It's So Fun to Break the Rules!

Guide dog puppies are not allowed on furniture, so with the exception of the lawn chair out on our porch, Cabana has never been on a couch, chair or human bed. Not even once!

Last night, for the first time, we invited Cabana onto our couch to watch the Hallmark movie, "A Dog Named Christmas" (which we only watched half of and that I was somewhat disappointed by--but I know I'd have been crying buckets if we hadn't decided to keep Cabana). Following Martha's example with Ardella, we put a red blanket on the couch first, then gave Cabana the "go to bed" command. She jumped right up and settled herself on the blanket. That will be Cabana's blanket, and she will only be allowed to sit on the couch by invitation and on that blanket. Hopefully.

When I watch TV, I sit on the floor with Cabana--I've done this for the whole past year! I haven't minded all that much. I put a pillow behind my back and lean against the ottoman, and I hold Cabana's sterilized bones while she chews. It's not that comfy on my rear, although I have plenty of "natural padding".

So it was a huge treat, not just for Cabana, but also for ME!, that we got to snuggle up on the couch together! It's so much nicer than snuggling on the floor! Now I finally understand why people let their dogs up on their couches, even though the upholstery gets smelly and stained and chewed up. Good thing reupholstery is a hobby of mine!

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Cabana is Home...

...to stay! I feel such relief and peace about our decision. She may not be the "perfect" dog for us, but we love her so much. In the end, I couldn't bear to think of not having her in my life anymore. I can't wait to teach Cabana to play fetch with tennis balls, take her to obedience classes for further training, and give her Frosty Paws and other previously forbidden treats.

Part of the reason I was hesitating to keep Cabana was that I kept imagining her in a new home with a little boy, maybe about 8-years old, who'd play tug with her, run circles with her in the yard, go on expeditions through the wilderness. I could see her being endlessly entertained by a little boy because every time we see children in a store, Cabana is so enthralled. She was so sweet and gentle with my nephew who visited this summer. But--there was no guarantee that she would be going to a home with an 8-year-old boy or that she'd love him more than she loves us.

There might be a dog out there who fits our lifestyle better, but there also might not be. I'm happy to never know. I do know that I would have compared every subsequent puppy to Cabana. This one isn't as smart as Cabana was, or that one chews things up when Cabana never did.

I'd like to explain my not feeling "completely relaxed" with Cabana from my earlier post. I tend to feel overly responsible for people (and pets). Because Cabana was in training, I was always thinking about her future blind partner. I'd think maybe I should be putting her on tie down more often or take her to restaurants more frequently so she'll be used to that, etc. AND for the past 6 months, I've been waiting for Cabana to go into season (Martha was right about watching the pot--it never boiled)! I worried constantly that if a determined big male dog decided to get frisky with Cabana, I may not have been able to stop him. Plus, Cabana is my first dog, so everything is new to me.

As Cabana's new owner, I am fully committed to giving Cabana the things she needs. There's a big off-leash dog park near my girls' high school that I've been dying to take her to. After her spay and recuperation, I plan to take her there frequently, so she can play with other dogs until she's exhausted. If she needs a 5-mile walk or run, hey, I need the exercise, too! And my husband is a marathon runner--he'd be happy to take Cabana for runs, too.

When I picked Cabana up from the puppy sitter's this morning, she was SO excited to see me. She eagerly hopped into our car, and snuggled up against my hand as I petted her in the back seat. She was so happy to come home. There's no doubt in my mind that Cabana feels our love. Our home is her home, and she is our dog.

P.S. As you can tell from the new header, I plan to keep blogging about Cabana.

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Letting Go

Inherent in being a puppy raiser is the aspect of letting go. We sign up, knowing that we are going to have to let these puppies go one day. We just hope that ultimately, our letting them go will result in great things, changing someone's life for the better.

But heck, life is all about letting go. As parents, we let go of our children over and over again, as they enter kindergarten and college, get married, or move to another state. We let go of possessions, jobs, even friends. If we didn't ever let go, we'd be immature, stagnant, bored, unbalanced.

