TWO DAYS!

Why does the website turn the pictures sideways? And why only on some days and not others?! One of life's many mysteries!

All is well -- if very busy -- at Puppy Central. Yesterday Galen called us "Poop Central" as the little ones potty a lot. However, they are doing a great job going outside to potty so early housetraining is going well. I was standing outside in the dark this morning in barefeet (brrrr) as the puppies went about their early morning business, but that was way better than cleaning up messes inside!

We have two matches to report and also another intro! Jonn has agreed to let Ledger come and share his heart with Marley. I am sure that Ledger will love life in Frisco, Colorado with Jonn.

You already have met Terri some in the Blog -- she is the one who sent me her Nikon when my original Nikon had to go in for repair (it is still not back!) and Terri also wrote the lovely summary of her visit. Here is Terri's official intro:

"Hello, I'm Terri and I live in Portland, Oregon and really it doesn't rain here as much as we say it does! Currently we are having a glorious fall, the October weather has been fabulous, perfect for puppy potty training. Let's hope it stays that way for another four or five weeks at least so we can get a good start with the new Kaibab puppy and have no muddy paws at 3:00 am in the morning.

I live in the city about 4 miles from the heart of downtown, but our little neighborhood community and town center have a feel of their own. My 1920's house is only on a 50 x 100 lot, so the yard for a dog is small, but there are lots of wonderful places to walk and hangout. Portland is known for it's good local coffee shops, brew pubs and restaurants and many of them have outside patios that welcome dogs... so those are some of the of the places we'll be walking or bicycling to with Kaibab puppy!

Bicycling has long been a part of my life and one of the things I plan on doing with puppy is pulling her behind me in a bike trailer that I custom made just for transporting dogs (in addition to getting groceries!). It is also convertible into a draft cart, so when puppy grows up enough to be ready to do draft work I will have a cart all ready for her to use. There is a wonderful farmer's market 4 blocks from my home and I go every Saturday, May through November. Having the dog pull the cart to market will be a great way for her to do her ancestral work as well as being a fun way to introduce kids and adults to the idea of a working dog and berners in general.

This leads to how I found Mary-Ann and Kaibab's wonderful working berners. My first berner Siskiyou, whom I cherished dearly, passed away last spring, she made it to the amazing old age of 12.5 years! Knowing how much effort and time it would take to find a breeder whom I totally respected from the many points of view that were important to me I started my search fairly soon after Siskiyou passed away. That was a very hard thing to do, but my work schedule allows me lots of time in October and November so it meant either find a breeder who met my goals with a litter due early this fall or wait until next fall. The thought of waiting what at that point would have been a year and a half for another berner seemed unbearable! So I jumped into the search with both feet and an aching heart.

Starting with well over a dozen breeders who came recommended from various people and numerous emails later Mary-Ann hit the top of the list in all things I wanted in a breeder and in her line. The most important to me besides a pup from healthy lines was a breeder whom I could stay in contact with throughout the life of the dog and whose breeding ethics I respected, and the best part, she had plans for a litter(s!) arriving this fall! I flew out to Salt Lake City to meet her and her berners mid-summer and to give her a chance to meet me and my partner Jon. And after hoping and hoping and hoping that I made the cut for one of her puppies, I am thrilled to have the honor of bringing one of her precious pups home with me in just one short week. It feels like it's been a year and a half just in the amount of excitement and waiting. And what a special joy it was to get a chance to meet the puppies as five weeks old with a fast road trip to Montana in early October. They are all so cute and full of zest (and sharp teeth)!

I am a strong proponent of all things sustainable and environmentally responsible, so Kaibab puppy will be living in a household that is kept as free as possible of chemicals and other toxins, I garden organically and eat foods that are local, organic and sustainably produced as much as possible. My puppy will get that kind of diet as well (homemade) in addition to seeing a licensed DVM who also practices holistic/alternative medicine and therapies. Vaccinations will be as minimal as possible as well as other toxins such as flea treatments won't be used. I firmly believe that that approach played a significant part in Siskiyou's longevity.

Kaibab puppy will get to go on lots of adventures, hiking and camping and weekend trips to the beach and mountains. We also plan on doing obedience and hopefully learn a few things from Mary-Ann's vast experience in that arena. We are so excited that the National BMD Specialty will be in Portland in the spring of 2009. If any of you come out West for the event I am happy to provide tips on what to do and where to eat in our wonderful city.

Kaibab F puppy will be joining Thistledown Y puppy who arrived here recently! She is 18 days older, her name is Thistledown's Yaina Ochoco (meaning mountain willow, and the Ochoco's are an Oregon mountain range) and with the blessing of both Mary-Ann and Carri of Thistledown ours will be a two puppy household, rather unusual. It will be lot of work, patience and learning on my part to make sure each puppy gets special attention and gets the most out of life. There will be many challenges no doubt, but I have two wonderful people to ask for advice and to learn from.

I plan on naming my puppy Kaibab's Fuzzy Peach! There is a story to that name, and it is courtesy of Mary-Ann and my partner's 18 year old daughter and a box of peaches from Oregon! Her call name will be Peaches and she will join Ochoco in stories of their adventures in a blog, taken from Mary-Ann's wonderful idea of the F litter blog. You will find stories of their adventures at http://ochocoandpeaches.blogspot.com/"

Terri is going to welcome Sula into her family -- the world's waggiest puppy! Another match has been made but the owner has not gotten the email yet -- at least I have not heard any happy screaming from Utah this morning -- so we will wait until she knows before we announce it.

In today's pictures you will see more adventures at the agility yard where we walked last night. Kinsey boldly went up the full height teeter and about gave me a heart attack! Darby is in the tunnel and also posing nicely on that storage box. Rosebud is blurred but lovely standing alone. Madison is in two pictures -- she is trotting towards the camera and also in the round bowl! How comfortable can that possibly be?! We also have the Montana Puppy Moving Company -- Galen picking up Sula and Lolo-Faith who were being stragglers on our hike -- no doubt they just wanted to eat dirt, which is a favorite puppy activity these days.

The vet is coming over this afternoon to give Lolo-Faith a thorough check-up, complete flight certificates for the puppies who are flying to new homes, and to vaccinate puppies. We do a very limited vaccination schedule with the puppies and so this is their first vaccination and it is just for parvo -- we do not do combination vaccines. Parvo is a significant and real threat to puppies and we wanted them protected before we take this show on the road -- in TWO DAYS!!! I will be sad to see the puppies leave but am so looking forward to seeing all my friends in Utah and especially my HUSBAND!

Have a simply glorious and perfect day -- that is within your power, you know!