Happy 2nd Birthday, Kindle!

Kindle celebrated her 2nd birthday on Friday, December 13th.  We had our SSD friends over to celebrate with us!  That means lots of doggy friends came too!  5 other SSD dogs were here and Kindle was a very proud hostess!  Enjoy some pics from our fun evening!


                        This is Kindle near Emma, SSD Mali, and SSD Sonora next to her girl, Tina.

                                          Nap time!  SSD Kindle, Mali, Sonora, and Bridge.

                                                   SSD Sonora loves her girl, Tina!

                                        SSD Bridge and Sonora hanging out in the kitchen.

                                   Crystal, Elise, Tina and their dogs Burke and Sonora!

                                                         Yikes!  Look at this crew!  

Crystal, Elise, and Burke, smile!!!

                                Oh, Kindle!  Has to get in on it!  It IS her birthday after all!

                       Kindle LOVES opening gifts.  She always knows when they are hers!

                        Happy Birthday, Kindle!!  A special dog deserves a special birthday!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!  Our family had a great long weekend.  We have many family traditions and it was so much fun having Kindle be a part of them!

Kindle was VERY well-behaved during Thanksgiving dinner.  She stayed under Emma and the table beautifully!

                                                         
                                                           She even took a nice nap!

After dinner, we went to visit Emma's two great-grandmas who are in the same retirement home.  Kindle was very well-behaved and gave each grandma gentle kisses.

Kindle is doing so well for us in public!  The only challenge has been her pulling and sniffing without the gentle leader on.  We have found that we just can't take her in public-inside or out - without it on.  She just doesn't behave well enough without it.  She doesn't love it, but she does much better with it on.  She does try to rub it off occasionally, but it just is a necessity for her.

The Friday after Thanksgiving, when many people are out shopping, we go to Christmas in Candy Lane at Hershey Park.  We go in the late afternoon/evening so that we can see all of the pretty lights.  Kindle was a little over-stimulated at first in the arcade.  After a short break, she was fine.  It was very COLD out as you can see how Emma is bundled.  It was 25 degrees!  

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, we go to breakfast with our families in the morning and go to Elizabeth Tree farms to cut down a fresh Christmas tree!  Kindle was more than happy to get any of Emma's scraps that fell on the floor.  She's not the neatest eater to Kindle's delight! :)

                Checking if I was planning to drop anything from my plate didn't prove as fruitful!!

           

               Cold again!  Only 22 degrees Saturday morning as we searched for our perfect tree!

                                   Kindle thought maybe she could sniff her way to our tree!

Grams found it this year!  A beautiful ten foot Frasier!  Our shortest tree in years!  We have a great room with a vaulted ceiling and have gone as tall as 13 feet!

                          Pfew!  What a busy morning!  Emma and Kindle needed a break!!

We ended our weekend at church on Sunday.  We had nursery duty.  Owen and Kindle were getting acquainted.  :)

Kindle also got to meet Liz finally!  She and her husband contributed very generously toward Kindle!!!!  She's also wearing her December collar!  Red and Green blocks with silver doggy bones inside!

Kindle's Kingdom: Inside and Out

Kindle giving Emma a hug!

Kindle, Emma, and Keith waiting for Gwen to finish up an eye doctor appointment.  Most people there didn't even know she was there!  Good girl, Kindle!

Don't they say after awhile pets and their owners start to look and act alike??  It may be starting!! :))

Kindle has lots of space in our yard to run and play.  We have invisible fencing and she is doing great!

           This is one of her crazy, running spells.  She especially does it right after I brush her!

 This is as  close to the ball as she lets us get.  When you try to get it to throw it for her, she picks it up and runs away.  She is so playful!

 Ahhh, the queen of her backyard kingdom!  Sometimes she just sits and peruses all that is hers!  :)

 But she always comes back to her girl!  It was VERY cold out as you can tell by the way Emma's bundled up.  She wasn't too bundled to laugh while Kindle ran around the yard going crazy.  This was even after our walk. :))

Kindle and Emma are in Emma's bed now.  They are doing great!  Kindle can get in and out on this side when the side rail is down like this.  

