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Moving right along...
The puppy pack went to Bozeman today to be microchipped and have their eyes checked by Dr Roberts, the ACVO eye specialist from CO who comes to Montana several times a year. All were perfect. I had Zeeza, Spanky and Haley re-CERF'd as well.
Been really busy, but I'll try to update the photo album one last time over the weekend. I'm way behind on the updates!
PS: The puppies can all sit quietly for their treats now, too. Such good little angels!
Day 1: Iceman got first place (98pts) and Toby got third place (92pts) in Rally with 11 dogs in our class. Back at it again tomorrow.
Day 2: More of the same. First for Ice, (99pts) third for Toby (93pts) out of 13 dogs.
Day 3: Yay! Both boys earn their RN degrees with third and fourth place honors. Toby got a 96 in Rally today and that is just amazing. He rocked that course. Then, I finally broke my fumble with the leash curse and Iceman won second place in Obedience with a score of 196. It was a good day for Team Hellfire! Also, ran into a show springer lady and she asked me, quite tentatively, if Ice was a springer. <rolls eyes>
Back again we go tomorrow... tired, but having a LOT of fun at the Helena dog show.
Day 4: Hey, we won money today! Toby got a whopping 99 point score in Rally, beat out Iceman by 3 points, and earned the blue ribbon, PLUS $25! Then Ice won the Obedience and Toby got a third. Team Hellfire did very well today. What an exhausting, but fun experience, and, of course, great public relations for field springers. :D
You can now refer to Toby as FC AFC CFC Abitts Highlander Lord MH RN BN ...and we are just getting started. :)
Spanky, back in action. She got back into shape fast and has been training!
Spanky with Hitch and Chica.
And we can ride in crates and swim now! Next week we get our shots and officially start crate and potty training.
Toby, Ice and I head to the Helena dog show and have Rally and Obedience trials the next four days...I think we are ready, but wish us luck anyway!
Yay Burnie! New title ribbon and medal!
Two for two! Thanks to the amazing Dr Hess and her surgical AI expertise, Zeeza puppies are on the way. Another small litter, though. Don't want to lose any in the birth canal and will definitely be opting for an elective c-section, so it looks like they will be born between the 15-17th of October.
There must be a wabbit in here somewhere...
It rained today bringing a welcome end to Indian Summer. Most importantly it has softened the weed awns making it safe to train and run the dogs through the fields again.
I love you Fall.
So what is the puppy pawsee up to this week? They are completely weaned and eating dry Pro Plan Active Performance (for all life stages) and going outside to potty as much as possible. This is the first litter I've fed Pro Plan to, but they seem to be doing really well on it, held their weight nicely during the transition period, poopies are nice and firm, so we'll just roll with it. I am feeding them three times a day and taking away their food at night. They are going for daily walks in the field and have started to be my little helpers around the bird barn. Was hilarious to see how huge their eyes got when they saw their first live pigeon! It's really hard to take videos of them now as they are, umm, everywhere, and nowhere are they together for longer than a second.
As a reminder to those who have the nerve to gripe about my high puppy prices, all of my Toby litters from 2011 forward are from a small supply of irreplaceable frozen semen requiring sugical AI breedings making each puppy we can produce from here on out very special. To sweeten the bitterblow of going to such extremes and expense, or maybe it's to drown out my sorrows of aforementioned trauma, Toby and I are on a mission to finish his ESSFTA Versatile Springer requirements next year and should be earning obedience, rally, tracking and agility titles. This is an award that is usually dominated by show dogs, but we're giving it our all with the hopes of joining the ranks of the very few field springers (including FC AFC CFC Hellfire's Fast Track MH MX AXJ CD - a dog we bred in 2002) to have ever earned it.
Our dogs aren't just being described as *outstanding* for some cheesy selling point. They have the results to back it up. Plus, because of the sound temperaments, they are good at everything... not just hunting, which only lasts 2-3 months a year.
I'm getting REALLY busy as we get ready for the upcoming obedience and rally trials in Helena next week (along with squeezing in tracking and agility classes) so posts and pictures will be erratic, at best. I hope to be back on course with the puppy updates and start crate training when that's all over. I can honestly say that training for the obedience stuff is about 150X harder than it looks, and about 100X harder than the field and hunting stuff. Gah. I've learned at least 100 new ways to positively train and shape my dogs though. Even gun dogs.
Zeeza has an ultrasound appointment on Monday. I am not optimistic about the outcome, but check back then to get the final results. Ruby will have an ultrasound in a couple more weeks.
Hot dog!
Look at Hitch! I only caught the last part of his field rampage on the video (had my camera on the picture setting and was clearly stupified as I stood there watching him burn it up), but that SIX WEEK old boy is a born widowmaker. What a terror!
Momma loves him. :) The other streaker is Baby Chica tagging along with her dad.
Ears flying. You can almost imagine what he'll be like as an adult!