10 Weeks - An Empty Nest

They are all gone now. After weeks of planning, socializing, training, cleaning up, there is only one puppy left to join the pack. Relative calm has replaced the continuous activity of the puppy group. Having one puppy seems like a vacation with time to sit back and reflect, and make plans for the future of the next one. This picture may seem strange to someone else, but it is what struck me as the combined character of my puppies when they were all here together. It is an old dog bed that had access to the outdoors. It is loaded with all the puppy treasures my little group could find as they played in the rec room and outside: toys, rags, cottage cheese carton, garden trowel, chewed up pine cone. They brought all of their treasures to this place and played with them and each other here. All of the puppies had the instinct to pick up things and carry them around- good signs of future performance and working dogs, and dogs that will interact well with their owners. It was what we were breeding for. Now the nest is empty, but my puppies have good homes and I am very content with that.

9 Weeks

Only 2 puppies left, and daily life is getting much easier, if not totally predictable. My puppy setup is in my downstairs rec room, adjacent to my office. With the nice weather we have had, I have put a screen curtain in the sliding door which allows the dogs to go in and out of the yard as long as I am home. The up side of this is that I can get lots of work done, sometimes. The down side is that lots of puppy treasures get hauled into my house, requiring a bit of extra cleanup. This week, I left the house for the first time for a whole 8 hours. A friend came over to let the puppies out of their pen and check on a plumbing issue for me. While under the sink, the pliars disappeared, stolen by a puppy. When getting up to retrieve the pliars outside the house, he met a puppy dragging the plumbing parts package outside, too. Needless to say, some things take longer when there are puppies around. Also, the puppies got some supervised time in the main part of the house, watching TV (how long has that been?), learning how to use the doggie door, getting new treats from the kitchen, and getting some minor training on manners. Here is a picture of the two puppies left hanging out with Grannie Flojo in a moment of domestic bliss, while I actually had time to read the Sunday newspaper.

I have posted a few photos of the individual puppies on their own pages for those who would like to see a bit better what this combination of parents produced. The conformation of all the puppies is pretty nice, I think, and the spotting is not as dark as you might expect, especially with a darkly marked Mom like Skookum. I hope my experiment will encourage other breeders to consider using good quality patches in their breeding programs, as I think the gene pool is getting rather thin and can use an infusion of excellent genes. My main reason, though, for doing this breeding was to obtain a truly excellent performance dog for myself, as it is very difficult to find Dal breeders who have any focus at all on breeding for this. At Skookum's age, I will not likely breed her again, but I would if both of us had the time. I wish I could take something from each of the three puppies and roll it into one individual, because they all have outstanding personality traits. The temperaments of these puppies, by the way, is excellent. However, in the end, I am keeping the puppy with the highest energy level and inquisitiveness, and probably the worst puppy for the conformation ring. Time will tell if this was the right decision.

8 Weeks

It is absolutely amazing how fast the time has gone by. This time of year I am usually out at shows or trials a weekend or two a month. This year, my time has been devoted to producing a small, but wonderful litter of puppies. I am so pleased with these little guys, and very happy with the wonderful homes they are going to. If anything, these folks might be more passionate about this breed than I am! That is the most rewarding part of the whole process. I know my puppies are going have good lives with their new owners and likewise be part of a family. Here is a family photo of Skookum, the puppies, and Grandma Flojo on their last evening all together. The theme of Skookum's litter is in honor of my late husband of 30 years, Dave. In naming them, I decided to use things that meant something to him. Hence, Boiler Maker was his favorite drink, Cracklin Rosie and Peggy Sue were from a couple of his favorite boogieing songs. If it weren't for Dave, there would be no Skookum. He totally supported my decision to drive all the way to Kansas to breed Flojo to Daddy Newt, and constantly bragged about his "champions". Hey, Dave, we're just getting started!