11/22/11

So the ultrasound showed possibly two puppies and I had mixed emotions; I was sad there were only two but than two would be easy to take care of; with two there were no choices. But Echo was sure getting big for only having two so last Friday I did an x-ray to see the size of the two puppies. You can imagine my surprise when this picture came up on the screen!!

I count more than 2 or 3 or 4!!!!! So how many to you see? The vet says 5, I think 6, and people have said 7. We will know soon!!!!!

Monday night I was able to complete my "Puppies Are Coming Checklist":

Quit eating - check

Start nesting - check

Start panting - check

Temperature drops - check

The fun started Tuesday afternoon,11/22/11, and friends, Barbara and Carol, were called and arrived quickly!!

7:40pm puppy number 1 arrived.

A Tri 9oz girl.

She came out backward and was huge; being first and having a wide blaze on her face she was called "Blaze"

8:05pm puppy number 2 arrivied.

A Blue Merle 8.4oz girl.

She also came out backwards and ended up being the only blue and non-Tri.

8:11pm puppy number 3 arrived.

A Tri 6.15oz girl.

She was the 1st to come out the right direction and ended up being the smallest puppy.

She has a dark face.

8:44 puppy number 4 arrived.

A Tri 7.9oz boy.

This one also came out the right direction and is the only boy.

9:24pm puppy number 5 arrives.

A Tri 8oz girl.

This one came out upside down and ended up being the last puppy.

As they were arriving we were putting them in a box.

I thought it would work but you have to be careful when you breeding working dogs;

they want to start working right away.

Very active puppies!!!!!

Welcome the latest Northligtht Shelties!

4 girls and 1 boy; 4 Tris and 1 Blue.

Echo is ready for them to be put in the whelping box

so she can take care of them.

Echo is a great mom!

And

the puppies are doing great!

THANK YOU Carol and Barbara!!  I could not have done it without you and you two were amazing!!

The fun is just beginning!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!  I have so much to be thankful for!!

1st of Many NADAC Fun-raisers in Canby

THANK YOU! THANK YOU!! And WOW! WOW!! is all I can think about saying about NADAC agility at Sunnybrook Farms the first weekend in November!

Thank you Arlene and NADAC for providing the Fun-raisers in Canby. Thank you NADAC for finding such an incredible location; plenty of crating room,

excellent surface, large well-lit arena, and lots of places to potty dogs and let them run. There were great courses, great runs, great times spent with friends, great food, and great weather!

NADAC Champs is coming to the west in 2012; an exact location has not been announced yet but all of the locations posted are a day’s drive. After talking with Jordana she wants to run PITA at Champs this year but with no NADAC in the Bend area and her working weekends she has asked me to get PITA qualified. So PITA has come back to live in the valley and play agility with me.

Kant and PITA were entered in 4 classes each day; both Regulars, Jumpers, and Chances.

Kant Q’d in 3 of the 4 Regulars, 1 Jumpers,

and 1 Chances.

I love running her; it is so comfortable and fun!!

After finding out there was a bonus line on Weavers I did day-of-entry for Kant; we crashed and burned but there were some great parts of that run. Bonus lines are addicting.

PITA has not run much agility in 2011. In July she practiced once before the WAG Trial and then ran with Jordana great at the trial. Since she has been back with me we have practiced 3 times before this weekend.

I was very proud of PITA this weekend!! We did not qualify on Saturday but had great parts in all our runs and we both learned a lot.

On Sunday she was much better and we got a Regular Q to finish her Open Title

and a Novice Chances Q with a run that I would have loved even if we had not Q’d!

I am looking forward to continuing to grow with PITA

and running more agility together!!

Thank you Joe Camp for all the great agility pictures that helps capture such a wonderful weekend!

Echo did not get to play since she is less than 3 weeks from having puppies. Her belly is getting so big!!

I am so looking forward to the next Fun-raiser this weekend!! And the one New Year’s weekend and having Marj back in Oregon for all the fun!! NADAC in 2012 is going to ROCK in Canby!!

Life is a Beach

My furlough days have started again with one last Monday after judging at the WAG Trial. Jordana decided to come over and visit with their 3 dogs. The forecast was for a nice day at the coast so we made plans to go play. We loaded up all 6 dogs and off we went. The forecast held true and we had the best day!!

We started out at Gino’s Fish Shop in Newport for lunch where I had great fish and chips and Jordana had a Pulled-Tuna Sandwich; it sounded funny but was very good!!

And then it was time to play on the beach

and play we did.

And play.

And play.

And play.

Hershey even had a great time;

I kept looking back for him and he was right there with us.

Kant always loves going to the beach and gets to go pretty often.

Echo also has a blast chasing the seagulls but sometimes she does not pay attention to where she is going and gets too far out in the ocean for my comfort.

PITA just loves to run and greet people!!

Oakley seemed to have a good time running with everyone but she never let Jordana too far out of her sight.

Odin loved chasing the waves but I worried about his short legs running fast enough to get away from the incoming waves.

Thank you Jordana for coming over and making it such a great day!!

Echo is expecting!!

It is official, after the ultrasound done last week it looks like there are two puppies!! I am so excited I can hardly stand it! We are going to do an x-ray around day 50 to get a better look at how many skulls and spines there are. I was hoping for more but two is better than none!! They should be here around Thanksgiving!!

I have gained a whole new respect for breeders and for my vet. I did not realize how OCD I was until I bred Echo. Echo has always been a finicky eater and I use her for my treat tester, if she likes them everyone will like it; yes she is a sheltie. So I was worried about her eating enough to support the puppies. Echo ate incredibly well for exactly one week and then went back to her old ways so I started scrambling an egg to mix with her breakfast and cooking hamburger to mix with her dinner. Echo seemed to really enjoy that and got very good and picking out the good stuff and spitting out all the kibble, even softened kibble, soften with low sodium chicken broth not just water. So after rolling her eyes several times my vet said 3 things: quit reading the internet but all that information is right at my fingertips; quit cooking for Echo she needs something more balanced then all that protein but she likes it; and quit worrying dogs have been doing this for years but not MY DOG. Of course I am listening to my vet and doing everything she said to do which is very easy since she told me to do nothing and I am struggling with that! My friends are checking in with me to make sure I am okay since they have not seen me for a while; I don’t want them to see how crazy have an expecting dog has made me. And we still have almost four weeks:-)

This weekend I really noticed Echo is finally getting a puffy belly. She is very tired and has gone back to licking her bowl clean. She is also very clingy; I love this little dog so much. And she is so cute!!