tomorrow is the day.

Tomorrow, Mango goes back to Leader Dogs. I'm very, extremely emotionally charged. I feel like I'm giving away my child, but I know he's going to help out someone in need. I just cannot imagine life without him, now that I've dedicated so much time to him all year long.

I guess I'd like to reflect on my year. We've had alot of struggles, but, conversely, many successes. Both of us have grown tremendously. I have grown up alot and learned responsibility to a much higher degree than most kids my age. There were many times that I wanted to go and hang out with friends or to spend the night at an aunt's house, or something even as simple as wanting to take a quick nap because I was bored; but because of my little Mango, I had more than myself I had to think about. I had to consider his needs. I couldn't stay after school, I had to go home and take out Mango and feed him. When in the store, I learned how to talk and interact with strangers. Not only did I have to worry about homework and my job but I had to make sure he was entertained and well behaved, on top of his daily training. All in all, it was truly like raising a baby.

He has also become a much different dog than when I first picked him up almost a year ago. He has learned many commands, how to behave, how to act around people. But, perhaps most importantly, he has learned how to not only receive, but to give love to all around him. Anyone that has met Mango has been loved by him unconditionally from the moment they met. He's not the most perfect dog in the world (he still gets excited easily and likes to jump on people) but he has a heart of gold. I'm going to miss his love.

When my grandfather died a month ago, Mango was there for me the entire time. He understood that there was something hurting me, and he was there. From the little things like being careful and much more well-behaved (not to mention being quiet, a rare thing for him) to just sitting with me and kissing me on the arm. I will never forget him for that.

All night, my family and I have been hanging on him; petting him, rolling on the floor with him, scratching his favorite spot. We've taken many pictures, given him lots of love. I've even taken some video of him playing with his favorite toy -- a metal bowl, funnily enough -- but he can tell something is wrong, so he's not paying much attention to it. Here's a small sample of what we've got; I'll upload the rest at a later date. I need to spend time with Mango<3

Now it's time for him to go and make someone's life wonderful.


for any questions about what happens to returning leader dogs and the process in general, see [link]

I love you, Mango.

guess what mango did again!

But I didn't do it, mom!

This time, we were at Big Boy's. Once again, he was being too still and quiet for it to be true. Now, two or three months after the first time he did it, he's done it again!

I'm not sure what exactly is the cause of this behavior. Is it because he's a lab? Or because of some destructive behavior I have taught him? Boredom? Because he's not fixed and he's young?

Whatever the cause, I'm truly at a loss. They have never mentioned chewing being a specific "bad behavior" at any puppy classes I've been to, so they obviously aren't too worried about it. It's probably a fairly normal behavior that isn't too difficult to fix.

However, he is destroying alot of my property. Just this past week, it seems as if he's getting worse. He's chewed up my favorite bra, several pairs of underwear, two stuffed animals, a fuzzy pen, and somehow he got into my dog's rope toys and destroyed all three of them (as in, ripped them in half and spread the innards).

In any case, if you find your puppy taking something that isn't theirs, here is the best approach;
-Take the item away calmly.
-Don't say anything to the puppy in the process. This is giving them attention - you mind as well be handing them a piece of food.
-Scold yourself for having something puppy-acessable in the first place. If it isn't able to be reached, it wouldn't have been destroyed in the first place.

more nostalgia!

I was looking through my things, clearing out my phone memory, and I stumbled upon some old videos I had of Mango doing the CUTEST things as a puppy!


Mango, roughly three months old, playing with his toys! Believe it or not, he's still that rough, even with how big he is today.

Actually, here is a photo of him by that same chair. I just took this photo. It is AMAZING how much he has grown in just a few months!




Mango chasing his tail, about four months old. Again, he STILL does this! Although, not quite as much as he used to, because now his body is too long for him to be able to reach his tail.

mango's bath

Earlier this week, Mango went for a bath at the local dog wash. He's had baths in the tub before, but I would always let him outside to dry. Seeing as its getting colder outside, I don't really feel comfortable letting him outside when he's wet. The dog was has a doggy drier (basically just a big hose that blows air), so I decided to go here.

Although Mango loves water (he always loves getting in the shower with me and playing in his pool outside) he didn't really like this one. The hose with the water was designed similarly to an industrial hose at a restaurant, and I think the water pressure was a little too high for him. He doesn't normally like baths at home either, though, so its not really a surprise.

chasing the cat and other behaviors

I have noticed a number of behavior issues I have noticed with Mango I thought would have gone away with age but have not so far. The first, and perhaps worst, is his obsession with the cats in our home. We have three, and all are very social. Ever since Mango was little, we always kept gates up so that the cats could have a place to be where he isn't. We have started to take the gates down now that hes older, but we still need to keep at least one up because he continues to misbehave around the cats. Their food and their litter box are in opposite directions in our house because of the layout, so they have to intersect the area where he is in order to get to either.

Whenever he sees a cat, he drops whatever he is doing to go and chase down the cat. He used to play really rough, but he has learned to be gentle (somewhat). Instead of biting he nudges with his nose, but Mango is by no means gentle. Kitties are similar to squirrels and other outside animals, which he needs to learn to avoid in order to be successful. This is why I'm so concerned.

He also still has a problem with walking on a loose leash! He's close, but still doesn't quite get it.

