Secrets Secrets

Been busy with work and enjoying the four kiddos. I can't believe they're 4 months old. Thought I'd share photos of them, some newer some older. Hopefully weather's nice enough that I'll be able to get more.

There were four pups, two boys, two girls. The white & red boy Mielikki HiNote Secret Traveler has moved to VA with Nacht and the Erdmans. He's keeping them busy! Sounds like he has an obedience career ahead of him as well as whatever else he wants to do!

HiNote Mielikki Secret Intrigue AKA Blondie, just off a few weeks crate rest
from an injury.  Waiting on the perfect home!

Blondie playing with their "Tante" Pickle Hill's Cashmere.
 Cashmere LOVES puppies, doesn't matter who they belong to!

Blondie being silly, sorry, can't flip it LOL

And somewhere racing around the yard being stupid that day, she managed to rip a toenail out.
She's lucky she's cute LOL

My two keepers. Mielikki HiNote Secret Agent Man AKA Duckie, my tankie red brindle,
And his sister Mielikki HiNote Can't Keep A Secret AKA Scarlet, co owned with Margaret

LOVE his little brindle face

Starting to teeth, but loving what I see here!

Scarlet, the wiggle worm, just shy of 4 months!

So very very happy with these babies!

Gibbs has a new assignment

Sometimes, as a breeder or even as a dog owner, you have to make decisions you'd rather not make

I hadn't planned on keeping three pups out of the NCIS litter, but fell in love with Gibbs' personality. When the right home didn't surface, I had no problem keeping him. . .he's so much like his father: full of life, full speed ahead, so happy, bounce, silly!.

It's that full of life, full speed ahead that led to Grins hurting himself three weeks ago. . he wasn't paying attention, running around like an idiot, hit something, and is lucky he didn't cripple himself or worse kill himself. He will be 10 in September, but nobody who has met him recently believes it. He doesn't act it at all, the same old bouncy, trouncy, take off like a bat out of hell Grins he was 9 yrs ago when I  picked him up. He has adamantly refused to turn in his Hell's Angels card for his AARP card. Bouncing around the backyard, tearing after his kids, fence fighting with the best of them, and finding him injured really scared me to death.

Gibbs is just as bad. . .and I've worried that he would hit a tree or another dog, as he runs around the yard, looking over his shoulders as his friends chased him, but finding Grins' hurt brought that worry to a boil. . .

Last month, Titania's owner came out to practice Grins' cousin Luthian at racing. She helped us out with boxing and catching the Borzoi. A few days after she helped, I get a note from her "I am starting to think about my next borzoi (I usually get the itch about every 6-7 years). ... keep me in mind for Gibbs if you decide he needs a spoiled rotten pet home."

An answer from heaven. . .after talking back and forth, as I thought maybe Nacht would be the better option(she adores Nacht too), she told me she really wanted a male, and so came out two weeks ago and spent some time with Dork Jr. . .and the next day, I get a note from her that said "Having spent some quality time yesterday, I have to tell you, I am hopelessly in love with your dog. Thank you from the bottom of my heart."

an answer from heaven indeed.

He'll get to hit the coursing field between the two of us, she is tickled pink with how intelligent he is, is looking forward to trying obedience and rally with him, and yes, even the show ring!

I'll miss my idiot boy Jr, but I won't have to worry about him every day. His main job will be making his mama happy and trying to get Luthian to play.

I've always said the perfect home always comes around, it just may be awhile. . it was not an easy decision to make, but it was either this, or keep him in a smaller yard where he couldn't get up to speed, just to keep him from running around at warp nine. .I think he'll be much happier this way.

Good sailing, Gibbs

GVFRRC

Dragged my sorry butt out of bed at a way too early hour saturday, loaded up the car and headed up to NJ for coursing. . .in the last 10 yrs, the number of AKC trials in the area have dried up, with most of them being 3+ hrs a way. Hoping PVBC will become AKC approved in the next year and that we can find a field to hold AKC events at, as it gets expensive going to NJ, especially with price of gas, but the hotels are expensive also.

