Embedded Files
Violet returned to The Seeing Eye for training on July 24, 2023. I took the pictures below on that day.
Anna arrived on June 14, 2023. I still have Violet, but she will be going back to The Seeing Eye sometime in July.
Look below for pictures!
Violet arrived on July 7, 2022. I also still have Max. Look below for pictures!
Violet, 14 months; Anna, 3 months
Violet, 14 months
Violet- 7 weeks old
Violet (7 weeks) and Max 17 months
Violet- 8 weeks
Max, 17 months, and Violet, 8 weeks
Violet, 9 weeks, Max 17 months
January 15, 2020- Tilda returned to The Seeing Eye to start her training to become a Seeing Eye dog!
Tansy (Tilda's sister) and Tilda in TSE van leaving for Morristown, NJ, the home of The Seeing Eye.
Tilda visited Santa on 12/14/19.
2019 Walk-A-Thon!
Vote for Tilda! She is ready to walk. She will walk twice as far as any child- since she has four feet. She needs your support! She takes her responsibility as music dog very seriously. Thank you!
August 27, 2017
This is a picture of Marsha (black Lab) and her sister Mixie (yellow Lab) on a walk near the Water Works a few weeks ago. They are wearing their Seeing Eye Puppy vests.
September 11, 2017
New puppy will be arriving on September 19, 2017! Marsha is still here too!
September 19, 2017
Forte has arrived. What a great name for a music teacher's puppy! Forte is a music term which means "loud." I certainly hope that Forte the pup is not loud, but she is very cute!
This is a picture of Forte. This is a picture of Forte, Marsha, and Fuji, Forte's sister.
September 26, 2017
Forte went to the Phiadelphia Horticultural Center today. There are many beautiful gardens there, but she visited on that is planned and maintained by visually impaired people.
Also I received some kind of sad news today. Marsha will be returning to The Seeing Eye on Thursday, September 28, to begin her formal training as a Seeing Eye dog. I know I will miss her, and the kids at Pres will also. Hopefully she will pass her physical and then respond well to the training so that she can eventually partner up with her forever person and help him/her to achieve independence.
October 2, 2017
Well after I wrote the above, The Seeing Eye called and asked if Marsha could stay with me for another week. So she did NOT go back on 9/28, but she is going back on 10/4. (Well, at least I think so right now!) The children all said good-bye to her today and wished her good luck.
Marsha (17 months) and Forte (2 months)
October 10, 2017
Forte (10 weeks old) went on her first class field trip to Styer's Orchard. She traveled on an air-conditioned Yellow Bird school bus, picked apples, chose a pumpkin, went through a gourd maze, and had a great time with her friends in grades kindergarten, 1, 7, and 8. It was an exhausting time.
November 6, 2017
I just received a letter today announcing that Marsha has passed her physical at The Seeing Eye. That means that she is now ready to begin her training as a Seeing Eye dog! She has been assigned a trainer. Her training will require a minimum of four months. At some point I will be invited to The Seeing Eye for a "town walk." That means that I will get to see her walk through the town of Morristown, NJ, wearing a harness and guiding her trainer. I will not get to talk to her or touch her, but I will get to take pictures of her. I will be sure to post them! Please keep her (and her trainer) in your prayers so that Marsha will be successful.
November 23, 2017
Happy Thanksgiving!
Forte- 4 months old
December 16, 2017
Forte and the Puppy Club visiting Santa
Happy New Year! Forte had company over the Christmas holidays. She and her friend Aubrey (14 month old golden retriever) had great fun together!
February 20, 2018
I went to Morristown, NJ, to see Marsha. Although I could not actually pet her, I followed her on her town walk with her trainer, Bill. She guided him safely across streets and around puddles. She followed his commands for turning right or left. She showed "intelligent disobedience when she did not follow his "Forward" command when traffic was coming. She also was not distracted when she passed other dogs along the way- even a little yappy dog who lunged at her. Marsha did an amazing job! She is now fully qualified to be a Seeing Eye dog. Now TSE needs to find the perfect match for her with a visually impaired person and then her new career will start.
Thank you for all your help in getting her used to people and helping her to know when she can interact and when she can't.
April 7, 2018
I received a letter from The Seeing Eye today. Marsha is now an official Seeing Eye Dog! She is living in a large city in Colorado with a woman in her 30s, who works as an interpreter. So Marsha will meet many new people and have lots of new experiences every day.
Thank you for all of your help. I know Marsha learned a whole lot by coming to Presentation. Now she has attained her goal of working with her forever person and giving her independence! I a. very proud of her.
July 4, 2018
Forte says, "Happy 4th of July!"
September 15, 2018
Forte went to the beach! She loved walking on the beach and running into the waves. We found a shallow salt water lake, and she learned how to swim. We had a great time!
October 1, 2018
New puppy will be arriving around October 24. She will be a black cross, which means one of her parents is a Labrador retriever and the other is a golden retriever. Her name will start with the letter "T," so start guessing.
Forte will still be here! I am overlapping puppies. Forte will probably go back for training around Thanksgiving. I like to overlap puppies because, believe it or not, it is easier. The little puppy will play with (bite) the older puppy instead of me and my furniture!
October 27, 2018
Meet Tilda! Tilda is seven weeks old. She arrived at my house on Wednesday, and I will raise her until she is about 15 months old. She is a cross, which means she is half Lab and half golden retriever. Forte and she are getting along well. In the picture you can see them playing "tug of war." Forte is being gentle with Tilda.
