Wow, hard day for me today. Got a full nights' sleep for once, and the puppies were raring to go when I went to them. It's fun opening the pen and them shooting out for the backyard, gunning for Fury boobies (no, they are not totally weaned yet, but again, I'll do what's natural here). I left them out in the pen despite a really hard rain last night and . . .
an hour later they were back in, the little wet putzes.
What's with all the Yiddish? Well I got as a joke for Yishai ("oh THAT's why the funny name, you are probably saying to yourself): How to Raise a Jewish Dog, and for a couple bucks more it came with Yiddish For Dogs. I am highly amused. I had no idea half the stuff I grew up saying was Yiddish: nudnick? Dreck? Feh? Probably comes from being raised by New Yorkers (not the city, but same same).
So, folks who checked the webcam got a special treat in that they got to watch puppies alternately battling it out and sleeping like the dead, as puppies are wont to do.
Couple interesting things today - I firmed up two puppies' homes: Firma and Daca.
Dax is being renamed Curry - Spicy Red Curry of Tara - and will be going to New Jersey to be mostly an agility dog but I am assured she'll get some regular stock lessons. I think she'll be fabulous and I cannot wait to see what her home will do with her - but I will cry most hard of all to see her go . . . she reminds me a ton of Fury at that age (all the lovey, impulsive fun) and so I think she's probably my favorite of the whole litter for that reason.
Firna will be going back to Iowa to be an agility and stockdog. I thought Firma had a lot of go-juice that needed some direction, so her home is intimately familiar with the line that I am working with, so she should be nothing but pure potential in that home, and I'm thrilled for it.
I have also been working at shoring up homes for everyone else. I was really excited about the quality of homes that said they were "strongly interested" - well-reknowned stockdog breeders - but it seems to have fallen through, which means that Moto, Reid, and Fie are still looking for homes. This is pretty tough for me to deal with - I was thrilled at where I thought they'd be going, but now that everyone's opted out, I'm back to the original fear I had when breeding (which is also why I only wanted four puppies): not finding perfect homes for everyone. Not that I'll be "stuck with" any unwanted puppies - I have non-stock/performance homes begging me for a puppy but I bred these dogs for a reason and I also know that while they're cute and cuddly now, in the wrong hands, they could not grow up to be the best pet dogs. That said, all three puppies are the easy keepers - I wanted to make sure my more high-octane dogs had homes that could manage them and bring out their best. I am still pretty bent on Fie getting a stockdog home, but Moto and Reid could easily be someone's happy pet, too. Silly boys. We'll see.
That's one thing about just being an occasional/hobby breeder - you don't get a reputation or a home list. I'm starting kind of from nothing. I am not sure how to reach the cattle folks around here who might be wanting a dog - putting the flyer up at the feedstore was no good. Maybe if I do it again with older puppy photos it will yield something: of course, who's to say a stockdog home can make the potential come out of these puppies if they lack experience? Ahhhh yes. Had nice talks with Terry Martin and Fury's breeder Tracey McPherson about this. My friend was over today to see puppies asked if he thinks I'll breed Fury again and I seriously doubt it. I think to really have an impact on the breed, I need to really breed all the time and get my puppies out there. That's just not something I'm interested in working at. This was a great experience, and "Tara" is a permanent kennel name, so there's a good chance Ms. Rippa will get bred in the future if she turns out, and again, never say never? I'd wait at least two years to see how everyone grows, but by then, mama will be 9 and I'd say that's pushing it - Fury's pregnancy was not easy on her.
Rippa (formerly OP) is getting more vocal and active - Yishai asked today, "What if she ends up being a handful?" and I told him it's a good thing he has me around. :P She'll be getting regular agility lessons when she's older, days of backpacking, hiking, mountain biking, and I'll start her on livestock while Yishai learns on Fury. I am quite sure she's in capable hands (mine and his).
Anyway, so my vaccines came in the mail from Valley Vet Supply just as Yishai had dropped by for a second time today so I asked him if he wanted to go ahead and do it. He likes needles and medical-type things, but he was worried about doing it to his own puppy. I reminded him that I have been pinching them in the injection spot pretty regularly to get them used to it, so they'll be fine.
Playing on the vaccination box.
And yes, they were fine - except a few puppies crieeeeeeeeeeeeed - namely Reid and Curry. Neither I'd have expected, except poor Curry has had a tough day - the first time Yishai was over, she got all wriggly and escaped his grasp and fell to the floor, doing laps around the couch and crying with Yishai and Fury in pursuit to make her feel better.
Right after this, he said, "Don't take her picture, she's sad right now." Oh man, swoon. I heart them both.
The poor guy was beside himself. Everybody was fine, but let's just say she got a little spoiling/coddling tonight for bring such a brave girl.
So, yup, everyone is now vaccinated for distemper, adenovirus type 2, parainfluenza, parvo, and lepto. They should be good to travel. I also wormed them, but just like some said on the blog, they don't appear to have worms . . . but maybe now's a good time to admit that us taking Fury out on adventures might have resulted in a bit of a flea issue (that seems to have resolved after washing). I bought some flea meds for when they are 7 weeks (it's not recommended before that age, and I didn't do Fury since they are nursing and rubbing up all over her) just to be sure, but as we have all seen, they're thriving so a flea here or there is not really an issue. No one is being sucked to death and i haven't actually seen a flea in a while.
Puppies, suck your last, you will soon be weaaaaaaaaaaaaned.
That's that. Sorry the blog is so late. Busy, if productive, work day.
the pills to keep the fleas off is like the only thing that works. At least in my case.
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