Happy 7th Birthday Hiltie!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Hiltie!!!!

Hiltie was my 2nd puppy born to OMSI x Taiko. From the first time I saw her at 4 weeks old I fell in love, she was the BEST puppy to raise and I am so thankful for the time I had with such an amazing dog. Hiltie graduated as a Skilled Companion, there was no doubt she would graduate. LOVE you always Hiltie!

Awesome video

This video is about a puppy who was in training for another organizations. Being a service dog was bot what Ricochet had in mind, but she still went on to change lives!

Lemonade for CCI

Article from newsday.com

For four years, Kyle Orent and his fundraising lemonade stand have been a familiar sight around his hometown of Northport. He's the cute kid philanthropist who managed to squeeze tens of thousands of dollars in charitable donations from thirsty folks who needed an ice-cold drink.

Beginning at age 7, Kyle took his stand to local sports games and the annual Cow Harbor Race. He didn't charge for the drinks, but encouraged donations. He raised $20,000 the first year, his mother, Kathy, said. After four years of mashing lemons and auction sales, he's collected $115,000, all for Canine Companions for Independence, a nonprofit organization that trains dogs to help people with disabilities.

But Kyle's 11 now and a sixth-grader at Northport Middle School, and the lemonade stand has begun to cramp his legs, not to mention his almost-teenager style.

"I'm getting older," he said Thursday night, before accepting a "Local Heroes" award from Bank of America, in a ceremony at the Long Island Children's Museum in Garden City.

The award, which includes $5,000 donated to the recipient's favorite charity, honors community leaders who contribute significantly to the health of their neighborhood. The bank also donated nearly $450,000 in unrestricted funding to local nonprofit organizations.

Kyle is the youngest recipient in the six years the award has been given, said a bank spokeswoman. He says he wants to be a fundraiser when he grows up. His hero is real estate magnate and TV star Donald Trump.

Why Trump? "He always has a Plan B," Kyle said. "After I sold lemonade, auctions were my Plan B."

Kyle sold his own toys in an online auction, according to his Web site, kyleslemonade.org. He also writes to celebrities such as baseball great Hank Aaron, asking them to autograph dog collars. He auctions the collars on eBay's "Giving" charity site.

Almost a third of the money Kyle raised came from the lemonade stand, and the rest from auctions and matching donations from individuals and corporations.

And he hasn't totally given up on exchanging big glasses of lemonade for big bucks. His mother, Kathy, said Kyle's hoping to recruit younger kids to carry on the lemonade tradition.

Milano update

Milano is back again from her co-puppy raisers house. It has really been great sharing Milano, she gets a lot of different experiences and as puppy raisers we get breaks when things get busy.

Milano went to a birthday party for CCI SD Lynell. Looks like they all had a great time! SD Whisper also joined the fun.

Demo at CSUS

Last semester I was walking to class with Akeelah and a professor
stopped me and asked if I would come to her class to do a demo sometime,
I said of course. Last semester I went with a group of other assistance
dogs and people showing adaptive equipment. Today it was just a demo on
CCI. My friend came to help and learn more about CCI. Chandra showed off
her commands and Milano was a good girl. The class loved it when Chandra
turned the lights on and picked up my keys. Overall the demo was
informative, the class is for people who want to run/manage parks,
hotels, and leasure activities.

Courthouse Dogs

(Crites Photography, New Albany, OH)
Here's a great website about the use of CCI trained Facility Dogs (FD) in Courthouses across the country.

Enjoy!!

Sigma Kappa Hat Chase

We're at another sorority event for my sister. The dogs love the
attention and it's great training for Milano. This event is a hat chase
where guys from a frat are running around a field and the girls have to
tackle them and take their hats, should be very entertaining!

Milano and Tyson's playdate

Milano had a playdate with her friend Tyson a boxer, here are a few pictures from Milano's co-puppy raiser.

Milano as a Milano cookie

Here's Milano as a Milano cookie!! Pretty cute! We're getting ready to
go trick-or-treating..being around kids and their costumes will be a
great training opportunity for Milano

Happy dogs!

Shawn and Milano are playing on the tennis court! They love it and it's
good for Milano to get her energy out.

Milano's commands at 9 months and Happy Halloween!!

Milano has been working on her commands, right now we're working on sharping up the commands she already knows. "Heel" and "down" with her hips rolled out are what I'm focusing most on. She's a very smart puppy and learns new concepts quickly.



