Black Diamond Dals

Lexie burns up the snow

2012-01-19T21:55:00.000-08:00

Our first snow. We got about 6 inches. Took Lexie to the dog park (since she and Pat can’t ride the bike). No other puppies there. ~ Lori

Zoey's first Sweeps

2012-01-18T22:41:00.001-08:00

Zoey did fantastic today. I showed her in the 6-9mth puppy class in the Sweeps. She won her class, then went on to be picked the best "Jr. puppy" and then finished up by winning "Best in Sweeps"!! We have now officially won more than our 'fair share' at the Mt. Hood Dalmatian Specialties over the years. In our regular class (shown above) Zoey received a 2nd place in her class; but then Willow went in and saved the day by getting a Select Bitch out of a very tough field of girls. It was a long afternoon/evening, but very satisfying! Now we can say that Zoey is officially a Show Dog. ;)

Let it snow!

2012-01-15T10:20:00.000-08:00

We finally are getting some snow. Last year we hardly had any. Cinder is having a blast with Sierra on our deck. ~ Karen

Cinder picks up her new horse

2012-01-14T20:49:00.000-08:00

Well we are just heading back from grants pass with our brand new bouncing baby boy "Aranaway Dante". He is a 6 year old Morgan horse that has never been ridden. He is 16 hands tall. He is a very big boy. Cinder enjoyed the ride down and had a great time playing with all the dogs at the ranch we were at. We will see if cinder and the new baby will get along as well as she does with our other two horses. ~ Karen

Clearly Ringo

2012-01-13T22:07:00.000-08:00

Ringo had his vaccines and a check up yesterday. His vet does a urine test as part of the exam, and I'm happy to report his urine was clear, pH ok and no problems there. He does have an issue with needing his ears cleaned, and she has suggested we start every other week. I believe part of the problem is that Ringo and Mozart chew each other's ears every day, but anyways, if it doesn't clear up we may need to look into food or environmental allergies. I think it's just Mozart's dog saliva. He weighed 54 pounds and doesn't seem fat or anything, but she didn't want him to gain any additional weight. Samantha is here in NM with Olive for a visit. The three of them have been having a good time playing. Olive got to go to the vet with us yesterday because she had another tick bite despite being on a monthly preventative. They both kind of stole the show in the vet's office.

Hope you're doing well.
Bernie

Waverly hits the snow

2012-01-09T22:01:00.000-08:00

Hope you had a good Christmas and a happy new year! Waverley is doing great. She's a big suck and isn't too fond of Winter. She's doing better now that she has good coat (but still didn't like the -26 degree C weather we had last week). Here are a few pictures I took yesterday. Her favorite thing to do is catch snowballs when we throw them. ~ Talk soon, Amy

Lexi's Christmas

2012-01-03T21:17:00.000-08:00

Nora and her tree

2011-12-24T18:17:00.000-08:00

Nora sure does love christmas time!

JR's Christmas Wish

2011-12-23T18:25:00.000-08:00

JR is doing great. He is a happy boy and well behaved (most of the time). We are starting another obedience class in January. Her he is with Santa. I think he asked for dog cookies.

Happy Holidays! ~ Tina, Matt, Katie, Lucy and JR

Jack

2011-12-22T18:47:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to give you a quick update on Jack. He's doing great! He is absolutely perfect for our family. It's been a really relatively easy transition for all of us, including him. So, I know it was meant to be that he was to be a part of our family! And, halleluia he is getting along with the cats!! They were all lying on the same bed yesterday. Maybe they are just tolerating each other but Jack is not chasing them anymore. He nudges them to say hello and they don't mind (as long as he doesn't keep doing it over & over!).

We took the dogs to a tree farm to get our tree and they had a blast running in & out of the trees, and he's only torn half the lights off the tree once!

He's just such a sweet, smart dog and we are thrilled to have him.

Thanks again.
Merry Christmas.
Stephanie & Brent

Snow in New Mexico

2011-12-17T21:23:00.000-08:00

Here is a photo of Mozart (red collar) & RIngo (blue collar) playing in the snow in New Mexico. We didn't do anything special on Mozart's birthday, but that's because everyday is a special day when you own a dalmatian. ~Bernie & Tim

Cinder the holiday elf

2011-12-03T23:19:00.000-08:00

As you can see Cinder is a perfect little elf even though she looks confused about the hat on her head ~ Karen

Round and Round

2011-12-02T23:23:00.000-08:00

Hi Deb. Me again with another video on cinder. Sierra just got home from college and was playing chase with Cinder. They were having a very good time. I personally think that Cinder thinks Sierra is a puppy too! ~ Karen

