Hero Dogs Tahoe

Hello Everybody – Tahoe Here – Happy Holidays to All!   

What a great beginning to this month – SNOW – I had no idea what this white stuff was – it didn’t feel so great on the paws at first but then, Oh MY – I love playing in the snow.  I ran, jumped, twisted and turned playing with the snow!  My raiser was balling it up and tossing snowballs at me while I tried…and successfully… caught them!  My raiser however, didn’t like playing out in the snow – she kept close to the grass and cleared pathways on our walks and waited for Mike to get home to go out for much longer and faster walks.  She’s doing better, just not 100% yet.

Along with the snow, my raiser and I returned to work.  I don’t go in everyday as she still is healing and having to walk me a lot is not so good for her.  So,  I stay home with Mike a few times a week and we do boy stuff, hang out and train and run errands in the big truck.

This season we did a lot of visits with family and made Christmas cookies but I was not picked to be the official taster.  We took lots of drives looking at all the decorations and lights and we visited Zeke’s house for play dates.  It seems everyone is home from school so all my buddies are home to play with me.  I love it.   Just what I needed!

This month Jennifer had the Hero Dogs training at the Frederick Library.  Man was it cold but I was working hard walking around listening to my raisers,  going up and down stairs practicing one step at a time, sitting and listening to commands like:   wait, touch (and touch wait), let’s go, step (and step wait), side, heel, turn, sit, paw, stay, paws up, off and doing combinations of a few at a time like:  take-bring-paws up-drop-off then turn & sit, paws up & wait.  I’m getting pretty good too.   To help me in my walking/pulling, Jennifer and Becca have given me a gentle leader – I am

not a fan…but if it helps me learn that I am pulling and I should be – I will try!

Later that evening we ate at a restaurant, OPA, where my raisers tried flaming cheese and octopus tentacles.  That does NOT sound appetizing to me but they all seemed to enjoy it, my favorite part was meeting new Hero Dogs and their veterans for the first time, thank you Kevin.

Next was the big event – Christmas.  My raiser and I spent time at the stores or on the computer and this nice Fed Ex guy would deliver boxes to our house *almost daily:)  Later, me and my raiser would sneak in to the bedroom where we tried to wrap them up in this pretty paper and lots of bows.  I don’t think I was much help as she had to use a lot of tape to close the holes where my paws went through the paper.  We later learned we needed to put the bows on last as they were too much of a temptation for me…even when the boxes were put up high, I just couldn’t resist getting up close and looking at them.

Christmas morning came and grandma, pop-pop and Lily came by.  We  got to open up presents and I of course was the best help pulling the paper and bows off the boxes.  Then, my raiser handed me my own box….I was able to pull the paper and bows off and man what a mother-load of toys were inside.  I got treats, treat puzzles, kongs, chewy toys and a few balls to chase.  I will for sure be kept busy for a long time!  I think Christmas should come every month.  Oh Wait! My raiser has the Chewy app…..Christmas does come every month!

In closing I want to thank all the wonderful workers and awesome volunteers at Hero Dogs  a very happy holiday and a very wonderful new year!

See ya next year!

SMOOCH!  Tahoe

Hello from Tahoe,

November 2017 was a bit crazy for me – but the good news is I got to use a lot of my training for my very own raiser which made me very happy.

At the October puppy swap, I went to Jennifer’s house ~ how awesome is that!  Jennifer helped me catch up on some training I missed while my raisers were out of town as well as refine some things I needed help with (namely walking without pulling on lead).   Jennifer having many dogs at her house – manners were a must!  Waiting at the door to go in or out of every room was a big learning for me and again, waiting my turn and playing nicely with all the toys and dogs …. I think they call that …sharing!

During this time my raiser had a knee operation so I stayed a little longer at Jennifer’s house and then I went to Stephanie A’s house.  At Stephanie’s house she bought me a basketball (she took some air out to make it easier for me to grab) and a plush snake and let me sit and play and sunbathe in her back yard!  She took me on very long walks and in and out of stores and made sure I behaved myself.  She also took me to the gym and a new place – the tennis courts!  There were lots of tennis balls to chase but I stayed right by Stephanie while she talked to some people.  I also tried to speak which is apparently not allowed☹

Once my raiser was up and feeling a little better,  I returned home and sat and kept watch over her.  We didn’t keep to our normal routine, we didn’t go to work but we went to this new  place called Physical Therapy.  At PT, they have ropes, balls and all kinds of things to play with.  I was a huge hit with all the therapists because while I was taking care of my raiser, I showed them I could pick up her cane she used to get around and hand it to her!  The therapists were so impressed and wanted to know if I could pick up anything else.  I showed them I could pick up towels, wraps, pens and small exercise balls, ace bandages and give them to my raiser.  I was a huge hit and I behaved so perfectly.

Later in the month we did an NIH event with all the Hero Dogs.  They did a live media broadcast to talk about the health and wellness and stress reduction over the winter holidays – by watching puppies!!!  They had a section for small puppies and then one for the bigger dogs.  I had a blast playing with all the Hero Dogs and all my friends from Hero Dogs were there to play with me as well.

As for my training – here is where I shined this month.  We learned this command called “brace” – that is where I stand & stay and don’t move my feet.  I was able to help my raiser at times to be her brace when she was getting up or sitting down.   I also practiced “take, bring and give” a lot, I learned how to pick up my leash and hand it to my raiser, I practiced my patience and let my raiser go through the doors first and then me, we learned heel and side with a down or sit.  I learned not to be afraid of a walker (my raiser used for a week or so) and I played a lot of frisbee chase, ball chasing with a bring/give to help me get my exercise in.  I visited my BFF Hero Dog Zeke a lot to get out and get exercise and sometimes we got to play with Hero Dog Jaz!

At Thanksgiving all our family came to see us and to sit and visit with my raiser.  It was fun playing with everyone and showing everyone all the commands I have learned and how I got to help around the house.

During the Thanksgiving holiday, my raisers put up Christmas decorations which made the house look so pretty.  They put everything up really high so that I would not be tempted to touch them – (smart move).

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Tahoe