Random Pictures - April 30

We thought is was kind of interesting that the National Day of Prayer would make it onto the street sign posts ... all of them at major intersections. Do we even know when the Canadian National Day of Prayer is?

So why do you figure I am the one captured on film doing "poo" duty?? It actually sums up the job of motherhood some days!! Ben doesn't even remember taking this picture!!

Day 5 - Hide and Seek AGAIN! (Letter to Class)

We did the same thing today as yesterday and the day before! Two games of hide and seek in the park and then a lot of boring talk among the adults in the afternoon. The hide and seek is okay but I am getting tired of always having to be the one to hide! I think Milkyway should hide and I'll go find him but Mom and Dad say that he has to practice his finding. When the other kids are playing hide and seek with their dogs, I hang out in the park. There is one family that I spend a lot of time with. Chance is 5 years old and loves to play soccer ... or football ... or basketball ... or anything with a ball! He has twin sisters, Cadence and Aubrianna, that I like to "help". They don't seem to think they need as much help as I like to give but we're having fun together anyway.

In the afternoon my Mom and Dad were learning more about tracking and tethering. I played computer for awhile but it was such a warm day outside that my Dad finally took me out to the trampoline.

We were very tired after training so didn't even go out for supper tonight. Dad and I hung out at the hotel and gave Milkyway and good combing. Mom went shopping ... she's never too tired to shop!

I really like Milkyway to sleep with me but sometimes he sneaks off the bed when he gets too hot.



They promised us that tomorrow we're going to do something new! I can't wait!!

Love,
Dawsyn & Milkyway

Random Pictures

Didsbury REALLY must be God's Country ... He's been faithful to us since the beginning of time! Here in Ohio, apparently He's only been faithful for 50 years!!!!

Practicing putting Milkyway in a "down" and having him stay there until he's given the "free" command. Once given a command, he should not break it until given permission, even if it's hours!

Just a really good picture of our pretty boy!

Kisses!!

Out in the parking lot practicing "heel".

A dog and his girl!

In the rental car ... he likes to sit close enough to touch her!

The next two pictures were taken BY Dawsyn! She may become a photographer like her Daddy!!

Day 4 - More Hide and Seek (Letter to Classmates)

This morning we went to a different park and played some more Hide and Seek. Sometimes my Mom hides with me and sometimes my Dad does. I hide really well but Milkyway always finds me really really fast! He has the advantage of having a really good sniffer.

In between our turns at Hide and Seek, I like to throw the tennis ball for him to chase after. The funniest part of that game is that my Dad is usually hanging on to the leash so when I throw the ball, Milkyway runs after it really fast and my tag gets dragged after him! :-D I also on the playground with some of my new friends. Hudson is 14 and has really severe autism so he has trouble speaking and doesn't like to look right at me. That's okay though because we still like to take turns on the slide and I do enough talking for both of us!


This is us in the park waiting to take our turns at Hide and Seek.

At lunchtime I got to take a break and play in the 4 Paws Playground. I especially like the trampoline.


In the afternoon Mom and Dad had to do a bunch more obedience training so I just watched a movie and then took a little nap. They practiced the sit, down, heel and under commands some more and also learned the stand command and how to make Milkyway heel when we're shopping. Dad said that Mom could learn that one by herself because he DOESN'T shop! Mom pushed the shopping cart around and said that Milkyway did great. That means we'll definitely be able to go shopping ... or at least Milkyway and Mom can!


Parents working with the dogs While they were doing that,

in our training room. I was doing this!

This evening we had lasagna for supper and I was so hungry I ate two whole helpings! That gave me enough energy to make a short shopping trip. Mom wanted to buy a couple of special things for Matthew. When we got home, we chatted with Matt and Nana and Papa on Skype. Now I'm wiped and am heading for a snuggle in bed with my puppy!

Getting Kisses!

Love Dawsyn

Day 3 - Hide and Seek

What a fun morning we had! Today we drove to the Xenia Fairgrounds with eight other families. Once there, we took turns playing Hide and Seek with our dogs! One of the parents and a trainer would go and Hide with the child. About ten minutes later, another trainer, the other parent and the dog would start to Seek. We call it "Tracking". The trainer puts a special harness on the dog and uses a leash that only ever gets used for tracking. When the dogs see it, they get all excited and start sniffing the air and whimpering. Sometimes they even bark! The trainer talks them up like this, "We is she? Where's your girl? Where'd she go? TRACK!" When he says "track" the dog takes off sniffing the air and the ground until he catches the scent. Once he has it, he takes off at a run and the humans tracking with him have to run too ... that was kind of funny to watch!

