We’ve got updates on two of the puppies from Chev and Reine’s last litter –Griz and Forest who are now 6 months old.  Griz (just below, playing stick with our dogs) has been staying with us while his family’s vacationing.  What a sweet boy! He plays with Finley and Xupe and makes charming but mostly unsuccessful attempts at engaging his daddy, Chev, in playing with him.

Forest’s person sent the photo below and wrote, “We went out last night for our walk… we needed to cross a small walking bridge to get to the center of a slough. As we were walking across, he got to the end and ‘locked up!’ Just two seconds later a rather large rooster jumped up! Pretty awesome! I believe in all, we scared up around 20 birds last night. Absolutely love the little fella!”

The puppy boys we’ve seen are sure continuing to look like brothers, all taking after their dad’s looks more than their mom’s.

We welcomed four families on Saturday morning and afternoon.  The first two families wanted to meet Chev, Finley and Xupe to experience Griffs firsthand and “test” their allergies in their presence.  The last two visitors of the day were puppies from the “B” litter (Walter and Griz, formerly Numbers Nine and Four respectively) who returned to work with birds in the field.  The puppy brothers looked so much alike and a lot like their daddy, Chev.  Busy day, fun day.

Getting acquainted with our dogs (above)

Walter (left) and Griz and Walter (right) ready for birds and treats

There was some extra drama involving the pigeons that were to be used for training.  Biff discovered eight mysteriously dead birds in the loft while the other 50 were flying, circling above the house and barn. Weasel? We don’t know for sure but suspect it.

Jazzy, from our A litter, turned two last month. Her people shared the following photos and story with us:

  

Biff travelled to Iowa over the weekend to meet Chev’s most recent offspring.  Our own “papa” Chev was bred to Coppershot’s CC, owned by Cliff Koele, in August, and she produced six healthy puppies.  This litter was entirely “spoken for” before they were even conceived.  Here are a couple of the puppies at 7 weeks old.

We wish the new puppy families great joy and happy hunting with their beautiful Griffs.

Here are some glimpses of Woody, shared with us by his Minnesota family.  They celebrated his 2nd birthday with new toys and a birthday cake (using a recipe from a dog cookbook) made by their daughter.  They wrote, “He’s doing great and we couldn’t be happier.”

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On November 14, 2013, Finley began delivering 12 Griff puppies, fathered by Chev. Now, two years later, we want to wish Aya, Xupe, Dutch, Gracie, Riggins, Jazzy, Barley, Woody, Stache, Arlo, Chezny and Atz a heartfelt Happy Birthday. You may know that we kept Xupe.  I took these photos of him today as he played with his mom and dad.  He is still very much a puppy in personality and energy and we couldn’t imagine life without him.

That’s Chev on the left and Xupe on the right.

Xupe “playing stick” with his mom, Finley, on the right.

Two-year old Xupe

The puppies of Norling Rise’s “A” litter are nearing their 2nd birthdays. 12 of them were whelped on November 14th, 2013 and we heard back from one of those families yesterday.  Here’s Stache and we are amazed at how much he looks like our Xupe his littermate!

We would love to see more photos of the “A” litter pups at 2 years old.  Send them in and we’ll do a post them.

We received a couple of new photos of Walter (formerly Number 9) with his older “brother” Gus.  The bond between them is heartwarming.

I went for an early morning run yesterday and was nearing our driveway on the way back when four pheasants flushed, one after the other, up out of the tall grasses relatively close to the road.  They flew deeper into our property and disappeared into the landscape, safe from hunters. I’d heard them clucking and cackling as I’d headed out and was happy to see the birds doing well, despite the season.

We’ve received these photos recently from Axl (formerly Number 3) and Croix (formerly Number 12)

Axl (above) in the berry patch and relaxing at home.  Croix (below) after a successful duck hunt.