Sassifactor: Week 4

This marks the 4th week since Sassy joined our family. What an eventful week it has been. We, with our fingers crossed, believe that Sassy is fully potty-trained, as we have not had an accident in over 2 weeks. (Really, it is her people who are now dog-reading trained, as we can now accurately (and timely) read the signs imminent to a doggy elimination.)

Jack and Sassy continue to grow closer, as do Vanessa, Josie and Colette. (Mike and I, too.)
Sassy seems to have learned that her family "job" is to be a friend to her boy, Jack. She has learned to remain calm when he is playing a little bit annoying to her. This week she remained in a calm sitting position while Jack played with a puppet in and around her face without nipping at the puppet or getting angry at Jack. It was a beautiful moment--too bad I couldn't grab the video camera at that time.

Sassy also succesfully learned to fetch this week! It's unbelievable how much more fun it is to play fetch when your dog actually "fetches" the ball and lets go when you ask! So much fun!

Sassy also scored her own "bling" this week. Is this not the cutest dog tag you've ever seen?

I now have another photography subject. She is learning to put up with Mommy's annoying photography habits as well. I will make her a good doggy model yet!

I love this pose:

Here's Sassy, giving me the Sassiest Vogue pose:

A bit of melodrama pose:

If I could photograph every single one of our hearts, you would find Sassy deeply planted inside of them, including Colette, who thoroughly enjoys the Sassy kisses her chubby little feet get on a regular basis.

North Star's Patty's Principals

Finally! As promised--Sassy Videos!

This is footage from the airport when we first met Sassy. It was a bit chaotic especially because we were in the baggage claim area. Sassy also was very stressed from her long trip from Connecticut. It was about 9:30 PM and so it was passed everyone's bedtime, too. (Note Josie)The other family in the airport video is from Beaverton. Their son received "Daizy" Sassy's half sibling.

Here is Jack, Vanessa and Sassy playing around. This video was taken probably about 2 weeks after we got Sassy. I can't remember when I took it.

This is Jack with Sassy just hanging out together. It was last week some time.

Lastly, this is Jack and Sassy yesterday. I think you can tell how comfortable they have become around each other.

Sassification: Week 2

It only gets better. Jack and Sassy are quickly becoming buds. Jack often tells her all the names of the various trains in Thomas the Train & friends. He also likes to sit and pet her while watching movies. The first thing he says when he gets off the school bus is: "Where's Sassy?"

I had my first puppy training class this week (sans dogs). Apparently, people need to be trained first. The training is held at social dog club in the Pearl District (http://www.lexidog.com/) and the classes are run by Portland Paws http://www.portlandpaws.com/index.html. It's unbelievable to see the amount of obscene spoiling going on with dog owners, but Lexi Dog is a hip and nice place (while it is very clean, it still is a bit smelly because it is also a doggy daycare) to take lessons. It makes me feel like I'm part of the Paris Hilton club of dog owners even though I can't carry Sassy in a Louis Vutton handbag. I guess if I am going through the pain (and fun) of puppy training, I might as well feel like a "hip" and "now" dog owner. That's hot.

I learned a couple of ways to adjust my current clicker training technique and it worked like a charm! I am looking forward to next week's class (with dogs) so I can learn more. The North Star Foundation is also providing a private trainer (who happens to be the teacher of our puppy kindergarten class) come to the house 3 times a month and 1 time in public to practice public access training. It's a lot of work, but I'm committed and motivated to have our little Sassy be the best service dog she can be. I know she'll make me proud.

We are very excited as Jack's speech therapy program at Portland State University has offered to incorporate Sassy into Jack's sessions next term! That will be very exciting to see. It will be a great learning experience for all.




Sassy and Josie are getting along better as well. Josie no longer cries and drops to the floor every time she sees her. They now seem to have a better understanding of each other. It's funny to watch them interact and see that they are becoming friends. Sassy already looks out for her and goes to her when she is crying or calling for help.

I will try to have video up soon. With the 4 kids and Sassy, its been tough for me to grab the video camera because I usually have Colette in one hand the entire day. It's a very chaotic dance I do, but, so far, I am making it work. (Which isn't to say that I don't need a glass of wine every now and again. (I type as I sip my glass of wine. It's yappy hour at our house.)) I will try to get some footage up from this weekend when Mike is around.

Until then...

One Week Later...

Wow! What a week! Sassy has been wonderful and has incredible potential. That said, we have a long way to go. I am still trying to get my bearings trying to manage 4 kids (especially nursing), a puppy, household matters, a part-time law practice, volunteering, chauffering and advocating for Jack. I think I am certifiably insane for taking on as much as I do, but I feel passionate about everything that I do and taking on too much is exactly what makes me who I am.

We've been working with Sassy to give us a "default sit"--where she sits EVERY time she approaches or is approached by a person, or when waiting for a treat, or when in doubt. She's at about 70-80% which is great. She needs to work on walking on a leash and not jumping on the kids. We start Puppy Kindergarten on March 12th, but in the meantime, we are trying to get some basics down.

