So now what...

Puppies are all gone now.  They all left on Friday and have settled well into their new homes.  I have been sent lots of happy updates and photos from their new families.  The puppies are all sleeping through the night, all of them love their kennels and have no problem going in for nap time.  All the puppies are making friends with their new canine siblings, and of course they all love their new humans immensely.  The puppies have successfully settled in and are beginning their new lives.

How am I doing?  I'm ok.  I miss my puppies, I think about them often. I remember all their silly puppy antics and I can't get over how quiet the house is now.  I have tons of free time again, and I find I don't have anything to fill it with.  I worry about my puppies.  I know they are not actually mine anymore, but it's funny how hard of a concept that is to accept. I know without a doubt that the new families are absolutely perfect and are the best possible homes I could have found for them.  But I still feel like their mother and I worry about their well being.  I know this will pass, it has only been a few days.  I take comfort in all the happy stories and photos the new owners share with me, it reaffirms that I did the right thing.

So now it is time to get serious about Spryte's training again.  Saturday we went to our first flyball practise since July.  She was rusty and we had to take several steps back.  Catching the ball out of the loaded box was tricky and took a lot of work for her to get her coordination back.  I know with some consistent practise she will improve quickly and be back to the level we were in the summer.  My goal is to take her to the february tournament.

I have also started our obedience training again.  I would like to get her CDX title this year.  Holding the dumbbell without rolling it around continues to be a big issue, so we will need lots of consistent work on that.  The other skills are decent (especially the jumps, that is always her favourite thing to do), but again a bit rusty because it has been a while since we have practised. It is time to start really proofing and adding distractions, and taking the show on the road. So we will focus on our training and meeting these goals.

We are also entered in our first agility trial this coming weekend.  Regionals was the last competition we entered.  Our agility practises have been going well, but I admit I am a bit nervous for this weekend.  I just hope the teamwork is there like it was in the summer and we don't have an awkward adjustment period.

here are pics of the puppies in their new homes:

snap enjoying the sun

Quinn hoarding his toys (something his mom did all the time as a puppy)

Quinn playing with his new toy

Cricket playing with her new sibling, Jerry.

Cricket playing with new toys

Izzy loving the outdoors

Izzy with her new princess bed, lucky girl!

Here is a video from flyball practise on Saturday. the two puppies on the team, Radio and Snap are playing tug and doing recalls

Day 58

Puppies turned 8 weeks old on Saturday.  They all go to their new homes on Friday.  I have 4 days left with my little fur babies, and I am spending every free minute with them.

 Mostly this week we are continuing socialisation and exposure to novel things.  They continue to have many visitors, and we go outside for big runs multiple times a day.  We have also taken a few more drives, and puppies are sleeping one to a kennel now at night.

The owner of Ace (the sire of the litter) came out for a visit today too.  Again here is another breeder with many years of experience and many Champions under her belt.  She too loved the litter.  Great bodies, great structure, nice heads, everything we want in a performance dog as well as a conformation potential.  It will be interesting to see how many of these puppies end up with titles on both ends ;)

I have also started recall work with treats.  I had tried a few weeks ago, but interest in food was kind of minimal at that time.  Today was a huge difference.  They LOVED the zukes treats and would come running from half way across the yard when I called.  There is nothing more adorable than four fuzzy puppies running as fast as their little legs will take them in my direction.  And once they got to me they were searching out their reward.  They are starting to understand that responding to a cue will result in a reward for them.

It is probably time for me to formally introduce all of you to the puppies.  The new owners have chosen their call names and registered names.  (pics and videos from yesterday)

Readers meet the first Hyper Hounds litter...


HyperHounds Capture The Moment   aka "Snap"



HyperHounds Isadora Blu by U   aka "Izzy"

HyperHounds Flying Cricket  aka "Cricket"

HyperHounds The Mighty Quinn aka "Quinn"

more pics from yesterday

Puppy Assesment

Leanne and her mom, Helen, came out this morning to assess the litter of puppies.  They have been breeding Shelties for at least twenty years and have had countless conformation champions and ROMC dogs over the years.  I doubt there are two people more qualified at assessing Sheltie puppies than these two.

