Saturday, February 1, 2025 | Lower Mainland, Pupdates
I went on a lot of adventures with my puppy sitter in January! I took the sea bus, went to an office where everyone loved on me and told me what a good girl I am, and went on a bunch of walks. Submitted by: Bahar, PADS Puppy in Training...
Monday, July 1, 2024 | Okanagan, Pupdates
This will be my last puppy report for Birdie, who turned 23 months on June 2nd. She has been chosen for the breeding program, so I had to say a fond farewell to her on June 20th. But in the meantime, we had almost 3 weeks of fun-filled activities, starting off with...
Saturday, June 1, 2024 | Okanagan, Pupdates
Birdie turned 22 months on May 2nd and we are approaching the home stretch with her. She has passed most of the breeding assessment clearances and will probably go into heat later in June, so she will most likely be heading off to Burnaby within the next month to...
Thursday, May 16, 2024 | Okanagan, Pupdates
What a wonderful Okanagan spring, love this time of year! Such pleasant weather to go for a hike among the blooming Arrowleaf Balsamroots. See 21-month-old Birdie among the yellow blossoms and hiking various trails in the area. We went to see Daniel Champagne, an...
Monday, April 1, 2024 | Okanagan, Pupdates
Enter the month of March, and Birdie has reached 20 months old. You know that spring is just around the corner when the clocks spring forward and the Spring Solstice arrives, but first, we did one more winter hike on the icy trails up to Syphon Falls, here in the...
Friday, March 1, 2024 | Okanagan, Pupdates
Winter just isn’t letting go this month. We get some snow; it melts a bit and then we have more snow again! We’ve made the best of it by exploring the many hiking trails around us. Sometimes they are icy and I have to wear my cleats, but nothing seems to faze Birdie....
Thursday, February 1, 2024 | Okanagan, Pupdates
Birdie’s heat continued into January, and with that, she had no public access, and no boy dogs were allowed! So, during this period we went on numerous on-leash walks on various wooded trails in different parks around the area and as far away as Penticton and...
Monday, January 1, 2024 | Okanagan, Pupdates
We had our first snow falls in December and Birdie just loves to roll and play in it! The first half of the month she was very busy with activities: a visit to the dentist, a haircut, a walk with her PADS buddies Athena and Strudel, Christmas Open Houses at Larch...
Friday, December 1, 2023 | Okanagan, Pupdates
Sixteen-month-old Birdie started a new gig this month with LASS (Literacy Alliance of the Shuswap Society) where we visit North Canoe Elementary School and read One to One with 3 students per session, once a week. We go to our designated 4/5 split classroom, pick up...
Wednesday, November 1, 2023 | Okanagan, Pupdates
Birdie turned 15 months old this month and has matured into a nice calm puppy, with excellent manners, most of the time. She went on her first visit to the local swimming pool a couple of times in October to watch our grandson’s swimming lessons. We had to stay in the...
Sunday, October 1, 2023 | Okanagan, Pupdates
With the cooler temperatures this month and the smoke from the wildfires pretty much gone, it was much more pleasant to be outside again, so we took advantage of it by exploring the trails around our new home, visiting local wineries, breweries, cideries, an old car...
Friday, September 1, 2023 | Lower Mainland, Pupdates
With our move to Salmon Arm almost complete, doesn’t my daughter show up for the weekend and dump off her three cats and a bunny for us to pet sit, even though we were already puppy-sitting Jeff, our son’s dog? So, with our 1 cat & Birdie, we had 7 furry pets to...
Tuesday, August 1, 2023 | Okanagan, Pupdates
Birdie turned a year old on July 2nd. Happy Birthday, Birdie! We spent her Birthday weekend camping in our adventure van near Adam’s Lake. We also babysat our new grandson while the kids mountain biked at SunPeaks. The pups did well walking about with the baby and...
Saturday, July 1, 2023 | Okanagan, Pupdates
The big news this month, our baby puppy has gone into heat and has matured into a little lady dog! Time for “fancy pants” for the next while, but in our case, little boys’ underpants. But before that happened Birdie participated in two PADS events this month: Kelowna...
Thursday, June 1, 2023 | Okanagan, Pupdates
It was a very warm spring here in the Okanagan with temperatures hitting 30°C some days, so walks down by the lake were very welcoming for Birdie, with the fun bonus of learning to swim! Who said you have to teach a dog to swim? Birdie loves the water and is a...
Monday, May 1, 2023 | Okanagan, Pupdates
Birdie turned 9 months on April 2nd, is doing well with her core commands and has settled nicely into a routine. Tick meds have been administered, and we are waiting for her first heat to arrive. After hiking at Predator Ridge, Birdie’s sponsor, we took a picture of...
Saturday, April 1, 2023 | Okanagan, Pupdates
PADS Class on Wednesdays is getting much more challenging in the older dog group! Trainer Heather and her crew were here from Calgary in early March and brought us new perch pots to practise on, but now the game is different. The dogs now receive their reward after...
Wednesday, March 1, 2023 | Okanagan, Pupdates
The snow has pretty much melted around town, but there’s still plenty up in the mountains, so this month we tried yet another winter sport: snowshoeing. Birdie accompanied me three times at various snowshoe trails: Telemark Ski Club’s high ridge trail, Kelowna Nordic...
Wednesday, February 1, 2023 | Okanagan, Pupdates
Birdie had her first ferry ride to and from Victoria this month. She was unphased over the whole ferry experience, walking through the ship, and checking out the various decks, inside and outside. Birdie also stayed for the first time in a hotel while in Victoria. We...
Sunday, January 1, 2023 | Okanagan, Pupdates
December was a busy month with Christmas preparations. Decorations were installed at home and a live tree was erected in the living room, which didn’t seem to phase Birdie at all. The highs during the day went down to -20C for a few days around Christmas, so walks...
Thursday, December 1, 2022 | Okanagan, Pupdates
Birdie turned 4 months on November 2nd. She has settled down nicely into her routine, is practising all her basic cues (sit, stand, down, kennel, bed, better go, go sniff, let’s go, leave it, dress, car) and has started losing some molars and fangs. Sometimes when she...
Tuesday, November 1, 2022 | Okanagan, Pupdates
Birdie turned 3 months in October and, with age, has calmed down considerably. Her crazy jumping and biting bursts of energy have become more intermittent. She’s comfortable with her daily routine and is working on her basic commands (better go, sit, down, here,...
Saturday, October 1, 2022 | Okanagan, Pupdates
August 24th was Puppy Pick-Up day for us at PADS in Burnaby. We made the trip down and back in one day to pick up our newest bundle of fluff: PADS Birdie II. Thank you so much to BC & Alberta Guide Dogs for sharing this sweet puppy with us from momma Spoof’s...
Friday, September 2, 2022
Help Fund My Training! #WOOF I'M SOCIALFacebookTwitterGoogle+ Birdie II is being raised and trained to provide life-changing independence to someone with a physical disability other than visual impairment or to work with a professional such as a teacher,...
