6/6/12

Temp this AM, 99.4.  Nesting ensues.  More to come, I hope.  She's tired of waiting, and so is everyone else!!!

c

6/6/12

As Kathleen and Margaret point out, today would be a nice date which puppies could call their birthdate.  Nice symmetry, of sorts.  I love numbers.  Once thought I would be a mathematician.
Temp this AM was 99.4.  Touille has started nesting in earnest.  I feel no contractions yet.  On her.
We, Pip and I, are supposed to go to Nose Work class this evening, but it may not happen.  The teachers said we could make it up though.  I even remembered the boiled jars, boiled so they would have NO scent in them.  ORT test soon that we should be able to pass!  Exciting fun for the kids, if any of you have a chance to take yours through a class and start playing that game.  Pip loves it.  So do the others at home. 

Touille in her nest/den, rearranging the blankets at a high rate of speed.  Making her pant.  Is this exertion or labor?  We'll see.

Later,
Curmudgeon Time

Any day now!

Just a quickie:  Touille is big and ready to pop!!!  She isn't quite as uncomfortable as she looks in these pictures.  She actually jumped out of the car today on her own.  I just hope she didn't knock anyone off the uterus early!
She is not eating today, not even Natural Balance cut into nuggets nor Yummy Chummy, salmon treats, old standbys that she usually eats with gusto when she will eat nothing else.  Wouldn't even eat canned food yesterday.

Her temp last night was 100.4.  Will take it again soon today.
The middle picture was taken June 3rd and the other two were taken this AM.  For anyone getting a puppy, here are the only in utero pictures!!!  Just thought you might want before and after pictures.
Sweet dreams from the old Curmudgeon!

D-Day tomorrow

D-Day?  Little Darby (or Darby-Do-Head, as she often is called by the Curmudgeon) gets to go to her forever home tomorrow.  She will live in Ballard and her friend will be a blue boy I bred a few years ago.  He lives with Jody's mother, but they will undoubtedly get to play.  Darby is the sweetest thing one can imagine.  PRETTY face.  I don't know what Jody will call her.  Maybe Darby!!

Sorry about the orientation.  Hopefully you can kind of get an idea of how talented these guys are.  Very good balance.  They know where their front and their back feet are!!!

Look at Danny Boy, standing up on two feet balancing on a moving platform!!!  He is something else!!!!!  They all are, really.  Darby is the front girl sitting down, "Mab" in back.

Danny, hoping for a handout!  Do you think he likes to eat?!!!  He'll be EASY to train.  They all will.  They are smart and they all like to get treats.

These were taken at Terrie Demierre's farm, outside of the barn.  Had to show off the babies.  May 14th.

Darby going over "Mab's" back!

All the puppies are show quality, but one for sure, Mab, is going to a show home.  Boyle, who is also going to Colorado, may well become a show dog as Abby, "Mab's" new owner, wants to show him and Aj is up for it, so there may be two show dogs in Colorado that fly there on Sat.  Abby is distracted this week from her end of the year studies because she is so excited.  She is going to call her girl Darby too, and register her as Elwha's Neala Queen of the Fairies.  That Darby is also lovely and will finish her championship post haste, for sure!
The side yard now has the two gazebos up and functioning.  I feel much more secure now with the kids out in that yard.  The raptors could still see them, but hopefully won't feel like they have enough room to get in and out.  I can sit under them in the shade too.  Important to my dermatologist!!!!!  The big dogs are with them also.  Raptors will run a risk if they come down into a den of Border Terriers!!!!  Anyway, I'm feeling more secure, and of course, have a lighter wallet!!!
Life will be a bit boring for a bit, but maybe I can get something done when the pups go to their homes on Friday and Sat.  Danny goes to be the light of peoples' lives in Carnation.  Lucky boy.  Lucky Carnation.  He may even learn to be a politician!!!  HA!
I'll try to get a few more farewell pictures up.
Curmudgeonville

Eight weeks old today! Where does the time go?!!!

They've been outside twice today so far, which for a work day is pretty good.  We'll go out more when we get home after work.
Kathleen and Kate are coming over today and Ian tomorrow.  Kate will maul them a lot and get them playing with a kid, if you can call a thirteen year old a kid!  She is much more a kid than I, so it counts a bit!
They love being outside.  They run and run and run and run some more, then they run through a tunnel, then up a ramp, then into the hole under the tree, then through the tunnel again, etc.  They have had no close raptor calls for a bit.  Thank heavens.  The gazebos have arrived and Karl is coming out sometime soon to put them up.  Can't wait for the relief from total worry. 

Kat and two of her kids exploring.

Mab, pensive

5-10-12  After playing hard outside at the office.

Danny Boy wondering if he can climb all the way up!

Boyle getting ready to dive onto someone.

Kat and three kids,  Cute.

They LOVE the under-the-tree hole.

Danny tugging with Mab

The under-the-tree-hole/tunnel.  Perfect for Border Terrorists.

