Growing up Guide Pup - Week 37 - Halloween Party

It seems like such a long time ago since we started this series. I was confident that we would be able to pull this off, but never could be sure. When we first started, I told Amie to be prepared to go the long haul on this project. We have been raising dogs for over eight years now, and we were not nervous about our knowledge of the subject and how it would reflect. However, we were nervous about creating a format that could keep the subject interesting and have longevity. I feel pretty strong that our episodic approach on the internet was the perfect medium for such a idea. Short form content with a weekly release seemed smart. Well I can happily report that we are now on the radar of the entertainment industry. Our world premiere is on November 6th, and the festival director chose Week 29 as the episode to screen. This is the episode where we went to Pier 39 and introduced Seth and Bamboo. It is one of my personal favorites and a great episode because it has it all. Information, training, Bay Area personality, and amazing partnership between guide and partner. Fingers crossed for good things to come. Below our latest week is a encore of week 29.

Week 37:


Week 29:

Growing Up Guide Pup - Week 29 - Pier 39

This week was awesome. We met up with working team Seth, and Bamboo. We met them at fun day this year when we were shooting week 25. Bamboo is a four year old black lab female, and has been teamed up with Seth for a couple of years. The first thing I noticed when we first met is she is a little dog, but has big time working ability. I filmed them working the crowd at Pier 39 this week, and couldn't believe how fast, and efficient they were. In fact, they walked so fast that I couldn't even keep up. I swear a jog was the only way I could keep pace. They both have a very, very fast gate which blows me away when you see how little Bamboo is. She was not much bigger than Ricki who is still growing and will probably be bigger.

Ricki continues to have bird distractions, and we showed how much it is affecting her. It will be really interesting to see if we can work her through these issues as they will most certainly be a deal breaker if she can't adjust. Please enjoy our latest episode, and feel free to follow us on Facebook. Our fan page is Growing Up Guide Pup.

Matt

Growing Up Guide Pup - Week 27 - Rickey's Restaurant

This week has to be one of my favorites. I feel like it has everything. It covers an outing, some training, and even has a taste of humor with me dropping a piece of steak by Ricki's nose at the restaurant. As the show continues to evolve, we continue to improve our approach of video blogging with a twist.

I think it's funny how the episodes continue to get longer, and longer each month. The first couple months we had videos under 3 minutes. Then I felt lucky to get them under five minutes. This episode almost cracks the six minute mark. Ok, ok....enough is enough, they won't be any longer than that. Uhhh, actually I have no idea where things will go. I just keep going with my gut. As long as the video constantly moves forward I am happy. It seems we have more information every week resulting in longer episodes just by natural progression.

Anyways, here is our latest episode shot at Rickey's restaurant.

Growing Up Guide Pup - Week 24 - Jelly Belly

This week I had the opportunity to take Ricki and Amie to the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield, Ca. We have always known about the Jelly Belly Factory, but have never had the chance to visit. It is a really cool place. They were totally guide dog friendly, and even had a designated area for the dogs to go to the bathroom. How many places have a designated fire hydrant for the dogs? Special thanks to Jelly Belly and the Solano County Puppy Raising Group for setting up a great event. if you enjoy our webisodes, please don't forget to help support us by subscribing on youtube and telling your friends and family about us.

Cheers,
Matt

Growing Up Guide Pup - Week 23 - SF Giants

We went to a Giants game this week and I filmed the entire episode with our phone. I would prefer to shoot with something better, but push come to shove I love the fact that i never run into any red tape. It's pretty cool. If I had brought my DVX to the game, they would have never let me through without a press pass.

Growing Up Guide Pup - Week 21 - Guide Dog Joanie

This week was really fun cause i tried something different. I interviewed George while i was filming. This was different cause Amie is usually the only voice of the show, but we are talking about adding this twist to the format. I do the interviews if and when needed and she does the vlog hosting motif as always.

Please participate on our show by subscribing on youtube. Also try commenting under the video each week and leave us questions if you want to know anything. Amie does a good job of responding to most peoples comments and questions if needed.

Growing Up Guide Pup - Week 20 - 'Hide' N Seek

This week we played with Ricki and turned it into an episode. Hide and go seek is one of the best ways to bond with a dog, and we do it with all the pups we raise. Ricki picked up on how to play very quickly. It took her about 5 minutes to understand that she needed to wait in a down position until Amie released her with the "Ricki come" command. Good times as usual.

Growing Up Guide Pup - Week 17 - Swimming Pool

This week was bittersweet. My parents are selling their house in Foster City. The harsh economy and overwhelming bills have become too much for my parents and they had to make this unfortunate move. It's the house i spent most of my childhood in. We bought the house when i was nine years old and I am 34 years old now. Needless to say, this has been the rooted homestead of my family for most of my life. They got an offer a week ago and decided to accept it.

So Amie and I decided what better way to say goodbye to the house than to give Ricki her first swimming experience there. She continues to amaze with her ability to adapt to new situations and excel. She fell in the pool three times on accident and didn't let that get in her way. She possesses a steadfast determination to learn to swim this week and it shows in the video.

Goodbye to my childhood home and hello to a new world of water for Ricki.

Growing Up Guide Pup - Week 14 - Hollywood Trip

This week was a trip down to LA for business and pleasure. We shot our life with Ricki for everyone to see as always. Amie and I had a lot of fun. We acquired a lot of footage and decided to make our trip a two part series for the show. Watch as Ricki continues to amaze and perform better than any dog we have had to date.