Sigh...

My Miikka.

She marches to her own drummer.

I think the word to describe her would be "showboater".

Here she is while I'm trying to take a picture of one of her puppies last winter. Like I NEED to have a stick shoved in my face.

2008 Doggy Olympics

Synchronized Diving Competitiors

Ummm....Miikka...good style, but free-lancing not allowed.
And what is UP with those ears (excuse the pun).

Of course, another great photo by Liz.

Hide the Hoo-ha

It's a panty parade in our house now.

Darbi has a choice of lime green, pink or grey.  Grey is SO 1990's.

She's In!!

All the hoping and watching worked!!

A spot of blood this morning and Darbi is now wearing her fancy panties (pictures to follow).

Rough guesstimate is two breedings during the week of Aug. 25 - Denver here we come!!!

Pups due the end of October and home before Christmas.

Since I flat out refuse to take pictures of her hoo-ha, here is Darbi the last time she had babies in January 2006.

I'm SO excited!!

Soaking wet

As usual, my friend Liz has taken some great pictures of the dogs. It was a warm day yesterday and we had just finished training. What a nice way for everyone to cool off.



Tandem retrieving with a new friend.


Oh yeah...we're still "waiting" on Darbi, but she was very flirty with Liz's male Huxley-so here's hoping!!

But...

The day after the field trial, we went to a recreational area with some friends and had a good day in the sun.

Blink of an eye

Now you see her.

Now you don't.

The dogs had a very good day at the trial in Drumheller this week-end...but I did not.  

A handler error on the water blind caused Miikka to be dropped and multiple handler errors in the last series occured with Darbi.  

Darbi ultimately got a Certificate of Merit in the Open.  I'm proud of my girls for trying so hard in the heat...I'm mad at myself for dumb errors.

A trend?

Pups from the Shaq x Miikka litter of 2007.

Maybe the puppy buyers from my litters wonder why all the dogs want to get on the couch??

Apparently cowboy movies do not impress them.

Little Miss Red Dot

Meet "Little Miss Red Dot". Now known as Bode. Bode is from the Tiger x Darbi litter of 2006. My litter notes state: "super fiesty & friendly puppy. Always in the thick of things. Loves to be held and cuddled."

She was a spunky little puppy who had tons of personality and spark.

We also decided that Red Dot needed to become a Calgary Flames fan when she was only 5 weeks old as noted in the picture below.

As you can see, we raise our litters as part of our family and they are often loose in the house with us. We built our curent house with NO carpet to be found...it is all tile and laminate flooring both upstairs and down. It is easy to chase the little gaffers around with rolls of paper towel. When they learn to climb stairs, it becomes a new challenge to keep track of them all.

This is Bode now, living with her family in Toronto, Ontario. She is a much loved family pet and she spends much of her time at the family cabin on the lake (lucky dog). Her owner writes "What a great dog. I wonder how she would do if she were competing like her brothers and sisters. She has incredible drive but is wonderful in the house."

"I am sending along a recent picture, I'm a little concerned about her finding her place in the family. Ha ha."

Lucky dog indeed.

Real Job

Well. I'm off to do my real job tomorrow for a couple days.



Shift work sucks sometimes, but it has its great advantages as well.



See you when I get back and play safe. Meeting up with me when I'm in my uniform means you are NOT having a good day.



AND...good luck to my friends Sarah and Amanda-off to the Agility Nationals Monday!!!

I wonder?

Hmmm....I wonder where the dogs are?

Oh, that's riiiggghhhttt.  We built them a beautiful 2 bedroom indoor/outdoor condo unit, but noooo...God forbid they ever spend 5 minutes in it.

Spoiled rotten.

And we wouldn't have it any other way.

Crazy Aunt Miikka

Writing the blog yesterday reminded me of how close Miikka and Darbi actually are.

When Darbi had her pups in 2006, we kept mom and babes pretty isolated for the first week. Miikka was desperate to know what was going on (Little Miss Nosey), but we never let Miikka in the room where Darbi was to give Darbi her privacy as a new mom.

