Thank You For Your Patience

Posted on August 31, 2011 by Kristy

As I’m sure many of you have already heard, we had a family emergency last Wednesday morning. My mother came to visit our family for a little summer vacation, and to watch my daughter compete at the county fair with her 4-H group and her horse. The first night, early, early the next morning, my mother took a wrong turn in our home and stepped directly in to the stairwell of our home, falling 16 steps all the way down to the bottom. The steps dangerous, too steep, too hard, too short, and too skinny. It was dark and the tiny hall light wasn’t bright enough after being in the restroom bright lights.

I don’t want to relive the horror of finding her at the bottom of the steps, covered in blood, and the agonizing minutes waiting for 911 help to arrive at our remote country home. She was always alert and over the past week, has continued to improve each day. She is flying home tomorrow, after having 10 stitches removed today from her forehead, and having her left arm casted last Monday. She broke her wrist, displacing the bones, and still may need surgery to keep things lined up, but has to take things one week at a time, getting a new x-ray each week just to keep checking.

She will have wheelchair assistance through the airports, simply to conserve her energy, and get her to the next gate, which might be a long walk. She can walk unassisted, but still wants an arm to hold if she’s doing steps or on bumpy ground.

It’s really just a miracle that she’s alive and didn’t have a broken neck or back. We are so thankful for that.

I’ve been doing my best to get new pictures/videos of the puppies, but my WordPress app is not working on my phone, so I just posted one of Gracie’s pups on Facebook. I have another video of Annie’s pups, ChocoBoy, and Krystle’s black pup, and will get it loaded as soon as I can. I’m really sorry for the delay, and that I haven’t posted anything new in a while. I hope things will get back to normal in the next few days. Thanks again for everyone’s patience through this tough time we’ve had.

Available ShihTzu Puppies

Posted on August 21, 2011 by Kristy

These adorable babies are all still available. They’re all coming along beautifully, using the UGODOG with pretty good accuracy and consistently, and they’ve had two immunization shots. They are just loving and playful and waiting for their forever homes.

We Left Our Cats in California

Posted on August 21, 2011 by Kristy

When we moved to Washington, we did not bring the cats with us. They were nothing but trouble with the dogs, and we didn’t want any trouble!

But shortly after we arrived, and after one weekend of fun away from the house, we returned to find a mama and 2 wild kittens in our wood pile. My daughter, being just 10 years old at the time, caught the kittens and made them friendly.

Suddenly we had 3 cats, when we didn’t want any cats.

Those 3 cats have multiplied, several times, and I don’t know how many cats we own.

I do know that we own more dogs than cats.

This is Cali.

She is our #1 barn cat. We like her. She’s the mama from the wood pile. We got her spayed.

She is cuddly and loving and affectionate and spayed! Sometimes she comes up from the barn and visits us on the front porch.

We like that! She likes to be scratched behind the ears, and she purrs for us!

And she’s spayed. Did I say that already?

She is a typical cat, lazy, sleeps the day away, and today she decided to take over the puppy photo area. She was sleeping peacefully until I came with a basket of puppies. Then she had to get up, or be mauled by tongues, and bodies, and feet, and wagging tails.

She wasn’t all that pleased. She’s so thankless. “We do feed you, ya know. There are a lot of barn cats that only get mice. You get real food out of a bag. You should be grateful.”

“Why did you name her Cali?” Because she’s a Calico Cat.

We’re creative with our cat names. We also have Black Kitty, Gray Kitty, Orange Kitty Tom, Orange Kitty Mama, and a few un-named ones. They hardly ever come to see us, so I may, or may not ever be able to show them to you.

Fail

Posted on August 20, 2011 by Kristy

This was found in the garden. Need I say anything else?

Another Look At Gracie’s Cavachon Males

Posted on August 19, 2011 by Kristy

We tried to play in the hay, but the puppies just wanted to sit quietly.

So we went into the house and hung out on the couch.

Let me introduce Gracie’s puppies to you. From L-R…

1. The puppy with the heart on his forehead…

2. The smallest in the litter with the most red on his body…

3. The white pup with white on his ear.

These are the three babies, and the markings that distinguish them from one another.

