A Big Outing for the 10-month old!

I can't believe that Don is 10 months today! Double digits already? He's going to be a year old in just two months!!- which means I've only got 5 months left with my big boy. We're going to be doing a lot of doggy distraction training until then! I haven't blogged in a while due to a ton of end-of-trimester school projects and tests. There's a lot to cover.

I sent a letter to my school principal regarding taking Don to school. So far, I've gotten no response. Hopefully I'll get an answer sometime this month.

Don went on a great outing to downtown Sonoma. I had to do a "Cultural Participation and Research" project for my Spanish class, and decided to visit a California Mission because 1) I couldn't think of anything else and 2) I knew it would be a good outing for Don. So, this past Saturday (or maybe it was 2 wks ago?) I went up to Sonoma, along with my brother, mom, and of course, Don. Our first stop was a winery that had a California missions museum.

Don outside the museum, sitting in front of a big oak door on the wooden patio. You may notice that Don is wearing a gentle leader- recently, Don was having some issues with it rubbing off the fur on his nose. I put a piece of moleskin on it and now it has healed. Yay!

Inside the missions museum- There is a detailed model for all 21 missions. They were pretty amazing.

Don sitting in front of one of the mission models. I'm not sure what mission it is, but the stained glass in the background was saved from the Mission Dolores in S.F. Also, the "GUIDE DOG PUPPY" coat sleeve came in the mail the other day- it's so great cause a lot of people don't realize he's working until they look at his side.

They've got a lot of animals at the winery, including birds, turtles, and donkeys (which were Don's favorite). You can see Don's perked ears and the curious donkeys looking over the fence. Don really badly wanted to play with them and did a lot of play-bowing and waging of the tail. He was disappointed when the donkeys didn't take him up on his offer.

Don sitting on a stone ledge in front of the Mission San Francisco Solano in downtown Sonoma.

Inside, we looked at the chapel, padres' quarters, and dining hall. Don seemed rather bored with California history, but I got the notes that I needed- and a couple of pictures of him.

Outside, I took a picture of him next to some cacti. Whenever he hears the beep of my camera, he turns his head away- thus explains we he's looking away in this photo. Afterwards, Don and I walked around the square and practiced some dog distractions. Don walked past a boxer dog without loosing it. Yes- success!

Lunch at the Sonoma Cheese Factory. Delicious! They make great sandwiches there. Don wasn't too happy about settling under the table, but eventually he gave in. Afterwards, we got cookies at this great bakery, then headed home.

Don is one tired pup after a long day in Sonoma- and decided to use my leg as a head rest. How else is he going to rest that big head of his?

Friday night, Don and I went to see my brother in a play. Don was well behaved- he didn't fall asleep, but he laid down relatively still- and didn't whine one bit. There were a TON of people crowded into the theater's lobby and Don was so good- ignoring everyone and everything. When it was over, a man came up to me and starting talking about Guide Dogs. He said that he worked in San Rafael and that he saw guide dogs all the time, and that he knew ("absolutely- like always") when a dog was going to fail and not pass. He then goes on to say that this one (pointing at Don) isn't going to make it "because he's looking at me and WAY to distracted with everything, and also because I can just tell." (At this point, Don was looking right at me, and he actually backed away/ignored the person like I want him to when people pet him.) Later, the man came back and said to Don, "Poor dog. I know- you want to be FREE, FREE, FREEEEEE!" My theory is that he was just mad that I told him he wasn't allowed to pet the dog. Who knows. Anyways, it was pretty funny that he thought he could determine the fate of every guide dog he saw. Plus, it was great training for Don to practice ignoring people when they pet/talk to him- and he did really well!