The other major behavior problem is STILL house training. He understands that he needs to go outside, but sometimes cant hold it! And this is for both peeing and pooping. Unless he gets taken out every hour or so, he still has accidents. Leader Dogs recommends I just fulfill this, but its not working at all. Im not sure what to do.

Wal-Mart

Earlier in the week, Mango and I took a trip to the local Wal-Mart to get some groceries, and it went fairly well. We got to work on him interacting with other people and pulling. He still has a definite problem with pulling to get to see people, and just being fast-paced in general.

This trip went fairly normal in these regards, but I met a lady after I went through the check-out that approached me about Mango. She asked me the usual questions; what kind of dog is he, what is he being trained for, how old, ect. But then she asked me a few somewhat unusual questions.

She told me about her Sister, who has a problem with having frequent seizures. She told me that she had done some research, and heard about helper dogs who could sense when their owners were at risk of having one. She asked me for more information. Although I couldn't provide much, I explained to her briefly the difference between a Leader Dog and a dog with which she was describing.

"A Leader Dog is specifically trained to guide blind and visually impaired people. The act as "eyes", so that their owner can carry out day-to-day activities such as shopping, going to school and even something as simple as going for a walk. The type of dog that you are describing is a PAWS Dog, who do help people with frequent seizures and other illnesses such as severe asthma and whatnot."

I referred her to Paws With A Cause. If you are interested in learning more, follow the link.

Also, do not confuse with Paws for a Cause, the one-mile long dog walk benefit to cancer research.

staying at pattie's (2)

I've been back from Pattie's for a few days now, but I didn't cover hardly anything else besides the pool in my last post!

When the dogs weren't playing in the pool, they were playing inside of the house. Their house is bigger than mine by a long shot, but no house is big enough for 700lbs worth of dog to run through! Being young, Mango and Ginger would run around, knock things over, and in general roughhouse. The biggest thing to note for Mango, though, is how much I saw he is able to make decisions. Mango, being a Leader Dog, is not allowed up on any type of furniture. The other four, however, were all allowed up on whatever they want. So when Ginger and Mango would play,Ginger would jump up on the couch -- but Mango, no matter how excited, wouldn't!

This doesn't have much to do with Mango, but it is worth mentioning anyways. The two little dogs, Jack and Chloe, each escaped once during the week. The first time, Chloe simply slipped out of her collar. Pattie's house is right behind Cheryl's (the owner of Jack and Chloe, my Leader). The funniest thing happened; Chloe went right back home when she escaped, as did Jack, who slipped under the gate in the pool. It just goes to show you how smart dogs are.

staying at pattie's

This week, my old Girl Scout Leader and Co-Leader's family are going on a vacation, so a friend and I were asked to watch their house, and their dogs, for the week. THIS HAS BEEN SO DIFFICULT! My friend has been gone a good portion of the time that I am home, and there are five dogs to watch. Mango, Ginger, a year-old hyperactive brown lab, Guinness, a HUGE black lab that looks more like a horse than a dog, and Jack and Chloe, two little yapper dogs. First of all....THREE LABS! In a house, most of the time by myself! Plus, they don't have a fenced-in backyard, so whenever I want to take them out to play it is in their in-ground pool, which, thankfully, is fenced-in.


Now, the pool. Mango has played with hoses and kiddie-pools before, sure. But this pool is 9 feet deep in the deep-end, 4-feet deep in the shallow. His first experience with this pool is something I will never forget.

Ginger loves this pool. You throw a ball or any toy in, and she jumps right after it, retrieves it, and comes right back out either through a ladder by the deep end or steps in the shallow. Mango loves playing with Ginger. So, the first time I brought them in to play, Mango was a bit cautious of the pool, but when he saw Ginger jump in and me encourage it, he thought it was fine. He didn't realize it was deep, though! So the poor guy jumps -- or more like falls -- into the pool, and because he doesn't know how to swim, he freaks out and flails around, trying to keep his head above water. I didn't have a bathing suit on at the time, so I had to jump into the pool myself and help the poor guy out.

After that, it was hard getting him to like the water. The next time, a couple days afterwords, ( I wasn't yet staying at their house when this first time happened, I was meeting with my Co-Leader) he was very hesitant about the water. I had my suit on, and my best friend was with me as well, and him and I were in the water, with Ginger and all of the other dogs in the pool with us, coaxing him in. When that didn't work, my friend scooped him up like a baby and just held him in the water. When he seemed fine with that, we allowed him to "swim" (we still had his torso, holding him up).

It was a slow process, but by today he's loving the water. Slowly, with enough coaxing, we got him used to climbing down the ladder and swimming in the shallow end (at first, he didn't know how to swim. He would try and touch the bottom of the pool, not trying to hold his back end up at all. Eventually, he figured out how to stay afloat and actually swim.). Next, he would kind-of jump in, kind-of climb down the steps to retrieve a ball just out of his reach. Then when he got more confident, he'd jump in off the side in both the shallow and the deep end. Now, after progressing from that, whenever I jump in (regardless of whether or not I have a toy) he jumps in too, just for the fun of it.

I have big scratches on me from him jumping in on top of me! At least we helped him conquer his fear; that's what good leader dogs do!

garage sale!

Being summer it is garage sale season! There was a big benefit garage sale going on that a family friend was sponsoring (with some of our stuff in it, too) and Mango and I camped out there all weekend (Thurs, Fri, Sat), which explains why I'm a bit late on the blog this week.


the sale!