Cinder's forklift

2011-12-01T23:28:00.000-08:00

Hi Deb. I thought you would enjoy this. I was putting up my Christmas houses and was setting up my Lego forklift and Cinder was fascinated by it. ~ Karen

Princess Lilly

2011-11-19T16:57:00.001-08:00

Hey Debbie I wanted to give you a quick update on Lilly she has been wonderful to have around and has made herself at home with our family .As far as we know she has had many first and lots of fun with us this last summer camping, boating,swimming (kind of she has a thing about water it her terms only) and geocashing etc. She has been lots of fun and we would like to thank you and Adrian again for helping us find her. I included one of her pictures from feb out in our backyard she really is a pretty girl or princess as my wife refers to her.The rain jacket was my wifes idea. Thanks again The Mix family

Crystal Clear

2011-11-18T17:05:00.000-08:00

For Romeo's 4th birthday (Nov. 7th) I decided to get him thoroughly checked for bladder stones and/or crystals. We've never really had him checked and he's never had any problems, but seeing chances are good for a Dal to have crystals in their urine and stones can turn into a life or death situation - it's well worth having a preventative look. So today Romeo and I spent the afternoon at the vet's office. I'm extremely happy to report that his ultrasound showed his bladder to be completely free of crystals and stones (they also visualized his prostate gland which looks perfect as well). Then they checked his urine sample, which had perfect pH at 6.5, was free of crystals even under the microscope, free of red & white blood cells. His concentration level was on the lowest side of normal (his urine was nice and diluted) at 1010 (normal is 1010 to 1040). So he was 100% as perfect (or at least as perfect as a Dalmatian can be)!!

Lazy Jewels

2011-11-17T19:36:00.001-08:00

Apparently Jewels was too tired to get her entire body up onto the couch tonight ~ this was as far as she made it!

Boys night

2011-11-14T19:29:00.000-08:00

Now that Adrian has a new job in Walla Walla, it's a special treat to have him home on a weeknight. The two men of the household had a nice evening watching Monday night football in their favorite positions. (Romeo must not have found the game that exciting seeing he was actually sound asleep in this photo).

Happy boy

2011-11-11T21:18:00.001-08:00

Ti had an ultrasound in October and passed. No crystals and no stones. I've decided to have him checked semi-annually. He has a good diet (my own invention) and we make sure he gets 8 cups of water (occasionally less but never less than 6 cups) a day. That seems to be the key in my opinion. We use skim milk to bait his water and add a 1/4 of cucumber to keep his PH up. I hope all is well with you. I attached a recent pic of Ti. He actually fell asleep like this! ~John

Nora's growing up

2011-11-10T18:55:00.001-08:00

She's crazy but it sure is fun at the same time... ~ Jeremiah

Dalmatian in need

2011-11-08T21:27:00.000-08:00

There's a Dalmatian in need of help near us. Please follow this link and take a look at this girl in a shelter in Idaho Falls. If anyone out there has room in their home and heart, let me know and I can assist in transporting her closer to you. Unfortunately with 6 Dals in our home, we just don't have the room to take her.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DalPals/attachments/folder/779278521/item/1364938440/view

Lola's birthday ball

2011-11-07T20:16:00.000-08:00

We can't believe that Lola is 4 already! It seems like yesterday we had a wrinkly little, razor-toothed, gator mouth chasing us around! She enjoyed her birthday very much. She got a new toy and had some time playing her FAVORITE game. Playing with a tennis ball literally makes her a little crazy. You can distract her from anything by saying the word "ball" - what a crazy girl! Someone once told us she might "mellow" after 3...we are still waiting... :0) We always say that she is a "really good dog when she is not being bad!" (the usual: counter surfing, stealing food, barking at us to play, and plain ole stubbornness). She is lucky that we think she is the cutest thing ever!

Thank you so much for allowing us to bring our Lola girl into our family - she is our babydog! We promise we'll be better about sharing pictures and videos... we follow the blog and enjoy seeing how Lola's little "dalmatian quirks" are shared by her entire family!!

