Tessie Takes Over
There’s a new kid in town and she’s taken over our living room floor. Tessie, a not quite four month old yellow Lab pup, is on her own, now that her mentor has gone off to boarding school to learn how to be a guide dog.
After moping around for a day of mourning her departed playmate, Tessie is suddenly all perky energy. The look in her eyes tells you that she knows something has changed in her life.

FAREWELL to MOLLIE

Where does the time go? It's hard to believe that Tessie has been with us a month. The yellow/black Lab mix is the daughter of Leah, a puppy we raised several years ago. Leah is currently part of Seeing Eye's puppy breeding program and Tessie is from her second litter.
Tessie received a rather rude welcome to Cape May County. She was just getting used to her new home when we were hit by two blizzards recently.

Tessie's six weeks old and weighs a little under 11 pounds. Tessie is a black, yellow Lab mix. All the rest of the litter have the black coloration.
Tessie has a lot to live up to. Her mother is Leah, a puppy we'd raised several years ago. Leah was always a personal favorite and is currently in the Seeing Eye puppy breeding program.
Mollie is doing great with the newcomer, showing her the ropes and helping Tessie figure out her standing in the household.
We'll keep you posted on both girls progress.

Ann Herron from Our Lady of the Angels Social Justice Group just informed me that the group is collecting needed items that they intend to ship to earthquake devastated Haiti.
The group is especially looking for canned items such as milk, meat and fish products, diapers, and medicines.
They could also use a truck. Herron explained that the group is looking for transportation to get the donated items down to Virginia. From there, she says, transport has been arranged to get the supplies to the afflicted area.

Back in action…with some news

Sorry to have been off the air so long. First I was snowed in. Then I was holidayed in. But I’m back.
And I have news. We’ll be getting a new puppy next week. Her name is Tessie and she’s a yellow lab/golden mix. Best of all, she’s a daughter of Leah, a Seeing Eye pup we raised a few years ago. If Tessie’s anything like Leah, she’ll be a joy to have around. But I don’t want her to feel any pressure…

“Dogs and humans out walk the wind”

Mollie and I walked in Stone Harbor’s Sandy Paws Pooch Walk on Saturday. Yes, it was windy. The wind was blowing against us in BOTH directions we walked so we didn’t care if we were coming or going.
Mollie enjoyed the walk but judging from the way she kept eyeing the ocean, I think she would have had more fun surfing, except I forgot to bring her wet suit.

“Cesar Comes to Resorts”

My wife and I went up to Atlantic City last Saturday to see Cesar Millan. He didn’t bring any dogs with him which disappointed us. But he was pretty funny and informative, and it was a good show, if you’re interested in learning about how dogs easily and consistently outwit us.
Cesar refers to the “calm assertive energy” that the ideal dog pack leader possesses. He
says that passing that energy from humans to dogs determines, in big part, how the animals respond to us.

Mollie's back. She successfully went through season. No little Mollies on the way.
Now the pair of us are getting back in shape with some long walks. My bet is that she'll get back in shape long before I do...afterall, I've had a lot more time to get OUT of shape.
We recently had her out at the lake at belleplain State Park before we had to turn back the clocks and it started getting dark half way through the afternoon. Mollie showed off for campers and the resident geese, swimming and fetching sticks until we were too exhausted from watching her to throw any more.

Doggie Diapers Days

Poor Mollie’s in season. Our black Lab puppy, nearly a year old, is temporarily housebound for the next three weeks.
In many instances, Seeing Eye puppy raiser families will kennel their dogs when the girls go into season. But we haven’t had to resort to that yet with any of the female dogs we’ve raised.
On the rare occasion when a drop of blood hits the floor, we clean it right up with apple cider vinegar. No, the house doesn’t smell like a vat of sour wine.