I think the white boy is the most mischevious.

They are really beginning to romp and play with each other. Next week I’ll try to do a video. I was hoping to do one today, but they just sat still the whole time!

They’re all super cute!!

You can see a bit of the color on their backs.

This is the small pup with the most red on his body.

This is “Lovey”, the heart boy!

Here is his heart!!

This is White Boy, with a bit of white on his left ear.

Here he is again.

And again. His ear is so cute!

They still like to sleep a LOT!

Because Cyndie Asked Me To

Posted on August 18, 2011 by Kristy

The process of choosing a puppy is quite involved, and often involves more than one family! Cyndie is waiting to see which puppy Connie chooses, because she’s getting “the other one”. There is no hurry, because both families have chosen for their pup to join our Accelerated Puppy program once they turn 8 weeks old.

That means Tri Guy and Choco Boy will be around here for a while, learning their manners, learning how to potty on the UGODOG, learning how to walk on a leash, eventually sleeping in their crates, and getting neutered if they’re here long enough.

We’re really going to get to know these two puppies and we’re excited that they will be joining our family. Raising an Accelerated Puppy means that they become part of our family, going places with us, getting groomed regularly, going on daily walks, sleeping in our house, and hanging out on our furniture. Yep, we’re going to know Tri Guy and Choco Boy REALLY WELL!!

We sure won’t mind having them around!

“I love you.”

“I love you too”

“You’re my best friend.”

“You’re my best friend too.”

Can they get any cuter?

“Hang on, we’ll be cute in a minute. What’s that over there…”

“Aww, nothin’.”

“Ok, I’m cute again.”

“This is my pal, Choco Boy.”

“Are we almost done?”

“Hurry up and take the picture. We’re sitting perfectly and this takes too much energy!”

“Actually, I’m bored.”

“What’s this?”

” This is WAY MORE FUN now!!”

“Pick Me!!”

“No, Pick Me!!!!”

Because Connie Asked Me To

Posted on August 18, 2011 by Kristy

It is so much fun to watch the puppies grow into adorable balls of fluff! As their hair takes on more personality, so does each puppy, and seeing them interact together, set boundaries with each other, and generally just play until they drop with exhaustion….well, that is the fun part of raising puppies!!

Connie is trying to decide between these two puppies, and she asked me for some more pictures. So here they are. I love working with buyers when the puppies are young. There is so much anticipation and wondering what they’re going to look like as adults. And each puppy is so different. It’s hard to decide!!

“Tri Guy” and “Hunk o’ Chocolate” (aka Choco Boy) hung out on the barn porch yesterday, and boy did they have fun!

As expected, Tri Guy, since after all, he is almost 4 weeks older, took the lead, but this time Hunk o’ Chocolate wasn’t far behind him!

Tri Guy is petit in how he is built. He is a willowy pup, feels lightweight in comparison to Choco Boy. Tri Guy also has long legs, or at least they are longer than Choco’s legs.

Choco Boy continues to amaze me with his unique coat coloring. His coat is thick, wavy, and full of color everywhere!

He is so stinkin’ cute, I can’t stand it!

He looks good from every angle!

But Tri Guy is just as cute. He is a vibrant Tri color Cavachon, and those don’t come around too often. He needs a little haircut around his eyes. I think I’ll do that today.

He’s just pretending to be tired here. The fun had only just begun!

They were like brothers playing, Tri Guy showing Choco Boy the ropes. Choco Boy getting messy along the way!

A spontaneous smooch is always welcome with puppies. They do stuff like that.

“Look how cute I am with that piece of straw on my nose!”

“Look at me, I can pull off a regal look. Just watch me.”

See how short Choco Boy’s legs are?

“What is that thing you’re holding? I need to sniff it!”

Tri Guy is a little taller than Choco Boy, but I’m sure weighs less. It’s like the difference between a ballerina and a wrestler.

“Let’s sit by the watering can and pretend we’re tired.”

“Naaa, I’d rather chew on her finger.”

“Ok then. I’ll see what this red thing tastes like.”

