Saying goodbye...

Andy saying goodbye to Ms. Green 

All the puppies have gone home by now and everyone is being kept very busy.  Some have started tracking, some have been doing bird work and going to hunt tests.  Most importantly the puppies are adjusting well with their new family of people and dogs and being exposed to all the things they will be doing in their lives over the next seven weeks.

Puppies brains grow for 16 weeks so we strive to do everything the puppies are going to be doing during the first 16 weeks of their lives.  That ranges from traveling and spending time hanging out in the car, waiting around at dog shows to being in hotel rooms, going to a kennel overnight, getting birds and retrieving, getting on agility equipment at full height (with a spotter for safety), going to the mall, train station, Home Depot to meet people and see cars and of course  tons of woods walks!  

When I get the photos together I will introduce each gamebird puppy with the new name and family.  

They're almost all in their new homes :(

Vicky Schmidt with the puppies before heading home with Mr. Orange

One of the puppies very comfortable on the bed last Friday

It's Sunday evening and we are waiting for Paul and his family to pick up Ms. Rainbow.   It is a little sad to see everyone leave but the puppies all need their own homes at this point.  No matter how much we do it cannot be enough.

So we say goodbye to each puppy knowing they are going to have a wonderful life.  We really hope each and every puppy buyer will keep in touch and let us know how they are all doing for years to come. 

Tomorrow I head home with Drake a/k/a  Mr. Red.  We'll start our new adventure together and get back to my regular life. There is no way to thank Gayle, Andy, Marcy and Jim for all they have done to help these puppies be the very best they can be.  Now it's up to you guys.....have a blast! There are a few more photos in the nine week section. Enjoy!

On the road again...

Gayle and Auntie Corey with the pups

The gamebirds have been traveling a lot recently. Yesterday they went to Albany for their heart and eye clearances. The puppies traveled well, but I will admit it was a bit noisy on the way up. Today Cindy Groveman brought Janet Bunce (of Wochica Goldens) to do a structural evaluation on the litter. We spent a number of hours stacking puppies on the table and watching them move on the kitchen floor.   Thank you,  Janet, for doing such a great job educating us!  What was really nice was having her tell us that it was an incredibly uniform litter.

The Pups on the shore of Lake Alice

Loki playing with the pups.

Later in the afternoon we packed up the puppies and all seven of the big dogs and took them to Lake Alice for a walk. As we started our walk Loki, from the Gaylan's Baseball litter, was walking with his owner Lars (who is also the property owner).  You should have seen the  look on his face seeing 18 dogs and puppies running at him. What a wonderful boy he is - playing with the puppies and running with all the big guys. The weather was lovely as we walked through the woods around the lake. Once we finished the walk we loaded the pups into the van and then took the big dogs to the lake to swim and clean off.    It was truly a glorious afternoon!

Check out the Week Nine Photos!

What A Wonderful Day!!!

Today was the puppy walk, and what a day it was.  Despite the rain, about 30 people got together to take the pups for a woods walk.   The pups got to romp in the woods while each puppy was assigned to a team of people who were asked to take notes about what their puppy did   All the people got an A+ for not calling their pups!!!!   We do not call the puppies, because we are imprinting the following behavior.  We want them to take responsibility to keep an eye on us rather than the other way around.  

When we got back we enjoyed a pot luck lunch and the puppy room was standing room only.  

After about four hours the crowd thinned out and we got to take the pups out to introduce them to birds.  What a delight to watch every puppy turn on to the pigeons. Bizzy took her last walk with her pups since she is going back to Canada with Donna tomorrow.   As Gayle, Marcy and I walked the pups Bizzy almost brought us to tears as we watched her truly enjoying her babies - play bowing, rolling on the ground as they climbed on her, and playing tug with the tree branches.  It's a memory we will never forget.   

Whew - a LONG Day!

Yesterday was the temperament test and everyone is exhausted!   We started at 8:30 and finished up by 5:00.  Pat McKinney did an incredibly good job testing the litter.  All the pups did a GREAT job showing us who they were.   Now comes the important part, fitting the puppy with the right owner.   Gayle excels at many things, but matching puppies to owners is one of her gifts!   

Today we are doing the puppy walk - hopefully it won't rain too hard.  Later tonight I will hopefully be able to post some pictures and video of the day.

