Friday, August 26, 2011

Good Bye Reebok

Reebok playing frog

Tomorrow Reebok goes home.  Rosie will meet up with us in Rochester to see the pups again, and take Reebok home with her.  Rosie will decide who she's taking as her share of the litter, and whether or not she will let me place her second pick pup in one of the excellent homes I have waiting.   Assuming she selects Weather, I have offered to keep her for a few more weeks, as Rosie's life is pretty busy right now.  Because Ron is home during the day, the pups get a lot more time and attention here and there's lots more things I want to do with them.

Reebok has been an excellent guest and we will miss her.  She fit it nicely, had excellent manners, was not noisy, and is an excellent house dog.  Ron suggested that we could volunteer to keep her (he loves girl dogs) but I explained that she was not for sale, that Rosie probably wanted to get her ready to compete for her Grand Championship (once Rosie's ankle is mended), and that I want a puppy, not one more adult dog.

Health check up today, a visit to Winsor's clinic and Dr. Valenti who did their dew claws and the x-rays when Letty hurt her leg.  I KNOW the pups will get lots of extra socialization today!

Thursday, August 25, 2011

An Early Start

Weather at 6 weeks

Blogging early today as I've already been up for an hour.  Not because I had to get up, but because I couldn't sleep.  Heaven knows I need the rest, but if I wake up at 4:00 or later I just can't get back to sleep and I hate to lay there and let worries crowd my mind.

Nothing that actually NEEDS to be worried about (knock on wood) but all the little concerns that crowd my mind and seem so much more serious while tossing and turning in bed.  It's a stunning morning, so with a lovely cool breeze coming through the patio door and a cup of strong hot coffee to enjoy, things all seem so much better right now.

The pups are quiet in the morning (so far) until I wake them to clean their pen and feed them.  The radio that's tuned to a rock station covers up the small household noises and the basement is quiet and dark.  I'll feed the adults, then do some major cleaning of the pen, and dispense a lot of hugs.  The pups are very happy to see me and everyone begs to be picked up.   Hopefully the pen is not too gross, but the pups are dealing with coccidia right now, a protozoan infection common in pups.  I'm sure it lives in my elderly basement as well as my yard, so I'm used to dealing with it when we have pups.  It causes loose stool which makes pen cleaning a little messier and requires LOTS more newspapers, which reminds me - I MUST find some more newspapers today.  Pups are cheerful and feel fine, other than eating a bit slow occasionally.  Things should be better (as in more solid) today as the medication takes effect.  Weather was the first to show symptoms and Letty the last.  OTHERWISE the pups are going great.

Reebok goes home this weekend (she's a good dog but I will be glad to send her home), but I've offered to keep Rosie's pups for an extra week as her life is pretty busy right now.  Whether I keep 3, 4 or 5 pups doesn't make much difference in the amount of work.  I want to work on noises a bit more as Weather is a bit sound sensitive and I want to get her used to more noises before she leaves.  She seems to have gotten over the a$$hole who gunned his motorcycle next to the puppy pen when I took them down to meet up with Rosie.  The pups all sat and watched the shop vac the other night and offered to attack it if I would let them out of their pen.

The pups are spending increasing amounts of time outdoors now.  Not in the morning before I go to work (don't want puppy yapping to disturb the neighbors) but they go out at noon for an hour or two (Ron brings them in after I go back to work), when I get home from work, and again at dusk.  They are quick to pee when they hit the grass, so are catching on to that.  If I lived in a rural area they would be outdoors full time now, but that's not possible for us.

When the litter is outside for the last time, the pups come in with me one at a time to explore other parts of the house, interact with the adults, and get a little training and some one-on-one.  It's important the pups learn to be comfortable without their littermates, and it's an important part of socialization.  It also gives me a better chance to evaluate their individual personalities.  Letty who is incredibly brave about everything, Lucas who is equally brave but more independent, Weather who is a bit more cautious and will stop and think like Rob used to do, Sloan who is brave enough but would prefer to sit on my lap, and Virgil who explores but drops his tail when he encounters new things. He and Weather will get more indoor time for the next few days. Weather is more cautious about the big dogs and worries about being stepped on, while Virgil LOVES being in the midst of them.  Tonight I'll have all the pups loose with all the adults at the same time, so they get used to ducking out of the way when things get lively!

No new puppy pictures, I've taken none since Sunday.  Better remedy that tonight!  Wish I could get a picture of Reebok playing and trying to get Argus to join in.  The minute she sees the camera she stops and comes over to me, so guess it won't happen.  She's going through the Post Puppy Crazies now, doing laps in the family room and even playing with toys (which she rarely does otherwise).

