Visiting the TSA Puppy Center and Home Again!

This week flew by!  We all missed Paz and remarked how quiet it was around here without her!  It was pretty boring too...  so boring in fact, that we decided to take a short family vacation.  

While Paz was hanging out with the other puppies in training at Lackland, we hit New Braunfels, San Antonio and Gruene!  It was a great way to beat the 100+ temperatures here and we all had a great time.  Highlights included floating the Torrent at Schlitterbahn, eating at Jacala's in San Antonio, feeding stingrays and getting kissed by a Beluga whale at Sea World, exploring the River Walk and eating at the Grist Mill in Gruene.  

Absolutely the best part was visiting the TSA Puppy Center at Lackland Air Force Base. Diana and others took time from their busy day to show us around the facility.  We got to visit with Paz (who was really happy to see Kate) and spend some time playing with her.  She was having a blast with the other dogs and the TSA staff; after being there I can see why Paz was so excited to see the TSA people when we dropped her off!

While we were there, several children were playing with the puppies.  Diana explained that these kids volunteer their time during the week to hang out with the dogs. Everybody looked like they were having a great time!  Some of the dogs were getting a chance to swim in a small pool, while others were in a large fenced area climbing on wooden stairs and running around. Obviously, Paz and the others don't have any reason to be bored or homesick!

We also had fun cuddling with some of the newest TSA puppies that are starting the weaning process.  Sooo cute and hard to put down! They're just rolly polly fuzz balls waddling around and exploring their new surroundings. No wonder the kids like to volunteer at the puppy center!  Phil, Kate and I thoroughly enjoyed our visit- Thanks Diana!

And then it was back home and quickly time to actually pick up Paz!  She seemed excited to see us and zoomed all around the house when we got her home!  Kate wasn't home when Paz returned, and I think Paz was a little disappointed...  It took her all of 2 minutes to find a new squeaky duck toy that Kate had bought for her; in another 2 minutes, both Paz and the stuffed duck were sopping wet in her wading pool.  Jed and Ding took her return in stride, and Ding actually chased Paz around the yard a little bit.  In short order, things returned to normal.  

Now that Paz is home, we realized just how much we missed her!  She adds so much to our lives, and socializing her keeps us all involved and active in our community. Our family continues to enjoy the entire foster family experience!

A Busy Week!

Paz had a busy and fun week!  After enjoying swimming for the first time, Paz was pretty tired. After a good night's sleep, I took Paz to our local airport.  Easterwood is a very small airport that handles about 10 commuter flights a day.  I tried to schedule our trip so that Paz could be there to experience an arrival and departure.  Unfortunately, the arriving flight was not on time! 

There were only a handful of people in the airport when we were there, and most of them were employees!  A baggage handler allowed Paz to "hup" up on one of the baggage scales, and also explore a little bit behind the ticket counter.  Paz enjoy going up and down the stairs!  These stairs had open rails on the sides which caught her a little off guard at first, but then she seemed intrigued by watching some people walking around below her.  We stayed long enough for Paz to experience a commuter jet taking off (she wasn't very impressed) and then left.  As soon as we got outside, Paz took a break.  Great timing!

Paz continues to love playing with water in any form, and Kate!  Paz has decided the sprinkler system and hose are better than her wading pool and gets into them any chance she gets.  She also LOVES Kate's ponytail!  Anytime Kate gets down on the floor to play with Paz, she has to be on alert for sneak attacks from behind!

Paz visited with the Superintendent of CSISD on Wednesday.  I wanted to make sure Paz had permission to attend all of the local school activities, and also give Paz another chance to explore a busy building.  Everyone enjoyed the visit; it turns out our Superintendent has a young male Lab himself!  Paz had fun exploring the Central Office building, especially the break room.  The vending machines really got her attention! Our Superintendent was quick to allow all of the local TSA puppies access to any school sporting activities as long as they have their vests on.  It was a great visit!

Paz's buddy Pfieffer came to visit on Thursday.  Both dogs picked up right where they left off the last time.  The ran, jumped, knocked each other over, jumped in the wading pool and chewed on each other for over an hour! Our family had fun catching up with Pfieffer's foster mom; it was good to hear that they were very similar in housebreaking stages and sleeping! We had one really tired puppy when Pfieffer went home!  As you can see in the picture, Paz often has a nap buddy- Phil sacks out too!

Saturday brought our 2nd turn in day.  It wasn't as hard on us as the first drop off was.  Paz got out and ran over to the TSA puppy staff, wagging her whole body!  She must have had a really good time at Lackland last time!  She didn't hesitate to get into the air-conditioned  trailer and out of the heat.  We're definitely going to miss her next  week! 

Paz's 1st Pool Party

Today our family hit the road for Houston to visit my mom.  It was the first long road trip for Paz and she slept the entire trip!  What a switch from traveling with our other 2 dogs, Jed and Ding; Jed gets carsick and Ding sings the whole trip so it is not something we do very often with them any more.

Poppy (my mom) also has 2 dogs, Sparky and Ozzie, that she adopted from a local shelter.  They enjoy a wonderful life of luxury with her.  A great yard, lots of toys, tons of attention- I have often said that if I'm reincarnated I would like to come back as one of my moms dogs!  The one thing they don't seem to enjoy is having a puppy enter their domain...  Paz didn't receive the warmest welcome from either of them, so Poppy ended up confining them to their bathroom.  

Paz had a blast at Poppy's house.  The biggest hit of the day was swimming in Poppy's pool.  Paz has absolutely no fear of water and jumped in the first chance she got!  The longer she was out in the pool area, the bolder Paz got.  By the end of the day, she was leaping off the side and retrieving anything she could find.  She also really enjoyed jumping into a floating chair.  