Poor little Josie, at first, was so afraid when Sassy would approach her, she would drop to the floor cover her little face and cry. Sassy would think she wanted to play and essentially mount her and chew on her pigtails. While I know Sassy was not really hurting her, it was a bit of a disturbing site. Now, Josie goes right up to her and pets her, plays a version of fetch with her, and is not dropping to the floor any more. (Whew!)

Jack has been warming up to Sassy so much. He initially didn't want Sassy to approach him, but now he calls Sassy over to him. He is still a bit frantic around her, but she is doing really well with him and seems to know to be gentle around Jack and Josie.

Jack enjoys taking Sassy for a walk and feeding her. He also likes to tell her about all his trains and the movies he watches.

This past week was just the tip of the iceberg, we'll have more to come!

She's Here!

She's here!!!!! Sassy arrived safely at Portland International Airport last night. Unfortunately, her flight was delayed, so it made for an incredibly chaotic introduction and a very hasty exit for Patty (North Star Foundation founder) and her husband, Ron, who were delivering 2 pups: one to a family in Beaverton and one to us.

Sassy was very tired, very hungry, and VERY stressed when we met her, so it took some time to calm her down before we left the airport and also once we got home (understandibly so). She is a SUPER SOFT, SUPER CUTE, puppy with a fantastic disposition that clearly comes from her superior breeding at North Star. Here are some photos of her arrival:


Just a few minutes after meeting. Jack was very apprehensive, but excited to meet Sassy. Like he has demonstrated with other dogs, he prefers to observe from a distance before touching or directly interacting with the puppy. He handled the chaos of our greeting quite well, however, and agreed to take this photo with me as long as I held Sassy very tight. Sassy is a cuddle-bunny, and given how stressed out she was, she wanted to be cuddled tight, too.




This is Patty, North Star Foundation's founder and Sassy's breeder as well. She is also the mother of 4 and a son living with autism, but he's all grown up now and is currently attending college in the East.

Here's Sassy a bit after we arrived home. She was a very tired pup! She did quite well her first night here. As instructed, she spent the night in her doggy crate (dogs are "den" animals and by nature crave a place of their own--in her crate she will feel safe and will rest well). She did not whine or cry! She only had to be let out once during the night to eliminate.

Today, we dedicated the whole day to getting to know Sassy. We spent the morning just being with her, playing in the backyard and allowing her rest because she's still a pup and especially because she is still making a major adjustment. She appeared to be very comfortable in our home and seems to know that we are now her people. We also took a trip to Natural Pet Store NW, where she got a collar, some training treats and a lot of attention from the staff! There were a ton of dogs and their people in the store and Jack walked around saying: "Wow! Look at all the dogs!"

After our trip to the store, we headed to the park and let the kids play. Sassy sat at my feet and watched very relaxed. We then took a test walk around the park with the stroller. She was great, but definitely needs more leash training, especially with the stroller.

Here are some photos of this evening:
Vanessa took to Sassy right away. Since Jack is still somewhat hands-off Sassy, its great that Vanessa is so hands on. Josie likes Sassy, but is still scared to get near her when she is awake. Josie sneaks in petting when Sassy is sleeping.


Here's Vanessa, Sassy & Jack. As you can see, he's the furthest from her.

I did get him to pet Sassy, but as soon as she turned her head towards him, he backed off. But he really does enjoy petting her as long as she stays real still.

Here's Jack feeding Sassy.

Here's Jack brushing Sassy. He liked this because he didn't have to be too close to her to brush her since the brush gives him a few extra inches of length.

Here's Jack reading Dr. Seuss' ABC. Isn't that cute?

Here are some shots of our little lady:



In less than 24 hours she has completely won over our hearts. We can't wait to start this journey from pup to service dog with her. We think she's going to be great! Jack is constantly talking to her even though he keeps a short distance from her when she is awake.

We chose the North Star Foundation to adopt a service dog for Jack because of their philosophy: placing their emphasis on superior breeding in placing dogs with children living with autism and in placing the dogs with the child much earlier than other organizations. Normally, Sassy would be going to a "puppy raising family" in our area for a few months (who would volunteer to raise Sassy a bit more for us) to whom we would visit regularly. This family would not necessarily have any training experience, but would be able to focus on her basic training. Once she had reached a point of achieving her basic training, we would then take her and begin specifically on the assistance dog portion of training with her.

We decided to be our own puppy raising family so we could share a deeper bond with Sassy by going through the basic training with her. Also, we knew how difficult it would be for Jack (and us) to only get to visit Sassy while at the puppy raiser's house. Lastly, what a HUGE commitment to ask someone to do for you free of charge. I had trouble finding a family that had one parent at home at least part-time who could commit to raising our puppy. I am home full-time, so I am available to spend a great deal of time with Sassy. So this is how we came to getting Sassy so young. I spent the last 2 months reading the recommended training books and I am looking forward to being her handler because, even this early in our training, I have gained a ton of knowledge about canine behavior and people. I am excited to see the techniques put to work with Sassy. We will be teaching Sassy clicker training and I can't wait to see the results as she is already a wonderful puppy that listens very quickly. We begin our puppy kindergarten class on March 12th!

Ok, off to get everyone in bed! Thanks for checking in!