Monday, September 17, 2012

For our most recent Monday night meeting, we all went to the Towne Center Shopping Center in Jacksonville. We met at the Dick's Sporting Goods store.

 

 

We had a few potential puppy raisers attend the meeting and each one was given a puppy to work with. After a few announcements, we began some obedience work.

 

 

 

 

 

After spending some time by the sporting goods store, we all walked the puppies down to a really beautiful little area of this outdoor mall with wooden walkways and bridges, ponds with fish and turtles, and fountains. On the way we passed a life-sized statue of a jaguar. The puppy raisers all made sure to stop and let their puppies experience this odd, smell-less, stationary "animal".

 

 

Bella likes the jaguar!

Joy checks out the fish.

Matthew is sniffing things out..

OK, what the heck is THAT?!

Pax is enjoying the scenery.

 When it started to get dark, everyone began making their way back to Dick's where their cars were parked. Another great puppy raiser outing!

Our Group

Hi everyone! We are a group of puppy raisers for Southeastern Guide Dogs in the northeast Florida area, led by Area Coordinator Thresa Shaver. Our members are:

Laura Zellner, raising Bentley, 1E12 (Laura also acts as our assistant Area Coordinator)
Maggie Zellner, raising Caesar, 94PD11
Ann Lewis, raising Muffin, 92PD11
Taunnie Novak, raising Matthew, 4R11
Mary Ann Myers, raising Lucy, 5R11
Mary Jones, raising Florida, 4T11
Tracee Samuel, raising Pax, 1B12
Jim Lowe, raising Duke, 3E12 
Vicki Wyckoff, raising Gordon, 4E12
Allison Yeh, raising Joy, 5E12

At our last meeting on Monday, July 22, we met at Bird Island Park in Ponte Vedra Beach, a really beautiful little park located just behind the Ponte Vedra Beach Library.

Waiting to get started

Heading off to the park

Our special guest for this meeting was Jen Gerrity from Southeastern. We began the meeting with some obedience training...

....then Jen discussed the new turn command and answered questions on various issues the raisers were experiencing with their puppies. One common problem is scavenging. Jen borrowed Gordon to demonstrate the proper way to keep your puppy from being a puppy vacuum cleaner.

Jen borrows Gordon to demonstrate

Our wonderful group! Back row L-R: Thresa and Roxie, Taunnie and Matthew, Mary Ann and Lucy, Vicki and Gordon, Ann and Muffin, Joan and June, Allison and Joy, Mary and Florida, Jim and Duke, Laura and Bentley
Front row: Maggie and Caesar, Jen Garrity from Southeastern holding Bella, Tracee and Pax