Birthday!

Technically it is now 5 minutes past midnight, but in counting the weeks, Storm is officially 5 months old now.  Happy Birthday Storm Shadow Powers!

Looking at the calendar a bit further, seems Lola and Storm have a similar Birthday, that makes Lola 8 years, 5 months.

Rained out, then sick, then more training!

Call it fate, call it something but no matter what week it is if we try to schedule something on a regular Tuesday training night we always seem to get rained out.  This week was no exception.  In addition to the rain, I seem to have gotten sick.  Some kind of horrible cold that will not go away, looks like a visit to the doctor may be in my near future.  In the meantime I am just trying to breathe without coughing up a lung.

I paid my parents a visit in Harrisburg and ended up driving back and forth twice, once semi unnecessarily due to the cancelled training.  I had scheduled a Civil Service Exam on Tuesday, so I had to be in Harrisburg anyway.  

On my way back home tonight, I get a call from my brother.  Seem there is/was a water main break around the corner from me (literally 1 block away), which created a giant sink hole and houses had to be evacuated etc.  I expected to come home to no water or gas, but everything seems to be fine.

Mike and I had decided to do some training tonight since we were both not doing anything and we met up near the station in the field closest to the Kids Peace area.  We started off with Storm and even Mike said how impressed he was with his ability at his young age.  Storm had 2 more successful finds as well in training tonight, once the wind was in his favor.  I am so proud of this puppy, he is going to make an awesome search dog!  Molly and Gwynn did great as well and I can't wait to train with them again.

Hooray for training!

Mike and I got together this morning with Storm and Molly.  We did a quick hide for Storm and then 2 problems for Molly, including one where I climbed up a tree.  The interesting thing happened when I decided to go out on a limb (pun intended) and literally put Storm to the test.

I had Mike hide on one side of a small wooded area while I walked Storm to the other side of the wooded area.  Without giving Storm any notification on where he was I started walking Storm through the woods, into the wind, to give him the best chance of success. 

At first Storm kind of looked at me and I was afraid I was pushing to hard to fast.  It was impressive either way though as he ranged off of me right and left, but always coming back and checking with me.  Then something amazing happened, He caught Mikes scent and took off like a rocket, bounding through the brush, jumping over logs, finding Mike without any hesitation. 

If I had any doubts about this puppy being a future search dog, they were laid to rest today.  At under 5 months, being able to find someone like that, with no teasing, or riling up and no watching where he had hidden, I was just giddy with excitement!

I now have a Facebook page!

My Dad created a facebook page for me.  You can look me up as Storm Powers.

Training! Finally...

Being off of work is enough to drive one stir crazy!  When you are at work you can't wait to be at home, and when you have no work, you can't wait to be AT work.  Thankfully Mike Eck and Molly and Storm and I got to go out and run some quick problems tonight.  The weather was warm and there was a slight breeze that was all over the place.  Both Molly and Storm did well as usual, it was just nice to get out of the house. 

Cancelled...

I was so looking forward to having training today, however due to the weather it was cancelled.  Looks like I am stuck at home listening to the dogs wrestle all day, and I don't feel so good either.  Damn it is going to be a long day.

Public Begging..

This past weekend at Walmart in Trexlertown the K9 team and a few support members came out with our dogs to brave the cold weather for some long hours to raise money. 

Saturday was REALLY cold, but storm did pretty well.  I had to go into Walmart to buy him a jacket about half way through the day but it was too small so I just ended up returning it.  The sky turned really dark there for a while and the wind kicked up and we had flurries!

Sunday was nicer, no flurries, some wind but not as bad, and Storms big sister Lola came out to join him.

In total the team managed to raise over $1300 in the two days, which I am told is pretty good.

Here is a couple of pics of Storm, in his begging vest, trying to stay warm.

Been a long time...

As you can see, it has been almost 10 days since my last post, and I have officially changed the name of the blog since I have not been posting daily.  There really hasn't been much going on lately due to people being busy for the holidays.  As of Friday I will be out of work for approximately 5 weeks and with the holidays and new years, I don't know how much more active things will get before the new year.

We do have a training scheduled for the 21st, so there is definitely something coming up in the near future but after that I have no idea. 

Storm and I will be spending our weekend outside of Walmart in Trexlertown, trying to raise much needed funds for the team.  If you read this and are in the area on either Saturday or Sunday come on out and meet us, and the dogs of course!

More training!

