Piccolo en guard with her litter of Leo’s puppies. 23 October 2020
2 November 2020
Greetings to each and all of you!
Life inside my house has been active, these last two months. Leo x Piccolo puppies are scheduled for their nine week thorough wellness exams and first round of DHPP shots down at Broadview in Dover, NH on Friday. And then, the exodus begins.
Thanks to Leo’s humans (and unlike Annabel’s UNGRATEFUL humans ;>), we have a safe place for our hand off in the Boston area. Families are driving from only as far away as Connecticut this time, unlike last time when we had peeps drive to Boston from Nashville! But I’ll be driving AND flying, driving toward Montreal, QB with one of the brindle females. Lady Stephanie is our hope for getting the puppy across the border, as she’s a Canadian citizen with a US work visa and that will allow her to cross and return, if the Canadian Customs agents don’t look kindly on our situation. Then, on the 11th, I will fly to SFO on a non-stop out of Logan with Ani Diki-La (nee Pearl), be on the ground for 75 minutes and back onto another non stop returning to Logan and then, into my car. I’m intending to stay safe – not sure what that will mean on the plane, itself – and I’ll be armed with my Thieves essential oil spray by Young Living, a mask made by our local Stowe tailor and safety glasses over my readers. Folks might look at me and think, ‘Lord, that woman is mad as a hatter!’ – but I don’t care one iota. I can not go down, I will not go down!, unless something totally out of my control takes me out. And I will tell you why I’m so adamant . . .
TTCA 2019 National Specialty. Award of Merit for Questa, handled by Rebecca Bradley. Very exciting! May 2019.
All signs are indicating that the GRCHS Questa x CH Koko breeding took! It is very much appearing that we’ve got action in dear Koko’s hopper. Shortly after being bred to her knight in shining armour, the lovely Lady Koko started sleeping much more during the day and removing herself from play with her pals. Then? Her appetite went out the window, even for Helm’s freeze dried liver treats. And lately? Her appetite has clearly returned and she’s getting one frozen grilled loin lamb chop every morning, meat and all. ;>) Grilled to rare perfection? Frozen loin lamb chops are my secret weapon to aid in crate training, air transport and the best possible nutritional supplement to the Royal Canin gestational kibbles I feed my pregnant girls. The lanolin is fab for skin & coat; the fat supplies additional calories for fetal development; the meat provides essential fatty acids & amino acids necessary for proper organ development and the bones are great for calcium & minerals. Definitely not the inexpensive way to go but necessary to achieve our goals of maximizing health and vigor, in both mum and pups.
My beautiful Koko-loko, out of CH Oskar x CH Kodi from Nina Wagner. 24 February 2018.
With this in mind, I’ve identified & contacted the next four families who will be offered puppies, once the little ones have hit the ground and I’ve had a few days to live with them to ensure their health and vigor. A female for me, a male for Lady Carol and her family and then, three more who will hopefully arrive of the requested gender & whatever other attributes are of serious interest to their peeps. We have our XRAY scheduled for 25 November and that will be my first day OUT of quarantine after my trip to San Fran. My guesstimate is that pups will hit the ground ~ 30 November and then, we’ll be back in quarantine for three weeks – but at least, not COVID quarantine. ;>)
Campari on the left and Paige on the right. BFF. 7 May 2020.
News from the conformation ring includes Questa having earned his SILVER Grand Championship title and Campari finishing her Championship in Conformation. She competed this past Friday and took Best of Breed & a 5 point Grand Championship Major, the first of the three Majors required to earn her GRCH title. We’ve earned six points toward the 25 required and are in no hurray. However, there are still four more shows in November that will take place in Springfield, MA – and we remain hopeful that dear Campari will do well there, too. And at that point?
While I would LOVE for Campari to come home, we’ll be in quarantine anticipating the arrival of Koko’s puppies and the LAST thing we need is to risk exposure to anything (especially canine herpes) that might come back with our lovely Campari.
Surprise! on the left and Blanche on the right. Blanche goes to Montreal and lucky Surprise! goes to CT to join her Kensington big sis and a family of very grateful humans! 23 October 2020
It will soon be time to bid the current Little Rascals in my house adieu. They have been an easy litter to raise. Overall? They’re quite relaxed, adjusted to their crates very well, had no intestinal issues & tootsie roll stools – and they’re now on Day 5 of their 10 day proactive course of Albon treatment for possible coccidia. Nina taught me: treat for coccidia, before they depart – and know that you’ve set them up for a healthy transition from your home to their new forever homes. Here’s a photo of the two brindle females, for your enjoyment.
We wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving and continued good health, both physical and mental, as we stay focused on the things that we can control. ;>)
Yours truly,
WB.
