Off for a Vacation

My mom is a teacher so we (Matthew and I) headed out to North Carolina for a few days during her spring break.  Matthew was really sick but remarkably was pretty well behaved on the flight.   Its a long story as to why alex few to NC the next day instead of with me butt.... we made it eventually in one piece. 

It was a hard picture to take, but you get the idea.  Matthew thought the lights of NC were fascinating and when we landed he looked at me as if to say.. "wow, what the heck was that.... how cool!"

Belated Birthday and Happy Easter

I got Vigo a belated birthday gift and an early Easter present the other day....  a huge stuffed duck.  He loves to carry it around in his mouth and play with it with Matthew.

Vigo and his big ducky. 

Matthew and Vigo playing with the ducky. 

As soon as Vigo makes a hole in the stuffed animal I emptied out all the stuffing and then he will usually carry around the "carcass" for months... so proud of his toy. 

What a Good Puppy

We are doing group visits now at work and during my last group a two year old went up and tried to give Vigo her cookie.  He didn't take it from her so she left left the cookie in front of him, I guess for him to eat later.  It sat in front of him for over an hour and he never touched it.  What a good puppy.  

Vigo with a partially eaten sugar cookie that has been sitting in front of him for over an hour. 

Silly Puppies

While watching Irene this week Alex thought it would be funny to tie the two puppies together with a drag line.  We sat there and watched them get all tangled up.... What silly puppies. 

After a week of two puppies constantly playing we needed a bit of quiet and calm.  So we put both puppies on a tie down.  Vigo stretched his as far as he could go so he could be as close as possible to his "girlfriend".  He then went to sleep and slept like that for several hours.  Silly puppy!

Rule Breaker

We sometimes use a pen in side the house when we have more than one puppy to keep them from running around crazy.  I was feeding Matthew and looking at the puppies when I began to ask myself.... how do I teach the Guide Dog rules to my 8 month old child.... I can give a puppy a correction but I can't give a baby one.   I decided that the only way is to teach the puppy and then let the baby be a constant teaching tool.

"Nice Puppies... do you want some of my rice cracker?"

Irene quickly took Matthew up on his offer and then got a big correction from me for both jumping up and taking the food. 

A little while later he offered what was left of his cracker to Vigo... who just looked at me as if to say... "can I please?"

After eating some squash Matthew "walked" over to the puppies again and offered Irene his spoon.  He giggled and squealed when Irene jumped up and started licking him.  The picture is blurry because I was jumping up to correct Irene. 

"he he the puppy likes squash too!"

Morning Chaos

We are watching Irene this week for our friends Brianna and Rob.  She is almost 4 months old and likes to eat everything.  I was trying to get ready to go to work this past weekend and Irene kept trying to eat our bedroom.  As a last ditch effort before I put her in her kennel and since I was dripping wet from my shower... I put her in our bath tub.  She quickly tried to climb out. 

The blur on the left is our cat Bree trying to run away from the puppies.  

Vigo waiting patiently and Irene trying to escape from the bathtub. 

What Style

Matthew Vigo and I went on a walk the other afternoon.  It was chilly out but really sunny.  

Matthew sporting his new Old Navy hat and sunglasses.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY VIGO!!!

Vigo turned one year old yesterday!  I had to much going on to bake him a cake but he got to play with Irene and go on a long walk as a birthday present.

Vigo at one year

He wouldn't look at me.  Silly Boy

Learning to Tug

Matthew and Vigo learned to tug together this morning. 

"Matthew do you want to tug"

"Yeah, you got it ...you're so smart little guy"

"You're so strong, can I have it back now?"

Later, Matthew, Vigo and I skyped with "cookie monster" (my parents).  Vigo goes back in June and  we don't think we are gonna raise another puppy for a bit.  I think they are really going to miss each other. 

Puppy Play Date

One of my favorite things about raising guide dog puppies is when a young puppy suddenly becomes the older puppy and starts to teach the little puppies how to play.  Irene was over playing with Vigo the other day and I just loved watching Vigo be so gentle with her and teaching her how to tug and play with "4 on the floor".

Mr. Vigo being patient

 They play so well together

What a grown up puppy

 Now they got it figured out a bit. 

What a tongue!

While I was playing with the puppies the Alex and Matthew were hanging out inside.  

Random Pictures

"Aarrggg eat the puppy"

sweet sweet Vigo

My boys spending time together.

He loves his music table.

So cute!

A student working with me at work wears a hat in every day.  At lunch time, I always take off Vigo's vest and let him have a "break".   We were goofing around and I put the students hat on Vigo.  I couldn't catch a picture of him with his eyes open it's still cute.

Play Date

Last week I took Matthew on his very first play date.   Our friends little girl is 11 months old and named Defne.   They are from Turkey and are all super nice.  Matthew and Defne had a lot of fun playing together.  I think Matthew was jealous that Defne could walk.  I forgot my camera but was able to snap a few shots on my phone.

Defne and Matthew

They played very nicely together while Hanfe and I ate Turkish cookies and tea that she had made.  The cookies were amazing! I could have eaten a dozen of them!

Bunny Ears

Of course I had to put the bunny ears I bought on Vigo too.  He puts up with so much!  What a good dog!

Matthew and I were in Target the other day picking up a few things, and I just had to put these green ears on him.  Now with his giraffe bib on and bunny ears, does this make him a Bunaffe? (bunny... giraffe).

Silly Puppy

I was going down the stairs last week with Matthew on my left hip and Vigo behind me....  Vigo likes to try and stick his head in between my legs and be silly.  Well for some reason this past week things went dreadfully wrong.  My knee dislocated and my whole knee went out to the left and I fell.  I managed to not land on Vigo's head and didn't drop Matthew.   Alex came quickly to my rescue but I ended up with one very messed up knee and a trip to the ER.  UGH!  I can't thank all my friends enough that came to help out while I went to the ER.

My poor knee in an immobilizer.