Laureate Shelties Blog
A bit of this, a bit of that...with a lot of free spirits.
The Valerie litter continues to grow at a nice steady pace. They seem advanced for their age as they can both see and hear at 15 days of age. Can you tell which one is the girl?
It is great when a litter is fat and healthy and content. This bunch have been quiet from the start; their every need is tended to, so they nurse and they sleep. Val keeps them clean. You can't ask for better than that. So they are growing nicely and the eyes are just beginning to open.
The girl just beginning to see the light...
Valerie held off until after Pete's birthday party to have her litter. The down side was she waited until 1:30 am to have her first puppy and was done by 6:30...so it was an all nighter. A textbook whelping, she could have done it all without my help, but I was there to welcome the newborns by weighing them in and removing dewclaws.
We have four new boys and a girl
The girl is second from the left
Pile of pups...I think the girl is now top right with the brown right leg (I'm still getting familiar with them)
The boys
Girl on the bottom
Yesterday afternoon I took Diva, Miki and Owen out in the field for the first time. I brought the camera with the 70-200 lens and for the first ten minutes or so was wondering why I bothered putting on the zoom lens. They were sticking to me like glue...happy and looking for treats, and not really aware of the freedom they had. Then they found a puddle and got the sillies.
Invitation to play...
Diva tucked her tail and started to go!
From the standard: "The Shetland Sheepdog is a small, alert, rough-coated, longhaired working dog. He must be sound, agile and sturdy." Diva looking pretty agile!
Woo Hoo!
This is the show hopeful girl from the Ch Lynphil Solstice x Laureate Valrhona litter. We're going to call her Laureate Godiva. Haven't decided on her call name yet.
We used to take photos of our puppies on the ground, but now we usually just have our puppies on the table. I stack them and quickly remove my hands from the photo. We'll sometimes use a feather or a squeaky mouse to get their attention; but often anything that squeaks scares them rather than make them lift up. We never use food to get their attention at this age as they get too excited and won't stand still.
Today was cold, and this little one was shivering, so she needed a bit of a lift! She is very stylish...
She is marked as pretty on the opposite side; I call it dutch rabbit markings...tri-factored sable with a shawl collar and an even blaze.
This puppy has had my interest from the beginning.
Not only is he beautiful, he has the most outgoing temperament.
He isn't small; so we'll be watching his size closely...fingers crossed! For now, we're trying out the name "Owen". We'll see if it sticks.
It always tastes better on the far side of the bowl!
We finally had some sunshine, so I took some snaps of Valerie's pups. This isn't an age where I usually take pictures of babies, but here they are nonetheless. Pictured are male #2, the little one in the litter female #2 and female #3.
The little girl...
The boys...
Male #2, female 3 and female 1
Female 1, male 2 and female 3.
"Life is like a box of chocolates...You never know what you're gonna get" Forrest Gump
Yummy little "chocolates" from our tri-factored sable girl Valrhona (named after a French Chocolate company).
Female One
Female Two
Female Three
Male One
Male Two
In Valerie's last litter we kept "Cocoa", Ch Laureate Jivara. Jivara is a milk chocolate bar made by Valrhona. If anyone has any good Chocolate names, let me know!
We are happy to welcome our newest babies. Sired by Ch Lynphil's Solstice and out of our Champion producer,
Laureate Valrhona. We have five beautiful sables...three girls and two boys.
Girl on top and then left to right male, male, female, female
It isn't easy to photograph a squirming bunch of babies; they tuck their heads and circle...
male left and female right; two females behind
Flashy female
The boys
Flashy female and a boy making a getaway...
This little guy is determined!
Gotcha; Diva getting worked over for being such a smarty pants!
Owen and sister Diva
Beautiful Owen...
Time out for a drink...they went back out an hour later with the group. Those photos will be posted shortly.
This is the show hopeful girl from the Ch Lynphil Solstice x Laureate Valrhona litter. We're going to call her Laureate Godiva. Haven't decided on her call name yet.
We used to take photos of our puppies on the ground, but now we usually just have our puppies on the table. I stack them and quickly remove my hands from the photo. We'll sometimes use a feather or a squeaky mouse to get their attention; but often anything that squeaks scares them rather than make them lift up. We never use food to get their attention at this age as they get too excited and won't stand still.
Today was cold, and this little one was shivering, so she needed a bit of a lift! She is very stylish... 
This puppy has had my interest from the beginning. 
Not only is he beautiful, he has the most outgoing temperament.
He isn't small; so we'll be watching his size closely...fingers crossed! For now, we're trying out the name "Owen". We'll see if it sticks.
We finally had some sunshine, so I took some snaps of Valerie's pups. This isn't an age where I usually take pictures of babies, but here they are nonetheless. Pictured are male #2, the little one in the litter female #2 and female #3.
The little girl...
The boys...
Male #2, female 3 and female 1
Female 1, male 2 and female 3.
"Life is like a box of chocolates...You never know what you're gonna get" Forrest Gump
Yummy little "chocolates" from our tri-factored sable girl Valrhona (named after a French Chocolate company).
Female One
Female Three
We are happy to welcome our newest babies. Sired by Ch Lynphil's Solstice and out of our Champion producer, Laureate Valrhona. We have five beautiful sables...three girls and two boys. 
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