California Living

Everybody says living in California is easy and laid back.  They talk about lots of sunshine (when it isn't raining); healthy outdoor living (when there's not a fire); and friends to - say - look out the window with to see if it's snowing (oh, wait... snow in April happens in Colorado, not California).

I'm sure enjoying it.  I have quite a big social calendar and I've made some new friends.  Here's my friend Marvin with his person, Auntie Ada Beth.  We're showing her what good listeners we are.  When she's done talking, maybe she'll give us treats.

Here is my Auntie Denise.  We're at the park to show you Grandpa Weldin's tree.  Where?  Oh, well, I had to crop the picture so the tree's, um, out of sight.  You'll have to tear your eyes away from (ahem) us and look at the little plaque to the left of us (your left).

Here I am with my friend Sophia.  The decoration is really a toy.  Aren't we gorgeous?


This is Betsy, who came to visit us.  She lives in Ohio, and she raised my Mama, Jenni!  She also raised my sister Kiwi.  She's very nice.  This (on your left) is called "cradle."  This (on your right) is called "play with your guest's hair."  

Since she raised Mama, and since I already have a grandma, is she my great-grandma??

I went with Grandma to a wine-tasting party.  I prefer white myself, but....  (This is a joke, folks!  Grandma knows, just as you do, that even a little alcohol is toxic for dogs!)

My friend Alexa is a CCI pup.  She has so much to learn to be a service dog that I knew she would need a little recreation.  So I very kindly gave her some.

Then there are times I just like to be goofy.




It's not all play, though.  I just passed obedience school!  


This is another step toward becoming a therapy dog.


And thinking about that, I'm wondering if all the crazy costumes Grandma puts on me might not be a good thing.  After all, I'll be visiting people who need some good cheer.  My Creator forgot to provide humans with tails to wag when they're happy, so they have to smile instead.  Maybe my costumes will help people smile.

That being said... 

...we, um, celebrated Easter.

I took the ears off for dinner.  C'mon, Papa Jack, hurry up with the food!






The Easter bunny never looked this good.

After the festivities, of course, came another California tradition:  chilling out in style!  Zzzzz....

Kelda Does This and That, Not to Mention the Other

Mocha, Muffin, and I are sitting in my office - OK, it's really Grandma's office - talking over the past several weeks. (They like me now that I don't chase them down the hall.) There are events from those weeks that I haven't told you about. I've been a lot busier than the MEE-YOWs, but of course they have more supervisory work than I do. I don't think this household could run without them.

I go to obedience school. Not that I'm disobedient, but I need to get classwork in so I can get my Canine Good Citizen standing, which I need in order to apply to be a Therapy Dog. Grandma decided not to take pictures during class so as not to distract my other classmates... or make them jealous.

We practice the things that all dogs should do. We sit, we stand, we wait (staying put, no matter what our person is doing!), we walk politely, we refrain from chasing MEE-YOWs, squirrels, and other riff-raff... oops, better not tell Mocha and Muffin I said that. I do like to go to class.



After all that work I'm pretty tired, so I take a nap... oops, better not tell the CCI folks about this. (These flannel sheets are great, though.)






Once in a while I supervise the mail. Grandma can have the envelopes with the little windows in them; I prefer packages. This was a good one. My PRs sent her a picture they found (it's not of me but it could be), and they sent me toys which don't have a lot of stuffing but do have a lot of squeakers.

That reminds me of Grandma's birthday party not long ago. And even though it was her birthday and not mine, look what I got! Row-WOOO!



I went to her Valentine's Day party, too. (Just call me a Party Pup.) And I got to wear pearls! See? (Look closely.) They're not for every day! Here's Grandma wearing them. Who says I don't know how to share? Oh, wait... am I sharing with her or is she sharing with me?

Did I tell you about my vets? I have lots of veterinarian friends. When I lived in Colorado I was buddies with Dr. Wasinger and his staff. At the CCISW training center I loved Dr. Steele... and Dr. Steele. Now I have two more special friends. One is Dr. John Andersen. He's a real good friend of Grandma's.

The other is Dr. April Ervin; she has Dr. Weldin's practice (of course, he was a vet, too). Dr. Ervin makes sure I stay healthy. I hadn't planned for her to look at my ears, but she did. I have interesting ears. They get, um, germs 'n' stuff in them and then I need medicine. It just goes with being a lovable, lively Lab.















Finally, here is one of my other jobs.

It's my duty to celebrate holidays - or anything that comes close to being a holiday. I've heard about how St. Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland. If he'd had to drive dogs, it surely would have been just to the nearest dog party. St. Patrick was a good man. So here I am, um... for, um... I hate to think about Easter coming up...


Aw, shucks, I look cute in anything!

Kelda Dreams About the Olympics....

All together now: "TAH TAH de TAH TAH TAH TAH, TAH tah-da-TAH tah tah da-da-da-da DAH TAH TAH!"

(We didn't make up that picture. Somebody sent it to my Grandma.)

Just like so many other people and dogs, Grandma and I spent the past two weeks at our favorite new activity! Know what it was?


