Photo Friday

I am super excited!! My hubby had a moment to breath and got out his dome diffuser for his "fancy camera" and I have been having a blast taking photos of Kolby. You know how hard it is to take photos of a black dog? You know how many shadows come alive resulting in zero image of the dog's expressions? Without a dome diffuser, it is nearly impossible.

I will warn you, I might have gotten a tad bit trigger happy and took a million pictures today. I felt like I had to catch up before he out-grew this adorable baby stage.

ENJOY Kolby at 9 weeks, 2 days.

No Fear Kolby

We had our first puppy class with Kolby this evening. Two Directors from CCI home office are in town and came to visit all the classes. It was a great evening for Kolby to show-off all of his goodness and impress his bosses!

We sat in our circle and opened with Q&A like we do every class, and then we set out to experience the room with Kolby. Similar to an Agility ring we have obstacles set up for the pups to experience and work on. A hanging circle tube for the pups to go through, varied heights of platforms for the pups to do Ups, Unders, and Jumps, a swimming pool filled with plastic bottles (it changes throughout the year), a skinny bridge, and much more.

My favorite moment came when Kolby was half way around the room and came to a ladder made from PVC pipes. There were two of them, and our Trainer laid them flat to the ground so that the two ladders were side by side creating squares from the rungs - squares on the left and right. The pup was to step in each square as they stepped over the rungs of the pvc "ladder".

I hope that makes sense. Think of the pro-football players warm-up routine where they are jumping the rungs of the ladder laying flat to the ground.

I bent over and got the kibble lure ready to take Kolby into each square, and he immediately stepped on the PVC pipe that ran in the middle of the obstacle. The actual pipe, not the floor, but the skinny pipe of PVC. He continued to walk the pipe the entire distance (about the length of a good sized couch) without missing a step, without getting scared, without falling off. He wasn't too slow, he had confidence, and he was determined to keep going.

The trainer was shocked, called to the Directors on the other side of the room to check out Kolby. It was so fun!! He strutted off the PVC at the end for his treat as if he knew exactly what he was doing!!

Every obstacle he didn't hesitate to try it out - and he succeeded in every challenge.

I love our first pup Haddie, LOVE HER!!!, but she was no where near the confidence level that Kolby shows. I have tried so hard not to compare the two dogs, but I just need to say it here that working a dog that has total confidence is completely different than working a dog that needs to be encouraged. I am very thankful for the differences. I wouldn't trade Haddie's learning style for anything, and I wouldn't do the same for Kolby.

I feel like I can love Haddie for all that she gave us in learning, and I can love Kolby in an entirely different way for all the experiences he will provide us in learning too. I don't feel like my two pups will cross into that gray area where I feel like I've "been here, done this before" or that I will expect certain things from Kolby because of Haddie. It is exactly as it should be. Opposite. Unique. Independent. So Happy!!!

So - Mister Kolby, well done at impressing all the right leaders of CCI tonight. You were a rock star and your little heart was pounding so fast with excitement when the class was over. You seemed to really enjoy your moment of learning. Nice work. Goodnight Puppy. 

Mommy and Daddy

I don't want to get to far into puppy raising Kolby and forget to post these pictures of his Mommy and Daddy. His parents are so beautiful and handsome!!

 I learned through our Trainer that Kolby's great-grandpa was part of Guide Dogs and helped start a new line of pups for CCI, and Kolby's grandpa was a rock-star in our Chapter. I think Kolby's genealogy is exciting to learn about; and I am so curious if his parents loved to sit as much as this pup does (makes me smile).

Mommy Kanga

Daddy Luca

Favorite picture of Baby Kolby

Don't they look like such a happy puppy-family?!

i. heart. kolby.

This little guy is just too adorable. My first day without having to share him. My kiddos went off to school, my hubby had to go into work versus working from home, and this young mister was all mine. Until I had to pick up the kids, bring them home, and teach piano lessons.

I got a text from my girl during her lunch period. It read, "Bring my boy to pickup??"

Today in a nutshell was all about bringing out the best in Kolby. We walked a little on the leash. I put his confidence in wanting to get "up" on the ottoman into a positive by working on the command "UP"... followed by the command "OFF". I watched him sleep and took photos. I kissed him a lot and snuggled too. I continued working on the "HERE" command. I let him run crazy in the side yard. I continued reinforcing his amazing eye contact, and his favorite thing ever ... Sit.

I watched him sleep. I watched him sleep. I watched him sleep.

i. heart. kolby.

Kolby gets a bath

Today was the day that Kolby needed a bath. We exchanged his airplane and kennel smell with a fresh scent of Green Apple Kiwi Puppy Shampoo. Ooohhh, he smells so cozy.

I never knew that a bath could wear out a puppy so quickly. He took his longest midday nap in his kennel for the first time while drying off; a record 2 hours, as opposed to 20 minute stints with wake time of crying, whimpering, and barking.

Maybe he was trying to tell us all along that he just wanted to get cleaned up!

Kolby was a rock star in his bath; even beating out Cora's attitude about her first bath experience with us and she was a retired Beauty Queen on the National Circuit of Champions. Way to go, Kolby!!

He sat. He stood. He didn't whimper, try to shake, or try to get out. He even voluntarily dunked his head straight into the stream of water when it first turned on - and he didn't even care.

I am crossing my fingers he continues this amazing attitude when we graduate to the tub and then to the shower. You can do it, Kolby!!

And if we find a clear lake around here this summer - it is all yours, Kolby!! I have a feeling you enjoy water.

Tomorrow I will work on cleaning his teeth. One day at a time and this pup will be squeaky clean.