Yesterday, as I wrote about Cabana's career change and the difficult decision we'd be making, I felt a little like a trapeze artist, knowing I had some letting go to do. I was hanging on to the bar, knowing I had to let go and freefall for a little while, before catching the next bar. The next bar might be keeping Cabana as a pet, placing Cabana with another family, raising another puppy, or some combination of those things.

What a tremendous blessing to have 30+ friends there to support me during that freefall. All your comments were filled with heartfelt compassion, personal experience, and sage advice. I appreciated each and every word. What an amazing community of puppy raisers and dog lovers we have here.

We got home from our trip this evening, and I will be picking Cabana up from the puppy sitter's tomorrow morning first thing. I'm so grateful that all of this happened over the Thanksgiving break. My husband, daughters and I had four uninterrupted days together, plus 12+ hours driving in the car, to hash all of the options out. We talked about it a LOT, and that was extremely beneficial. I think it also helped to not have Cabana there, since she might have made us less objective (either by being too cute or too distracting).

Although we have pretty much made a decision, in case something crucial changes in my discussion with our puppy group leader (who I haven't been able to talk with since we got back), I'll wait until I've talked to her to make the decision public. Sorry for the big build-up! But I will say that everyone's comments made such an impact. It was extremely helpful to have such great input and to learn from the experiences of others. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

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Black Friday News - The Big CC

Although we've known unofficially for about a week, on Wednesday, it became official. Cabana is career changed. No surprise that it's due to dog distraction.

In some ways, the news came as a relief. For the past year, I've felt a bit like we were trying to push a square peg into a round hole. When I read back through my first posts, I am reminded that Cabana's issues have always been the same, and although we made some progress, they've never gone away.

Now Cabana will be able to do so many of the things she wants so badly to do, but hasn't been allowed to. I'm happy for her about that. But whether she'll be able to do them with US or with someone else--that's the quandary.

Basically, there are 4 options in front of us:
1. Keep Cabana and raise another puppy for Guide Dogs.
2. Keep Cabana and don't raise another puppy for Guide Dogs.
3. Let Guide Dogs find another home for Cabana, and raise another puppy for Guide Dogs.
4. Let Guide Dogs find another home for Cabana, and don't raise another puppy for Guide Dogs (making us dogless).

Option 1 is pretty much out of the question. Celeste, our CFR, said that she would recommend we wait a couple years to raise another puppy, because Cabana would drive the new puppy crazy and we'd end up pulling our hair out.

Some readers may wonder why Option 4 is even on the table--but it is, because sometimes, I just don't think I'm cut out to be a dog owner. I have never felt completely relaxed with Cabana being in our home. Not because of Cabana herself, but because that's just the way I am. My weird baggage. I tend to worry about her, whether I'm doing the right things, whether I'm socializing her enough, whether she's happy or bored. With Cabana at the puppy sitters this weekend, I feel like I sleep better and feel generally more relaxed (although we are still down in Los Angeles on vacation, which may also be a contributing factor).

It's an AGONIZING decision! And I waver minute by minute. We adore Cabana, and we want what's best for her. But we also want to make a decision that we can feel good about for the next 10+ years. My family is pretty much leaving the decision up to me, since it affects me the most. They will be fine with whatever I decide, which I'm grateful for, but which also makes it more difficult for me since I'm so torn.

I THINK (at the moment of writing this) that I have pretty much made my decision. Guide Dogs needs to know by Monday(!), so they can schedule Cabana's spaying (if she doesn't go into season over the weekend). Before I make my decision final, I'd love to get feedback from other raisers who have had to make this decision. I know circumstances will vary for each person and each dog, and no one can make the decision for me. But if you have any advice, or factors that swung you one way or the other--I'd love to hear about them.

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Giving Thanks

I came across this hilarious photo of a cat and dog in Thanksgiving garb, so I replaced the other dog's face with Cabana's. I'm hoping the actual photo was also a product of Photoshop--cats can't really stand like that, can they?!


Here's Cabana sitting in front of our house. But tonight after our puppy meeting, Cabana went to the home of a puppy sitter in our group. She's been to this puppy sitter's house before, so I hope she'll remember it and have a good time with their pet dogs.