Got there, only to realise something: all my blankets were in the dryer. . .something I had thought of as I was packing the car, but it had slipped my mind. . they were all clean, but they were all 3 hrs away LOL. Thank heavens for two very sweet Borzoi people: Charles Greene & Karin Johnson who lent me blankets for Jenny. Another friend offered, but I could've fit Jenny & Bounce in the IW blanket they gave me LOL

Unlike recent AKC events, we had a nice solid major in Open with Ralph & Ariel's Jag and a friend of their's showed up with two more. Usually a dog had to go BOB to get a major, so it was really nice to see that many opens.

The day was gorgeous, clear sky, nice breeze. A little warm for Borzoi, but with the running water on the field, was able to hose Jenny off after her runs. The runs were gorgeous, especially been Karin's Jolie & Jenny.I haven't seen Jolie run before, but she is gorgeous standing or at a gallop. Very sweet girl too. The judging could've gone either way, but my little girl impressed the judge just a tad bit more to eek out the win. In fact, the judge came over to ask who she was, saying that when she came tearing down the field she just KNEW she had to be Bonnie's breeding. I corrected her that she was my breeding, but 3/4 Bonnie's bloodlines, and she nodded after being told the pedigree, saying she definitely ran like her pedigree said she should. She had an equally amazing BOB run, and ended up finishing her FC in four trails with four majors & Four BOBS. With the entries we've had around here, that's an amazing accomplishment

The BIF run unfortunatly was a fubar, when a SD was walked up to the line with us and was told by the owner that the dog 'better not do something stupid' . . .the dog interfered with Jenny :( Why people run dogs like that I have no clue.

Then it was time to QC the nutter, AKA Bounce. .I asked Charles' Junior handler for help, as I thought if she could handle Dillon, Bounce's bigger, keen as heck cousin(their grandfather's are the same: Mir), she could handle Bounce. . umm, she almost couldn't LOL Bounce lowers herself to the ground like a RR LOL My baby girl had an AMAZING QC run, not running like a puppy at all(she's 15.5 months) and the judge told me I was goign to have a lot of fun with her, just before she tried to rip my arm off to go after the bunny going thru the machine LOL I love my little nutter.

After hearing that there were only two borzoi entered for Sunday, I cancelled my hotel room to come home. Sunday was spent catching up on my sleep, then grooming, bathing dogs, and playing with Grins' youngest: Roo & Kanga (they're not mine, so not my names LOL). After almost 6 wks of 12 hrs day, sunday was a nice relaxing day LOL

Planning on puppies

So, in preparation to hopefully breed my darling princess Secret, I've been getting her health tests done. She Cerf' last fall, got her DM test in January, and two Mondays ago, I took her in and got her OFA Thyroid panel and heart eval.

I'm not sure when she's due in season, some people don't keep records like I do on things like that, just sometime this spring. So I took her in, hoping it was far enough ahead of her season, that we'd be ok. . .

Handed the vet the appropriate paperwork and got called in. . .he read over the OFA cardiac thoroughly, and then started the exam.

Now, I had her sister done by the specialist last year, and I swear it was over and done in a lickety split. Dr B took forever, to the point both Secret & I were fidgeting AND I started to worry he found something. Without saying anything, he took her in the backroom to draw blood, check her microchip, and brought her back, still not saying anything. . it wasn't until he handed me the paperwork and I looked down that i saw it was clear. . not as if I ended anymore gray hairs!!!

Last week, I got the results on the blood test, thyroid normal, wahoo!! :) Sent in the heart paperwork and now waiting on her Chic #. . need to get her mom's microchip checked and sent in, and then it'll be two generations of Chic'd dogs :)

Now it's a wait. . and rethinking stud dogs. .the top boy on my list is not keen on plastic, he interferes, not meanly I'm told, but still. . .Secret has prey drive, but her work ethic sucks LOL He is beautiful in every other way, the next boy I don't like the stud agreement given me, others I like would require chilled AI, and just don't have that type of money laying around right now.

Of the dgos locally, I LOVE Wizard, his built, his personality, his work ethic, his willingness to pelase, but he's not the dog for Secret. . .he's got the best front in that litter, the rest of his sibs are too straight for my tastes, and I'd like to fix her front(just a little more under), so nope, not him(tho I did get his dad to send me the DM swab and he's now been DNA'd for that and sent in!). . .oh well, may go the 1st choice I have. . and just hope the genes come together for running like they did with the Holiday litter.

