Elliott's Montana Vacation

Elliott & Sunny got to spend a few weeks in Montana this fall. His parents were nice enough to share these photos with us.

Eyes not wide open

The puppies have started to open there eyes.Not all of the puppies have started but I am sure in the next day or too they all will be looking around and trying to take in all that they see.They are still gaining good weight everyday.Spots are coming through more and more each day.

First Bathes

As soon as I got home today, the first thing I did was grab our biggest pot, filled it with warm water and headed into the puppy room. They were getting pretty stinky and icky, but not any longer. A warm dip and scrub with clean towels and they are once again hugable, kissable and lovable!

Mid week run

Tonight we did a quick 13 miles in 1 hour (with two water breaks). Bow and Monty proved they are fastest in the pack by running at 25 mph for almost 2 miles before I decided we better stop and let everyone else catch up. I was quite impressed by the two boys and they were having a BLAST!

Dinner time

Izza's clan enjoying dinner.

Long trip cut short

Our day started off beautiful, warm, sunny, not a cloud in the sky, so I decided it would be the perfect day for a nice long dog run. I was thinking 30+ miles and maybe 3 or 4 hours of eventure. Too bad mother nature had other plans! The sky got black, the wind came up and it started raining. I had to call Adrian and find a meeting spot so he could bring me my jacket and gloves, but the dogs didn't seem to notice, they were still enjoying themselves. We ended up doing 20 miles and 2 hours, and all of us were quite wet by time we got home.

Liver spots

This little boy was showing off his belly spots tonight, but so far that's the only place we can see them, on their bellies, nose or ears.

No more dewclaws

Tonight Adrian held each of the pups while I removed their dewclaws. After a rocky start (I forgot to borrow the surgical instruments from my office and had to drive back to the office to get them before we could get started). Everyone did well and only one bled much at all. Everyone is gaining weight, so all is well so far. We won't sleep sound and feel confident until eyes and ears have opened.

Alls Well

Izza is very happy about her clan, she clearly loves being a momma. No big updates today.

Babies have arrived!

Izza (Beachcomber Black Diamond Iz, RN, RD) x Romeo (Ch. Black Diamond's Where Art Thou) puppies have arrived! Starting at 4:00am Izza started having babies. We were very happy with her to start with anyhow... she had Boy, Girl, Boy, Girl, Boy, Girl, Boy, Boy, Boy. Everyone is healthy, nursing and doing well.

Ready to roll

Heading out for our evening run. We live on the edge of town so our dogs have to be leashed until we are out in the fields, then they are turned loose to run. We only did 10 miles tonight but everyone enjoyed it. Monty and Izza had to stay home tonight so it was only 6, making it much easier.

Visit to the cabin

Adrian needed to cut up some wood for his mom at her cabin, so I took 1/2 our pack and our 4 wheeler so we could have a different place to log some miles. Unfortunately there aren't many trails near the cabin, but there is a very long gravel road which climbs up, up, up. The crew had a nice (although short seeing we were only allowed 45 minutes before Adrian wanted us back so he could use the 4 wheeler) run. Bow, Sky, Romeo and Monty enjoyed the views and then playing in the creek afterwards.

Romeo saying.. "Do you see how high up we are?"

Elliott II update

Photos from California. Elliott is one of the 5 boys Izza had June 2009. His budy in the second photos is Sony who is also from Oregon. Looks like they are best buddies still and all the other photos sent demonstrate Elliott's love to play ball. Both boys are beautiful and look like they have a wonderful life together!

Dixie and Indy at Jubilee Lake

This matched pair of livers is Indy (from our June 2009 litter) and Dixie (from our Sept 2009 litter). Looks like the pair had a great time up at Jubilee Lake (in the Blue Mountains of Oregon) "duck hunting". These two live a great life at the base of the Blues and get to do lots of 'hunting' and swimming.

Chaplin goes BOB 2 days in a row!

This weekend Chaplin got to go with his handler Valerie to a couple of shows in California. At just one year and a couple of weeks old, Chaplin won Best Of Breed both days in a row! Chaplin is one of Romeo's sons and his mom is Zinda (she lives in WA State). This win was pretty cool seeing there was 4 other Specials at the show that he had to beat (as well as the rest of the Dalmatians) to become Best Of Breed. Way to go Chap!! Daddy's proud of you!

Bow supervises

I had to stop while doing the dishes tonight and snap this photo of Bow. He's been sitting on the couch watching me for over a half hour while doing the dishes, washing down the counters, etc. Apparently he's studying my ways so he can take over next time I'm gone for the weekend! He's such a silly, sweet boy - how can you refuse that face??

Brotherly Love

Here is Romeo (Born November 2007) and Monty (born September 2009) having a great time on our deck. Both these boys are out of Jazz, but have different father's. Romeo has a great temperament and loves to play with any dogs who will play with him, male or female. Monty lives to play and hasn't ever met a 'stranger' - human or k9! The end of the video shows Willow standing in the background, she is Romeo's full sister and Monty's 1/2 sister.

4H Show

Last year I was asked to judge the Walla Walla Fair's Dog Show, but as luck had it, we had a litter of puppies decide to arrive that morning, so I had to cancel within a couple of hours of the show. I felt horrible, but got to make up for it today. I spent the day judging their obedience and rally kids. It was a very fun and enjoyable day. Hopefully the kids felt the same way!

Calendar Girl

We received notice today that Lexi will be making an appearance in a calendar for Anacortes, WA. This is just one of the 3 photos that will be in next year's calendar. We've always known that she's beautiful, now the everyone else will get to as well!

Worth the trip

Seeing our trip to Portland turned out to be pointless (literally as well as metaphorically), we decided to do something to make the trip worth it after all. Since moving out here in 1996 I've wanted to go see Mt. St. Helen. My mother was with me on this trip and she also wanted to see the mountain up close, so we made a day (and night) of it. We had a great time taking the northern driving tour and visiting all four visitor centers along the route. The 7 hour round trip wasn't enough... we then took the southern route to see the difference on that side of the mountain. We arrived home safe, tired and with lots of photos at 2am. Good thing I have today off of work!