November 13, 2013

Montana was Winners Bitch at the Coulee Kennel Club in Minnesota last weekend for her second and third points.  She is getting comfortable in the ring.  The Saturday judge said he liked her movement and that she was developing nicely.  Congratulations to her owner-handler, Suzanne!

September 9, 2013

Elena and I appeared on the local television program Mass Appeal last Friday,
as part of a segment on responsible dog ownership and canine good citizens.  Watch here:
www.wwlp.com/mass-appeal/september-is-responsible-dog-owner-month

July 18, 2013

Happy birthday to the Candy litter, sired by CH Fanfare Swingn' On The Fairway RN TD OA NAJ, out of CH Daytime Destiny's Red Moon CGC.  Holly and her littermates, Charlie, Copper, Harper, Tucson, and Daisy are 5 years old today.  I was prompted to browse the photos we took when they were babies and found a few favorites.

Newborns: Top L-R Copper and Daisy
Bottom L-R Harper, Tucson, Charlie and Holly

Mika was a good mom

Puppies like to be close

Holly showed her joie de vivre at an early age

July 14, 2013

Montana made her debut today at the Kishwaukee Kennel Club show in Belvidere, IL.  Her only competion was a lovely male champion who took Best of Breed, so she was Winners Bitch and Best of Opposite Sex by default.  What matters, though, is that she was happy and excited and eager to say hello to the judge.  We are excited about her upcoming career!

July 1, 2013

Happy 6th birthday to the "Elvis" litter, sired by CH Rysan's Just For Me out of CH Daytime Destiny's Elena RN CGC!  Albert sent this picture of Milo, Destiny's Good Luck Charm, on his birthday.  Milo looks so much like his dad.

June 10, 2013

Since the puppies left for their new homes, I've been able to see Annie, Brody, and Ceri.  I visited with Annie, Grace and Heriberto after her puppy kindergarten class.  She was very excited and seemed to remember me, and she was absolutely adorable.  I hope to see her again soon.

On March 31, when I drove my older daughter back to college in Delaware, we stopped off in New Jersey to see Brody, Danielle, and Mike.  Pictures of Brody from our visit are in the Photo Gallery 2013.

And on June 9 I drove to New Hampshire to see my son and on the way spent time with Ceri, Mike, Debi and Michaela.  Mike has been training Ceri to hunt and she showed off her new skills.  She's trained to whistle commands and did both land and water retrieves with a dummy, including blind retrieves.  All this at only 6 months!  See the Photo Gallery for Ceri in action.

June 8, 2013

Peggy sent photos of Emmy, Destiny's Moon Garden.  Emmy is Charlie's littermate.  I love this photo, taken today, with the tight focus on Emmy's lovely head.  The second was taken last fall on Thacher Island.  Emmy makes the most of living on the coast north of Boston.

February 21, 2013

All of the puppies are settled into their new homes.  Four left the last weekend of January, the fifth on the first weekend of February.

Scout (formerly Lyra) lives with Rachel and Aaron outside of Boston. 
Her registered name is Destiny's A Kiss To Build A Dream On. 
Scout will have an active life keeping up with Rachel and Aaron;
she's already been hiking at Mount Washington.

Our sweet Orion is now Brody.  He belongs to Danielle
and lives with Danielle and Mike in New Jersey.
He's going to be a therapy dog. We know he'll do a wonderful job.

Montana, formerly Celeste, is Destiny's Showered With Kisses.  She lives with Suzanne, Carl, and their four sons in Illinois, so she will most definitely be showered with kisses.  I'm very happy to be Montana's co-owner and look forward to hearing about her experiences in the show ring.

Luna is now Ceri (pronouned Kerry), Destiny's Sunshine Kisses. 
Ceri lives with the Edwards family in New Hampshire. 
Here she is on one of her first days with her new family.
Clearly she feels right at home!

Beautiful Sky is now Annie - Destiny's Kiss Kiss.   She lives with
Grace and Heriberto in Springfield.  She's going to have lots of
chances to run, sniff, and explore at their property in nearby
Monson.  And she's close enough for me to visit!

January 12, 2013

I've been so busy with puppies that I haven't had time to write about what we've been busy doing.  They're all so cuddly and affectionate that when I'm not watching them play, I'm holding and petting them. 

The puppies got to meet children today.  The little boy was appropriately rowdy, which was good for the puppies to experience.  We have people come in to see them almost every day.  They're eating three times a day, and if I give them too much, Holly jumps in and finishes it.  She's nursing 5-6 times a day.  They make a lot of noise when I fix their breakfast, not so much the other times because I can anticipate when they're hungry.  They're on a rotating schedule of eating, playing, and sleeping, punctuated by a lot of peeing and pooping.  By the time they go to their new homes, they'll be able to hold it longer.

Holly is being an excellent mother.  She plays gently with them, and she spends time in the box with them even when they don't need to nurse.  When they finish eating and leave food behind, she jumps in to finish it, and when the puppies decide they want more to eat, she shares with them.

The weather has been cold so the pups haven't gone outside as much as I'd like  It was warm enough last weekend that they got to play and explore on the front porch and in the dog run on the snow.  Since then it's been too chilly to go out.  They've played in the kitchen and explored bathrooms and Tony's wood working shop in the basement.  We have several other parts of the house where they will get to explore; we wanted to wait until they weren't peeing so much.  They've now walked on rugs, vinyl, wood, tile, concrete, and snow.  If the snow melts enough, I'll get them out on grass too.

I'm continuing to play a lot of music for the puppies, as well as various sound recordings - lawn mowers, thunder, babies crying, children playing and shouting, cars honking, and much more.  Caroline plays the trumpet and piano for them, so I think they'll be quite musical!  The TV is on in the evening and they've heard the sounds of football, dramas and comedies (and, unfortunately, the Kardashians).

Last night I looked again at the newborn photos and saw just how much more coloring they have now, both their heads and bodies.  Their freckles are coming in, and spots have faintly appeared on the legs too.  Their faces have become more distinct, each one a little different. 

The puppies are learning that good things - like food and getting picked up - come when they sit, as opposed to jumping up on the side of the box.  I've been using a clicker and they have to all sit before I click and put the food bowl down.  I'm also using it with little treats.  They should know how to sit by the time they go home, and they already know that the click means a treat is coming.  I trim their nails fairly often and have trimmed hair around their feet; I've also run the clippers over their ears and bodies numerous times and have clipped hair at the tops of the ears of several; the others will get their turn.  They don't understand that the grooming table is up off the floor, because they would fall right off if I didn't keep a hand on them.  I'm doing a lot of "stacking," positioning them with their feet foursquare, which will make for easier puppy evaluations next weekend as well as more helpful photos; it also teaches them to accept hands restraining them and having legs and feet handled.  Experience on the grooming table will make vet exams go a lot more easily.

And now it's time to clean the "potty" section of the pen again.  I'm doing a lot of that these days!