Watching the Winter Olympics, of course!

We stayed up late at night and took naps the next day. Then we started in again. It's all over, but even now it's fun to think about.

If I had been a hockey player, I would have grabbed that puck and run off with it. The players would not have been happy with me. It looked like just the right size to chew on, though.

If I had been at the half pipe, I... um, think I would have backed off. That sport is not for me, I think. But there are some dogs (and even an occasional MEE-YOW) who would love it.

I would have cuddled up with the figure skaters after they finished their programs. They needed me at the kiss-and-cry bench!

Why isn't there a winter Olympics for four-footed people?


Good ol' Sam might be great on a snowboard...









And for personal style, Zebrina can match that red-haired half pipe guy any day....

Here's Olivia, the gold medalist in lady dogs' figure skating, getting points from the judges and great applause from the crowds...


Mr. Grey dreams of being a gold-medal curling skip...








At downhill, Zoe would be perfect (it takes attitude)...




...and Buddy really, really wants to try the skeleton sled competition as soon as he figures out which end of it is the front.

Some dogs think winter is the best season. St. Bernards and other search and rescue dogs spend lots of time on the ski slopes and in the mountains doing their own kinds of events.

Remember Loki and Odin? They love winter. Odin thinks he'd be good at the pursuit races, but his people won't let him compete - they say they're the ones who do the pursuing.

Maybe the summer Olympics is better for most of us dogs. Look at all the things we're good at - sprints, distance running, swimming, long jumps, MEE-YOW and squirrel pursuit (oh, those aren't sanctioned by the IOC?). And think of the ball events! Wow! Think of the gymnastics! I've seen dogs who skateboard. I've seen MEE-YOWs who do high jumps (I've also seen them do pole vaults - without the pole - but I'm not saying anything else about that). Many of us are good at accompanying bicycles, even if we can't ride them.

But I have my sport already picked out:

The STICK EVENT.

Here I am with my trainer. Grandma calls him Mark the gardener, but I know better. By the time the summer Olympics comes along in 2012, I'll be in medal-contending position!







Meanwhile, I went with Grandma to a very special place. She had a CCI National Board Reception at the main headquarters in Santa Rosa. She hobnobbed with the big-shot people, and I hobnobbed with the dogs. Tessa (who is seven months old), Rusty (who's just a baby), and I ran around and played in the big yard.


Here I am sitting like a lady at the sign for Gittenger Park, which is on the CCI campus. I've been here before, a long time ago. When I was a baby like Rusty, I said goodbye to Mama and came here before they sent me to grow up in Colorado.

I acted like a lady when I got to go inside the headquarters, too. As a well-behaved COC (that means "change of career") dog, I remembered my good manners and showed no, um, peculiarities. Dr. Ruth (who's the big boss when it comes to dogs' health) said I have a beautiful girlish figure and look a lot like my Mama. We even have the same natural "eyeliner"!

Well, as Denver CCI pup Mars writes, Ciao for now! (Or is that "chow"? I like chow!) I have some important napping to do...


(I have permission!)







...before I go train some more....

Kelda Celebrates Mardi Gras

A very brief, happy message to all my friends:

LAISSEZ LES BON TEMPS ROULER!

(OK, Grandma, get me outta these things.)

Kelda the Princess

Didn't I tell you that I wanted to be a Princess?

Well, I think I am. I sure feel like one, and that's really what being a Princess is about in the U.S.A.


I like living with Grandma. Some of my blog friends are of the opinion that I shouldn't be calling her "Grandma"! It must be because she doesn't look like a white-haired, rocking-chair-sitting old granny. (Actually, it's my PR mom who has the white hair.)

But since my daddy was named after Dr. Weldin, Mrs. W. rather thinks of Daddy as a four-footed kid! So, being Weldin's daughter, of course I'm a granddog. And the name is her own idea, so Grandma she is.

To get back to the Princess thing: let me show you a bit of the Palace.

Here (right) is the deck off the kitchen. It's a good place to relax and survey my domain. I'm not really wearing a hat; that's a concrete lantern in the garden.


Here is the tea house. It's not really for drinking tea in, but when spring comes Grandma will set all the furniture out and it'll be really pretty.

In back of me are the pond and the waterfall. I'm not supposed to swim in the pond or play in the waterfall, so I'm not really sure why they're here.


And here is one of the best things about my yard: it is well supplied with sticks. My Grandma thinks of everything! When the whole place isn't so soggy, I'll be able to play out here.





There are others in my family besides Grandma, and one of them goes by the name of Mocha. The look on my face is not because I still live with MEE-YOWs. It's because I ran out of peanut butter in my Kong toy (sigh).

Grandma has many friends! This one (seen below) we call Papa Jack. His home has steps. Remember that twerpy pup who was scared of stairs? Glad I'm over that. After running up and down them a couple of times after the ball, I decided - Princess-like - to wait at the top for the ball to come up, catch it, and then drop it back down the stairs.


The reason Mocha and I are friends is because we'd like to have the same tastes in people food. Papa Jack had a great hot dog but he didn't share it! Not one bit!