Give hugs to the spotted crew! - Krissi, Dieter, and Lola

Lexi's 4th birthday

2011-11-06T18:37:00.000-08:00

Deb and Adrian and MAMA Jazz-
Here is our sweet little puppy. Can’t believe it was 4 yrs ago she was born.
We still thank you guys everyday for our sweet Little Lexie Doodle. We enjoy
every single vid and pic on your blog! I am glad we were your FIRST------
Love you guys- Pat, Lori and Lexie

Olive makes a wave

2011-10-31T19:30:00.000-07:00

Olive makes me laugh so hard some times that I just had to share. She usually barks at me and tries to eat the bubbles when I take a bath, but last night she took it a step further and just jumped right in the tub with me. I wrapped myself in a towel and grabbed my camera - hope you think it's as funny as I do. She literally splashed half the water out of the tub. http://www.youtube.com/user/samlneff?feature=mhsn

Izza gets 2 CATs

2011-10-29T19:31:00.000-07:00

Izza and I spent the day with our friends Jordan, Krash & Kester over in Kent, WA today. We were checking out a new AKC title: C.A.T. (Coursing Ability Title). It's like Lure Coursing (which is an event they do with sight hounds), but easier. The course for dogs the size of Dalmatians is 600' long and the dog just has to show interest in following the lure and must finish the course within 2 minutes. We did two runs, a few hours apart. Izza's first run took her 1.01 minutes, but her second run (which is what this video is of) took her 55 seconds. She received two of her three "legs" (a leg is a qualifying run), she needs to get her title. We had lots of fun and she got to burn off some energy!

Jack's beach birthday

2011-10-13T21:06:00.000-07:00

Jack's doing great--part of the family!! We took him to the coast for his first birthday (pictures attached)--the dogs had a ball! Jack's doing a pretty good job listening & minding--he's getting better. We finished obedience training last week and we both enjoyed it. He still doesn't want to leave the cats alone but we're working on it. Our Lab Parker has taught Jack how to pick marionberries, plums and tomatoes! They go down to the garden and help themselves!! Have a great day. ~Stephanie

Waverley is growing up!

2011-10-12T20:39:00.000-07:00

Olive's birthday party

2011-10-07T13:09:00.000-07:00

Dear Grandma and Grandpa,

Olive had a very fun birthday party this year. I invited over the swim team I am currently coaching for for some cake and puppy snuggles. Olive was so excited all of her swim team friends came over, she was in hyperdrive. I made two funfetti cakes, and we had capri suns (seemed fitting for a one-year-old's party). Some of the kids brought her new toys, which she loved, one of which she is currently squeezing next to me. I got her a giant rawhide that she promptly tried to hide all over the house. She tried to "dig" out the couch cushions to hide it, and I eventually found the gooey mess hidden under the covers of my bed (which, come to think of it, was a really good spot to hide it). Hope all is well back at home, Olive says hi to everyone too! ~ Samantha

Cinder's birthday party

2011-10-06T13:04:00.000-07:00

Cinder is doing great. For her birthday my son Riley picked her up, spun her around while we all sang "happy birthday to you, woof woof, happy birthday to you, woof woof

Then she got to eat part of a cucumber she just loves cucumbers. She is turning into a wonderful little girl. She is pretty good about coming when called. The only thing that really annoys us that I can't seem to break is her mouthing our hands to death when she is really tired. She is like a toddler who is dead tired but won't lay down for nap because she might miss something. But she is the best in hotels - never barking and she loves going to horse shows. She went to 6 different shos were we stayed in hotels and she was great. Thank you again for letting us "adopt her". ~ Karen

Cinder's first Halloween

2011-10-05T21:48:00.000-07:00

I was starting to set up my Halloween houses and had started my little train set up (at the top of my fireplace). Anyway I had turned it on and as it was going back and forth cinder got all excited and was hopping on her hind legs trying to see what was moving. Just wait until I get the whole town set up and the lights and sounds get going. She will have a field day! ~ Karen

Salmon

2011-09-11T19:08:00.000-07:00

Adrian had a good day today! He caught a 17lb and a 27lb Chinook Salmons. Meanwhile the puppies (Zoey & Jewels), my mom, Chip and myself all attended the Salmon Celebration at the Mill Casino in North Bend. The puppies got lots more socialization and interaction with strangers, kids and even a couple of other dogs.

Dog Park Fun

2011-09-09T20:01:00.000-07:00

We've taken the girls to a couple of dog parks since they were about 3 months of age, but today was the first time that there was actually anyone else at the park! The girls got to meet lots of different sized dogs and people today. We ended up spending 2 1/2 hours at the park before decided enough was enough! They seemed to really enjoy themselves, especially the kiddy pools - they throught splashing the other dogs was fun!

Beach Fun

2011-09-08T12:07:00.000-07:00

Sierra was a wonderful sport about wrestling
in the sand with the puppies!

Our godson and his girlfriend Sierra came and spent a couple of nights with us at the house we have rented in Winchester Bay. Zoey & Jewels were very happy to have new people to walk and play with them! The girls had a good time running and playing on the beach again today while Sierra, Tyler and myself tried to play catch with his 'disc' (I was told it's not a frisbee).

Chaplin wins a Group 1st!!