Over the course of the weekend we worked on loose-leash heeling, greeting strangers and in general staying as calm as a puppy can be. He is improving, but slowly. The biggest problem I am finding with him is with greeting people. Every time someone goes to walk up to him, he jumps up and tries to get all over them, lick their hands (he used to bite D:) and in general get their attention. I've tried telling him to leave-it, make the person approaching him walk away (taking the 'treat' away) and completely removing him altogether, but it isn't seeming to work.

And it's not just when he's sitting down, either. We can just be walking along and someone will be walking as well and, like a magnet, he'll veer off towards them. He's gotten better, to the point where he can recover quickly, but nonetheless this is one of his new biggest behavioral issues (besides chewing inappropriately.) This is another one of those things I never would have thought of before going to raise a leader puppy.

fun in the backyard

Now that Mango is getting older, we often have him and our dog, Lance, play outside together. Because he's a young, energetic puppy and the July heat is relentless, we have a kiddie pool out back (we got the idea from the puppy event we went to!) And, needless to say, he loves it. Whenever we get outside, the first thing he does and goes to get his favorite toy, a big orange bucket, and proceeds to lay down in the pool, dirtying it up with his muddy puppy feet.

The other day, my Mom was out back watering the yard and discovered Mango's new favorite toy; the hose!



Now we can't even hope of using the hose while he's outside. Wherever you point the hose at, he immediately runs after it. He's definitely a water dog!

One point to mention on this issue as a warning; he did find that if he chews the hose and gets a hole in it, water comes out of two spots, making it twice as fun! Now I have to replace my mom's 25$ hose because he wanted to have a good time. Perhaps too much fun wasn't necessarily a good thing.

eating his leash

So a couple days ago, my best friend and I decided to go to a movie together, and what better time to expose Mango to sitting calmly than at a movie theater? Little did we know, maybe it was too soon for this energetic puppy to be expected to sit through all of Toy Story 3 without causing a mess!

Walking into the theater was a bit challenging, because Mango kept pulling to see whomever was closest. It didn't help when they would run up to him saying "Oh what a cute puppy! Come here, puppy!" either. Somehow, we managed to walk into the door without too much hassle. Once inside, I had to constantly look at the floor and remind him to 'leave it' because of all of the popcorn and candy on the floor! This was excellent practice, and he did fairly well for all of the distractions.

The movie was amazing. This being true, I didn't check up in Mango as often as I should have. I was quite surprised that he was doing as well as he was; no noises, fairly stationary, no messes on the floor. When we got up to leave, both of us were, well, not surprised. When we entered the theater, we had a four foot leash. Leaving, we had a six inch leash. The craziest part was not that he chewed through the leash, however; it was that the leash was completely gone! For days afterwords we waited for him to get sick, and even called the vets ahead of time to give them a heads-up. He never got sick, however! Lab puppies sure do have a resilient stomach!

going down stairs

Stairs have always been a huge problem with Mango. A couple weeks into our adventure with Mango, I brought him over to a friend's house to climb up the stairs. At my house, the stairs are really steep and linoleum, too slippery for little puppy feet. In contrast, the stairs at his house were carpeted and gradual, a much better first experience. Even though they were short, they were still taller than Mango by several inches. Going up them was hard, but was nothing compared to going down! He complained a little bit, but in general was okay with the 'up' part. When we turned around to come back down the stairs, the poor puppy stopped dead in his tracks. I tried to coax him down with me by his side, but he still wouldn't move. Still holding on to the leash, I walked to the bottom (four whole steps) and everyone there made as much noise as possible to encourage him to follow me and come down. He tried and tried, but couldn't make it down by himself. I had to pick the little guy up and carry him down the stairs. They were just too tall for him!

We continued to work at it, every time successfully going up but failing to come down without me carrying him. A couple weeks after our first attempt, after Mango put on a couple more inches, we tried once again. He was just tall enough to be able to go up the stairs without it becoming an adventure, and with enough coaxing in loud, excited, high-pitched voices (and plenty of "good boy"-s) he made it down all by himself! From that moment on, he was climbing stairs like no tomorrow.


just an eye-breather from all this text :D Mango and I at the local breakfast joint, Bryan's. We frequent there so often we get a discount just for bringing him in!

That is, until he got his eye on the linoleum stairs. These stairs were much steeper, as well as there being many more of them. With the same process of him having to grow taller, more brave, and lots of coaching, he eventually made it up. Once again, going down was a different story. When he was four months old, he was finally big enough to be able to traverse these stairs. It took him and I about 45 minutes to get down the stairs, with us going down every one sideways. (They were too steep to go down headfirst...too scary!) Every time going down took less and less time, until he could make it down all by himself. Now, we have to put a gate up to keep him from going down and messing with the laundry.

The last and final obstacle for Mango as far as stairs was when my friend moved to a new house. As soon as you walked in the doorway there was a long stair-case that led to the basement. Although these stairs were about as steep as the carpeted stairs, they were linoleum, led to a dark and unknown place, and had no backing! Once Mango got a good look down those stairs, he was scared out of his mind. Whenever we walked into the house, he would hardly go past the doorway because he could see the basement, and was afraid of the stairs. It took him until he was about six or seven months old to be able to go down these, with the same coaching and love as before. Only this time, going up was the problem. Previous to this, he would go up by pushing his paw to the very edge of the step. Now, he would fall through the back! He had to re-learn his entire strategy for climbing up stairs in order to clear this obstacle.

