The pups are getting BIG!

It's hard to believe the pups will be 13 weeks old tomorrow.

They are growing up so fast. Where is the time going?

Earlier this week I asked everyone to get weights on their

pups so we can see how they are compare to each other.

While the pups were all weighed on different days

within their 12th week, this will at least give us

an idea on how they measure up.

Here's who I have weights on so far:

Cooper...............13 lbs

Bree................14.5 lbs

Salsa..................16 lbs

Jack...................18 lbs

Ren....................19 lbs

Jaspar.................20 lbs

Rogan...............20.2 lbs

Let's plan on getting weights on them again at 16 weeks.

Puppy kindergarden has turned Cooper into quite the reader!

My two sons fight over who gets to have Cooper

sleep with them. Tonight, Hayden won.

Salsa update from Karen

Salsa is a doll!! Someone asked me if her feet 

ever hit the floor :) I said "not very often,"

because I know she will get too big for me to carry 

around soon and I just love having her in my arms.

She is doing great with her obedience...does a full

length tunnel, no problem. Here, sit, down, etc.,

also no problem. She is fearless, but still a little bit of 

a bully. We are working on that. She is getting the idea 

that it is I who owns the sofa, the bed, the yard, the food,

the food bowl, the toys, you get the picture!!

Here are pictures of Salsa and Jackie when she was

staying with Ann, Ken, Nickel & Penny. They were

sweet enough to keep the two of them while

I visited my sister for a few days.

 

A message from Salsa

Hi to awl my sistrs n bruders,

Here r sum pictrs of me....sum r n my frens Penny n Nickl's

furre bed, sum r of me being beyoutiful, sum of me cleenin

de dishes. I'm not shur of whoos nose that is in the furre bed,

but I think its my Unkl Nickl. Eniway, I miss u awl vewy much.

I doo hav sum big bruders (that doo not look like me) &

sistrs (that doo not look like me) & my mudder to pic on,

but I liked picin on yu guys bettr!! I hope u awl luv yur

nu famblys as much as they luv u.

Mor latr,

The Mity Salsa

Dante is a Tired Boy!

Whew! Dante is a tired boy after having a very busy day. Our day started with driving to Deb Hansen's house, Treeva's agility instructor, to join Treeva at our lesson. Treeva was run first and Dante expressed his displeasure that it wasn't his turn to have fun. Finally...it was his turn to play. We worked on going through the tunnel and basic obedience with the clicker. Yep, he's a smart boy and quickly picked up what behaviours rewarded him with a treat. After class it was on to visit and socialize with Ginger Tierney and her fine red dogs. Ginger is Treeva's breeder and Treeva's mom, Dawn - at 15 years old was quick to tell Dante climbing on her was not the proper thing to do. He figured that out quickly and didn't try it again. He had a blast playing with Treeva's brother Sky and Ginger's other girl - Sprite, who loved Dante. They had so much fun together playing and running. I wish I had brought my camera along to take pictures of the Vizsla party. Both dogs slept the entire ride home. He will have to rest up because tomorrow he gets to go to his second puppy class.

I am always impressed at how easily he adapts to new situations, new dogs and new people. He is truly a wonderful puppy!!!!

Bree has a new coat

This was Bree's first winter coat. It's amazing how 

quickly she grew into it and out of it!

It was getting to the point where we were

struggling to get her head through the hole.

 

This is Bree's latest coat. Some friends loaned us 

several coats for all her growing stages.

Doesn't she look sassy in it? :o)

Nap Time!!!!

They look like little angels while 

they're sleeping, don't they?

Here's a variety of pictures of the pups

during those quiet moments.

Bree doing the sleeping face plant.

Upside down Ren.

Rogan all stretched out.

Bree hides her face while on the couch with Rainey.

Ren all curled up on her fleece ready for nap time.

Rogan hanging out.

Ren naps with the pack on the couch.

Rogan snuggling with his blanket.

Josie nestles in.

A leg makes a perfect pillow for Bree.

Rogan seems to think a shoulder is a good pillow.

Ren likes napping in someone's arms.

Rogan naps in a crate like a good puppy should.

Photo Update: Rogan and Layla

Some recent photos of Rogan and Layla.

Layla seems to have a little vizsla shadow....

Layla checks out Rogan is his sharp coat.

And then the wrestling begins!

Rogan and Layla show off their teeth.

What's new with Bree

I have been asking everyone for their puppy updates

and then have neglected to add my own!

Bree is a little pistol! She's got so much drive and energy.

I can tell she is going to be a great little agility dog.

She loves to race up and down our stairs (we live on

the third floor) and she often beats me to the top.

She's a smartypants. While she is one of the youngest 

in our puppy class, she is quickly learning what she

is taught and is often used as a demo dog.

She loves the class because she gets to see her 

buddies Patton, a Weim (who's exactly her age); 

Amos, a Border Terrier and Diamond a Vizsla!

The one area we are still having some issues with

is the crate. She is fine with it on HER terms.

She will go in it willingly at night (in fact, last 

night she put HERSELF to bed!), in the car

and her morning nap, it's when she goes

in for her late afternoon nap that she raises

a stink. But we are making progress.

A friend lent me a copy of Susan Garrett's

"Crate Games" DVD, so we will be watching 

that this weekend. She's got to learn to love it. 

