Pity? or Party??

Lassiter here,

Just thought I'd chime in and give you the K-9 version of the last few days.

Ansel and I loaded up into a much nicer vehicle and went for a ridiculously LONG ride. It seemed to go on forever. Sure, we would stop every few hours and get to stretch, but we would always end up back in the car again.

After what seemed like an eternity (how long can you really play "you're it"), we finally stopped for the night in Sunbury, Ohio. It's well known to us pups what resides there. Only the greatest party spot in Ohio that's what! Where else can you go, get fed 2 squares, sleep on a clean floor, AND get to play with 20 other buds?

On Friday, we got to hang in the outdoor party cubes while the humans were working inside the building. Raj would bark everytime a human would come out so we could all look sad. Let me tell you though, when the humans were not around, it was party time baby!! I mean, we were having so much fun in those cubes, we were all drooling. It was quite funny when someone would come check on us and make comments about the drooling and how stressed the dogs looked. That my friends, was all a ruse so they wouldn't catch on to how much fun we were having!

The things we learned that day...parties at midnight, the secret paw shake, and who was the kennel wetter :^) I can't wait till February to get to experience all the fun!

So, Saturday comes and we get to attend the graduation ceremony. It was fun watching all of the "big" dogs get placed with their forever humans and it was fun to see the turn in pups up on stage. I was going to bark out some verbal jabs at Ansel, but thought better of it. Time to start acting my age you know. There seemed to be a lot of laughing and a lot of tears by the humans. Not sure about that since I was just scoping out all the potential friends for a later date.

After graduation, we went back to CCI and I got to say goodbye to Ansel. He was really looking forward to his new digs and when he learned he was rooming with Dembre, that made it even better! I can only imagine the things those guys are doing right now.

After that sad time for the humans, we got back into the car and made that ridiculously LONG ride home. Not sure why we don't fly, seems like it'd be a lot faster and much more comfortable!

Made a pit stop in Indianapolis to see some of Deb's family. I had a ton of fun and got to meet some new young friends and a couple older dog friends.

I found out that I'll be going home Thursday night, back to MY human, so I talked TBG and Deb into taking me swimming one last time. I've really enjoyed the lake while I've been here. I'm still not fond of dock diving, I'll leave that one for the crazy dogs like Ansel.

NO WAY I'm jumping from this

I do like to swim though!

Deb took some video of my impersonation of Michael Phelps!

It's Done

Ansel after the ceremony...looking ahead to his future





















Dear Readers,

Thank you so much to all who responded to the $5.00 challenge. CCI has received many wonderful gifts in Ansel's name. It means a lot to us. For those of you who are just tuning in but would like to donate, the links are posted in the right-hand pane.

Mark and I debated about what to do with this post...should we attempt to give a moment-to-moment description of the entire experience? Should we try to make it funny? (Talk about a challenge!) Should we include a list of all those whom we would like to thank for taking part and helping us with this journey?

We finally decided that the best we could do would be to share our core sentiment. Surprisingly (especially for those of you who know both of us), that core is the same.

It was just as hard as we thought it would be...walking him to the kennel, taking off his collar, locking him in, and turning and walking away...well, although we might have 240 posts on this blog, we don't have adequate words to describe that kind of sorrow. And yet, even with all of that, there was still an underlying sense of having contributed, done our "job" as it were, and finally paying back, in some small measure, all of the good that Jeb created during his working career.

We think too, that having Lassiter helped eased the way, and we marvel yet again how the stars align, and how out of great sadness comes hope and comfort.

To see pictures of the journey, visit this link: http://tinyurl.com/3rq5p2l

Questions for us? Leave a comment and we'll respond. We'll keep posting about Lassiter's adventures and we should receive monthly progress reports on Ansel--first one is due August 31! We'll certainly post those too!

My Challenge to You Readers

The time is drawing near...and all that crud. Anywho!

All this talk of graduation, turn-in and the good work that CCI does got me to thinking...that along with the fact that I noticed that we now have had more than 5000 "new" visitors to this site! Awesome!

So, I have a challenge for all of my readers. IF you have enjoyed reading this blog even a little bit over the past 17 months, would you consider sending $5.00 in my name (that's Ansel III in case you've forgotten) to CCI? Wouldn't it be so EXCELLENT (think Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure) if every one of you 5000 people sent just $5.00? I mean, $5.00--that's just 2 cents per post! A total of $25,000 for CCI!

To donate $5.00 in my name, go to

http://www.cci.org/site/c.cdKGIRNqEmG/b.4011045/k.685A/Donate_in_Honor_or_Memory.htm

OR

http://www.cci.org/site/c.cdKGIRNqEmG/b.4127965/k.C1CE/Donate.htm
and click on "one-time donations."


If you are feeling frisky, and would like to donate $25 (or more) visit my own personal gift registry at CCI (go check it out in any event. It really is cute):

http://www.cci.org/gifts/anselcci

Just to show that I can walk the talk, I strong-armed TBG and SWMBO into sending the very first "Ansel" donation today!

Thanks everyone!

A couple videos of the boys at play

and here's Lassiter the great Ambusher!

Last Few Days...Last Few Pictures

Deb and I said our goodbyes at the nursing home

Goodbye, Friend-of-Jeb!


Goodbye birdies!


Goodbye everyone! Thanks for helping to train me!


We also stopped by the lake for some good fun


SWMBO finally got it!


Remember this picture from when I was just a wee pup?


Here I am training Lassiter
How to look magestic


How to share


How to do an awesome lap!


