Bella~
During last week's vet check Bella weighed 19.1#. It amazes me the level of maturity Bella has attained in only a week. Her house training is beginning to come around and she is progressing quite nicely with her basic obedience training of sit and come. Bella has taken well to the field too. I was able to secure a pigeon to get Bella started on live birds. I placed the bird in the yard for Bella to chase around. Upon release she ran directly to the bird, picked it up and returned it to me for another chance to retrieve it. She definitely has a liking for retrieving live birds. Aside from the live brid training, our training sessions have been composed of retrieving her dead fowl teal. She consistently retrieves from 10-15 yards with the occassional retrieve of 25 yards. Bella and I continue to go on our nightly walks through the field, woods and down to the lake. She's very fond of rousting moths from the alfalfa field. Once down to the lake she explores the tall grasses, cattails and has begun swimming again. It's been about three weeks since her last swim. It was at that time she was retrieving her dummy, but she was apprehensive about it. So I kept her away until now. This week I "re-introduced" her to the water and boy did she take to it. She hits the water with much enthusiasm. She even jumped from the dock a few times. Hailey and Bella get along quite well. They are constantly playing and rough-housing. There is definitely a pecking order with Hailey as the dominate female but Bella is not far behind always testing her limits.-David and Pauline, Center City, MN
Bella~ (from IA)
Life with Bella has been great! She is such a sweet girl, and very curious about things. We took her walking on the trails through our local state park, and she kept right up with our older chocolate lab. It was fun to see the two tails wagging as they went. So far crate training has been going well. She has a hard time going back to sleep after she wakes up--she's an early riser and ready to play! We had a little incident happen at home the Tuesday after picking her up. She came close to Harley's dog dish (our male chocolate lab), and he growled and bit her. He punctured a hole right on the side of her temple. We brought her to the dr. and they put her on medication. Long story short....a bump kept growing on her head. Brought her in and it was absessed. They did emergency surgery. A week later we brought her back to have her drain tuberemoved. She looks much better. She's full of energy, and has been into biting everything, and chewing up everything. We have everything kept up high now, except for her own chew toys. Bella is doing well with that. She has been sleeping through the night. Cory is really itching to take her swimming, but we need to wait until her little holes are healed up all the way. She has enjoyed playing fetch with her duck dummy, and loves walks. However, I do want to say that her and Harley get along very well. I believe it was just him getting protective over his food, but we've got everything straightened out--phew! A cute story...when we came home from the vet, Harley kept looking in her kennel wondering where she was. He went and grabbed her tennis ball, and laid it in her kennel--so sweet. He really does enjoy having her around and it keeps him active also. Bella has been so wonderful with our kids! She's loveable, and very mild mannered. She loves the fact that she found her bark!
-Cory and Michelle, Estherville, IA
Ruby~
Ruby is doing great. At her last vet check last week she weighed 21 pounds and is quite the bundle of energy. She has taken well to sleeping in her crate overnight, but it has been hard for me to get up with her at 5:30 am. The potty training is going well overall. She will go a week without any accidents and then have a few in one day, but I think she's starting to figure it out. She loves being outside and retrieving balls and dummies, both on land and in the water. She also likes tearing up lots of kid toys she can get her mouth on. So far we have gone through about 4 inflatable balls and 3 pool rafts, much to the dismay of the kids. She loves swimming also. She has been in the lake every weekend swimming with us and sometimes even jumps in the pool to get a ball or something else. She and Maggie are getting along much better also. Maggie stands there with her tail wagging now while Ruby jumps all over her and gives her kisses. They run around outside all of the time and Maggie is teaching her "the ropes" at the farm and the cabin. The kids LOVE her too. Jack asks for "RuRu" immediately upon waking up and loves to lay down and snuggle with her on the floor when she is calm. Grace has become quite the little mother with her and it is obvious that Ruby adores them also. Sage~
Sage weighs 17.4 pounds and we go back to the vet on Monday (July 12) for the rest of her shots. She is a lot of fun, but at the same time a lot of work. She has been accident free in the house for about 2 weeks. She is still into bitting and now starting to jump, so we are hoping to nip that is the butt before it is to late. The one nice thing is, that she never barks unless our cat is upstairs. She loves to carry things around that she is not suppose to have, she loves Kendra's toys and then they start to fight when Kendra tries to take it away and then Sage will bite her so it is a never ending battle. She is kennel trained and does great, but durning the day she ends to potty in there so I hope that will change. She LOVES to retrieve in the water and in the fields. Lucas takes her walking in the fields every other day, and she does wonderful retrieving. She does know what sit means and knows what come and stay are when she wants to listen. We went camping last weekend for the first time and she did very well. We got so many complements on what a beautiful dog she is. So all and all she is a very good dog and we would never trade her for anything.