In the morning, we're heading down to Los Angeles to spend Thanksgiving with my sister. Cabana can't come with us because my sister is extremely uncomfortable around animals. No tolerance for cats, dogs, gerbils, bunnies--she might be okay with goldfish, but only if she doesn't have to touch them. Also, my sister lives on the 12th floor of an apartment building, so it was a double strike against bringing Cabana. :(

My family members are all vegetarian, so we won't be eating turkey. Our Thanksgiving meal will be Thai food and chocolate cake. Yes, I'm very thankful for that! And I won't have to do any of the cooking! Even more to be thankful for!

Wishing everyone a safe and harmonious Thanksgiving!

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Vote Cabana the Cutest Dog of the Season!

I just entered Cabana in Hallmark's Cutest Dog of the Season Contest. Click here to vote for her!

Here's the photo I entered:
You can also enter your own dog photos. Just so you know, you can vote for multiple dogs, so you can vote for Cabana AND vote for your own dog. I doubt I'll win, but it's fun anyway!

I'm looking forward to watching this Hallmark movie, A Dog Named Christmas, airing on November 29. It's got a yellow lab in it--what better reason to watch!!

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Crazy Singing Dog

My mother-in-law recently sent us a package full of Christmas decorations. One of the items was this silly singing dog. You push a button on its paw, and it sings "Silver Bells".

Cabana isn't quite sure what to make of this singing stuffed animal. But it sure is cute to watch her! (Description of video: Toy is droning and making its motions. Cabana dashes up to it, then runs away, leaping, twirling. When the toy stops, Cabana ventures up to it and tries to incite it with playful motions to make it go again.)



Every time I turn this toy on, Cabana yawns. I know the yawn doesn't mean Cabana is tired. It means something else, like that she's annoyed maybe? I'm not sure...does anyone else know what it means?

In this second clip, Cabana tries to make the toy do its thing again. When it doesn't, she comes over to me and hits the camera with her nose, which makes me giggle.

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These Paws Were Made for Walking...Fast

Cabana is a high energy dog. I think she really WANTS to walk nicely without pulling--but she just can't contain herself in the beginning of our walks. Midway through, after some energy has been expended, she's much better about walking in the right position, next to my left leg.

Because Cabana is over a year old, she's allowed to run a bit (Guide Dogs doesn't want dogs under 12 months running alongside you on leash because it can be hard on their joints). I usually jog the first few blocks with her, so she can release some energy. Well, I might be jogging, but for her, it's barely a trot (I'm a shorty at 5'1").

The new snap collar worked great at first, but a big drawback with the snap collar is that it stretches out. Proper fit is crucial with the snap collar; if it's even a half inch too loose, it just slides down, instead of staying high on the neck where it's most effective.

If you have the same problem with your snap collar, try soaking it, then putting it in the dryer for about 5-10 minutes. If you put the collar in a sock before putting it in the dryer, it will minimize banging and protect it as well. But MAKE SURE you only put it in the dryer for a short time. If you forget and dry it too long, the collar may not even fit on a chihuahua--so proceed at your own risk. Our collar shrank about 1/2" in 10 minutes, perfecto!

I have found that alternating between the snap collar and the head collar helps Cabana walk with less pulling. Maybe it keeps her from getting too used to the same kind of pressure.

Even after a brisk 45-minute walk (between 2-3 miles), sometimes, Cabana will still do her labby loops through our living room right afterwards! Like I said, she's high energy!

We usually walk Cabana fairly early, starting out between 7:00-7:30, to minimize the number of dogs we pass (since she's on food protocol, we go through a lot of kibble on our walks, and I need to save SOME for her meals!). This morning, though, there was a frost on the ground--chilly! I waited until closer to 8:00 to go on our walk, hoping it would warm up a bit--but even at that "late" hour, we didn't pass a single other dog. I guess Northern California dog owners are pretty thin-skinned! (I know the Utah folks are sniggering at us, too cold to walk with a mere light frost!)

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Happy...

Cabana wishes everyone a happy Friday the 13th.


And a happy weekend ahead!!

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Yellow Pillow Dragon

My younger daughter S sometimes calls Cabana her "yellow pillow dragon" because she likes to get on the floor with Cabana and use her as a pillow. S thinks Cabana looks a little like a dragon--there is a slight the resemblance, in the shape of Cabana's face.