Tonight Milano is going Trick-or-Treating in the neighborhood to get used to being around more kids and the costumes will help with training in different environments. I just bought some fabric to make Milano a Milano cookie! :) Should be cute!

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween!!

Here are some pictures of Milano at work with her co-puppy raiser..she looks thrilled to be dressed up ;) Just like her mom, Shawn would always give me a sad face when she was dressed up!!

HAPPY 9 MONTHS!

Milano and the "M's" are 9 months old today! She celebrated by seeing
her friends at school, going to class, sitting with me during my ASL
midterm and now were going home so she can get some much needed time off
to play and be a puppy! She's such a good girl :)

Milano is back

Milano is back from her co-PR's house, she had a very busy day today! Milano went to Sacramento's GRC Bone Appetite It was a great event put on by the volunteers of the GRC group. When I picked her up we went straight to school and I started studying for my midterm that is going on later this week. We had a movie night with the ASL Club and Milano was very good as usual :) She loves seeing our friends and knows when she's working and also when she's off duty, after the movie Milano had some play time with the officers of the club. She thought it was great, then it was back to work mode. It's fun because she has a great on/off switch. Before the movie I brushed her with a furminator, I think it removed a small dog! ;) Milano is shedding SOOOO much, I can't wait until this part is over. Tomorrow Milano and I have a busy day..gym, lunch with a friend, school and tests.

2010 CCI Calendar

Today I went to the CCI gift store while on campus for the HD and Side placement class graduation. I was surprised and happy to see that they picked a picture of Milano for the 2010 calendar! Milano's brother Mica is also in the calendar, he's actually the featured puppy!! Very cool :)

9 Months

Milano is almost 9 months and she's doing great! Her commands are coming along nicely and she's just and easy and fun puppy to have around. Last night she went back to her co-puppy raisers house. Having 2 puppy raisers is really nice for everyone because the puppies get to be in different environments and also get used to different people. Last week Milano went with me to school and to the gym. We had two very long days. On Wednesday we were in school for 10 hours again and then we went straight to the Kings game. Milano loves being at Arco, she's been going to games since she was 4.5 months old. On Thursday we helped out with ASL midterms and it was a lot of fun, Milano started to snore during 2 of the tests and I had to wake her up so she didn't distract the students. Yesterday we went to Sac State's football game and Milano again was really good. Nothing distracted her, she watched the cheerleaders and the band and then went to sleep. Milano will stay with her co-raiser until the end of the week, I'll update next week.

VOTE for CCI!!

VOTE for CCI!! There's a chance CCI can get $10,000 in donations from Christie Cookies Company.

Search for Canine Companions for Independence

Happy 8th Birthday Kedra!!

Where has the time gone?? My very first puppy is turning 8 today!! Kedra was born 9-29-01 (Neffa x Washaki). She was a fun and challenging puppy and I definitely learned a lot from her. Kedra went to high school with me for my Junior and Senior year and now she's living with a family just outside of Sacramento.

A weekend in Tahoe

Magic, Milano & Shawn- Happy to finally be in Tahoe Tired dogs, ready for bed..they're good at sharing :) The end of the race, beautiful! There's nothing like Lake Tahoe!! Over the weekend we went to Lake Tahoe. It was beautiful and the weather was perfect! My friend was running the Tahoe half marathon in preparation for her marathon in October. Milano, Shawn and Magic came with us to Tahoe. They had a lot of fun playing in the yard. Unfortunately we didn't have enough time to let them swim in the Lake. Here's a video of the dogs playing in the yard:

Milano is back

Happy Dogs!!

Omeeka & Milano (half sisters) Omeeka is from Shawn's 1st litter and Milano is from her 5th.

Milano came back from her Co-Puppy Raisers house, sounds like she had a GREAT weekend in Tahoe at Bark at the Park. In the above picture she is in the middle of the bottom row. She was able to play with her half sister Omeeka who is now a breeder for CCI ("B" and "O" litter so far).

Milano, Shawn and Magic went to the river today and went swimming. There's a video of the fun, it was a really nice day here in Sacramento and after a long walk the dogs were happy to get to play in the water.


Tomorrow is our long day at school, Milano has been doing so well and it's been a lot of fun having a puppy in class again! The only complaint that I have is that she snores sometimes ;) The rest of the class thinks it's pretty funny!

