I will no longer be updating Iron Guide (see below). Instead, I am now writing at my new, personal blog. Though that will be about some of the newer things I'm doing in life, if you want to see updates about Louie, Lester, and now Dusky, add me on Facebook -- there's enough ridiculously cute pictures to go around.

Louie is officially a dad! [!!!] Gail, the little lady that he had a "date" with some weeks ago, just gave birth on Monday. I'm a little short on details right now, but it's a litter of five puppies starting with P. I'd called Carol in breeding at Guide Dogs, mainly to just get an update on how things were coming along, but, yeah, wow, did she have a surprise for me. :) Both mother and her pups are doing well from all I've heard and Louie has been returned to Oregon to continue training and is progressing along in phase 8.

I'm working on getting pictures. Breeding is going to try and put me in touch with Gail's breeder-keeper. Lester may no longer be a cute-as-balls puppy [Quincy said he's starting to become "handsome" instead], but, shoot, I'll still be getting you guys some cute puppy pictures. :)

Eek! I'm so excited! I think I'm actually giddy.

Here's the best part: I get to name a couple of the puppies! What I'm actually going to do though is let you guys pick. What's your favorite puppy name starting with a P [*]? Either email me directly or post in the comments. In a few weeks, I'll gather up all the suggestions, pick the best ones and send them over to Guide Dogs. Tentatively, I have until about the middle of July to suggest names, so, there isn't a whole lot of time. Again, I don't yet know all the details like how many males and females or how many I'll get to name, but as I hear more, I'll update here.

[* For my non-raiser readers: the Guide Dogs tradition is that all the puppies in a litter have names starting with the same initial. When you first start out and go to get your puppy, all you know arriving at the airport or the puppy truck is that initial and whether or not your puppy is a boy or a girl. Finding out the name is supposed to be a surprise. :) But, to be honest, tradition aside, I don't know if there's a deeper reason that all the puppies in a litter have the same initial. Anyone know?]

The irony of the day, however, is that I just dropped Lester off at the vet to get neutered. He's probably being anesthetized and going under as I write this. He had his first evaluation a few weeks ago and, ultimately, he was just too dog distracted. It's been a known issue for awhile and he's been making steady progress, but the feeling was just that, you know, if he's this bad before his hormones have kicked in, what are his teenage years going to be like? Scary. In either case, I'll be getting the now-not-so-little Lester [he weighed in at 49lbs] back tomorrow morning. It'll still be the same, good ol' Lester... just, you know, with a couple things missing.

Louie is a dad!!!

If anyone even thinks of calling me grandpa, they die.

Labels: Louie

Permalink | Written at 8:48 AM | Post a comment | 10 comments | Trackbacks

Yay Louie! Congrats g-pa! haha :P

"P" is possibly my very favourite letter, so here are my suggestions: Pacey, Parker, Porter, Puddle (haha), Phoenix, Pebbles, Paisley, Paige, Peyton, and Peanut!
Permalink   | Posted by  Natalie at June 29, 2007 5:10 PM

Yay! That's exciting! I would be proud to be a grandma, as long as it was only dogs. ;D Ok some name suggestions:

Pearl, Percy, Potter, Polar, Petal,Pepsi,Piper,Pronto,Parsley, Parelli, Pedro, and Pear.

I have had to much practice, trying to guess the "S" name of my next pup. ;)We have a rather...large list.
Permalink   | Posted by  Kelsey and Chappelle at June 29, 2007 5:20 PM

Congratulations to you and Louie (and Gail as well).

May I suggest "Patience" which was the name of my last foster puppy. I thought it was very fitting, since every puppyraiser needs to be reminded to have some patience from time to time.

Sam
Permalink   | Posted by  Hobbes Dogs at June 30, 2007 12:59 PM

Sadie is jealous that she never got to hook up with Louie, but she's happy that he finally found that special someone.

As for pup names Sadie suggests: Parker, Penny, Petey, Phinney, Phantom.
Permalink   | Posted by  Jon at June 30, 2007 4:56 PM

This was quite a coincidence... I had just read some of your blog and remembered that you raised Louie. So when Louie popped up as the demo dog at the graduation ceremony today I though "I must get a video of him for Kushal!" I didn't get anything very good, but you can still see how happy he is working! What a handsome guy too!
Permalink   | Posted by  Emily and Ellis at June 30, 2007 5:41 PM

P.S. Duh... I should give you the address of my blog!

http://lifewiththedogs.blogspot.com/
Permalink   | Posted by  Emily and Ellis at June 30, 2007 5:42 PM

Some name suggestions: Potter, Poppy, Pomfrey, Prewett, Prince, Parvati. The observant may detect a theme... :-)
Permalink   | Posted by  Kim at June 30, 2007 8:00 PM

I like Pacey, Paige, Payson, and Pager. And, to the person above me... love the Harry Potter theme. :-D
Permalink   | Posted by  Joanna and Camry at July 1, 2007 7:22 PM

Well, I'm late, so I don't know if I can come up with anything new, but here are the ones I like.

Pepper, Parker, Porter, Parson, Piper, Pavarotti, Pedro, Penny, Paris.
Permalink   | Posted by  Angie at July 5, 2007 7:55 PM

Congrats on the puppies. I hope Im not too late. Here are some P names that I like.

Packard, Parody, Pascal, Penna, Pfiefer, Phelps, Pharos, Pippin, Pirate, Pixel, Plymouth, Prestige, Punxi, Primrose, Prodigy, Puzzle, Puma, Parade, Pandora, Pilot Placid, Poseiden, Pele,and Painter

ok so thats a lot but maybe one of them will sound good.

Good Luck!
MeKalea and GEB Glacier
Permalink   | Posted by  The Puppy Raising Roller Coaster at July 7, 2007 10:41 PM