The good and bad of puppy homes

I hate selling puppies to show homes.

This summer made me really hate it. This last litter seems to've brought the loons out of the woodwork, but the worse one was the last one.

She wanted me to guarantee the puppy would be showable. .I won't do that, I will state that the puppy at THAT POINT in time is show potential, and may remain that way IF the buyer will listen to me and give the puppy proper nutrition and excercise, both of which can ruin a puppy if done wrong, but I will not guarantee it. There are too many things that can happen. . .and boy can they go through some fugglies. . Gibbs went through it earlier this year and is coming back together, Bella is currently in the middle of some. . .people new to the breed don't understand that and flake out, or if they don't start winning first time in the ring, OMG, you sold me a dud. They have no patience for the puppy to grow up. . .This person has gone on to annoy a bunch of breeders. . glad I went with my gut and 'ran away!'

Yet, sometimes things happen, the lines connect just right, and you find a good one.

Day after I lost Gossip I got a call from Oregon. . .after dealing with the loons, it was so nice to get a nice, intelligent lady on the phone. I took pictures, I had Kari give her opinion, I gave her faults, and she was ok with eveyrthing. . she had fallen in love with Chrissy NKA Ava from her ad, and wanted her, and if she didn't turn out, that was fine, and whatever Ava wanted to do, Ava was goign to get a chance to do.

A home made in heaven.

This was the puppy I had such a problem getting shipped out last month. . but as soon as she got off the plane, she looked at Christine and said "I'm Home". .And Christine told me she was more than she had hoped for.

And every email or call I get from her mom is how much she loves her. . .

I don't think I'm going to regret this show home.

She went to her first show last week and was the only bitch, but the judge told her he was hard pressed not to give her the breed, but she was too young. . that's ok. . .she went in like she'd owned the place. And handled it with all sorts of finesse according to her mom, and then went on to a puppy Group IV, with that judge telling her that she would've been placed higher, but she was not as mature as they were. .that's ok, her mom is happy, and so am I :)

I'm looking forward to the show photo. . .this litter is much slower to mature than msot of the others I've had, is much more gawky at this age then the NCIS litter was. . .but the promise they've had will hopefully come to pass.

Now, sister Bella went to her first show away from Mom, and was a TWIT!!! She was always the perfect little lady for me, but she pushed every button poor Kari had and more LOL. She's came home to grow up, but will be taking roadtrips with Kari to get over the giant Snit she got into and learn to be the good little show dog.

Cousin Tony went to the greyhound track in Jacksonville for the first time. .. and ended up winning the last HP race. . considering he was running against Kyrie and Sammy who usually dominate the track down there, that's sayign something. He's learning to get his legs going in the right direction and once he stops fighting the box, he'll be good to go. THEY love him incredibly. . .he goes racing next month and then maybe see the coursing field this winter. :)

To round up the weekend, took three gals to get their eyes done. I'm happy to say Pickle Hill's Touchet at almost 12, Mielikki Prophet's Song GRC at almost 10, and Mielikki-Windhaven's Whispered Secret all (6)got clean bill of healths on their eyes. This gives Touchet the last test she needs for her CHIC, well she's had her eyes done before, but Bonnie misplaced the paperwork. . .

So other than Bella being a NITWIT, it was a nice weekend. . .got my 105 gallon tank setup, just need to get the sump acrylic redone, and I'll be setting that up :)

End of year, things are winding down. . thinking of starting Jenny or Ziva in OB this winter. .. maybe JOanie, my new co owned puppy with Bonnie. . .we'll see. . .next weekend is the last racing, then a weekend of coursing. . unfortunately Jenny hurt her shoulder so she's out for a few months. .. but Ziva will be out as will Nacht the end of month, so I can get her ready for her trip to Austria, her new mom is excited that she's so keen on the bunny

Wonderful homes

One of the great things about being a breeder, is witnessing the bond between puppy and owner.

