News & Notes for Feb.5

Babs’ bunch getting bigger

Babs’ puppies are four weeks old! They all have their eyes open. They also are able to stand at eat which they do voraciously. Some of them already have a little personality showing through. One of the males is particularly precocious and vocal. Every time you pick him up he will howl for a few seconds making the cutest O with his little mouth. They all rivet their heads when you walk into the bedroom and watch in unison, especially if you have a bowl in your hands. They learn fast!

Heidi’s Ho-Ho’s Arrived

Heidi had her puppies on Jan. 19. Regrettably we lost four of the six puppies. Our vet was reassuring that there was nothing that could be done but it stings nonetheless. This has been a true reminder of no matter how responsible you are, sometimes things happen beyond your control. All of that aside, Heidi is ok and the two remaining puppies are enormously fat. Heidi took the nanny roll with Babs’ puppies to ease some of her depression. At this point she is more patient with them than their own mother. The puppies do have teeth at this point. Ow.

Getting ready for Denver and the show season

It has been a long, cold winter here in Colorado and the dogs are showing it. When I returned from Las Vegas in December several of my show dogs were chubby. It is challenging getting exercise in the winter but I have been doing my best. Katie, who needs one major, compounded this difficulty by coming into season. We have both been getting much needed exercise. Katie runs next to my bike and sometimes chases the ball. I think dog will be more fit than me when the show kicks off next week. She does not sit behind a desk all day. I thought in the spirit of not getting burnt out this year, I would only enter one dog in the Rocky Mountain Cluster. My friends know better. There are four dogs entered and I even bought a new suit. Dog show people have a sickness. I am well afflicted.

House training du jour

I’ve been getting up at 2:45 a.m. almost every night for the last four months trying to get Piper and Sully house trained. Piper (also known as Sunshine) gets the point a little too well. I have to go out into the front yard at 3 a.m. and retrieve her. I wore boots, a coat and pajamas on a 5 degree night. The stupid rabbits were everywhere, and so was the puppy. The boy, on the other hand, pooped his bed before he started crying which is what got me up in the first place. I calmly explained to him the errors of his way, more for my benefit than his.

I took the two them in for rabies vaccination and micro-chipping last week. The tech asked the standard question, “Are both puppies, healthy, do you have any concerns?” My response was, “Their problem is they are six-month-old Weimaraner puppies, time will cure that”. Piper proceeded to goose the vet and nibble on the tech with her front teeth. Sully just stood by and let her sister steal the show. He squealed like we were killing him when the vet injected the chip.

Bracco Capers

Gina is still mildly dysfunctional. She has finally got the point that we prefer our dogs to stay in the yard. I think the neighbor’s donkey is going to push her over the edge one of these days. Gina clears 5’ with barely a run at the fence. The Weimaraners are really miffed at her when she goes over. My biggest fear was they would emulate her. Instead they scold her severely when she jumps back in the yard. The Weimaraners really want her to be part of the pack but she can be a snob. She butters up to everyone who comes to the house like we don’t love her at all. Tisk. Fickle dog! I am wondering if hypnosis would work?

If you worked for me, you’d be fired

Finding homes for puppies is the most difficult aspect of raising them. I have met a lot of great people who bought puppies from us, some who have become good friends. However, there are times when my professionalism is challenged. Recently I have received phone messages to my cell phone that were obviously meant for other another breeder. Someone had written down the phone numbers and got them quite confused. My name is included in my “sorry I can’t take your call right now” message which meant they did not listen to the greeting at all. This gives me a very bad attitude when it comes to dealing with the public.

In my “real world” job, if I call the wrong person and leave a detailed personal message, I am subject to a fair amount of scrutiny. If a person cannot get the basic details of contact information correct, how are they going to listen properly when I tell them not to take their not-immune-to-anything puppy to the dog park, or how spaying and neutering too early can compromise the health of their dog? I feel like my time and effort is being disrespected on some level.