Catching Up

We made it through the weekend! This was the second Canine Reproduction Workshop that I've hosted for Dr Mary Stankovicz and Debbie Leach. We had 20+ dog breeders here over the weekend, complete with stud dogs and brood bitches. It was wonderful to have Gaylan's family members, Pam Martin and Jill Brown, down from Canada, as well as Newfie, curly-coated retriever, Rhodesian ridgeback, English cocker and many golden retriever breeders with us. We learned a lot about how to be more successful breeding our dogs.

Although the weekend was about puppies, the actual Southern Pups didn't feature prominantly. Not to worry, they were by no means overlooked. Througout the day, Amanda kept tabs on Skye and the babies. Then, each evening, after a long day teaching, working and learning, a bunch of us gathered with the pups and bottles of wine. The pups got cuddled, tickled, kissed, and hugged by many, many "aunts" (not many guys come to these workshops). Everybody had their favorite so the pups each got lots of one-on-one time with someone. It was a great way to end each day.

Tomorrow is a big day for the babies because they are moving downstairs. They have become quite active and coordinated so we are going to move them into the center of the house where they will get lots of stimulation and Skye will be in the center of the action, her favorite place to be. This will begin the pups housebreaking, since we will set up a large litter area in the puppy pen. They will also get introduced to things to climb on, crawl into and sleep under. It's an exciting time for them. Amanda and I will definitely take some photos and videos tomorrow.

The ones who felt the most ignored were Corey, Una and Dreamer. Dreamer finally got to feeling better as of yesterday. I'm assuming it was a spider that bit her and it got her good. The swelling of her ear flaps finally resided last night and she ate her first regular-sized meal this morning. Dreamer and Una decided to have some fun with Amanda this afternoon by *presto-chango* turning into chocolate Labs.

BTW, for those who were wondering, Gaylan is back from Tennessee. She goes to see Dr Jim on Friday for an evaluation and then we'll decide where she is going. Marcy and Jim were wonderful to go pick her up from Karen Langer. Hopefully, she'll be cured quickly and will head off to learn how to hunt.