I admit I was a little worried that the puppies might not meet their high standard of quality.  I love my puppies very much and to me they are all beautiful, but I might be a little biased. So what would an expert say about my first litter?  Well they loved them!

They had lots of wonderful things to say.  Beautiful thick coats, nice heads, nice full muzzles, good body, nice structures, good rear angulations, nice fronts.  Overall a very nice litter!  Both sables for sure could get their championship and if the large bi black girl stayed in size she could probably finish too.  They loved the small bi black girl, but said her face just "isn't enough". Just not full and round enough for the show ring.  I can live with that, it's what gives her that cute "cuddle me now" look. 

So I am beaming from ear to ear that my first litter so far has been a success!

here are the stacked pics and faces of the puppies (8 weeks old). it was hard to do, they didn't want to stand still, so they are not stacked perfectly, but at least you get an idea of what they look like.

sable boy

small bi black girl

sable girl

large bi black girl

Day 52

Some pics from our outing today.

A family Affair

It takes a village to raise a child, so the saying goes.  But how many people does it take to raise a puppy (or a litter of puppies?).  According to Ian Dunbar it takes 100 people by the time the puppy is 16 weeks of age to properly socialise a puppy.  I'm sure there must be a 100 people in a  village? Well my family is not made up of 100 people, but when we are all together it is loud enough to be classified as a village! 

This past weekend the puppies and I headed up to Invermere for 2 nights for Thanksgiving dinner.  This will probably prove to have been the key socialisation exercise for creating stable, outgoing adult shelties.  The puppies drove 3 hours in both directions, kenneled together in the car.  They slept the entire way.  Then when we arrived the puppies were xpend in the kitchen surrounded by all my family members.  When we were all together there were 10 adults and 4 nieces (ranging in age from 2 months old to 5 years old).  At times it was absolute chaos.  Dishes clanking, people laughing, children screeching, babies crying, balloons bouncing, dogs barking (oh ya, the puppies also met 3 other dogs) and all the other activity that accompanies a large group of people. 

How did the puppies react? Well they loved it of course!  The puppies were cuddled and played with, they play bowed and barked at the family dogs, they chased the kids feet as they ran by, they played tug with anyone who would grab a toy.  They were the center of attention and they knew it!  I think I will need to do a visit like this with every litter of puppies :)

Here are some pics from the weekend and 2 videos from today:

my 5 year old niece with puppies

large bi black girl and sable girl

my Dad snuggling the small bi black girl

my nieces with the puppies

small bi black girl

sable boy

Spryte crashing after playing fetch and tug with my nieces

Day 47

Spryte is an amazing mom. I know I have said that before, but it truly amazes me how much she loves these puppies.  I took her and the crew into the training building yesterday to really run and explore.  Spryte thought it was  a great chance to play catch me with the puppies. She nudged a few, did a play bow and then took off running. She must have done at least 10 laps around the building, tail tucked, this happy look on her face.  The puppies thought this was an excellent game and chased her as fast as their little legs could carry them around the building after her.  They repeated this game over and over again until everyone was panting. Hopefully I can get a video today or tomorrow of them doing it again. 

The training building is a great place for the puppies. They love the open space, so much room to run and explore. And I place all these objects out for them to investigate, climb on, climb under and play with.  They had umbrellas, rally cones, jump standards, dog walk boards, tambourines, and many other random items.

Puppies are sleeping in their crates now overnight.  They have gone as long as 6.5 hours before waking me up to pee.  They are still two to a crate, and seem happy to snuggle up with each other in their "den".

Here are some pics from last night.  Paul was in the pen and the puppies thought he was a great chew toy!

"Get Him!"

large bi black attacking Paul's slipper

who doesn't love puppy kisses

large bi black girl

sable boy

sable girl

small bi black girl and boy playing together

sable boy

sable girl

small bi black girl