Puppy Journal

The latest installment in Sheila Miller’s “Puppy Journal” — a diary of her experiences raising the litter of puppies that our little Miki was one of…

This week was my spring break (finally!!!) and I usually go back to school with stories of some home improvement or garden project, or at least a clean house. :-) All I did this week was take of the puppies. It was nice to be home with them and be able to get them outside more often.

Monday was our trip to Reno for eye checks. We got a late start due to awakening to heavy spring snow blanketing everything. The shade cloths in my kennels collapsed and I had to dig them out before I left. Just when you think it is safe to put away the snow shovel…

The road to Reno was sloppy but good. We made it in time to visit with Ken and Diana Braunstein and their dogs Emma (Sayward, Crockett, and Moi’s sister) and Sherlock (rescue). Ken and Diana are always so good about opening their beautiful home to puppies and Emma and Sherlock couldn’t be better with puppies than their own mother. Eye checks went well. The Dr. said, “perfect”. I ran a couple of quick errands and we were back on the road home. I was hoping we could drive the four hours in one shot but they definitely reminded me that 3 hours was their limit.

Tom and Karen Gracz arrived at my house Tuesday morning to pick up their puppy. Wow. They drove all the way out from WI literally through tornadoes, driving rain, and blizzards. Karen told me, “All the sign said was 'Winter Conditions Over Parley'. What’s Parley"? Now they know as does anyone who has entered UT from WY on I-80 (or vice versa). The weather was good when they got here (though muddy from the previous day’s snow) and they stayed a couple of hours to play with, study, and go over each puppy. Karen brought toys and Tom shot off his starting pistol. After much careful thought, Karen packed up White Boy and they started for home. She made the right choice because I started crate training him and had his bags packed the night before. :-) White Boy (black male) will soon be “Wolftree’s One Over Par", call name “Bogey”. He is related to Tom and Karen’s previous FS Casey (1/2 brother to grandma Juno, littermate to great, great grandma Chevy) and his daughter Keeper. Bogey is going to have a great life in WI.

I had to run a few errands in town on Wednesday and I was just too plain lazy to put the puppies in their big x-pen (I didn’t want to clean it again when I got home) so I decided the puppies needed more practice riding in crates (like the 3,000 miles under their belts wasn’t enough). I’m glad I brought them. I ran into our music teacher and her two little girls at the Post Office. I asked her if her girls would like to see the puppies. Would they ever! We went over to their house and let the puppies and girls loose in the fenced yard. I love to watch young children with puppies. They speak to them like they were people. It is so charming and innocent. :-) After the play time, I listened to Keetna’s (spelled wrong I’m sure) piano recital and then watched little Kyra work the monkey bars hand over hand. Pretty impressive.

Since this was my spring break, Thursday meant working in my classroom. :-( I’m sure something happened on Friday but nothing memorable.

Saturday was another going home day. Tom and Debbie Dilatush drove over 800 miles to pick up their new agility prospect (Blue Boy) and to transport Purple Girl to her new home near them. Blue Boy (liver male) tested high for trainability and also scored high in physical structure. Tom picked him up and huffed, “This is a lot of dog”. Very true. I reminded them that he was also one of the top show prospects in the litter so that means he needs to keep his hair and his testicles. :-) Tom brought tons of camera gear and took enough pictures to fill a daily calendar. Debbie brought a plethora of toys to tempt the puppies. Cheyenne, my shy dog, couldn’t resist those toys. She gingerly entered the living room, carefully picked up one toy, and then slowly retreated back to the bedroom with her prize. I’m sure she was thinking, “If I don’t look at them, then they can’t see me”. :-)

Blue Boy will soon be “Wolftree’s Wild Card", call name “Miki”. Miki is Hawaiian for “Agile One”.

Purple Girl (liver girl) has gone to Poway, CA (San Diego) to live with Richard and Judy Shriver and their aging Welsh Springer. Those who have been in the breed awhile will know of their previous FS. Their Smokey was a littermate to Higgins. So their puppy is also related to their past dog (Grandma Juno is a Higgins daughter, Smokey niece). Richard and Judy are still mulling over an appropriate name. Sometimes you just have to live with a puppy before you know the right name.

