Big Fat 0

For the fourth week in a row, Kyle is in phase 0. That's still the medical evaluation stage of training. Phase 0 normally lasts 1-2 weeks, so that alone was cause for concern.

Additionally, all of Kyle's littermates are getting career changed. So far, three, maybe four, are cc'd. Kermit returns to formal training this week, and Keegan is unaccounted. Those odds aren't tipping the scale in Kyle's favor at all.

With these two factors combined, I panicked and called my leader. She placed a call to my regional leader. I'm assuming my regional leader called the Oregon campus because I had a logical, but sad, explination for Kyle's stay in phase 0 within a couple of hours.

It turns out that Kyle cut his paw open on an outing. Until it heals, he cannot go into training. My poor boy! I wish I could give Kyle a giant cuddle right now. He's got to be going stir crazy without exercise. Kyle is the energizer bunny.

All I can hope is that Kyle is getting obedience work and some other form of entertainment while his paw heals. If any of Dutch and Gracie's puppies are going to make it as a guide dog, I have full confidence that Kyle can do it. He was born to be a working dog. A hurt paw cannot keep my boy down.

Which Puppy is Kyle?

After a post dedicated to all of Kyle's physical features, I decided to go back over the pictures of Kyle's litter that I stole from GDB's flicker page. It didn't take long to pick out my boy.

When the litter was only a couple weeks old, I couldn't identify Kyle because none of the pictures featured the pup's faces so that I could find his markings. I also couldn't see any underbellies to look for Kyle's mottling.

However, I can tell you which puppy in this picture is not Kyle. My little cuddle bug would never dream of sleeping away from the rest of the litter. Thus, the pup at the top cannot be Kyle.

(In this picture of the Dutch and Gracie litter, six puppies are sleeping together and one lone pup is hanging out on his own.)

I'm almost certain I was able to pick Kyle out of all the Christmas day pictures of this litter. This little guy has a distinct center line down his face and a skid mark on his lips. It must be Kyle!

(A cute puppy yawning at the camera. At this point Kyle was a month and a day old.)

If this isn't Kyle, then some of his littermates have markings that I haven't noticed in the pictures I've collected of them. Wasn't Kyle an adorable baby?

Family Photos

For the past few months, I've been collecting pictures of Kyle's parents and littermates. I love seeing pictures of Kyle's family and hearing stories about them. It sounds like Dutch and Gracie produced a wonderful litter of pups.

Dutch

Dutch was born on September 21, 2007. He was raised in the PUPS2C4U club in Washington. As far as I can tell, Kyle comes from Dutch's fifth litter. If you look closely at the picture of Dutch, you can see that Kyle inherited the distinct center line on his nose that comes to a point in the middle from his dad.

Gracie
Gracie was born on the same exact day as Dutch. It's fun to think that they were in the guide dog kennels together. Gracie was raised in the Future Vision club in Washington. The K-litter was Gracie's first litter. I think Kyle's coloring looks a lot like his mama's coloring. Kyle's also developing the muscular lines Gracie has on her chest.

Kaya

Kaya is the lone sister of the litter. She is being raised in Washington in the Future Vision club. Her raisers are the same family that raised Gracie.

Kearney
Kearney and Kyle were reunited at the California fun day. Apparently Kearney is crazier than Kyle. Kearney and Kyle have similar coloring and the same super lean build.

Keegan
I don't know much about Keegan, but at least I've found a picture of him.

Keifer
Keifer was being raised in California in the Mt. Tam Puppy Club. Apparently he was career changed this summer for epilepsy. Poor boy! I hope he is enjoying his life as a pet now.

Kendrick
Kendrick is being raised in the Paws with a Plan club in California. A raiser in his group described him as a good boy. When Kyle was still in a medium jacket, Kendrick was in an extra large. This boy is huge! His size actually reminds me of my first puppy, Turk. Both Kendrick and Turk both have a gentle giant look to them. However, I cannot see any family resemblance between Kyle and Kendrick.

