Summer vacation and Fun for Don!

I've just returned from a long trip to Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone in Wyoming. It was beautiful- the mountains, wildlife, and lakes were AMAZING! Don couldn't come as puppies in training have to stay within the puppy raising states, so he went to the GDB kennels and the puppysitters. Don is always very happy to go to the puppy sitters- he loves it! He enjoys hanging out with his pal Silky and getting to play, play, play. The Saturday before I left, there was a puppy meeting. A member of the training department came to talk with us and tell us about the different phases. It was really helpful and she talked about everything- from what we can do to prepare our dogs best for training to how GDB matches the dogs. We decided Don would do best with someone who works in a busy city and travels- A LOT :)

Aren't the mountains beautiful? That's Jackson lake below it.

One of the days we went for a hike up Cascade Canyon. You can see Jenny lake and all this wildlife- I saw a moose, marmots, and pikas!

This picture was taken along the North Fork of Cascade Creek, looking back upon the snow-topped Grand Teton mountain range.

I went wading in Leigh Lake (above). Brrr... it was so cold!

We saw this young male moose . . . in the town of Moose! Pretty cool name for a city :) It was lying down right on the sandbar of the Snake River. It was really lazy and didn't want to get up, and kept stretching its neck, trying to eat. The guy next to me (who acted like he was an expert in moose) started telling everyone it was hurt and that a park ranger would come and shoot it (???) so it was pretty funny when it stood up and trotted off.

They are incredibly big! He had really adorable, fuzzy antlers. I've decided that Don looks a lot like a moose.

. . . or maybe even a bison :)

Don got a great report from the puppysitters. He got to go to the club meeting at a marina, and got to board a couple boats. Don and I are SO excited for this week as we will be attending GDB's Em-Bark-Adero event in San Francisco. Its a public event at Epic Roasthouse to raise awareness for Guide Dogs. I'm looking forward to meeting other puppies in training and working guide dogs. Is anyone going? Also, Don (Mr. December) and I are going to help sell GDB's 2011 calendars. I just got mine the other day- it looks great! It was really cool seeing all the puppies I know from blogs.

Below are the pictures from "puppy playtime" before the meeting.

Hey guys, can I join in the fun? Look at me- I'm in the middle!

[Don plays a game of 3-way tug with his pal yellow lab Stefano and BFF black lab Silky]

(pant, pant, pant) that was fun!!

sniff, sniff, sniff... so many doggie smells!

[black lab Desta and her golden friend join in the fun]

I leave you with this photo of extreme cuteness: two chipmunks I saw at Old Faithful in Yellowstone.

Aren't they adorable?

Only 20 more days till Fun Day!!!!