On the Move and Standing Still

We headed down to the Western New York Shetland Sheepdog Club Specialty in Albion NY over the weekend with three of our hopefuls and our 3 year old girl Jivara. This is "Finn", Laureate Inception showing his lovely side gait en route to his Best in Sweeps win under noted breeder Tray Pittman.

Making a picture showcasing in the ring.  He won WD/BW for a major on the first day as well.  We were very pleased with how he behaved and how well he was received by other breeders and exhibitors.

We were lucky to have our friend Joyce Woolridge visiting from Calgary.  She handled Finn's brother "Corbin" (Laureate Double Exposure) who was in the same class.  He is a darling little guy who is so easy going and just does everything that is asked of him.

We are loving how sound these puppies are!  Showing off his reach and drive, which is impressive for a 6 1/2 month old puppy.

Our clown "Rehannah", (BPIS Can Ch Laureate Immortality) won her class both days in Sweeps and 6-9 puppy. 

Great drive in the rear, but went around on three legs quite often trying to scratch her collar off!  She makes us laugh...

Cocoa is in full coat and has been sitting at home as we had bred her (but she missed), so now we need to get our act together and get those last two points for her US title.  She came close this weekend and picked up two more Specialty major reserves.

Her wide open side gait.  Standing still or on the move we are very pleased with the young dogs we have at the moment.

We had a great time at the Specialty.  It was great to spend time with our good friends.  The club spoils the exhibitors with coffee and donuts in the morning and held a pot luck dinner Saturday night.  We were well looked after.  Afterwards we lingered and practised our puppies in the ring.  We hope to make this a yearly event.

Play Date: The Hooligans

The older pups are a bit of a rowdy bunch...

The little ones trying to keep up with Rehannah...

La la la...this is too easy

Catch me suckers!

Bitey games

Ditch hopping

Haha...missed!

Oh yeah?  Well I did it better than you last time!

Lola, the wet noodle

Rehannah beginning to tire out

Mr Finn McCool

The very beautiful (even when wet) Finn

This is a cheater photo as I took it yesterday but didn't think I needed another puppy running post, so included it here. Lola didn't charge through the wide bit, but ran along and found a narrow spot to jump.

Also from yesterday...Rehannah showing that her lips didn't stay permanently curled up! 

The end!

Puppy Play Date (with Pete)

It was a balmy 23 degrees (Celsius) so I convinced Pete to take a break from work and come with me for a walk in the fields with the puppies.  It was Eva's pups first outing in back and they were joined by the older group who showed them the ropes.  I took hundreds of photos and have lots to share, so will do it in several installments over a few days. 

 

I love this shot as it shows Finn's personality to a "T".  He is such a love bug and when picked up goes limp with his legs dangling.  He just loves loving and is so lovable.  (How many times can you say love in one caption?)  LOVE love this puppy!!!

Whispering something...(man talk)

Finn enjoying this immensely...Corbin trying to get a hug too.

Sushi giving Pete a sniff and naughty little Eden (the blue) just looking like she's thinking of jumping Rehannah!

We started off in the left field, hoping to keep them clean, as they all had baths last week.

We tried to avoid the big puddles and ditches and stay in the middle of this big field (yeah right)...

They had fun while he was running but then they almost instantly made a right hand turn...

...and headed for the ditch!  There was a lot of water after the thunderstorms of the other night.

They were right next to the culvert and we were afraid one could get stuck underneath...

Calling them we ran them over into the other field...forget about keeping them clean. Keeping them safe was paramount!

Little Eden getting scooped up...

Over in the far right field now, they are good and wet from crossing over the next drainage ditch but this one is safer; it has some water but not a current or a culvert.

Sushi had found something interesting to eat.  Wondering what kind of droppings it was I asked Pete to go check it out but there wasn't anything left by the time he got there. (yuck)

What a lovely outing we had.  I have some fun pictures of the puppies in action (some are on the Facebook page) and will post them another time.

It's In Their DNA

We're crate training the teenagers and to teach them to be clean I've been getting up at 6 am to let them out. Well this morning I overslept and was an hour late, which meant three crates needed to be washed. After the crates were washed, I bathed and dried the pups and then took their ears out of their braces (they need to be changed periodically), did nails and fluffed them up. We put "Lola" on the table and took some photos of her at 13 weeks. She was only moderately cooperative. Finn was worse and so I said to Pete I'd take them out for a walk (their first) with the camera.


Got your tail!

Finn McFluff and Lola

Lola found some dried plants to taste...

...and some more

I'll try pulling this out!

What?

Checking on her brothers

Lola chasing Corbin

This was the first time the pups have experienced paparazzi and Corbin wasn't too keen on the camera. He kept his eye on me and felt better if he hid in the bushes!

Lola scouting for trouble

Found them! Finn McFluff on the left, Rehannah and Corbin

Lola and Corbin

Corbin on right, Lola, Finn and Rehannah

Corbin top, Lola and Finn

Same order...looking for Rehannah the ringleader

AAAAKKKKK! I couldn't believe it! All four wandered over and despite my efforts to call them away they all had to check it out...it's in their DNA! I was mortified...all that effort gone to waste...(sigh)

I didn't take many pictures...I was too worried about getting these guys back into the house. It was minus 9 C, there wasn't supposed to be water (and mud)!!!