Milano update

Milano has been a good girl. She has been going to work with her co-raiser and she has been going to school with me. Wednesday's are really long for us, we're at school from 9am-7pm. Milano handles it really well and gets plenty of play time during our breaks. Today we went on a long walk on the American River trail with Shawn and Magic. We started out with the dogs walking next to me while I was on rollerblades, it was a little faster pace, but not a run since Milano isn't old enough. Shawn started to get tired, we went back to the car to switch out my rollerblades for shoes and then we continued on our walk. All 3 dogs were so good, one lady stopped and asked me how the dogs could be so good and I told her about CCI :)

Back to school

Milano has joined me again for my Senior year at Sac State! She's done really well with everyone on campus and the long days. On Wednesday's we're on campus from 9am until 7 pm. She gets play time and plenty of water breaks, it's been really hot here in Sacramento. I've been posting pictures of her on her twitter account, pretty cute :)

Happy 7 months "M" puppies!!

Happy 7 months to Milano, Makia, Malin, Macy, Maura and Mica!!

Milano update

My last 2 weeks have been really busy in an ASL immersion class at Sac State. I thought it would be better for Milano to be with another puppy raiser instead of staying in class with me for 12 hours!! I did take her for half a day, she was really good. The only thing that wasn't great was her snoring!! The room was quiet and Milano kept snoring, I'm pretty sure she gets this from her dad because Shawn doesn't snore. I've really missed having Milano with me, but I know that she is having a lot of fun with her puppy sitter. Milano went to a CCI pool party and I hear that she did really well in the pool and was even jumping off the side by the end of the day. The picture above is of Milano and Jersey after the pool party, they were tired puppies!! I'm looking forward to getting Milano back this weekend, I'll update the blog more next week with more adventures.

Milano is 6 months

Milano is 6 months old and continuing to do well! She just came home from a puppy sitters house. The reports back were great, it's always so nice to hear when your puppy does well with other puppy raisers. Milano was pretty happy to see me, it was cute :) I'll be taking her 6 months photos soon!

Milano update

Milano is still doing well and having fun! She's been going to Monarchs games, the gym, grocery stores, the mall and friends houses.

Milano's brother..

Mica was the only boy in the "M" litter, he's so cute!

5 Months

Milano turned 5 months old on the 19th. Here are a few pictures of her, she's getting big!

Milano and Magic sleeping, so cute!

Magic's home and some visitors

Yesterday we went to San Francisco to pick up Magic! It was a road trip for Milano and she was very good, just relaxing in the car for the 4 hour round-trip. Milano passed out on the way home.



Akeelah and Hailey also came over for a sleep over. Akeelah is Shawn's puppy so Milano's half sister. She looks so much like Shawn and acts like her when she was younger. Akeelah was also chosen as a breeder for CCI. Hailey is 2 weeks older than Milano, they had a lot of fun playing together!

CCI youtube video

Check out this great CCI video on facility dogs!

Introducing Reese

Here's Milano's friend Reese! She was rescued from the animal shelter last month. She's visiting while her mom is out of town. Reese is settling in, she's getting used to Milano and Shawn, at first she wasn't sure what to think of the dogs. She has a really cute hop when she runs, I'll try to get some videos of them later.

Milano at the Monarchs

Today was opening game for the Monarchs! Milano handled everything very well, she's definitely a 4 month old puppy that acts about 18 months. If she just knew the rest of the commands, she would be ready to turn in ;) Arco is a great place to socialize the puppies. The staff is awesome and most people know me around the arena and if I don't have a dog then I get asked where they are. Since last season I was on a break from puppy raising, people came up to me and said how nice it was to have a puppy in the arena again.

Milano ready for the game, bandana on and pass ready..

Milano in the family room before the game..

Milano at the seats, sleeping..awesome puppy!!...

Milano after the game, ready to go home..

After the game we waited at the practice facility to pick up Reese since the team is going on a road trip to Seattle today. Reese is staying with us until Monday, I'll try and get some pictures and videos of them. Reese is a rescued pound puppy :)

Milano at the horse races and work outs at the gym

Milano has been going out more and getting used to different environments. Over the weekend we went to Berkeley for the horse races. Milano was great, she didn't mind the crowds. There was yelling and cheering, people everywhere and different smells. Milano walked right next to me in a "heel". We went down and got a picture with the a jockey of a winning horse, he was so tiny and he loved Milano. He said something to her in Spanish.
Here's a picture of Milano at the horse races:

Milano has also been going with me to the gym. She hasn't gone yet when I've worked out, but we're working up to it. Today she laid by me when I stretched (and I need to stretch a lot ;) Milano just stayed in a "down".
Here's a picture of Milano on the way to the gym, she was being cute for Cass:
After I stretched we went into the Group X room to visit friends during their workout. Milano was hanging out on the floor until I released her and we started playing, she thought it was great. When she gets excited she she pounces up and down like Shawn. Next time I'll get some more pictures of Milano inside the gym.

