Fearless

Molly has once again stepped up to show Wags the ropes, and she is quick to pounce when we scold him. They play a lot, growling, nipping, howling, and chasing. Click on the picture below to see a movie of Wags and Molly at play.

Warning: this is a large QuickTime movie and it may take a few minutes to download.

Top 10 reasons for another dog

10. Hair on floor looks better than carpet.
9. We work best when sleepy.
8. Our vet needs a bigger boat.
7. The furniture looks too new.
6. Molly loves having her tail bitten.
5. We prefer mud to lawn.
4. Our neighbors never complain about barking.
3. We love the smell of poop in the morning.
2. We really needed someone to dominate.
1. We wanted to see if we really meant those vows.

Wags 4/19/02 - 5/31/02

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On April 19, 2002, we made the drive to Rochester, Michigan again and picked up our second Leader Dog For the Blind trainee. His father Brock was a Black Lab and his Mother Morgan was a Yellow Lab. There were four black and two white puppies.

After meeting him we named him Wags. His operating system is much like Sport's, but he has his own distinct personality. In retrospect, we should have named him Taz. He's got a real stubborn streak, he's feisty (see the movie at right), fast, intelligent, catlike, terribly cute, and did I mention, stubborn? As Lou says, two dogs is the work of three.

The first few weeks have been more a process of civilizing him rather than training him. He has already provided indelible memories. Like the time he chewed the phone cord in two while Lou was on the line with her Mom. Or the absurdity of standing in the crunchy frost-painted back yard in my shorts and slippers at 5 a.m. My breath is visible, the trees are like lace against a sky that is more black than blue, and I am chanting "Park! Park!"

"Park!" you see, is krap spelled backwards. Leader Dogs have to do their business on command, and it is unseemly for blind people to be standing in the park chanting "Krap! Krap!" Within one month he was peeing on command. We're still working on completing the process...

Click on any picture below to see an enlargement (they will download quickly).