Serena helps me get ready for bed

Here is a video of Serena doing three commands that would help someone get ready for bed.

First she pulls off my socks because a lot of disabled people cannot reach down to their feet.  She has to be very gentle because we don't want her biting any toes!

Second she pulls the covers over me and tucks me in.

Third she goes and turns off the light switch.  She was super proud of herself for the last one and celebrated with a flying leap onto the bed... whoops!

Serena really likes practicing the light switch!  So much so that she brought me the practice board :-)

Serena Plays Tennis

Serena heard that she was named after a famous tennis player and wanted to learn how to play tennis.  So off to the courts we went to practice her power shot.

Before playing, any good tennis player knows you need to take some glamour shots so the fans can ooo and ahhh:

Then you have to warm up by running around with your tennis racket:

Make sure you check the net out too:

Then you are ready to start hitting some balls:

New Video

We have these awesome very stable benches in the barn locker room that are great to practice "jump-on" because they are just wide enough for a dog to stand but still requires them to balance.  Serena is afraid of them so Becky was playing around with her the other day working her over her fear.  She still thought we were crazy at the end but she got tons better.  More practice will ensue!

Fair fair fair!

Serena and I drove down to join My Angel with Paws at the Will County Fair a couple Saturday's ago.  We spent 12 hours there doing demos and educating the public.  Serena was a demo machine!  By the end she was opening up the fridge, grabbing a can, bringing it to me in a wheel chair, then going back and closing the fridge.  People LOVED this which meant more donations which is what we really need.  It also shut up the stupid boys that would say "haha can she get me a can of beer haha *snicker*." and I would say actually yes she can.  They would stand there with their mouths open in shock.

Another favorite demo we did was the light switch.  Gary, another puppy raiser, built this awesome free standing light with a switch at the dog's level.  It would go on and off like a real light in a house.  Serena knows how to pull down the switch and Shay, a labradoodle, knows how to turn it on.  So we teamed them up and together they turned the light on and off, on and off, on and off.  People loved that too!  So funny.

By the end of the day both Serena and I were EXHAUSTED but it was so worth it.  We hope to have a booth at the Lake County fair next year to get more people up here to volunteer.

Serena got to meet goats for the first time:

Bauer and Serena sharing an ice cream cone:

Serena, Bauer and Shay, the Saturday group of puppies in training.  Serena is 14 months, Bauer 6 months and Shay is 17 months. Serena is the smallest!

Serena made tons of new friends:

Not Serena but Bauer is so freaking cute I couldn't resist.  He put himself in front of the fan and it was blowing his ears out like a model shoot:

I can't wait to do another thing like this!  Doing demos and talking to people about MAWP was so much fun!

Random Bits and pieces

Serena is becoming an adult.  The past couple of weeks I am realizing she is becoming more patient and willing to sit around more.  She still has TONS of energy but she seems to control it better.   She tolerates a lot of things now like:

What a party animal!

With the good weather slowly coming to an end, we have been trying to get out more and explore things.  We went to a forest preserve the other day and she showed me that she really is a labrador.  She bounded through the grasses and ran around chasing things.  Of course she found the biggest stick she could and proudly carried it around:

Afterwards she was one tired puppy (for about an hour then she was ready to go again)

I never knew how much fun it was exploring nature with a labrador retriever.  A completely different experience!