Cora & Kolby

(Blogger is not cooperating, so the photos will remain stuck at the top of this post. Not my intended style.)

I woke at 2:45am this morning shocked that I had yet to hear Kolby in the middle of the night. I had put him to bed at 10pm, and based on how he had reacted to his kennel during the day, I thought for sure we'd hear him by midnight. I distinctly remember thinking, "Oh please, oh please don't let this thought be a jinx."

Sure enough fifteen minutes later I heard Kolby singing. Thankfully our family is on the same page and nobody got up, or complained from their rooms of the crying puppy. We all just continued to ignore (as directed by our Trainer) and eventually Kolby found a way to get himself back to his happy place.

When I woke to get him up for the day, he was still sleeping and had zero accidents in his kennel. Night One was great!

He is still pretty exhausted as his playtime moments are few and far between. He is drinking and using the bathroom outside with outstanding success, but he has little interest in eating when served. We are using his kibble to treat him for the little bits of training we are sprinkling into his awake hours to help fill in the gap of his light interest in food.

We are focusing on his Name and reinforcing Sit which he learned at Becky's. And, when he looks into our eyes on his own doing - we mark it with a Yes and give him a treat. While I would love him to devour his food at each serving, I am not worried that he is not getting enough food. I am sure he is still a little under the emotional weather from the big change to his environment.

We decided to introduce our pet Beagle, Cora, to Kolby sooner than we did with Haddie. Partly because I now know that Cora is a gem when it comes to another dog sharing her home, and partly because I was less interested this time around in going through the hoops of rotating the dog's out of their kennel and through the house.

Wow, what a difference in meeting Kolby than meeting Haddie. Each prior puppy will help us with the current puppy, so for that - thank you, Haddie, for teaching us so much!!

Kolby started off in his kennel in the kitchen while Cora had free reign of the house. At first Kolby was quiet when Cora investigated his kennel, but made noise when she walked away. Cora ignored his banter. Nice work, Cora.

When he was silent, I let him out of his kennel and the two sniffed each other and then Kolby sat down and Cora stared at him. It was actually very uneventful. I think Cora was waiting for Kolby to pounce on her like Haddie had done. I am glad that that did not happen. They both got off to the right start, it seems to be a great match in personalities.

Today Kolby's mellowness matches Cora's and they both seem happy. Cora will continue to play a key role in helping us raise Kolby for CCI and his forever family. Thanks, Cora!!

Kolby's Arrival

We arrived at Alaska Air Cargo two minutes before the scheduled landing of his plane; or so we thought. We walked into the lobby and were greeted with our Volunteer Welcome Waggin' with the words of, "Do you hear your baby?" Barks and whimpers were coming from behind the windowed door to the warehouse section of Air Cargo.

Once the paperwork was complete, they wheeled out his kennel and we all fell in love. He is simply adorable. His fluffy face was all pushed forward with his deep brown eyes giving us the plead to let him out, now!

We snuggled for a bit and then it was time for the bathroom where he immediately went. Thank you, Kolby! More snuggles and pictures were taken before we left for home.

I asked my parents to join me in Kolby's pickup. I am so glad that they were free and said yes. It was not a hard sell. My husband has had a whirlwind of a week at work attending off-site meetings, which meant that today was his catch-up day that he could not afford to miss any minutes of. And my children had already missed three days of school (which took more than three days to make-up) just weeks ago in order to travel to California for Haddie's Turn-In. Missing another day, no matter how exciting this day was, was not going to happen. Thankfully, they understood without much protesting.

Luckily our school district has half-day Fridays, so I only had two hours alone with Kolby before we went to get the kids. He explored the house for a few minutes, watered and bathroomed, and then he was ready for a nap. We snuggled, of course. It was very relaxing.

My daughter is released first from school, so Kolby and I parked in the lot and waited for her to come to us. She brought two friends - it was fun for her to show off Kolby. And then she held him for the ride to pickup her brother. There is a 45 minute delay between letting out the two schools, so she had some quality time with Kolby. He slept most of it under the warmth of the sunshine that came out to welcome him home.

When my son came out, he was followed by two of his teachers, and my very dear friend! It was a nice surprise that she was working as a Guest Teacher at his school today, and learned that Kolby would be at the car waiting for my son. It was nice for my son to feel the support and interest of his teachers, and especially exciting to see our sweet friend.

The rest of the evening was another visit from my parents with the routine of playtime and sleep time for Kolby. I will say that our adrenaline kept us going until dinner time. And now we are running low on energy. I am hoping that Kolby sleeps well all-night-long.

His sleep pattern today has been very interrupted, causing him to sleep in short spurts. He was vocal in the beginning about his kennel, but is learning (and will continue to learn) his own way to soothe himself and put himself back to sleep. I know that this will pass, and so I am not too concerned. I also know that when it does pass, it means the little guy has gotten bigger, and I know I want that part to go slowly.

At this stage in Kolby's life he enjoys a good cuddle, and lots of love. He walks with a tumble to his step as he continues to understand his coordination. He has a playful streak - enjoying chew toys that he can enjoy laying down, before he gets up to move three steps, only to lay back down again. His eyes melt me, truly the soft Golden Retriever in him. He loves his kennel stuffed with fluffy blankets, and a sweet puppy-proof soft wooly lamb toy that my daughter named Kanga after Kolby's mom.

The first day has been perfect. Kolby's Arrival - simply the best!

**Any picture where Kolby's eyes are closed was the result of him sleeping, not of him blinking. Obviously it was a long adventurous day for Kolby as most of our pictures show his eyes closed. (not all of them were posted here). Too cute.