Timmy left 1/24(Thank the gods it was that weekend, we've pretty much been snowed in every since!). I drove up to South of NYC and met Aysha so she could take her little man home after a month at Casa da Wedge. He gained ten pounds while he was with us, height and muscle and thorougly enjoyed the time he had with his sibs. . we got there early, so i got the kids out(I took Tony to show her the difference in muscle between the two boys) and was very pleased at how outgoing they both were. She got there an hour late, but when she finally showed up and Timmy saw her, he turned himself inside out, rubbing all over her as if he were a 60 lb cat, and the feeling was mutual. . this boy is very much loved and spoiled. Makes all the trials & tribulations very much worth it. She was soo happy to see him, and the feeling was truly mutual. . I just love to see that. .

Been talking to Secret's mom about leasing her, asked her how she'd feel if Secret was gone for over a year. . she told me Secret'd be ok, but I could not ask her to part with her Easy(AKA Derby) that was her heart dog, and there's no way she could be parted for him for any span of time. Makes your heart glow.

Motherhood & Puppies

When you prepare for a litter, one of the thigns you have to prepare for, is if the mother sucks at motherhood. . .

Thankfully, I've only had one who sucked. .and that was poor Sage. . .her puppies were born 5+ days early by csection because they were in distress. Two placentas had detached and the puppies were decaying, poisoning their littermates. Considering there were 12 puppies crammed into little Sage, it's no wonder. . we lost a total of 5, which I'm amazed at, considering her mothering instinct never kicked in, their heart rates were so low at birth. .the other 7 came to live with me and Storm took them on, nursing 14 puppies with glee. .

I never bred Sage again, worried that she truly was a bad mother, and worried about her two daughters, since bad mothering seems to be genetic from talking with other breeders. . .and thus when someone inquired about leasing Kani, I wanted to make sure she woudl be a good mother. No way did I want to send her across country and curse someone with the nightmare Pat went thru with Sage. .. thankfully, I had nothing to worry about.

Kani's been a great mom. . .the puppies are growing and flourishing quite well. . .little eyes opening. . .She's quite careful when she lays down with them. She's funny, she's ok with the three house dogs walking by, but anything else gets a bark. .which is really funny, cuz I've never heard her bark, she moans and talks but not barking LOL She's also grinning more, which has me in stitches. Now she can be leased, and I can spay her. . 5.5 month season suck. . .and after witnessing two pyometrias, not something I want to tempt. She's a sweet dog, love her built. . .and her puppies are gorgeous.

Wish there were more boys, but at least the one is big and strong. And turning gold. It's so strange to see such a light litter out of such two dark parents LOL. Definitely an interesting array of colours. . I love the little light brindle girl, she's got SPUNK. . which as anyone who knows me can tell you, I really like.

Gossip thinks they're interesting. .even going in and laying down with them when Mama was outside. . she is goign to be sucha great mama. .. she doesn't like it if i make one of them mad LOL. . silly goose.

Timmy has enjoyed his month home with his sibs, spending most of the day out racing around the big puppy yard. He's put on some muscle mass. First dog I've sold to an apartment home, and I can see the difference between him and his sibs. It is truly amazing. . his mama comes home this week, and I know she will be SOO happy to see him

And last note for the day. . I can't believe my beautiful GOlden girl, Touchet, is 11. . .turned it earlier this week. . she doesn't act it, was out flirting and foot stomping with the boys 1/3 her age LOL Do so hope Gossip gets that longetivity. It's one of the reasons I wanted Touchet :)

When one door closes, another opens

12/20 -Started like any other day. . we were snowed in, so I got up late, enjoying as much sleep in my warm bed as possible and went to feed dogs. I stopped and checked on my boy Umbra. . I'd been fighting with myself to let him go, he wasn't eating well, but he wasn't 'ready' yet. . he just hadn't told me he was ready, and that morning was no different. He looked up at me when I stopped, I gave him a kiss, pilled him, gave him some scritches, told him I loved him, and moved to tramp thru 2 ft of snow to feed the rest of the dogs. . .oh joy. . was cold, miserable and hurting after twisting my ankle in numerous holes Ms Tipperary, his cousin, had dug in the yard.

That afternoon, before we went to see Avatar, I checked on him, and found he had passed on. . .always a good boy, he had taken the decision out of my hands. . .almost exactly 9 yrs from the day he was conceived. .it hurt so damn bad. .. and still does.