Sunday was BEAUTIFUL!  Especially for December.  The temp had to be somewhere between 50 and 60 and the k9 team headed out to Jacobsburg park.  The nice weather also brought out a slew of horses to the equestrian area of the park.  All of the dogs including Storm did excellent and despite me trying to get a picture of him doing anything he just would not cooperate.  I did manage to snap one majorly blurry photo of him on the ramp to someones truck, but that's all I got.

Ahh Friday!

I really need to take the "Daily" out of the name of this blog, it's just not happening.  Tuesdays training did not happen, due to weather among other factors.  Mike called me last night and he and I agreed to meet up to do some training and I thought it went really well. 

I hid for Molly without telling Mike where I was actually going so that he could not give any indication to Molly if she was going the right way or not, basically like a real search!  Molly found me in a very short time without much difficulty at all.

Then Mike hid for Storm, he went out of sight and hid, and we actually got to see Storm use his nose, he had some slight difficulty, but when he worked it out, he put his nose to the ground and found him.

Big training on Sunday, and I am looking forward to it.

Sunday Sunday Sunday!

Yes I realize that technically as I type this it is actually Tuesday, however, better late than never, right?

Sunday, after an extremely hectic week of driving to hockey games and relatives and parties it was time to get back to the grind.  Mike and Molly met Storm and I for a quick evening training in the area of Station 22.  I didn't get to see or hear them, but Mike said he heard and saw quite a few deer in the area, which was slightly funny as Monday started hunting season.

Sadly no new photos to share but training tomorrow night and then Sunday a big one where photos are possible.  Stay tuned for more updates!

Busy week...

Once again I have failed at the "Daily" part of this blog, in my defense it is the week of Thanksgiving and I was out of town for a day or two.

I went and had dinner with the family and took both Storm and Lola with me.  In the grand scheme of potty training Storm had a minor setback when he peed in his crate.  In his defense though his schedule with the holiday and all was all kinds of screwy. 

On Friday we drove back as Storm had a vet appt. at 3pm, we made it there just a tad late, but in plenty of time to get his last series of puppy shots and his rabies!  We made a follow up appt. to get his lyme disease shots in 3 weeks. 

After the quick visit to the vet, I managed to get a hold of Mike and Molly and we did a little training at the local park. 

All in all a pretty busy but good day.  Here is to hoping that we can get together on Sunday to train some more, we'll see who is interested.

Another day of success!

I put Storm in his crate again last night before I went to bed, and woke up this morning to a whining dog, but a clean crate!  Crate training works people, when you do it right that is.  I admittedly had no clue what I was doing when I tried to crate train my other dog Lola, however this time I am doing it right and successfully. 

For anyone interested and in need of help, the crate has to be just the right size for your dog, it cannot be to big.  The crate should be just big enough for your dog to stand up in and turn around.  I am currently leaving Storm in the crate for about 9 hours with no issues.  You MUST feed and walk the dog before you put him/her in the crate and allow him/her to eliminate before going in the crate for the best chance at success.  You should start crate time at smaller intervals to begin with and slowly increase the time.

Hopefully a few of us will be able to get together for training tonight, despite the weather being crappy, but hey, people get lost in the woods when it rains too.

Misinformed...

So at training yesterday we were discussing the basic training of the puppy.  Potty training and the like and I described my setup to both Brenda and Mike.  My understanding, based on a number of sources of the book form, was that Storm was too young to be kept in a crate for an average workday, basically that he could not hold his bladder for the whole time I would be at work.  According to them that was incorrect and basically all I was doing was promoting Storm to "go" all over the place and not really training him.  So, I agreed that when I got home we would start crate training him. 

I got home from training and put Storm in the crate for approximately four hours.  After that period of time I fed Storm and then played and had activity with him until he basically whined (his indicator that he needs to go).  I took Storm outside and he relieved himself, after which I brought him in, played with him some more and then, about 10pm, put him back in the crate. 

Storm woke me up with whining again about 4:45 this morning.  I immediately got up and took him out where he relieved himself again, I then put him back in the crate and went back to sleep.  I woke up again at 7:30, fed and played with Storm for about a half an hour, then we went for our morning walk.  Storm relieved himself again, then we played some more until I had to get ready for work.  I put Storm in the crate and HE MADE IT, all the way until I got home from work.  I immediately took him out when I got home and he relieved himself. 

With any luck he will be potty trained in a few short days!

...and still more training.....

