Axis of Evil, Redux

Oda precision-urinated in my shoe.

What the .... I don't even.

Who me?

Q-puppy portraits

Quick boy

So, the other pictures I took this past weekend were of the puppies. So, at 5 days old, I present to you the very healthy and sleek Q-pups!


Who knows what names they will end up with--Q is a hard one!

However, the boy's speed at getting up and scootching across the whelping box in the first hours of his life earned him the early nickname of Quick.

He has the most beautiful red markings coming through on his legs.

Make sure you get my good side!

The bigger bicolor girl is already gorgeous. She has such a handsome head and sleek body. Also, she has a bit of an opinion on, well, everything! I am going to call her "Quarrel"...

Quarrel--bicolor girl

The world should try harder to accommodate me!

Maybe my name should be "Querulous"?

And, as an editor, I think it's essential to have a Query, so I will give the sable girl this nickname. Right now she looks a lot like a plump otter baby. She was the smallest pup at birth (14 ounces) with the smaller bicolor girl being the next smallest at just under 16 ounces. She is pretty talkative and grunts and groans at being handled.

Query - dark sable female

I object to the lack of milk!

Such a sleek girl, I love her little mask. :)

I've always been a fan of the name Quest, so I will tentatively call the small bicolor girl by this name. You can see her small chest blaze--this will shrink to just a small spot by the time she's an adult

Quest - bicolor girl

She was very good at posing for her profile shots...

Get this side too!

I will, of course, be taking LOTS of pictures as they mature. I generally update the puppy gallery every weekend, so follow along there if you like!

Its a Family Affair....

This weekend, Samantha (Blackthorn's Olivia) and Sid (Blackthorn's Obsidian) were here for a visit. So we had family pictures....

 

Sid tries to appease the steely-eyed bitches

Well, we TRIED for family pictures. A lot of them turned out like this....

We were lucking to get them moving in the same direction.... 

Samantha and Sid

Or looking in the same direction... 

Not just nose to the camera lens....

 

Or, you know, not photobombing each other....

 And then it just deteriorated ....










 

 Xita got her romp on, trying to get her son to play bitey face....

 

Oda was oddly dignified....

Sid tried to figure out how to stay out of trouble with the girls....

Which turned out to not be all that easy.... 

"oh crap!"

Sid says, "i am little dog!"

 We were visited by the Four Dogs of the Adogoclypse....

Which turned into the Three dogs and the Disappearing Tail....

Don't these girls look like they're bringing Trouble your way?

Oda just looks like she's always carrying a can of WhupAss... and a can-opener

So, eventually, we got a couple of pictures that were pretty good...

Look at the camera, son!

 But we did not get the magical Four all together and all looking the same direction. Will Three do?

Sid, Oda, and momma Xita

Announcing the Q pups!

Hunter went into labor yesterday--and they were not petite small things, unfortunately. The first one down the chute was a big 18 oz bicolor boy. He got pretty stuck and I had to help pull him out.




Over the next 14 hours, she delivered the rest of the pups. There were a few stillborn, but in the end, I have four beautiful and strong pups--1 boy and 3 girls. One of the girls is a gorgeous sable, the rest are bicolors.



The sire of the litter is V-Bandit vom Wolfsheim, KK1a, SchH3, FH--the same as the sire of the P litter. The combo with Hunter should make some beautiful, strong working dogs.

Bandit

 

Blackthorn's Hunter

This litter is the Q litter, so I'll be coming up with some Q puppy baby names... Quick, Quest, Quasar, Quill, Query, Quandary....  (Click for puppy pedigree.)

Here, have some pictures from this afternoon!

Look at the head on this girl!

AKC Rally Trial

Jubilee, for once not insane looking

Aww, she is GOOD GIRL!

It's been a busy few weeks. This weekend I entered my first AKC trial since I got Frost's CD back in, oh, 1997? I entered Jubilee in Rally Novice B--and I wasn't sure how she was going to handle the crowded indoor venue. I know she's never seen that many dogs in one place much less that great a variety of dogs. Well, she did great! I am super happy with her. She took it all in stride--curious and interested in everything going on around her, but not distracted or stressed. This showed in her performance both days--99 points and 2nd place on Day 1 and 100 points and 1st place on Day 2. Good girl!

Joy in the Work

Ash's recall, trialing for his BH, Fall 1998

I was looking for this quote today, only to realize that it was on my website on some deeply buried page.

Trust is a sine qua non, and obedience is the foundation of every training; both go hand in hand, and both are inseparable. Blind and servile obedience is not rooted in trust, but in fear, and only rebels when out of reach of the whip. Such service we do not demand from our dogs, but an obedience which is joyful and always willing, founded on love for the master, and as such . . . founded on the satisfaction of a natural craving, which therefore must be consolidated by wise training from earliest puppyhood. With a young dog who is obedient in this sense—who waits upon the eyes and the mouth of his master, who comes joyfully when called, even from his feeding dish or his companions at play, because he knows he will be rewarded for his obedience by a kind word and by an affectionate pat, by a special tidbit, or as the highest reward, by a sharing in the activity of his master — with such a dog everything is possible later on, for joy in the work is combined with its accomplishment. This, as the outpouring of the power accumulated in the dog, is the result of sound nerves and a serviceable body build; and here again, it is a matter of breeding and training, both directed to a special purpose with a definite goal in view.

The German Shepherd Dog in Word & Picture
Max v. Stephanitz

This is what I want for and from my GSDs.

Cell Pics, May 2011

No great pictures here, but a smattering of cell phone pictures that give a few glimpses into the past weeks.

Walking Oda and Xita early morning, Bedlamb Farm in Smithfield, VA.