Spoke too soon!

I got another COOL thing from a puppy raiser of one of Halor's pups today:

DARA has been selected as a breeder! Congratulations to Tanya and Jason for raising such a star-ah!! I believe this semester's breeder selections will be presented at the November graduation ceremony! Yeah for Halor and Sequoia!!

Some fun and cool things

In the last couple of days I've received a few really cool things from puppy raisers of Piniella and Halor's pups.





First, this photo:

On the right are Ashley and Astro (Baumann x Piniella). Astro was raised in Georgia by Monica and he graduated last year as a Facility Dog. Note the beautiful badge he wears on his chest - I believe he is a deputy for the Sheriff's office in a county in Washington. He and Ashley are expert child interviewers who work with traumatized children while they prepare to testify in court.

Monica is involved in the Georgia "Run for the Dogs" which is a CCI benefit. The web address is:

http://www.athensrunforthedogs.org/site/

Today, I received an email from Ingrid's (Sequoia x Halor) puppy raiser with this URL about an article in today's news. Halor was not all that fond of this idea...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25945650/

Hal thinks that once you wean the pups, you should be DONE - not dragged into nursing a bunch of giant kittens!

Ike's (Sequoia x Halor) puppy raiser sent me this fun video - which is pretty appropriate for Irish - and relates to my two sons who are boating safety instructors at a local lake:

and finally, Linda, Randy IV's puppy raiser (father of the "M" litter) sent me this link to YouTube. If I new where to get this guy, I'd see about hiring him!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4ql5QrHopA

The link might work by just clicking - but since it's so long, you might have to cut and paste.

ENJOY!!

The name game

Here's an idea of the difference between the biggest pup (neon pink) and the littlest pup (light pink). He weighs over a pound more than her!

This is one sound asleep pup - Just about everybody's toes have turned all the way black. When the pups are born, their noses and toes are pink. The first to go black are the noses, then the toes slowly follow.

Today, everybody is up on their feet and beginning to see and hear. They respond to us when we walk up to the pen by beginning to look around, sniff, and get up and walk.

Sometimes, they are all spread out - at other times, they are a squirming pile of puppies.

Today, I got our new *tentative* puppy names. These can always change between now and distribution day:

Mason ~ Red male

Molly ~ Blue female (named for Pam K's Golden who recently passed away)

Mallory ~ Purple female

Mako ~ Neon Green male (like the shark - pronounced May-Koe)

Morrison ~ neon pink male, donated name and the only one we didn't submit

Martine ~ brown female named after Halor's mom, (B/C is friend Christine)

Marilyn ~ light pink female - for our mentor Pam's breeder, Marilyn, (mother of our first ADIT Fallon)

Monroe ~ turquoise male - I guess this one just goes with Marilyn!

2 week old activities

WE'RE VERY HAPPY BABIES

WE HAVE OUR EYES OPEN!

BUT WE'RE NOT SURE WHAT WE'RE LOOKING AT

WE'RE TRYING TO WALK!

BUT WE FALL OVER ALL OF THE TIME

WE'RE PLAYING WITH OUR

BROTHERS AND SISTERS!

WE'RE JUST BEGINNING TO NOTICE EACH OTHER

WE'RE VERY FAT AND

IT'S GETTING CROWDED!

THERE'S HARDLY ROOM FOR ALL OF US

Halor is doing great and we've been lucky to have no problems with any phase of the litter so far. We totally miss IZZY who is still having a great vacation with Kerry and Paul in Chico. Jon and I will be heading up to get her on Wednesday. It's been almost boring around here without her. The chickens had a great feast on meal worms today - wow, that was funny. One gal would get a worm and run with it while the others chased her to take it away. They were pretty thrilled. Skip and Rita came to visit Sable today, also. We had a great visit and I think everyone parted with the feelilng that Sable has adjusted well to retirement and it's OK for Skip to get a new partner.

Desi is desi-gnated....

Halor and Sequoia's son Desi has been officially named a breeder for CCI!

Desi was the tenth puppy born to Halor and the third in the litter to Sequoia (remember - 7 of the pups belonged to Terry). Desi spent twoor three weeks with us prior to being offically started as a puppy in training by Georgia and Cody. At about 6 months, he moved to Idaho where Brenda became his puppy raiser. Congratulations to all - but especially to Desi who gets to have the fun sort of life all male puppies can only dream of!

Wow - they are growing fast!

You may recall that we got six chicks around June 3rd or 4th.... at that time, they were probably about one or two days old. Now look at them - they are about a month and a half and really getting big (they have huge feet!). The chickens are living in the dog run right now - who would have thought. They love to "free range" on the epoxy floor in their temporary "hen house." They are trying out their wings and establishing the pecking order. We're having a good laugh watching them.

This is an Amrock (or American Plymouth Rock). We have two of these.

The one in the front is a Golden Laced Wyandotte (whatever that is!). They aren't as friendly as the Australorp and the Amrocks ~ a little skittish.

Of course, what you probably came to Halor's puppy blog to see, isn't chickens, right?

The M-babies are doing especially well. A couple of them are up over 3 lbs. Halor is an excellent mom. The puppies eyes and ears are still closed but they are lifting themselves up off the fleece and starting to wobble in the air.

They still sleep most of the time. We found out from a friend/puppy raiser that SWR will not be getting any of these pups but most likely, each of the other four regions will each get a male and a female. Someone in North Carolina already knows she is getting a female from this litter. Randy's PR and Ira's PR both know her and are looking forward to having an "M" in the Charlotte area!

