Documenting successes...

Jonathan has had a season of growth! I'm glad I started this blog so I can look back and see all the progress he's made the last couple of years. Remembering where we've come from helps me to keep moving forward. So here are the recent reasons to celebrate...

-Jonathan used the Dynavox to request a specific toy and to turn out the lights this week. Up until now, he's mostly used it to request the same food/drink items over and over.

-I programmed the Dynavox to insert his words into a sentence strip. He now has to request in a full sentence and then push "talk". It's the next step in the process of teaching him to (hopefully) read someday. He took to it very well and we are using this new setup all the time now.

-Today, I took Jonathan grocery shopping with me. I programmed his Dynavox with a grocery list to check off. He pushed the cart and tossed (literally) items into the cart that I would hand him. He was happy the whole time, stayed with me (we didn't use a tethering strap) and we both enjoyed our successful outing together. We celebrated with an order of french fries from McDonald's on the way home!

It's so great to see tangible evidence of learning and growth!

Today is a good day.
Heather

Success with the Dynavox!

We are seeing some huge progress with Jonathan and his Dynavox. In the past few weeks he's discovered that the device is portable and has started carrying it around the house to request things. For several months, he basically used it to ask for food. We were excited to see this, and he seemed to be happy to be understood. Then recently he started asking to go swimming. It's January, so I laughed and said "you're silly-it's too cold"! I really didn't think much of that interaction until the next time he requested swimming...only this time he giggled before he pushed the button...he was JOKING!!! What a break-through! My little non-verbal son has a sense of humor. Now he plays the joking game all the time. I love it!
Tonight he brought the Dynavox to me and requested a specific toy. It turns out, the toy had been mistakenly locked in a closet. Just a few months ago I was adding his favorite toys to the device and wondering if he would ever actually use that feature.
So our journey continues. This progress gives me hope for his future.

Until next time,
Heather

Time is flying!!!

I can't believe it's been 10 months since I've updated this blog! Life continues to move at a fast pace...I don't get many quiet moments to sit and type.

Since my last update, we've been able to purchase (with the help of insurance) a communication device for Jonathan called a Dynavox. Basically, it's a portable computer with a touch screen. He is able to touch pictures and navigate through different categories and the computer will speak for him. This has opened up his world. We are thrilled! We're working on some basic letter skills in the hopes that one day he'll understand how to read. What a huge task this is, but we continue to put one foot in front of the other and keep moving....forward for the most part!

Buddy, Jonathan's service dog, continues to be a constant support for him. Many days I question whether there is a bond forming at all. Some days, Jonathan seems to want nothing to do with him. Then there are days like one last week....Buddy was limping at school. They called to tell me, so I had my dad go pick him up early. I didn't think too much of it until I got another notification from the school that Jonathan was having a terrible afternoon. Aggressive behavior toward other students, melt downs, time outs...this isn't typical for him! Ah...Buddy wasn't there! Whether I see signs of bonding or not, when Buddy isn't there, there is a noticeable difference! So once again, I thank all of you who played a role in helping us on our journey to get a service dog for Jonathan. What an amazing gift!

Recent developments and areas we could use prayer:

Dave was able to teach Jonathan how to take bites from a sandwich. Up until last week, we had to cut everything into bite sizes because of his sensory integration dysfunction. He stuffs his mouth with food because he doesn't recognize that it is too full. I have to watch for choking all the time, but now he seems to really be turning a corner. Dave is so patient with him-he's the best dad! We still have issues with the limited variety of foods that he eats, but he's making progress.

We are still searching for the best educational setting for Jonathan. We have a tour of a new school in the near future that specializes in children with autism. The waiting list is long....but I've heard good things. Please pray that we make the right decision.

Continuing the journey...

Heather

January Update

I was just reading my email and saw that the new class at 4Paws is finding out who their dog is today. That brings back so many exciting memories. I can't believe what a journey we've had since I first discovered 4Paws for Ability in February of 2008! So much has happened in such a short time.

Buddy and Jonathan are doing well. We had a bit of an issue at school and church for a short time with Buddy acting more like a puppy and less like a well-trained service dog. We realized that he was getting so much attention that he started looking for people to pet him instead of focusing on working for Jonathan so we've had to put a stop to people petting him. At first, we let people because we were told it could create opportunities for social interactions with Jonathan...but it wasn't working. First of all, Buddy is so darn cute that people pretty much ignore Jonathan and just want to pet the dog! Second, Buddy is so smart that he realized people wanted to pet him and he didn't need to work...wrong answer! Things have gotten much better lately.