Out of the last 7 days we have trained four of them to some extent or another.  I once again tried to use my camera. but it appears that the camera is not the issue as much as the card that goes in the camera.  I did manage to catch one photo to give you an idea of what kind of result comes from these trainings.  This was taken in the car on the way home, Storm was laying on the front seat next to me.

I can't believe...

It's Saturday!  Looking at the blog my last post was on Monday and well, that is a fail on the "daily" part.  It has been a bit of a crazy week.  Storm trained on both Tuesday and Thursday nights and did fantastic as usual.  Tomorrow is Sunday and still more training.  Maybe I'll have pictures tomorrow.

Seems I keep apologizing...

This blog should have been written yesterday, however once I got home from training around 6ish I plopped down in front of the TV for about an hour where I got really tired and by 7 was in bed.  I slept for about 11 hours, guess I was tired AND worn out from training, not to mention sore.  I haven't carried a backpack with any weight in a while and holy hanna my back is sore.

Anyway, yesterday we had the multi-company training and it was a lot of fun.  Met some more new people with search dogs and even met a shepherd named Storm!  Storm did amazing as usual, the dog continues to impress me on a daily basis, and everyone who met him a month ago was amazed at how big he had gotten.

Ahh, Yesterday.

I apologize for not posting, I was busy taking certification classes online and doing laundry.  Yesterday however, Mike, Christine and I got together near the station with our dogs and did some runaways.  It was a beautiful day, wind was gusty at times, moving west to east, which was actually perfect for where we were set up.  All of the dogs performed really well, and I think I was a bunch of improvement in Gwynn.  I took my camera, but as soon as I started taking pictures the camera stopped working, I didn't really get any shots, I'm sorry folks.

Today is training again, this time a multi-agency training and it should be fun and exciting.  I'll report back more later.

Ah...how invigorating!

Needless to say it is a tad bit chilly outside and in looking forward to this weekends training I was determined to finish Storms impromptu safety orange vest.  This is me sending out raspberries to our Team Coordinator Brenda who told me that I would not get the impromptu vest sewn fast enough before Storm grew out of it.  What I did was take a childs extra small orange shirt and more or less cut it to fit Storm.  Yes, it is not a perfect fit, but I did sew it by hand and it more or less fits him as can be seen in the following photograph. 

On a side note Storm does seem to be all well and fine, the poop issue was more than likely stress related.  In addition I was able to get Storm to poop outside, and not in the house which is a HUGE improvement.

I will probably have more pics tomorrow and on Sunday with all the training going on.

Back to normal?

I hate to think that the blog is becoming a poop status, but with a puppy it can be an indicator of something bad.  In this case, it seems that all is well again.  Storm seems to be back to himself and his umm...poop appears to be normal again as well.  Yes I was worried for a bit, but he did not seem dehydrated, and I gave him plenty of water.

I may not get time to post any pics in the morning, the car is making funny noises and I think I need to take it to the shop first thing.

Stay tuned though because I'll have a chance to get some photos of Molly, Gwynn and Storm on Saturday.

All is not well...

I woke up this morning and came out to find what can only be described as Storm having explosive diarrhea.  The floor of my kitchen was a disaster area, a haz-mat if you will.  In addition Storm seemed really lethargic, not coming out of his crate, not whining at me, etc.  I cleaned up the mess and fed him, but he had absolutely no interest in food and promptly walked back into his crate.  I went about my morning routine and by the time I had to leave for work he was walking around and nibbling at his food, basically acting more like himself.

I came home after work tonight to find a similar situation, diarrhea all over the floor again.  At least this time Storm was active and didn't seem to be lethargic at all, in fact he seems fine.  From my reading he should be able to go without food for a day, so I will try a liquid diet for now, and if he doesn't improve by the morning, another trip to the vet will be in order.

I understand that stress can have this affect on puppies, and yesterday Storm sure had a lot of it, but just to be sure we will wait til morning and see what is going on with him, see if a vet visit is in order.  I did give him his once a month interceptor(worm pill), maybe that will help a little bit.

Meeting night...

Well tonight was the Valley Search and Rescue meeting, I arrived late having been at work til 7, then having to drive home, change and get Storm, then drive to the station.  It was good to see some familiar faces and friends, and I got accepted as a probationary member of the team (YEAH!).  After the meeting Storm got to do a few more runaways in the dark and again he was impressive.  Even with Team Coordinator Brenda hiding, he still managed to find her, with a bit of coaxing, but he did great!