Forte is almost 15 months old. She will be going back to The Seeing Eye for training on November 29th. Until then she will come to school with me, and when she leaves Tilda will be old enough to take her place.
November 6, 2018
Forte and Tilda voted. Did you?
November 14, 2018
Some of you may have noticed that Forte is wearing a weird contraption on her snout. It is called a Gentle Leader. It is a device that redirects her pull. Seeing Eye puppy raisers are encouraged to allow our puppies to pull because they will need a gentle steady pull when they are matched with a visually-impaired person. Forte, of late, is getting carried away with her pull! (or maybe I am the one being carried away!) Wearing the Gentle Leader allows her to pull, but not quite as strongly (!!!) as she does without it. This device does NOT hurt her nor does it restrict her breathing, eating, drinking, barking (although she rarely barks), licking, or chewing. Of course, she hates it, but I love it!
Tilda is doing well. Below is a picture of her when she was still at The Seeing Eye's breeding facility. Star is her mother, and you can see Tilda along with her eight siblings. Her father, Melvin, is in the other picture.
Star, Tilda's mother.
Melvin, Tilda's father.
November 22, 2018
Happy Thanksgiving from Tilda and Forte!
November 29, 2018
Forte and her sister Fuji returned to The Seeing Eye in Morristown, NJ, today to begin their training to become Seeing Eye dogs. Hopefully they each will someday help a visually impaired person. First they'll each have a physical and if they pass, their training will then start. It takes about 4 - 5 months for a dog to be trained.
December 9, 2018
Tilda went downtown to see the Macy's light show. She also visited the Christmas Village and the Comcast show. Finally she visited Santa. He told her she was a very good puppy!
At the Macy's Light Show.
February 5, 2019
Tilda is now 5 months old. She is a very good puppy. She enjoys going to music classes with me each week. She lies quietly on her pillow while I teach and the kids sing, dance, and generally perform. Well, at least most of the time! She waits quietly because she knows at the end of each class, she will get lots of pets and hugs from the kids as they leave class.
Tilda says, "Happy Valentine's Day!" (February 14, 2019)
Tilda is getting ready for "Read Across America." She loves to read and is having a problem deciding on her favorite book.
(February 26, 2019)
Tilde got her vest in Washington, D.C. when our club went on a day trip to Washington, D.C. on a motor coach. There were about 25 puppies on the trip. We had a great day! (March 30, 2019)
April 10, 2019
I went On Forte's Town Walk today in Morristown, NJ, the home of The Seeing Eye. She did amazingly well. She is almost finished her formal training and is now waiting for just the right visually impaired person to arrive for training. Then that person will be her forever person. If you remember, Forte is a VERY fast walker, so her new person will also need to be a fast walker. Great job, Forte! I am very proud of you!
April 21, 2019- Easter
Tilda enjoyed celebrating Easter, but she had a problem decided what to wear to the Easter Parade.
Artemis- 7 weeks old;
Tilda- almost 11 months old.
Artemis- 7 weeks old
July 29, 2019
Tilda has a new little sister. Her name is Artemis. She is a seven week old lab/golden cross. I will be raising two Seeing Eye puppies at the same time! This is called overlapping. I will keep Tilda until she is about 15 months old, which will be around Christmas time. So far the two puppies are getting along with each other very well.
October 28, 2019
Remember Forte? Well, Forte went back to The Seeing Eye for training a while ago. She passed her training with flying colors, and yesterday I received a letter telling me that she has been matched with a visually-impaired 34 year-old man! She will be living with him and his family in North Carolina. So Forte will have a whole family to live with- including two children. The man is bilingual; he speaks both English and Spanish fluently. She will help him in his daily commute, and he plays the drums in his church's music ministry. Forte will love that! She loved our music classes.
Artemis and Tilda- Halloween 2020
Artemis, peacock 2020
Tilda RBG 2020
March 2, 2021
It's been a long time since I updated this page, so here is some old new. Tilda went back to The Seeing Eye for training. Unfortunately she did not make the program. She was released from the program because of a lack of confidence. I also know that very many dogs have been released from the program recently because of the Covid pandemic. From March 2020 until August 2020 TSE was closed to visually impaired people who wanted to receive dogs. They reopened in September, but even then they were only allowed 10 people a month. (Usually they have 30 people a month.) So there was a surplus of dogs. Tilda is a good dog, and she may have made the program if it had not been for Covid. She has been adopted and is enjoying a life as a regular house dog.
Artemis is still with me. She is now 21 months old. Normally (pre-pandemic) she would have gone back for training when she was 15 months old. She will probably go back sometime in April. I am getting a new puppy on March 18th. She will be a 7 week old German Shepherd. So Artemis will have a playmate for a month or so.
April 22, 2021
Max is my new German Shepherd puppy. She is now 10 weeks old. Artemis will be going back to The Seeing Eye on Wednesday, April 28. Right now the two puppies are having a great time together. They get along very well with each other. Artemis is very kind to Max. She allows her to climb all over her, bite her, and generally be very annoying! They race around the house together and share toys and beds. Max will miss her when Artemis leaves next week.
Max- 10 weeks old
Artemis- 22 months old
April 28, 2021
Artemis returned to The Seeing Eye for training.
Archie and Artemis in The Seeing Eye van on their way to Morristown, NJ.
Good-bye, Artemis!
Artemis and Max's last car ride together.
Artemis and Max's last cuddle together.
September 15, 2021
Artemis's Town Walk in Morristown, NJ, the home of The Seeing Eye. Artemis is now full trained as a Seeing Eye dog and just need to find the perfect match with a visually impaired person. Keep your fingers and paws crossed !
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