Check out our new blog

I have decided to close this blog. It was created to document Ebony's time with us and it is a wonderful history of all that she has accomplished so far and all the joy she brought to our lives.

Rather than having a blog specific to one dog, I have started a new blog to chronical all the Dogs with Wings heros that come into our lives. I've copied all of the posts from this blog over to the new one so that everything is in one place.

Thank you for following Ebony's progress. I hope you will enjoy the new blog. Just click on the link below and remember to update your bookmarks/favourites:

Dogs with Wings Hero

Goodbye Ebony

This afternoon our beautiful girl left us to move into her adult foster home. We will miss her terribly but we know that she is going on to do bigger and better things in the future. Good bye Ebony....we love you!!

Brotherly love

Ebony and Everest got together on Sunday for a final visit before they both move on to their adult homes. This picture says it all....the love between a brother and sister.

Saturday in the park.....

Everest (a.k.a "the pony") and Ebony spent a warm, fall afternoon at Laurier park running through the leaves and jumping in the river. What a perfect way to spend a Saturday afternoon!

Beautiful fall

The maple trees along 97th Street are an amazing red this year. I thought that Ebony's shiny, black coat against the scarlet colour would be beautiful....it really makes her eyes stand out too.

Hanging out with big brother Everest

Ebony and Everest had play date at Laurier Park yesterday. We thought that this might be their last time together before they left us to move on to the adult training program. Good news, it looks like Ebony may be around for a couple more weeks. The trainers are very busy right now and don't think they will start working with the E-litter until early October. I have a few more weeks to enjoy Ebony's happy personality and her incredible desire to please...not to mention her great cuddling. Maybe we can get a few more paintings done and then auction them off to benefit Dogs With Wings.

Helping Children with Autism

This morning Dogs with Wings volunteers participated in Autism Speaks Canada's inaugural "Walk Now for Autism" fundraiser in St. Albert. Ebony and Wally were very lucky and got the opportunity to do the walk with Darren and his sister Dana. Darren is on the waiting list to get his own service dog. He did a great job holding on to Ebony's leash.

Back to work

Well Ebony has settled in nicely and is back into our regular routine. The first day back at work she made herself comfortable in her bed under my desk and spent the whole day relaxing, snoring and keeping my feet warm. If you look really close you can even see a little bit of red paint on bottom of her left ear....the artist has been busy with her paint brushes.

Guess who?

Our little, fat, black girl is back....just for a week or so but we are going to enjoy every moment that we get with her. Wally still thinks she smells marvelous and he wants to "have his way with her". With both Ebony and Ming gone, Tango really enjoyed being the centre of attention so she is definitely not thrilled to have to share her Mom again. Bill and Wynne took wonderful care of her. She came home freshly bathed and all shiny and soft.

Where is Ebony???

After waiting until she had finished celebrating her 1st birthday, Ebony has finally gone into heat. Last week she moved in with Bill and Wynne and I'm sure she is getting lots of love and attention.

On the August long weekend our beloved Shih Tzu, Ming, went to puppy heaven and then a week later Ebony moved out. Our house seems so empty and lonesome. I didn't realize just how much I depend on Ebony until she was gone. There is no one to climb behind the couch and pick up the remote when it falls, no one to pick up my keys and loose change when I drop them and when I hurt my back last week there was no one to take off my socks and help me undress. I've been spoiled having such a good helper around the house. Hopefully, by the end of the month, Ebony will move back in with us for a little while until an adult foster home is found for her.

Ebony's Olympic Tribute

Ebony's been busy with a paint brush again. This painting is called 'One World One Dream' in honour of the Beijing Olympics and our Canadian Athletes.

E-Litter Party

On Friday night we had a birthday party for the E-litter at Waggin' Tails. Patty baked some wonderful treats for the puppies and their handlers and the E-litter got gifts from Dogs with Wings and Grandma Debbie and Grandpa Don.

Ebony and Eddy

Elliott, Everest and Ebony

Everest and Ebony

What a party!!!!

Well Ebony's first birthday is coming to an end and I think this video says it all (P.S. turn up the volume)

Happy Birthday Ebony and the E-Litter

Today Ebony celebrates her 1st Birthday....boy has time flown by. She was born at 12:21am on Saturday, August 4th 2007. This is what she looked like a year ago today:


and this is what she looks like today:



We are just getting ready to leave for a run at the puppy park with her house mates. Later this morning she has a play date with her favorite brother Everest. This afternoon she will get her tasty birthday present.

Budding artist!