There is a big multi-agency training on Sunday and I'm really looking forward to that as well.  It's a bit of a drive, but it will be worth it.

As an addendum to this note, yes I added this later, Storm found some, what we assume was cat poop, and promptly ate it.  I attempted to stop him, and wound up with poop all over my hands.  At the time it was a funny joke, and Storm was being called a poop eater.  See tomorrows blog for the follow up.

Oh!  I got the batteries for my camera today, Finally!  Here is one of the better shots that I took in the house.

Good Morning!

This morning Storm had his follow up appt with the vet for some more puppy shots.  He gained 6 pounds since 2 weeks ago and is growing like a weed!  He did great on his shots, not even a whimper and the vet scheduled his next appt for a month from now.

Tonight, after work, is search and rescue training.  I'll report back later after that on how it went.

More Training..

Today Brenda Richards(VSAR K9 Team Coordinator) and I got together for some one on one training.  We talked a bit about search gear and training logs and Brenda showed me her log and how she keeps her records.  Right now my records are this blog, until I come up with a system I like. 

After our talk we put the dogs to work.  Storm went first doing a quick runaway with great success, then we upped the ante a little bit.  We did a few run and hides with storm. and while he showed a little bit of hesitation, he came through with finding both Brenda and I. 

We then did a more involved search problem for Brendas' dog Blue.  I ran and hid, and when I was in place Brenda let Blue come find me, which she did, successfully.

After some more chit chat, we parted ways and I'm looking forward to more training on Tuesday night after the meeting.

I've been bad...

It's been several days since I have posted anything, let alone pictures, and for that I apologize.  I am eagerly awaiting the batteries and charger that I ordered for my digital camera so I can show you some more quality photos.  In addition it has been a very busy week at work and at home.  I've been shopping around for the required items I need for my search and rescue pack, and I am slowly getting there.  The pack was delivered today, although I was not home when UPS came, so now I have to go to them and pick it up tomorrow, otherwise I would have to wait til Monday! 

I put out a Email to some people on the team to help train Storm on the days and or weeks when we don't actually have team training and a couple of people were gracious enough to offer their time.  There might be training this Sunday, but not entirely sure, I'm hoping that there is. 

I PROMISE that there will be more photos soon.

More Training...

Tonight was training with the whole search and rescue team, and I took storm along.  I was finally able to hand in my application for the team, despite attending training 3 times already.  Tonight we took a short walk in the woods and discussed and started/setup fires and shelters.  I got the feeling that a lot of the people who attended learned quite a bit, I just wish my new pack would arrive to I can stock it and be ready to go!

After training a few of us K9 handlers hung out and did some runaways and or quick search problems.  Storm performed like a champ as usual and didn't even require a toy to come running to find me.  I have to say that he is growing up so fast.  He is probably twice the size of when I picked him up just 2 1/2 short weeks ago.

I am working on getting batteries for my digital camera so that I don't have to upload these crappy cell phone pics anymore, so stay tuned!

COLD!

Not too much new this morning except that it is VERY cold outside.  In the matter of one weekend the weather has turned wicked.  First we got snow on Saturday and then today it's in the 30's.  It was quite the brisk walk this morning and I think both Lola and Storm were in just as much of a hurry as I was to get out of the cold.

More training...

This afternoon I enlisted the help of my nephew, Ari, to help with training Storm.  Sadly I could not train and take pictures at the same time.  However, I can say that storm did awesome as usual, running right to him.  I am astounded by this puppy and still have super high hopes about his future abilities as a SAR dog.

Snow!!

As most of you who read this are aware the north east is getting hit by the first snow storm of the season.  Along with the first snow of the season it is also Storms first snow ever, and I couldn't wait to take him out in it.  I got Storm and Lola on their leashes and headed out.  Storm went nuts over the snow, it was like over stimulation.  He ran around eating every little bit of snow in front of him, then shaking his head when he realized how cold it was.

I walked over to the nearby park where I let Storm and Lola off leash to run around and have a little fun.  Here is the video and some pictures that I took.

Do you see a theme here?

I was going through some old pictures and I found one of my other dog Lola when she was a 6 week old puppy.  Tell me if you see a similarity.

Storm @ 8 weeks

Lola @ 6 weeks

My apologies..

