Life Adventures

To bring another dog into the family is always a big decision.  To go up to 5 dogs is an even bigger one.  This is a number I didn't want to reach ever again.  We've been there before, when we brought Braddock home.  That said, Braddock ended up being one of the best decisions of my life.  Braddock is my heart dog.  However, Russ and I were younger then, and for some reason, life just seems a little more complicated now.  Another dog just didn't seem smart. We did desire to look at the puppies.  After all, we were curious to see what Braddock produced.  Also, we are friends with the breeder (Karan) and co-owner of the Dam (Anne Jones and her dog Fanny).  Our first puppy trip was in December on the way back from the Invitational.  Puppies were only 4 weeks old.  Karan and Anne felt I should be interested in Pilgrim, the smallest male.  Yes, he was a busy boy, but we didn't connect like I did with Braddock.  There were 2 other ridged boys, both bigger, and neither felt r

Karan brought Gracie up to us on Sat Jan 20, 2018. She came with 3 puppies, Hunter, Pilgrim, and Gracie.  It was hard to get a real feel for Gracie for two reasons.  One, Hunter is a menace, constantly biting and rough-housing, so Gracie spent a lot of time fending him off and less time being interested in us.  Once Hunter left, things got easier, but not completely. The second diffuculty was having to keep Pigrlm for 4 days until his owner could pick him up.  Having 2 puppies at once was harder than I had already envisioned.  In addition, the puppies needed some help with some basic manners, like biting inhibition, potty training, and crate training.  The only positive about having Pilgrim here was that Gracie had some company as she adjusted.  When Pilgrim left, however, she was pitiful in the crate.  She just wouldn't calm down initially.  So we ordered a snuggle puppy (which has a pocket for a heart pulse piece and a warm pad). This helped immensely. Let me back up to