-Misty and Lucas, Zimmerman, MN
Sasha~
Sasha has been growing very fast. She weighs a little over 21 pounds as of today. We took her out swimming a couple of times last week when we were on vacation. She loved it and was retrieving a tennis ball in the lake and dropping it at my side. Retrieving on land has been a little more challenging. At times she is very good, and other times she is in full puppy mode and will do every thing she can to avoid me while she has her dummy. She has been sitting very good and is also shaking hands. The boys have been having a little trouble getting respect from her but this is more due to them. Her house training has gone very well as long as everyone pays attention to her signs. She has not had an accident in the house or up north in 2 weeks. We are very happy to have her and look forward to many good years with her. I do look forward to her getting her adult teeth.
-Jody and Sean, Coon Rapids, MN
Bauer was to the vet last week and weighed in at 20 lbs. Bauer is retreiving consistently at 15 yds and has gone to 30 a few times. Loves to stalk moths and butterflies. Had him chasing a frog which was a lot of laughs. Bauer and Kado get along great and are best buds.
-Kirk and Beth, Bayport, MNBear~
Bear weighs in at a solid 23.5 lbs! Sounds like he's just like his sister Bella. He goes like mad for a while, then is "out for the count". He has been traveling to the ball parks twice a week and knows all of the girls! Sometimes he's a bit to manage, but is getting better with traveling in the car and behaving on the leash. We introduced him to water with a little apprehension, but he took to it like a duck (as long as he had his duck!) We still take a lot of walks in the neighbor's fields and Bear will roust out most of the butterflies! He is bold and very courageous as all of the toads and chipmunks live in fear at our place. Bear loves retrieving his "dead fowl teal" duck. 8-10 throws at 10-20yrds as long as its not too hot out. This last week he has really gotten crazy with his retrieves (runs with a lot of desire). We usually do this in the evening outside and in the morning we just throw in the kitchen/dining room a few times. Bear is running into the same issues with house training. He'll do good for a few days, runs to the door and scratches, then he might have an accident. So he has been limited to the tile unless we are in another room with him. He knows his crate is where he spends the night, so he heads right in at bedtime. He wakes up at 5am everyday! He has gotten very good at sitting and staying before he eats. We can put his food down about 5ft in front of him and he sits at full attention until we say "OK". Bear is up to date on his shots and loves going to the vet to see his three-legged, 1/2 tailed cat friend. Next month we're taking him "up north" to the cabin and fishing. He is such good little boy! We love him very much as he has filled that vacancy in our hearts that we had when our precious Reno died.
Thanks Dave for putting this litter together.
-Jeff, Byron, MN
Oakley~
Oakley is doing great! He weighed 19.5# at his last visit to the vet. He loves going to our cabin and running around outside. He is very social and must visit with every dog or person we meet when we are on walks - we have met many new people this way! Oakley is retrieving toys from the water - and will do up to a dozen retrieves and would probably do more but he gets tired. He also retrieved a dead northern from the beach and was quite stinky before we found him with his "prize". He has learned to sit and shake. House training has gone remarkably well and it has been about 2 weeks since we last had an accident. He has been on a few boat rides and does ok - although wants to get into anything he can find in the boat. He still play bites quite a bit and loves shoes so we have to be careful with where we leave them. Oakley has been a great addition to our family and we love having him.-Karen and Brian, Woodbury, MN
Rudy~
Rudy is a wonderful pup and has made great strides in his obedience training the past few days. He is learning to sit and come very well. It's been over a week since his last accident. I wish I had a camera with last night because Rudy solidly locked up on point. This was Rudyy's first point that I saw and was quite exciting to see. Rudy gets along well with our two labs Hank and Jake. Hank and Rudy are continuously playing and chasing one another around the house. It ceases to amaze me the affect a puppy has on a ten year old dog.
-Scott and Kathy, St. Michael, MN
Tucker~
Tucker has adjusted well to our home. He is a very smart dog, he catches on quick when it comes to doing things he shouldn't do. Like eating the cat's food and chewing on shoes. He loves the cat, he thinks he is a cool toy and chases him all over the house, much to the disappointment of the cat. He has learned to sit extremely well, that took only the first 2 days, and we are still working on lay down, and roll over, etc. He went swimming in the lake the other day and did quite well with that, I also had him out shooting clays, and I am relieved to say he is not gunshy by any means. It has been 2 full days since he had an accident in the house, so I'm hoping we're getting past that. He went to my friend's house yesterday while I was at work, and got along well with all her dogs and kids. I had to pry him away from the kids. He is doing very well, and learning fast, he is a fun addition to have around.
-Ashley, Bemidji, MN
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