I did not write at all yesterday as I was extremely busy with some paperwork that absolutely had to get done.  Tonight was less than eventful in the Storm world.  We went for our usual walk in the morning and at night.  This morning he got extremely wet due to the rain, and tonight it was pretty cold.  In fact with any luck Storm might see his first snow tomorrow. 

I have noticed that Storm seems to be very litter conscious, in that as we go around on our walks he stops to pick up almost every piece of litter on the ground.  In the city of Allentown that is a lot of stopping and a lot of litter picked up.

Good Morning!

As promised on our walk this morning I managed to get a couple of quick shots of the puppy to try and give you an idea of how he has grown.  I realize that he has only been with me a week and a half but the difference is VERY noticeable.

Potty training...it's no picnic.

So I have Storm set up in the kitchen, the only room that doesn't have carpeting. He is in a play area with a crate, food bowl and a weewee pad.  So he starts of great going right on the pad, after that he then  decides that he will just go anywhere.  So I clean it all up, and right in front of me, before I can put another pad down, he pees on the floor again!  Kind of an "In your face Daddy" kind of thing.  Today I came home from work to find that the pad I had set out was missing.  Now Storm has in the past tugged at it, moved it around, but this was nowhere to be seen.  After a little more investigating it seems that after soiling the pad, Storm decided that he was attached to it and brought the whole darn thing into his crate.  I have NO idea where this behavior came from.  In the meantime until I can do a load of laundry, I am out of towels to pad his crate. 

On another note I cannot believe how big he has gotten in a little over a week, it is truly amazing how fast he is growing.  I tried to get a photo just now, but he is kind of sleeping and totally not cooperating.  As I am about to go to bed, I'm not going to wake him up.  I'll snap one in the AM.

Search and Rescue training day..

Today was search and rescue training day, and a beautiful day it was to go out and get lost in the woods.  For Storm though it was a series of playing and what are called runaways.  Basically a person gets Storms attention, excites him up quite a bit, then runs away while another person holds him.  After about 40 feet the runaway person stops and Storm is let go to go get the person.  Upon going to the person and "finding" him, Storm is rewarded with his favorite toy and oodles of praise. Storm did three runaways and was successful every time and seemed to be having a boatload of fun as well.  Lola came along for the ride and seemed to be enjoying the outdoors quite a bit.

Storm even seemed to make a new friend named Gwynn, an 18 month old lab/great dane mix who towered over him.  What was hysterical though was when Gwynns leash was on the ground, Storm ran over, picked it up, and proceeded to lead Gwynn all around the parking lot.  This video is really more of Storm kind of playing tug of war with Gwynn though.

What we have here is a failure to communicate..

So Storm has a crate that he sleeps in and as a mat in the crate he has a towel that I laid out all nicely on the bottom, that is...until tonight.  Storm is doing his version of the anti establishment movement and is pulling it out of the crate and running it around his play area, despite me putting it back in.  Tomorrow it is off to search and rescue training again, looking forward to it.

Well it is Saturday...

I have officially had Storm for a week now and we are getting to know each other well.  I know I failed last night at blogging but there was really nothing all that new.  I have noticed a little more of an independence from Storm.  When we would go on our daily walks it was always, follow big sister Lola around, now it seems more like he is checking things out on his own.

Today I have to clean out the car, and spiffy it up a bit.  Going around to dealers to look at trading in the Versa and maybe picking up an SUV or truck to hall the dogs around in a crate and or with a bunch of search and rescue supplies.  I don't really have anything in particular in mind, although I do qualify through work for the X-plan at Ford.

More updates later this evening.

Day 6

Nothing really interesting to note today except maybe some potty stories.  I don't want to jinx anything either, BUT, the puppy did not poop in the house today, even on the puppy pad.  He did pee a lot, but he waited until we went on our walk tonight to poop.  Oh...there was one other thing, and try as I may, Storm would not cooperate, and I could not get a photo.  While walking, Storm takes about three inches of his leash and basically walks himself.  It is hysterical to watch, but every time I had him stop to take a photo, he would let it go.

End of day 5..

Got a call from the vet while at work, evidently Storm has worms which require some pills.  I stopped and picked them up on the way home, poor Storm will be on them for the next 10 days.  I took the kids for a walk after I got home and lo and behold, Storm can go down stairs now!  After 2 days he was able to climb, but I was having to carry him down as he would stare in fear and whine while Lola just walked down.  Tonight, no fear, he just walked/ran/semi-fell, down the stairs.  Despite the rain I gave Lola and Storm a bit of freedom to explore on their walk.  Encouraging Storms curiosity will only help him be a better search dog.