Kermit
Last but not least is Kyle's brother Kermit. When they were babies, Kyle and Kermit traveled to Colorado to be raised in the TLC Club of Larimer County. Kermit is still in that club. Between blog entries about Kermit and talking to a raiser from my club who puppy sat Kermit this summer, I know quite a bit about him. Basically, he and Kyle have a lot in common. Both started life with digestive issues, although Kyle's cleared up faster. They are both really cuddly puppies. Kermit focuses better in a head collar, and Kyle recently returned to using his. To top everything else off, I think Kermit is the brother that looks the most like Kyle. In the picture of Kermit, he is even sitting with one paw tucked under the way Kyle likes to sit.

Isn't this a good looking family? If anyone in blogland knows Dutch, Gracie, and their K-litter, please leave a comment about them. I'd love to know even more about this family of pups.

Kyle's Genealogy

I decided to trace Kyle's genealogy back five generations this morning. Call me a nerd, but it sounded like fun.

I actually decided to trace it because we have four Kentucky (a prominent sire) puppies in our club right now. All four have different mothers. I wanted to see if Kyle actually had any connection to all of them. He doesn't, but that's okay. I like Kyle's genealogy better.

Mesa is Kyle's great uncle! Man, that still makes me smile. In case that means nothing to you, Mesa is the second dog I co-raised with my sister Becky.

Mesa was career changed and lived as our family pet for several years. However, Mesa's sister Maddie was pulled as a breeder for guide dogs. Maddie's daughter is Vail. Vail's daughter is Stella. Stella's son is Dutch. Dutch is Kyle's dad. (That sounds like one of the long so-and-so begat so-and-so chapters in the Old Testament.) All that is important is that is that Mesa is Kyle's great-great-great uncle. How cool is that?

This recent discovery makes me all the happier that I am raising Kyle. It was meant to be!

Blog Stalking

I love reading all of the service dog blogs out on the web. Reading about other people's adventures training dogs for all types of careers inspires me in my work with Kyle. Sometimes I read wonderful training tips, and sometimes I realize my dog isn't the only one to invent new forms of naughtiness. When I raised Turk and Mesa, I had a small (but strong) support network. With Kyle, I feel like I have a vast group of friends to help me along and that makes a huge difference.

With that said, sometimes I find incredibly fun things on other guide dog blogs. Tonight a friend pointed me in the direction of a blog with pictures of Kermit, Kyle's brother. Now I have at least found the names of all Kyle's siblings. Kermit is the first one of which I have seen a picture (except GDB's littermate photos). Kermit is an adorable dog that looks a lot like Kyle except a tad darker. He also seems to have Kyle's affinity for being a cuddle bug!

The best part of finding Kermit's picture is that it led me to a picture of Kyle while he was still in his first puppy club. It appears that Kyle has always loved sitting in people's laps. I swear that my little guy thinks he is a human baby at times. He makes me laugh!

I love the connections I have with the raisers in my puppy club, and I also love branching out to raisers across the country!

Puzzle Pieces

Tonight my sister Kassie sent me a series of texts that made me laugh. She said, "I have this random image in my mind of a lab puzzle with random words on the back of each piece like Kyle, 18 weeks, May, etc. Some pieces are missing, but is makes it even more exciting...Like a stretched out Christmas! Extend the fun!"

One of my club members who seems to be a wealth of knowledge concerning all things related to guide dog trivia, sent me most of the information I was hoping to know about Kyle. His parents are yellow labs named Dutch and Gracie. Kyle and his littermates were born on November 24, 2009. All seven puppies, six males and one female, are yellow like their parents. His sister is Kaya and his brothers are Kearney, Keegan, Keifer, and Kendrick. (One brother is unaccounted for.) Thanks to Guide Dogs for the Blind's blog, I was able to snatch pictures of Kyle and his litter.

(This is Gracie, Kyle's mom.)

 (This is Kyle's litter when the pups are only a week old.)

(Here the litter is two and a half weeks old.)

(This picture and the three that follow are individual shots of the pups on Christmas day. Which puppy is Kyle?)

Now that I have seen pictures of Kyle, even if I don't know which pup he is, I think I can be a little more patient for the next two weeks. Every one of these little guys is adorable. Since Kyle will be five months when I get him, it will be a fun game to even try and identify him in these pictures.

Yea for the wonders of the internet! With that said, does anyone out there know where the rest of this litter ended up? It would be fun to meet or hear about Kyle's littermates.