So I am now down to three 10-week old puppies, Yellow Boy (black male) whom I am calling Bo for the time being (you know, because he wore a yellow ribbon <groan> ), Green Boy (liver boy) who doesn’t have a moniker that sticks yet (today I was trying out “Amigo"), and Pink Girl (black bitch) who I have decided to keep. Her name will be “Wolftree’s Stardust” in keeping with an astronomical theme I started with Juno. Stardust is the comet-catching spacecraft that flew over my house this winter on its way to landing in UT. It fits Pink Girl because she still has stardust on her face. Her call name is “Lucy” (think Lucy in the sky with diamonds…) Of course, her markings look more like black pearls than diamonds. :-) I’m going to write more about the futures of these three puppies later this week.

Since I am on spring break AND it is a Sunday, that meant that I spent most of the day in my classroom. :-( Unfortunately, that time turned out to be the nicest part of the day. I came home and gave the puppies lunch and a little walk and then walked my old chessies True and Mercy. A spring storm was swirling around the mountains. We were in bright sunshine but the mountains just got darker and darker. Lots of thunder rumbling and I could see sheets of rain falling and a few lightning strikes. We made it back to the house in time to take the puppies out to potty one more time and then back in the x-pen. They aren’t too happy today being confined but better that than in the rain. The black sky moved over my house and it has been raining steadily for over three hours. The road is a mess and the grass is growing! My mower still isn’t fixed so crap.

Do you remember the early days of this journal when I would comment on life with the Dura-Whelp? Well, those troubles ended about the same day my troubles with the AKC began. Just over two years ago, I leased Picabo from Debbie, Sandy, and Carla. I did everything by the book and had my lease papers signed, sealed, and delivered by the time of the breedings. The AKC sent me my lease notification and a note telling me that I forgot to include the litter registration. I told them the puppies weren’t born yet. They said breeders usually send them in together. OK. This time around, I sent the lease papers in after the puppies were born along with the litter registration. About three weeks later I received the lease notification. The very next day I received a letter from the AKC stating that I was the litter owner but they were unsure who the breeder was. I made a mistake on the lease form and it would cost me another $15.00 and three or four weeks to correct. Damn.

I was mad at myself but got the needed signatures and wrote another check. Then began my almost daily checks at the AKC web site to check on the paperwork progress. It was always listed “pending” or “under review”. Monday morning, the day of the eye checks, I called AKC and asked what was happening. The customer service operator told me everything was in order, I was the breeder and litter owner, she gave me the litter number, and told me the registration papers would go out in today’s mail. Good news!

On Tuesday, Debbie received an e-mail from AKC congratulating her on her new litter of Field Spaniels and that she would be receiving the papers in x days. Oh that can’t be good. I went to the web site and the litter was there but I wasn’t. I paid $15.00 to AKC to lease Picabo but did my second $15.00 de-lease her? I called on Wednesday and this time it was AKC’s SNAFU. My paperwork was correct but instead of releasing Debbie and Sandy, they released me. She admitted it was their mistake but thought that maybe I had confused them by sending in the lease papers with the registration application!!! Here is the most interesting part of the call. I asked her how long this would take to fix. She replied, “Well, you know this is Wednesday”. What the heck does that mean? Is Wednesday code for “holiday"? It is going to take a few more weeks to straighten out. I was so mad all I could do was shampoo my living room carpet (just water though because of the puppies). I almost thought I was going to have to do my ironing but there is no point going overboard. :-)

On behalf on younger siblings Bogey, Miki, whatsername, Lucy, Bo, and whatisname, I would like to congratulate big sister Ruby on gaining her tracking certification this weekend. She is now eligible to try for her TD. Congratulations Julie and good luck to you and Ruby!

Sheila Miller

Wolftree Acres

Nevada, USA

sdmiller@the-onramp.net