Still alive

I'm still here.

All is good.

Gordie is already house trained!!!  That's the big news in my life.  Gotta love it when they catch on fast.

I'm a little blog lazy these days, but I'll try to get some pics and a training article up soon.

Mr. Red

Looks like he is having fun with his new owner in New Jersey.

Miikka

This is how she sleeps.

Serious.

Just Gordie

Two little boys have left, leaving me with one.

A quiet, well semi-quiet, house now.

Before he left Mr. Red is shown exhausted from toy over stimulation.  

Too many toys and not enough time for him.  He has gone to his new home in New Jersey.

Mr. Orange left to live with his "Auntie Emma" (a Darbi daughter) in Ohio.

And introducing Gordie!

Elmingo's Hat Trick.

I thought the name was appropriate as there is only three pups in the litter and his mother is named after a hockey player.

It looks like he thinks life is pretty tough.  He didn't even KNOW the couch was an option until yesterday and now we can't get the little rascal away from it.

Some people hate dogs on the furniture.  I respect that.  We are a dog on couch friendly household for sure.

7 weeks!

I can't believe how quickly time flies.  Boys are only a day or two from heading to their new homes.

They are fun and busy.

Mr Orange, like any good Miikka offspring, likes to sleep on his back.

And yes, they are 100% paper trained.  They are pretty clean little pups.

The boys spend a lot of their time playing outside (i.e. dirty noses) and playing in the kitchen where they crash on their dog bed at the end of a long day.  Note: the Angry Bird toy made it's way inside the house, earless.

Can you see it now?

Peanut thinks she's doing a wonderful job burying her bone.

Weird.

Indoor play

Puppies were very busy this evening!

Tired

Sorry for the lack of posts and PUPPY pics lately.  We've been busy trialing and on the road.  I'll be better this week.

Pups are doing great!!  They weather was so nice in Missouri that they spent the better part of each day running around and having fun while we trained.
They also had their first shots and second deworming while there and they came away with a bill of excellent health!!

The trial this past week-end went well.  Darbi and Libby were the Green Queens.  Darbi Jam'd the Open and Libby Jam'd the Derby.
Libby had 7 pins and one hook (again....) and I was really proud of her work. The last series especially.  It was a nice water double with the short bird up on the hill and the long bird across the whole pond, with the gun out of sight while the dogs swam.  All the handlers were a little stunned when they shot the test short, then long.  This order of throws threw a number of the dogs off.

Libby, as only her mother would do, primary selected on her own after the birds went down and I let her.  She smacked the test.  The whole situation made me smile as she reminds me more of her mother every day.  We don't train on primary selection, largely because of the flyer influence down here in the states, but some dogs do it on their own and it worked in this scenario.

Darbi worked her butt off in a tough Open and had a handle on the short retired (a hen pheasant) in the last series Quad.  A number of the early dogs handled or had giant hunts and then that bird seemed to get easier as the day went on.  That's the breaks of running early.

That was our last trial of the year...so now for some rest!