Puppy Update!!!

Hi all!

Sorry to all of you who have been following my blog! I’ve been away from home for quite awhile….read more about that in my personal blog! kaitlynjoseph.wordpress.com

Columbo did eventually go to D4D! Yay! As far as I know he’s placed with a woman in Fresno, CA. He will most likely be graduating February 20th, I can’t wait!

Sadly, I have been away from puppies for a few months,  but I have finally gotten a new one! He’s not a GDB puppy though. His name is Victor and I’m raising him for D4D. He was given to them by GDB when he was nine weeks old for pigeon toed feet, but he’s mostly grown out of it. He’s 10 months old and he’s a black lab. His parents are Tate and Michelle, anyone heard of them?

Life is good, now that I’ve got a puppy again

Always,

Kaitlyn

Columbo…

Well, Columbo went back for formal training on May 2nd. I was called three days later with news that he was career changed for a luxating patella. Apparently when they put the dogs under for xrays they twist their knees around to see if they dislocate or not.

I wanted him to go to D4D but Guide Dogs is being difficult and saying that I cannot specify which community placement he goes to…that’s not even half the story.

After all of my dogs (but one) having health issues I’m not sure breeding is not to blame. They really need to widen the gene pool a little bit.
So, we’ll see what happens with Lumbo.

Later,

Kaitlyn

Missing My Baby!

Well…right now Columbo is being passed around between people in our club. I swear they were practically fighting over who was going to watch him while I had surgery and recovered enough to take care of him! It was funny to watch.

I get my Lumbo back tonight so I can have him with me for my follow up appointments tomorrow at Stanford. But then he goes back to the sitter tomorrow night But I do get him back on Friday night or Saturday afternoon! Then we’ll go from there and see if I still need him puppy sat or not. I sure do miss him though!

That’s all for now!
~Kaitlyn and Columbo

Recall Date

Yes, the dreaded recall date has come for my Lumbo

He’s going back the weekend of May 2nd.  I am having my gastric bypass on March 12th, so he will be moving around a lot with people in our club. Our club is absolutely amazing! Everyone wants to take him for us!

He will be well taken care of while I rest up until I can take care of him again, and my mom will be getting him on weekends so I can see him then!

That’s all for now!

Kaitlyn & Columbo

String Cheese Anyone?

We had our club meeting last night. The activity plan they had was an excellent idea! The leaders put out paper plates on the ground with various foods on them including cut up string cheese and hot dogs, cookies, chips, crasins, and some candies.

The goal was to walk your dog around the paper plates on a loose leash while letting them sniff the food but not get close enough to grab any. Most dogs were fairly good, but some were distracted by the hot dogs. I have to say, Columbo kicked puppy butt on this distraction test! He walked right OVER the plates, only pausing to take a whiff of the hot dogs.

Good Boy Lumbo!

Hi All!

So, I imported my Blogger blog which I was using for my GDB stuff onto my wordpress account. Hopefully I will be blogging more about random puppyness!

Always,

Kaitlyn & Columbo

Update

Hi all! Sorry I haven’t been using this blog lately. I got Columbo back on Christmas day and Todd is doing well in his new puppy raising home. Columbo is going through his “teenage” stage and challenging me in every little thing I ask him to do. I hope he gets over this soon!
I hope they don’t call him back at twelve or thirteen months like they have been recently but, we’ll see…he just turned ten months on the 22nd of January.

I don’t think I will be raising for awhile after Columbo goes back. I am having a major surgery and then going off to college. I’ll be graduating high school a year early, this December. If I do another puppy, it will probably be a transfer dog. Of course, when I graduate college and get settled I will raise again, but for now, it wouldn’t be fair to the puppy.

Always,
Kaitlyn & Columbo

Meet Todd…

Hey All,

Meet Todd! He is a male black labrador, I’ll be raising him as a starter puppy for a friend in Chico. She took Columbo for a couple months. We plan to switch back about Christmas time. Todd is a Righetti X Carmen puppy. He is very stocky and has big brown eyes. So far, he’s pretty calm…but I’m not going to push my luck. I was told there are 5 males, and I know that Tudor, and Tom are two of his brothers. Let me know if you know of any of the others!

Health…And A Puppy.

We went to Stanford on October 10th. Not much is new…they finally sent the insurance letter and we should know in about a week whether the insurance will approve it, or if we’ll be fighting them for awhile. Which would stink because then it would take longer! Oh, and insurances are really starting to bug me!

I was on HealthNet, but they denied me even going to Stanford in the first place, so now I’m on Healthy Families…cross your fingers that they accept it! I had to try the liquid diet and puree diet for one day each, and that wasn’t so bad. I think if I make myself think it’s going to be worse than it actually is…it makes it easier! heh…

Keep me in your thoughts and prayers. I go back to Stanford on November 21st. Surgery isn’t scheduled yet, should be in December or January. I am fourth on the waiting list!

I’m getting a new guide dog puppy on the 25th! It’s just a starter puppy for my friend Kay, who’s a leader in Chico. She’s going to take Columbo for a couple months while I start her puppy, then we’ll switch back. I’m excited to have a new baby! Even if it is only for a little while…

Friday September 26th 2008

Columbo is now 6 months old! I cannot believe how fast time has gone by. He’s showing some signs of fear from certain random things, so he’s currently on food protocol when on outings. Our next outing with the club is to Chuckee Cheese, so that should be interesting!

I didn’t get a surgery date, as we’re still fighting with the insurance so Stanford can even send the letter for approval. Then after they send the letter, they might not even approve it.

Independent Study is okay. I miss being around other people but it gives me more time for exercise and for Columbo. I already finished a class. US History. Took me four weeks. Now I’m working on Comparative Religions, ADV. English, and PE. For my Religions class, I just read Anne Frank’s essay “GIVE!” If you haven’t read it I strongly recommend you do!

I took Columbo to Chico with me for about a week. He had fun playing with my brother and sister-in-law’s black lab, Kobe. Kobe wasn’t always so enthusiastic, but it was good for Columbo to “live” with another dog that actually doesn’t want to play all the time.

That’s all for now…I think?!
~Kaitlyn & Columbo