  

We're getting ready!

Mr. Brown giving Marcy a kiss after his grooming session.

Some of the gang hanging out on their outdoor bed.

Today we were busy with woods walks, cleaning pens, Dremeling nails, weighing and brushing puppies. The puppies and adult dogs are all pretty tired tonight, as are the rest of us.

Tomorrow is a big day, as Donna LaHaise (Bizzy's mom) is coming from Ontario, Canada with our friend and fellow Gaylan's dog owner Pam Martin. Pat Swallows is also arriving after driving in from Michigan. We are very excited that even though they are not getting one of the pups, they each made the trip to meet the puppies, watch the Positive Puppy Preview (a/k/a temperament test) and join us for the puppy walk. Over the next two days some of the puppy buyers will be joining us for the festivities as well.

As you can imagine, things around here will be very hectic, but we will do our best to post something to the blog each day. There are more photos in the eight week photos section - enjoy!

Happy Birthday Dreamer!!!

Tomorrow is Dreamer's first birthday and the Game Bird puppies wanted to be sure to be the first to wish Auntie Dreamer a very Happy Birthday!!!! As you can see from the above picture, she is THE BEST Aunt in the world!!!!!

Wow, these rock walls are fun!!!

Miss Pink trying out for the cutest puppy contest!

It is hard to believe that seven weeks ago these pups were born. The time flies by so quickly! They are really enjoying life in Cold Spring. They had a long walk and short walk today and had two visitors, Helen Sherman and Cindy Groveman. This morning after a long walk in the cold breeze they came home to a warm breakfast, which we give them on cold days to prevent them from being chilled through and through after eating food right out of the fridge. Later in the day, even though it was 43 degrees and quite breezy, the gang chose to spend 90% of the time playing outside or huddled on the elevated bed rather than inside. Here is a video taken around lunchtime of them playing in the puppy yard.




Enjoy the video - take a look at the photos and video in the eight week photo section and stay tuned.

Hope you didn't give up...

We're still here, but everyone has been so busy nobody has taken many photos of us. Seriously, the puppies are doing well, going on regular woods walks and playing in the yard. They love being outside and if it's raining they just ignore it and continue to play in it.  They are doing very well with their potty training.   We just got back from our night walk before putting them in the guest house to go to bed.  They have caught on and don't willingly come into the house - we've got to catch them. This was after two woods walks totaling two hours and forty five minutes!  I was away for a weekend of baseball (I was invited to see the Met's play their first game at Citifield - not a bad way to see your very first baseball game) and agility and they have grown into little dogs in the last three days. I promise to get more photos and video up tomorrow. There are a few more photos uploaded to whet your appetite for now. Sorry about the VERY dark video...

Bizzy nursing at 10:30 p.m. during last walk of the night

Gayle and Corey walking ahead with a few puppies on their second woods walk

We love it here!

Marcy and I arrived with the puppies on Wednesday, April 1st (no foolin') and got unpacked. They slept almost the entire way with only a whimper once in a while. When they got here and hit they ground running. They went for a walk with Marcy while Gayle and I finished getting things set up. They settled right into their new home and figured out the dog door very quickly. They went to the vet for microchips and blood draw for PRA testing. By the time they got back into the pen we were all exhausted!

This morning Gayle and I took them for a woods walk with Bizzy and Corey. They are great followers! They followed Corey over the ridge (which is quite steep) and down to the stream. Gayle and I looked at each other thinking we'd have to get down there to get them. But first we'd try to get them back.... Gayle called Corey and I called "puppy, puppy, puppy" and they came up over the ridge. I was amazed that everyone handled it so well. When we got back they had breakfast and a morning nap.   It was such a beautiful day I spent the afternoon with the puppies - Gayle joined me when she finished some of the work she needed to do. We sat in the pen and watched puppies and introduced them to Dreamer and let Corey in the pen, too. Dreamer was just fabulous with them! She is aware of her size and loves to engage them. You'll see when you see the photos of the big dog with the puppies. Then we decided to take the puppies, Bizzy, Dreamer and Corey out and down the front lawn to the stream. They had a BLAST! I've put up photos and video of different parts of the day - enjoy!

Puppies heading down the path to their pen (on the left)

Gayle enjoying an afternoon with the puppies