Jonathan will start using a new communication device soon on a trial basis to see if we want to purchase it. Basically it is a computer that is programmed with pictures that will speak for him. We are very hopeful that this will be a great help to him. What a world this would open up for him if he could communicate his wants and needs!

Eating is still an issue for him. His cognitive skills have improve enough that he now is able to understand that he has to sit at the table to eat (new in the last couple of months), but his variety of food remains extremely limited. Sometimes, we are able to all eat together as a family. That is a new and wonderful experience for us!

That is about all the "new" things to report. Thanks for continuing to pray for our family and especially for Jonathan. God is a very real and present part of our daily lives. We could not do this without His amazing strength.

Heather

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We are having one of the best breaks from school that our family has ever experienced. Usually, I dread them-because a change in daily schedules is never a good thing when autism is a factor.

Christmas day was wonderful. Jonathan has discovered presents...and for the first time, he stayed in the room while we all opened gifts, and he opened all of his...and mine...and Dave's..and a couple of Aaron's. (Aaron was the only one who minded.) It was the best gift to see Jonathan participating!

Dave has saved up some vacation time, so he was able to take off the majority of the school break to spend with the family. We are making a point to spend a portion of each day playing games with the boys. They love it, and we are seeing a closeness in our family because of it.

I hope you are able to spend time with friends and family this holiday season, and to remember the One who is the reason for the celebration.

Merry Christmas to all,
Heather

Bonding!

November 2009

Thanks for all the prayers and support for Jonathan's food challenges. We've had a lot of progress in the past couple of weeks and he is now eating much better than he was. Yesterday was Veteran's Day and we all had a day off. It was so nice! I was able to get Jonathan to sit at the breakfast table to eat, and he finally was able to understand that he had to sit there until he was finished eating. We enjoyed our first family breakfast together.

School is going well. Buddy is literally the teacher's pet...and just about all the other teachers at the school as well! They all think he's amazing...which he is! Jonathan is still slowly bonding. Some days I see a lot of progress-days when he'll give me the tethering strap because he wants to go somewhere, or days, like yesterday, when I watched him straddle Buddy like a horse and lay down on his back (Buddy stood there very still and just let his boy lay on him-I wish I'd had my camera!)

We still keep locks on all the doors, but I have hope that one day that won't be necessary because Buddy is starting to alert us when Jonathan leaves the house. (He's also alerting the teacher at school if Jonathan leaves the room without him!)

Jonathan is continuing to respond more and more to sign language. He is using a comunication book at school that has pictures of different things for him to request. All of the things that we've been trying and failing at for years are finally starting to work for him, and it's so encouraging!

On a different note...we just had our first IEP meeting for our youngest son, Aaron. He is in kindergarten again this year, and is having difficulty processing receptive language. That means that anything that is said to him without some sort of visual cue is not getting processed in his brain. He's had an initial test to see if he also falls into the autism spectrum. We've had him tested before, but don't have a diagnosis for him yet. It's been difficult to discern whether he was having developmental issues during his early years, or just imitating Jonathan. More testing is scheduled in the next couple of weeks, and we have started speech services to work on his receptive language skills.

I'm trying to focus on the positives. He is at the top of his class in letter recognition and sounds. He just started counting to 100, and seems to have a good grasp of one-to-one correspondence with numbers. With the right helps in place, I think Aaron will be okay.

It's a lot to digest that I have two children with disabilities. I'm currently reading an excellent book by Dee Brestin called "The God of All Comfort". It's actually about her journey when she lost her husband to cancer, but it has a lot of good things for anyone who is walking a difficult road. I highly recommend it to any of you-because the reality is that we all experience pain in life. And the longer I've been on this road, I realize that you can't compare pain-it is devastating to whoever is living with it. It has not helped me to be angry with God (although I tried that route for a long time). It does help me to know that He is with me in the fire, to experience it alongside me, even when I can't feel Him there.

Thank you, again, to all of you who are praying for Jonathan and Aaron and our family. Your prayers and support are so important and necessary. We are grateful to have a strong support system.

Heather

October Update

Hi Friends!

Sorry it's been so long since my last update. Things have been very busy, but I was reminded recently that there are more people who care about what is happening in our lives than I even knew. Thanks, Aunt Sharon, for pointing that out!