And here's a picture of Milano's nights at home...she gets to relax :)

NW May 2009 Graduation

Milano & Makia II They remembered each other! So cute!! Daddy Lawrence II Milano went to CCI's graduation today. She was great! After the ceremony we visited with her sister Makia who came to graduation from Seattle. It was great seeing her, the sisters definitley remembered each other! It was so cute :) They also got to meet their dad Lawrence, it was so nice seeing him. Lawrence is a big, handsome black lab. They took a family picture today, all of them were so good. After the pictures we went back to CCI and let the dog play in the park before the drive home. Before we left Milano took a picture with Ticha's brick :)

Milano's busy day

Have I mentioned how much I love this puppy? She's awesome!! Today was her first basketball game, it was an early game, starting at 11 am. Before the game Milano played on the tennis court with Shawn to get some energy out. Milano then was ready to sleep during the game. She had a chew toy, but she only chewed on it during warm ups. The rest of the time she just slept. The crowd, noises and all around environment didn't bother her at all. After the game we got some lunch before heading back home. For dinner Milano went with us to BJ's, it was great and so was Milano. She walked in and laid down under the table, again she just laid there. She wasn't too tired, but she didn't break her downs, she just kept her head down with her eyes open.

Dinner at BJ's


Happy to be off duty ;)

Milano update

Milano has been a busy girl. We've gone to the grocery store and worked around the different smells and people. The first time we went into the store the shopping cart was a little scary for her, now they don't seem to bother her at all. We went to the gym again yesterday and she was great around the workout equipment. I took her into the locker room and we worked on unders. Milano is such a happy girl, she loves to wag her tail :)

Tomorrow is going to be a big day for her, she's going to her first basketball game. The Monarchs have a preseason game against the Phoenix Mercury and Milano is going to come with me. I'll be sure to take pictures!

Milano's trip to Merced

Milano was a great puppy for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing camp in Merced today. She did really well with her sits and laying down for pets. I'm still working on Milano not licking, but it's getting better. Milano is pictured with her mom Shawn and buddy Caspin.

Milano is 4 months

Milano is 4 months old today! She's doing very well, her commands and manners are coming along nicely. She went with me to the gym today to get used to the equipment. She was awesome! We went in the locker room, up to the basketball court door to watch the guys play, we walked by the ellipticals, treadmills and over by the pool. The gym is a great place for socilization and everyone loves the puppies there :) Milano thinks that the hot weather isn't the greatest, but she's going to have to get used to this, it's not even summer yet! Well, it is a little like summer since I'm out of school until the end of August!!

Milano update

Milano had her last set of shots today! She is now fully vaccinated :) Milano weighs in at 28 lbs. Her wrinkles are showing up more andher ears seem to be getting bigger. She's a great puppy! I'll be taking some more pictures soon and updating her blog.

Dance practice

It is 1:20 am and Milano and I just got home from 24 Hour Fitness where Lisa and her Sigma Kappa sisters are having their final dance practice. I thought it would be a good test for Milano and also a good stress reliever for the girls. Milano again was perfect. She wasn't bothered by the sounds except for one time when there was drumming on trash cans. At that time I walked Milano out the door and she laid down outside the Group X room, once the drumming finished Milano went back inside with me where she laid down and continued to chew on her bone. I haven't been letting people pet her, but I decided that it was a very controlled environment and everyone knows what I do with the dogs and that they have to behave. Milano was loving the attention. Milano is already asleep in her kennel, she's one tired puppy!!

UPDATE: Sigma Kappa ending up winning Greek Sing after all their hard work!

Here's a video of their performance:




My sister was Ernie in the Banana skit..and a drummer in the first dance of part II

Play day!

Milano, Shawn, Akeelah, Luna, Hailey and Gelsey all played on the tennis court! They had a lot of fun running around and playing with the toys. Here are a few pictures of them from today.




Family resemblence..If you think you're seeing double, it's just that Akeelah is Shawn's puppy from her "A" litter with Kittredge. Akeelah was chosen as a breeder this month.

