Puppies!

Dove’s puppies were born! A couple days early, but apparently right on time. Dove was a total natural, no worries at all, took care of all the pups like a professional and has been a great mom. I love it when things go smoothly! This was Heidi’s first litter, and other than the unexpectedly early delivery, couldn’t have asked for a better whelping.

Five very cute, distinctive pups that are all doing great. Three boys, two girls -1 b/w girl, one black tri girl, 2 black tri boys and one unexpected red tri that was born last after I arrived. Now, I’m not a red fan (I like pigment!), and it’s probably because I got to see him being born, but he’s my favorite (Hawk). He has kind of self contained intensity that I like about him. The first born boy (Eagle) is the big bruiser at the moment and seems to be fairly hardcore for now, and the middle boy (Falcon) is the pretty one with nice symmetrical markings and some pretty tri cheeks. The girls seem to be pretty opposite, with one big white girl (Kestril) being the biggest whiner/complainer and the little dark one (Kite) being much quieter and sweeter. Now, as for who they will actually turn out to be, we shall see.

I do feel like these puppies are quite the sensitive little buggers, if you do pick them up or they get jostled a bit as Dove gets in the whelping box they are hollering their heads off. Dove and Navarre are damn whiny dogs, so maybe it’s just whiny genetics. I don’t recall Bright’s puppies being nearly so opinionated about the least little thing, but maybe I just don’t remember. Will be really fun to watch them grow and develop, and the theory is at least two are staying local and I’ll get to see them – that will be really fun. And Navarre will be SO EXCITED when he finally gets to meet them down the road, he does love his puppies – and since they’re DOVE puppies, I assume they’ll be doubly special.

Bright especially was just making shit up in agility this week, she was definitely in a mood. And not so much with the hard stuff, but the more straightforward exercises she was just doing anything and everything she could think of. Our first agility trial in quite some time is next weekend and I entered all sorts of things, just because. It’d be nice if Bright could at least pretend to be doing the same courses as me … Navarre was also a being kind of goofy, but not to the extent as Bright. And probably because it’s cute when Bright does it, while I have higher standards for Navarre. Poor Navarre, always being held to a higher standard.

No herding this week, well, at least for me and Navarre. Which is fine as it’s just been dumping rain, not been a great April for weather. Haku went up to a herding trial with Carol though, which I had in my head was NEXT weekend, so it’s good that someone knows what’s going on. This was Carol and Haku’s third trip together, so they’re figuring out some good routines and hardly any travel drama at all this time.

Interestingly enough, Carol said Haku was pushier and faster than he had ever been before, which surprised me as he had been SO careful since we came back after his rehab with me. But I think that’s the thing, I’ve been very careful with HIM, not wanting him to hurt himself that I think he could feel that with my handling. And then when he finally got to run with Carol he got to let loose and stop holding back. At least, that’s my theory.

Still, they did lots of nice things together! Finished his Started B title and got his first two Advanced A legs as well. Also his first NQ, where when he moved up to Intermediate B the next day after finishing his title when he went out on his outrun he was sure the sheep would be where they were the day previous, but, obviously not. When he finally DID fine them, things went well. And it sounded like while he was pushy and fast, he was still trying really hard and they did some nice stuff – and he obviously had a wonderful time. Apparently if Haku had his advanced title he could have started getting championship points this weekend, but he’ll have to wait until his next trial to finish that title. And then we’ll see how much Carol wants to take him, but I think they obviously COULD got his herding championship if Carol wanted to spend that much time with a border collie. We shall see, their next trial together is in May.

The good news, Haku held up pretty well physically over the weekend, which was the big test. He practiced Thursday and ran twice on Friday and Saturday and is sound since he returned. So, knock on wood, we will continue to cautiously return to herding. Oh, and learning to shed, which he definitely could not up with Carol. And I still want to look into doing more USBCHA with him as well, assuming he can handle it. Cautiously optimistic at this point. Biggest at the goal at the moment is to build his strength back up though, so back to working our fitness exercises and starting to let him run more with the other dogs again.

Falcon

Hawk

Eagle

Navarre got to work on group stays this week, which is not the most exciting part of obedience, that’s for sure. And, yep, same issue with sitting pretty. The good news, we got to work it several times over the week and we worked on it at home and I think we actually made progress. Only a couple weeks to his first obedience trial – I’m suddenly not feeling at all prepared. We should have been practicing, I don’t think we’ll be doing the best we can. But, hey, sometimes you just have to be shoved off the cliff or you’ll never do it. I still think he can do it, assuming he doesn’t sit pretty on the stays. He could totally prove me wrong though. Considering just going ahead and entering an obedience trial that is in conjunction with an agility trial in May as well, but that could be hectic trying to do both at once …

Kestril (with an ‘i’)

Kite

Busy week, busy weekend – looking forward to things settling down and getting back into our routines again. We do have herding this week, and FINALLY getting back to hiking and agility again. Can’t believe April is half over already!