Saturday Outing, August 11, 2012

Yesterday our group had a morning outing at the Orange Park Mall. We met in the parking lot and chatted while everyone arrived.

  It was very hot, so we hurried indoors as soon as we could!

Bentley does a good sit at the mall entrance.

First, we stopped in the food court and had a meeting.

Thresa gave us the sad news that we are losing puppy raiser Jim, of www.duketheguidedog.blogspot.com. Jim and his wife Joy are moving to New Mexico, where Jim has been offered a new job. Jim's puppy, Duke, will be staying with Thresa until a finishing home can be found for him. We were very sad to say goodbye to Jim!

Maggie Zellner reported on her recent visit to Southeastern for puppy raiser day when Patience was matched. She showed us a beautiful photo of Patience with her new owner, Vinnie, and herself and gave us an overview of what happens if you are lucky enough to get to go to a puppy raiser day. It sounded like a wonderful experience! Thresa also presented a plaque to Carol Pangborn on behalf of her husband, Roger. Roger was Patience's first puppy raiser before he passed away.

Some ideas for upcoming outings were discussed. Thresa is hoping to have us meet at the Jacksonville Suns game on Monday, August 20.

After some discussion of other ideas for future outings for the puppies, we divided into two groups and did some obedience training in the mall. Everyone switched puppies for this exercise to give the puppies a chance to work with someone new. We walked around the mall for awhile.

After some practice with mall walking, we headed back to the food court for some lunch.  



Pretty in pink! Bella and puppy Joy enjoy some girl bonding time.

After lunch, everyone said goodbye to Jim and Joy and wished them the best in their new home!



Jim, Joy and Duke

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