2011-09-07T13:35:00.000-07:00

Chaplin is one of Romeo's sons. He's turning into quite a stunning young man!

Jewels strikes a pose

2011-09-06T19:50:00.000-07:00

Apparently it's not too cool here for the girls; after a long wrestling and chasing match, Jewels dug herself a little spot in the sand and stretched out to cool herself off. Seems the girls are quite happy about their vacation at the coast!

Dune dogs

2011-09-05T19:43:00.000-07:00

Another fun trip to the beach today. Someday it would be great if the sun would come out while we are at the beach. :)

First time to the beach

2011-09-04T12:13:00.000-07:00

Jewels & Zoey's first time to the beach went well. They seemed to love wrestling in the sand, which was pretty much all they did the whole time, with just a little sniffing and tasting of dead sea life in between wrestling matches. They didn't seem scared of the waves at all, but they didn't get into the water either. Looks like they will have fun the next week and a half!

Cinder's new job

2011-08-30T19:36:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to share a picture with you of cinder trying out her new pack. My son put his shoes in so that she can get used to it. When we go for hikes she can carry her own food and water plus when we go for walks she can carry the mail for me. She seems to enjoy it.

Ti passes again!

2011-08-14T10:19:00.001-07:00

Ti passed another ultrasound. No stones and no crystals. He has one last check in October but I think his new diet and/or the distilled water has solved the problem. I'm going to arrange for a semi-annual urinalysis as a preventative measure and perhaps an annual ultrasound. I suppose he would be classified as a stone former but frankly, he's pretty bad at it. It didn't take too much to get him cleared up in comparison to some cases I've read. I continue to monitor his PH, check his stream, give him plenty of fluids etc.

I've taken him on regular beach trips this summer. We wade out to some sand bars at low tide and he has a ball chasing seagulls and eating dead crabs. We have a couple trips left before the weather turns cool again. ~ John

Trail hits the trail.

2011-08-09T19:48:00.000-07:00

Trail went on his first backpack trip and learned to swim across the river at the same time! After the first swim, he was in the water continually! Chuck fishing was frustrated, as he swam back and forth. He collapsed in the tent at night, glad to be away from the mosquitoes, and completely worn out. chuck will take him into the Crazies again next month. ~Susan

Tonto's summer vacation

2011-08-04T20:16:00.000-07:00

It still brings tears to my eyes whenever I see him (Ranger) but I am soooo thankful that you found a great home for him. The only times I feel good about this decision (of returning Ranger to Oregon) is when we spend time with Tonto and see the difference it has made in his life too. We went camping last weekend and he was great. He really likes riding in the boat. He has become the "family" dog. Jupe and Hayden were across the pond jumping off rocks while Tonto sat next to me. He whined and didn't like seeing the boys jump off the rocks, he swam over there to check on them and swam right back to me. Very sincere pup! He slept right next to the kids in their tent at night and kept a watchful eye on us the whole trip. We were very proud to call him our dog. He got along with all the other dogs, who would roam around our campsite. ~Amiee

Hello From Bow

2011-08-03T20:35:00.000-07:00

Bow is having a fun summer. I think he really likes summer vacation and having me home. We are both going to go through some separation anxiety when school starts again. He seems to enjoy camping. He has been camping and hiking a lot. But I think he has really enjoyed the trips to the beach the most. Running on the beach seemed to be his favorite thing about summer vacation. Oh Yeah, and chasing the birds on the beach was also fun. I have attached a couple pictures of him. Just wanted to let you know that he is doing well and continues to be a great companion for us. ~Roch & Cindy

Rex's pack

2011-07-30T20:52:00.000-07:00

Here’s a couple of pictures of Rex (Orange) Kobi, and Cassie. He weighed in at 23 lbs last Tuesday getting his booster vaccine. He’s a very smart puppy learning from his other house mates quickly. He’s healthy, playful, and full of personality. We are enjoying him a bunch. ~Chad & Paulyn

Pictures of Katie

2011-07-29T21:00:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures that were taken in june. I will send more up to date pictures in the next couple weeks. Cheryl fell and broke her hip last week. As you can tell from this that things are very busy at the moment. I took Katie to the vet's this week and she is 16 inches at the shoulder and weighs 23.2 lbs She has learned to sit,shake and stay, thanks ~ Mike

Ranger's happy voice

2011-07-28T21:02:00.000-07:00

We actually heard his "voice" tonite. Kind of a howl. I don't know, maybe a sad howl for you guys? Does the howl mean something particular? He just did it once. But he settled down into his bed. He is asleep now :). I had to put Sids bed next to him. So they would not argue over whose bed was whose! They are my cute "boys"! ~Becky

