She learned back!

Finally! We have been working on this command for a good month now, and she was having quite a bit of trouble with it. From my understanding, "backing up" is not a normal canine behavior, so many dogs have problems with it because it does not fee comfortable to them. Needless to say, Tyanna was having this problem, but in the past few days she has been showing quite improvement!! Here's a video of her practicing her "backs". They still need a little cleaning up. And oh, please excuse my messy messy room!

Picture Post

Here are some pictures from tonight...



Ignoring food on the floor (that I of course accidentally dropped...)

Exciting things on the horizon...

Good news first: I am going to be a "featured alumna" at my grade school next week for my work with CCI.
Bad news: This involves a presentation about CCI and puppy raising, which also involves public speaking....

Luckily, with the help of the CCI Chicago Satellite Office, the director was able to get two grads to come help me out with a demonstration and talking to the kids about assistance and how they enhance the lives of the people they work with. I'm very excited to see the demo, and get the kids excited about CCI (which may lead to a school-wide fundraiser...), but I HATE public speaking!!! But, it's all worth it!! I'm pretty excited to go back and show what I've been up to and stuff. I'll post pictures :). That happens on the 30th (next Wed. I believe).

I have also made a resolution to start taking more pictures of Ty. I have barely any of her out and about in public, and it's starting to make me sad! I also have like 10 pictures total of me and her actually together...so gotta get more of those!!

Hopefully I'll be able to put up some pictures later tonight!!

Old Pictures

Here are some old pictures from the summer that I found lurking in my hard drive.



You can see her tattoo in this picture.



Practicing her down-stay in PetsMart.

Weekend Update

Alright guys, so I accidentally cleared my memory card after visiting the regional center...so no pictures of the center!! Trust me, I'm pretty upset! It was really fun, I got to meet with my PPM and see the training room where they have a house set up to practice commands. I also got to see the kennels, and some brand new puppies that had just arrived and are waiting to go out to their PRs!! They were absolutely ADORABLE.

My grandpa lives about an hour and a half from the regional center, so we spent Saturday there. Tyanna was excellent in the hotel room, and did a great job in the car. She came with us to a few restaurants, as well as Wal-Mart. She also had her first encounter with cats at my grandpa's house. She did excellent, didn't even lunge! She didn't know what to make of them at first, and would lie down and try to inch her way over to see what they were. She then figured out they were boring and took a nap :).



The following pictures are from the hotel room. She loved lying on the cool bathroom tile floor...even though it was 20 degrees outside!

The Chunkster

After our visit to the vet today, my suspicions of Tyanna's weight have been confirmed....she's starting to get a little chunky. The doc assured us that this was nothing more than the normal "winter weight gain", but would still like me to try to get her to trim down a bit because she is still growing. Nothing drastic, just a little less food at each meal. He said it should come off with no problem!

Please ignore my face in the above picture....its one of the only recent ones I have uploaded onto my computer!!

Exciting News!

Today was the last day of finals, so I'm in a pretty darn good mood, but I'm now in an even BETTER mood because my mom gave me a little news today... :)

Well, I have a 5 day weekend this week, so my parents planned a trip to CCI for me! Unlike many of you other raisers out there (the lucky ones), I don't get to go to the center that much because it is so far away. So, early this Friday morning I will be on my way to the North Central Regional Center (and visiting my Grandpa)!!! I'm SO excited!!!!

Cole and Ilia - Skilled Companion Team

Biscuit Suggestions?

Hey guys! I know that some schools don't allow their puppies to have treats, but for those that are allowed to give their pups treats, I am asking for some suggestions. I use Bil Jac treats (as suggested by CCI) with training and teaching because Tyanna goes nuts for those things. Does anybody have any suggestions for a good biscuit (like a hard treat)? I like to give those occasionally because they help to clean teeth in addition to our teeth brushing routine :). Thanks!!

I had one of "those" puppy raising moments today.

You know, the ones only us PRs can understand?

I was at Starbucks working with some friends on our Physics project that is due soon (ugh), when a man approached me. He asked whose dog was on the floor, and I thought that he was going to "scold" me for having a dog in a facility where food is served. However, it turns out that he has immense hearing loss, and has been researching hearing dogs. He was SO great full to meet Ty and I, and I gave him a CCI brochure to look over and keep. The man was very excited, and I could tell that he loved seeing Tyanna. When we left Starbucks, he stopped me to thank me for the information. I love these moments, as I am sure all of you do. It's the feeling of opening up a new door for somebody, and inviting them into the CCI family with open arms...nothing gets better! Neither of my friends could understand why I couldn't stop smiling...

Here are some pictures from tonight:




"I'm a big girl now and get to ride in the back seat!"

Her new (and odd) resting place...

...the first landing on the stairs. She has been doing this a lot recently, and it's pretty funny to observe!

I'll be the first to admit...

...that I have been such a bad blogger recently!! I have so much going on right now between recovering from surgery, school, and all my other stuff. Finals are coming up in a week, and I still have SO much to do, but I won't bore you with those details :).


Ty playing telephone with my friend's little sister, Brayden.

The past few weeks have been pretty slow for us because of surgery. Nothing really exciting lately. Just the same old same old....visiting stores and friends! After school today I took her with me to Walgreens. I forgot her gentle leader, but I wasn't in the mood to drive back home, so I took her in on her flat collar...and she did wonderfully! I was very impressed with her demeanor. She got a little distracted when a man started smooching at her, but other than that, she was great! I was able to hold a few poster boards, glue, and a big stack of note cards (AND her leash) with no trouble at all! This was such a relief for me because I have been worried about her heeling lately, but she seems to be doing a lot better.



I desperately need to start taking more pictures of her in public. I either forget my camera, or feel really awkward. But I have come to realize that I am not going to have many pictures from her, so I better get on it! There have been many moments when I wish I had my camera, like last Sunday. I was with a friend in Potbellys and Ty was asleep on the floor with crumbs around her head. Priceless moment only a puppy raiser could understand :).

Since I was in bed for most of the Christmas season, I wasn't able to take any pics of Ty by the tree, and mine died already so it's been tossed...so I went over to my friend's house to borrow her tree for a photo op, and let Tyanna play with her pal Mackie (pictured). You may remember Mackie from some previous posts. She is exactly 1 month younger that Ty, and they get along great! It was So hard to get a semi-decent shot of the girls...



I'm heading out to the pancake house tomorrow for a quick breakfest, and I think I may bring Ty. I have never taken a pup there before, so I may call ahead in the morning to clear everything with the manager! We shall see!

Happy training!