                       She will go to bed on her own if we don't go early enough to suit her. :))

This is the platform and steps that Keith built so that she get in and out of Emma's bed as she pleases when the side rail is up.  We will be carpeting it eventually.

                  She does a great job using the platform to get in and out of the bed.  Smart girl!  It also makes a great spot to look out the window!

Becoming Best Friends

Emma has subtle ways of showing emotion at times.  When you get to know Emma really well, you see them immediately.  We know over time that Kindle will learn these subtleties as well.  She hasn't been overly touching Kindle with her hands.  When she does, it's very gently and lovingly.  This weekend when they were relaxing, Emma spent several minutes playing gently with Kindle's ears and mouth.  Kindle slept and didn't mind a bit. :)  Very sweet!

…until she finally joined Kindle in a nap! :)  She has never had a problem using Kindle as a pillow!

We have been very blessed with family support and love since Emma was born.  Keith's parents come up to our house every Wednesday evening since Emma was a baby.  The first Wednesday they came when Kindle was here, Kindle left the room and went to her crate in another room until they left.  The 2nd time they came, she decided she wasn't going to completely give Emma up, but share her.  I think she realized that this is going to happen a lot and she better adapt if she doesn't want to give her girl up every Wednesday night!  If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!! :))

Emma discovered that Kindle makes a great footrest!  Nice and warm on the piggies too!

This Sunday was Kindle's first time at church with us.  She was GREAT!!!  We continue to be so proud of her focus on Emma.  Even though Keith and I give all of the verbal cues, she has learned that Emma is the person that she looks to.  She still occasionally looks at us, we then click and treat for looking at Emma and she is right back on track. 

Kindle was very patient and focused for a half hour after church while we chatted with people at church about her.  You could tell people just enjoy watching them together.  It's so precious!!

Getting back to routine

Hello!  We are back to a normal routine now.  Well, a new normal!  We now have a new four-legged, furry family member to add to that routine.  It is going great at school!  Kindle went to work with Keith on Emma's first two days back after our last day of team training.  Her first day of school with Emma was last Monday.  She did great!  She starts her day in her crate at U-gro daycare.  After the first half hour, she is out with Emma until the bus comes.  We have the sweetest bus drivers ever!  They bought her a special bed just for her so she isn't cold on the floor of the bus!  She is with Emma at school most of the day.  She only goes in her crate during Emma's specials and lunch.  This is a good break time for her.  Once they are back at U-gro in the afternoon, Kindle stays in the crate until I get there.  She needs this downtime after a long day at school until she adjusts.  These first two weeks, Kindle takes Wednesday off and goes to work with Keith.  This is to make sure we aren't overdoing it.  Everyone that has been dealing with Kindle LOVES her already and all said how sweet she is!  She is well-behaved and all business when the vest is on.
We have had some special events since team training:  Halloween, Casino night (a fundraiser for Susquehanna Service Dogs),  and Keystone Human Services Annual Board Meeting as special guests. We had a wonderful opportunity to represent SSD at the board meeting.  We spoke to the entire group about our experience with SSD and had our picture taken.  It was a great night and we learned a lot about SSD's parent organization.  At Casino night, we met ABC27 News Anchor, Alicia Richards, who was the guest host for the evening.  She asked me to tell our story briefly for her as she recorded it to post on her Facebook page.  What an honor!!!

Casino Night for SSD!  We had a great time!  We also helped planned it, we joined the committee last spring.

                             Meeting Alicia Richards was a definite highlight of the night!

Emma and Kindle are still very close at night.  They are still in our bed.  We will soon put them in Em's room.

Emma and Kindle on Halloween night.  We spent the evening at my parents' house in Lititz handing out candy.  Kindle is possessive of her girl.

She made a great witch!  We just couldn't figure out how to keep the hat on for more than the picture!

                                                         Hanging out on a Saturday!

                                                                         
                                                                    Casino Night

                    Riding home from U-gro after the first day of school together!  Pooped out!