Mr. Boyle being cute and ready to jump.

Darby going exploring.  They are all athletic.

Rascal-y play

We will be at work tomorrow.  May is "melanoma month" so we are putting on a free skin cancer screening tomorrow.  Poor babies don't get to play outside all day tomorrow as we would wish.
All the pictures were taken today except for the puppy pile dated picture.
Signing off for the weekend,
The Curmudgeon

Sunny day

I tried the babies in the outside run at work this AM.  SURPRISE!!!  I locked them in with their mother and turned to go inside and guess what!!!  There was one little rascal at my feet!  Darn and dad gum!!!  They aren't big enough yet.  I watched them almost get their heads caught in the gaps.  So, they are in with me today again.

They had fun at Betty and Skip's.  They came home bigger and rascal-ier than ever!!!  After I got home and had dragged in my gear from the handling seminar weekend, I took them outside in the side yard and we had a gay old time.  George and Jean came over to see their grandkids and helped me watch for eagles.  ( Beau, AKA Daddy, belongs to George and Jean.)  G & J are excellent bait handlers and helped the pups know how good they are for climbing onto things and for finding things, going through the tunnels, etc.  That hour wore the pups out and they slept well after that.  I was frozen and had to drink plenty of tea after standing in the wind.  I made everyone come in when the sun went down!  Wuss that I have become.  The pups didn't seem to mind it this time.  They are growing up!!!

They are becoming prettier in the face, if such a thing is possible!!!  Danny Boy is very masculine, not that Boyle isn't, he just isn't the buffed up type Danny Boy is.  Boyle has puppy fur that is kind of fluffy, but has a nice, hard coat coming in under that.  It feels good.  I guess that I think that the faces look like Kat except for Danny Boy.  He looks like his daddy, Beau.  They do have nice heads.

Jean was commenting on their color last evening.  Since George and Jean only have blues, they aren't as familiar with the nuances of the grizzle coats.  These guys have white eyebrows at the moment.  Funny how these little, predictable things happen and almost as if overnight.  It isn't really, but feels like it.

Anyway, they are now only in a crate in the car, no longer in a bag.  Those bags get HEAVY when the babes get big!  When I took them out of the dog run this AM I just whistled them into the office and they kept at my feet.  They are awfully good, and so happy and sweet. 

Pictures coming.

Handling seminar was great.  Now I have sore muscles!  Back didn't like the bed at the motel.  I'll take a while to straighten out!!!  I CAN hold two puppies at a time.  They do still fall asleep in my arms, so I guess that we are OK with each other.

Zinger and Ono did well at the handling seminar.  Practice, practice, practice!!!!  We'll have fun when we get in the swing of things.  Right now there are a ton of boxes out on the porch for the big dogs learning nose work/sniffing.  They ALL love that, and the pups only think it is for making them look for good smelly treats that I hide theirs!!!  Just wait.  They will be tracking fools!!!!

So much for what I know.  What do you know?

c

Rain, rain, give us a break!

Rainy as heck today.  Puppies probably won't go out.  They can't control their internal temperature as well as adults can and I don't want them chilled as much as this deluge would do.  Of course the weather report this AM said that we would have sun breaks today.  None so far by 4:00 PM!

The babies are excited to think about visiting Bonnie, Betty and Skip this weekend.  Betty is doing lots of planning to protect her floors!!!

If you can believe it, they are getting even lovier than before.  When I sit down on the kitchen floor with them, they all pile in my lap post haste and crawl up onto my chest to snuggle as close to my neck as possible.  They are snuggle bugs personified!

Crazy busy.  Sorry for no pictures.  Maybe Monday.  Fingers crossed.

They are getting soooooo good at the sniffing/nose work game it is unbelievable.  They are fast and have caught on quite well.  Amazing how fast they learn at such a young age. 

Handling class in Victoria this weekend.  Hopefully I can keep from tearing my knee cartilage like I did the last time I took this class!  I will have a brace on each knee this weekend.  I have done physical therapy and am ready, but you want to hear about puppies, not me! 

They go crazy in the yard.  We went out for about 45 minutes yesterday and I held the 40" pooper scoopers in my hands and swung my arms the entire time to protect them from hawks and eagles.  I saw none and looked up a lot of the time.  The puppies stayed safe and my arms got a great workout!

They ran and jumped and hid in the grass and tunneled under the cherry tree root like the big dogs do.  It was heartwarming.  I was very excited to see them tunnel as well as they did.  Natural earthdogs.  They climb up the slanted runs and go through the pipes I have out there.  The yard looks like a mess, but it is a studied mess, made for their enjoyment and education. 

As soon as the deluge stops, this is an ideal time of year for puppies.

I'll let you know how much they grow over the weekend when I can't see them.  I'm sure that I will be blown over.  It IS truly amazing how fast they grow at this age.

There are some awfully pretty puppies in this litter.  Fun to show!!!
Later,
The Crumudgeon