Latest news
Well we were much later than usual getting our Christmas cards organized so won't be able to send many out this year. We have plans for next year, though! We love the beautiful holiday-themed photographs Marci Thomas of SunRunner Photography took of the dogs so had to share. We hope everyone enjoys a wonderful and safe holiday season!
The Boca x Buck pups all went to their homes over this weekend. Well, all except Elektra as she is staying put but will also have to learn to exist without her sibs. And apparently all the pups are very vocal -- no surprise to us, but apologies to their new owners! We are very excited about the pups' potential with their new homes - whether they do agility, tracking, obedience, rally, work stock or be valued family members, they will make me happy if they make their owners happy!
The first to leave the nest was Mr Green (now Tuck/Tucker) on Friday morning. Despite his many vocal protests, he was allowed by SouthWest Airlines to fly to Rochester, NY to join the household of Darren and Susan Van Houten and their two girls Ellie and Lila and the spirit of his Great-grand Auntie Guinness (Jack x Zima, Star's littermate). Tuck has quickly learned that snow exists and that not everything goes his way when he wants but that there is lots of fun to be had at weekend sporting events. He will soon attend Puppy Kindergarten and may be introduced to agility as time permits!
The second to leave the nest was MP (MoneyPenny, final call name TBD) with Katrina Parkinson of Mill Valley, CA hopefully to follow in the very accomplished agility footsteps of Maddie and Fawkes. While MP's trip home was shorter in duration than Mr Green's, her home integration has been marred by the constant exercising of her vocal chords in protest of everything and anything that does not go her way. Sorry, Katrina!
Q (final call name TBD) left on Sunday morning. Karen Nenow convinced him to stay quiet for the flights back to Kansas City so he could join Great Auntie CT MACH2 Mariah (Lucky x Star) and Flurry to be trained in whatever venue suits him (but we are pretty sure that he will get to do agility!).
Jody had to wait until Monday for her puppy to be delivered via Judge Mike Black who had been judging the PASA ASCA agility trial over the weekend in Morgan Hill, CA. Apparently Vesper (now Brio) was an angel in transit, but quickly showed her true colors (and vocal chords) upon arrival at DFW en route to home. Good luck, Jody!
And finally there is Elektra. Her call name may change, but we think not. Several of us picked her for Dave upon birth (Gina C called it as soon as she came out!). Dave kept his options open but eventually it was undeniable that she had connected and wanted to stay with us, so stay she did! The camera loves her, and she has perfected the head tilt. Win!
[UPDATE: Elektra's registered name will be Slipstream's The World Is Not Enough]
What an adventure it was getting everyone ready to go to their new homes! Sherpa Bags are not necessarily the friends of wild puppies.
I can't believe that the pups are 8 weeks today. When they say that dogs live the equivalent of 7 human years in 1 of their years it makes sense if you have ever raised a litter of puppies. Each day brings so many changes and challenges - everything is NEW all over again or just different enough to make it interesting.
They have been poked, prodded and scrutinized in many ways over the past week and thankfully they are still the happy little souls that they were when we started all of this data gathering!
Here is a pic of the pups savoring a few moments together -- they are ready to head to their new homes in one way or another. I am excited for what their future holds.
The pups are 7 weeks old today. They are a lot of fun and they have honed their sense of adventure as they love to explore new areas of the yard. They have had a full week of new obstacles in the pen (loved the ball pool), new foods and new visitors (including an impromptu visit by 5 awesome neighborhood kids who took puppy selfies!).
They continue to gain skills or refine existing ones, such as:
The rainy days and colder weather have limited their outdoor time, but we continue to do clicker work with them and give them some individual time, frustration exercises, plus increased exposure to our other adult dogs who are surprisingly tolerant. The litter box is still quite successful -- I am a convert even if Vesper isn't. I also love the breakaway collars - Electra's and Q's are the ones most frequently found loose (and being used as a chew toy) this week.
The pups have another busy week ahead of them - more visitors, conformation evaluation, temperament test, grooming, eye exam, vet exam and then they will start to go to their new homes. Whew!
And since Jody asked on FB how these pups compared to the litter of Boca and her sibs, I'm sharing a link to some photos I took of the Rubi x Taiko litter at 1 day and 8 weeks here.
Yes, I am behind in posting older photos (but at least I have them somewhere), but here are a few photos from the past week:
Enjoy the pups playing in the ball pool at 6 - 6 1/2 weeks.
