We’ve had some nice weather and the snow is melting fast- an exceptionally early spring around here. Spice’s puppies are enjoying the sunshine and room to play. These clips are from yesterday afternoon.
We have three litters due late May/early June. Paint x River is due around May 22nd, and Pepper x Heath is due around June 2nd. Paint is definitely pregnant, we’ll know about Pepper within the week. These are repeat breedings that produced excellent pups. There are pictures of several pups from both litters in our Feb. 6th post “2011 Pups“.
The third litter will be out of Blair x Heath. Blair is a very nice example from our Bess x Sage breeding owned by our good friend (and extraordinary veterinarian) Walt Cottrell. She is 47 lbs, OFA Excellent, athletic, and hunts close. She also looks a LOT like Bess. Bred to Heath, we expect her to produce medium sized, athletic pups with great conformation. Walt will raise Blair’s litter in PA.
October Blair
Spice’s pups have graduated to the kennel. Had a nice sunny afternoon yesterday for their daily romp in the yard. The snow is just starting to recede enough to give them some dirt to play in.
Big changes in the pups since the last video. They have turned into PUPPIES!
There are three orange males- one has a little patch by his right ear, two don’t have any solid color except on the underside of their ears. The other two males are tricolor- one has a big patch on the left side of his head and a smaller patch on his right eye, and one has black spots on both ears.
Three of the females are tricolor- one with a big patch on the left side of her head, one with a little patch on the left ear, and one with a little patch behind her left eye. The last female is a blue with a big patch on the right side of her head and a little patch on her left ear.
Should be able to pick out all of the pups in the video. All have unique markings except for the tricolor male and female with big patches- look for the right eye patch on the male.
Spice’s pups are doing great. Their eyes are open, they’re starting to walk a little, and they have puppy breath! Enjoy.
Spice’s pups are ten days old and growing like weeds. Eyes should be open shortly. All three males that were wearing ribbons are orange (we took one ribbon off because he has a small orange spot near his right ear). Here’s a video of the pups having lunch today.
Spice whelped her pups Monday! She ended up with five males and four females. Three of the males are beltons so could be any color (the ones wearing ribbons in the video), one is tricolor, the other has small black patches on both ears so he’s either blue or tricolor. Two of the females are tricolor, one is blue, the fourth has a black patch on her left ear and is blue or tricolor.
Blue’s owner Sue sent us these photos of Blue from recent trips in the field. Blue is almost two years old, born early March 2010.
Two points on Huns.
He’s got Sharptails in the rest.
The last two are both shots of one point. In Sue’s words- “He went into some deep grass and out of sight and when I found him he was on a nice solid point. This is the one he held so nicely when the sharptail decided to fly off one at a time, honking and flapping, he held for all of that. I was in front of him saying “Whoa” and he started to let down a little but held for me while I looped way out in front and flushed the rest of the flock, about 15 birds in all!”
Except for the first Hun point, all of these photos were taken during one outing last week. Nice work Blue!
One of the things people most want to know about our dogs is how far they range and how fast they are in the field. How a dog runs is difficult to describe, as words like “slow”, “fast”, “close”, or “wide” don’t always mean the same thing to each person. So, here are two video examples that demonstrate range and speed in hunting situations. To see the dogs they need to be viewed full screen.
Paint is currently our slowest and closest working dog. Like all our dogs she will go further if she smells birds.
Pepper is a step up in range. Her range and speed are middle of the road, and typical of what we expect to produce.
Our widest dogs are another similar step up in range, but they aren’t necessarily faster. Some of our slower working dogs cover more ground than some of our faster dogs- speed and range are not tied together.
Luchi and Bracken’s owner Lou sent these photos from a recent outing.
Bracken- Pepper x Heath
Luchi- Paint x River