Do you know what else was funny? I was one of the most patient kids!! Can you believe that? Most of the children here have trouble waiting for ANYTHING! Many of them have autism, others have two or three different things wrong and three boys here have Dravet's Syndrome! I have never met anybody else with Dravet's before. Two of the boys are brothers and they both have Dravet's but one is worse than the other. They both have more and worse seizures than me. The other little boy here with Dravet's is 4 years old. His name is Joshua and he has fewer seizures than me and seems to be doing pretty well. Our parents talk a lot while I play with him and his brother Nathan.

Anyway, back to Hide and Seek. I was the second last one to go hide. My Dad and I took off with Trainer Christy. We ran across the lawn and around some trees and across some grass and along some other trees and around a corner and found a great little nook to hide in. About 10 minutes after we left, Trainer Jeremy and Milkyway and my Mom came hunting. Mom said that Milkyway sniffed the air and then the ground. He snapped his head in the direction I ran and took off running with Jeremy and Mom running after him. Every once in awhile he would run in a circle, sniffing the air and then off at a gallop in the direction I had run. It took them only three or four minutes to find me!! Milkyway came around the corner and we all cheered! Daddy fed him tons of hotdogs and we all told him what a good dog he is! Mom was a few paces behind him and she was REALLY panting when she got there! I think that playing hide and seek a few times a week will convince my Mom to take up jogging!!

During the afternoon we went back to the 4 Paws facility and I watched a couple of Dora movies while Mom, Dad and Milkyway practiced "Sit", "Down", "Heel", "Free" and "Under". "Under" is the command we will use when we take Milkyway out to restaurants. He goes under the table and lays there quietly while we eat.

Sorry I don't have any pictures to share with you today. It was so busy that my Dad didn't even take any pictures! It's got to be busy to keep him away from his camera!

After training today we had supper and then Mom took me swimming while Dad worked with Milkyway. That all left me pretty tired so I'm off to bed. I'll write again tomorrow.

Love,
Dawsyn & Milkyway

Morning of Day 3

The night was a little restless. Milkyway snuggled up on the bed ... and takes A LOT of room! ... but was a little unsure about being there. He got down a couple of times and I'd call him back up. Eventually I let him just sleep on the floor. At 4 a.m. he woke me up with a sloppy kiss and was really antsy so I thought I'd better get him outside. He hasn't had a poo yet so I thought he might finally be ready. He still didn't but did have a pee. Tonight I have to remember to put the water bowl away by 6 p.m. to avoid getting in the habit of middle of the night pottying!!

He will take a Pepcid AC twice a day for the next five days just to get him through the adjustment of joining his new family. Honestly, if he knew what he was getting into, he'd probably need something stronger than Pepcid!!

We are going to have to really work on him bonding with Dawsyn because so far I'm his girl!! He follows me where ever I go and he should be doing that with Daws.

We'll better get on with getting ready for the day. The skies are blue today and we're supposed to see 17C. Warmer still over the next two days ... yay! Sorry about the weather at home. It doesn't sound very nice. My computer is telling me that you are under a winter storm warning. Stay safe everyone.

Day 2 Continued

The first post was a copy of the letter we sent to Dawsyn's class. We are trying to update them every day.

Other tidbits on the day:

- Milkyway is smaller than I expected but still a good size. He's only 10 months old so still has some growing to do. Zeke and Kacey are bigger than him but Mingo, Skippy and Quincey are all a lot smaller. A little taller and longer than Moshi but not as "thick". He's all legs and tail!

- Dawsyn and Milkyway played fetch with a tennis ball tonight! They both LOVE LOVE LOVE it. A match made in heaven!

- He sheds! I was really hoping for a non-shedder but 'twas not to be. :(

- He's going to sleep with Dawsyn and I tonight ... we'll see how that goes!

Day 2 - Welcome Milkyway

Doodlebug Dawsyn

Wow Wow =-O WoW WoW >:o WOW!!!!! What a day we have had! We went to 4 Paws this morning and found Milkyway right away. He was in his crate just waiting for us! We sat and visited with him through the bars for a little while but then had to go and sit in a big circle with all the other families. Jeremy, the Training Director, talked for a REALLY long time. My Mom and Dad listened but I got really bored and went to play in the play area where they have a bunch of toys. Eventually, they started bringing out the dogs, one at a time, to meet their families. I just kept on playing because Milkyway wasn't one of the first ones. FINALLY it was my turn! The trainer walked him over to me and my parents ... Mom cried, Mom always cries when she's happy!



We got to play together and I gave him treats, lots and lots of treats, until lunchtime. We put Milkyway back in his crate and then we went to Pizza Hut because I love pizza.

In the afternoon, Mom and Dad learned some of the basic obedience commands like Sit, Down and Heel. Milkyway is really smart, it's my Mom and Dad that need the training! After class we stopped at the PetSmart store to buy some doggy treats and some toys to play with. I'm trying to play with Milkyway right now but I think he must be tired because he's hiding under the desk my Mom is sitting at!!