So...what's new? Well, Buddy is officially attending school with Jonathan every day. Actually, he's been sick twice (although, I personally think he chewed up another toy that didn't agree with him!) and the teacher marked him absent. They think he's a wonderful dog, and is fitting into the new routine beautifully. Last week he came home with his own proof packet from picture day at school! The teacher wanted to make sure that he showed up on the class composite because he's definitely one of the class! I feel so blessed that they not only accept him at school, but they miss him when he's gone, and love him for what he does every day for Jonathan. So many families have to fight to get their dogs in school. There are court battles all over the country, and yet we are so fortunate to have wonderful teachers and aides working with Jonathan and Buddy.

We ran another practice track a couple of weeks ago. I was wondering if all the time Buddy is spending with Jonathan at school and at home would make a difference in his tracking. Did it ever! When Jonathan was out of sight, Buddy started lunging at the end of the leash and whining frantically (if he could talk, I know he would have been saying...do you people not see that our boy is gone!!!). When we gave the command to 'track' he was all over it! It was the best one ever! I was so thrilled at that moment to know that our dog knows his boy and know his job. There is no doubt in my mind that he could find Jonathan if we needed him too. What a comfort to us to know that!

People ask me all the time if Jonathan and Buddy are bonding. My response is that Buddy is bonded to Jonathan, but it is taking Jonathan awhile to bond. But when I think about it, I have to say that Buddy is making a difference in Jonathan's life, and maybe (like everything else) he just shows it differently. Jonathan is having the best school year he's ever had. He is participating and interacting with his peers and teachers. On good days, he is even responding verbally. He took and passed a phonics test where he had to verbally identify two letter sounds multiple times. I about fell on the floor when I got a phone call from his teacher saying he passed a test and is being moved on to the next level!!! What an answer to prayer! He's starting to respond to sign language, which we've tried in the past, but evidently he's ready now. It's just been an amazing time of growth for him. We have glimmers of hope almost daily.

Something we're struggling with is food. Jonathan has always had a very limited diet, but it has become a real problem in the past month. We could use your prayers about this issue. I've ordered some books about food issues with autistic children and something called 'food chaining' that is a multiple-step therapy to try. I am determined to figure this out, but it may require a medical intervention if I'm not successful soon.

I will try to post more often. Thank you for your prayers and encouragement. It means a lot!

Heather

July Update

Well, the summer is flying by. Many positive things have been taking place since I last posted. The first being that Jonathan is finally potty-trained! It was a major undertaking, but so worth the effort...now that we're on the other side.

Buddy has become a member of our family. We love him so much. He is calming down and growing out of his puppy stage little by little. I have to say, that even during the puppy phase, he has always known that it was time to work when his harness is put on. Buddy and Jonathan and I go on walks several times a week to make sure that tethering skills are maintained. It's so amazing to be able to take Jonathan for a walk! He's so happy, and loves the wind in his face. I have to watch out because he often closes his eyes when we're walking, and once he walked into the side mirror of a parked car because I was looking the other direction and his eyes were closed! Live and learn!!!

Tracking practices are going well. I'm still not completely confident, and it's a challenge to carve out the time to practice, but we try to do them as often as possible. Buddy definitely knows his boy. Often, I will look up to find he is across the room sitting by Jonathan. He just seems to know. Jonathan is bonding very slowly, but I do see progress. Every once in a while he'll reach out and touch Buddy. One day Jonathan walked into a room where the rest of us were watching TV, grabbed Buddy by the collar and walked out of the room with him. That was a huge moment because he actually wanted Buddy with him!

In a few weeks Buddy will start school with Jonathan. The main goal for our first year is to get Jonathan bonded. We want Jonathan to understand that wherever he goes, Buddy goes. So, that's what will happen at school. They will be tethered in the hallways, and Buddy will have a "place" in the classroom next to Jonathan's work area. Our hope is that eventually Jonathan will see Buddy as a constant stable source of support for him. The other day, I took them to Walmart for the first time by myself. It was kind of a big milestone for me. When we got to the check-out lanes, I couldn't find one with fewer than 3 people in line. I thought, 'this is where the melt-down is going to happen for sure', because Jonathan hates to have to stop moving. Well, I put Buddy in a "down" in front of me while we waited and said, "Jonathan, sit down next to your Buddy." ...AND HE DID!!! No melt-down! I couldn't believe it.

