Poor little guy!

Anthony got "altered" last week and yesterday we noticed that he had lots of stitches coming out and there were signs of infection.  We suspected he had been licking his boo boo at night while everyone was sleeping.  In an attempt to keep him from licking himself last night this is what I did:

I put one of Alex's t-shirts on with his tail in the neck and legs in the arm holes.  Doesn't he look thrilled?

Anthony getting ready for bed with his "don't lick your boo boo while we sleep" diaper.

The makeshift diaper didn't last long, as he rolled around it fell off.

We took him to the vet today and he got put on Antibiotics and the vet gave him an anti-inflammatory.  Poor little guy!  He also is having a bit of a hard time because Eve was here last week and she must have left her "heat" smell on EVERYTHING.  He keeps sniffing everything Eve laid on and then rolls on it on his back. 

I just have to post this picture.  This is a picture from Maddie's blog of Betsy.  It was such a great picture of Betsy that I just wanted to show everyone. 

Look at those beautiful sad eyes.  She loves the snow! (she just turned 8 months old)

Anthony's sister

I recently made contact with another GDB puppy raiser via my blog and as it turns out, she started raising Anthony's litter mate April.   I thought it would be fun to show you a few pics of Anthony's sister April. 

April

April up close.

She, like Anthony is a beautiful dog!!  Thanks Anna for letting me post the pictures of April and for getting in touch with me.

An Unusual Christmas

Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday's to all!

This Holiday season has been a bit different for Alex and I but not in a bad way.  We didn't get to see any family for the holidays but now that we have been in Fort Collins for several years we have friends that help us feel like family.  To my family, we love you and miss you heaps.

Yesterday, Christmas Eve, we went to church service with friends and then went to a great dinner at IHOP.    Then we came home and opened all of our Christmas presents.  It was kind of strange "doing" Christmas at night. 

This morning we got up early and drove to Vail to go skiing for the day.  Despite somewhat snowy and icy roads we made it to Vail in just over 2 hours!!  Alex fell a lot trying to get his skiing legs back.  I feel only once but unfortunately it was in the parking lot and boy am I going to have a HUGE bruise from the embarrassing slip.  We had a great day but it was absolutely freezing!  They say that we were having 60-80 mph wind gusts and they were so strong that it would stop you from moving.  Oh, and with winds that strong, the wind chill was -22!!! 

Self portrait at Vail.

I think that is my husband in the gondola - can't be sure though seeing as I can't see much of his face.

Since it was Christmas, the slopes were so empty! 

I love pine trees covered in snow!

I sacrificed some serious warmth in my fingers to take my camera out to take this but I just couldn't resist.

We don't have Anthony this week and boy I sure do miss him.  The lucky boy gets to have Christmas twice.  I am sure the Guys gave him some goodies and Santa brought him a new toy at our house too.  The picture at the top of the post  is one that Shawna sent me of him sitting in front their tree.

Puppy updates

I wanted to update people on how some of the GDB puppies that you have seen on the blog in the past year are doing.

• Gabrina (Gardner's sister) has been in phase 8 for several weeks now.   We hope she will suddenly go from 8 to graduating like Gardner did.
• Tim - see my website for pics of him as a little guy, is in phase 7.
• Dessa - is in phase seven, pics of her are on my website too.
• Mystery - is also in phase seven - you can see pics of her as well on the website

In other news, Anthony lost his boy parts yesterday and did really well with the surgery.  According to Shawna, his co-raiser who has him this week, he is recovering well but is having a hard time staying calm in the fresh 8 inches of new snow.  Anthony loves snow and I bet he really wants to run around and play.

Eve, has big news too.  She went into heat last week (she is almost 10 months old).  We are watching her this week for her raisers so they could go on vacation.  She seems so uncomfortable and really does not like her diaper.  The poor thing has to stay in for 28 days.  Below is a pic.

Poor miserable Eve in heat, look at those sad eyes.

One last picture I have to post of Zora - the little puppy we were watching for friends last weekend.  She slept in some funny positions.