Luna is also a breeder and her puppy is Hailey. Luna and Camden's "H" litter was born 2 weeks before Shawn's "M" litter.

CCI & Build-A- Bear

For the second year in a row, Build-A-Bear Workshop has partnered with Canine Companions for Independence for a special promotion at all stores nationwide and online.

For each stuffed dog (Bearamy Kennel Pals) sold at Build-A-Bear stores or online from May 1 through May 31, the Build-A-Bear Workshop Bear Hugs Foundation will donate $1 to Canine Companions for Independence. They have golden retrievers, black and yellow Labradors ready to be your new stuffed friend.

Last year, the promotion brought in over $60,000 for CCI. CCI has announced this promotion in their April e-newsletter but you can also help spread the word in your area about this special opportunity to support CCI ! (facebook events)

Soccer

It was a fun weekend of sporting events! Today Milano went to her first soccer game. She was so good, again she held her down and wasn't botherd by the people, dogs, cheers and soccer balls. I'm so proud of her!

Milano's 1st Baseball game

Milano went to her first baseball game today at Sac State. She was so good. She walked right up the stairs of the stadium and under the bleacher. She wasn't scared by any of the noises and she just laid down and we played a little eye contact game. I've been working on it, when she gives me eye contact I give her a treat. It's been working really well. I'm going to be taking her to more sporting events to get her used to the sites and sounds before she goes with me to the Monarchs games this summer. Milano is doing great on "lets go" she doesn't forge and she is also doing her auto-sits. I didn't have my camera, I'll take pictures of her next time :) I need to keep my camera with me.

CCI on the News!!

Tonight was CCI puppy class at the Sacramento International airport. What a great class it was! There were two news station filming clips about the dogs. News 10 & 13. The segments were GREAT! Wallis and SD Caspin were stars, as usual. There were a lot of very good puppies there, classes that were held were Big Dogs and Riffraff. People at the airport seemed to like all the cute puppies in the baggage claim area and it was awesome that the airport was so helpful in letting us use their facility.

I sat in on a jury today for a Mock Trial for McGeorge Law School, so Milano stayed with a puppy sitter today. Unfortunatley she couldn't make it to class to show off her puppy commands.

3 months

Milano is 3 months old now (she was on the 19th!) Here's a video of Milano working on: sit, down, shake and bed. We've only worked on bed for 2 days now, but she's getting it. She's very smart :) She has been with me to a few restaurants, school, puppy class, Tahoe, grocery store and friends houses. I can't wait for her to get a little bigger so we can start working on more commands.



Today Milano also got a chance to go swimming in a pool, she thought it was fun! Especially running around all went with Shawn and Caspin. I know she's going to be a swimmer when she gets older :)

Demo at Sac State

Today we did a demo at Sac State. Shawn also came, along with SD Caspin and SD Ron. The class was about service dogs and adaptive equipment. It was pretty cool, there were 5 groups of 8 students and they would come and ask a few questions and get a general overview of service dogs. We focused on telling the students about service dog etiquette and how to not pet/approach/feed a service dog while they are working or "not working" because it is important for the handler to always be in control. Another good point was to always talk to the handler and not to the dog. Overall the demo went well. Milano did her job, which was to look cute ;) Shawn also slept the whole time. Caspin and a Guide Dog that was also there showed how the dogs act on "release", the students seemed to like that, because the dogs really do get to have fun and it's not all work like most people think. The demo went so well that next semester we are going to do an entire class demo just on CCI :)

I forgot my camera! So there aren't any pictures of the event, but I'm going back to school tonight for class and can get some of Milano then.

Play time!!

Milano loves the water already! She's having fun in the baby pool, it'll be fun having her play in the real pool once she gets a little bigger. Shawn and Milano had a great time running around the yard and playing in the pool. They were pretty tired after, but Milano has a lot of energy that she can get out! Tomorrow she will have her 2nd puppy class.

Tennis court play time

Showing Milano the slide
Milano wet after playing in the pool, she loves it already!!
She got it!!
One tired puppy :)
Milano has learned how to play on the equipment!! It was so cute and only took her 2 times before she was climbing on Shawn's favorite slide.

A busy week

This week is going to be filled with demo's!

Here's where we'll be:
Tomorrow- Sac City College Disability Awarness Day
Saturday- UC Davis Picnic Day
Monday- Sac State class demo

I'll be sure to take pictures and update the blog!