We received these photos a couple of weeks ago from northern Minnesota.  9 month old Mavis is looking stunning. Her person wrote, “The calendar says it’s just about spring, but it’s a winter wonderland here. The dogs are enjoying the snow.  Have her [Mavis] enrolled in a foundation agility class and she is a rock star. Until they are older we don’t jump them. Work on contacts, the teeter, dog walk, ramp and tunnels.  The word I use for the teeter is bang as it makes a loud noise.  The instructor calls Mavis ‘Big bang’ as she fearlessly slams it down.”

(For those of you with Mavis’ sisters, you might appreciate knowing that Mavis’ began her first heat cycle.)

I came across photos of growing puppies from last summer’s litter that I realized I received but never got posted.  Here are Remmie (number 1) and Croix (number 12) with their people, living wonderful lives in the midwest.  The first two below are Remmie:

The next two are Croix (below)

It warms our hearts to see them living well-loved and active lives.  Apologies that it took me a couple months to get them posted!

Unbelievably mild weather allowed us to open up windows and doors yesterday and imagine that spring is imminent, even though we know we could get a dumping of snow before spring really arrives.  I spent some time out on our screened porch yesterday and captured this “panorama” photo using my phone and then drank it all in – the view, the sounds of migrating birds, the mild air and those fresh smells that come with the earth waking up.

Xupe, Finley and Chev were out there with me and wound up in the lower left corner of the photo. They could care less about weather – snow, mud, cold, warm, rain, wind –  they’re all good as long as they can get out there in it.

Finley’s back in the house (along with Biff), now that her heat season has subsided.  It’s good to have everyone together, although some back-end sniffing continues by the boys, still keeping an eye on Finley’s (waning) fertility status.

Biff said that Finley laid on his chest as they hung out together in the evenings this past week.  She continues to jump into our laps, even when the furniture doesn’t lend itself to snuggling.

Poor boys, Chev and Xupe are living through the peak of Finley’s heat season.  Their noses are sensitive and the barn where Finley is now residing with Biff is not all that far from the house.  The boys get the fenced back yard and Finley gets the fenced outdoor space on the far side of the barn, but her scent travels, nonetheless.  We’re counting the days ’til this heat cycle wanes and life returns to normal.

We heard from Walter’s family today.  He’s 7 months old and has been ice fishing with them.  Evidently Griffs (or at least this Griff) is as good in the fish house as he is in the field or in a duck blind. Here’s the story as they shared it with us…

Happy Birthday to Chev!  He turned 7 years old.  We love him so much – our calm, loving, amazing hunter who was our first Griff.  He’s fathered 62 puppies to date!

He shares his birthday with Biff, who is pushing 9 in “dog years.”  They also share a passion for ginger.  So Biff got his traditional gingerbread birthday cake and Chev got a dog-healthy ginger pancake.

The pheasant hunting season ended in Minnesota today at sundown.  These past three days Biff drove about an hour west of us to Wildlife Management Areas that he’s previously hunted and/or scouted out and mapped. He and the dogs saw tracks in some places and popped up the occasional hen or rooster but they were in tough-to-shoot-at-cattail marshes, and he came home with only stories to tell. Meanwhile, here at home we had pheasants eating corn at our feeder and I counted 19 roosters and hens pecking around in a farm field a very short distance from our property. I’ve never seen that many pheasants together in the wild. Those birds, assuming they survive the coyotes and the coldest part of the winter ahead, will be the moms and dads of next spring’s chicks.

The snow finally arrived and the dogs (including our houseguest, Griz) have been romping in it all morning.  Wet paws are so much easier to deal with in the house than muddy paws, and my wish is that the temperatures will just stay below 30 going forward.

Happy holiday season to all humans and canines!