Tashi's Web Photo and Storybook

March 1 -- There are several things to tell you about. Since today is the first of the month, Stan put Frontline® on me and gave me my Heartguard® treat. Stan has also started teaching me two new sounds. One he calls the carbon monoxide detector alarm and the other one he calls a smoke detector. If Stan is wearing his hearing aids he can hear them, but he says they aren't loud to him. If Stan is in bed, he might not hear them at all so it is another important job for me to learn to do for him. Stan started with the carbon monoxide alarm, and the first time I heard it, I was very interested in what it was. My ears perked up, and I was trying to figure out what this noise was. Stan was trying to tell me to alert him, but I was so curious about this sound I had never heard before it took a while before he got my attention away from the sound to give me the command. Then to make this more challenging when Stan asks me what he then tells me to down. So far I've been trying to go to the sound and to take Stan to the sound, but Stan calls me back to him after asking me what and tells me to down. We've only done these sounds in two sessions, but I've figured out that this is an important sound because if I alert Stan to it like I did today when we practiced, I get kibble. I even got a whole handful of kibble (one kibble at a time, of course) when I heard the sound, and did my usual alert steps to tell Stan about it without having to be told to alert. I'm trying to figure out if I do the same thing for these sounds as all the other sounds or if Stan wants something different. After I alert him he asks me what like always, but then says, "Tashi, down." Stan has given me a challenge to figure out with these sounds. I know that when we practice and he tells me what he wants, I'll be able to figure it out. Stan is doing two different sounds, but they are almost alike, the carbon monoxide alarm is a constant beep, while the smoke detector starts and stops. Other than that, they are just alike and Stan tells me the same thing on both of them.

The next thing to tell you about is Stan and I went to a meeting yesterday. I got to see Ellie who is a CCI service dog that helps Buddy again, and I also got to see Blythe who is a CCI puppy growing up in Arizona. Blythe and her person were here to help the CCI people here in New Mexico plan the 2nd annual Enchanted Canines Golf Classic. Stan isn't a golfer, but we both want to help CCI so that more dogs like Ellie and me can help people like Buddy and Stan. Stan and I will be working on finding golfers who want to play in the tournament as well as finding some businesses or people who are willing to sponsor things at the tournament. There are many levels of sponsors, but one we'll be trying especially hard to find are sponsors for the "tee boxes". Of course, we'll also accept donations for CCI if someone wants to help, but isn't able to sponsor anything.

Stan also got the information/invitation to the annual Graduate Workshop for CCI graduates in the southwest region of CCI. Stan made hotel reservations for us and we'll be going to the workshop. Stan will drive and I'll ride in the car with him. That will happen in July just one week before the golf tournament. During the workshop Stan and I will renew our ADI public access certification. The ADI public access test is part of the final exam that Stan and I had to pass at our team training in October. It's sort of like a final exam for all of my "college" training. I'm not nervous about it, though. It just covers a lot of the stuff that Stan and I do together every day when we are out in public places like his work and anywhere else we go. Well, I think that's all the news for now. It's been a busy weekend.

March 2 -- Not much time for an update, but I wanted to let you know that after only three sessions with the carbon monoxide and smoke detector alarms I got it!!!! I figured out the challenge that Stan had for me. Tonight when we were practicing I first tried to do a down when I heard the sound, but that wasn't what Stan wanted. He told me to alert, then when he asked what I wasn't sure what to do, so he helped me again and told me down. The next time Becky made the sound happen, I alerted Stan right away and when he asked me what I did a down. Stan was so happy he gave me bunches of kibble. We then did the carbon monoxide alarm and I did the same thing, and Stan gave me more kibble and got out my favorite squeaky toy. Now all I have to do is remember what he wants me to do for those sounds. That's going to be the hard part. I hope I don't forget before the next time we practice.

March 6 -- After figuring out the carbon monoxide detector and smoke detector alarms, I forgot what Stan wanted me to do. Stan wasn't really surprised by this, and he was very patient to keep practicing every day and tell me what I needed to do. So tonight when we practiced it seemed to all come together again for me. We did 6 alarm (4 carbon monoxide and 2 smoke detector) trials in our session tonight, and I got almost all of them right. Stan still had to help me a little so that I didn't spend too much time not being sure of what I needed to do. I think I would have gotten it without Stan's help, but I guess the real test of that will be when we practice those sounds again tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, Stan says we will be going to Santa Fe for his annual Skywarn training. Stan likes watching and studying the weather and he reports significant weather events to the National Weather Service as one of their spotters. Some people call what Stan and people like him do storm chasing. I think it sounds interesting to chase things, but Stan says it isn't like that at all. In places where there is more severe weather there may be more chasing involved. But, in places like that you have to be even more careful because there are people out there with all different levels of knowledge and experience including some people who really don't know what they're doing at all. We don't get a whole lot of severe weather around this part of New Mexico, but it is possible for it to happen. So, I'll go to class with him tomorrow, but we aren't planning on chasing anything,.....bummer.

March 20 -- Well let's see if I can remember everything that's been going on. First, I've figured out the smoke and carbon monoxide detector alarms. When I hear them, I alert Stan instead of going to find the sound, and when he asks me "what?" I lay down. We've been practicing these sounds almost every day so that I can remember them. Of course we practice the other sounds, too. Keeps me from getting confused again on what I'm supposed to do when I hear each sound.

Another thing is Stan flushed out the irrigation system for the trees and flowers in the yard. While he was doing that, he discovered that I have a bit of a liking for puddles and mud. As he was flushing one of the lines, it was making a mud puddle in the yard. When I saw this, I slapped my front paws down into the puddle and splashed muddy water everywhere. After doing this a couple of times, I took off for some zoom-butt around the yard. I came back to the puddle and dug in the mud to make it deeper and laid my front legs kind of down into it. I jumped up twisted in a circle once or twice, then went back to the mud and started licking and biting at the stream of water coming out of the end of the line. Ended up getting a big drink that way and washing my now muddy face at the same time. Stan then tried to see if I would like to play in or run through the water if he made it spray. I wasn't too thrilled about that. Stan says he's going to find out from Cindy and Jenny what stories they might have about my playing in water when I was a puppy.

In the past couple of weeks, I was "interviewed" by Ross, a CCI puppy growing up in Denver, CO. Ross' puppy raiser (PR) works at channel 7 news in Denver and lets Ross write a DogBlog every week or so, just like Stan let's me write this website. So, Ross' DogBlog for March 12, (chapter 25) was the interview he did with me about what it's like to be a CCI graduate dog and specifically a hearing dog.