Zora taking an evening nap. 

cake and pork

We were invited last night to a friends 40th birthday part.  So as my gift I made a cake.  The only funny part was when we arrived at the party we found out that Carlos was turning 41 not 40.  Oops.

I used a chocolate truffle icing and chocolate malt balls just for fun.

We were one of very few "Gringos" at the party, which for us is a lot of fun.  They were serving fried pork which was AMAZING!!!!!

Pork ribs  being fried in their own fat.

Sweet little puppy!

We still have little miss Zora until her people get home late tonight.  She has been a real pleasure to take care of.   She really likes to chew on anything and everything!

Miss Zora, Did you really just get up on the couch and pull that pillow down to chew on?  Really? 

She loves the little fuzzy dogie stuffed animal I gave her.  She carries it around everywhere.  I figure it is better than Alex's shoes.  : )

OH Yippee, finally a napping puppy, snuggling with her stuffed animal.

well now, that's not ok.....

We have been having a lot of fun with Zora this weekend.  It is always fun to watch a Non-Guide Dog puppy.   It reminds you how different their raising can be.  This morning Zora slept till 8AM with out having to go out all night!!!!  What a big girl!!!   I was looking something up on the Internet later in the morning and I saw her chewing on something and I looked up and this is what I saw...

She seems to really love shoes.  She has brought us so many of our shoes, I guess she really is a girl.  I am glad Alex was still asleep and didn't see her chewing on his favorite pair of shoes!

I took one of the blankets out of our Kennel to get it ready for Zora and I found a surprise!

Some puppy - I suspect Norahbelle but am not positive had eaten many holes in blanket.  UGH!

Random

Below are a few random things I thought I would throw together in one post. 

First an amazing story - On Thursday night, Anthony went out with me to DYB and to get some stuff out of the car.  He did his business and I was getting stuff out of the trunk (Anthony was sitting next to me) when, out of the corner of my eye,  I saw something moving on the driveway about three feet away from us.  When  I looked up I  saw a rabbit run across the driveway followed very closely by a GIANT FOX with the hugest fluffiest tail I have ever seen.  When I saw the rabbit I stepped on Anthony's drag line (thank god I had one on him, as we rarely need to use one any more) so he couldn't chase it,  and then I saw the fox.....and then the fox saw us.......  It was about to catch the rabbit but suddenly switched directions right in front of us and ran in the other direction.  Both Anthony and I were so shocked that both of us just stood there.  I was so thankful that Anthony didn't chase after either the rabbit or the fox.  The fox was beautiful and I was glad the bunny didn't get eaten.

Just like every kitty, Bree had to help me with my holiday gift wrapping.  Every bag I opened she had to crawl into and investigate.  

This is just another shot I had of Anthony helping me with my sowing projects.

Below is Anthony at work with me at lunch.  He stays on a tie down while I am seeing patients and then during lunch I let him off and he goes immediately and lays in the sun beam.  He has learned that he is not to leave my office without my permission which is nice.  Many of my colleagues get so upset when I don't have him with me at work.  He helps put a smile on all of our faces. 

One of our friends had to go out of town this weekend and we are watching their new little puppy.  She is part lab and part border collie - we think.  She is about 14 weeks old, sweet and a great jumper!

Zora and I in the kitchen. 

She seems so tiny compared to Anthony.  It's nice though that she fits on my lap. 

So first, I have to say that I stole the picture below from my good friend Brianna's blog.  I know she won't mind that I borrowed it as long as I give her credit.  I just thought this picture of Eve from the GDB holiday party was so cute that I just had to share it! 

"look, I'm a Christmas Elf"

project helper

Last night I was trying to get a blanket made for a friend and a Christmas present made for my in-laws.  Anthony insisted on helping in every step of the projects.  He was so "in my face" with what I was doing that I started wrapping the scraps of fleece around his neck just to be silly.  It didn't seem to bother him and by the end of the first project he was wearing a very thick scarf.  Don't worry it is very loosely wrapped and not tied.  He also likes to lay in the middle of my fabric and put wrinkles and folds in it while I am trying to pin it.  Goof Ball!  On a side note.... the snip snip date has been set for next Tuesday!  Yippee!!!