As I re-read this post, it seems like the changes are so trivial. But our lives are so much better since we've gotten our Buddy. He lives to please and is so happy to get love and attention. We are going to the park tomorrow, and a parade the following day. These are things I wouldn't have considered 3 months ago. Life is getting better. We're so thankful to 4Paws for our wonderful service dog.

June Update

Summer is here!

I've given myself a major pep-talk about taking things a day at a time and continuing to breathe...summers in the past have been a very difficult time for all of us. Routine is a big part of Jonathan's life, and it's very hard to keep to a routine in the summer. I have goals for all the boys, but for Jonathan I especially want to concentrate on bonding with Buddy and potty-training. We're off to a good start. It's exhausting, and discouraging, but I'm also seeing lots of progress...so we continue forward...taking one day at a time and continuing to breathe!

Buddy is doing great! His bond with me is very strong, and I see him growing each day. He seems to understand that he has an important job. When he's working, he is such a great dog! When he's not working, he's such a great puppy! I will be happy when the puppy stage is over, as many things have become chew-toys!!! On the other hand, Buddy has never had an accident in my house...so I will take the chewing! :)

I will try to update more often. Thanks for caring and for praying.

Heather

Already seeing improvement!

Hi Everyone!

Just taking a minute to check in and update you on recent events. Buddy is a wonderful addition to our family. He is going pretty much everywhere with Jonathan except school right now (we're waiting until the beginning of next school year to start him). Jonathan is continuing to bond, and Buddy is even sleeping on his bed now! (That means Jonathan is not in my bed...Yay!)

I brought Buddy with me to work a couple of days ago. My students LOVED that! Buddy stayed the entire day. We went to 13 classes and a sr. citizens luncheon. He showed his obedience, behavior disruption commands and even some of his tricks for each one. His behavior was perfect. It showed me that he understands when it's time to work and when it's okay to be a puppy. I am so pleased with how he's doing!

Jonathan's teacher reports that she sees great progress with Jonathan since we've been back home. He is identifying classmates and family in pictures, recognizes about 5 sight words and is copying written sentences. The only change is Buddy...and we've only had him for four weeks! I can't wait to see what else continues to happen!

Everyone has been very supportive when they've seen us out and about with Buddy. It's been quite an adjustment for me. I appreciate being able to go more places, and I'm thrilled that Jonathan doesn't mind being tethered!!! I'm still adjusting to the fact that I feel like a 3-ring circus and draw a lot of attention wherever we go...but I'm hoping I'll get used to that eventually.

Summer is almost here. We plan to practice, practice, practice with Buddy so that he'll be more than ready for school in the fall.

Heather

We're home!

We passed the public access test and ended up driving home right after graduation. We were so anxious to see Andrew and Aaron again...it was a long two weeks without our boys! We've jumped right back into life. We're exhausted, but can see that life is going to be much better with Buddy in our lives. Jonathan continues to accept him in his routine. We have him sleeping in Jonathan's room now, and it's going well (baby steps!).

Holly, our other Golden Retriever, has been slow to give up her position as head dog. There were a few days of craziness as the dogs tried to figure out the dominance game. Now they are like siblings...whatever one has, the other wants. It's pretty funny.

Buddy still has stitches, but is doing well. Thanks for all the support while we were away. We are so fortunate to have such a great group of friends and family!

Heather

Finals tomorrow!

Hi Everyone!

Well, Buddy is a real trooper! He is back to being able to do everything! He doesn't even seem to notice that he has an injury! Goof-ball! We've modified his harness a bit so that it doesn't rub his wound, but other than that, he's been full-speed ahead.

Tomorrow is our public access test. This means the trainer will follow me around the mall for about 20 minutes while I put Buddy through all of his obedience paces in public. He'll have to heel, follow basic commands (sit, down, come), stay while I drop the leash, manage stairs and elevators calmly, and basically show that I can handle him in a public setting. After that he has to stay in down under the table in a restaurant setting. Finally, I have to take him outside and show that I can load him into the car the right way. I'm a little nervous because there's a whole lot of puppy in Buddy still (he's only 15 months old), but we plan to run him before hand so that his excess energy is worn off. I've passed it before with Hans, so I think we'll be okay.

We'll have a graduation at 4Paws in the afternoon and be on the road for home on Saturday.

