I don't remember

I don't remember leaving a half-eaten bag of peanut butter pretzels on my bed. Nor do I recall ripping open the feather pillow on my bed and tossing duck down about the room. That might explain Tess' peanut butter breath and feather adorned coat.

way behind

Way behind on writing. Tess is now 9 months old. She is 36 pounds. Her pretty brown ringlets have never been cut and are 4 inches long when stretched out. But it is time to cut her hair as it now mats and tangles quite a bit. She will clearly look like her Mom. Her Mom was brown as a young dog and turned a grey color later. Tess has grey hair growing in amongst her brown. For Labradoodles they call it "lavender". But I think that is another name for grey for an expensive dog.

Hi There!

Tess meets her first client at work-

First Day of School

On Sunday Tess had her 1st day of dog “school”. It was like the first day of kindergarten. All the excited “kids” bounced around trying to figure out was expected of them. All sported their best pure-breed coats. Some were exuberant while others were meek and retiring. After having attended dog training classes with both Java, and Sierra before that, it was nice to not be the owner of the class idiot. Tess will be an easy one to train. She is mellow and interested. The lab portion of her is very obvious as she is VERY motivated by food. She is also an affectionate people pleaser.

Water Conservation

Sunday Nights
Fill the tub half way and have son bathe
Add more hot water and have daughter bathe
When tub vacated and water cooled wash Tess

First Day at Work

**My reports of her life with us and work adventures are slightly out of order on the blog.

I took Tess to work after she had been with us for about 2 weeks.
I am still working on potty training-as she has already peed in the office a couple of times.
The parent and child entered the office. The door alarm and the sudden presence of people surprised her. She retreated under the table barking. VERY timid. I pulled her out and popped her in my lap. After a few minutes she let the adult near her and after a bit longer, she let them pet her. I put her in the kennel and started therapy with my 4 year old client. Mid session we came back into kitchen space and took Tess out. My client, I.W., has the goal of increasing appropriate use of pronouns. Tess sat in my lap and I.W, and I took out puppy chow pellets. I modelled, "My turn," and gave Tess a kibble.
"Whose turn now?" I asked I.W. and pausing and then cuing him "You say, 'My turn.'" We continued with him alternating productions of "my turn" and "your turn".
He was thrilled with the activity. Tess immediately calmed in the presence of food and gently took each bite. She is already completely gentle about eating out of children's hands and waiting patiently for the next bite and shows no aggression at all.
A good first session for her!

Give me 5!

Tess can now "shake" when I motion and tell her "give me 5". She has a gentle lady-like shake.