Christmas Joy

Anschutz enjoyed the spirit of the Christmas season, with Church, family, friends, giving and receiving.

Down under the tree.

The ladies of Christmas.

The whole Christmas gang.

Glad we bought the extra large bed so Anschutz would have enough room.

Watching the wildlife.

On a hike

Playing in the fields 

Waiting for Santa Paws

Uncles Spoil Anschutz for Christmas

Waiting with present #1 for present #2

Merry Christmas to Anschutz!

Getting Ready for Christmas

Getting Ready for Christmas

Anschutz ran Christmas prep. errands, today. She is looking forward to the next two weeks. Visitors of all sorts, stay tuned.....

Watching a video on Santa Paws, er Claus.

Riding in the sleigh, er, truck on errands.

Waiting in line to send her friend, Zinfandel a Christmas present.

Wanting to know if she gets one of the cookies we bake with these groceries? 

Anschutz Enjoyed Colorful Colorado for the Thanksgiving Holiday.

Anschutz is almost 7 months old! Where does the time go? She is such a sweet puppy and learning new things quickly! She is a true teenager and testing quite a bit. But doing well, all things considered. She is leaving all the Christmas decorations, even those on the ground, on the tree (including the one live tree and one fake tree), or at eye level. Those that make sounds and noise interest her, but when told to leave it she loses interest and we are very thankful to have a 'normal' decorated house for the holidays. Enjoy this month, take time to be peaceful, enjoy family/friends and be good to yourselves.

Anschutz's First Snow

Today, I realized being a puppy raiser comes with a lot of firsts and lasts. For the first year or so, it's marking all the firsts, then for the last few weeks it's marking all the lasts. Here is Anschutz enjoying her first snowstorm.

Anschutz Sees the U.S. Capitol Tree

The Christmas tree that will be on the west lawn was cut in Minnesota, The 88 foot spruce and it's entourage are on tour through the upper midwest on it's way to Washington. Kristi and Anschutz thought this would be a fun training outing. And it turned out to be great. We met our friend Sue. We looked at the tree, took photos, met some kids who knew petting wasn't allowed and asked if they could say hi to the dog. We also met a few adults, one who didn't know and encouraged anything but an appropriate greeting. But most people knew Anschutz was a working dog and couldn't be pet without asking. Anschutz did better in her greetings, but still an area we need to work on. It was a nice afternoon! Minding her own business and leaving the plants is still being worked on. But heeling and paying attention to Kristi, most of the time, is great!

Photo op with the tree.

Another photo op with the tree and Sue.

Working on here up.

Where in the World has Anschutz Been?

We just got home from a month long road trip. Anschutz and Kristi went to Washington, KS to Denver, CO, onto Kansas City and back to Washington, KS. In that month Anschutz has grown and learned a lot!

We stayed at the duplexes at KSDS for PUPS Days.

Down & Under at PUPS Days

Sleeping with sister, Danforth at PUPS Days.

They have buildings named Anschutz in CO, too!

At Aunt Ally's.

Going to get spayed.

At the hotel before Zinfandel's graduation.

Stayed at the hotel while Kristi and Lee went to meet Barb.

Announcing KSDS, Inc. Team #503!

This past weekend we were blessed to meet one of the newest KSDS, Inc working teams, Barb and "Zinny". That's right, Zinfandel has graduated!! She and Barb live in Overland Park, KS, with Barb's retired service dog, Timon. We look forward to keeping in touch with Barb and Zinny.

Anschutz May Just Have It

This morning I had a medical procedure that has left me hobbled up. I limped over to the door to let Anschutz out. She came right up alongside me to get dressed (put her leash on) and sat immediately at the door. She waited while I slowly stepped out and off the doorstep then gave the command follow. She followed very gently and kept looking up at me looking for cues. Was she going to fast? Was it ok to keep walking? When she started across the driveway, I told her no (she was heading to her normal hurry up spot), she turned looked at me and I commanded hurry up and she used the small piece of grass right at my feet. As soon as she was praised she came right up along me and heeled back to the door where she sat and waited until I lifted myself up the step and through the door. She patiently set while I took her leash off. I'll be well soon, but this little dog just might truly get the need to be attentive and look for cues/commands when someone is depending on her. Two years is a long ways away, but this is a bright spot in my day, today!

Future Facility Dog?

We headed to our friend's for dinner, last night. A very good thing, as we miss them and they have two young daughters. Anschutz is so excitable around people, that we need as much training in greeting nicely and behaving well in other's homes. After a few minutes of wildness, things calmed down and turned into a great evening.

Reading about colors.

A whole book on poop, I'm pooped, goodnight.

First Outing in Cape

Anschutz recevied her cape, last Saturday. We had been to PetSmart, while waiting for the cape, a couple of times for some distraction and store training, but they were really short sessions. Sunday, we decided to take her to a football party. For her first outing, in cape, she did pretty well. She heeled well, watched Kristi and followed most of her commands. She doesn't greet well. She isn't inclined to sit before saying hi and gets very wiggly when people approach her. But we'll keep working on it. Off to Home Depot this afternoon!

Still Waiting for Cape So We Head to PetSmart for Training

Down/Stay

Ignoring Cat Food

Down/Stay in the Dog Food Aisle

Another Weekend of Visitors

Anschutz has had so many visitors, this month. Someone has been here 22 of the last 30 days. What fun for this little puppy. She received her last round of boosters, last Friday, so it was time to take to the water for the first time. What fun to not be stuck on the boat, but to get out of the boat, into the lake!

First time in the water!

Heading to shore!

It's great to cuddle with company, on the boat, after all that swimming!

Hanging out with company

Lovin' summer!

Enjoying another boat ride!

Anschutz will be getting her last set of boosters on Friday and is hoping to get her cape soon after. It'll be so much fun to start training in public!

Have I Grown in a Week?

Anschutz Goes Fishing

We went "Up North" to go on a fishing trip. Anschutz had lots of first experiences, including walking on floating docks with big gaps between the boards, riding in a boat and learning to leave it on all those wonderful smells. She did great and had a blast, as did we.

First time on the boat.

What's wrong with this picture?

Riding around a boat all day can be tiring. 

Keeping Kristi warm.

It's chilly out this morning.

Bath time back at home.