My pick boy from my third litter, he was always special. . .it took some working with to get him to enjoy dog shows,=. . .but once he decided it was fun to make mom happy, he finished easily considering who we were showing against(big name kennels), in a total of 17 shows, from beginning to end. . . his first show at almost 2.5, he picked up WD under Jon Cole, think he also went BOW, over his Aunt Dei, who also took her first points that day. He took two more points that fall, and then was put up. Then, that winter, his silly ass mother Rinka broke her neck in my yard. .Gossip reminds me so much of her, such that I'm glad we don't live in the world of packed ice anymore. . full speed ahead, no thought of her own safety. . .and Umbra became even more special .

I swore to finish him that year, and came one point shy of it, picking up three majors, including a BOB over the year before's National WD and a top 10 special. .. we made the cut at that year's National, down to the last 7 dogs in BBE under Kent Delaney, making my day. . .I walked out crying, not cuz we didn't finish in the last 4, but because I was so proud of him that we'd made it that far. My first time ever in the BBE at the Nationals and it was a HUGE class.

The next Feb, almost exactly a year from his mother's death, we picked up that last point under Ron Spritzer. I had hopes of specialing him, but that was not to be. Shortly after he finished, Races got severely ill, and $1000+ later, I had to let him go when he DIC'd, few months later, Grins ran his back off, $2500+ later, I had a healthy dog, but no money in which to show Umbra, and when I finally had the money, things started going south fast with the idiot ex.

He wasn't everybody's cup of tea, but i got a lot of compliments on my handsome boy. I'd've liked a less extreme topline and more ribspring, but that's about all. He only sired one litter, and hopefully one of them will continue on in his legacy.

I miss his silly bark when he saw someone he liked, miss his annoying bark when the dogs on the other side of the fence were playing and he couldn't join. Miss his silly happy bounce/dance when I got home, miss his gentle kisses he only gave those he deemed worthy. Miss the way he would just stare at me wagging his tail. .

A week after he left, his cousin brought the next generation into this world. Cobred with Pat hardy of Mandolin Borzoi, Kani whelped a litter of amazing colours sired by a beautiful boy of BOnnie Dalzell's, linebred on one of my favorite dogs, Moscow, a russian import. Unlike her mother, she has been a wonderful mama. We look forward to this next generation, and hope that maybe Umbra will have come back in the sole boy in a litter of 6.

cat training

So, this is the first litter i've had that the cats didn't have access to the puppies from a young age. I took Pippens, the resident dog/cat down to see them, but he was out of his element and was not happy, so didn't do it again. But last week, when I went to pick up Umbra's Rimadyl, I took the "Tank" AKA Ziva to the vet's, as well as Gossip, to get weights. Gossip weighed in at 67 lbs, Ziva, at nto quite 9 months, was 63. She's not tall, she's got body to her, I love it. . .she's always been my israeli tank LOL

Anyway, while we were there, she took a nibble at the vet office kitty, not a lunge, but a nibble. I gave her a correction, and that nite, we started real
cat training.

Years ago, when I was doing Greyhound rescue, I came up with a way to cat train them . .. as well as cat test them . .it's up on my website(www.mielikkishunt.com/wwwcattraining.htm if I'm not mistaken), and that's the method we are using. She is currently in her harness, on leash, tied to the bed, as it's sturdy enough if she lunges, it's not moving, with a racing muzzle on. After an hour of standing, just watching hte kitties, not intently, but with a very very confused look on her face, she relaxed enough to lay down next to Gossip and her bed. Gossip has this look of absolute disgust on her face, how dare I bring this whipper snapper into her domain. . .Treasure doens't trust her, he hasn't come down from his perch, Pippens keeps going up and sniffing her, making her even more confused.

This is important training if she's ever to have bedrights, as the cats rule here. . .she was a bit overwhelmed, stress panting, but it's good for her. Reba's racing muzzle barely fits her, but it's working.

I love the fact my three boys aren't too bothered by her. They did hiss at her when she entered, but then, she's a strange dog, i'm glad they did. Hopefully she'll end up meeting the pointy end of one of the kitties and will decide it's not worth it.