I know it has only been 4 days.....but I swear he has gotten bigger.  You can't really see it in the photos but he certainly looks larger to me.

I had a dream..

When I woke up the puppys name came to me.  His name will be Storm.  I wouldn't exactly call him a trouble maker, or mischievous, but Storm, a thing that can cause trouble, you can hear and see them coming, they turn the day black and then light it up with a bright flash.  Yes, I do believe that Storm fits him well, not only in nature but in his coloring.  I tried to think of something rescue related but nothing I came up with seemed to fit at all, Storm just fits.  This picture was taken after the morning walk in the rain and some playtime.

Day 4

Late posting today, was a tad hectic.  Once again the puppy slept through the night, and I had to go to bed early since I was exhausted and the puppy had an 8am vet appointment.  Took Lola and the puppy for a fast walk as I was feeling rushed.  Got to the vet and of course everyone is swooning over the little guy, although I'm getting all sorts of nasty comments that he doesn't have a name yet.  Puppy got his booster and I insisted that he be given his microchip since he will be doing search and rescue training in some unfamiliar places.  The vet said he was amazing when it came to getting his microchip, especially since it's a really big needle.  I got another round of nasty comments about not naming the puppy, after they figured out that they couldn't register the microchip without a name. 

I rushed home afterwards having to be at work.  Put the puppy in his play area, fed him, put down a new puppy pad, and got ready for work and ran out the door.  I rushed like hell to get to work by 10, only to realize when I got there that I didn't have to be there til 10:30.  I was so sad that I had missed playing with my new puppy for an extra half an hour. 

After work I came home to find my Lola and puppy waiting for me anxiously, not that they really could have gone anywhere, and immediately took them out for a walk.  Play time is currently going on while I type this.  Look!  I can multitask!  I'm trying to tire him out as much as I can so that he will once again sleep through the night.

Day 3

::Yawn:: yet another night of peaceful sleep.  I really hope I don't jinx this, but the puppy didn't howl or cry all night and I actually slept!  Woke up before the alarm and as soon as the light came on the puppy was up and raring to go.  Got all dressed and took Lola and the puppy out for a walk.  I went out the back door like I usually do and was greeted by a roughly 60lb white pitbull.  I immediately grabbed the puppy as the pitbull seemed interested in Lola and for the moment was non-aggressive.  I went back to the door, opened it, then called Lola.  The pitbull followed her all the way to the door, but I was able to keep him out.  The walk continued out front door today with both Lola and puppy on leash.

We walked for a couple of block and the puppy did really well.  I'm sure that he wasn't really happy being on the leash, but he was happy to follow his older sister around and that was all that mattered.  I was VERY impressed when the puppy came to a high curb and didn't balk one bit.  In fact the puppy hunch down and leapt into the alley with no fear, although an awkward landing.  In addition when we got home, the puppy was able to climb the 4-5 steps leading up to the front door, I am a very proud daddy.  Once inside playtime began, Trying to get in as much as possible before I have to leave for work.  For all of you without puppies, but with children, having to leave them when they are young to go to work feels the same, and I am not happy about it.

Just got a call from the Vet (Macungie Animal Hospital), puppy has an appointment tomorrow morning to get his follow up shots and his microchip.  I'll definitely feel better once he gets that taken care of.

Day 2....

The puppy took a long trip in the car today, and did pretty well.  He went and met the Search and Rescue team at a training.  The puppy got plenty of attention from members and their children who were there.  It was nice to meet everyone and I look forward to the day when the puppy will be able to venture out and save lives himself.  Here are some more pictures of the puppy, I am going to try and blog and photo every day.

First night at home

After taking the puppy to meet the family, where he was played with extensively by two nephews.  Then driving to a friends house to pick up a crate and play area the puppy came home.  It was about 4:30 in the afternoon and I setup the play area, put the crate inside and lined it with a towel.  I put a bowl with food and water, laid out some paper for the inevitable and put the new toys inside.  I then put the puppy in the play area, tossing his squeaky tennis ball into the tent to try and get him used to the crate and he surprised me by immediately climbing in and going to sleep.  He was out for about 3 hours before waking up, about the same time that I woke up from being passed out in front of the TV on the couch.  I played with him some more, took him to see the family again before they left town, and then put him back in the crate.  I was totally expecting a night of howling and whining as with my previous pet, however I got almost none of that.  I heard him cry for about 3 minutes around 3 am, but then he just drank some water and crawled back into the crate and went back to sleep until I got him up around 7am.

