Capturing the Moment

Last night I had a bunch of clothes on the floor and noticed that Darby was interested in them.  I thought it would be a good opportunity to try and get him to pick them up.  He just wiggled and wanted his belly rubbed.  I gave up and decided to train that at a later date when I had treats.  Next thing I know he picked up a bright red thong and was running around with it.  That was my opportunity.  I told him to bring it here.  Which he did all wiggly and cute. Then I asked him to give, which is getting a ton better.  I only have to sort of take it from him.  Then I would praise him and have a puppy party.  Then I would drop the thong and say "oops."  Pretty soon he figured out the game and we were playing "get it" with a thong.  I am so glad my dad had already gone to bed!  Maybe next time I will try it with a sock :-)

MAWP takes over Chicago

My Angel With Paws had an awesome weekend in Chicago.  Val, Deb, Cassie, Anthony and Danii came up from Florida to join us at the Disability Pride Parade.  On Friday we were tourists and took a train into the city for the day.  

The MAWP crew in Union Station:

We first went to the Shedd Aquarium because it was rainy and yucky out. It was super crowded (wow) but all the dogs handled it well and I really thought it was a great experience for all the dogs to handle.  Serena and Darby were wonderful.  Serena loved trying to catch the fish in the tank while Darby was scared of the big ones.  

Serena and Darby outside the Shedd and Darby next to the otter tank:

After the Shedd we made our way to Giordano's for a deep dish pizza dinner.  We had 8 dogs under the table and no one in the restaurant knew they were there.  So proud of our MAWP dogs.  It is really important that no one knows they are under the table as a lot of people don't like dogs in restaurants.  

Little Einstein wanted to check out the menu:

After dinner we made our way over to the Sears/Willis Tower.  Once again they graciously sponsored our group and took us up to the ledge with a private tour.  It is their busiest season right now so they took us up the back way so we didn't have to wait in line (AMAZING).  When we got up to the 103 floor we found that they had reserved an entire SkyBox for US!  It was freaking awesome.  The dogs all behaved so well and we think we broke a record with 8 dogs on the Ledge.  

 Serena looking down over the city:

Darby being brave:

Einstein, Eli and Darby; the future of MAWP:

Sofie, Eli, Darby, Einstein, Riley, Serena, Bianca and Bauer:

On Saturday we woke up nice and early and got to the city for the 8th annual Disability Pride Parade.  We had quite a MAWP crowd!  We marched all the dogs in the parade and made many people smile.  We then set up a booth after and answered questions and let people pet the puppies and dogs.  It was an amazing day and we can't wait until next year!

Darby manning the MAWP booth:

Kaylee and Einstein & Dario and Eli having fun talking to people about MAWP:

Darby was super tired after his long day being a celebrity: 

Darby learning some lessons

Darby isn't so much a little puppy anymore.  We went to the vet last week for his second set of shots and he was 24lbs!  I bet he is even more than that now.  His paws are now bigger than Serena's and his ears are awkwardly huge.  For the past month (wow its been a month) I have let him get away with a few things Serena would never get away with.  Now I am expecting him to do more.

Last night I was cooking dinner and had two dogs weaving between my feet.  This is not cool so Darby learned "out."  Serena knows "out" wonderfully and will scatter when I say it.  Darby has no clue what it means.  So I said "out" and then backed him out of the kitchen with my body.  Every time he would cross the line into the kitchen from the living room I would say out and use my body to push him out.  It took all of  2 minutes for him to figure it out.  He would sit right on the edge of the carpet and wag his tail when I would tell him how wonderful and smart he is.

This morning I went to say hi to him and he launched himself at me and jumped up.  This is a big "NO."  Some people think it is so cute but then this cute puppy turns into a 90lb dog that is knocking you over.  So instead of waiting till then to fix it Darby got pushed to the ground.  Meaning I just pretended to keep walking so that my leg hit him and knocked him off balance.  He was so in shock but then got back up and sat perfectly in front of me.  He then got praised and rubbed.  He was so happy to figure it out.

