Petaluma continued

More pictures from our trip to Petaluma.

There were a lot of dogs walking around downtown. All of them on leashes. Good for you, Petaluma.

Silky and Jim walked right through this area --valet parking for dogs -- just outside Dempsey's Brewery. They had water dishes for each dog. Silky got to go inside with us and she slept under the table while we had our dinner.

OK, Boss. You had your dinner . . . now what about mine? Jim and Silky went back to the car so she could eat while I went to the Mystic Theater to stand in line.

The theater manager reserved a table just for us since Silky is a puppy-in-training. There was another reserved table near ours -- saved for Gene, his guide Paddy and their friend, Julianne. Paddy is 3 1/2 years old. She came from Seeing Eye in Morristown, NJ.

Silky's watching Paddy -- maybe trying to pick up some guide dog tips.

We had a great time at the concert. Silky slept through it -- applause and all.

Bye, Paddy -- nice to meet you. Bye, Silky.

Field trip to Petaluma

Jim and Silky strolling around downtown Petaluma. Iris Dement was so good as to schedule a concert on Silky's 9-month birthday. No way we could stay home.

"Nice" - Silky resisted some distraction and gets a piece of kibble. M-m-m-m-m-m. It's her favorite thing next to trying to greet every dog on earth.

Beautiful river. Beautiful afternoon. Beautiful puppy. And beautiful puppy handler!

Lunch at the Gilman Grill

Silky and I picked Jim up from his office earlier this week. We took him to lunch at the Gilman Grill. It's one of our favorite lunch places -- they're always glad to see Silky. The first time we went, Silky was still in her "I balk because I can" phase, so it was a little tricky getting her into the restaurant. But we convinced her that it was safe and she discovered that it smelled pretty good once she was inside. Nowadays, she walks right in and settles down under the table. Good girl!

Tug-of-war with Don

Don came for a visit while his raiser and her family were on vacation. Silky loves Don and I suspect Don loves Silky. They play very nicely together. Here's one of about 700 tug-of-war bouts that they had over the weekend.

Bus ride with Primrose and Quebec

Silky (smiling at Quebec and Cindy), Primrose (black lab with Carol) and Quebec (yellow lab with Cindy) went for a ride on an ACTransit bus. We started in Kensington, rode to the El Cerrito Plaza BART station, walked around a bit and then rode back to Kensington. The puppies were very excited to see each other and we all (Cindy, Carol and me) had lots of chances to work on dog distractions. When the bus came, all the puppies climbed right on board and eventually settled down in the back of the bus. When we got to BART, Primrose and Quebec climbed up the stairs to the platform, but Silky was too distracted by them to climb the stairs -- she wanted to bound and fly up the stairs so she could be next to the other puppies. So she and I stayed close to the bottom to work on distractions and stairs. The bus left the BART station after about 20 minutes. When we arrived in Kensington, we had an afternoon tea at a little coffee shop. The electricity was off in the area, but the guys in the coffee shop stayed open anyway and we sat at the tables outside. The puppies were all quiet while we had tea. Primrose is lovely -- all grown up. Quebec and Silky were pretty rowdy -- especially when we were waiting for the bus to come. Ah well -- practice, practice, practice

Nap time

Fast forward to April. Silky is 6 months old and very tired after playing with Leslie -- also very tired.

Here Silky is, hanging out on our deck. It's her favorite hang-out spot -- she watches people and dogs go by, basks in the sun and nibbles the leaves off all my plants. We made a "no puppy zone" by putting a kiddie gate across one section. It keeps the plants and puppy a safe distance from each other.


Don comes to visit from time to time. Silky loves Don -- loves to chew on his cheeks, chase him around, steal his toys and stare at him when they're both on tie-downs. Here's Don explaining how things work to Jeff. "You just move this little push button to one side and I'll be free. OK, Jeff?"

7 months later and my first post

I enticed my lovely daughter-in-law to go with me to pick up our new puppy on December 23, 2009, from the GDB kennel in San Rafael. Our new puppy is named Silky. She moved right in and took charge immediately -- quite a wake up call for us since Maren had been such a quiet little lab. Silky's not un-quiet in the sense that she makes noise -- she just has attitude to spare. Seems like a very long time ago. . . This was our first walk. I pretty much followed her around for awhile. Then scooped her up and left for home.


Who had more fun hanging out in the back seat? I think it was toss-up. Silky soon discovered Leslie's ears and tried to clean them. She cleans everyone's ears -- especially Don (her best friend GD puppy) and Griffen (our grand-dog).