something and I just realized that because he's gone, but he's not. Realistically I still have quite a while with Dembre, but I know that turn-in will come and I'll be so proud. Now don't begin to imagine that all I do is sit around all day thinking about Dembre leaving. Believe me, I cherish every moment of this journey. God has appointed me this special role, to love and nurture a service dog. For awhile after getting Dembre I didn't really realize that I am now one of those puppy raisers. I'm just the same as many of you. But still it's hard for me to believe that now I have had Dembre for 6 months and 3 days. Half a year of growing and learning!

Eight for Eight

Dembre is today 8 months old (or is that correct he was born on the 31st, but today is the last day of November). Well, whatever! I'm going to do this post anyway!

1. Dembre is such a wonderful puppy to raise. He's so cuddly!
2. I love how he bows and stretches every time he gets excited. 
3. Dembre is so mature when in public.j He acts like he's ready to be a service dog...until someone wants to pet him :)
4. Dembre's a cute young gentleman that gets all the ladies. He's just the most irresistible black dog that I have ever met. His eyes are beautiful and he's such a flirt (in a usual guy way). He just has his ways!
5. Dembre loves to work. I must admit he is obsessed with the 'lap' command though. Whenever I give him the command he puts his two front paws across my lap so that he doesn't hurt me. He has to learn this command so he can assist somebody by picking up dropped items and jumping up in their lap to give them the item. Dembre doesn't get that and just wants attention
6. Dembre is playful, but not too playful. He knows when it's time to back off and settle down. 
7. I love how Dembre rolls over on his back and paws the air as an attempt to get attention. His attempts fails, but he keeps trying. 
8. Dembre has grown up so fast! I don't know how my puppy has turned into a well trained, ready to go kind of dog from a little puppy that wanted to chew on his toys and

God bless,
Elijah & Dembre