Saturday, September 09, 2006

Theeeyy're HEEEERREEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They're here! They're here! They're HERE!!!!! WHOOO HOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

You can see 1 day old puppy pics here!
OMG I am SOOOOO excited!!!!!!!!!

Also, take a peek at Verity, who is Tilley's daughter from her last litter who is the 1 year old I mentioned last post who *may* be available. (Breeder is still deciding if she wants to let her go or not.)

Of course, at this point, I don't know if I will get one of the pups in this litter, Verity or a puppy from another litter in late 2007 from Tilley. It depends on how many show prospects there are and if other people are interested in black tris now that they know there is only 1 blue merle girl. There were a lot of registries of interest for blue merle females early on... some people may choose to wait for another litter to get a puppy in the colour they want (which imo is absolutely nuts... there are SO many important things to consider when choosing a puppy, colour isn't even anywhere in the top 50!) while others may decide it's more important to get a puppy from this litter regardless of colour. It also depends on if a puppy that will be a good match for our lifestyle is in the litter. Not just temperment wise but also personaility and food/play/pack drive wise.

Ohhh... even if I don't get a puppy from this litter, I am just bouncing-off-the-walls excited about this! What gorgeous puppies!!!

2 comments:

No one said...

So, when will you know??? How long would it take to actually get the pup???

Geez, I wish I could get a chance to talk to you about this in person, LOL...

Amanda O. said...

Sif, I had to laugh. You've managed three toddlers, you can certainly train a dog! LOL People and dogs aren't that remarkably different in how they learn from a science point of view, it's just that humans can be more complex. In a nutshell: reward behaviour you like, ignore behaviour you don't like, manage the environment in the meantime so they don't get into trouble or develop habits you're not going to want to live with and if you run across a problem replace it with an alternative and incompatible behaviour. "Training" is less about lessons and more about living with them in a way they learn those all important life lessons that will teach them how to get along in the world and be a well balanced individual. Training for sports does require a bit more formal/structured work but you train in short bursts. I do about 5 minutes at a time with a clicker-savy adult animal with a minimum of half an hour rest to "process" between, a couple times a day. A puppy is more like 30 seconds at a time max. (10 reps with intent to reward every 3 seconds.) That's really all you need - honest!

I enjoy taking my dogs to sports and shows but you certainly don't have to do any of that to have a well mannered pet, anymore than you have to take your child to soccer, piano lessons etc. Both can certainly be fun and enjoyable activities that allow either parent and child or dog and handler to do something together, get some exercise and extend their relationship through the activity. But you can have those things without the activities just as well.

If you DID want to show and/or sport, I'm thinking it's probably more doable than you might think. You could always hitch a ride with someone and split gas or whatnot, plenty of folks do since they're usually going to the same events anyhow. Hoardes of equipment and do-dads are fun but certainly NOT necessary! Many breeds are wash-n-wear or don't require a lot of fussy grooming. When I've shown - Italian Greyhounds and Sharpei, my extensive equipment included: shampoo, a brush, a leash and treats. Aussies, being hairballs are slightly more complicated - they also require a pair of scissors. ;-) For sports, most folks don't have access/money to buy a bunch of expensive stuff so you make do and practice contacts on stairs etc. If you want to talk, let me know and you can give me a ring or come over or we can go out for coffee after PG or whatever. I don't know everything but I usually know who to bug to find out! ;-)

I probably won't know until early November regarding the pups, which is when the determination between which pups are show prospects and which aren't will be made and you really wouldn't want to seperate them from their litter and dam any earlier than that for social development reasons. But the early thought is that I may be getting one of the black tri girls who looks quite nice as best one can tell at this very young age. Once the determination is made, I would make arrangements to get the puppy shortly after.