Working-K9: Sandis' Blogs

Saturday, January 21, 2012
Dropped a bomb

With the start of this new year I decided that I really need to get back to blogging. I enjoy it and I think my readers do as well. Last year was just a rough year for my human and I alike. Not saying that it was all bad, rather just difficult for the most part for us both health and time wise. We both now have more complex health issues which forced us both to cut back on working which may finances a real stress.

This year my human is working again, a little. She enjoys what she's doing but it does take a toll on her. I'm still pretty much retired. Even with my new pain medication (ya that's right. I'm a drugged pooch! Hee hee) I still don't go out much. I'd like to go out more but every time I do I tend to do to much then hurt real bad and cant move well later in the day and evening. My human keeps talking to me about knowing my limits and not over-doing it, bla bla bla.. I don't listen so well and I admit it.

What was my topic this time??? Oh right.. Ok so with this new year and new pills and new puppy; we'll discuss that later. My human decided that I may need a better quality dog food. She may have a point there. She's been researching a lot on nutrition and stuff and has been supplementing my diet and trying small amounts of different food. All of which I find totally yummy! Now I can eat just about anything. I'm a four legged garbage disposal; it's the digestion part that gets me in to trouble. I get gassy. I get very gassy.

So for most of the month of January and on a daily basis I have managed to clear the room of people. It's like a new found super-power. Ok, so it's nothing special, lots of dogs can really stink up the place but it's unusual for me to do it, especially this frequently. Still I must admit I do enjoy laying under my humans feet and quietly letting one rip followed by “Sandi did you fart, again?” then the human gets up and leaves the room flipping a fan on to help ventilate the noxious fumes from the space.

Friday, August 26, 2011
My 3 seconds of TV fame

Ya I know I've been away far too long. Gonna try and do a little catching up with you all just as soon as I can. I do have valid reasons for going silent for so long, most are health related and that's about all I'm going to say on that matter for now.

To start off I'm on TV!! Ok, well. I WAS on TV!!! Ok so only for a few seconds but still, it's TV!! Best of all, it was a major program on TV!! Ya, I know the suspense is just killing you, I can tell, and the longer I drag this out the more it just eats away at you. My orneriness has not waivered as you can tell.

Yes I was on 60 minutes!! The TV program, yes really.

The story wasn't about dogs, crippled folks, or even service animals. So you are wondering any was I on the show aren't you. Well I just happen to be in the right place at the right time and then some video editor decided to use just the perfect few seconds of footage. Yes total and complete dumb luck. Gotta love it!!

The show was about movie piracy and all those people who record movies as soon as they hit the theaters and then sell bootleg copies of usually low quality not worth watching copies of the new movie. I've seen a bootleg copy, they really do suck. Don't know why people don't just by the real DVDs when they come out, they are much better and have all kinds of fun extras.

Ok getting sidetracked. Anywho. My human and I were at the premiere of Wolverine in Tempe Arizona back in '09. As you may recall we got our photo taken with Hugh Jackman and naturally I licked his had as he hugged my human. It was the time of our lives! What a rush!

So now all this time later 60 Minutes is doing this story and brings up the Wolverine movie and premiere because it was a very pirated movie. Well in the story, while talking about the premiere event they used footage of the crowd at just the right time and there I am! Oh ya my human is seen too, but mostly it's me!!

Here is a link to the episode, the Wolverine but is towards the end. Enjoy and don't blink!

Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Teachers Pet

Sorry it's been so long since I blogged last. I've been adjusting to a new lifestyle and career. It's been an interesting transition to say the least. First off, as you know, I have a new little sister named Isis. She's been quite the paw full I tell you.

Then my Valley Fever condition has not improved so I've been tiring quickly and just not wanting to work much. Granted I still love going out with my human but when we do venture out together she still expects me to do stuff. Can you believe it? Since my get-up-and-go got-up-and-left I just rather hang out with my human and let people pet me and tell me how beautiful I am. My human says that's not enough, if I still want to go out and be adored by the masses I still have to go a little work as a Service Dog.

Since Isis isn't ready to fill my vest yet my human tries to keep out trips short and the work load easy for me. Isis is slowly learning to pick up the slack and making progress, thankfully.

In the mean time I've been delegated the primary job of demonstration dog. Yes that's a new job title. A new job for my human and I both in fact. You see she's now teaching classes about training service dogs. Everyone in the class is disabled in one way or another; we do have quite the spectrum, and has a dog they wish to train. Most the dogs are rescues from local shelters too!

So my human explains the commands, the behaviors, the laws, and etiquette while I provide the functioning example. We make a great team and are almost ready to graduate our first class. The whole program takes 6-8 months to complete. My human wants to make sure these new teams are shining examples of what Service Dog and Handler Teams should be.

Monday, January 24, 2011
She's got rocks

My little underling, Isis, is a strange dog. Granted all puppies are strange, each tend to have their own little personality quirks. It's part of their charm, or so I'm told. Most just do normal puppy stuff however. They steal shoes, chew up pillows, pee in the corner, or dig holes in the yard.

Ok so Isis does some typical puppy stuff, the digging at least, and she will occasionally steal stuff to chew on but her main quirk is her fascination with rocks. Not the ordinary little rocks that make up most of my humans landscape either. Though in a pinch she will bring them inside too, she really prefers the big smooth river type rocks.

I'm not sure why we have so many large smooth stones buried in the RV area of the back yard but apparently we have lots and Isis loves them. She'll dig them up, lick them clean and shiny then bring them indoors. Many end up adorning the interior of her kennel, others she places strategically around the house making sure they are in the most inconvenient place possible for my human.

Now these rocks aren't just pretty, cleaned and smooth; many are also quite large. Very large. So large they are hard for Isis to grip and carry in her rather large mouth. Needless to say many get dropped as she's currying them from room to room and the clank clank clank sound they make as they bounce and skid across the tile always makes me flinch a little. Someday she's gonna break one of the tiles, I just know it.

Now my human has tried to break her of this little obsession to no avail. The nylabones, kong and various other toys hold little interest to Isis. She likes her rocks. She's even recently brought in a chunk of cement that was once a paving stone in my humans little sidewalk in the backyard.

So it's become a daily ritual around here. Each night my human tosses out most of the rocks and cement chunk, each morning Isis starts bringing them all back in one at a time. At least it keeps her busy for awhile.