When Darbi started to spend a bit of time away from the pups, we let Miikka in the room one day to show her what the little guys were. Darbi didn't seem to care and we watched Miikka very closely to gauge her reaction. Miikka was obsessed with the little pups and right away wanted to mother them. From then on, Miikka and Darbi "tag-teamed" the litter of puppies. When Darbi was away from the pups, Miikka would baby-sit them. She would go so far as to lick bums and clean them off.

I spoke with Darbi and Miikka's breeder about this and he said it was safe to let Miikka be around the pups as long as she was always supervised. It became clear over the following weeks that she was as much a mother to them as their own mother.

What was amazing is that the puppies NEVER tried to nurse off Miikka. Usually pups have a very strong nursing instinct to nurse off everything that walks by...but they seemed to know that Miikka was "Auntie" and not Mommy.

Here are some old pics I found of Miikka checking to be sure bums are clean and playing with the pups and Darbi in Spring 2006.

Best friends

Darbi and Miikka are best friends.

It's a very comfortable relationship.

I have never seen either dog so much as raise a lip at the other. They share toys, couch space and their entire world with each other.

When one or the other dog is finished eating first, the other will sit politely and wait for the other dog to finish eating and check to see if their bowl is empty. What is very interesting, is that if the bowl is not empty, the other dog would never think of touching the food left in the bowl that is not theirs. The food will sit untouched in that bowl, all day.

Every stick or toy thrown for them is brought back in tandem no matter who retrieved it first.

People ask me who the "boss" is, and to be honest, I have no idea. One never tries to boss the other into anything. I'm sure Darbi is Queen Bee around here, but you'd never know by watching them interact. It is a relationship built on mutual respect.

It is heart-warming to see such a bond formed between my two favorite doggies.

We are hopefully bringing a new "pal" into the pack this fall. I'm sure the girls will let her join in with no fuss.

This pic was taken last week by my friend Liz. Thanks Liz!

Ummm...excuse me...

Darbi loves her spot on the couch by the window.  She can see outside and watch the world go by.  I was sitting in that coveted location today working on my laptop when I noticed I was being watched.  

Safe journey...

Esprit's Out Of The Woods...

"Tiger"...

passed away this week. He is the sire of Darbi's one and only litter, born in 2006.

Tiger gave us 8 wonderful puppies, who are now spread across North America and giving much joy to their owner's lives. These puppies are all incredibly personable, super talented and exceptionally healthy.

He was a great match for Darbi and we are thankful to have had the opportunity to breed to him.

Rest in peace old man...you were one of a kind.

Yankee

Meet Yankee. Yankee is from the Tiger x Darbi litter of 2006.

If you look closely, you can see where he got his name. Yankee's collar was red/white/blue, so it was an easy choice to call him Yankee from birth. Just like Dottie, Yankee's owners decided the name fit and he is known as Yankee to this day.

In my litter notes, I described Yankee as:

-friendly

-curious

-1st puppy to come when called and 1st puppy to climb out of whelping box

-outgoing

-LOVES people

Yankee is still all these things and more.

Yankee was chosen as "pick" male from the litter and was flown to his new home in Ohio at 8 weeks of age. He was raised by his owners Sean & Sherree and sent off to Basics training with Bruce Curtis at around 6 months. Yankee did not run any Derbies and spent a year with Bruce in Texas & Wisconsin.

Yankee is now in training with Joe & Scott Harp and he is doing really well. In his FIRST field trial, he finished with a 3rd in the Qualifying. He WON a Qualifying shortly thereafter in Kentucky. Yankee is now in training to make his All-Age debut later this fall or winter. We have REALLY enjoyed following his career thus far and I have enjoyed the friendship I have formed with Sean and Sherree.

He looks EXACTLY like his mother.

Yankee now...

A watched pot...

Look at her. She thinks it's funny.

We all sit around anxiously...waiting...waiting. I am getting e-mails from people on the waiting list wondering if it has happened yet.

Never in history has a dog's hoo-ha been so closely watched.

Brat.

I think I'm going to give her a pharmacological nudge.