These two are the huge puppies in the gang - but not by much! So far, it looks like the light pink puppy has the now famous "Halor ridge" down its nose. I haven't inspected closely enough to see if we have more ridges.

I can't tell for sure which puppy this is - but he/she is not panting (we keep them nice and cool) - he/she just happened to have his/her tongue out when I took the photos (laughing maybe?)

Here's our fabulous Mom with her brood. Halor is so attentive and calm, it's amazing to watch her. Nobody goes hungry or gets the slightest bit dirty in this crowd. That's not to say that she doesn't find some time to fit in a round or two of the acorn game - she still wants to play!

Izzy is still with fellow puppy raisers up in Chico and/or Tahoe on vacation. I've heard that she's behaving herself, but like Irish, I don't have any photos to prove it. I have heard that she is liking the water even more and getting some good swims in. I believe she'll be heading back home next week.

M litter photos

One day old

2 days old with new collars! (Puppy Rorschach test)

3 days old - growing like weeds

but you probably can't tell too well from the photos. Eveyone is weighing in close to 20 oz or more (neon pink has overtaken neon green and is 26 oz).

Phew!

Although I'm still frustrated, there is something extremely satisfying about going on the help center page and finding out that every other blogspot blogger is having the same photo upload problem as me! (it's not me, it's not me, hooray!!)

M litter news

For some reason, the blogger software is not allowing me to upload any photos of the babies today. I'll give it until tomorrow and see if I can load them. In the mean time, we are all doing well - the puppies are gaining weight like crazy, Hallie is extremely bored and wants to play each time she goes outside, and Izzy went to Chico for a few days. I'll keep working on the photos.... this is very frustrating!

late breaking news!

Announcing the marvelous, massive, monstrous M's

Beginning at 0635 this morning, July 11, 2008, Halor delivered her latest litter of eight gorgeous golden retreivers sired by Randy IV. We have four males and four females, weighing in between 13.5 ounces and 20.3 ounces. Six of these puppies arrived weighing over one pound ~ very big, very active, and very cute. Halor was done by 1257 so, considering the size of the babies, I'd say she did a great job. I'll try to post some better photos tomorrow!

Getting the Nursery Ready

Over the past few days (it shouldn't take this long - but, man, is it hot here!), I've been getting the whelping/puppy stuff out of storage, cleaning it, and setting up our indoor puppy area. Oh, the outdoor puppy area is currently housing the six juvenile chickens - I'll have to take a picture of them - they're definitely at that "awkward" stage.

Our first 5 litters were born in the standard CCI plastic 6 foot whelping pool which worked great. Then, I invested in a deluxe whelping box, which is terrific for the mom and pups, but is a back-breaker during the whelping process due to it's 2 foot high sides (very long arms required!).

On a tip from another breeder/caretaker, I went shopping for a smaller version of the CCI pool and found the 4 foot model - which I have to say looked WAY too small at the store ~ but, for $8.44 I figured I'd bring it home.

After all the other stuff was arranged, I got the pool and started putting newspapers in it for the big event. Then, I thought I better try it on for size... looks like Hallie and a bunch of newborns will fit until we get them moved into the whelping box when we're all through!

I call this a mother and daughter reunion. Both are probably having flashbacks!

Several friends have heard me say that our cat, Skippy, really thinks he's a Golden Retriever. He runs with the big dogs and follows them everywhere. Now, it looks like Skippy thinks he's a pregnant Golden Retriever!

Good thing just about everyone got to try out the new baby whelping pool (although, I didn't see Piniella thinking about diving in)!

While I'm blogging...

Izzy and Sable are playing at my feet - very quietly and nicely - and oh so cute!

X-Ray results are in!

Well, if this isn't the saddest thing you've ever seen - sleek, svelte, long, lanky, Hallie is stretched out like a balloon that's going to explode.... We've had the x-ray, she weighed in (88.5 lbs with one week to go), she got her beautiful golden locks cut, the nursery is set up, Eileen's on her way... let's see - what else is there to do? Oh, let everyone know that it looks like eight for sure, and possibly nine ("niner" for all of us aviation types). We're ready - just hoping she holds off til Wednesday (her due date) to get started. Oh, and while we're hoping - we're hoping for a smooth whelp, during daylight hours, and lots of healthy puppies with a good litter letter.

Weekend fun

If you've ever been around Halor - you already know that she loves to play ball, or frisbee, the acorn game, or agility - maybe, she just likes to play. With about 4 days to go til her due date - she hasn't let up for a minute. We have to control her play time since she just won't stop ~ even to get a drink. You can't tell from the photo - but this was really a lot more like "bobbing for balls" than a reststop.

Here's huge Hallie doing the weave poles - now this was a sight that I wish I had on video.

Izzy was having some fun, as well. This is Izzy looking pretty...

Here's Izzy looking a little more ragged...

We set up all of the agility toys in the back yard and everyone enjoyed the tunnel - back and forth, sometimes head-on - but they worked it out. Here are Piniella (in the tunnel), Sable, Hallie, and Izzy - a tunnel parade.

Our friend Tracey came up for the weekend - our intent was to "do nothing." We did a pretty good job of that - but we did spend a fair amount of time watching the dogs doing things. From left - Piniella, Sable, Hallie, and Izzy (oh, and Tracey standing).