Breakfast for the ten 9-week-old pups: 12 cups of premium Orijen kibble and 2 chicken breasts.
…nothing left behind for Mr. Manners.
Because this is a litter of 10, who were born 5 days early and needed a boost, I opted for Orijen puppy over my normal ACANA. Both are made by the same company. Orijen is more than most dogs need —and can cause dogs to put on weight— but has worked really well for these pups. I also like Orijen puppy because it has fish in it. Good nutrition early means healthier pups over their lifetimes. At about 14 weeks, I will transition the pups over to ACANA puppy, which is what all my other pups get.
Anyone who balks at the cost of a puppy should see my food bill …or my tax return with well over $10k in losses for breeding puppies. Hobbies can be expensive.
I wanted to see if the 8-week-old Nel x Blu pups could ‘assist‘ me opening and spreading some more wood shavings in their kennel. They were only too happy to oblige.
This is a very active and curious group. None of them holds back! If there is ‘shyness’, I haven’t seen it.
The other attraction in the kennel is a lid to a container. Everything has to be investigated and ‘reversed engineered’. I just toss it in and see what comes of it. Guaranteed it won’t return as it arrived! And the pups will have learned something.
[St.] Nicholas sent a Christmas present for the 10 8-week-old Nel x Blu puppies, a vibrating sheep toy, which I gave to them after breakfast on Christmas morning.
The puppies’ joy and excitement is palpable in the two videos!
A Christmas card from Tony in Maine and an update from Nicholas on Tohi remind me that (way) more often than not, there are happy endings for my dogs.
Fluff went off to Tony, a retired teacher and coach on the Maine coast, just before Christmas last year. I had turned down more than 20 people who wanted Fluff …and in walked Tony. I felt it was right from the first, for Fluff and for him. And my gut didn’t lie. Fluff has brightened Tony’s life and all of those around him. Fluff is a celebrity in Blue Hill, Maine. Most importantly for Fluff, she has Tony all to herself. That’s what every dog wants. The photo on Tony’s card doesn’t lie, Fluff is a beauty.
Fluff Takes Center Stage on Tony’s Holiday Cards
Some of you will remember Tohi, sent over from Wales to me earlier this year. She arrived a complete wreck. She escaped getting out of the car from the airport and spent 7 nights and 6 days out in the rough before I could catch her in a coyote trap. She was that traumatized …not by the trip here, but by ALL that had come before. I have never seen such a desperate dog. I did not have the bandwidth or expertise for Tohi and two friends stepped up.
Tohi transitioned with Kathy, an experienced dog rescuer, and then went on to Nicholas, a dog expert of the first order. If Nicholas had not agreed to take Tohi out of a sense of duty to another creature and at the strong urging of his wife, Jackeline, Tohi’s future looked bleak. Taking Tohi as she was, was an act of exceptional compassion and generosity. Nicholas is a young entrepreneur, and every hour with Tohi was going to be an hour away from his businesses and his other very capably young working collies. And yet, he felt he had to do it, for another creature in need.
I had video from Nicholas yesterday, of the 12 month old female I had no hope for in June, now 6 months on. The title of the message Nicholas sent to me yesterday was “Tohi has taken to sheep!“
And indeed she has! In the video is a beautiful, healthy, happy young dog, all confidence with sheep …but more importantly, ALL EYES FOR NICHOLAS. Nicholas and his wife Jackeline saved the un-savable. They believed in Tohi, they gave her all they could, they met her on her terms …and out of the scared, withdrawn and basket case yearling who arrived to me in June, has emerged a stunning specimen of a sheep dog. It isn’t a miracle, it is devotion and care, the likes of which I have rarely seen. Tohi has found an extraordinary life with Nicholas on his farm, where she is safe, encouraged and loved –and will be for her entire life. She has blossomed. The video confirms that.
A couple of stills screen cammed from Nicholas’ video
There is much that is not right with the world this Christmas season, but Tony and Nicholas remind me that important small things are *very* right. Two happy new beginnings for my dogs. Thank you Tony & Nicholas!!
MERRY CHRISTMAS to all!!! …and especially to Fluff and Tohi.
Travel writer Rick Steves makes his views on the Trump putsch known with a recounting of Adolf Hitler’s imprisonment and execution of his political opponents, who were the first concentration camp inmates in fascist Germany. He reminds us that Hitler was duly elected, then seized power by bullying, fear, manufactured crises, propaganda and lies.
5 month old Jet by my #1 dog, Peter, shows all of his sire’s promise and character. Jet and Peter, are the kind of dogs that define my breeding program: smart, sharp-styled, intense, highly instinctive working dogs.
When you’re a Jet, You’re the top cat in town, You’re the gold-medal kid With the heavyweight crown!
When you’re a Jet, You’re the swingin’est thing. Little boy, you’re a man; Little man, you’re a king!
Then you are set With a capital J, Which you’ll never forget Till they cart you away. When you’re a Jet, You stay A Jet!
Martha sent me the most amazing photo of her Rain (Jazz x Max), now in Portugal, where Rain looks after 150 sheep in the uplands. I sighed at the beauty of the scene. Martha is a kindred spirit, a refugee from the chaos and horrors of America. I plan to follow in Martha’s footsteps, though to a slightly different corner. I must admit, the scene of Rain in the water and mist makes Portugal seem awfully nice.
