Our first week with Hamlet

 He's adorable.  Really, really, adorable.  It's a good thing too, because sometimes he's also really a challenge!

I picked up Hamlet from the SSD kennels on Friday, August 17.  Jason was at a conference in New York City for the first five (yes, five) days that I had him.  It was just me and the baby puppy, which meant he truly had my full attention.

Those first days were tiring, and for some reason I felt a lot like a new single mom.  He had runny poo when I brought him home, and for the first few days we were in and out all the time for pottying.  I have been keeping a log of all his "business" to better track it and thus anticipate it.  It's exciting to have an accident free day, and somehow with Hamlet we've only had two accidents in the first ten days.  Wow!  One of them only kind of counts anyway, as he climbed in the bathtub and then decided that he needed to pee.  Clean up was super easy!

Register to vote with Hamlet!

 For the most part, we've been hanging out at home working on house manners and potty training.  Miraculously, he now sits intently at the door when the urge hits.  Lucky us!  Unfortunately, he also has a rather short attention span and an unquenchable desire to jump on the love seat .  It's actually pretty funny, because once he's up there he just curls up and tries to go to sleep.  He also loves to chew on furniture, but he's getting better.

Last weekend was dorm move-in weekend.  It's crazy, but every fall State College gets 10,000 new residents - the freshman class at Penn State.  Almost all of those students need to either register to vote or submit a change of address form,  so Jason, Hamlet, and I went out to the dorms to get folks registered.  People loved seeing Hamlet, even if he was asleep almost the entire time.

These pictures show one of Hamlet's favorite things to do.  We are trying to discourage it, but paused to document it!  He hops in the bathtub and wants to drink from the faucet.  He gets little dirty paw prints everywhere, but he sure is jolly about it!

Tomorrow (Tuesday) we'll go to Harrisburg for our first Early Socialization Class (ESC).  I'm looking forward to getting some more guidance about training.  With Hamlet there are many things to teach!  First, he has to know to look at me.  He needs to know to walk on a loose leash, to sit, lay down, wait politely at doors, etc.  He already knows "come" which is really fun.  Jason and I reward him mightily with little pieces of chicken when he comes, and he learned so quickly!  He'll run from across the room and then sit in front of us, waiting for his treat.  This week will be very very busy for us, but Hamlet is up to the challenge!

Walking is faster this way.  I've held all my dogs like this
when they were little.

Introducing... Hamlet!

Daisy and Hamlet at the SSD kennels

I've been dreaming of raising another dog ever since I moved to State College.  To give you some background, I started raising guide dogs for the blind when I was 12 years old, and had dogs in training until I graduated from college.  In total, there were eight of them.  The dogs went everywhere with me, and I always loved the challenge of starting a new dog each year. 

Moving to State College meant leaving my old guide dog club behind, and I feared that it would also mean that my days of raising were behind me too.  The organization I raised for, Guide Dogs for the Blind Inc., doesn't place pups outside the western states, and Pennsylvania is definitively not a western state (!).   I looked into raising for an organization in New Jersey, but they wouldn't place pups with a "new" raiser this far from their campus.  Then school got busy and the Co-op got crazy and three years snuck by without a puppy.

Most of Hamlet's litter mates and their raisers.

Hamlet is a lazy puppy - so lazy he won't even get up to drink!

Luckily I met Kindle, a lab being trained for Susquehanna Service Dogs (SSD) by our friend Annabelle.  Over the last six months or so she has helped me learn about the organization, and last week we were finally matched with a puppy - Hamlet came home!
Hamlet is being raised as a service dog, which is very different from a guide dog.  The training is also  different, and I'm learning as I go.  We use a clicker and lots of treats to encourage good behaviors, and there is no negative feedback for him at all.  He's learning very quickly what we like!  Especially when we use special treats that he really loves to eat.

Jason's first try at pottying Hamlet.
He must learn to go on all types of surfaces

He will be with us for 1.5 years, and then he'll go back to advanced training in Harrisburg.  Eventually (hopefully!)  he'll be matched with someone who needs his help.  He'll likely be a wheelchair, balance, hearing, or autism dog.  For now, we're aiming to raise a nice, steady dog who is confident and calm in all situations.  Actually, right now we're just working on getting him to potty in the right place and not destroy our furniture!


I am very happy to have this dog.   Yes, he's a LOT of work right now (he pottied 16 times in the first day!), but he's also a joy.   Jason is learning about puppies and Hamlet is good at making us laugh.  He's still floppy and full of silly puppy.  That won't last for long though... he's going to be HUGE!  I'll write about our first week together in a separate post.