"Look at me!"

Practicing our down stays. "Where's my cookie?"

Bree observes Rainey's perfect stretch form.

Update on Josie

Josie is a people magnet!!!!

The weather has been really nice, so we've been out 

in the backyard with her quite a bit lately...

and when we are, we can always count on a neighbor

or two (or eight, as we had on Sunday) coming over

to play with her. She's such a show off. And when she 

gets tired, it's pretty funny to see everyone clamoring

to take their turn cuddling with her...

she loves her cuddling!

We've lined Josie up to go to a train-and-play

daycare program where we'll drop her off on 

the way to work and pick her up on the way home.

In between, her day will consist of socialization,

playing and training. Mark's balking because that 

means that he'll miss out on his visits (his job

allows him to stop by during the day); my neighbor

who comes over to play with her won't be happy

either, but I think Josie will have fun.

She's a bit of a quirky girl. She adores celery!

We gave her a choice one day between

celery and a biscuit, and the celery won

hands down. That's a eating habit I 

need to pick up!

Hanging out on her bed with her chew.

"You looking at me?"

Laying back to chew on her toy.

New photos of Jaspar

Little Jaspar is reaching that stage in Vizsla puppydom

when the ears are bigger than everything else!

Hanging out in the grass.

Looking very handsome in his service vest.

Bree tries to get Aunt Rainey's attention

Bree LOVES her Aunt Rainey 

and tries her best to get her attention, 

but doesn't have much luck!

Dante Pictures 1/16/09

Treeva wanted to make her own appearance - She has been really great with Dante, showing him the ropes and playing really nice with him!

Dante's favorite place to hang out is on someone's lap. He loves to curl up on a lap for a long nap!

What do you think of my new coat? I love it because it make Wisconsin weather more

tolerable. Even with my new coat I don't like -18 degree temperatures - buurrr...

Dante in a clean basket of clothes. "Hey this makes a great bed!!!"

Dante Got a New Coat

Things have been rolling along here in Wisconsin - Dante is just a wonderful puppy!! I am honestly shocked at how quickly he's settled into our home and routine. Last night when I tucked him in his crate to go to sleep for the night he protested for about 10 seconds, then he curled up, groaned and went to sleep. This week we are "looking forward" to zero and minus zero temperatures, so a new coat was in order. I guessed at the sizing and thankfully it fits perfect (which means in a matter of weeks it will be too small). Last night he wore it outside and for the 1st time was pretty happy to be out there.

I started clicker training him - sit and come are doing very, very well - especially when the whole prospect of a treat is there just around the corner. Polly was right, their eye contact is something an obedience person would "die for". I also started working on "Down", but that is going to take a little more time.

Nail trimming and the Kong are a match made in heaven!!! If any of you are having any difficulty with nail trimming, I have my husband hold Dante and a peanut butter loaded kong - It frees up both my hands to do the nails and they are done in a matter of minutes.

Socialization is also going along well. We have our first puppy class this weekend and will attend a "Puppy Party" afterwards (which is apparently a great opportunity to socialize with other puppies). He visited last weekend, on Saturday, with my friend Penny Honetor and Rob Glazier's Vizslas. We had a party to go to that night and it provided the perfect opportunity to socialize with some different dogs - Treeva went with him. The next day (Sunday) we visited with my brother's Dachshund - they played very hard together (lots of growling on Dante's part - Karen I can see what you mean about the growling he did with littermates). Up until now, he generally doesn't growl when he plays with large dogs. I honestly think he thought my brother's dog was a litter mate. There was never any aggression, but he growled most of the time he was chasing him - and he took lots of "time outs" to sit for a minute before he returned to play. On a great note, the Dachshund held his own and was never intimidated by the growling.

So that is what is going on here. I am going to post some pictures of him in his new coat as soon as I get them taken and loaded in the computer.
Mary

Bree and her winter coat

January in Chicago is pretty darned cold, so Bree 

needed to be outfitted with a coat. 

We picked this up prior to bringing her home. 

It looks like she has still some growing to do!!!

As you can see, she's really fond of wearing it.

In fact, the first time we put it on her,

she proceeded to do a stop, drop and roll!!!

I wish we could have gotten that on tape!

She has adjusted to walking in her coat as

you can see in the video below:  

More photos of the Magnolia puppies!

Here are some more photos of the puppies

at their new homes:

Jack helps take down the Christmas decorations.

Rogan sleeps in the "shark cage."

Josie plays with the curling ribbon.

Ren would like to recommend that all vizslas get their

own pet English setter. They make such good

playtoys and vizsla beds!!

Ren enjoys a stick.

Introducing Magnolia Heartsong Latin Lyric "Salsa"

Salsa is exactly what her name portraits....

saucy & sometimes overwhelming!! 

She is hilarious. We are doing basic

obedience...sits, downs, here, etc...and

she catches on quickly. She is very confident

and sometimes I have to remind her who pays 

the bills around here. :))

I love her to pieces though!! I need to 

borrow Ken's camera or go out and purchase 

one of my own!! I've already missed some

great photo opportunities. :))

Karen covers Salsa's ears upon hearing stories

of Crystal and David's previous vizsla

Denali's Houdini-life. 

She didn't want to give her 

wild child any ideas!