Ranger's New Adventure

2011-07-27T21:08:00.000-07:00

Ranger moved into his new home tonight. He's now living with an approximatly 25lb cutie named Sid. Here's a note from his new mom: Hi Debbie, well we came inside and Ranger and Sid are getting acquainted! Sid is initiating play! That is not his usual behavior with dogs. So that is good news. Sid is pretty happy. Ranger is looking for you :( but he is getting loved on and he will be ok. He is still wagging his tail! I will keep you posted! Take care new friends! ~Becky

Fun day for JR

2011-07-26T21:27:00.000-07:00

Short video of JR running through the field near our house. He also recently took to swimming. Tina

Looking good in Canada

2011-07-16T21:12:00.000-07:00

I've attached a few "stacked" pictures. I'll use the term lightly heehee. I had no idea how hard they are to take with puppies! We must have taken a 100 photos before we had a few we were relatively happy with. She looks like a rocking horse in the one lol. We are starting handling classes August 1st so hopefully they will improve after that. Can't believe they are almost 3 months! She is maturing more and more everyday. If only she could master the housetraining thing lol! Talk soon, Amy

Black Diamond Mint Julep ~ 12 Weeks old

2011-07-15T21:33:00.000-07:00

Zoey at 12 weeks of age

2011-07-13T22:21:00.000-07:00

Zoey is Black Diamond Front Runner - my pick of the litter. She looks and acts SOOO much like her mom Jazz, I couldn't resist keeping her! She has more spots than I like, but I LOVE everything else about her.

Terrible day for Waverley

2011-07-03T22:08:00.000-07:00

Waverley is doing great. We started puppy kindergarten on Wednesday and she was a pro. She is a saucy girl and doesn't like sitting still, but is catching on to commands and the house training thing. She already sleeps through the night and is fitting in with the pack here. Her favorite friend is my Sphynx cat Peach. They wrestle on the floor and chase each other around the living room. We had a couple of bumps earlier in the week. While out for a walk she was ran over by my other dog and started limping. I crated her for the night, but when it wasn't better by the next morning I brought her into my work to see if they'd want to do an xray. The vet moved her leg through it's full range of motion and said it's most likely she just brusied her shoulder. Thank goodness, I felt sick to my stomach bringing her in but didn't want to do the whole "wait and see" thing I would normally do with my other dogs. Since we were there anyways, and got the go ahead, I had her vaccinated. Unfortunately she ended up having a vaccine reaction and her left hip ended up swelling with a bump the size of a large egg and was very sore. Poor girl had a terrible day. Luckily puppies bounce back and she is 99% back to normal already. We will split up her last set of vaccines, pre-treat with benedryl and hopefully avoid another reaction. Never a dull moment around here!

JR and his girls

2011-07-02T21:45:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of JR with our youngest, Lucy and my niece, Emily. ~ Tina

JR Update

2011-07-01T08:49:00.000-07:00

JR is continuing to do very well! We started a dog training class last night and he did quite well. We are working with him daily. Today he got to go to the dog park and meet one of his new girl friends, a 10 month old Rhodesian Ridgeback. They ran around and got pretty worn out. We are working hard on socializing him with other dogs. He is doing quite well when they are off leash. It is a bit more of a challenge on leash. The dog class should help. I will send a picture of him soon. ~Tina

Well balanced Mickey

2011-06-30T20:43:00.000-07:00

Thank you so much for being such an awesome breeder! Because of the wobble board (I assume) he doesn't even flinch about unstable surfaces.

~ Lisa
P.S. He got up there, himself.

Run For The Roses = Nora

2011-06-26T20:23:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't been in touch, Nora and I have been very busy! She loves her new home and all her new friends and is already a huge Portland Timbers fan as you can see! She's been surprisingly very good with all her trainings and she can now come, sit, lay down, (stay)off, understands no and ouch, likes her kennel and is getting very good at being on a leash. potty training is finally making sense to her and has gone 3 days now without any accidents in doors! She also met her Vet yesterday and got her latest round of shots. Shes very healthy and weighs 11 pounds. Hope all is well! ~ Jeremiah

Dog Power

2011-06-25T19:54:00.000-07:00

Here is our “Little Lexie Doo-Bug”

This is what she does every single time Pat take her for a ride around the neighborhood. He takes her all over town: trails, old town and to the dog park. There isn’t a square mile he hasn’t covered around town. She sounds like those sled dogs when he is getting ready to take off. Funny thing is he wouldn’t even have to peddle the first 1-2 miles b/c she runs so damn fast, but of course he does. Enjoy ~ Lori