I am always looking for new ways to keep our training fun and fresh. I got my inspiration for this series of behaviors from reading about Lucy the elephant at the Valley Zoo. This chains several cues that Ebony is already very fluent with (take-it, hold-it, touch & give) into one new cue...."go paint". I wanted to post a video of her artistic endeavours but unfortunately YouTube has been rejecting flash video for the last week so I can't (but as soon as it is working I will post the 'artist at work').

Maybe once Ebony completes her lessons in colour theory and perspective we will be able to auction off her works of art to raise money for Dogs with Wings.

Here is the artist after completing her first creation. Just a little bit of paint on the tip of her noze and side of her muzzle. Don't worry, it is non-toxic waterbased paint.

Susan, Everest's foster Mom, told me that Eb's masterpiece reminded her of fish swimming in a pond. Hey maybe that dip in our pond last week wasn't just to cool off....maybe she was just trying to study her subjects up close and personal so that she could make her painting more realistic???

Water good....pond BAD!!!!

This afternoon while Don was mowing the lawn our little Ebony thought it would be cool to jump in the pond and hang out with the Koi......BAD PUPPY!!!!! He rounded the bend and saw her standing in the middle of the pond quite pleased with herself. He gave her his best 'bad puppy death stare' and she reluctantly crawled out of her cool oasis. She has lived with us for 10 months and I don't think she has ever set paw into the pond until today. Go figure?? Hopefully this won't be a new trend. I haven't seen all the fish since her plunge....I hope they are all present and accounted for....fingers crossed they are just hiding somewhere trying to recover from the shock.

Summer time fun

Ebony's big sister Tango just loves it when we take out the hose to water the garden. Unfortunately we don't get much watering done with Tango around. Ebony loves to learn new things from her house mates so has learned to enjoy playing in the water too.

New James Taylor Fan

Ebony was invited to the Telus Suite at Rexall Place to see the James Taylor concert on Saturday night.....of course someone had to hold her leash so we had to go too. It was quite loud and I was a bit worried about how she would handle all the noise....but no problem....she went to sleep on the floor with her head under my skirt to further muffle the sound. We were so proud of how well she behaved. Even the huge crowd was no issue. She was a great ambassador for Dogs with Wings.

Water Works Pond Tour

On Saturday, Water Works Ponds held their 7th annual Parade of Ponds tour with all proceeds going to Dogs with Wings. Wally, Ebony and Texas were part of the welcoming team at the first stop on the tour.

Scary story - Happy ending!

On Saturday we got a phone call saying that Bentley, one of Dogs with Wings puppies in training, was lost. Ebony and I have weekly training classes with Bentley and Patty. We immediatley left the house to join in the search. We searched the river valley, back alleys and industrial parks. We stopped hundreds of people and asked if they had seen him but not one person had. We shut the search down about 9pm and made plans to start again early Sunday morning. Shortly after we got home the phone rang and it was a very happy Patty saying that Bentley had been found. It appears that he followed another family out of the river valley and went home with them and had a wonderful day. I can only imagine what the day must have been like for Patty.

Scar face

Anyone that knows Ebony wouldn't describe her as gentle and soft....she is more of the 'bull in the china' shop kinda girl. Yesterday at puppy class she was playing with her brother Elliott and Caper. They had a toy that she and Elliott were both holding in their mouths and they were running around the park. It was like watching a movie in slow motion. They were running towards some sign posts and I kept waiting for someone to let go of the toy so that they could veer around the posts.....well it didn't happen. Ebony went straight into the metal post. There was no yelping, no limping....the game just continued. When we put them on leash to start class I noticed that she had taken a chunk of flesh off her face. The question now is when it heals and the fur grows back will it be black or white. (Generally for bad cuts the fur tends to grows back white. Ebony has a big white stripe across her front leg from an earlier battle wound).

Dog days of summer

Nothing is more refreshing than enjoying a cold slice of watermelon on a warm sunny day. Ebony demonstrates her delicate, femine watermelon eating technique. YIKES...watch your fingers!!!!

Safeway Cares Cheque Presentation

This afternoon the wonderful folks at Westmount Safeway presented a cheque for just over $10,000 to Dogs with Wings. The money was collected during the Safeway Cares program earlier this year. Wally, Ebony, Eddy, Chase, Sable and Nashville attended the festivities.

Maureen with Nashville, Eddy, Sable, Chase, Ebony & Wally

Family portrait

Tango, Wally, Ebony

Here's the gang sitting together in the back yard. It can be really hard to get a picture where all 3 dogs look good and are looking at the camera. It makes me sad to see all the grey hair around my boy's muzzle but he is still very young at heart.

Fund Raiser

On Saturday we attended the "Dollars for Dogs" fundraising event in support of Dogs with Wings Autism service program. It was well organized with a silent auction filled with many great items. There were lots of Dogs with Wings puppies there ranging in age from 10 week old Flash to 7 year old Wally.

