Sunday, September 30, 2012

Pix 2 & Anniversary

Let's start with anniversary...
it was one year ago tonight that I got Peri back. I have a vivid memory of getting the phone call telling me she was coming into the Mills house but dashing back out before the door could be closed and how long the 5 minute drive from my house to theirs seemed. I was discouraged when I got to the porch and the screen door was shut tight. But when I went in, almost immediately there she was, all the way across the room and down the hall, peaking out at me from the bedroom. As poor as my eyesight is, I saw the exact second she recognized me and her mama... she turned into another dog as if by magic and came running down the hall, practically jumping into my arms. It will always be one of the best moments of my life.

And, of course, it is the one year anniversary of NOT getting Cotton back.

Having the two girls missing will always be an experience I NEVER want to go through again, but I will ALWAYS be grateful and humbled by all the kindnesses shown me by complete strangers.

Now the fuzzy pictures 
for some reason, I cannot post photos directly to the blog (again,) so I am linking them from the website file. It worked in practice.

Here are the pups in birth order

female - male - male - female - male - male - female

And the 3 girls


And the 4 boys


For me, it is interesting that the birth order was the two parti, the two black, the three blond.
The blond boys, born 5 and 6, were so close together I don't know which was 5 and which 6. The blond girl was 7th.

All are going well. And there is already one I can identify by her cry... the parti girl is NOT a patient puppy and she is very vocal when she is unhappy... which is any time she's awake and there is no nipple in her mouth!

Em is eating her regular food and going outside voluntarily (and VERY quickly.) She's already jumped all over poor little Crockett because he beat her back to the bedroom and dared to approached the puppy pen. He survived without a scratch, except to his ego.



Pictures

The biggest problem with pictures from the blog point of view is I've tried all day to post them... using two different browsers... and what you see is what I've managed to upload. Tomorrow, I will put them on the website.

The smaller problem is when I went in to take the pictures in the first place, I grabbed the wrong camera. Instead of the nice new one Marcy sent me (thanks again!) I got the old one that makes everything fuzzy. So, you're saying, why not just get the new one and go back and take more pictures? Well, I'm answering, Emy was upset enough that I took all her babies away to get the first batch, even though they weren't gone that long.  It's took her 36 hours to get them to shut up and she wasn't pleased that I disturbed them. She'll be over it in a day or two.

Business cards
are FINALLY in the mail to those who asked for them. There are reasons I always put off Spring cleaning and Fall cleaning until next year, year after year... not being able to find anything afterwards is the main one.

And last
I am in need of some creative mortgage financing ideas. The particulars are small loan, repossessed property  now owned by Freddie Mac, NOT going to be primary residence OR rental property.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Well!

They're here! Seven stunning and amazing BIG pups. (Comparatively speaking.) The first one, a parti girl, arrived 10 PM and five others in quick time... a couple hours. Number seven, a solid blond girl, showed up around 3:30. There is one other girl, a black with tan already on her feet, and four boys: a mostly black parti, a solid black and two solid blond. All the light colored pups are really light. 

Em had the first one in the dog room, but really wanted to come into the bedroom, so I moved her. She's done well and they've been fairly quiet... tonight I'll put  hot water bottles in with them. Warm puppies are quiet puppies and I want to get some sleep! And I'm going to get off this computer and make Emy go outside for a few minutes. 

Will get a picture or two tomorrow morning when she goes outside again.

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Hang in There

Emy's still cooking those pups. I think they are browning now and should be making their escape in a couple days. Em is big, the pups are moving forward and she is happy to be in a puppy pen all by herself. Don't know if I'll leave her there as it is in the "dog room." I may move her into the bedroom once the pups arrive. We'll just see how it goes.

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Hey

We're still here. Everything is still calm and quiet, even the weather. Emy is still eager to go outside and sit in the sun or lounge on the deck. She's still eating a normal amount and, big as she's getting, still quite comfortable. And I still haven't set up the puppy pen. I hope I get moving before she does!