But the other night, the tables turned, and Cabana decided to use my daughter as a pillow instead!


In the photo below, near Cabana's front paw, there's a bowl of popcorn on the floor. Cabana is so good--she didn't even TRY to go after it!

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Lion Raising Tips

This baby lion reminds me slightly of Cabana. I know, lions are feline, Cabana is canine. Call me crazy.

Ahhh, it's nice to have my computer working and virus-free. But now that I'm finally able to blog, I don't really have that much to say!! But here's a loosely puppy raising-related post.

Recently, I read the book "A Lion Called Christian". Although the book was published in 1971, the story was made popular again by the video on YouTube, which I'm sure most folks have either seen or heard about.

It's an amazing true story (though rather short, about 3 hours long on audio). These two young Australian guys are visiting London, and they go into Harrod's Department Store. Harrod's is known for selling just about ANYTHING, and they happen to have 2 lion cubs for sale. The guys fall in love with one of them and decide to buy him. They do have to fulfill a few preliminaries, but still, it blows my mind how easily they were able to acquire him.

At first, Christian is a cute little fluffy thing--but after a few short months, he's strong enough to do serious damage to his owners, if so inclined, whether using his claws or his teeth. Although they had ZERO experience in the animal training realm, it's remarkable how the guys were able to train Christian.

They would run around in the basement of the furniture store where the guys worked, playing with balls and stuffed animals and other toys. They'd play and get all rowdy and rambunctious. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? But whenever Christian would do anything slightly dangerous, like nipping at them or chasing them, they would immediately stop playing. They didn't want Christian to have any inkling of the amount of power he had--and how LITTLE power they had.

By stopping whenever things got dicey, Christian learned not to direct any of his immense power toward humans. After the guys finally realized they couldn't keep this 600+ pound beast and found a way to release him into the wild in Africa, even years later, Christian was still gentle and loving toward them, as witnessed in the YouTube video.

The lesson I learned is how valuable the simple act of stopping is when training lions...and puppies. A few weeks ago, when Cabana and I were romping around in the backyard, Cabana got overly excited and nipped at my hand. She didn't make contact with my skin--but I remembered the trick that Christian's raisers used. I stopped playing with her immediately and took her inside. I think this has made Cabana much more careful about what is acceptable play and what isn't. She hasn't tried nipping me since then.

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A Horrible Virus

No, Cabana isn't sick (she's just sleepy because I accidentally woke her up by taking this photo), and no one in our family has the dreaded H1N1. It's my poor computer that has the VIRUS!! Grrrrr....What a waste of someone's knowledge and time to develop such mean-spirited beastly machinations to inflict upon the general populace.

My computer was infected about a week ago, and at first, all it did was put little x-rated icons all over my desktop. I would drag these little pictures of people's nether-regions into the trash, only to have them replaced with a new batch an hour or two later. But now, the virus has infiltrated all my executable files, meaning that none of my programs work anymore. I can't use Photoshop, Word, or even my email program. Thankfully, the internet still works, but at an excruciatingly slow pace.

Next week, I will be forced to reformat my hard drive and reinstall all my drivers and programs. Not a fun way to spend the day! So, I will have to wait until next week to catch up on everyone's blogs. This also explains my lack of activity on Cabana's blog.

Overall, Cabana has been doing well--and she's 13 months old today (but still hasn't gone into heat). She's officially on food protocol, which means that she gets tons of treats while we're on our walks (which we take out of her 4 cups of food per day so she won't get chubby, not that that's much of a concern at this point).

About halfway through our walk today, I noticed that Cabana was taking the kibble from my fingers SO gently. I thought, wow, that's so sweet how she's being so careful. Although Cabana is fairly good about taking the kibble nicely, she can get over-zealous when she's excited about something or someone (i.e. canine someones). But today, she just seemed extra, EXTRA careful.

Then, just as our walk was ending, I happened to look down at my hand and was shocked to see that my thumbnail was covered in blood! After a week of having my thumb and forefinger shoveling hundreds of pieces of kibble into Cabana's mouth, I guess the cuticle on my thumb had gotten a bit sore, and on our walk today, had split open.

Ha! No wonder Cabana was being so careful taking the kibble! She didn't want it seasoned with my blood! Gaahhh.

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