Vigo's Partner

As many of you know, I loved our guide dog puppy Vigo immensely!  I am so happy that he was placed with a very loving family.  His new partner is in her 70's and Vigo is her third guide dog.  I think Monique with take excellent care of him and they will be super happy together.  Every time I give a puppy that I've raised back to Guide Dogs, my heart breaks a bit.  But then when you see and feel the love between the dog and his new partner it makes my heart swell and then I know it is worth it.

Monique gave me permission to post the pictures she sent me.  Thanks Monique for sharing a bit of Vigo's new life with us.  We wish you both all the happiness the world has to offer.

A very proud looking Vigo..  What a beautiful dog he is! Settled in his new home. 

Doug, Monique and Vigo after they arrived back home. 

welcome to your new home Vigo!  

Monique walking Vigo in Oregon at the GDB campus. 

Vigo doing what he does best.... laying around.  This is in the lounge at GDB campus. 

I couldn't get this to turn.. sorry.   This too is in Oregon...  He really has grown up if he is willing to go out and guide in the rain.  I am so proud of you Vigo!  

So naughty!!

I must have the naughtiest puppy ever.  Petunia is normally so good at work.  She sleeps on a pillow on a tie.  I go back into my office after every patient and so she is alone for more than about 15 minutes at a time.  Today I came in the room around 4 and this is what I found.

Do you see that her vest is around her back leg  and the front banner is on the floor?  Yes she chewed off  her Vest!!

Look what she did to her BRAND NEW vest!  AGGHH!  So I put her in her kennel for the remainder of the day where she.....

Petunia pulled an extention cord into the kennel and chewed it in two!  It was inches away from her kennel... I don't know how she got it and age it with out electrocuting her self!

After all of that I decided she needed some "back time"!  What a naughty puppy!

Random pictures

Matthew helped me stack wood 

Matthew's first experience in a car wash... Yikes...

Matthew loves to try and stand in the puppy's food bowl.  Silly Boy!

"Daddy gives me nutella and peanut butter sandwiches for breakfast!!!"  He ends up with it all over himself most of the time. 

Poor little petunia

Poor petunia just can't get a break! Ears are cleared up, rash is almost gone for now, stitches are staying put in her eyes and then..... I decided to trim her nails. Ugh!! She wiggled and I cut one too deep. It bleed like stink and we couldn't get it to stop. We kept wrapping and rewrapping it. She kept bleeding through every one and it wouldn't stop. Once we got it to stop she would chew the bandage off and it would start again.
We tried the cone of shame but she could still get to her foot. Eventually I gave up and broke guide rules and held her in my arms in bed and went to sleep. I held her all night so she wouldn't eat the wrapping on her foot. At one point though I woke up with my face In her girly parts. Yuck! Her foot bleed a bit more today when she was playing with Irene but then stopped. Poor girl!

Cone of shame....

Petunia with her boo boo

Giving thanks.

I am so thankful today for all of the many blessings in my life! We are going to a friends house to celebrate and I made a cake to take with us. Check back later for pictures.

Morning Fun

Alex seemed really sleepy so I let him sleep while Matthew and Petunia decorated a cake for the party we are going to today.  Then a bit later Petunia's friend Irene came by to play.   There are a lot of pictures but I just couldn't have fun playing with my new camera... which I LOVE by the way!

Matthew was giving Petunia some loving and was helping her get untangled from her leash. 

Matthew has croup and and another ear infection.  He was so sleepy this morning. 

Such a pretty dog!

Best Buds!  Oh... that's finger paint in Matthew's hair. 

Yippee, tug!!

It is beautiful out today and we had a great time playing in the yard with the puppies. 

A hot tired puppy. 

I couldn't get my sick boy to smile. 

Best buds!

Matthew watching the puppies run. 

Poor Petunia

Our current guide dog puppy, petunia, has had a lot of health problems.  She has had two bacteria bowel infections, recurrent ear infections, skin rashes and of course eye lids that grow inward...  Poor Petunia.  She had her first eye surgery at 8 weeks and last Friday she had her second eye surgery.  She only had to wear a cone of shame for a day and since then she has been a real champ about the stitches.

Such a good sport. 

Can you see all the stitches in her bottom eyelid. 

Sweet Vigo!

Today is Vigo's graduation day.  I wish more than anything that we could be there.   Brianna and I spoke with his new partner on the phone for over an hour this past week.  She is absolutely perfect for him! She is 72 and has been blind for over 50+ years.  She has had two guide dogs in the past, in the 60's and 70's.  Vigo was about to fail... he did not enjoy busy cities and traffic when his new partner appeared.

Her husband recently had a heart attack and is no longer able to guide her on her 3.5 mile morning walks.  She lives in the country in Arkansas and the nearest store is about an hour away.   Vigo is one of the gentlest, laziest and happiest dog I have ever meet.  He will love guiding this beautiful lady on walks and on their monthly visit to walmart.  She tells us that she has cats and a huge fenced back yard for him to roam in.

I was so amazingly touched by how close they have already become.  She kept talking about how much they have bonded and how excited and happy she was to have him.  I just know that he will have the most loved and wonderful life with her!