Business cards
Several people have asked me to send them my business cards to pass out when they are out walking their pups. Anyone wanting cards needs only to ask! I'm happy to send them.

Big news
But I'm not yet willing to share the specifics. However, in general, it involves a move and means I have a number of rescues that HAVE TO be placed, the sooner the better. If you know of an adult home needing a small mixed breed dog, PLEASE put them in touch with me or vice versa. And Lucky is still looking for a place.

Interesting pictures



Monday, September 17, 2012

I'm Back!

I wasn't really gone anywhere. I just had nothing to post about and was really busy with other things. I quick update...
Emy is doing well. She is getting really big,  but is feeling fine. Em's reservation list is full but it looks like she's going to have a good number of available pups when the litter arrives. I'm going to get the puppy pen in my room ready in the next day or two and will move her into it as soon as it's done. That means Diamond is going to move back out to the dog room and she's already avoiding it like the plague.

It looks like everything is under control with all the pups in their new homes... I really HATE typing that because it is basically DEMANDING that something go wrong.

Some time this Fall, Boon is going to be bred to a Wheaten Terrier girl and I'll be helping her people place the pups. They will have their tails left long and will be CKC registered. The waiting list for THIS litter is different than my normal waiting list. If you're interested, soon is better than later for letting me know.

And a few pix


 
Sassy Peake


Tucker Sybrandt



Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Seed Ticks

MAYBE the mystery is solved. Seed ticks... which are very VERY tiny baby ticks... are making an unusual late Summer appearance. The two girls who just moved to Connecticut are proof of that. Over the weekend their new mom found them scratching like crazy and when she started exploring their coats she found a whole lot of little dots on their skin, a few were small freckle size, but most barely visible. Usually, seed ticks come out/hatch/whatever in the Spring after a week or so of unseasonably warm weather. I didn't see any this year, but the last week or two, I've scratched several a day off my skin. Since I wasn't seeing them on the dogs and no one was particularly itchy, I did not apply Frontline. BIG mistake. The last three pups to leave here all had some on them. Clooney, who roomed with those puppies, has a couple on her. Peri, who is clipped very short and also was in with the puppies, has none. Frontline WILL kill the baby ticks the same as it does older ones, so EVERYBODY in the house has been treated with it. Everybody except me. All I can do is continue to scratch them off.

So the cheyletiella is probably not the problem. However, I am sending ivomectin to everyone who asked for some. It won't hurt to use it.

And if you still have any concerns, you can pick up some flea/tick shampoo with PYRETHRIN which is what we used to use to "control"  those critters before Advantage and Frontline came along. The good thing about pyrethin is it gets other little unwanted bugs as well. Since pyetc is no longer the treatment of choice and the once a month topicals do not kill anything but fleas and ticks, other pests are making a comeback.

Reservation list
The September litter reservation list is full. If you missed out, do not despair. There will be unreserved pups available. Of course, having just stated that as a fact... like I had control of the numbers situation... there will only be 4 pups!

This litter is a repeat of the one that gave me Cotton. Don't know if I mentioned that before.

Pictures
Bernie in NY


Penny and Coco in NC


 Cash and friend in CA


Esther in NY

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Big News!

I have made no secret of the fact I am NOT in charge around here. The dogs allow me to live here because I am the only one old enough to drive.

Two weeks ago, I... and a number of other people... were disappointed when Diamond's ultrasound showed she was not pregnant.

However, her daughter, Emerald, anticipated that result and took care of the Fall puppy situation, with a little help from Sparky.

Now, MY intentions were to skip Em until Spring next year. The boys, who are my early warning system about girls coming into season, all sounded their alarms. And because it was too early by a couple months for Emy to be back in season, I basically laughed at them and told them they needed their play-dar checked. 

They're the ones laughing now.

This litter is due at the end of September and will be ready for their new homes the week before Christmas
IF THEY ARE PICKED UP.

The reservation list is open... two spots available.