Puppys car ride home

As I was driving home from the shelter I decided that the world needed to see my new boy, and I snapped this photo of him sitting in the car seat.

The search continues...

Since I had decided to bite the bullet and get yet another puppy I decided that I was going to try and train a Search and Rescue dog again.  I started reading the books I had purchased back when I was interested in getting Lola into Search and Rescue and continued looking for a puppy.  I caught a break from my several time a day looking on Petfinder.com and found that the local shelter had just come by a litter of puppies that was going to be up for adoption at the local Petsmart.  I immediately contacted the person, and filled out the adoption application.  I was told that the puppies would be at the store at 9am on Saturday.  I contacted Brenda Richards with Valley Search and Rescue and she was gracious enough to come to the adoption day with me to evaluate a puppy for Search and Rescue.  The store was a mob scene!  Evidentaly I was not the only person looking for a puppy and out of the 11 that were there to start with, by the time Brenda and I contacted each other there were perhaps 7 left.  One by one we pulled prospective candidates out of the litter to evaluate them.  Certain ones didn't make the cut right off the bat just from watching them.  The first puppy lacked any kind of interest in playing with a toy at all, a very important, and similar problem that Lola had.  This puppy was put back to be adopted by another person.  The 2nd puppy, a boy, was just....well...amazing!  This puppy went for the toy like it was the only thing in the world and with a little coaxing, even retrieved, and at 8 weeks old!  Not to just take the first potential candidate we took one of his sisters to test her potential.  It took her a little to warm up, but she did, and showed interest in the toy proving that she could be a viable candidate, however would likely take more work than her brother.  Relying on Brendas' experience, I asked her point blank if she would take the boy puppy to train as a Search and Rescue dog, to which she said to me something along the lines of, she would not hesitate this puppy to train as a Search and Rescue dog.  As such the little girl was put back, and I adopted her brother.  It's at this point that the story gets a tad odd, was I meant to have this puppy?  Was it fate we crossed each others paths?  While going through the paperwork the shelter has to name the puppies to keep them straight with vaccines and the like.  This puppys name was Mark.  Mark happens to be my fathers name.  In addition, the puppys birthday is estimated to be on or about August 12.  My fathers Birthday is August 11th.  I know you are saying to yourself, what the heck kind of name is Mark for a puppy?  Well I agree, and I will change it as soon as I find something that suits this little guy.  In the meantime I am just calling him puppy.  

The search begins....

Back when I adopted Lola, I was able to walk in to the pound, fill out some paperwork, pay a fee, and Voila! you are now a dog owner.  The same was true I adopted Xander and when my roommate Leanne and I also adopted Quinn.  Evidentaly things have changed DRASTICALY!  When looking for a pet on PETFINDER.COM, I was confronted with pages of applications, fees upwards of $400, and home visits?  While I am a dog lover and I can appreciate having to screen applicants, and wanting the pets to go to a good home, this was quite a shock.  After having 2 puppies from 6 weeks, and one at 6 months, I swore I would never get another puppy.  I started looking for a Lab, at least 2 years old, within 100 miles.  Needless to say there wasn't much to look at.  I even spent several days driving around to the local shelters only to see pitbull upon pitbull.  After going to the shelters and even walking some potential dogs I decided that, despite my previous experiences, the only way to train a dog the way I wanted, was to start from scratch, from a puppy. 

The Back Story

Most of my life I was always curious about wanting a dog.  My parents told me that I had one when I was a baby, but growing up I never had one.  I had cats, turtles, hamsters, guinea pigs, everything but a dog.  When I moved to California in 1998 I started out in an apartment where I still was denied a dog.  In 2003, the company I was working for decided to close my office, which required me to relocate.  This was my opportunity!  I went out and bought a house, and that same week, I went to the pound and rescued a dog.  Lola was an experience from the beginning, and I can honestly tell you I was TOTALLY unprepared.  From confining her in an area where she proceeded to destroy the walls, to keeping me up all night crying and whining, to pooping in her crate, which was obviously too big for her, it was a total learning experience.  In the past I had been in a Search and Rescue team, but not as a K9 handler, and I was very interested in seeing if Lola had what it took, sadly she did not.  It has been 2 years since Lola was separated from her 2 brothers in California and I decided it was time to get her a brother or sister.