Cinder goes Farwest

2011-06-24T19:21:00.000-07:00

Hey Deb just wanted to share a picture of Cinder and my husband taking a break at the farwest morgan regional horse show in redmond. We are here for five full days and cinder is doing great as you can see. She has been the best puppy. We have been staying at a hotel and not a peep out of her. If you tell her to go to bed off she goes. She really likes our horses especially my palomino. They like to walk side be side together. Talk to you later ~ Karen

Brotherly Love

2011-06-23T12:01:00.000-07:00

Out of all the dogs in our house, Romeo and Ranger have become the best of friends. They play together all day long, then share a bed to take a nap! Romeo and Ranger are both from our very first litter; their mom is Jazz and father was Radar. Ranger moved away at 8 weeks of age and lived in Reno with their other brother Tonto. Recently Ranger moved back in with us so we could find him a better suited home for him to live out the rest of his life with. Meanwhile, Romeo is pretty happy about having his brother living with us again.

Waverley made it to Candada!

2011-06-19T21:53:00.000-07:00

It was a long trip but definately worth it. Waverley did great and was a trooper on the 12 hour drive home. Only needed to stop a few times and whining was minimal. Once we were home we went on a long walk, she had a bath, and is now sleeping at my feet. I'm already in love! We promise to keep in touch. Thank you so much for this amazing little girl! Talk soon, Amy

Potty training Mickey

2011-06-18T22:51:00.000-07:00

ACTUALLY we had a major breakthrough, today! The backdoor is open which leads into the garage and an open man door into the backyard. MICKEY TOOK HIMSELF OUTSIDE! Did you get that? Let me repeat, myself; MICKEY TOOK HIMSELF OUTSIDE! Later, I had company and the door was closed. He cried to go out! Oh I am so happy I could just piddle on the floor.
Aside from the housebreaking our only troubles have come from that mouth of his. No back talk, just his desire to use it to “feel” me with it! He likes pulling at the blanket over the sofa, as well. I keep replacing my body or the blanket with the bully stick or his rope but it doesn’t seem nearly as interesting. I’m looking forward to him outgrowing this little phase. Of course he has performed the obligatory toilet paper train, once. ~ Lisa

Last day together

2011-06-17T22:00:00.000-07:00

Today is the final day for these four to play together. In the morning Trifecta (pink collar) will be moving to Canada and Sure Thing (navy blue collar) will be moving to Spokane. Looks like they decided to make the most of the day they have together!

Black Diamond Trifecta - 8 Weeks old

2011-06-14T22:31:00.000-07:00

Black Diamond Mint Julep - 8 Weeks old

2011-06-14T22:30:00.000-07:00

Black Diamond Front Runner - 8 Weeks old

2011-06-14T22:29:00.000-07:00

Black Diamond Sure Thing - 8 Weeks old

2011-06-14T22:28:00.000-07:00

Jasper entertains himself

2011-06-13T21:03:00.000-07:00

For those of you who are not aware, Jasper (the big black spotted boy on the right) is from our 2010 litter and is now 8 months old. He has come to hang out at 'his grandparent's' house for a couple of weeks before we will attempt to show him in Canby on the 24th. Jasper lives with his mom in Tillamook normally. She received so many complements on this handsome boy that she contacted us to see if we thought he could make it as a show dog. We agree that he's very good looking, now we just need to trim him down and add on some muscle so he'll blend in with the other show dogs. Meanwhile, he's having a ton of fun with the other 5 dogs in our home - it's his own personal playground! He's keeping us entertained anyhow!! :)

Superspot hits the road

2011-06-12T19:53:00.000-07:00

Black Diamond Fast Track gets the award of being this litter's closest living puppy; he's only moving about 1hr and 15 minutes from our home. Hopefully we'll get to see him now and then when we are in the Tri-Cities.

Triple Crown heads to Vancouver

2011-06-11T22:30:00.000-07:00

"Purple" found herself a loving home today. She is one of many Dals this family has owned over the years, so hopefully she will be one of the best!

Perfect pair

2011-06-11T12:19:00.000-07:00

As it turned out, Black Diamond Run For The Roses was the perfect name for this little girl who is on her way to Portland with her new daddy! It sounds like she will have a wonderful home, with tons of socialization - which is key to raising a happy, well adjusted Dalmatian.

Mickey's new home

2011-06-10T14:04:00.000-07:00

We’ve made it home. Only about 10 minutes of intermittent whining and when we stopped for a burger in the drive-through I put him down to eat and I lost him… found him under my seat.

We stopped at Shilo (he slept the whole way) and didn’t go potty. Back to sleep and didn’t need to go until we got home (already living the rock star lifestyle trying to create stones). At the Shilo he, initially, did not care for the leash but by the time we left he had no problem with it at all.

