Raja And Zaki Are Doing Awesome Together!

Zaki and Raja hanging out in the bed

Raja enjoyed a cranio-sacral therapy session with Zaki last week. Zaki loves his sessions, and Raja did too; He snuggled right up in the bed with the boy!

" You mean we have to get back to work? Really? Cause I was thinking a 'greenie' and some more sleep would be nice! "

Raja has two cute freckles on his tongue, you can see the one in the front on this picture

Raja and the family dog Mater are getting along great too!

They love to play. We have to put Mater up so Raja will focus on Zaki, which he gladly does.

We have been working on the "go to" game with all the family members. We tell raja "go to" Daddy, and Daddy has a click and treat waiting for Raja. Then Daddy will say "go to" Zaki. And Zaki has a click and treat waiting for him. He finds this great fun, and will be great to go retrieve help when needed. Raja also accompanied Zaki to hippotherapy last week.

Not Doggy "stuff" But Totally Cool Nontheless!!

Zaki at the Special Rodeo!

The special rodeo kicks off the Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo. This is the 13th year that kids and adults with developmental disabilities have participated!!

Zarek at the fountain at the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame!!

Zaki won the flag competition. He won a belt buckle, a rope, and a new cowboy hat! The picture in his hand is an autograph of the 'purty' ladies on his side!

Charles Sampson the World Champion Bull Rider took a liking to Zaki, and spent quite a bit of time with him! Thanks Charles!!

Zaki found some shade!

aaaaaahhhhhhh....

Charles showing Zaki how to rope...

Tearful Good Byes

Linda Brennen on Left With Dagmar on Right

Well... we are on to phase II of Raja's training... It was a sad time for Dagmar, Raja's Phase I Puppy Raising home. She got him at 9 weeks, and although I am sure she will be happy to not have to get up to let the little bugger out for potty in the wee hours of the morning. It is hard and rewarding work to train a dog for service. Linda Brennen will be Raja's Phase II home and also his Phase II dog trainer.

Raja Saying bye bye to his foster Momma

We will be making sure that Dagmar, Doug, Hannah, and Meagan get updates frequently, and will of course have "visitations" whenever they are getting the itch! I so appreciate all the effort that they have made to give Raja the great start that he needed...

Raja and Dagmar saying Good Bye

Zaki's First Ever Sleep-Over

Raja-Roo at 21 weeks!

Zaki and Raja in Zaki's bed

Zaki had his first friend stay the night! His new best friend Raja! They had an absolutely wonderful time. Zaki was so proud to have Raja here. We went to the library for some public access work, and Raja did great, and Zaki was surprisingly calm and quiet. Hope that continues! If Raja helps Zaki that much, he will have been worth every penny plus some!

Zaki couldn't leave him alone even in the kennel :)

Seriously, we did give Raja lots of down time, I just couldn't resist taking this one! Raja also got along great with his World Wrestling Federation Champion Tag Team Member Mater! Mater is our family dog, and it was hilarious to see these two play play play. We had introduced them the week prior at a "neutral" location and they did well together.

Mater waiting for the laptop to load - so studious

While Raja was here getting used to the house, he spent some time in Zaki's room, in the bathroom with us during baths and showers, and he even had time to dig out my garden box! What a super service dog! LOL

Mater, just chillaxin' of which he did none while Raja was here

This was also Frank's (my husbands) first introduction to Raja, and they got along like champs. If only Frank liked the "kisses" like Zaki does:)!

Raja and Zaki in the front yard after church

It has been a while since I have updated Raja has started his public access work with his host family, and with Linda who will be his phase II home. He has been to many different places like Costco, Barnes and Noble, business networking meetings with lots of people and scents, restaurants etc. He is a very confident dog in full blown adolescence. So he is a four footed teenager at the moment pushing the boundaries where he can. This is also a critical time in his development, and how his adolescent time is handled (positively or negatively) will affect his future greatly. This is why only positive training methods are used. Clicker training is the method of choice for the trainers handling Raja. We have used this method with our family dog Mater, and not only is it fun, the dog gets immediate and exact positive feedback http://www.clickertraining.com/ is a great resource if you would like to learn more. And if you are in our area, I would highly recommend getting in touch with Laurie Yakish or Linda Brennen to help with your family dog.
I was thrilled that Raja was always interested in what Zaki was doing!

