Susie the Guide Dog

This post is about Susie, the guide dog puppy that was. We received Susie March of 2007, and having been the first guide dog puppy that we raised, we were a little scared. She came home to us with a furor of energy and a keen sense of adventure. Susie did end up graduating from Guide Dogs for the Blind in October of 2008 with her blind partner Hank, a man who got news of his loss of sight when Susie was born in October of 2006. They were destined to be together, however only a year after receiving Susie, Hank felt that she was too dog distracted. Susie ended up being retired by GDB and now Hank has another seeing eye dog named Lincoln. Hank had final say in where Susie would live and ultimately Susie ended up with Hank's sister-in-law in Arkansas.
Pics: here are some pictures of Susie and Hank. The one with the dog running through a wide open field is Susie living with her new owner, Hank's sister-in-law.

Bambino it is

The little one crawling and spinning around in Jamie has a gender. It's a boy! We would have been just as excited if it were a girl. We are grateful that the boy is healthy, and according to the Dr, "bigger than normal". We have some pictures of him so once I scan those, they will be posted. There are some 3D pictures that we received, however those make the baby look a tad weird, a little like a Picasso painting.
Thoughts from us on having a boy: Jamie "what do we do with a boy?" (Go-karting by 5 years old!) / How do we discipline a boy, or a baby for that matter? / yada yada yada.

Christmas 2009

Here is the picture that we used for our Christmas card for 2009. Don't feel gloomy if you did not get a hard copy of this in the mail from us. We only got a few out and the rest we still have stamped envelopes filled with the picture so some of you may still get one. Also, introducing Bette and Curt. Bette is a "career change" (she failed the sightseeing program and we kept her as a pet) from Guide Dogs for the Blind (here on out I will refer to them as GDB) and Curt, who is now a breeder dog for GDB (he will procreate future GDB puppies to be trained for sightseeing work, aka a stud)

Work, Vocation

Ryan works for a Land Rover dealership as a technician (formerly called mechanic, however, since the increase of electronics utilized in modern day vehicles, they are now referred to as technicians) and Jamie works as a Pilates instructor. Jamie also has a part time job at Renaud's Patisserie located in Santa Barbara with two locations (visit them on the web at www.renaudsbakery.com ) Jamie is going to try to help with the food photography on their website. The french bakery has amazing food and if you ever visit Santa Barbara it is a must to dine there.

The First Blog

Well, after two walks and humping her bed for ten minutes straight, our dog Bette is sleeping on the kitchen floor. After all that humping her body is only half way on the bed. That bed has some good history behind it. The Legends of Guide Dogs for the blind have all slept there with Susie, Bette and Curt all getting their cozy sleeps in on that very bed. I will post a picture as soon as I find a worthy one. Jamie is going to bed so I have to stop typing