“Are we done yet??”

(Tri Guy comes from Annie & Skippy. Choco Boy comes from Daisychon & Pujo)

Gracie’s Blenheim Males Up Close

Posted on August 18, 2011 by Kristy

Just a sampling. These babies are 5 weeks old today. One puppy from this litter is sold (still to be determined which one), and the other 2 are still available for adoption. We’re accepting deposits now for these puppies. They will be ready for their new homes in approximately 3 weeks!

Today this boy was rambunctious and ambitious!!

This boy has the most apricot color on his body.

Today, this boy was just a sleepyhead. He also has a heart on his forehead! So cute!

It’s About Time

Posted on August 16, 2011 by Kristy

I have thought about doing this for a long time. But I just couldn’t bring myself to the place of buying the blue bags with the white lettering. I just couldn’t. I’ve seen other bags, but they’ve either been too gaudy, or too plain, or too light, or just simply too stinkin’ ugly. So I kept putting it off.

Maybe next time…

Maybe some day…

But when I saw these, I knew I had found something I could live with.

Aren’t they purdy??

They’re even made from recycled plastic bottles. How’s that for thinkin’ about the environment? Honestly, I’m not a green freak. I’m careful about some things, but I guess I don’t go out of my way. The real reason I wanted re-usable grocery bags is because I’m sick of throwing away the plastic ones. Those things just accumulate like the one sock that didn’t get lost. There are always too many of them, but you feel kinda bad to throw them away.

I’m excited to use them for the first time. Silly, I know, but the very first time they will get used is when I take my kids’ school supplies to the school on Wednesday evening for Parent Orientation Night. This is a BIG DEAL, as my children are going to actual school, for the first time in their lives. Yep, the applications have all been filled out, the school uniforms are being ordered, and my children are going to school next Monday.

Here are all their supplies neatly packed in the re-usable grocery bags. I wonder if I’ll be sad or glad? I never had to send a Kindergarten age child to school. Maybe it’s a little different when they’re 14 & 11 years old. I hope so! It’d look pretty bad if I had tears rolling down my face!

The truth is, it was tons of fun to buy school supplies. I chose green notebooks and folders for my younger son. He wasn’t with us in town that day, but I thought I better get things before they were all picked through. Since green is his signature color, and it also had a bit of an “army’ look to it, I thought it was a good fit. It has a great message too. Kinda goes along with the theme of this post, the recycling and all.

The Horse Girl wanted something “cool”, so she chose the bright and colorful Peace notebook. There were even matching tabs for inside the notebook. I think I was having more fun than she was. I think she’s a little worried about what “real” school will be like.

I think they’re going to like school. And I think I’m going to like having them in school. Now, what will I do with all that time during my day?? Certainly I’ll have to spend some of it filling my new shopping bags while I’m in town. I wonder how many Bully Sticks will fit in each bag?!

Krystle’s Black Female Has A Home

Posted on August 15, 2011 by Kristy

I am so happy that this little black girlie has found a forever home! She’s not ready to go home quite yet, but when she does, I know she will be well loved!

A little over a year ago, a family came to me wanting to get a pup into Hawaii! Since Hawaii has VERY strict rules about dogs, this ventured required quite a time committment, but B was willing to keep the pup, train it, get all the proper shots done here on the mainland, and finally, after around 8-9 months, the puppy was able to go home to B’s mother in Hawaii. So we have a wonderful little Cavachon in Hawaii, as a result of all B’s efforts!

Well, sending the pup off, while that was the original plan and purpose, left a hole in B’s home, so she’s decided that another pup, one for her and her family to keep, is in order! Even though they’re in the middle of moving, they’ve decided that Krystle’s black female is the pup for them, so sometime in September, this little treasure will be going home to a family that has already raised one Cavachon successfully! I’m so happy!

Black dogs are always very difficult to photograph. They either look pale and washed out, or they are so dark you can’t see their eyes. I haven’t learned the secrets and tricks of photographing a black dog yet, so when I get a picture, where you can actually see the puppy’s eyes, it’s a keeper, even if my foot is in it.