Clipper and Ebony


Wally and his son Everest

Good Luck???

How does the saying go...."find a penny pick it up and all the day you'll have good luck"....not so sure I want to pick this one up. If this offends you I apologize but I'm sure most "dog people" can relate to the surprise I found in Ebony's poop recently. Like any responsible foster parent I always take a quick look at their 'business' to make sure that everything looks normal....the penny caught my eye instantly because the sun was just hitting it perfectly and making it glow.

10 months old

It is hard to believe that the E-litter is already 10 months old. That means that they are only going to be with their foster families for a few more months. Ebony still hasn't had her first heat....I think her Mom was almost a year and a half before she had her first one. Eb is at a sleep over at her 'second home' with Bill and Wynne. They are going to look after her when she goes into heat (and maybe/hopefully/fingers crossed when she moves on to her adult home). We are also fostering Ebony's Dad and he is still intact so we can't have them in the same household....besides Wally loses his mind when he smells a female in heat...our house would be crazy!

Big sister Charly

Ebony had the opportunity to spend the afternoon with her older sister Charly who also happens to be our previous foster puppy. It is like the 'girls' know that they are sisters. They look so similar that it took me probably 15 minutes before I could quickly tell them apart.

Puppies meet water!!!

Ebony and her brother Everest met at the off-leash park today to get their first glimpse of the river. Everest was the first to bound into the water but once Ebony jumped in....they were in puppy heaven. They ran up and down the beach and galloped into the water like ponies....very fun to watch!!

Meeting the younger siblings

Orange


Blue

On Friday Ebony got the opportunity to meet her younger brothers and sisters from the F-Litter. At first she wasn't too sure that she liked these fat, fur balls but with a little encouragement from her siblings she discovered that they could be quite fun to play with.

Puppies everywhere!!

Ebony and I had the privilege of looking after 7 puppies while their foster families watched a video on clicker training. The 11 week old puppies were donated to Dogs with Wings from a wonderful breeder of English Labs from Nova Scotia. I don't know if I could have managed 7 wild fur balls without Ebony's help.

Special day for special kids

This morning Ebony attended the 18th Annual Special Needs "Rodeo of Smiles". Each year special needs kids from the Black Gold school district get a 'special invitation only' day at the Black Gold Rodeo. They got to ride horses, visit the petting zoo, had their faces painted and of course they got to visit with Dogs with Wings puppies. At first Ebony was a little afraid of the miniature horse and some of the critters in the petting zoo but once she discovered that horse poop is quite a delicacy she forgot all about her fears.

Surprise it is winter again

All our snow was gone and the grass was just starting to go green and then Mother Nature surprised us with 4 days straight of snow, wind and cold temperatures. The only ones that didn't mind were the dogs. Here is a video of Ebony and her playmate Tango ganging up on Dad.

Hey bus rider....

Ebony and her brothers Elliott and Enzo had the opportunity to ride on an ETS bus for the first time. They learned how to safely enter and exit the bus and to sit quietly while the bus is in motion. ETS generously brought a charter bus to the Dogs with Wings office so that we could have a private training session with the dogs.

Ebony is a big sister!!!!

Ebony is thrilled to announce that she is now the big sister of 6 beautiful, heathly puppies born today. There are 3 black and 3 yellow, 4 males and 2 females. Check out the Dogs with Wings Puppies blog by clicking here.

Somebody play with me....pleeeese!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is a cute video of Ebony trying to get someone to play with her. She repeatedly shoves the ball in her Dad's and Tango's faces...but to no avail......no one is in the mood for play. Wally has his 'why me' face.

Snuggling with Dad

I was finally able to capture a cute father-daughter moment. Ebony is draped across Wally's head while she sucks and kneads her 'baby'.

Ebony visits John Paul II School

Today we spent a wonderful afternoon at John Paul II School in Stony Plain. It started out just as an invite for Ebony to meet Mr. Allan's grade 6 class. Once the other teachers heard about her visit the invite was extended to bring as many Dogs with Wings puppies as possible and to do a presentation to the entire school. We were joined by Ebony's Dad Wally and Kendal and her foster puppy Brooklyn.

First we met with the Kindergarten through Grade 3 classes. Ebony did her best to show the kids all of the skills she has learned to assist a future client with limited mobility. Then we met with all the kids in Grade 4 through 8. This time we used Mr. Allan as a volunteer to show how Ebony can take socks off. I'm pleased to report that all of Mr. Allan's toes are still in tact. Both groups of children asked many wonderful questions and really seemed to enjoy the presentation. By the time we got home, Ebony was exhausted from all of the special attention she received.