In other news he is now waiting a full minute before eating his food.  He will not go to his food bowl until I say 'okay release.'  This has made his "wait" really really good.  I love it!!!  Also he went to his first horse show (all the above pics are from that).  He at first was super excited about all the commotion but quickly settled down when he realized Serena didn't care.  He also wanted to chase all the horse in the ring but I kept telling him to leave it and eventually he realized his attempts were silly.  He was decided that taking a nap was more fun.

We also were at the Toyota Dealership to get my car fixed and while there Serena and Darby checked out a 2011 Toyota Sienna; the car we won in the 100 Cars for Good.  I cannot wait till MAWP gets their Sienna.  It is freaking amazing and fully loaded.  Wow!

Bowling With Paws

Come Join Us!!!  Serena, Darby, Jack and their friends will be there.  We will have a bumper lane set up so you can take your try and getting a dog to bowl.  It is going to be a great time

Please Vote

My Angel With Paws is a finalist for the Toyota 100 Cars for Good Program.  Please go to http://apps.facebook.com/carsforgood/ and vote for My Angel With Paws today (June 17, 2011)    We could a win a new Toyota that we so desperately need.

You can check out the video I made for contest:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GH7rmPfRT2E

It shouldn't be this easy....

Darby has impressed me twice today.  The first was when I took him and Serena for a walk.  He has been very good about staying in a heel between me and Serena.  Actually that is the only spot he has ever known that we take walks in.  I took them to the ravine by my house and let them off leash.  Serena ran around like a crazy woman up and down the hills.  Darby was very unsure of the whole thing but took it all in stride.  It took me awhile to realize that even though he was still off leash he was still in a perfect heel.  Anytime he would stray away from the heel he would freak out and find it again.  Apparently I have made heel the safety zone.  Of course every time he was in heel he would get tons of praise and encouragement.  He spent the entire walk in the ravine like that.  Then when we walked home from the ravine on leash he still marched along delightfully.  Amazing little puppy!

The second impressive thing he did today was during feeding time.  The routine is Serena gets both bowls, they get filled in the pantry, I bring them to the kitchen, mix in water and anything else they need, then go over to where they eat.  Serena eats on the left and Darby eats on the right.  Serena knows to sit and wait until I tell her it is okay to eat, even if her bowl in on the ground she is not allowed to move until I say okay.  I have started making Darby sit before dinner and yesterday I added him waiting while I put the food down.  I only make him wait for a couple seconds but to him that is torture and usually I have to hold his collar or keep a hand in front him. Today I go to make him sit and he is no where near me.  I look around and see him sitting across he kitchen waiting.  I put his food down and he doesn't move!!!!  I say okay Darby, release and he takes off across the kitchen, slides into his food bowl and starts eating. WOW!  Darby is one awesome puppy though I might be a tad bit bias ;-)


Yesterday I had Dory (http://www.doryltuohey.com/) come out to take pictures of me and Reggie.  Of course I snuck in a couple with Serena and Darby.  This one was just too cute I couldn't resist posting it.

puppy puppy puppy

It has been almost a week since I picked up Mr. Darby.  He is an absolute joy.  The first few days of waking up every 2 hours were rough but now he is almost sleeping through the night and even went and put himself in his crate when it was time for bed!  We have been working on a few basic service dog commands and he tries so hard to please me!  So far we have worked on:

-Sit: I just have him follow a treat into the position.  He doesn't know the word yet but has figured out that if he wants something he will probably get it if he sits
-Down: Again he doesn't know the word but happily will follow a treat down to the ground and stay there
-Heel: He just knows the position by default.  I purposely walk him between me and Serena so he has know where to be but in a heel.  Every so often he scampers around me but is easily brought back between us.  Thank god for Serena.  She makes it so much easier!!
-Darby: He is still trying to learn his name.  I think it just clicked that Darby means something when I say it to him and he get all excited.  I think only a couple more days and he will have this one
-Tug: He really loves to play with toys so we play tug all the time.  I just say the word a lot when he is tugging and eventually that should turn into a command.
-Bring it here: he likes to pick up socks (as you probably saw in the video) so I just say "bring it here" when he is run towards me and praise him a lot when he brings it to me.

Training him has been way too easy.  Puppies are so moldable and trainable if you just capture stuff they do anyway.  Who knew!!