Although all this took time and some TLC, it was worth it for Mango to be able to do his job. Its the little things that you wouldn't realize are scary for puppies (like stairs)!

more memories!

All the way back in February, just a month after we picked him up, Mango got a little bump on his bottom eye-lid. When looking through some old pictures, I stumbled on this....


The picture of Mango after he came back from the vet's.

The doctors came to the conclusion that he was probably scratched by a cat. (We have three at home.) The poor puppy, it looked so bad! They ended up lancing his eye, it was simply a swollen gland. I was so worried that it was going to make my leader dog blind!

And poor puppy, this wasn't his last trip to the vet, either. Because of this incident, I was scared to death they weren't going to let me take Mango back after he was sick the second time!

I'm also going to take this opportunity to show how much he''s grown since February.


Mango about 5 seconds ago! I pulled out the old gate as comparison.


Mango in April. He was about 5 and a half months old.

nostalgia :)

The following is another post re accounting for my experiences with Mango before I started keeping this blog.

When Mango was about four months old, him and I had a week-long sleepover at a friend's house. Up to this time there were inconsistencies in his training at my house due to several factors, but this was not a problem over here. Mango got alot of very much needed intensive training, and in this short period of time he learned 'sit' much better, he learned 'down', and 'come' became alot more consistent as well. Also, we took on alot of training to curb his habit of biting. We tried several methods, but the one we found the most helpful is as follows:

Treat the puppy as his mother would treat him. For example, squeal when his mouth touches your skin and pull away, ignoring him. All he wants is attention, so when he figures out that biting deprives him of this, he will start to stop biting.

Continue to do this for longer and longer. If it is not working (which with Mango, this was the case most of the time) get up and walk away completely.

If this still is not working, 'growl' at him by scolding in a very deep voice. If anything, he will get the hint by knowing that you're angry with his behavior.

Another thing I learned during this time was a way to curb his eating so quickly. Probably due to the fact that he's a hungry boy whose only fed 3 times a day, whenever he went to eat he gobbled his food down so fast I was afraid he would hurt himself or throw up (which he sometimes did!)
The way I slowed down this bad habit was by feeding him his bowl of food by hand. Not only did this help him to slow down, but it re-established my authority as 'pack leader'.
i also would pour his food onto the floor, so that he would be forced to slow down with his eating. This was not as effective, however, because it also caused him to scramble to eat his food so that my other dog wouldn't eat it. I don't recommend this as being an effective strategy for curbing this behavior.
As he's gotten older, he has slowed down A LOT. I don't know if this is due to what I mentioned above or simply because he has matured, but whatever the case these strategies did help to some extent.

The family that we stayed with is ALWAYS on the move. Because we were always out and about, when we got home Mango was exhausted and only wanted to sleep. (This is also the week I learned that a tired puppy is a happy puppy :D) We had a lot of adventures, including going to a doctor's office, a dance studio, up stairs (because they don't want him going up an escalator), elevators, many, many different restaurants, strange houses, parks, play-dates with other puppies, and way too many more to mention.

The biggest adventure we had was at the library. The owner of the house we were staying at (and also the biggest help with Mango and his training!) is a teacher at an elementary school in Rochester. We took an evening and actually visited the library. Because it was vacant (it was a vacation), we allowed Mango to run around inside. This library is HUGE, mind you. This may seem juvenile now when compared to the progress Mango has made, but he would actually COME and STAY when called! He got the chance to run around inside and play with his toys, and he didn't pull any books off of shelves or any other bad behavior. This was towards the end of our stay, and the progress that he showed in that single evening was absolutely amazing. That night he also got to go up in an elevator, and we also practiced loose-leash walking.

Memorial Day Parade!

I realized that I never posted anything about our adventure at the Memorial Day parade this year! Every year our community throws a parade for this very important date, and it is the biggest parade of the year. There were fire trucks, horses, lots and lots of cars, and people throwing candy, which he very happily 'left it' for me. It was so very scorching hot that day, we got very creative with ideas for how to drink water.

Mango did very, very well with behaving. This includes listening to my 'leave it' when the kiddies were throwing candy, sitting pretty for pictures and standing when I wanted publicity for Leader Dogs. Although we didn't walk in the parade, he did wear his jacket and quite a few people asked me about the Leader Dog program. Many were impressed when they saw how tolerant he was of the firetrucks that went by with their lights and signals on, as well as loud motorcycles and other distractions that normally would have startled a dog. This is one of Mango's biggest strengths; being tolerant to loud, frightful noises. He was also very calm around the horses that walked in the parade, one such distraction I was afraid he would be uneasy about.

It was an amazingly hot day, which made this hard for both him and I to sit on the side of the road with no shade, but somehow we did it! In general, Mango did extremely well. It was great exposure time for him and loud noises, and he fared amazingly. He's growing up so fast!

general information

It's been too long since I posted last. Just too many things going on in life right now besides Mango...he's becoming much more well behaved, so there's overall less to say about him.

One new thing I noticed is that, for some reason, he is much more well behaved when out somewhere besides at home. When going outside to park, he quite often pulls and it takes fifteen minutes just to walk a couple feet because hes so excited. In contrast, when at Borders just yesterday, he walked perfectly fine just like any other dog! I'm not entirely sure why this is or any possible fixes.