Tomorrow morning we practice tracking. That's for when I get lost (or run away!) and Milkyway has to come find me. We practice by playing Hide and Seek in the park or the mall. In the afternoon Mom and Dad will practice some more obedience training ... I think I'll probably just take a nap! ;-)

I think tonight we will all sleep well. It's been a busy day!

Love,
Dawsyn

Day 1 - Travel

Okay, we haven't even been to training yet and I was tempted NOT to write because I'm so tired!

Our day started shortly after 3 a.m. for a 4 a.m. trip to the airport for a 7 a.m. flight! By the time the plane took off, we'd already been awake for four hours. Ben and Dawsyn slept on the trip from Calgary to Chicago but I couldn 't seem to drop off. We had about an hour and a half between flights at Chicago O'Hare and then a one hour flight to Dayton. We arrived at 3:30 Ohio time (two hours ahead of Alberta time), got our rental car and made our way to our hotel.

Our hotel is very nice! We have a suite so I can sit here at the computer and not disturb Ben and Dawsyn as they sleep. It will be nice to have more than just a hotel room when we are here for so long. In the courtyard between the buildings there is a small basketball court and an outdoor swimming pool (sadly, it's TOO COLD to use it). We get a good hot breakfast every morning and dinner four evenings a week. I'm not sure, but at this moment I'm thinking I could just live this way for ever!

I have to say Ohio is beautiful! Everything is so very green already and the lilacs are blooming!!

These pics were taken on a short drive we did this evening just to get a feel for the area. Xenia has some really beautiful old buildings! I'm sure Ben will take some good pictures of them soon.

To my great surprise, right around the corner from 4 Paws is a ...

I'm sure we will be enjoying more than one visit there!! I've seen two more between the airport and Xenia.

On our little tour this evening I talked Ben into checking out some of the "important" stuff ... there's a Walmart, a Target and a TJ Maxx all within five minutes! I am blessed!! Please pray that I will have energy to visit them all multiple times.

Well, I am starting to feel the effects of my early start to the day and tomorrow is going to be a biggie! We have to be at 4 Paws by 10 a.m. I can hardly wait to see Dawsyn and Milkyway interact for the first time. Check back for pics of this first-time encounter!

The News Is In!

Hello Dawsyn buddy.

My name is Milkyway like the candy bar but I was named after the Milkyway in the sky. Okay, I have never seen a Milkyway candy bar in the sky but they say there is one up there. My litter is the Super Stars so we are all named after things up in the sky like Stars and I guess candy bars that float in the sky!

I am a Labradoodle. My Dad is Hobo, a Standard Poodle and My Mom is Blessing a Yellow Lab. She just has another litter of Doodles so I have half sisters and brothers here who are just little guys! My birthday is 6-22-2009 and I am the first in my litter to graduate! I guess that makes me the smartest!

Well my friend. Hurry to Ohio to see me because I am thinking of you every minute and waiting for you!

xoxoxo Milkyway

Still Waiting!

It's been ten long days since my last post and WE STILL DON'T KNOW which dog is ours! I have tried to stay close to my computer and check emails dozens of times a day. I hear the "ding" that indicates I have new mail and run to see, only to find it's yet another email with the answer to enlarging certain body parts or shrinking others! I'm a little tired of junk mail but am not sure how to stop it.

In the meantime, I've searched for things to keep me busy AND close to my computer. I dusted, vacuumed and washed floors ... no Dog. I did laundry and actually put it all away ... no dog. I changed all the beds and done the necessary laundry ... no DOG. I've even cleaned the toilets (all three of them) and their adjoining bathrooms ... NO DOG. Today was total desperation day. I cleaned Ben and Matthew's shower! But NO DOG!! I ironed Ben's shirts (all of them) ... but still no dog!! My house is clean, my laundry's done, I've totally run out of corners to scrub and we still have no idea which dog we're getting! Cruel and unusual punishment as far as I'm concerned.

We've only got ten more days until we fly to Ohio, surely they should have told us something by now! When I emailed and asked, I was told that we'd know "soon". That was over a week ago.

The funny thing is, Dawsyn doesn't seem the least bit curious. She knows she'll meet her dog in April and is content as can be! I think there's a lesson there but I'm too busy fretting to learn it!

The Suspense is KILLING Me!

We know that within the next few days we should find out which of the 4Paws Dogs is destined to be ours. I check the 4 Paws Social Networking site and my emails a dozen times a day to see if the announcement has been made.

There is one dog on the "Dogs in Training" page that we've been watching from the beginning with the gut feeling that maybe, just maybe, he's ours. I'll keep watching and waiting and hopefully the news will come in before I drive myself totally off the Crazy Cliff!