Soon to follow...

The puppies are doing great. All are in their new homes, tearing it up. I'm going to try to keep up with the blog better now that school has started and I have some time. Isn't that backwards? Most students have less time during the school year than they do during the summer. Hmmm... something is wrong with this picture. Oh well.

I kept Bode and renamed him Kai. It is a german name, means ocean in many languages, and is a Samoan god of fire. He is growing like a weed, learning fast, and even got the chance to herd some sheep this week.

Long story short: life is good, dogs are great. Pictures will follow, but for now I have an organic chemistry exam to study for and a presentation to prepare. Note to self - procrastination is bad. Will it stop me? Probably not.

4 weeks

The babies are four weeks old today, so I thought it would be appropriate to take some new pictures. All the pups have really neat temperaments so far. They are all very playful and incredibly in tune to me. Every time I walk in the door they run up to the side of the pen barking and jumping... yes, they are talkers. They all seem to listen to me and come running when I talk to them. I have put some noisy toys in the pen and all the babies love them, in fact they love them a little too much. I forgot to take one particular ball out of the pen last night and it woke me up with its animal noises (it moos, and crows like a rooster, and screams like monkeys, among other sounds). Anyway, enough talk. Here are the pictures.

Julie

Polo - He is very pretty, but I can't get a good picture of just his face because he is almost too big to hold with one hand and he squirms when he thinks he can get away... little brat.

Picabo
Bode
Polo playing with one of the toys I have hanging on the side of the pen. I like to hang things so the puppies get used to looking above their heads and having something above them. It has turned into stimulation to get them to climb, jump, and tug.
Julie and Picabo playing with the screaming ball
Julie still attacking the screaming ball
Polo always picks big toys. Here he is with the rope, which everyone else chews on and drags around a little... he likes to pick it up and run with it.
Bode taunting his sister with the crab. He picked it up and started running around, jumping on Julie. She deserves it, though, since she always does the same thing with her favorite toy ( a mouse)
Picabo taking stock of the wrestling match before she jumps in. The little green mouse behind her is Julie's favorite toy.

No longer nameless...

Since Tika's registered name is "Olympic Gold" and Kohlman's is "Steel and Flames", I decided to name the puppies after Olympic gold medalists. All of these athletes have multiple gold medals from multiple olympics, but each of them set records at the Salt Lake City winter games. I am calling the big boy Polo, after Apollo Anton Ohno (speed skater... more medals than any other in history). The little boy is Bode, after Bode Miller (ski jumper). Big girl is Julie, after Julia Mancuso (Snowboarding... first woman snowboarder to get a gold). Little girl is Picabo, after Picabo Street (Downhill Skiing... oldest woman ever to medal in skiing).

Everyone is up and playing now. They all have cute little personalities so far and I am really looking forward to see how the pups grow up. The play sessions are really short right now, so hard to get pictures but I did get a few. Enjoy.

Here is Bode killing the Santa dog...

It's not dead yet...

Julie really wants something on the other side of the fence.

Polo and his favorite toy of the day, the reindeer.

Play hard, then crash.

2.5 weeks

Here are the latest pictures. The kids are 2.5 weeks old, and I am in desperate need of names. Any ideas are more than welcome!!

Big girl... She is really sweet. She follows me around all the time and nibbles on my toes. When I was building the puppy pen today, everyone was up for about five minutes, but she just kept on sticking with me. She is already climbing into my lap, and when I lie down, she tries to get on my chest to lick my face. Way cute!!

Big girl tired herself out.

Little girl... also very sweet. She was the first to open her eyes, but seems to be the slowest of the bunch in regards to maturity. She is the smallest of the litter, but is now putting on weight like gangbusters. She likes to sit in the crook of my arm, or right in the middle of one of her siblings. Little boy... This boy is a little speed demon. He gets up on his feet and practically runs across the pen until he loses his balance and tips back over.
Big boy... He's a hoot! Very adventurous. He has started playing already. He chews on the puppy toys then turns around and falls over. Then he'll start biting on his feet and tail until the toy catches his attention again. He is the surest on his feet.

USDAA trial

The USDAA agility trial was this weekend in Salt Lake. This is one of my favorite trials because it is at an absolutely perfect trial site. It is on grass, with trees around the rings, tenting in the field, and camping in the next field up. It always stays cool for crating the dogs, too. Anyway, Gyp got hurt at the seminar on Wednesday so I didn't run much. She gave me a real scare... wouldn't extend off her rear, wasn't jumping or moving right, and was really tender down her mid back.

I took her to the vet that afternoon and he told me that she had significant deterioration of the discs in the lumbar region of the back. He took x-rays and sent me home with drugs and the statement that she wouldn't be able to be active much longer. It crushed me.

Friday, I took a copy of the x-rays to the trial and showed it to people, none of whom saw a problem. Then, I took her to my acupuncture/chiropractic vet who confirmed their evaluation that it was just a sprain. I am resting her and will work her back into shape starting in about a week. She doesn't like this regimine. I ran her in four classes throughout the weekend, pulling from everything else. Saturday, we ran in Grand Prix and Steeplechase (which we won the first day), and the second round of Steeplechase and jumpers on Sunday. I had a lot of fun with those four runs and am really enthusiastic about continuing my training and trialing this year. I am just going to be more careful to be sure that the dogs are in better shape before training.

As far as puppies go, everyone's eyes are open except the big boy's whose eyes are starting to open. All of them are up on their feet already, starting to wobble around. A couple of them are really good on their feet already and can really speed across the pen. I love these babies. They are really nice so far... very, very pretty. I don't have new pictures yet but will post some in a day or so.

Dog shows and more puppy pictures

I went up to the Blackfoot shows on Friday and Saturday to help Shannalee. I had a lot of fun watching all the dogs and visiting with the people. The weather was nice half the time, but horrible the other half. May I just say that I am so SICK of the rain?! We had a typical Idaho storm with some of the hardest rain I have experienced, lasting for about 20 minutes.

Anyway, I drove back last night in beautiful weather, went to work, and finally got to go home to see my puppies. This morning, I took Gyp out to train a little bit for the agility trial next weekend. It is going to be a huge trial, since this is a world team tryout event. Should be fun!

Not much going on otherwise. Here are a few new pictures of the babies. Enjoy!

Big girl.

big girl on left, big boy on right
little girl on top, little boy on bottom
big boy
Little girl.

Introducing....

Here's the whole gang.

The boys... Little boy on top, flashy boy on bottom.

The girls...
Flashy boy on the right, little girl on the left...

Little girl - marked a bit like Tika.

Big girl sacked out after a big meal.