Our neighbor friend had just driven up when I snapped this photo yesterday. That’s Finley, Xupe and Chev (from left to right) patiently watching her arrival. This is not to say that they don’t bark when others approach the house. But they know Jan and she’s met mostly with wagging tails.
Below is a link to a lengthy post we did last fall, just as relevant now as it was then. Click on the link below and scroll down a bit to find the September 22, 2015 article titled, “For Those Looking For a Griff Puppy”
https://www.norlingrise.com/2015/09/
As always, contact us if you have questions. biffsgriffs@gmail.com or 612 382-3060
We received these photos of one-year-old Walter and Mavis, both of whom have canine siblings (Gus and Nelson respectively.) Below their photos are comments that their people wrote about them.
Walter’s family wrote, “I can’t believe he’s already a year old! We love this boy to pieces and we seriously couldn’t have asked for a better addition to the family. He absolutely adores [our daughter] and actively plays right along side and with her. They are like 2 peas in a pod. He is always so happy, a complete clown and he’s such a good boy; we couldn’t ask for a better pup (wait can I even call him a pup anymore!?)!”
That’s Mavis on the left, above, with her older “brother” Nelson. Her people wrote, “To celebrate her birthday, We brought Mavis (Norling Rise’s Gooseberry Falls) out to Gooseberry Falls. Good thing she was on lead as there were chipmunks, butterflies and moving water. All things that she’d rather chase than point! Mavis, Nelson, [my husband] and I all want to wish her littermates a happy 1st birthday. And a huge Thank you to Reine, Chev, Biff and Patti for bringing her into our lives!”
Back story: Mavis’s people played a huge role in helping us come up with “kennel” names for the “B” litter. Biff zeroed in on naming them after berries and they brainstormed more berries than we could come up with, i.e., Norling Rise’s Elderberry, Norling Rise’s Thimbleberry, Norling Rise’s Caperberry, Norling Rise’s Boysenberry, etc. It seemed fitting that Mavis’s kennel name be Gooseberry Falls as that is not far from where they live.
Memories come flooding back of a year ago, helping Reine whelp her litter of twelve puppies from the afternoon of June 14th through the following morning.
Their growth over the 8 weeks they were with us was astounding, from fitting peacefully into the palm of one hand to the rambunctious boys and girls they were when their families came to bring them home.
Happy Birthday to all the 2015 Chev & Reine puppies (and their families) from us at Norling Rise.
We’ve received great news in the past couple of weeks. Both Croix and Forest, brothers from Chev and Reina’s 2015 litter who are now 11 months old, prized in recent “NA” tests, NAVHDA’s (North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association) test of Natural Ability. From the NAVHDA website: “The Natural Ability Test is designed to evaluate the inherent natural abilities of young dogs and gain insight into their possible usefulness as versatile gun dogs. It rates seven important inherited abilities: nose, search, tracking, pointing, water, desire and cooperation.” It’s a great accomplishment to be prized in these tests. Congratulations Forest and Croix!
That’s Croix in the top photo and Forest below.
It’s a gorgeous May Sunday and I was out weeding a rock garden, accompanied by loyal Xupe who sat in my face as I tried to get started, not “getting” that I was low to the ground to attack weeds and not pet him. He chewed on dandelions and grasses, searched around for critters and, finding none, settled in behind me among the stones.
Griffs are bred to hunt and they do it well, but only for part of the year – hunting season. They are such wonderful companions every day of the year.
Happy Mothers’ Day to all human (and canine) moms out there.
I took these photos of Finley this evening while we were hanging around after dinner. She is such a sweet girl and such a focused hunter.
And below is her thankless son, Xupe, who didn’t even send her a card. He’s just chewing on wood! We love him, too.
One sign of spring is that I sit at the computer writing progress reports for hours at time. Chev, Finley and Xupe hang nearby, napping in their favorite places, waiting for me to take the next break and go out in the yard with them. (They have access to the yard through the doggy flap but they seem to prefer that one of us is with them outside.) When they read the cues that I’m going out, they go racing down and out, pausing to make sure that I’m really heading that way with them. We meander around for a while, simply for the pleasure of moving outside. If the time between my work breaks is too long, Finley starts “talking” to me as a reminder.
Today I spotted wildflowers (along with blooming buckthorn, dandelions and creeping charlie) while the three of them chased each other, chewed on sticks and sniffed around. They follow me back inside when I come in, although I never call them in. And back to napping it goes.
And so have some of the season’s least welcome critters, ticks!!! We have had very few on our land (to date) but the dogs pick them up when they’re hunting in the fall, even when they’ve been treated with tick preventatives.
I found a wood tick on Finley last night, happing snuggling in behind one of her ears. I’m tick-phobic but do not hesitate to use the tick key to slide those nasty creatures right off her.
They’re easy to find on-line and I imagine that good pet stores also carry them. Just google “tick key.” We highly recommend this little device and keep it in a specific place so we know we can get to it quickly.
Griz (last summer’s puppy number 4) has been with us for about a week as his family travels. He’s joyful, loving, playful and became just one of the “pack” within a day and a half of arriving. It’s like having a grandchild come to visit. His half-brother, Xupe and he have wrestled, chased and chewed on each other. Chev’s even gotten into the chase a few times.