He’s met some neighbors and one dog.

Whining when left alone until he realized that he could explore and he does whine to ask to get up on the sofa. He only gets up when he stops. No picking him up if he stands up and scratches at our legs, either.

He does enjoy the bully stick and gorged himself on dinner and water before passing out again. So far, so good, on going outside and not in the house. He’s also coming when called with some encouragement.

So many things to remember to do and not to do to have a good dog. It’s not easy being a doggy momma!

Thank you so much for the wonderful little boy! ~ Lisa

P.S. I’ve already yelled, “NO!” once… he was chewing on his paperwork.

Jasper hits the road

2011-06-09T12:19:00.000-07:00

Jasper is from our last litter, which was born October 5, 2010. This 8 month old boy lives with his mommy in Tillamook, OR but has returned to his 'grandparent's' so we can work on getting him in shape (mentally and physically) before he tries his paw in the show ring on June 24th at the Mt. Hood Dalmatian Specialty at the fairgrounds in Canby, OR. This photo is of Adrian and Jasper hitting the trail for the first time - so far, so good!

Hearing Results

2011-06-08T20:24:00.000-07:00

Today the puppies and I made the long track to Clackamas where they had their BAER hearing tests done. I was very lucky to have Ann & Patty come help me wrangle puppies at the vet's office (Ann owns Jasper, a puppy from our last litter). We also had a wonderful surprise visit from Lisa, who will be taking Mickey home in a couple more days.
The test went well, everyone is bi-lateral hearing (meaning that they can hear with both ears) except for "Orange" (Black Diamond Fast Track), who is a uni (he is deaf in his right ear but hears fine with his left ear). There's nothing wrong with a uni and most people don't even notice that their dog can't hear in one ear. Uni's can be shown and some people even use them in their breeding program (although we personally choose to not use uni's in our breeding program).
While at the vet's office we also had blood drawn from each of the puppies. I brought the blood vials home with me in a cooler and will be shipping them to the OFA where they will be housed. In the future, when researchers are working on health studies involving Dalmatians, they will be able to obtain the blood samples from the OFA to use in their research. So someday this litter might help come up with a cure for an ailment effecting all Dalmatians - such as hearing issues or urinary stone formation.

The view from my dinning room this morning:

2011-06-04T11:30:00.000-07:00

3 Amigos

2011-06-01T22:23:00.000-07:00

Here is a photo of Olive, Ringo & Mozart watching me from the deck. Poor neglected babies thinking I'd forget them! ~ Bernie

Article on stones

2011-05-28T11:16:00.000-07:00

Mozart and Ringo's mom sent me the following link to an article by Purina, that I thought with the recent Ti issues might interest everyone. http://www.akcchf.org/news-events/library/articles/dalmatianupdate0707.pdf

E-mail from Ti's dad

2011-05-27T15:05:00.000-07:00

Hi Deb,
I was never able to get Ti's PH to stay consistently between 7 and 7.5. It was typically 5.75 in the morning and 6.75 in the evening so I wasn't expecting good news today. Ti surprised us though. The ultrasound did not reveal any stones and the urinalysis did not even show crystals. It's a Dalmatian miracle! He will have another ultrasound in six weeks.

I'm not sure if it was the switch to distilled water, increasing the amount of water or the diet change that cleared him up. The allopurinal and potassium citrate may have had an effect as well. I just don't know.

I'm happy with the diet I created for him so I'll continue with that as well as the distilled water. His allopurinal and potassium citrate will run out in two weeks.We'll see how the urinalysis and ultrasound look in six weeks and go from there.
Hooray!
~ John

Priceless

2011-05-26T15:08:00.000-07:00

1998 motorhome = $40,000.00

2008 Honda moped = $1,500.00

Blanket to attept to keep dog hair & mudd off of everything = $22.50

Tired and peacefully sleeping Dalmatian = PRICELESS

Vacation has begun.

2011-05-25T16:42:00.000-07:00

We arrived at Cooperfield Campground at 1:00am last night. Our friends/family arrived this morning and we're in full camping mode now. Romeo, Sky and JR had a nice run, then enjoyed laying out on the grass behind our motorhome. We're here until Monday morning, rain or shine - so we've got our fingers crossed that the weather men are wrong and we'll actually get to enjoy some nice weather. It's going to be hard to be away from the puppies this many days, but they are in good hands. We'll be sure to get new pictures of the puppies posted as soon as we get home, but meanwhile you'll just get to look at the 3 we brought (and maybe some relatives if anyone else out there wants to send in updates). :) Deb

