Seasonal beauties

These gorgeous holiday portraits were taken of our dogs on campus receiving their professional training.  What great keepsakes for their raisers.

Holiday fun

It's always a treat to "gussy up" the dogs and enjoy a holiday celebration.  This year we were invited to Brooke's farm, where she holds a Dogs Inc fundraiser featuring photos with Santa.  

Riley

Martha

Rosie

Smiley sisters

Wookee -- the closest we have to a North Pole pup!

Bear

Dash and Buddy

Cooper

Hope

Jewel

The horses are always a hit for our mostly-city dogs.

The.  Fabulous.  Tampa Area Puppy Raisers!

We have all been very, very good, Santa.

Franny

It was a great afternoon for a photo shoot!

Our holiday book exchange wrapped up the day.

MANY thanks to Brooke and her family for hosting us and for offering her farm for the generous support of the mission of Dogs Inc.

Practice and games

It was a cold, clear morning -- perfect for a surprise for all the attendees.  And here he is!  Welcome, Samuel.

Our first practice was "passbys," something we repeat at almost every outing.  Dogs are social creatures, so it takes concerted effort to condition them to passing by their buddies without losing their cool.

This exercise tasked the pups with holding longline stays until each of them was released by name.

Next, some greeting practice.

After all our official work, we had fun with a challenge of identifying brand logos.

New guy on the scene

We can proudly announce the addition of Samuel to the Tampa Area Puppy Raisers.  Samuel is being started by Sarane and will move to Karen for finish in the spring.  It's a treat to introduce Samuel and to welcome Sarane back into full-time raising. 

And for a little backstory...

As a Puppy Academy volunteer, Laurie gets special access long before the raisers do.  ;-)