Another thing about him is his intelligence. I always would have thought a smart dog would be easier to train than a less sharp animal, but I'm finding that it's quite the opposite. He knows how to sneak into his food bag and when it's most conveinent for him to listen, and he understands how its easier to get away with bad behavior when I'm frustrated. He also knows that I am more likely to give him treats than any other person, and that its easier to get away with things. Although I try and instruct others how to act around him, alot of the times they don't listen, and it's detrimental to his training. This is another thing I never would have expected.

But overall, Mango is doing amazing for his age! He's calmed down alot, but is still a puppy. He's started to counter-surf, but because he understands "leave-it", as long as you catch him in the act he stops. I need to pick up on his training drastically now that school is out. I need to correct his problem of not listening and get him used to being calm (another huge problem with him when he is around other people or animals). He's improved with our cats, chasing them less now (which is good, considering his jaws are so strong he could probably break their necks!).

Patience and perserverence and time are the three keys to raising a puppy, something I'm finding very difficult to do.

Playdate

Sunday, I took Mango to one of his monthly requirements. Instead of going with what I always have, to my puppy counselor's obedience class, I took him to a puppy play date instead. It was a BLAST! Mango and I both had a lot of fun. At the peak of the whole thing, there was probably 18 to 20 dogs there, all of them playing with each other. Mango found a new best friend, named Jackie, who actually lives in the same town as me!
I got feedback from the puppy counselor as to his behavior, and she was very encouraging. Mango had a great time playing with the other dogs, and was actually really gentle around the little puppy that was there. All in all, I was very impressed with his behavior and it was an amazing experience.

Now, on to pictures!


Mango and Jackie


They had an entire pool filled with ice, which was great because it was very hot and sunny that day. It was just a kiddie pool, but the dogs could both lay in it and eat the ice. Ice is one of Mango's favorite treats, and he fell in love with the pool! There were a couple other dogs more aggressive than Mango that kept taking the pool as theirs, which is how I learned that Mango is much more submissive that I had earlier thought, which is great for Leader Dog training.


Mango playing with some of the other dogs at the event.


Mango playing with the second youngest puppy. He was actually fairly gentile, and that puppy put up with his crap really well! He played with this puppy almost as much as Jackie. She actually reminded me alot of Mango when he was a puppy.



Mango was really enjoying that pool of ice. I really need to get him one, he LOVED it.


Mango and I making a paw-print stepping stone. It was super special, and something I didn't even expect!


We just finished with his paw print. It was really hot, and he just wanted to be out of there!

photos

Mango's getting bigger!

I haven't posted anything about Mango this month...and I'm due for some new pics! Life has just been so busy lately...


Chillin'.


Almost seven months old already, and still growing!

This is one thing I had never expected. Mango is just so much work. I'm finding it hard enough to keep my sanity and to accomplish everyday tasks, let alone update the blog. But it's not his fault, he's just a puppy. He has a lot of energy, and we can't let him play in the backyard anymore because he can't eat whatever plant got him sick. Thus, the poor guy has to live with being inside (with the exception of when he's out in stores or playing over at his best friend Lucy's house~!) without eating the cat or ripping around the house like a mad man. Boy oh boy, it's tough being a dog.

Anyways, Mango hasn't really been making any spectacular progress. My dad came home, and him being the goofball he is he thinks it's okay for Mango to pull on the leash, eat the cat, run around unattended...he doesn't understand that our dog Lance lives by different rules than Mango. Although it did reverse some of Mango's training, he's doing okay. I'm just going to say that consistency is key. It is so much easier for you AND the dog for everyone to live by the same rules.

If you are looking to raise a Leader Dog of your own, from my own experiences I have found that it is much, much easier to raise a puppy with yourself and mayyybe one other person training the dog than trying to have four or five people raise him. It is true that it takes a village to raise a child, but not a leader puppy. If there's anything I've learned, its to keep everything consistent. It is so much quicker and easier, and the more people training the dog, the harder this is to achieve.


Mango visited an elementary school this past Friday! He visited my cousin's second-grade classroom. The kids were so funny, they all wanted to tell me about their dogs. They really behaved wonderfully, however. As did Mango. He behaved amazingly around the kids! He let them pet him and they each got to make him sit, lay down, and catch a treat. He was amazingly calm for a six-month-old puppy (almost seven months old now!).

Mango is calming down noticeably. When he is calm, he is the best dog anybody could ask for. I think that his main problem is the fact that he's not permitted to be fixed, so many of his thoughts are elsewhere. He's distracted and jumpy unless he's had several hours of intense physical activity. It is my firm belief that he would behave so much better if he were fixed.

Well, his ability to be calm even with his handicap is something to be admired. Despite the many obstacles he's facing, I think he's going to make a great Leader Dog.

a look into the past

I am going to start documenting Mango's life (as much as I can remember!) from before I started posting in this blog. Below is the day I picked him up, his second day with us, and his first time up the stairs.

PICK-UP DAY
Today my mom and I took a trip to Rochester to pick up the puppy. We came up with some names beforehand.
Mango
Bean
Pancake
Apple

The two of us had to sit through paperwork and a quick explanation with one of the workers before we could even see him. He's seriously the smallest puppy I've ever seen...10 pounds, seven weeks old. He's a pudge-ball and has an EXTREMELY wrinkly face. For the most part, he's slept all day. He spent the entire car ride home whining and crying, but once he got in the house he was pretty good. It's his first day away from his mom and his brothers and sisters, so of course he's going to cry, poor baby. I had to puppy-proof my room, picking up boxes and anything at all on the floor besides furniture. He's getting into more things than I had anticipated.