I can't wait to introduce Buddy to all of you! He's a little embarrassed about the shaved spot on his back, but I've convinced him that people still want to meet him. :)

See you all very soon!

Heather

Drama and Trauma

Buddy injured himself today. Somehow he got a deep cut on his back...we've retraced all our steps, but still aren't sure how it happened. The only thing we can think of is possibly under a picnic table, but Dave's gone back to look at it and didn't see anything sharp on it.

Thankfully, 4Paws has a full-time vet on staff, who immediately sedated him and put in 6 stitches. He's on complete rest for the remainder of today, and has to wear a cone collar unless we can watch him carefully. We have pain meds as well as anti-inflamatories and antibiotics for him to take. The doctor said he should be back to normal activity by tomorrow. We'll have to see how he does through the night. I was as much of a wreck about this as I would be if one of my kids had gotten hurt.

Monday, Monday...so good to me...

Hi Everyone!

I feel like I'm walking around in a fog. The exhaustion is overwhelming, but I am thrilled with the training we're doing with Buddy. Dave is spending lots of one on one time with Jonathan while I'm in class. This has been great for both of them. Jonathan has been very verbal this week...repeating a lot of words and showing increased receptive language as well. Although it's been extremely hard to be away from Andrew and Aaron, it was a good choice to spend this time with Jonathan alone. He is bonding more and more with Buddy each day. We have more hope than we've had in a very long time.

We took Jonathan to a restaurant for both breakfast and dinner today. Each time was a little better. He remained tethered to Buddy the entire time, and we were able to get him to sit in a chair during dinner. He uses Buddy as a foot rest, which Buddy soaks up as positive attention. Silly dog! :) Here are some pictures from tonight at dinner.

Dave enjoyed some time with Jonathan.

Our track outside was challenging today due to very high wind. The scent was blown way off the path and hard for Buddy to find initially. (Many of the dogs had trouble with this today). Once he found the scent, he was dead on and pulled HARD!

We also did two indoor tracks at the mall, which he nailed.

It's been a full day. Time for bed!

Heather

Half way...

So much has happened today! Jonathan had a rough start this morning when we tried to eat breakfast in the hotel dining room. As I've mentioned before, he is fine being tethered to Buddy as long as we keep moving. Today, we decided to let him tantrum while we ate breakfast. It wasn't pretty...it WAS loud! I figured there was no better place to have Jonathan figure out that we wouldn't give in with his tantrum than a room filled with 4Paws families who completely understand. He cried and screamed and tried to pull Buddy across the floor...Buddy was a trooper! He stayed in a down the whole time. Jonathan finally wore himself out and ended up sitting on the floor next to Buddy. When he was no longer screaming, just fussing, Buddy flopped over to comfort him. It was amazing to watch the tension leave Jonathan as he sat on the floor with his Buddy.

We worked on behavior disruption commands this morning. There are five things that the dogs are trained to do to disrupt behaviors of the kids. One is the 'touch' command. This is where the dog touches the child with his paw to get their attention. Jonathan doesn't respond well to any dog's paws, so we probably won't use this technique with him. The second command is the 'lap' command. We WILL use this one. It is where the dog puts his head in the child's lap for comfort. The third is 'nuzzle'. This one is mostly used to distract a crying child. The dog gently bumps the child's hands with his nose. The fourth is 'kisses'-which we might use on Jonathan's feet and hands, but I think it's too overwhelming for his face. The last is 'over'. The dog steps over the child and is put in a down on top of their legs for deep pressure (something a lot of kids with autism need and like).

Then we went tracking again. I hid with Jonathan and Dave found us with Buddy. Tomorrow we track inside the mall. It's different from outside tracking. Much more of a controlled walk instead of all out run.

Tonight was the most exciting time. I called Buddy up on the bed with Jonathan and within 20 minutes this is what happened...let the bonding begin!

Heather

Tracking in the Woods

Tracking is going very well. This is how it works. Buddy is trained to be a scent-specific search and rescue dog. That means he only searches for one person. Up to this point, he's been tracking the scent of a 4Paws staff person named Kayla. For the past two days, Kayla has been hiding with Jonathan (and either me or Dave) and Buddy has been tracking her scent mixed with Jonathan's. Today we took Kayla out of the equation and Buddy found Jonathan!!! I controlled the track while Dave hid in the woods with Jonathan. Jeremy, the head trainer, ran along with me to coach-but he had me do the whole thing since I've been through the training before. Buddy's body language is pretty easy to read. It's obvious when he's on the scent and when he's lost it. That's great news! I didn't enjoy running through the muddy ravine that was filled with fallen timber (I'm terrified of snakes), but I did it.

