National Night Out

The Guide Dogs of Texas sponsored a neighborhood gathering at their headquarters in San Antonio last week. Their participation was part of a nationwide event called National Night Out. Below are some photos of the event. There were free items donated by Aetna and HEB donated a grill which was raffled. The proceeds of the raffle went to the local school library.

Ernie Landy, Volunteer Coordinator, stands by the display board that he created to explain the work of Guide Dogs of Texas.

Ernie and volunteer Wes Reimer grill hot dogs for attendees. Q 101.9 provided music for the event.

Puppy Raiser Mary Reimer and Mason were on hand to greet people. The blood mobile was available for those who wanted to donate blood. Donations are always low during the summer months.

Sarah Mumme, Apprentice Guide Dog Mobility Instructor, staying cool as she staffs the table to fingerprint and photograph children.

Sandy Merrill, Director of Training, prepares to donate blood.

Local children participated in sack races cheered on by Larry Gelvin, Puppy Raiser Supervisor.

The adults had their turn at the sack races. Though a bit less graceful than the children they still had fun and we enjoyed watching them.

Firefighters came with their truck but had to leave shortly afterwards to go on a call. A local policeman and Judge Karen Crouch also came to participate in the activities. It was a great night out for neighbors to get to know their neighbors and have a fun time together.

A New Friend

Mason has a new friend. She is an 8 year old beagle named Augusta. (Her last name is National, so guess what her owners like to do.) She lives in the neighborhood and came to visit last week, with her owner Martha.

Mason, being a puppy, is much more exuberant in his play.

Augusta plays for awhile and then says it's time to take a break.
Mason literally runs circles around her trying to entice her to play some more, but Augusta is done playing and ready just to go and explore the yard.

"Hey, Augusta. Whatever you had for breakfast sure smells good."

Our Growing Boy

So, what's Mason been up to lately? Well, he's been growing. Here are two pictures of Mason with the same toy guide dog puppy. In the left he is almost 3 months old and on the right he is 6 months old.

Mason now weighs 39 pounds. That's only 1 pound less than his mother and 6 pounds less than his father. He was born to Amelia and Mudgee of Dixie's Doodles near Austin, Texas on January 27th, 2007.

We think Mason looks more like his mom (top) although both are very good looking doodles. Note that the website for Dixie's Doodles is on the right side of the blog.

Between growing, walks and training sessions Mason has also been watching us clean our carpet. His male hormones told him to mark his territory, which included the carpet and corners of furniture. We joked that his elective surgery of neutering was really life saving surgery. To make a long story short we found that OdorMute works the best on pet stains and smells. We also highly recommend the Bissell SpotBot. Thankfully Mason no longer feels the need to mark his territory.

Conehead Conundrums

Conehead is no more! Mason is very happy to be going naked these days. Free at last! But before we leave the subject of the e-collar I’ll share some photos with you. Mason found out if he pushed his e-collar down his long, skinny neck he could still get to his incision, so we improvised. I had a foam neck collar from a whiplash years ago and it fit Mason perfectly. That kept him from pushing the e-collar down his neck until he got used to wearing it and left his incision alone.

The e-collar tended to catch things. It was really handy while eating a bone. It acted like a doggy T.V. tray.

When he couldn’t get the last bite he could always stand up and drop the rest on the floor. On the other hand, the e-collar caught a few things it shouldn’t have. Mason would get a piece of foam left under the furniture by the carpet cleaners. Even when told not too it was just too tempting. When confronted he tried to look very innocent but the evidence gave him away.

The cone wasn’t that much fun for us either. Mason often misjudged the width of the cone. He’d come running too us and hit us from behind. No, we won’t miss the cone. We kept up with Mason’s training, e-collar or not. We got many strange looks at the mall when we took Mason for walks. We also were asked many time why he was wearing the cone. When we told them that he was neutered the responses were interesting. The women would usually have a sympathetic comment like, “Ohhh, the poor little puppy.” The men, however, rarely said anything. They just winced. After a long walk it was nice to come home and have a good rest. The cone served it’s purpose. Mason’s incision healed very well. When we took the cone off he didn’t even bother with it. The first thing he did was give his neck a good scratch. The next thing he did was lick other places he hadn’t been able to reach for many days. Oh, the joy of being a dog.

Before, After and After Again

Well, it's been a busy time with vet appointments for Mason. Last week he went to the Animal Eye Hospital for an eye check up. This is a requirement for future guide dogs. The good news is that Mason's eyes are fine.


Dr. Bonney and Veronica check Mason's eyes.

On Tuesday we went to Towne North Animal Hospital for Mason to get neutered. Below is a picture before the appointment.


BEFORE

There is a Far Side cartoon of a car backing out of a driveway. The dog in the back seat of the car is bragging to a dog on the other side of a fence. He says, “Ha, ha ha, Biff. Guess what? After we go to the drugstore and the post office, I’m going to the vet’s to get tutored.”


Mason looking forward to getting "tutored"


AFTER - A wiser dog emerges sporting an E-collar to prevent him from taking out his stitches.


"I am smiling!"