It's times like this I miss my Schatzi. Eighteen pounds of German mongrel kitty, he was my self imposed puppy trainer. He would wait until he deemed them ready, ignoring them unless they got in his face, but when he deemed they were ready, he would walk right up to them and wack the crap out of them. He only had to do i ta few times before the dogs all respected him. I remember my 2nd Greyhound. . Athena wasn't the bravest of dogs, she really was a weenie, and one day when she was a yearling, I heard her whining and whining and couldn't figure out where she was. Walked into the hallway, she was stuck, there was a cat in each doorway, all but Schatzi weighing 1/6 of what she did, but she refused to move over them. I had to bodily pick one up, at which point she shot thru that doorway like her tail was on fire.

He had the greyhounds and my first Borzoi trained to the point that a cat could push them off their bones or food and they wouldn't do a thing about it. Kyra would not allow another dog to approach her food bowl, but the cats were fine.

Pippens has a great chance of becoming another dog trainer. He has no fear, he will bite them or wack them unlike his two big brothers who will just hide if they get too unruly, tho I have caught them both headbutting and loving on Gossip, who is a very calm house dog. Panda's too small to risk with an unknown, she only weighs about 6 lbs now. But Pippens, Pips reminds me of Schatzi

Pip has the same balls Schatzi did, and has taken raw marrow bones from all my adult girls, and they just give me a look that clearly says MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM. .I don't encourage it, but he does it behind my back. Only time I've had one of the girls look at him cross eyed was when he tried to push his way into a bowl with steak leftovers in it. I reprimanded the girl, but picked his fuzzy little butt up and took him away. No reason to risk an injury.

By the next morning, Ziva had relaxed enough to fall asleep. I kept an ear out for any noises, didn't sleep well that night, but she was a good girl, no sudden lunges, nothing. And the kitties relaxed enough I had the three boys in bed with me.
We'll continue this training, but I think she'll be ok, like the rest of my girls, Gossip loves her kitties, Dei puts up with them, and Kani is terrified of them LOL Touchet is a good girl, and pretty much ignores them. . the two boys, nope, dont' trust 'em further than I can throw 'me.

c

Obedience and family

Been taking it easy, trying to beat this damn cold.

Those of you who have no desire to work with your dog or don't understand, move on I am SOOO STOKED!! We went back to rally class last week. With expecting puppies, they're allowing us to take four weeks of rally and four weeks of beginner Obedience for the price of one full session of rally. I love these people. . their only condition was I bring photos of the babies later, and I can do that lOL

So, glad I'd taken Gossip with me, I worked her. There's only one place we're having problems with and that's the front, she will sit crooked and if we're doign the backwards bit, she will anticipate(Wrongly) return to heel and flip return. Little snot. . .but otherwise, made me really happy with her workout. . then I took the next big step, put a harness on her(for easy grabbing) and worked her off lead. . a big step in confidence on my part, i've never worked her off lead except at agility off lead. . .

She made me so damn proud. We didn't do the entire advance course because at this time she was warm and getting bored, but she did everything I asked her :) Got the comment when she did her flip return with panache that she's not a poodle, she shouldn't do that, and I told the other lady that she LIKES to, we just have to finess it some. . as she doesn't always hit the right spot right away LOL. I left class with a HUGE DAMN grin on my face. . .we may very well be ready for Advanced Rally in May :)

I am so proud of my speckled wild child. Was going to take Grins to regular class, but he managed to hurt himself. Darnit, he was my next project until Dei is done with puppies. Yes, done with puppies! For those of you who've been waiting, she is most definitely in a motherly way :)

I love it when she does this, makes me think of Snoopy LOL

Where'd my tuckup go mom?

Ah, the Joys of breeding. .

How is it, the idiot down the road can throw his dogs together and wham bam thankyou ma'am, they have a breeding and with little to no problem they have puppies?

Grins' girlfriend is in season. There were two that were being bounced back and forth, and although this isn't the one I prefered, she is a nice bitch none the less. She runs, the entire litter does, he improves her tank wide front, tho they're both moderate in the rear. Unfortunately,(fortunately? LOL) they're both full speed ahead personality LOL I've already got a name picked out for my studfee puppy LOL there might even be a blue :) YUMMY!! Hope so, her papa is a dilute.

Anyway, day 13, and nothing LOL. . .so much for the books. . .Does NOT help that we're attempting to do this when it's been 20-40 out, and I've still got this damn cold, tho now it sounds like it's trying to settle into my lungs, OH JOY!