I'm exhausted. That dog is tiring! (I never would have guessed how much more exhausting he would become!)
-His name is Mango! It's been decided.

SECOND DAY
I primarily took care of Mango yesterday, but my mom took care of him while I was at school. I came home and she was sleeping, exhausted. The puppy was in his crate, haha.

-Mango went for his first walk today! It was only to the end of our street and back, a distance of about 100 feet. He was scared, crying once we got away from the house. I didn't want to make him scared of walking, because that's one of the things Leader Dogs warns. Don't ever make him do something he's not ready for, or he will be afraid of it forever. I'm just anxious to get started, I don't want to wait!
-I've also found that homework is really, really hard to do when you have to worry about watching a puppy.
-He's already starting to recognize his name, and we're beginning with the concept of "come". He's starting to get it.
-Mango also had his first outing! We went to McDonalds for dinner. Luckily we were the only people there, so I didn't have to worry about other people scaring him. (back then, I let people pet him because they had said it was okay. When he started to get unruly and jump at people because he wanted to be pet, I had to stop. Don't make the same mistake I did; I think it contributed to his habit of becoming excited when people are around, even when he's not on the leash.) He was VERY well behaved...slept on my feet the entire time we were eating. It helped that he was exhausted when we left, though!

STAIRS
We've had Mango for four or five days now, I don't recall. But over this small span of time, he's experienced a lot of new things.
-gives us signs when he has to park
-MUCH better at walking on a leash
-sits while I prepare his food, although he doesn't quite stay sitting when I put his bowl down. He's too excited.
-doesn't cry n his crate at night.
Overall, he's getting used to being here. He's much better than I had expected! (I stated this too soon! He was too young to get into a lot of trouble. If you've never had a puppy, they don't start to become a puppy until three or four months.)

Mango walked up his first set of stairs today. They were carpeted, and there were only seven, but they were taller than he is! He cried a little when he had to come down, I think he was scared. But with encouragement and praise, he did it all by himself! His little tail was wagging the whole time.

growing up

From the first moment I picked Mango up, I had people telling me that he would never quite grow up, that once he reached maturity (six, seven months old) that he would become unruly. Their reasoning stems from the fact that Leader Dog puppies aren't allowed to be fixed. All puppies are potential breeding stock, so they don't let any be fixed until they come back to the facilities once his year in foster care is up.

Personally, I have found the exact opposite to be true. Mango has been fantastic, calming down substantially. It was last Tuesday when I first noticed the change. We opened up our living room, because we felt with him being older and done teething, he would be less likely to chew the cords or destroy the furniture. And you know what? We were right. Now we can trust him without having to worry that he'll run off with a shoe, because even if he does you can call him back and he'll give it to you without a problem. He tends to have less accidents in the house, and rarely goes off running around like a madman. Although he still has problems trying to get at the cats, saying "leave it" results in him leaving them alone and coming to you instead.

Most of the major frustrations have gone away. He's stopped trying to dash and get away from things; he's realizing his place as a member of the family, but he still has to listen. He comes every time you call him, and although he still has troubles being perfectly consistent, all that can be fixed from more work with him. He still tries to jump on people, which is a BIG problem, however I will admit that I haven't been working with him as stringently as I should be. Besides this, however, he's being really amazing.

Although he still tries to eat small things like erasers, he's much, much better at giving these things up. I'm not sure if everyone in the house finally clicked to become totally consistent or if he just grew up, but whatever the case he's becoming amazingly well behaved. His loose-leash walking has hardly any problems, and he doesn't bite or bark anymore. He's finally becoming a Leader Dog.

Mango is better!

So the vet held him over the weekend. From Friday until Monday morning. The vet diagnosed that something that he ate gave him a stomach ulcer. Mango came back Monday evening, the same puppy only with medicine who eats three times a day except two. I have to say, I don't think I've ever had a longer weekend in my life.

It was different, definitely. I got a little glimpse into what it's going to be like when Mango is gone, which only made me realize how attached I've grown to him over the past few months. The house was very quiet, and it was strange not having to take him out to park. Having him gone brought to my attention how much time he really takes, and how my family and I have change to accommodate for him. Between trips outside to not having a buddy to walk through the grocery store with you, Mango has really become a huge part of everyone's lives. Raising these puppies is an amazing thing; it is a truly wonderful experience.

Not much has come along with training, seeing as Mango was sick much of the week, and not with us. As always, he's maturing, meaning that he's much more consistent with what I tell him to do, but much less malleable as far as new training. For example, I got a late start with his "around" command, in which he goes around the blind person from the left to the right side. This is used when traveling through doors, mainly. Although he can sit, lay down, sit back up, heel, leave-it, and loose-leash walk (almost) fine, and he learned these quickly when he was younger, he's having trouble learning new things. He's not old, he's just a "teenager" dog. He's distracted, and has a hard enough time retaining old information to learn new stuff.

In general, things with Mango are going great. Nothing out of the ordinary, besides his illness. He's a great dog.

Speaking of which, he's a dog! He fits into his jacket now (as compared to a bandana), and he looks like an adult in it. Oh, how the time flies!

sick puppy (cont.)