Later that night Mason decided he didn't want to have stitches anymore. Where there is a will there is a way. Mason has a strong will and made a way - E-collar or not. He started pulling out his stitches. Luckily we caught him right away. But what could we do? The first thing was to hold him while calling Michelle Pelletier, Puppy Department Supervisor. She suggested covering the incision and wrapping an ace bandage lightly around the area to get us through the night until he could be rechecked. We did that but Mason didn't want to take "No" as a negative. As soon as we looked away he was trying to get the bandage off. We knew we had to make the E-collar larger. We looked around to see what might work. We came up with 2 giant playing cards. We had them as decorations for the Guide Dogs of Texas Casino night in April. We taped them to the E-collar and they did the trick. Later we cut them down a bit.

Mason is finally resigned to his fate of having stitches.

Mason made it through the night. We heard loud scraping noises every time he moved in his crate but he hadn't bothered his incision any more. Mason needed a little help eating his breakfast the next morning.

Yummy

By the time we got back to the vet's office Mason found that he could press down on his collar and chew the playing cards. We knew the quick fix wouldn't have lasted another night.

AFTER AGAIN - Dr. McIlhany and Carlos fit Mason with a larger E-collar.

Mason was his normal, spirited self during the appointment. Dr. McIlhany said, "He's quite a handful, isn't he?" We agreed. The doctor gave us some tranquilizers to help Mason stay a bit calmer during his healing. Someone asked if the tranquilizers were for Mason of for us! Whatever!

So, that's Mason's Before, After and After Again story. He's now adjusted to the larger collar and is not running into so many things. There's never a dull moment when raising an guide dog puppy!

Mason Speaks

Hi from Mason. Mary said I could write this edition of Mason's Tales. I'll catch you up on what's been happening in the last month. I got to see my namesake again. His name is Mike Mason. He used to be the pack leader of the Guide Dogs of Texas. He and his wife, Chris, are really nice. I'm honored to be named after him. I hope to make him proud someday if I become a guide dog.

At the end of May I went to Retama Park with Ernie and Shawna Landy, Ernie's guide dog, Mikey, and Wes and Mary. It was nice to see all those horses going by. At first I thought they were funny looking dogs, but when Mary took me down to see the horses closer up I saw that they are really, really big! I was kind of scared and was glad when we went back upstairs and watched from afar.

Boy, you should have seen Mikey guide Ernie, and all the rest of us, back to the elevator when we were leaving. I heard all the people saying, "Which way is the elevator?" They didn't know. So Ernie just told Mikey to "find the door." Well, Mikey led all of us to the elevator and out to the van. There were several turns and I didn't know where we were going but Mikey did. Wow, he is totally awesome! Someday I hope I can be a guide dog like Mikey.

I got to stay with Ernie, Shawna and Mikey for a night when Wes and Mary went away. Mikey hasn't always been overly friendly to me. I guess he doesn't like us young pups so much, probably it's because we bounce around a lot. Anyway, when I went to his house we got along great. I really liked that night with them. And then I went to another nice home for over a week. Tim and Cindy Buechner took me in. I had a great time with them and their kids, Morgan and Joseph. They were so much fun. I especially liked playing hide-and-go-seek with them. I found them every time. And they had cats too. I didn't have any experience with cats so it was good to learn about them. They're not as bad as I've heard. You know, the whole "Dogs Rule and Cats Drool" thing. I hope all cats are as nice as them. Thank you, Buechners, for taking such good care of me while at your house.

Well, that's about it for now. Mary will write soon about my recent vet appointments. She promised to have some very funny pictures. So come back soon. And if you want to tell me anything please be sure to leave some comments.

Mason Grounded

Well, I can’t believe it’s been a month since I last sent a tale about Mason. I went to PA to visit family for 3 weeks. The plan was for Mason to come with me for more training exposures. Heidi, a previous guide dog puppy flew 13 flights with us on four different airlines, so I didn't anticipate a problem.

Heidi flying United Airlines to Florida

But as Mason and I went to the gate to board the Southwest Airlines flight I was told that he was not allowed on board with me. Even with proper documentation and a health certificate he wasn't allowed to fly.

That was certainly a disappointment. How else can guide dogs get trained to fly with a person they will serve? Can you imagine how it would be for a visually impaired person to have to fly with a dog who has never been exposed to airplanes and flying? We were glad we had taken our Southeastern Guide Dog puppy on several flights. When she was matched, Jim, her new owner, flew to the facility in northern Florida and flew in a small commuter plane back to southern Florida. Heidi had already flown on a commuter plane on two flights. It was a relief for Jim to know that his new guide dog had flying experience and wouldn't be nervous on the flight home.

The four airlines (Continental, ExpressJet, United and U.S. Airways) we’d flown previously with a guide dog puppy were all very helpful. U.S. Airways was especially accommodating. They allowed our puppy raiser group in Charlotte, NC to visit a hanger and board an airplane so the puppies could get experience before they actually flew. U.S. Airways staff also arranged for our whole group to go through airport security at a non-busy time to give experience to puppies, raisers and security personnel. (Yes, this was post 9/11.) Several of the dogs also rode on the carts that transport passengers from one terminal to another. That could be very helpful to a visually impaired person and a guide dog.

The Charlotte Area SEGDI Puppy Raiser Group

When I got back I heard from Guide Dogs of Texas staff that they often need to transport guide dogs in training to meet with a person with whom the dog may be matched. Sometimes the best flight arrangements would be on Southwest Airlines, but they are not allowed to fly with the dog even though the dog is fully trained and ready to be placed with a person. So, my question is: What can we do about this? I’m not sure yet. Anyone have some suggestions?

I'll have more about Mason and how he did while I was away on my next blog.