Basha Baby

Here's a picture of Basha. Basha originally was sent to a new owner, who unfortunately had to return her to me. His life and her life were not in sync and so she came back to me. (This was my oldest son John.) It was, however, very fortunate for me that it worked out this way. I had kept 3 of the puppies from this litter. Dunaj Jr. is living with the ewes, chickens and cats. Margita is (was) living with the ram lambs. She's having too much fun with them and was just moved this morning. Tesia is a house dog. Basha's been here for 2 weeks now. She is absolutely gorgeous altho this photo does not necessarily reflect that. She had a lot of fun out in the mud and I had to take this picture of her. She's been walking a little funny. Today all 4 of these puppies had a visit to the vet for their rabies shots. While there, we did an x-ray of Basha's hip, just to see what was there. Well, much to my delight, they were excellentand also very well angulated! Because she is such a beauty, I have decided to keep her and see how she turns out down the road. I may place Tesia with a club member out in Oregon. My husband and I leave for Idaho soon and while there, we will determine if Tesia goes to her new home or not. But Basha stays with me now. She's been very sweet and wonderful. And who knows, maybe the dog that was returned will turn out to be a wonderful breeding specimen over time.

Labor Day Already

It's been forever since I've posted a thing. Been so busy. Had a great time in MN for the Polish Festival in August. Will post those pictures too but first some updates on the dogs here at GHF. This first guy is Dunaj Jr....named for his father(doon eye). I think he is quite handsome and he is turning out to be very mellow. His hair appears to be a little wavier than his sisters' here but time will tell. He is a very sweet boy. He is out with all the ewes, the chickens and the barn cats. So far, so good!

This is Gita, short for Margita. She is living with the ram lambs. She had TOO much fun one day with a chicken, so this is where she'll stay for a while. She is a bit pushy with them too but they do turn and butt her off, so let's hope that continues and she relaxes even more.

This is Tesia (Tesha) the house dog. She is very mellow, I am surprised by it. She was always a middle of the road girl but has become quite nice. Doing well with overnight sleeping and housebreaking but spends so much time outdoors during the day that we are not really doing the housebreaking routine as in the past with other dogs.

Dear Sweet Bella, the mom. Her figure is back but her coat is thin, poor girl. Yet she is happy and perky and a wonderful dog. Glad she's back to normal.

Now an exciting thing happened this past week. I got back from the mill my first ever processed fleece. I am thrilled with it, yet am not quite sure what I'll do with it all. I have to put it into 4 oz. balls for selling and hopefully I will actually do that soon. And I have some cute sheep ornaments/statues I want to make and that will be fun. I have 15 boxes like this, assorted colors. Very cool. I am determined to take a class this fall or winter to learn to spin and who knows where that will take me down the road. For now this is wonderful to see the final results of what is produced here on the farm .

OK, it's been FOREVER it seems that I posted something. We had our huge Corn Fest Party here at the farm on August 8th....a day filled with family, friends, food and fun. How blessed we are to have such wonderful people in our lives. Took us a few days to recover from that.

Then we switched gears and prepared to pack up four dogs and truck up to the Twin Cities for their revival of a Polish Festival. Herm, I and the dogs took the RV and headed north. Quincy travels very well, but the two puppies were another story. We take one of the large crates and mount it above the cab of the Class C RV, perfect fit. They cried in there for about 20 minutes, then settled down very nicely. The little rat dog, dear Tiger Lily, is a perfect angel in her teeny crate and you practically didn't even know she was there.

We had a fabulous time at the festival. Terry (another dog club member) and I, along with 3 of the big white dogs, went to KARE 11 Television studion on Saturday morning for a short but fun spot on TV. What a hoot that was. Here is the video from that morning. It's very short and I'm only the last 30 seconds or so of the tape.

Tried to embed the link but not having luck. Here's the actual link, check out the video on the right.

http://www.kare11.com/news/local/mornings/saturday/saturday_article.aspx?storyid=822109&catid=21

What a wonderful weekend we had. Our club booth members were terrific, the weather held out for us pretty well and the dogs were the best. We literally had thousands of people come over to see, pet and ask about the dogs. We hope we can go back again.

Here's a shot of Q snoozing in the RV......such is the life, eh!!

Puppies are 8 weeks old!

Here is my big guy, Quincy, the grandfather of our litter of puppies, trying to relax on the dog room floor but Ms. Purple and Teal see to it that he doesn't get much rest. He has been extremely tolerant of the young dogs. While he can be very protective of me, especially behind fences, he's always shown great restraint and patience whenever there has been a puppy around.

Details of the litter: as of today, I am keeping 3 of the puppies. 2 are living with sheep and one will become a house dog/pet. 4 of the puppies have already moved on to their new homes and 2 more leave within the next 2 weeks. That leaves one girl left and I continue to get inquiries regarding her. We shall see where she ends up!

People are always asking if I am sad to see them go. The answer is NO! First reason is that I believe the homes where they've been placed are good ones or I would not have accepted them as new owners. But the work load with so many puppies is very large.....when I walk they are constantly underfoot and they eat like there's no tomorrow. It has been an incredible adventure but it's time they all move on. Also because I am keeping a few, the empty nest is really not. I'm already myself dealing with housebreaking issues and beginning training. It takes a lot of time.

Official Registered Names of the Puppies:

Puppy 1 Yellow girl - Margita (she's here out with sheep) will call her Gita

Puppy 2 Pink girl - Danuta (means Little Deer, she's so tiny) hope to place her in MN

Puppy 3 Blue boy - Marek (call name Emmett) family pet IL

Puppy 4 Purple girl - Tesia (she's my house dog)

Puppy 5 Teal girl - Anka (may go to NY)

Puppy 6 Green boy - Dorek (call name TBD) family pet WI

Puppy 7 Red boy - Dunaj (named for his father, out with sheep here)

Puppy 8 Rose girl - Basha (call name Arcee) family pet IL

Puppy 9 Green girl - Halina (call name TBD) family pet WI

Puppy 10 Black girl - Ania family pet in MT

Here's a big HELLO to niece Katie, who reads my blog. Great seeing you on Saturday :)

Monday and WE'RE SIX WEEKS OLD

Today was Quincy's day to officially meet all the puppies, up close and personal. He can be a bit ferocious across the fence with strangers here at the farm, but he's always been extremely tolerant of all small animals. So he just plopped himself down out back by the tree with them and I took these pictures. Quincy was my first Tatra and will always be my big baby. Here he is with two of them right on top of him practically. They were sniffing his muzzle big time.

Ms. Teal (or Turquoise) could not get enough of him. How funny!

She just lingered the entire time and didn't stray too far from him. I think she will make someone a very nice pet, especially if they already own a dog.

This is little Ms. Teal again, snuggling up to him. Most everybody else could have cared less at this point.

So Sunday the 26th brings temperament testing. By late that night, I should know which puppies will end up with what homes and new owners. Wish us luck, it'll be a long day :)

Saturday 7.18.09

So, they are all eating up near the house and I don't have to always deal with pesty bugs near the back of the yard. They are eating dry kibble now and just drinking water. Yeah! Here's two of the puppies cleaning each other (we may say they're kissing) after eating. This was so sweet.
Here's Bella coming to break up a fight that was getting loud. She's been such a good mother. Still will let all of them nurse, which is very gentle and caring of her.

As she leaves to retreat back to her privacy, sure enough, Ms. Light Green is there trying to climb up and join her. She's quite the outgoing little girl.

Puppies at the gate. You can't have a litter without getting one of these shots with them all clamoring to be set free!