Anthony showing off his fleece scarf and helping me pin fabric.

"Me, no I didn't put another wrinkle in the fabric.  Smells really good though, and boy it sure is soft."

Work Christmas Party

This was the second year that Alex and I hosted the Christmas party for my work.  We had a HUGE turnout this year.  At max, we probably had 60+ people here. 

This is one of the babies that I have delivered in the past year.  She belongs to one of our employee's daughter.  She is almost three months old now.  She is just the sweetest thing and looked so cute in her Christmas outfit!  I couldn't help but love on her all night!

We had TONS of amazing great food and somehow we managed to eat most of it.

I was so incredibly proud of Anthony!  He greeted every guest at the door and didn't jump on them.  He didn't scare the kids or get over excited.  He spend most of the night just laying around or trying to sneak food off the floor.  The hardest part of the party was keeping an eye on him and keeping him from licking the kitchen floor. 

Anthony doing what he does best, chilling in the living room.

Anthony got lots of loving from Nanette and Debra who's day at work is not complete if Anthony isn't there.

Olga and Martha....the hot mama's of the party!  I wish I could look as good as Martha (right) after having 5 kids! 

A group of guest had a fantastic time playing cards in the basement.

The many kids in attendance had a great time playing ping pong and running around crazy in the basement too.  This is Dr. Archer's middle child.  What a cutie.

We had a great crowd!

Anthony finally just ignored everyone and went sound asleep in the middle of the living room.

By 1 AM guest were playing silly party games in the living room and Anthony just kept right on sleeping.  No amount of noise seemed to bother him.

Silly party games in one room and Taboo in the other room.

I know I am not suppose to hold the puppies on my lap like this but I was sitting on the floor and Anthony was just so snugly.  And he was helping me win at Apples to Apples at 3AM.

4AM and a group of people in each room are still playing games.  Don't these people get tired?

Bree, the next morning, hiding under the Christmas tree.  She had a fun night after we finally went to bed.  She found lots of shrimp tails and drug them all over the house and explored the mess in the kitchen helping herself to whatever looked like fun to play with.  We found stuff in some really strange places.

One funny thing we found is that some little kid thought that Bree need more food and feed her a HUGE plate of food during the party.  I am glad she didn't eat it all before I could put it away.

Just a shot of the handsome boy today.  He was so good last night!  I was such a proud raiser!

Getting Ready

Alex and I are hosting the holiday party for my work tonight.  We are expecting well over 50 people to be here.  It should be a good time.  Last night we were moving furniture to open up the house so that there is more space for people and setting up more space for food, etc   Anthony of course was right there with us helping make sure we moved everything just right.  And what is the first this he needs to do to get ready for the party?

Get a bath of course!  After all the snow we have had he was really dirty.  This picture may not suggest it, but he really loves his baths and does really well. 

This morning I was vacuuming and cleaning up the basement so we can all play ping pong tonight at the party.  Of course Anthony was with me making sure I didn't miss any spots.  When I finished I realized he wasn't with me any more.  I ran up stairs to see what mischief he had gotten into and this is what I found.

Luckily he had yet to discover that he can tear it apart like Gardner use to try and do.  Oh and the collar.... it doesn't seem to bother him at all so I think he is going to wear it at the party tonight.  What a festive puppy. Oh, and I immediately took the ball away and put it back into my work out space.

On a side note.... we finally got the letter to have Anthony altered!!!!!  We are all SUPER excited about it!  Well, maybe Anthony isn't but all of his raisers are!  He has been a bit of a handful lately and we are all hoping that taking away his teenage hormones will help make him a bit calmer. 

Free Food

Our friends were lucky and won a huge feast worth over $64 dollar at famous Dave's Bar BQ.  They couldn't eat it all alone so they invited us over to help.  Alex and I never turn down free good food.  Thanks Havlik's for the great dinner!

Brianna and I

The Yummy Food!