Seriously...I didn't train that!


Hold down the fort, young man!

It's hot! Let's go swimming

Obedience classes that were supposed to start today have been moved to September when it's cooler. It was just a little too hot for us indoor spoiled pups today!




So, I got talking to Lassiter and decided I'd try to convince TBG to go swimming at the lake. I thought for sure I would be irresistible, but sadly, it didn't work.






TBG is still recuperating from his barefoot'n Sunday and was in no mood to go to the lake. Maybe later this week!

Dog Days of Summer

Another hot summer day. This one's a little different though. Normally it's cool in the morning and blazing hot after lunch, but not today. We left for our morning walk, but as soon as I stepped out the front door, this muggy, humid, HOT air smacked me and Lassiter right upside our heads. It was as if it was raining hot water! TBG said it reminded him of Florida. I just thought it was ridiculous, especially when we just left a nice cool, dry house.

Anyway, we went for an extra long walk, something like 4 miles. Passed the cows that were being moved, passed the horses and even passed a couple of road kills! When we finally made it back to the cool zone, I figured we'd get a nice long cool break...NOPE, we drank some water and headed into town.

We walked around town, down by the river, in a few stores and also played at the kids' playground. I introduced Lassiter to my favorite slides and climbing spots! We really worked hard this morning on our commands. Gotta get as much practice as I can, college is just around the corner.













Some of you might remember the train pics from last fall. There's a picture of Lassiter when he was just a little guy!

Video of our time raising Ansel

Since we are very close to taking Ansel to "college", we put together a little video of our time together. He'll always hold a special place in our lives and hope that he brings as much joy to his next family.

Must Watch!

KSDS Future Guide or Service Dog Hosta's Goodbye
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PTTkrKVUqk

Thanks for the good times, Hosta! My humans and me wish you all of the best!

Quality work at the Nursing Home Today

Another day where I introduce my buddy Lassiter to some of my peeps! We went to the nursing home this morning (after walking the "Gauntlet" at sunrise). We strolled thru all the areas and I explained the new guy to everyone. I even had Lassiter try out some skills!




and just in case you think we don't have warm weather out here...




Thankfully though, right after I took this picture, a huge storm rolled in bringing LOTS of needed rain. It also had high wind and a lot of lightning! I was very proud of Lassiter, he didn't mind it a bit. We sat out on the porch until the rain starting pelting us.

With a little help from my friends

Lassiter thought he'd give me some practice before turn in. I wonder if this is something I'll work on at Canine College?

Friday Work, Saturday Play!

Hello to my adoring fans, Ansel is in the house!!

Thought I'd update everyone on the happenings of the last couple of days. I've been going to work at K-State A LOT! Yesterday after work, me and Lassiter went to town and had dinner at the Pizza Hut. Talk about some good smells...boy howdy, my nose was working O.T. We had to show off our commands while the pizza was cooking. TBG forgot he had the camera until Lassiter was working on his commands, so no pics of me working.





Afterwards we went passed the big statues in town and on our way out, stopped at the Dairy Queen for a little refreshment!


Woke up this morning and after breakfast, TBG asked if I wanted to show Lassiter the lake. Yeah, I know...silly question huh! Of course I'd LOVE to show my bud the lake. I had TBG take pics so everyone would see the action!

This first one was after I had to coax Lassiter out into the water. He was hesitant at first, but once he realized how cool the water was, he dove right in!















I tried to show Lassiter how much fun it was to dock dive. He finally took the plunge, but I don't think he liked it as much as me. After jumping one time, he preferred going in from the shore!




We had a GREAT time and it wore us out! We headed back to the house and after lunch, Deb decided it was bath time since we needed to be clean for a trip to the Nursing Home tomorrow.
We had a nice, cool outdoor bath. Nothing beats a cool bath on a hot day.




Last I checked on Lassiter, his eyes were rolled back and he was snoring! What a rookie, LOL.

Ansel out.

Lassiter: On Location

Lassiter here,

Thanks to my buddy Ansel, I now know there is a spell-check option! The following is my report for Wednesday, July 20th, 2011.

We were up at the crack of that big yellow/orange thing in the sky. Had breakfast, went out and took care of business, then took a short rest while Deb and TBG (now I know why Ansel refers to Mark that way...he's a little chunky). After they finished eating, we geared up and went for a looooong walk. I got to meet more of Ansel's friends. The cows were already milling around near the fence, then we came upon these two GIANT animals. Ansel said they were called horses; I just called them Gigantors!

Here's a couple shots of us checking out the big guys (hey...kinda like TBG).

Say, Chief...can I go for a ride?





















Seriously, can I??




















After meeting the horses, we headed back and spent the day working on being quiet and staying in my "downs". I think I'm getting better about not springing to action quite so quickly!


After dinner tonight, Ansel and I were run through our commands and TBG said something about working on "lap". It took a little while to catch on, but once he broke out those high-value cheese sticks, I was all over that command!




































Then we worked on "jump" and "off". I think I did pretty good with those!













































Enough for today, see you next time!

Great pictures of the swim date with Hosta and Spark

Just thought I'd add some pictures from last week's swim day with KSDS pups Hosta and Spark. Hosta's puppy raiser Lisa took some really great shots!


Here was Hosta doing his impression of a frog.




This one is just mystifying, Spark is hovering in mid air!




Here's Ansel's impression of Gene Simmons.






and finally, the BEST picture of Ansel...looks remarkably like Jeb.