As we talked with her I couldn't help but remember my Grandma Johns.  Vigo's partner immigrated from Germany in the early 1900's and talked and thought like my Grandma.  At first I was a bit wired out but the longer the conversation lasted the more touched I was.  After our conversation I cried for over an hour.  Why you may ask... 1) because I was so elated that Vigo has such a wonderful partner 2)  because I miss him so much 3) because I felt like I had just spoke with my Grandmother who had passed away several years ago and 4) because I have only gotten about 3 hours sleep a night for 3 nights in a row and was exhausted.

I am so happy for our boy Vigo and his partner.  I wish them all the best in their lives together!!!
PS: If I get her permission I will post a picture of them together.

The joys of travel.

This morning all was going well. We had a slow morning and a great brunch. Then we got some last minute vitamin D on the ferry. The cab ride to the airport was a bit crazy but we made it.

It was all down hill from there. The airport computers were being screwy and I waited for over two hours in the hot sun to get to the ticket counter. Then when I got there they gave me a hand written ticket for my bag. It just said st Thomas to Denver via Chicago. While in customs I realized I forgot my carry on at the ticket counter and had to go running back for it.

Then once on the plane the pilot told us that the scheduled 3 hour flight was going to take 5. The drunk and very stinky lady next to me was upset and made a stink, ha ha pun intended. : ) The plane had no food on it, not even to buy so we got water and more water.... To watch a movie cost $8... I paid for it just do I didn't have to deal with the drunk lady.

After a very long flight we arrived in Chicago and over half the plane had missed their connections. So off I went to stand in yet another long line. The good news was that united agreed to put us all up in a hotel and give us food vouchers.

As I expected... My bag was not with me in Chicago. I waited in another long line to find out that yes indeed my bag was not here. United was kind enough to give me a toothbrush and toothpaste and off I went to Stand another line for a shuttle to the hotel. Are you seeing a trend yet? Oh and by now its after 10pm.

The hotel was nice, double tree by Hilton. Apparently this happens so frequently that the restaurant had a separate menu that had prices that matched the prices of the food vouchers from United. I ate quickly and headed off to bed... Afterall I had to be up in 5 hours to go catch my next flight.

The next morning went fairly smoothly: up at 5, shuttle to airport, intense security and economy plus seat. The lady next to me was still drunk from the night before (different lady than first flight). What's up with me sitting next to drunk people??? The flight was super bumpy but I was able to sleep through most of it.

In a shocking turn of events... My bag was one of the first off in denver. I was shocked!! Now I'm waiting for my hubby and matthew... I can't wait to see them both. I am also excited about see petunia soon as well. Check out the picture of my luggage tag and you'll see why I was shocked that my bag made it.

It was a fantastic vacation and the trip home was a fun adventure. I am thankful that the flight chaos was not at the beginning of my trip. And I am proud of myself that I made it through everything yesterday without getting upset or flustered... Even when the waiter at the hotel told me he had lost my credit card. : )

Our last dinner

Jenny and I went out for our last overpriced yet yummy meal of this trip. I think it was also my best tasting... Coconut shrimp!!!

Another great day!

Jenny and I slept in today and then hiked about a mile to one of the best snorkeling sites on the island.  We spent nearly 3 hours snorkeling and even snorkeled through a big rain storm.  We saw a lot of great stuff!  I tried to limit the # of photo's I posted but it was really hard!

5 to 6 foot ray right below me!

5-6 foot reef shark!!

Agghh.... The first of many barracuda of the day.  I hate the way they don't move and stare at you. 

See the little yellow fish in the middle?  It is some kind of small really neat trunk fish.... maybe a baby? 

cool brain coral with a Christmas tree worm on it. 

I always post pictures of the male stoplight parrotfish so I thought I should post a a picture of the poor ugly female.  

There were HUGE starfish every where.  They were at least 2-3 feet wide!!

Lots of star fish!

I have never seen this before... I think it is some kind of underwater centipede.  It was really neat to watch move. 

Agghh... yet another Barracuda is starring at me!

There were tons of little neon fish that kept circling around us. 

Peacock Flounder... These are so cool.   Can you see how both eyeballs are on one side?

Giant Cucumber... It was at least a foot long. 

HUGE Crab

Giant Porcupine fish

Aghh... yet another Barracuda is circling me!  I swear I saw a dozen of them or more. Creepy suckers!

Smooth Trunkfish... there were tons of these.  I followed them around for along time. 

Giant ball of fish

Whoa..... a blacked tipped reef shark came out of nowhere and swam through the fish!

It was so cool to watch it swim around.  I thought it was going to eat one of the fish... but alas.. it did not. 

This is a different type of trunk fish.  It was so pretty! and really big!

I floated on the surface for a bit to take a break.

The hermit crabs where huge!

After our long snorkel we went to Mohan bay to lay in the sand but it kept raining and then we got attacked by killer bugs that left us looking like we had the chicken pox.  This was jenny's solution to both the bugs and the rain.  It wasn't till after we got home that I realized that I had forgot to put sunscreen on my back... ugh... it is so burnt!