Service Dogs just want to have FUN!

"Toilet Paper, What Toilet Paper?"

Raja is continuing with his foster family, and appears to be getting into trouble as much as he can :) I love it! Zaki and Raja will be quite the pair I'm afraid! And I love that you can see Shadow's paws towards the back of the photo like, "It's completely out of my paws guys, really! I can't stop him" and after the chaos it is time for some rest.

"Napping" Having fun is hard work!

Raja is now 16 weeks and has started having outings with her foster home to Walmart and the Book Mobile with Dagmar. Raja continues to learn all of the basic obedience and impeccable manners (when not eating the toilet paper wink, wink) Zaki is also getting frequent visits with Raja which is awesome, and one of things I really like about North Star's model. So what does having all of this "fun" have to do with becoming a service dog? This does not seem hard to you? It is critical for Raja to have as many positive experiences as many places as possible, not only to ensure that Raja will be confident to make choices when he gets to be with Zaki full time, but this is all shaping his temperment, which behavioralists believe happens mostly up to the 16th week. Raja has also started with my friend and trainer Linda Brennen for part of the foster time.

Look at those eyes!

Raja and Hannah (foster home)

We will be going back out this week to play some games with Raja and Zaki after his hippotherapy. Zaki is very excited it has been several weeks since we have seen him. Laurie the trainer sent these to us on her last visit out there.

Hannah is as adorable as Raja, isn't she?

Behind Every Great Service Dog is a Super Foster Home

Our Raja is with a foster family learning lots of new things before coming to live with us. They have a big task, and a fun one. Being a great foster home is more than liking puppies and their sweet puppy breath... Dagmar, her husband Doug, and daughters Meaghan and Hannah are taking care of the "baby", which is quite a job. THANKS BY THE WAY!!!! He of course is not sleeping through the night, and still potty training, and has no clue about the job that will be set before him when he comes to live with Zaki. They are playing lots of games and training Raja. From the post you can read that Dagmar already has Raja learning to play hide and seek. :)THANKS AGAIN BY THE WAY. One of the things that Zaki does is take off, and not in a "hide and seek kind of way". So although Raja will be simply another safety net, (you can't after all put the safety of a child in the paws of a dog!) He has one heck of a better nose than I, so I will be elated about the help! By the way, have I said THANKS yet??
Dagmar's update:

Dagmar and Raja
I think there will be some snow out here tomorrow. We have done our shopping, and do not need to leave the house if the weather turns bad.
Well, we might have to go out to go potty, brrrr
This morning the ground was white with snow. Raja had a ball. First he was not sure if he should step on it. But with a little coaxing he braved the
white strange stuff. And loved it. He tried to bite it, eat it, roll in it and just romp through it. It was all good.

Our trainer Laurie with Dagmar also Raja and Shadow

He is doing so well. We still have not done too much clicker training. Hannah has been sick. A few days of high fever, and a throat that hurt more as time went on. Took her to the clinic yesterday. Strep throat. Medicine started working late last night and she finally slept for the first time in 3 nights. I told the doctor I am ready for some nice pills too, but he just laughed. Today we went to have Hannah's cast taken off. Meaghan was doggy sitting. Not much training going on there either.
But he learned some things anyway. He drops things on command. Makes playing fetch so much fun. He almost does not jump up for treats. We are getting better. I think I need more training myself. lol
We have expanded our walks. Now we walk much farther, and that twice a day. If you think that makes him tired, you are so wrong. He has an endless amount of energy. He can play and run after is toy much longer than we are able to. He also is getting better at hide and seek. He loves to play it with Hannah. Each turn of seeking is as much fun as the first. He does not get tired of it.
Walking nicely on the lead is what we will have to work on more. He still races forward, lingers back and of course wants to carry his own lead. But for the first week we have made amazing progress I think.
Hope to see you soon. and stay off the bad roads tomorrow.
Dagmar

THANK YOU DAGMAR, DOUG, MEAGHAN, and HANNAH, WE soooooooo APPRECIATE ALL YOU ARE DOING!!!!!!!!