Fun in the sun

Pretty nice weather this week in Texas.  It needs to rain some more to fill the ponds up fully, but apparently we have a few days coming up where that need will probably be satiated.  Yuck.

This is one of the properties we train on.  It's pretty nice that we have quite a variety of places to train.  There is about 4 pieces of water like this on this property.  It is owned by Bill Schrader of Two Step Kennels.

Manu (the GREAT FC AFC Tangata Manu) comes out of retirement every so often to make a retrieve.  I sure wish I could have seen him in his prime.

He is 12 years old and his joints creak a little.  The good dogs like him are so hard on their bodies when they're young.

What a cool old dog.

I love his grey face.

Miikka is doing better these days.  The poor girl is a kennel dog again to try to get her mind on her work.  I asked Kenny the other day whether her issues last year were from chronic hearing loss (which we are convinced she has from hunting), being too spoiled or from having her litter a year ago.  He said "yes".  Okay...I get it.

And we're getting closer to Tub Tub's due date!!  Less than 2 weeks now.  Her belly is expanding more and more and I felt some subtle puppy kicks last night.  It will feel like there is a kick boxing lesson going on inside her in a week or so.

She ran one single today and that was it.  I've cut back the training to almost nil now.  She was enjoying the spectator role a little too much today.  She only broke once though.

Texas Update

Having a great time in Texas.  They are long days, but rewarding days.

Weather has been chilly down here, but much better than if I was in Canada!!

A typical Texas training scene.  Dog, horse and oil jack.

Darbi is doing wonderfully.  She is still in training, although we have slowed down on her a little bit.  She's not running two to four tests a day like the other dogs, but doing about 1/2 of what the other dogs are doing.  She is feeling fantastic and training like a star. (If you click on the above picture, you can see a close up of her surgical scar from the breeding).

But as you can see, she is developing quite a little belly.  She has also become a food monger!  She stares at me day and night hoping more food will come her way.  It is indeed strange behaviour for a dog that is not food crazy by any means.

We may be in the far south, but the toques and coats give away the weather.

There's a dog we are training by the name of Boomer.  He and I have become fast friends.  Boomer has an incredible water entry on marks or blinds and I took some pics of him today on a water double.

He has a much better swan dive than I ever did.

Only 2 1/2 to 3 weeks until I'm up to my eyeballs with puppies.  I am so excited!

Ultrasound fun!

Party at the vet clinic!!  Even Darbi looks like she's into it.

And introducing one of the little gaffers...can't wait to meet him/her!

She's pregnant!

I'm on my iPhone, so can't post pictures...but Darbi is pregnant!! The vet in Houston saw "5 or 6, and maybe more".
He did see one empty sac that was a re-absorbed puppy. He said this was perfectly normal and nothing to worry about. It could have been a defective puppy or Darbi was just trying to get the numbers down, which sounds like something she would do.

As a precaution though, he has put her on antibiotics "in case" she has a small uterine infection. We also drew blood for another progesterone test to be sure she is still at adequate levels.

He said the other pups were 2.3 centimetres, which is perfect for their age. Amazing how he can tell that.

I took a pic of poor Darbi getting her ultrasound, so I'll post that in a day or so.

Elmingo Gang

We just got to Texas a few days ago and the weather is sure lovely!!  It's supposed to get a little chilly next week and the locals say it will be "freezing", but they don't know what freezing is, trust me.

With our crew of dogs, we have SIX Elmingo dogs for this winter trip.

From Left to Right:

Elmingo's Little Man (Shaq x Miikka 2009) "Zink"

Elmingo's Flip Your Lid (Shaq x Miikka 2009) "Libby"

FTCH AFTCH Revilo's Red Hot Rumors "Miikka"

Revilo's At Full Tilt (She beats me, I swear she does) "Darbi"

Backwater's Smokin' Turq (Prime x Darbi 2008) "Turq"

Elmingo's Prime Suspect (Prime x Darbi 2008) "Meg" 

And it looks as if Meg and Turq don't quite have the "sit pretty while we throw things to bring Darbi's ears up" concept down yet.
And if you notice...it didn't bring Darbi's ears up anyways.

Meg and Turq have become the best of friends in the short time they've known one another.  So much so that we air them separately now as they spend more time playing than peeing.  I wonder if they remember?

And the view from our kennel this evening.

Amazing.