The days are stressful at work as the new accounting system is anything but SWIFT, and the conversion from old to new had lots of glitches.  We're slowly mastering the new procedures, but everyone keeps encountering roadblocks, and we're getting so far behind in our work, waiting for problems to be worked out.  I try to concentrate on the things that go right, and how much I have learned already. Sounds as if we are going to be authorized for overtime which will help a lot.  There is so much to do, and the new processes require many more screens and steps.  I could sure use the money and once the pups have gone on to their new homes I'll probably work an extra hour a day.

Poor fish are getting short changed here, and I have had little time to watch them. They're getting fed, but I really need to find the time for some water changes!

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Sorry!

Letty at 6 weeks

Oops, I was skimming through my email this morning and discovered that I had 6 unanswered puppy inquiries.  Sorry!   I will try to get to them tonight.  Several of them are probably the result of people coming across my blog, so I just wanted you to know that I will respond.   Don't think I have any puppies available unless someone changes their mind at the last minute, but I will be glad to give you a couple of referrals.   Penny's pups are also spoken for I think.

We will probably have puppies here again early next spring after Lucy is bred.  It will not be my litter, but I will be involved in the puppy placements and will have the litter here for BAER testing since there is no place to have that done where Lucy's owners live.  I've already taken several reservations on that litter.

And NEXT year Pauli will be bred.  She'll be four then, and it will be time for her first litter as we don't want to wait too long.  She's had fun being a show dog and has done really well, and we hope she'll be a good producer.

It's interesting how much Weather looks like Pauli, and how much Letty looks (and ACTS) like Lucy, and I'm delighted that Argus is producing such lovely daughters. 

PUPDATE!  Just heard about an Argus grandson available to a pet home.  He's just a couple of weeks older than the Arboks, is very well socialized, BAER tested and ready to go.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

A Rose By Any Other Name . . .

Letty

Up early hoping to get the dogs out before the rain started, but that didn't work.  The boys and Reebok got to spend their normal half hour outdoors, but Josie and Coral got short-changed by the rain.  Last I heard the forecast called for hot and humid today, then cooling down to the 70s by the end of the week - and beyond.  I hope so!

Penny and the Arboks
Now that I have decided to keep Letty, it's time to start thinking about a name for her.  It was going to be Paisley Choco Chip Ready For Broadway, which uses both Rosie's and my "kennel names" (think trademark) and combines Argus's and Reebok's names.  But it does not fit really her, so I'll think on it a bit longer.

Letty is a beauty, with just the spotting style and face I love, and a beautiful outline.  She has a great attitude, is very brave and confident, and moves like a dream - sound from all angles, and with that "special something" in her gait.  We refer to it as "carriage" and it's partially structure, partially balance, and partially attitude, but it's a very special look that takes my breath away when I see it in any breed.  It's that "special something"!   Paisley Choco Chip Special Something?  Naw, back to the drawing board.  

Now we will wait and see what Letty's tail does.  Weather has the better tail carriage at this age and I almost picked her because of it, but decided to pick Letty and torture myself.  So many bad tails in the breed right now and I HATE looking at them, but it's only part of the whole picture.  Puppy tails are notably unpredictable and the ones that are up as youngsters can come down and end up perfect, while tails that looked pretty good on babies can come up later.  I wish I had a crystal ball for predicting how tails will end up.  Penny and Pauli have beautiful straight tails, and Argus has done well on tails, so we'll see . . .

Health check up on Friday, BAER testing on Saturday, and Rosie comes on Sunday to make her picks and to take Reebok home. Reebok has been a good guest and fit in nicely here.  I already told Rosie that I might be interested to leasing her again.  Could be interesting to breed her to Charlie Brown, once he has all his health testing done. 

Monday, August 22, 2011

A Doggy Weekend!


Argus & friend at the dog park
 Whew, busy weekend!   The Arboks had open house on Saturday and we had people in and out all day.  Very good for the pups, and we had a great time catching up with old friends and neighbors.  The adult dogs enjoyed the company too and I made sure that they got their share of the attention.

Sunday morning Argus got his trip to the dog park where he had his usual good time seeing old friends and making new ones.  Mustard was flowering so all the light colored dogs ended up very yellow from running through the weeds.  Breakfast at White Castle was enjoyed by both Argus and me.

At noon I packed up the Arboks and went to visit Jess in Wisconsin.  We set up a pen in the yard and Don sat down in the middle of them to keep them company while I went in to look at Penny's pups.  It was fun to catch up with Lynette (owns Cruise, the sire) who was also there to see the pups. 

The Arboks had a wonderful time being handled, and exploring the yard.  When they were thoroughly tired we took pictures.  I'm having problems with the upload, so will have to add more pictures this evening. 

Letty

Lucas

Sloan

Virgil

Weather