All the Bells and Whistles

Per usual, we've been keeping busy around here at the Puppy Development Center! On Tuesday we took a field trip to Jungle Rapids Family Fun Park. It is a big, loud arcade. There are tons of games to listen to, watch, and try out. All the puppies did fabulous with the chaos, and as always, the volunteers did a great job helping me expose the puppies to the environment.

This is a fun bumpy ground to try out!

Watching a little game of air hockey! 

BRISTOL in the spaceship! 

Skee-Ball is fun game, but why can't we chase the ball?! 

Another fun place we went this week was a road trip to Chapel Hill - for those of you who are not local, that is about 2 1/2 hours each way. The puppies got to experience their first out-of-kennel car ride. They loved every minute of it!

Selfie at the gas station! 

After playing for 2 hours, we finally decided to take a nap! 

Today we went to the fire station for my favorite socialization outing! If you've read the blog before, you know the goals for the fire station (in short, to see the emergency vehicles, equipment, and personnel)... if not, you can read them here! We got a bonus today when there was also an ambulance at the station. Thank you so much to the men of New Hanover Fire Station #18 (fun fact: 18 is also my lucky number!) for a great morning, and for their sacrifices for our community each and every day!

PALMER loves the fireman - equipment and all! 

Learning that the EMS stretcher isn't scary!

Nothing to be afraid of! 

All of the volunteers this morning!

And our new firefighting friends :) 

And last but not least, here is your 3-weeks-old photo update of the newest puppies! Eyes and ears are open and we're walking all over the place. We love to play!

REED (green), FLINT (red), EMBER (purple), CANYON (blue), GRIFFIN (orange), BOULDER (black)

What's in a Name?

If you've been around paws4people for any litters of puppies, you know that we don't announce the new puppies' names until they're two weeks old. Sometimes we slip on the theme being a secret, if the dam has had a previous litter, because the theme is by the mom. AZALEA's theme is "nature". Without further adieu...

BOULDER 

EMBER (the only little girl!)

CANYON

GRIFFIN 

FLINT

REED 

FLINT, REED, EMBER, GRIFFIN, BOULDER, and CANYON

Movie Stars!

What a busy, crazy week we've had! ION TV is filming a PSA type commercial about paws4vets, so we've had a camera crew around the good majority of the week. I can't wait to see what they make of all the footage they took!

And somehow I only took one picture of the whole production! 

Because of the chaos that ensued from having a full camera crew around, the puppies didn't get their full schedule in, but they still did manage to make it out a few places! The first was Sam's Club. Warehouse stores echo, they're busy, there's something everywhere you turn. 500 TVs, giant stuffed animals, bikes, Christmas trees, a food section... and the list goes on and on.

We love having volunteers of all ages! (PALMER)

Sweet WALTER on the scratchy mats.  

WALTER and PALMER on the cart. 

They went on an outing to Mayfaire Town Center, but I didn't take any pictures. Can you believe that?! They practiced walking on sidewalks with foot traffic, greeting new people from babies to preteens to adults, went through easel signs, under hanging metal signs, jumped up onto metal benches, and then back off, and walked over a textured metal door that went to somewhere secret underground. Kyria joined us on this outing and it was great to have an extra pair of hands to help with the training!

We also attended a fundraiser that I posted about earlier, the Pure Barre Pure Give Challenge. Pure Barre Wilmington had a day of classes in which they donated their profits of the day to paws4people. Not only did they donate their profits from the day, but they matched it! It totaled $1350! The puppies had a great time meeting new friends! THANK YOU, PURE BARRE!! 

The 3rd Pure Barre class of the day, with their own studio dog, LANEY, also in the pic! 

I also just want to share a few fun pictures of the UNCW Assistance Dog Training Program classes from this week!

In a big circle practicing recall by name! 

Down stays while bikes and skateboards go by! 

Festival Fun!

On Sunday we went to the Welcome Wilmington Festival put on by Grace Baptist Church. It was awesome!! They were so welcoming and excited for us to be there. I planned on going mostly for the crowd, but once we got there, we found all other kinds of training surprises. There were quite a few inflatable obstacle courses and slides that we got to venture onto and through. There was a clown, balloons, a parked fire engine, the sheriff's department, live music, and pony rides. The UNCW student volunteers were amazing, as always. Such a fun outing!

THORNTON on the bouncy slide  

WALKER watches the pony

REMINGTON and WALKER hanging out in the shade

WALKER the fireman!

THORNTON watches the balloon 

And a bonus little puppy pic! Red puppy takes a whiff of the apple during ESI!

Onward and Upward

Like I said before, we haven't missed a beat! Let me fill you in on our latest adventures! First and foremost, THANK YOU, to all of our absolutely stellar volunteers that have been coming out;  I couldn't do it without you!! Since going to Dick's Sporting Goods on Monday, we have kept a decently busy schedule. On Tuesday we explored the world of Bed Bath & Beyond - what a fun time! There are all kinds of odds and ends and random objects scattered throughout the store.

REMI is happy to be out and about! 

HUNTLEY sitting in a tupperware container.

A fun gel mat! We let it be on top of us, and also walked on it!  

The crew that came out to help socialize! 

On Wednesday we took a trip to the Poplar Grove Farmer's Market. Of course the puppies stole the show and had a lot of exposure to young children with grabby hands, and their parents, as well as a few other friends. We also got to meet a variety of live poultry. We then headed over to the small playground that consisted of two swings and a metal slide.

Hey chickey, chickey! 

Our wonderful UNCW student volunteers! 

WALKER loves the slide! 

REEF (who belongs to our wonderful veterinarians) going down the slide like a champ!  

The rest of the week we have just done some internal socialization, including a visit from some new friends that got us some great exposure to a wheelchair, and our regular command training. All the puppies are getting good at their "party trick" commands, you know, the "shake", "high-five", "wave", "roll", "turn", etc. I'll have to try and get a video of it in the next few days, because they're pretty darn cute!

And here's an update on the little bitty puppies, who are now 9 days old! Their Early Scent Introduction is going great, along with their Early Neurological Stimulation! We started off with some fruit, and they have moved on to other things such as leather and wood. They're growing bigger every day and their eyes and ears will be opening soon. Stay tuned - names get announced on Thursday when they're 2 weeks old!

We're going to run out of space at the milk bar soon! 

Red boy tries out the lemon smell. 

Our only girl models with the banana. 

Not sure who this is, but the lime was not a group favorite! 

Big ole green boy and the leather sample! 

And a little bonus, because today is FINLEY's 3rd birthday!! (and also our other p4p dogs AVERY and KOURY!)

Handsome boy WALKER celebrated with FINNY girl! 

The puppies all wanted a taste of FIN's new birthday bone! 

Leanlix

Our sweet friends at leanlix sent us a sample to try. Y'all. The dogs LOVE this stuff. It's literally doggy crack. It's fantastic for the puppies, who typically take about 5 minutes (maybe a slight exaggeration) to chew up a treat when they're training. With leanlix, they get a lick (or two, or three), and we're still focused on the task. When they find an object they are uncertain of on an outing, the leanlix is a continuous way to inch them closer and associate it with a positive reward. Thank you to leanlix for the opportunity to try this awesome product with our training methods! Here is a video of WALKER learning "light"; he's clearly very motivated for the leanlix!

REMI with his eyes on the prize! 

HUNTLEY loves leanlix as a training reward!  

"Leave it" is hard with such a yummy tease!