Black Diamond Mint Julep (Green) - Possible Show Female

2011-05-22T20:58:00.000-07:00

Black Diamond Trifecta (Pink) - Possible Show Female

2011-05-22T20:54:00.000-07:00

Black Diamond Front Runner (Light Blue) - Possible Show Female

2011-05-22T20:53:00.000-07:00

Black Diamond Triple Crown (Purple) - Pet Female

2011-05-22T20:50:00.000-07:00

Black Diamond Run For The Roses (Red) - Pet Female

2011-05-22T20:48:00.000-07:00

Black Diamond Sure Thing (Navy) - Possible Show Male

2011-05-22T20:44:00.000-07:00

Black Diamond Toontown (Black) - Pet Male

2011-05-22T20:42:00.000-07:00

Black Diamond Fast Track (Orange) - Pet Male

2011-05-22T20:40:00.000-07:00

Cinder is on the road to recovery

2011-05-20T19:48:00.000-07:00

Attached is a picture of cinder after her 4 1/2 hours of surgery to reconstruct her vulva, spay her and remove the extra urethra she had grown in her body - it was not fun trying to keep her quiet for 2 weeks - the drugs they gave us did not work and the cone of destruction just about killed all of us when she whacked us with it - we got the cone off today and the stitches were removed and the vet says everything looks great - hooray
~ Karen

First Toys

2011-05-19T21:20:00.000-07:00

Have you seen our momma?

2011-05-18T21:21:00.000-07:00

Above the puppies is a lid (so their bedroom is more like a den), which Jazz feels is the perfect place to lay and keep an eye on her children. So frequently we find all the babies sitting in their bed staring at the cealing in their box.

Jack's growing up!

2011-05-17T21:56:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of Jack they took at the Walk/Run for the animals we participated in . Isn't he just so pretty.

~ Stephanie

AKC names have been decided

2011-05-16T22:54:00.000-07:00

In order to have the AKC papers ready to go when the puppies are, we are forced to come up with the baby's AKC names while they are quite small. Because of this, we aren't able to come up with names that necessarily match a puppies personality (seeing they are just starting to actually get personalities), so we choose a theme and go with it. These babies have a daddy named "Speed" and seeing they were born in the spring, we decided to go with a race horse theme (for everyone except for 'Mickie'-the two ear patched boy has his own custom made name). At this point we only have the names assigned to a few of the pups, the rest we will assign as we microchip them. This litter will be known as:
Black Diamond Triple Crown
Black Diamond Front Runner
Black Diamond Mint Julep
Black Diamond Fast Track ('Superspot')
Black Diamond Sure Thing ('Nice spotted male')
Black Diamond Trifecta
Black Diamond Run For The Roses ('Heavily spotted girl')
Black Diamond Toontown ('Mickie')
Next weekend I'll be going to Tri-Cities to purchase their colored collars and we'll do their first set of individual photos.

First Dog Beds

2011-05-15T17:07:00.000-07:00

The babies discovered the comfort of dog beds today. It's funny to see how tiny they are on the beds that they will someday cover with their bodies.

Wild & Free

2011-05-14T20:29:00.000-07:00

Today was the puppies first time "running" free in our home. All of them had a good time exploring and lasted about a half hour; before we knew it there were sleeping puppies all over the place.

First solid meal

2011-05-11T22:04:00.000-07:00

Alls Well

2011-05-10T22:03:00.000-07:00

All is well with the puppies tonight. They are doing well getting to know their new box. Most of them are sleeping in the 'bedroom' area (shown) and are actually going out to the 'potty room' area when they need to go to the bathroom. Potty training can be easy when you set them up for success - even if your potty training 8 all at once!

First drink

2011-05-09T21:18:00.000-07:00

The puppies have now graduated to their 'puppy box' which gives them much more room to walk, play and they can start learning potty training. They also received their first experience with a water bowl, which always takes them a couple of weeks to figure out the bowl is to drink from and not to walk in!

2011-05-07T21:57:00.000-07:00

Afternoon sun

2011-05-04T22:29:00.000-07:00

The eyes have it!

2011-05-01T21:34:00.000-07:00

Eye's are starting to open today. This little girl has her's open the most, but soon everyone will catch up to her. This girl also has the least amount of nose trim, but there are lots of little black spots on her leather, so we're thinking it will make it.

Lunch time for everyone

2011-04-29T13:28:00.000-07:00

I'm at home today, so I was able to take this video and then go straight to my computer to upload it - so this one is 'real time'. :) The sun was shining into the window just right that I'm thinking you might be able to see some of the spotting in this video. We have one boy who is going to be VERY HEAVILY spotted and at least a couple of the girls who look they are going to have extremely nice spotting (so we have a full scale of spotting in this litter!).