Play day

Here are the three puppies getting ready to play. Jane has Ivory on the right, Rob center has Irma, and Katie has Iynan. The puppies had a marvelous time.

Today Ivory and his siblings went for their final set of shots. This means Ivory can now be walked in dog parks. This is great news for him, also for Molly and George. That means they don’t have to be his number one source of entertainment.

It was interesting to see  all of Ivory’s Edmonton  siblings at the vet today. Three live in the Red Deer area. We noticed that the puppies that are living at Dogs with Wings seem better behaved. Must be all the professional training.

After our shots we went to a pet store  to buy  yet more treats. The puppies in the pet store went crazy went when Ivory strolled by choosing treats. They must have wondered why they were stuck behind a glass window and didn’t have free run of the store. Those are the perks of being an assistance dog in training.

Ivory has another play date arranged with Irma and Iynan this week. George is going to teach them how to fetch a frisbee. Should be interesting

Family Photo ♥

Here’s a group shot of everyone at puppy school on Friday. Macy, Ivory’s mum, is on the far left with Cheryl, and then Iynan with Judy, Irma with Susan, and Ivory and I. Notice the resemblance between Ivory and his mum?

After puppy class, Ivory went up to River Ridge Senior Community to enjoy an art show. He listened to music, looked at the art and was given lots of attention from the residents and their families.

On Sunday, we are looking forward to having a play date with Iynan and Irma at our house. Expect lots overwhelmingly cute pictures! Molly and George are prepping themselves for the occasion. Bridgette is planning on taking a very long walk tomorrow.

Miso Hungry

After a delicious lunch of puppy chow today Ivory decided to top it off with a couple of licks of wasabi. He actually enjoyed it! George and Molly do not like wasabi. Ivory’s palate must be more refined.

George is starting to play with Ivory. This is a huge break through. That means we may actually have some down time around here. Unless Ivory has had a busy day he turns into the puppy from hell in the evening. Lots of tearing around the house and mass destruction. Last night was a bit hellish!

Ivory obseved his two minutes of silence yesterday at the St.Albert Cenotaph. The crowd and bagpipes did not faze him.

Ivory will have some homework this afternoon. Tomorrow is puppy school. We are working on walking on leash with Molly and George near by. This is a toughy for him. As he only wants to be with them.

Ivory with his life coaches

Ivory gets a lot of advice from the senior dogs in the household. Molly has taught him how to horde toys and George is teaching him how to play. Ivory is trying really hard to fit in. You will notice in the picture that Ivory is sitting just like George. We found today that Ivory now weighs thirty pounds. Not bad, that is eleven pounds since he moved in with us. Tomorrow Ivory will be attending The Rememberance Day Ceremonies in St. Albert. Molly and George will be accompanying him .

Busy Monday

Ivory visited Safeway,The Post Office, The Bank, River Ridge Seniors Community, Gordon Price Music, and his favourite place The Urban Dog!

Ivory did not ride the Safeway cart today. He actually walked around the store helping us get ice cream for Rob. The residents of Memory Lane at the Seniors home love Ivory. Granny fed him some gingersnaps.

At the music store Ivory got so excited that he had to pee (twice) much to Ann and Katie’s chagrin. However, Jane did manage to get some nice music.

The Urban Dog was very exciting. We walked out of there with 3 squeakie toys. Ivory now owns a squeaking Bok Choy that Molly ( the 11 year old Golden covets). She kept trying to steal it from him!

Over all  another exciting day for Ivory.

A Visit to the Library

Ivory Goes to School and almost kills Katie

Ivory started out his day by peeing and having poor unsuspecting Katie slip in it while making her breakfast. Katie cracked her head on the counter on her way down. Ivory tried to give mouth to mouth, however, Katie was able to make it with out his assistance. After all he is an assistance dog.

After that big adventure Ivory visited Vital Grandin School. He went out on play ground  supervision and became a kid magnet. He quite enjoyed all the tasty little hands and faces.

Later on he showed a Grade 5/6 class how well trained he was by following my yips around the classroom.

The perfect ending to his day was a visit to the pre-school he was a huge hit. Next on today’s agenda a trip to the grocery store.

Exhaustion Sets In

Today found a much quieter puppy after yesterday’s intense play. We were relieved! I found some more photographic evidence of yesterdays shenanigans. note how Bridget the cat is taking the mayhem in her stride.

More News

Ivory and Irma have now entered their sixth hour of play! I am pretty sure tomorrow will be a quiet day around here. Keep you posted!

Hello Everyone!

This is our first puppy blog (and probably not the last).

We’ve started this so that we can share experiences raising an assistance dog from Dogs with Wings. This way we can put up pictures and keep everyone updated on Ivory’s day to day adventures!

Ivory, our yellow lab/golden retriever cross, has been with us for two weeks now. Over these two weeks he has integrated into our family life, and with some resistance, into Molly and George’s too (our respectively 11 and 8 year old retrievers). Although they still have some warming up to do, there is a visible potential for a new member of their clan

We realized today that ivory is the eighth golden to be apart of our family, except this time he’s coming to the hairdresser, the movie theater and Safeway.

So far, Ivory has visited:

-Safeway

-Super Store

-Save On

-Sobeys

-Sephora

-River Ridge Seniors community

-Sears

-Chapters

-St. Albert public library

-Servus Place

-Holes (just in time for the pumpkins)

-University of Alberta

Just to name a few!

Of course we are always armed with our camera, and a bulk of paper towels.

Today, we are having our second playdate with Irma, Ivory’s sister. Unsurprisingly, the action has been non-stop. After 5 hours of consistent and excited playing, we have managed to seperate them and gotten to sleep. The two of them together gives us a good idea of what it was like before the puppies were given to their homes, and how much energy they really possess!

Here’s some photos of Ivory’s adventures so far!