Training to "Find Jack"

I thought it was time to update you on our training with Sassy. We're working on Sassy's search and rescue skills and we are trying to teach her to "rescue Jack". The beginning stages is to play "hide and seek" with her and we've done that a few times in our house.

I wanted to try something a little different. We went to an open field and I had Jack run away. I had Sassy run to Jack and waited to see what she did if he started running away from her. She followed him and also began to "herd" him--cutting him off and trying to control the direction he was going. When I ran with her, she ran next to me and followed me. It was definitely interesting to watch.

We're only in the beginning stages, but it's good to see Sassy can differentiate between Jack and I and how she reacts if he runs away.

Sassy running to Jack

Sassy running after Jack

Sassy running with Jack

Treats from Jack

Tired Sassy

Hugs from Jack!

Dog Cribs for a Cause: A Fundraiser for the benefit of the North Star Foundation

(Ok, Carolyn, this one is just for you!)

Sorry, it's been so long between posts. Among other things in this crazy time, I've been working very hard on organizing a fundraiser for the North Star Foundation! Together with our trainer, Casey Newton of Wonder Puppy (http://www.wonder-puppy.com/), we are in the process of organizing a fundraiser in the Portland, Oregon area for the benefit of North Star.

This idea came to me as I was thinking about how I could give back to this wonderful organization that gave my Jack such a wonderful companion and friend at the same time, completing our family.

"Dog Cribs for a Cause" will work like this: we are gathering businesses, individuals, families to volunteer to be a "dog crib build team". They will design and create a dog "crib" (dog house)--we are looking to have anywhere from 5 to 15 dog build teams. The completed dog cribs will then be raffled off at an event in August of this year. Each team will campaign for their dog crib to win by selling raffle tickets for their house which equates to a vote for the team. The team with the most raffle tickets will win a nice prize. All proceeds will go specifically to fund North Star placements.

We are soliciting businesses in several communities: autism, design/architectual, building community, pet/dog community, children's services community and other miscellaneous communites. We are also going to try to get the print, tv and radio media on board.

We've had a wonderful response so far. We already have 3 build teams! (We're keeping their design ideas a secret!)

Patty will be coming to town just for our event! At the event, we'll have vendors and dog training demos--and we hope to get all the local North Star dogs to attend as well. (There are about 5 families in the WA/OR that have North Star Dogs.)