Kate stayed in the pool with her the whole time because we were pretty sure it would take awhile for Paz to remember where the steps were.  When Poppy had the pool built, she purposely had the top step tiled in a deep blue color so it would be easier for little kids and her dogs to find should anybody fall in.  Just the fact that the step is such a dark color seemed to make it easier for Paz (and others before her) to find that step.  Paz and Kate had such a great time in the pool that it was hard to drag them out!

Paz was really tired after her day in the water.  She napped at Poppy's house and slept all the way home! The only downside to the day was cleaning Paz's ears out when we got home- she really HATES that!  Even so, we will definitely be on the look out for other opportunities to take Paz swimming!

Mall Walking and Catching Birds

We've all had an interesting week! Committments at work have kept all of us really busy this week, so Paz has had to spend more time in her crate than usual. Fortunately, she is very comfortable there so she goes in without a fuss. Most of the time she just rolls over on her back and snoozes!

On July 7, I took Paz to our local mall. Our trip went well! We were there for over an hour; everything appeared new and exciting for Paz. She was really intrigued by a trampoline system that was being installed. She also like exploring the big planters, maybe because she found a discarded waffle cone in the first one she explored. After her gastric issues earlier in the week, I was quick to fish it out of her mouth!!! She did NOT like the "Hollister" store- I don't know if it was the dark lighting or the strong smell of perfume that made her wary, but she was extremely cautious when we walked by it a couple of times. I never liked spending time in there when Kate was shopping either, so maybe my bad vibes affected Paz!

While mall walking, Paz attracted the attention of some of the spanish speaking fire fighters in town this week attending the Fireman's Training School . The language barrier made it almost impossible for me to answer their questions or explain Paz's vest and that she was a working dog; from what I could understand they thought she was beautiful!

Eventhough it's been incredibly hot here again this week, Paz still enjoys spending time outside. We're never sure what critters will be out in the back yard, so one of us still goes outside with her each time. She's getting more and more interested in chasing the bunnies and birds that hang out in our yard. Much to my surprise, Paz actually caught a bird yesterday!!!! It was down on the ground under one of our bird feeders and must have been completely oblivious to its surroundings; there is no other way to explain how Paz was able to get close enough to catch it! Paz is far from stealthy- she normally runs around with a plastic jug in her mouth, shaking it to death. Somehow Paz was able to drop the jug and pounce on the bird. Paz didn't seem to know what to do with it because she let it go as soon as it squawked! The bird made it safely to a tree out of Paz's reach and Paz has been on the look out for wayward birds ever since!

One Sick Puppy!

Paz had another first over the 4th of July and it didn't involve fireworks!  Paz started showing signs of some kind of stomach problem the evening of July 3.  Her stools became loose, and around 10:30 pm, she vomited.  We were starting to get worried, although Paz really wasn't acting very sick. She was still running around and playing, but she did seem more tired than usual.  

At 3:15 am on July 4, Paz had her first bout of nasty diarrhea.  She was acting pretty miserable by then, but she was still drinking water and eating ice cubes.  Nobody got much sleep because Paz continually sat by the back door, her sign for needing to go out to take a break, and she wasn't kidding!  

We called Diana around 9:00 am, and she explained exactly what we needed to do.  Paz wasn't allowed to eat any food until the next morning; we could give her as much water and ice cubes as she wanted, and we needed to watch for dehydration.  Diana was great, and told us to call if we had any new concerns or questions.  Thanks Diana!

Paz was more lethargic than normal most of the day. Paz spent much of the day sleeping, and Kate kept a close watch on her.  She drank plenty of water and had several ice cubes.  We could tell she was feeling better late in the day because she was playing hard and trying to get into the cabinet where her food is stored!  Not feeding her at this point was sooooo hard!    

Paz had a good night, and woke up to take a break about 3:30 am July 5.  Everything was back to normal!  She woke for good at 6:30 am and we were all thrilled when Diana called to check on Paz.  She said Paz could have a small amount of her food softened with water, which Paz inhaled!  Paz acted completely back to normal all day, and again inhaled her smaller, mushier dinner.  We're so happy that Paz is back to her rowdy self and that we can feed her normal food tomorrow!  Thanks again to Diana for all of her help!

Thanks Walmart!!!!

We want to give a big Thank You to our local Walmart!  They have been so great about having Paz visit the store!  We went to Walmart on June 29 and spent 1 1/2 hours there shopping with Paz.  Paz wore her vest, and the greeter oohed and ahhed over her for a couple of minutes when we walked in; she verified that Paz was indeed a "service" dog and told us to enjoy our shopping!  What a great welcome!

Paz did a very good job at Walmart.  She was wary of some of the people, and didn't seem to like the loudspeakers at first.  She explored the entire store!  As expected, we had a little trouble getting her out of the pet section.  She climbed on many different items, sniffed all over the place and was really well behaved.  We took her outside a couple of times to "take a

 break" and she cooperated both times. The only problem we had took place when Paz grabbed a wayward broom.  After a short tug of war (she lost this one!) the broom was handed back to a Walmart associate.  Paz enjoyed a little extra attention from several people who stopped to ask about her and the TSA puppy program.  It was a great outing and Paz was more than happy to get in her crate and snooze when she got home.

Paz also spent one day boarding at our vet's kennel on June 30.  We made a day trip to move Kate into her new apartment for school and decided we wouldn't get much done with Paz along.  Since it was just a day trip, Jed and Ding had the luxury of staying home with access to the backyard.  I think they enjoyed the peace and quiet!  When we picked Paz up the next morning, she was soaking wet; I was told she had a lot of fun playing in her water bowl!  The vet tech also reported she didn't mess in her cage, so hopefully we're getting closer to housebreaking!