Sunday, June 7, 2009

16 Months old

Mali has grown up so much since my last blog post. She has done so many wonderful things it is hard to pin point the one thing I find the most amazing about my wonderful girl; she has had battles with terrible monsters and kept all the disabled people in the world from taking my wheel chair. Mali helped to raise two wonderful puppies, broken and elderly woman's fall by bracing her with her own body and learned to alert to medical conditions without prompting even to those conditions of complete strangers all by the age of fifteen months.

However, one of the simplest things she did was go to a zoo with me in SC. When we got to the exhibit of the meercats I put Mali in a down stay as the little meercats went into a mobbing frenzy out of fear the moment they saw her. Mali remained calm and quiet and within moments the meercats quieted and started to come closer to her within a few moments they began to call to her invitingly and soon they were within inches of her chirping to Mali inviting her to join them. We stayed at the meercat exhibit for a good half an hour. All the time we were there, the meercats stayed with Mali giving everyone around us plenty of time to take pictures.

Friday, July 11, 2008

Happy 6 Months

Mali was 6 months old on July 8th.

She is 26” and 68 pounds. She is going to be a very big girl.

Her favorite things to do at home are to either play in her pool or chase Steve. Both Steve and the pool are great toys as far as she is concerned.

Mali loves going to Doggie Day camp. She has been going three times a week for the last 6 weeks. At Day Camp Mali has a best friend her name is Ruby. Ruby is a female boxer a month older then Mali.

I was told when Mali gets to the day camp she goes and goes and goes and does not stop playing until it is time to go home. Mali sleeps all the way home in the car, eats a light dinner and naps for a couple of more hours, before going out to play in the yard for a little while before bed.

On the days she is not at Day Camp, Mali gets to go to the Green Way in the evening when it is cooler, where she heels my wheel chair for a fast walk; stopping only when we are nearly ready to leave for a quick dip in the creek.

On Mondays Keith our personal trainer comes to our home to help us learn basic dog obedience, to go along with the training she is getting to be a mobility dog. We started Mali at 4 months old in adult obedience. Keith thought it would take a lot longer to teach Mali than an older dog, (after all she is a puppy) but was pleasantly surprised when Mali learned everything just as quickly as older dogs and faster than many of them.
Last Monday, to Keith’s surprise, Mali already knew what he was planning to teach us; and so, she has been invited to go to the monthly lesson with the big dogs this Sat.
(I will try to remember the camera)

Keith will continue to come to our home once a week until Mali is able to follow hand signals from 30 feet away with out being distracted.

Mali is a well adjusted, happy, humorous, intelligent and loving best friend to Steve and me.

Saturday, May 10, 2008

May 10th, 2008

Okay, it's been another month since our last posting. It's amazing to see just how fast Mali is growing. Not only is she growing, her personality is definitely coming through! She knows not to bite, but when told not too, oh boy, listen to her moan and groan - but I wont' bite that hard! :-)

She's getting more amazing and smarter by the day and is learning a lot with all the social interactions she is getting (people and other dogs).

I've posted a few more pictures to the left of recent events, seeing a pony, in our car for a ride and in the yard. You can see how's she's grown and even her ears are perfectly straight now. No more bunny ears. :-)

She's getting better walking by Sherri's wheel chair in the park and getting more and more energy - or is that me getting the energy? Hard to keep track when you have to keep up!

--Steve

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Mali's World

Mali's World.
The ride home from Ma’s house took fourteen hours, one hour longer than it took to get there, as we stopped every hour or so for Mali. We arrived home before dark, giving us the chance to take Mali for a walk before introducing her to the four cats waiting in the house. Steve brought in her soft crate while I took her for a walk.Adriane and Kae brought all the cats to the crate for a sniff, two of them wanted nothing to do with the scent and ran quickly away. The other two took their time inspecting the crate. Soon after, Mali bounded into the house, sending the two remaining cats scurrying away.

Perry, my Tonkinese seems to be the bravest. He has entered the room Mali is in many times, but only when one of us is in the room. The Friday after she arrived here she went in for her first Vet visit. At 11 weeks she weighed 30 pounds.

Mali went to the Rock and mineral show with Steve and I. I carried her and he wheeled us into the building. I placed us kind of out of the way of the main flow of people so Mali could stretch her legs and greet people. She wore her pink bandana with the service dog patches. The large round one reads, “Ask to pet me, I’M friendly”, the other two read, “Service dog in Training.”

She learned very quickly the only way I would let her greet any one was if she was sitting. She also learned every one walking by was not interested in her cute little face.
I have no idea why not!

The next day we went to visit Michelle and her three beautiful Shilohs, as you can see by the pictures. It took an hour or so for the four of them to meet and greet before they went off to play. Steve ran around the pond and all four dogs ran after him. I wish I had gotten a picture of that, perhaps next time.