Mango's condition worsened considerably...he's was throwing up consistently for several hours, so much so that we were worried that he would become dehydrated. We had him outside until it became dark outside, at which point we brought him inside and took turns sleeping on the floor with him. He's going to the vet's today, but we're unsure as to what they're going to do for him...we don't even know what caused him to get so sick in the first place. I did some research online, and the only plausible thing for a puppy his age to have would be something blocking his intestines. He probably ate something he shouldn't have, and now he's throwing up because of it.

The strange thing is, however, that until he got in his huge fit, he was perfectly fine when he wasn't throwing up. All night, however, he was acting very different...his condition is worsening.

I have been so worried for him...I have no idea what to do, I feel helpless.

sick puppy and training issues

Mango, six months old.

He's grown so much! It's amazing to compare the pictures of today to when I first got him and realize that they're of the same dog. Watching him grow up has certainly been something.


Well, Mango has been really sick. Yesterday, he woke me up at four A.M., because he had defecated in his cage. After I cleaned that up, he started to have diarrhea, and following the diarrhea he started to puke. He also escaped from his cage in the middle of all this when I was trying to fall back asleep...needless to say, I didn't get much sleep. Besides that, yesterday he showed no signs of being sick. His apparent sickness went away until today when I returned from school. For two or three hours he continually threw up. He puked on the floor twice and in his cage three times before I got the hint and went with him outside, where he dry-heaved for about an hour and a half.
I called Mango's vet at Leader Dogs, and they never returned my call. By the time I was starting to get frightened because of his sickness and I called Leader Dogs back, they closed for the day. They have an emergency line, but it is almost exclusively if your dog's life is in danger -- for example, if he swallows a piece of glass.
This strikes me as strange. I really think Leader Dogs should have some sort of emergency vet. Although his condition has improved a ton in the past few hours (although he is still throwing up), what if he was still throwing up? He could be in danger of dehydration. Emergency vets are a lot of money, and Leader Dogs would not refund us for any money we would have spent. Just a thought.

(Never mind, his condition just worsened. Now, he's throwing up blood.)

Besides this being sick episode, Mango has been doing very well. Well, mostly. He's started to really hit puberty, so things are actually starting to go backwards. For a while, he was making tremendous progress; he learned how to sit from laying down, and all of his commands are purely verbal (Leader Dogs wishes that their puppies be able to respond to commands without any hand signals). His loose-leash walking is improving, slowly. He doesn't bark.
However, he's almost starting to revert. At this point, I had expected he be housetrained and be able to walk well on a loose leash, and perhaps most importantly, that he not be biting any more. He has HUGE house-training issues (he very frequently urinates on the floor) and he bites quite frequently too. Another problem that is huge as pertaining to being a Leader Dog is that he gets super hyper and excited around any people. He jumps, he refuses to listen, and he tries to nip. Whatever I do, it doesn't seem to work.
The other day I went to a family gathering, and it took me almost twenty minutes to say hi to my family because he couldn't settle. This is one thing i am at a huge loss for. I make him sit, I have him stay sitting while people approach him, but he turns around and starts to jump. Anything I do, it has no effect.

My mind is currently with Mango, so I apologize if this seems...empty. I'll try and add more later.

Raising a puppy is harder than I thought.

loose-leash progress

Mango, after his first bath!

As I have mentioned before, one of the major problems Mango was having was his inability to walk on a loose leash. This was an obstacle for the two of us, especially recently because his pulling was making it difficult to walk with him because of his size. Leader Dogs suggests that you walk backwards, forcing the dog to go with you, instead of pulling on them, to make the dog look at you. I must say that I was very skeptical of this method at first, because it yielded no immediate results. However, Mango has made tremendous progress. In roughly a two-week time span, he has gotten the idea that "Hey, I can't go where I want to go, I have to follow her." In sum, he doesn't pull the leash while we're walking, for the most part. I'm still having troubles on getting him to settle down early in the morning when he hasn't been out for a while, or before he goes to eat. But any other time, he's pretty stellar.

Another problem he had was his barking. A leader dog has to be quiet and attentive to the owner, because s/he is acting as their eyes. Plus, a dog who has a tendency to be mouthy distracts others (for example, a movie theater). He would like to bark at others, which is a major issue. By squirting him with water with the purpose of startling him, he has pretty much stopped, which is awesome.

He's still easily distracted, going after dogs or people or simply skid marks on the floor, so that's another issue that needs to be addressed. So far, no new problems have surfaced with him. I think he's starting to calm down a lot. He's growing up, and I think that's helping. Plus, I'm starting to get the hang of things. When I used to get frustrated, I would let that emotion show and it would get Mango frustrated. It's finally hit me that yes, emotions DO travel down the leash to the dog. Now, instead of getting frustrated, I have much more patience with him and if he's being particularly difficult, I take a minute to calm down and make him do the same by sitting, so we all win.

a few outspoken individuals

One of the most important backgrounds for a leader puppy to have is a history of going to various public places. Generally, when I take Mango anywhere I get the usual questions, such as "How old is he?", "What is his name?", "What kind of dog is he?", or something to that effect.

