Being There

Last night I'm cooking dinner and go to grab an onion out of the little mesh sack in the laundry room.  Alfie's sprawled out by the backdoor, seemingly asleep.  As I pull out the onion, an involuntary gasp of disgust escapes me -- ewww, the onion has rotted and my thumb is sinking deep into brown mush!  BLEAH.  Before I have time to actually say anything, throw the onion away, or complain about having to wash stinky onion goop off my hands -- bing! -- there's Alfie, right by my side, checking it out. 

I swear,  I don't believe it's actually physically possible for a dog to move that fast, or transform so quickly from dead asleep to on-the-alert-high-tailed-snuffly-and-by-the-way-do-you-need-me-to-teach-that-onion-a-lesson?  But there he is, so I guess I have to believe it.

Today, I go to clean our toilet.  Hmmm, our bathroom's out of toilet cleaner, so I go to Mom's.  I knock over a bottle and -- bing! -- Alfie's wet chin is pressed in the crook of my elbow, bright eyes straining to see what's up, are you okay, what fell over, is it good to eat, is it dangerous, can I help?  Pleeease??  And here I thought he was in the front room playing with the kids! 

He's not what I'd call clingy; he's just got this way of instantaneously materializing.  A handy trick -- I wish he could teach it to me!

If friendship means being there for someone...yeah, Alfie's earned the title of "best friend" paws down!

[yawn]...It's nothing, just my special doodle magic...

Random

Alfie's always enjoyed water: walking in the rain, sticking his head under the gushing downspout during a storm, or (as above) fording a creek.  I've only allowed him to do this a couple of times.  On the day pictured above we were hiking a trail, he was in jacket, and had already done some nice work indicating changes of surface and such.  We came to the water and he sat obediently, assuming he wouldn't be allowed to get wet.  When I took off his jacket and let him follow me across he was thrilled!

While working, Alfie's usually been pretty good at remaining calm under pressure.  The ballistic kitty shown here didn't want to let us pass -- she growled, hissed, and spat.  You can tell Alfie's interested!  But he "left it" really well.  We had a similar incident Tuesday when we stopped by a used bookstore...as I opened the door to walk in, we were "charged" (albeit in a friendly way) by a black standard poodle.  The big guy was wearing a leash, but still escaped his person in his frenzy to greet us (and NO, we were definitely not expecting to see another dog inside a bookstore!)  I stepped on his leash and he was reclaimed, with apologies.  Alfie was QUITE EXCITED.  Still, he was able to get back "in the zone" reasonably quickly and worked all right for the remainder of our bookstore visit (he did air-sniff a lot, but who can blame him?) 

He's funny when I leave him with the family...apparently, while I'm gone he pretty much remains "on watch" near  the window the whole time.  Last night I had to attend a meeting at church and he stayed home with the kids.  I was happy to see him bouncy and playful as I left.  When I got back though...it turned out that the moment I left he'd flopped down and showed no further interest in doing anything during my absence.  When I got back I was surprised to find him happily standing in front of the door, tail waving.  The kids said that about four minutes before, he'd jumped up from where he was lying, barked once, and went to stand at the door...and, yes, it so happens that four minutes is approximately the time it takes me to drive home!  Do you know, I have NEVER believed those weird animal stories before, but am beginning to wonder...what do these dogs sense that we don't understand?

Although I'll miss him, I know he'll settle in to his new place just fine.   In fact, he'll bond much more closely with his future partner than he ever has with me.  That's just the nature of the working team!  And if so...what a team they'll be, don't you think?

Expect the Unexpected

I've gotta be prepared for anything these days!

Strange things have been happening to us on our walks lately.  Yesterday I was at Hobby Lobby and as I got my card out to pay I put Alphini into a down/stay and dropped the leash, pretty confident he'd just take a snooze til I was done.  As I waited for my receipt, a lady walked by, distractedly talking on her cell...with a flexilead attached to a little dog who was, shall we say, "flexiwalking" about 6-10 feet from her (yes, inside the store)!!  Alfie saw this too, and was at least as surprised as I was.  He picked up his head, looked at them, then looked at me, with "??" written all over his face!  What a good boy, he never got up or anything despite it all.

Then today, we were off to pick up some items at Target and as we headed toward the counter to pay, 2 kids somewhere in the 5-7 age bracket careened around the corner, racing full tilt toward us.  The little boy wasn't even looking up, but down at a toy in his hands...before I had time to think "where's your mother" we'd collided, while his sister screamed at the sight of Alfie and dashed to the other side!  Now that was a real test, even for a well-trained dog, let me tell you!  But this is where not only training, but also Alfie's good temperament, came to the rescue:  his typical response to the odd, unexpected, or even frightening things that pop up on walks is a great one -- he stands still and just sort of watches, taking it in and I suppose, trying to figure it out!  That's just how he's always been, and I love it.  Pretty soon Mom and Grandma had shown up with effusive apologies...phew! 

After that came an episode I'd rather not go into, but suffice it to say I found it odd to encounter what seemed to be an entire bag of Doritos spilled on the floor of the bathroom stall at the library!  Hmmm...talk about a training challenge...

Then at the store this afternoon I had a rather unusual exchange with my checker, who wondered (in a sincerely concerned voice) why I talked to my daughter as if she were a dog (you know, giving little commands, kissy noises, etc.)...only to find that, really, I was talking to my dog...oh dear!  It's been quite a day. 

The good news is that with all the strangeness going on, Alfie's been a real trooper.  Larry from GDTx came to visit and do a short walk with us and was very pleased with his progress...hooray!

On that note, let's walk into the sunset...

Crazy Pelicans? No Big Deal!

Here's just a little example of what I like about Alfie's personality. We're constantly running into the strange, the odd, or the unexpected and he just seems to take it in his little puppy stride.

[Below: video of Alf & me walking up to this strange little pelican whirlybird stuck in someone's front yard...its body swings around in the breeze on a horizontal axis while its wings whirl on a vertical axis....Alfie walks calmly up toward it to investigate]

I love how he's curious, but not reactive...doesn't try to run away, bark, or attack the admittedly bizarre piece of yard art! I know it's not a really big deal but it's just an example of his whole easy-going outlook on life. Gotta love it!

On a side note, do any of you puppy raisers out there, like me, enjoy the extremely rare moment when you're talking to someone out in public...and they don't bring up the dog? Don't get me wrong, I love to talk to folks about guide dogs, puppies, and all...and I think it's important for us to educate people when possible! But today I happened to be at Whole Foods looking for a certain type of tea, and one of their staff helped me find just the right thing...we chatted about the products, etc...and he never once asked me a doggy question. All of a sudden I realized, Wow, this is so unusual! He assisted me with such calm nonchalance that one might think Alfie was the third or fourth adorable, chocolate-colored labradoodle-guide-dog-in-training to stop by today, and it was really not a big deal. I loved it! But in the checkout line, it was back to the usual ...people pointing and oohing. Sigh! I really don't do this for the attention, but it seems to come with the territory!

Growing Up Fast

At almost 4 months...Alfie weighed in at 20.2 lb at our vet's office today.  Dr. Boggs thinks he's on track to grow to about a 45-lb ...that's considered "standard" size for doodles, or large in layman's terms.  A great size for a guide dog!  He was one of the larger puppies in his litter, as I recall. 

So far out of my limited experience raising pups for GDTx (he's #3), Alfie is the most intense learner.  He loves, loves, loves his work.  Yesterday he went over and nuzzled his jacket and sat by the front door in hopes of a walk...before we'd even had a chance to let him outside in the morning! Hasn't he ever heard of a shower and breakfast?!  Silly boy!