Growing Up Guide Pup - Week 57 - Dog Distractions

Amie said a great thing to Seth and I months back that I really love. She said that guide dogs are the "navy seals" of the working dog industry. The more we shoot the show, the more it makes sense to me. I mean everywhere you take these dogs poses a myriad of distractions. Whether it be other dogs, food, cats, small animals, birds, kids, balls, sounds, water, etc. It is amazing that any of them graduate. To turn off a dogs natural instinct which is to be curious about things around him/her is a huge challenge. We strive to do this with Ricki constantly, and it is amazing how the same training can be utilized in so many different locations. Ricki continues to make baby steps as we crawl closer to her recall date. We have high hopes that she will do well, but ultimately this will be up to her. We know she has the work drive as well as the drive to please. Only time will tell if that will be enough.

Growing Up Guide Pup - Week 44 - Airplane

It took us a long time to get Ricki ready for travel. Amie felt Ricki was not ready when we traveled back in May of this year, but now she seemed ready. All sorts of things have to be in order before we consider flying with a pup. Our dog has to have awesome relieving habits, our dog has to be calm, our dog has to be able to handle curve balls that we can't anticipate, and our dog has to reach a level of maturity that gives us confidence that the adventure will work out. Ricki performed beyond our expectations. Even though the weather was bad both days we flew , Ricki handled it great. In the video we mention the delay on the air flight home. Well we also had a delay in the terminal leaving to Santa Ana. So between both flights, Ricki had an additional 3 hours to deal with on top of the the normal routine traveling stuff. Great job Ricki and here is our latest.

Growing Up Guide Pup - Week 35 - Paramount Great America

This week was a lot of fun. How many people get to bring their dog to an amusement park? It was hearing about outings like this one which we found so appealing when we first starting raising dogs. All the cool places you get to take these dogs can't be beat. We pretty much take Ricki everywhere we can and jumped at the opportunity to take her to Great America.

Our audience is growing at a snail pace, people keep asking us if we are going to take on another dog after Ricki for a Season 2. My heart says yes, but my mind says no. We have been trying really hard to build an audience so that we can get the show to sustain itself with sponsors some day. Our viewership and subscribers have a lot to be desired and are not nearly enough. We have to put three days a week into each episode. From planning, to filming, to editing, to distribution...it is a lot of work. We are not looking to break the bank, but we are going to need to figure out a way to make some money to pay for all the work eventually. So please encourage people to watch, and subscribe to our youtube channel as well as become a fan on facebook. Hopefully this will get much better in the future, as it is crucial for us to be able to continue.

Growing Up Guide Pup - Week 33 - Puppy Pool Party

This week I really don't have a topic or theme. So I thought I would just write. Ricki is chewing on a nylabone as usual as i ping away here. She seems to absolutely love those things. She also loves her ice cubes with dog treats frozen inside of them. We made a whole bunch of the them for the pool party and i totally didn't film any of it. Next time i guess.

Amie just smelled a dog fart. She just preached it out in disgust; as she always does while she surfs the web beside me. It never becomes ok with her even though it is as normal as a furball from one of our cats. Now she is embarrassed and mad that i am writing this. haha!

Big thanks to everyone out there for supporting our series. Until next week, I bid farewell.