After tracking we spent the afternoon at a busy mall working on heeling Buddy through crowds of people while tethered to Jonathan. We started off by eating lunch at the food court, and Buddy did great in a 'down' under the table. (Although I'm going to have to work with him on ignoring the distration of falling french fries-Jonathan's favorite food!) We walked all over the mall, up and down stairs, riding in elevators, and I even bought something in one of the stores. (Well, we WERE at a mall after all!) Jonathan stayed tethered for and hour and a half! Major accomplishment!!! He was even happy about it unless we stopped moving.

Jonathan is becoming more and more tollerant of Buddy. I've seen him reach out to touch Buddy several times. He enjoys touching him with his feet, and Buddy, being the attention seeking goof-ball that he is, loves it.

Keep the prayers coming-they're helping so much!!!

Heather

Successful Tethering and Sleeping

One of our goals is to be able to go out in public without Jonathan bolting away from us. This is where tethering him to Buddy is critical. Thanks to Betty, we now have a modified vest that he wears and (miracle!) is happy about it! We say, "let's take Buddy for a walk" and he happily (so far) comes along - as long as we keep moving! Stopping to talk to people is not a happy thing at the moment, but we'll keep working on it.

Another goal is to transfer Jonathan's need to fall asleep with me over to Buddy. Last night, Buddy was on his bed with Dave while Jonathan fell asleep. Then, this morning at 5:30, Buddy voluntarily jumped back up for awhile. Jonathan woke up happy, and I even saw him reach down and touch Buddy.

And I don't know who's been praying...but the sun is shining! Thank you!!!

Heather

It's Raing, It's Pouring...and our dog is Tracking!!!

Hi Everyone!


Well...we got SOAKED while we practiced tracking today, but Buddy found us right away- so it was completely worth it! What a great dog!!! We are so happy with him.

We're already seeing little positive changes in Jonathan. It's amazing to watch him! Today he was very verbal. He tried to repeat everything he heard. He is getting more and more comfortable with Buddy. The only issue we're having with the two of them is that Buddy loves to play and Jonathan can get easily overwhelmed. They both want the ball! :) We bought a 12 pack of tennis balls today just so we MIGHT have enough to go around! LOL!


At the end of a track, when the dog finds the child, we praise the dog like crazy. He gets the best reward saved for this 'game' because we want it to be a highly motivated activity that he wants to do. Most dogs get a handfull of hot dogs as their reward...Buddy gets to play with his tennis ball! It's more fun for him than treats. This is great since Jonathan's favorite thing to do is throw balls.


Here are some pictures of today. We were able to go to Applebees with Jonathan, and he sat through the whole meal. Huge progress! He wanted to sit on my lap at the training center for a lot of the afternoon session. It was sweet until it was my turn to work with Buddy in front of the whole class...and Jonathan needed to be riding piggy back on me! Oh well...I went with it, and Buddy worked like a pro. He loves attention and is becoming the class clown.


Stay tuned for more soon!



Heather

End of Day 2

Hi Everyone!

Today we worked a lot on heeling and extended time in a down with distractions. Buddy was awesome. I can walk to the other side of a large room and he stays right where he's supposed to. I walked around him snapping my fingers, clapping my hands, stepping over the top of him, dropping treats within a foot of his nose...still he was obedient! What a good boy! He also knows the command "go potty" and goes right away like clockwork!

The only problem we had today was when Buddy thought Jonathan running around in a pull-up looked like too much fun and dragged the pull-up right off his butt! Jonathan did not find this as funny as Dave and I did! :)

Jonathan did well at the training center all day today. We bought a new electronic toy called a Leapster and he was facinated with it. Thank you Walmart! It's been raining all week, so he's had to be confined inside.

Tomorrow we track for the first time. With Buddy's energy and the amount of sniffing the ground just when we're going potty...I'm anticipating great things. It's supposed to rain the rest of the week-so we'll probably be soaked! Fun times!

Andrew and Aaron- We miss you very much! Take good care of Holly and tell her all about Buddy for us. We will see you in 10 more days.

Heather