It does make me laugh about the guy who'd wanted to breed to Dei but when nothing came on day 12, he swore something was wrong with his male and gave up. . .I got her bred, but it was day 17-21, nowhere near day 12. Only time'll tell if it took. If it didn't, she'll be spayed. She's already eight. . .granted, she's a young 8. . .LOL. She is unusually bitchy, put Gossip in her place. . so that's a good sign LOL Kyra only ever was bitchy when she was pregnant. .

We had visitors last weekend, and they didn't believe Touchet was 10. . yes, my golden girl turned 10 last weekend. And she spent it playing with the babies and flirting with Stardust :) Such a silly golden snausage she is. The longetivity of her lines is one of the reasons I wanted her, her father lived to be 12.5, her mother the last time I talked to Fern was still going at 12.5+.

Think Gossip & I are going to go hiking Sunday, maybe I'll take Dei, i'm not allowing her to rip roar around the yard, she has a bad habit of launching herself onto dog houses, which is bad on ice, so she's not getting a lot of excercise. She doesn't mind, she'd rather sleep in the house anyway. Loch Raven Reservoir is a wonderful place to walk, just been too damn cold to do much of anything, but it's supposed to be mid 40's this weekend, almost a heatwave! And with nothing else to do, sounds like a good plan. Get Gossip back in shape for this spring :) And keep Dei in shape.

Next weekend is a seminar, and picking up the 30 gallon salt water tank I'm being given. Coworker doesn't have time for it anymore, goign to try and figure out how to set it up as refugium for the 55, adds additional filtration as well as a breeding ground for the copepods my little Dragonnette needs to survive. . probably spend the next two weekends cleaning the tank. Salt water is a lot harder than fresh, not as bad as I thought it'd be, but it can be a PITA. . .especially if you don't keep up on the scraping of the algae. . need to get some more snails. . .expensive little hobby it is, but we enjoy it.

Bonnie's got a handyman tenant, which has me tickled pink. He's going to fix the Aframe, build a teeter for me, and with his help, I'm going to fence in an area at the top of the hill to work Gossip on the property :) Don't do it now, as I don't trust her off leash with all the damn bunnies and deer. it's nicely shaded up there, so it won't be too horrid come summer, but when it is, I can always go to Forest Hill and use that place. It'll be nice to be able to set up my weaves, which are currently in shambles, and be able to work them religiously. . .will also be able to setup jumps, with the shade it doesn't need quite as much mowing. . .I can't wait.

And wishing there was more rally in the next month. There's a hound show next month, I'd love to take Gossip and Umbra too, but it's NORTH Jersey, and weather this time of year is a huge ass crapshoot. May try Syracuse, see old friends, and show her there. She's looking nice, except for those damn spots. .

Joy of puppies

More I think of my next two litters, the more excited I get :)

Wizard is from a young litter, but they're doing very nicely on the field. He and his bro Bartleby finished both their field titles easily, and both are doing well on the race tracks too. Their sister Focus has picked up 8 points already in LGRA, only being beaten by their cousin Gossip, and in two days at coursing, has 8 points, including a nice BOB win. . .two more are waiting in the wings to enter the field, and seeing them practice I truly expect them to do well. One sis is in a pet only home, another has dabbled at LGRA, and the last sis is the only one without prey drive, so it's a nicely rounded litter, and reminiscent of my Queen litter that Dei came out of with only one puppy not having prey drive. It should meld well.

Gossip's Beau is from a very successful coursing/racing litter, titles on the field and on the track. He's got a WUNDERBAR temperament, one of my favorites of all of Bonnie's dogs. Proven producer, he matches Gossip good points, brings a little smaller size(she's a decent sized girl at 28 inches, but she's a broad girl) and a nice tail. Hate the thought of two litters in a year since I keep my puppies longer than most, no hurry to shove them out the door asap here, but Bonnie's as excited about this one, and there's a waiting list for both. . so deep breath and let's try LOL

It's colder than a witch's tit today and only supposed to get worse, OH JOY!! May or may not go coursing tomorrow, depends on the weather, then next weekend is a visit to Vanessa's to see Pat & the River/Nina babies, and then an attempt on our 2nd Rally leg. Gossip keeps getting better and better, so I can't wait!

Off to feed