Dottie

Oh, how I miss Dottie.  She is from the Shaq x Miikka litter of November 2007.  I gave her the name "Blue Dot" when she was assigned that collar seconds after her birth.  Since she had the only collar with dots on it, her name quickly shortened to Dottie.  She was a brilliant puppy from day one.  Always a bit of a loner, she didn't have the patience to partake in her brothers' and sisters' antics.  She was also the smallest pup in the litter at birth, but now weighs 60 pounds and is still growing.

We had a young couple with no other dogs on our waiting list for a pup from this litter.  We thought Dottie was the perfect fit for them as she didn't seem to need the company of other dogs and she wasn't the wild and crazy pup that a lot of field trialers are looking for.  She was still the smallest pup in the litter at the time.  Dottie has always had an "air" about her and it sounds like she now has her mother's sense of humor and zest for life as well.

When her new owners came to pick her up at 8 weeks old, the name Dottie stuck...and this is Dottie now.

Fun Times

So, last week-end I entered a Hunt Test on a lark. It's hard to explain the differences between field trials and hunt tests, but let's just say there's quite a few. It was a NAHRA test in Irricana and I had a great time with the girls. There was about 10 things in every test that my dogs had never seen before. Ducks calls, decoys, me carrying a "fake" gun, marks from wingers thrown towards us and overtop of us, running out of a boat, etc. etc.
I was hoping because we hunt the dogs a lot every fall they would not look too stupid.
This picture is of the first test on the first day. I had to sit inside the big goose decoy while the triple was being thrown. My girls were curious as to why I was sitting inside a giant goose for any reason whatsoever, but they went along with it.
Of course, this picture was taken by my friend Wendy with my iPhone...can't leave the iPhone out of the story.
Darbi got a Senior pass the first day, and Miikka was having a GREAT day until the last test, which is the trailing portion. She had never trailed in her life until 3 days before the test, so I expected her not to be successful. It was too bad, as she had near perfect work all day.
Neither of the girls got a pass the second day. The whole process was a little overwhelming for them, and the shorter marks threw them off. Miikka was just hitting 2nd gear about 100 yards deep of a mark on one test.
We had a great time though, the dogs had a hoot and I met some very nice people!

Stay, staaaaayyy, STAY!

Believe it or not...it didn't take long to set up this group photo.
After some field training at Liz and Andy's place, we walked down to the river and had some fun with the dogs. They live on my dream acreage.
Pretty much all of these dogs have a CD or are close to getting one, so we only had to say "stay" 14,562 times.

Poor Radar

My friend Cheryl has a poor dog named Radar. The reason why Radar is classified as a "poor dog" is because he just had TPLO surgery. Now Radar has at least 3 months of very limited movement and re-hab, but a very dedicated owner to see him through it all.
Curciate Injuries are becoming more and more common it seems. I don't know if it's just me, or coincidence, but I'm noticing a lot more. With Labrador Retrievers, it can be a genetic cause or a straight traumatic cause. I know that cruciate injuries are definitely on my list of considerations when planning a breeding.
On the bright side though, TPLO offers the dogs suffering the injury the possibility of a full recovery. There are many, many instances of dogs returning to full activity, and competing again on the field trial circuit after surgery and re-hab.
Radar will be 100% before we know it.

iCrazy

Twinsies

Wow, even I can't believe it.   All Miikka's babies that I have met sure take after her, but Lili takes the cake.  Lili is going to be bigger than her mother, but I can't get over how similar they are.

Lili has a few passes towards her Started Retriever Title with NAHRA.  Congrats Lili!!

iPhone Mania

I know...I know...it's crazy.  I actually sat out on a sidewalk early in the morning to get one of these phones.  I've never used an iPod in my life and I certainly don't need a new phone, but I HAD to have one.

Now, I have to figure out how to use the darn thing.

How fast they grow.

This was so fun. Miikka (and I-center) re-introduced ourselves to two of Miikka's daughters. On the left is Mattie, owned by Tim Duhaime. On the right is Maggie, owned by Rob Littlemore.

Maggie won the Puppy Stake at the Lethbridge Trial and Mattie came in second. Miikka is very proud of her two little girls. Although it appears they are not so little anymore!!