Hey guys! So, since all of the important members of the club
(namely, the pups) will be back on campus in one week, here’s a back to school
update just for you!
Our two
active pups are still enjoying their last few weeks of summer vacation off with
their fosters, Emmy with Mary:
And Zorn with Kat (Hey guys, that’s me!)
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| I have no good pictures of Zorn and I, so my fluffy pup will do. FOSTER BROS! |
Emmy’s
growing like a weed. Her ears are already starting to point (they weren’t at
all this time last week!), and I swear she’s gotten bigger in just the few weeks
since we officially made her a Viking Pup. She’s going to tower over the rest
of our dogs, and that isn’t the only difference we’re going to see with our
German Shepherd baby. German Shepherds come with a whole package of personality differences from Labs and Goldens, our past
service babies. For one, they’re born ten times more vocal. When this baby is
upset, she lets you KNOW. For two, they have an insanely high drive, constantly on the go and pushing to do new
things and exploring and soooo much energy. Emmy’s foster mom will tell you,
this baby keeps her on her feet.
Emmy is
already showing off her smarts to the Viking Pups handlers, in good ways (like
learning in a week how to alert to the door to go outside, retrieving objects
that a mobility dog will be needed to retrieve, and exploring on her own while
still keeping an eye on mom) and in troublesome (finding the perfect place in
her foster’s house to hide so nobody can grab her, pulling electrical wires out
of their sockets, and finding holes in fences). Fortunately whether these
smarts get her in trouble or show off her talents, all of them show off her incredible potential to be an amazing
service dog! Her foster mom (who’s the President, so I’d say she knows what
she’s doing) has in a week had her picked for a mobility dog (an intense kind
of work), and we’re all super excited to have another one in the program!
Lil man
Zorn is loving his last few weeks of break with his end-of-the-summer-foster Kat,
while still training his butt off! Zorn is less than a month away from hitting
one year old, and boy does he look it:
Though
we’re glad he decided to keep the wrinkles.
Zorn’s
working hard on so many tasks it’s unbelievable! Open, close, tug, take it,
medicine, phone, nudge, rise up, hold, lights… Speaking as his foster, his
training almost makes ME dizzy.
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| Zorn knocked himself out. |
In addition to all of the tasks he’s working on mastering, the not-so-lil man is hard at work developing good habits for the future during his fear period- Zorn man’s going through a time in his life when for absolutely no reason at all, he will develop an irrational fear of something that has never bothered him before. For instance, doorbells, squeaky hinges, barking, cicadas, and footsteps, to name a few of Zorn’s current triggers. He spends ages every day listening to these sounds (thank you, YouTube) and getting treats to turn his ‘negative’ experience into a positive one. This method of training is not only effective, but produces some interesting side effects- like Zorn coming faster to ‘good quiet’ than to ‘come’ (though he responds to both, ha ha) and some serious drooling whenever he hears a dog barking.
On a
personal note, we’d like to notify everyone that this handsome boy is
officially off the market. Sorry girls, he’s met the one.
Meet Amy,
Zorn’s true love.
They share
everything together.
Treats.
His
waterbowl.
Even Zorn’s
special pillow (dubbed his ‘woobie’ by his foster grandma).
(Just so
you know, even Zorn’s moms aren’t allowed to touch this pillow. He will nose
our hands away)
Amy and
Zorn have been together for twelve days now. Though Zorn can be a bit rough in
pillow, he never fails to get Amy checked out by her personal physician (me)
whenever she squeaks in pain. He has begun to take precautions by carrying her
around by her ears, instead of by her sensitive belly. Amy and Zorn look
forward to a long and happy life together, despite the seven-odd holes that
have already mysteriously appeared on Amy’s head.
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| They'll be very happy together! |
And on a
final active puppies note, I would like to introduce WESTIE!
Westie is
the next puppy entering our program, and will be enjoying the good life with
his new foster sister Emmy in one week when he officially becomes a Viking Pup!
Westie is a Golden Retriever donated by the oh so fabulous Christina Clark of
Iron Hill Retrievers, and is the first Golden to enter our program since Oden
and Tucker. We’re excited to have you, Westie!
Placed Puppies Updates!
So these are going to be the last updates on all of our
placed babies for a while unless something comes up in their life or mine (like
writer’s block) that warrants talking about them! So say your goodbyes to Cami,
Bo, and Oden, because IF I HAD TO SO DO YOU. We’ll miss them on the blog!
Bobo
graduated college only to go back to high school with his girl Juls! They
started high school on week ago and it looks like they’ll do just fine.
Bo even got his own school ID!
Cami starts
at HER new school soon too! Cami is officially at her new and forever home. Her new handler (who just so happens to be named Kamie herself, how cute is that) is so excited to bring Cami into her life and to the lives of the students at Smart Intermediate School. These guys wanted Cami so bad they raised the money for her in one night- you can tell how happy we are with her placement.
Thanks for the beautiful pictures once again, Lisa! You’re
amazing!
Oden is being very well loved (and clearly very well embarrassed)
by his new family.
Though let’s be honest, he didn’t have much dignity to begin
with.
We love all of you and miss you! These are wonderful
happily-ever-afters for all of you, and we hope all of our currents babies get
to share placements as great as yours!
A special thanks to:
QCCAN
The Quad Cities Canine Assistant Network is the non-profit organization that makes our program possible. As sister organizations QCCAN is an integral part of the Viking Pups mission, helping us with training, putting us in contact with clients, and most importantly, training service dogs and reaching more people who need the dogs to live better lives.
Christina Clark, our fabulous breeder and owner of Iron Hill Retrievers. All of our Labrador Retrievers and Golden Retrievers have been donated by Christina and they are all spectacular, with wonderful temperaments and absolutely GREAT looks.
A huge thank you to the Huerta Hof family for donating our German Shepherd girl Emmy! Team Huerta Hof breeds gorgeous German Shepherds, and their dogs are found everywhere, from family homes to the Schutzhund field. We're sure Emmy will be a huge success!
A huge shoutout to Compassionate Care Veterinary Clinic, who takes care of our pups at a discounted rate.
And last but not least:
Thanks for taking all of your beautiful pictures, Lisa! They're amazing, and you show off our pups so much better than our grainy phone pictures! You're incredibly talented and deserve every bit of business you get!
To learn more / keep up to date about Viking Pups:
