A complete dog mad nut from Australia. I own 2 Australian Shepherds and absolutely love the breed, all things dog training and behaviour and one day hope to be working in the behaviour field and possibly breeding these gorgeous dogs!
I think I'll have my hands full in a few weeks time :o. These babies are Norty!!!! We have found our voices and started growling and barking at each other, which is highly amusing as they sound SO violent about it all ;). Anyway - we gave them a bit of dinner tonight (enjoyed by all), popped Kinta back into the pen, went to clean up and came back to puppies escaping from their box!!!!
What more can I say other than a picture tells 1 000 words.
"Ok - so this is what you gotta do...." what - you mean like this?! Misty - Oh wait! I missed it, how did you do that again! Lacey testing out her vocal cords (and crying for mum to come back) And naturally, a few extras: Done!
Ok, so I've been a little slack ;) :o. What can I say - once you go back to work, the time to write on your blog is severly cut short as there are so many hours in the day, and most of that needs to be filled with puppy gloating around other necessary stuff ;).
Everyone is all going well here. They have now opened their eyes and ears, are a little more steady with their walking and starting to interact with each other. Fun times ahead I say ;)!
But - important things first! After my 'first fun run' that never eventuated, I actually made it to one today ;). A 5km run around Princes park - near Melb uni. My plan was to finish it comfortably (note not collapse at the end) and to finish it in under 35mins if I could. Well all went pretty well, I loved the experience (small run that it was and FREEZING temperatures that we had!) and managed to complete my run in 30min40sec!!!! WOOT WOOT! Am very happy with myself, and can't wait till our next run which will be a 10k at the end of June - the "Run to the G". After that who knows, but crazy or not, I am toying with the idea of a sprint tri (really short swim, medium bike ride and short run).
Ok now to the important stuff.... video's first.
This we took during the week as the puppies started to walk about - it's amusing enough ;). Take particular note just after I shoot on Kinta - piglet falls over and watch what Panda does :)
Second is of their weaning today - first meal - delightful mush that it was, they seemed to enjoy it! I have NO idea why Panda screamed like that though - I mean, the way these puppies have been mistreated :O....
And now - some piccies of them.... see - far more exciting than before right?! Panda featured a bit today, because she was so active!
I was nt doing ANYTHING!
SHH!!! It's sleepytime!GIRLS rule and BOYS drool - you got it?!
Yup - It's hard to believe, but these little 'squishies' are all 1 week old now, and all have names ;). They are growing like weeds. Kinta is a great mum, but protective streek has arisen since the first few days. Visitors are still welcome, but not too close to the bubba's please and *careful* how you hold them thankyouverymuch!!! I'm still incredibly proud of what a good mum she is and a little in awe of instinct and how quickly that sets in!
Well - I guess to mark the milestone I guess pictures are in order :)
Tri Boy #1 aka "Ollie" - The piggy of the litter weighing in at 600g! Future agility dog seeing as he is already climbing *over* the pigrails if he gets stuck!
Blue girl # 2 aka "Misty" - a real sweetie - still questionable on markings, but the two girls are just..... sweet, with picture perfect colouration. Blue girl #1 aka "Polly Pocket" - the smallest of the litter, but not by much! So far she has the most striking markings - strong copper (which was a surprise!) and just beautiful merleing. Perhaps a little quieter than the others?! Tri girl #1 aka "Lacey" - aptly named because she was the closest marked to 'mum'. Pretty little thing. Full white collar and some nice rich copper coming through now.Tri girl # 2 aka "Panda Bear" - aptly named due to her markings. She's another one always moving about and her markings seem to attract everyone. Tri girl 3 aka "Piglet" - started off the smallest, but quickly caught up with the others. Very pretty girl :) And a few more :) Motherhood is really tough yaknow!
A lot of you know that once a girlie has a litter, when the pups are around 6-12wks old, Mum's coat goes on sabattical in a BIG way and tends not to return in any great rush. Now for those of you that know *Kinta* knows that she thinks having a good coat is 'optional' and has only been considered in the past few months. So all through this pregnancy I have thoroughly enjoyed her coat, but also lamenting the fact we weren't in the ring raking up those final 15pts! I thought I might post these pics - 3 days after major surgery and popping out 6 pups, we have gone back to 'sentry' duty, ball chasing, Leo razzing and in general making sure #1 is well looked after :). I snapped these photos while she was having some fun around the yard, seeing as her coat was so shiny... I mean I have to enjoy it while I can, coz soon there won't be *anything*!
I was also thrilled to today FINALLY fix up my webpage. We've been having some formatting issues, so after deciding enough was enough, I deleted the page and started again. Wala! It's working properly once more! So please, check out our page - we have lots of lovely piccies of the bubs on there etc :)
Now - so that Leo felt that he was still loved, we took him with us when we went to the local farmers market today (fairly low key, not much there).... I spied a good place for some snaps (the downside of getting an SLR means that you will take it everywhere with you ;) ).. here is what we came up with:
Mum - you still love me.... don't you?! Did someone mention FOOD?!?!?! Living up to my name and looking like a 'lion' on a rock ;) And lastly - just to show you I haven't forgotten ;). All the bubs are going well - gaining weight and just looking plain gorgeous *gloat*
THEY'RE HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yup - after much angst, stress and waiting, Kinta has finally popped! She has given us 6 beautiful babies - 5 girls and 1 boy in the following :
3 black tri girls 1 black tri boy 2 blue merle girls
They were of reasonable size - smallest being 320g and the largest 400g!! Unfortunately delivered by c-section due to Kinta's temperature dropping on Sunday night and with still no action on Wed I decided to get her prog tested to see where we were at. As to whether she would have started labor later that night or not is questionable, but we obviously didn't want to risk it. Hindsight is a wonderful thing as it turns out the 400g whopper (breach) would have gotten stuck thus ending in a cesarian anyway.
Mum and bubs are great - Kinta is awesome with them. she is a doting mother, yet seems quite happy with the cat and leo milling about (but not too close) and after a bit of a bark, is happy with visitors (in other words, no different to usual). She's also quite happy to leave the box when the bubs are happy and full. Good girl!
Time will only tell whether we'll breed again - at the moment, I think I'll give her one more go (she was only going to have 2 litters anyways), but breed closer together and see how she goes. It's interesting as none of her relatives have shown these problems before either. I wonder if it all could be connected to our pregnancy issues also and they all came hand in hand and in other words we were just unlucky this time around?!
But -for now, we are all happy, healthy and ridiculously cute!
Pics because I know that's what you all *really* want to see (rather than hearing me waffle)...
Black tri boy 1: Blue merle girl 1: Blue merle girl 2: Black tri girl 1:
What can u say about yourself anyway.... If I like something i'm obsessed with it, my main being books, musicals and dogs.... there really isn't anything overley exciting to say!
Obed - working on getting that UD up to scratch...
Freetime - Haven't been doing much of this lately, but want to shape a head down and cross paws
Agility - Still working on speed, much improved in other areas, but will work on jumping grids also
Tricks - Quiot set, skateboard, prayers, flyball box.... been to lazy to try really hard on them though ;)
The Show Pony
Kinta's training
free time - Also not really touching on this lately - perhaps down the track some more paw exercises and the 'bow'
Obed -consolidating and trying to get those blasted CD passes!!!!!
Showing - Still working on the free stack and 'animation' in the ring - and of course chasing those lovely points ;)
Agility - consolidating 2o2o as well as weave entries from a variety of obstacles (collect yourself and enter correctly)... and of course.... speed and motivation!!!
Tricks we now know are spin, leg weave, back, speak, shake, nose target... working on Bow in free shaping... .. nothing else yet ;)
My gorgeous mutts
Books I'm reading
Currently reading -Inheritance Series - new fantasy series
Just Finished - Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Next to read - Harry Potter again, or maybe Anne?
My Obsessions
"Wicked"
"Miss Saigon"
"There she weaves by night and day, a magic web of colours gay"
what - you mean like this?!
Misty - Oh wait! I missed it, how did you do that again!
Lacey testing out her vocal cords (and crying for mum to come back)
GIRLS rule and BOYS drool - you got it?!
Yup - It's hard to believe, but these little 'squishies' are all 1 week old now, and all have names ;). They are growing like weeds. Kinta is a great mum, but protective streek has arisen since the first few days. Visitors are still welcome, but not too close to the bubba's please and *careful* how you hold them thankyouverymuch!!! I'm still incredibly proud of what a good mum she is and a little in awe of instinct and how quickly that sets in!
Blue girl # 2 aka "Misty" - a real sweetie - still questionable on markings, but the two girls are just..... sweet, with picture perfect colouration.
Blue girl #1 aka "Polly Pocket" - the smallest of the litter, but not by much! So far she has the most striking markings - strong copper (which was a surprise!) and just beautiful merleing. Perhaps a little quieter than the others?!
Tri girl # 2 aka "Panda Bear" - aptly named due to her markings. She's another one always moving about and her markings seem to attract everyone.
Tri girl 3 aka "Piglet" - started off the smallest, but quickly caught up with the others. Very pretty girl :)
And a few more :)
Did someone mention FOOD?!?!?!
Living up to my name and looking like a 'lion' on a rock ;)
That's all folks :D
THEY'RE HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yup - after much angst, stress and waiting, Kinta has finally popped! She has given us 6 beautiful babies - 5 girls and 1 boy in the following :
motherhood is tough!