These folks are Mr. and Mrs. Trisko. They have a CCI dog named Nuela, who had pups not long ago. The pups' daddy is my daddy, so that makes us half-siblings or cousins or something! It is indeed nice to be near family.


Of course, everybody knows that one thing a Princess does is to shop until she drops. So Grandma and I went to Dog Bone Alley. It's a very fancy shop! Smells good, too!



Take a look at this. I now have a Princess-like pink collar with polka dots because I like to be trendy. I have a leash to match, too.

And we found a ball that even I can't chew up (Grandma hopes)!

The store lady, by the way, lets CCI have fund-raisers there sometimes. So if you live near Danville, California, get your people to take you shopping at Dog Bone Alley.

Grandma tells me I'll have work to do soon, but right now I'm having fun meeting my subjects and enjoying my kingdom!

Kelda Reappears!

You'll never guess where I am! Don't try too hard - I'm going to tell you.

This is what has happened since I changed my career direction.

I stayed at the CCI Training Center for a while. What fun! I didn't have any classes to pass. So I lived in the wing with the other dogs who didn't go to class either (because they had been released - or were in heat). I played... and hung out in the grooming area... and played... and hung out in the office... and played.... I still had to practice my good manners, though!

My PRs were looking for a forever home for me, where I would be loved and spoiled rotten and have some special work of my own, even if it isn't with CCI. And just as that was really going great... I got sick. Don't get the wrong idea. CCI dogs don't get sick too often. But it happens, and I'm all over it now. I'm glad, too, because I have better things to do.

Meanwhile, a lot of Super-People wanted me to live at their house - and I really hope they'll all get Super-Dogs to love. Among them was a lady near San Francisco Bay in California, who wanted to adopt me and teach me to be a therapy dog. This is a special lady.

Do you remember back when I was a little pup, telling you about my daddy? His name is Weldin. (That's his picture. Handsome dog, my daddy.)

Well, the lady who wanted to adopt me is named Mrs. Carol Weldin. My daddy is named after her late husband! His name was Dr. Donald Weldin, and he was a wonderful veterinarian who helped lots and lots of Super-Dogs like me. Pretty cool, huh?

SOOO... one day my friend the CCI vet - his name is Dr. Brad Steele - came to see me.

He took care of me when I was sick but, since I wasn't sick any more, he took me to his house instead.

I got to meet Mrs. Steele (who is Dr. Sophie Steele because she is a vet, too!) and their children... and their dogs... and their MEE-YOWs... and I got to sleep at their house instead of the kennel! I do enjoy a little variety in my routine.

Well. It was fun to stay there, but I had something on my mind. California is a big state, and Grandma Carol lived hours away. It has been soggy in California. It has rained and rained and RAINED! If I had curly fur it would have gone straight in all that rain. (My straight fur didn't go curly.) My PRs had told me all about Noah, back in Old Testament times, and the ark he sailed on with all the animals when it rained so hard. Was I going to have to hitchhike on an ark to get through the rain to Grandma Carol's house? (Imagine my cute face sticking out of the right-hand porthole in the front. Yoo-hoo! Picture Mr. Noah in back of me, waiting with a little peanut butter. My Creator taught him how to take care of dogs. He must've had peanut butter.)

I didn't need to worry. My favorite vets and their children - the Steeles - were my VIP chauffeurs! They drove me all the way from Oceanside up to Alamo, California, right to Grandma Carol's front door! Wasn't that nice of them? Better than swimming! (Yes, I heard about that brave dog in the Los Angeles river.)

...AND here I am with my Grandma Carol! This is going to be interesting! I'll let you know what happens next. (P.S. She has lots of peanut butter in her kitchen cupboard!)

Time for a Change of Career

Hello! Here I am again! I haven't done any blogging because I've been too busy at school out in California. They've been teaching me things like how to walk beside wheelchairs and crutches. They've also taken the commands I learned at home and tried to make them better.

Most of this has been fun. But some things just aren't fun. I've had a great time going various places on leash with my trainers... some of the time. But sometimes I get worried about everything. I'm not sure whether I like having all those other dogs around, even though they are my friends... unless I can be boss of them. And the trainers want me to quit jumping on people, and I'm just not good enough at NOT doing that.

So CCI has decided I need to have a different career. It's not that they think I'm a bad dog. Heavens, no! It's just that a service dog has to be practically perfect in every way (like Mary Poppins; my PR mom read me that book) - calm and patient and willing to go anywhere and do anything. This job would be too hard for me to do.

So... what would I like to do instead? I'd like to supervise a terrific family. I'd like to be a princess! I'd like to have a great volunteer job. I'd like to have ice cubes and peanut butter every day. CCI has strict requirements for anybody who wants to adopt a release dog like me and, to tell you the truth, I'm not sure if they have the peanut butter and the ice cubes on their list. Don't know how they could have missed that. They have some other good things, though. (Want to know what they are? Contact your nearest CCI location.)

For various reasons (which I understand), my PRs can't take me back, but they're in on the search for the best career change options for me. I'll keep you posted! Have a Meowy Christmas and a Yappy New Year!