However, sometimes a passerby reprimands my training methods. For example, just a few minutes ago I was walking through the store and a man approached Mango and I, making noises to try and catch the dog's attention. As he started to talk he asked questions, not unlike someone interested in him to do. I answered that he is almost six months old, and that he is a yellow lab being trained for Leader Dogs For The Blind. I was making leash corrections as I was walking, exactly how Leader Dogs instructed. It was then that the man started to express his disapproval for the way I was correcting him. He was making remarks like, "He's just an animal....He's practically an infant....Smelling stuff is part of his instincts", and telling us that what we were doing was wrong and "closer to animal cruelty than training a dog." Although my boyfriend who was with me at the time explained repetedly that it is part of his training, that he needs to pay attention to where he is walking because he is going to be leading a blind person one day, the man did not understand. He followed us to where we were going and even asked for "the number where you work". As much as we explained that he is a teenager in dog years, that he has been trained like this since he was two months old, and that he needs to be trained against his instincts with things such as sniffing the ground and jumping on people, he would not listen.

There was also another woman -- an actual employee at the same exact establishment -- just a week or two before that actually lectured me on how he was being raised. I had never before had a problem with entering this business, but the minute we walked in the woman asked to see my ID card and his tag to make sure that he is actually a leader dog. This in and of itself is expected, seeing as that is what I have the ID for, but she went so far as to tell me that they don't let dogs in until they are "at least six or seven months old." I have been bringing Mango into this store since he was just two months old, right after I first got him. But none of this is rude; as a matter of fact, it is their right. However, this isn't all.

The woman decided to tell me that he was a "horribly trained dog," and that he would surely not make it. She criticized the way that he was acting, the puppy having the same kind of behavior that the man today said should be fine. As I was going to leave the store, she stopped me again to further lecture me on what I was doing wrong. She stated that "he needs to be wearing a harness, not a collar" and "you need all of his paperwork with you." She explained that simply a bandanna is not enough, and expected him to have his actual harness. Firstly, these dogs do not receive these harnesses until they enter the second phase of training, when they are returned back to Leader Dogs. Secondly, they gave me the collar that he was wearing when I initially picked him up. When I tried to explain these things to her, she rolled her eyes at me and acted very impatient, and did not ever let me explain myself.

Whenever I tried to state my factual information, she would not let me speak. The man today had the same mindset. They both felt differently about how I was raising the dog, however they both had a "I am holier than thou" attitude.

These people are the reason that I created this blog. I want to inform the public about the things that a puppy raiser does and knows -- the Leader Dog way of raising a puppy for the blind.

Loose-leash walking problems

So last week I went to puppy class. When raising a leader puppy, you have to go to at least one social gathering as hosted by Leader Dogs themselves; a lot of people choose to go to the outings hosted by their assigned trainer, which is what I have been doing. She holds basic obedience classes, and this past class' focus was basically loose-leash walking, a fairly self-explanatory subject. Mango is the most headstrong dog that I have ever seen, therefore he has an extremely hard time with loose-leash walking. A little five lb puppy isn't that difficult to walk with even if they pull, but try imagining a 100lb dog pulling you whatever way he wants. In sum, it's pertinent to his career for him to be able to have this basic skill, and because of his hardheadedness, this has always been a problem for him, and I was reprimanded for his inability to be able to walk on a loose leash.

For the past week or so, I have been using Leader Dog's method for training loose-leash walking; every time the dog pulls, even if it is the slightest bit, you have to walk backwards until he starts to walk towards you. Now if your dog doesn't even have the slightest clue of what you're trying to do, like Mango, it takes roughly fifteen minutes to walk outside for him to be able to park (go to the bathroom). I have been struggling with this forever, and now it's even worse because he's older and set in his ways -- train your dog, whatever s/he is, when they are young, because it really is harder to teach an older dog new tricks! Regardless, although their method is working, progress is extremely slow, even though Mango is a very fast learner. In an entire week of being as consistent as possible, he is just now starting to get the idea. He definitely pulls less often, and when he does pull it takes a lot less time for him to correct himself.

But it's not just a learning process for him; it is for me as well. It takes a lot to train yourself to correct the dog the right way, as well as not to say "No" when he pulls. It is definitely takes a lot of patience as well to not completely lose it when he just isn't getting it in a particular day, which happens all the time.

This is definitely one of the things I never expected to have problems with when raising a leader dog, but it certainly is important. With this, the biting problems, as well as his barking issue, he's a handful. Plus, these are all issues that will fail him out of becoming a Leader Dog, which is the very last thing I want for him.

But he's getting better. Whether it's because he's maturing or I am as a raiser is questionable. He's learning very fast, but me, not so fast. It's funny how that works.

first post

I've had my puppy, Mango, for roughly three months to date. My time with him has been rewarding, but challenging to say the least. Raising a Leader Dog puppy has definitely been a very different experience than I had initially expected, however this is not to say that it has been something I have regretted doing. This program is so wonderful for those who need dogs like these, and I am so very happy I can help.

I realized somewhere along the line that I should share these experiences. As I said before, raising Mango has been a trip; I've hit obstacles while raising him that I would have never expected. Things such as simply the way that he's supposed to be trained, like the behaviors that are and are not acceptable, are completely different than I had imagined. His behavior at different points in his life has changed so much; right now he's a "teenager", and it's impossible to get him to do anything I want unless it involves food, in comparison to when he was just two months old when he would do anything without a problem.

Nevertheless, he's an amazing dog and an unforgettable friend. I hope that sharing this information will benefit someone somewhere, whether you're simply interested in the program, looking for a puppy yourself or looking into being a foster home for a Leader puppy.

Because this is my first post, I have some catching up to do. I'm going to alternate between the present and the past, documenting and reflecting on the developmental stages he and I have gone through together.

I love this dog so much.