Wednesday, December 27, 2006

And Then There Were Two.

Only Fizz and Ryan remain here at WhiteStar. Finley left yesterday morning and Winter left early yesterday evening. Here are their Going Home stories....


Finley Goes Home!


After the excitement that surrounded the departure of Casper, Nina and Echo I was worried what might happen when Gary and his daughter Laura came to pick up Finley.


But other than getting up at 5 am to make the trip, missing a turn about a half hour from my house and getting a little lost, it all went smoothly!


The trip home was uneventful. Yay!!


I had an update from Gary this morning.... Finley slept thru the night quietly after being completely worn out by his new best friend and big brother who happens to be a Corgi!

Gary promises more pictures soon, but in the meantime, one last picture of Finley before he left...



Winter Goes Home

Brie arrived yesterday afternoon to pick up Winter. He is her graduation present to herself and his arrival has been much anticipated!


Winter will have two new brothers and a sister at his new home... it's an interspecies family as they are all cats. In fact I think almost all these puppies have gone to homes with kitties!


Brie reports Winter's first night at home was not quite as peaceful as Finley's....

Fizz goes home in a few weeks. In the meantime, I'll keep the Kelly-Cam up so that his new mom Maria can keep an eye on him!

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

9. Weeks. Old.

Casper (Green Boy) left Thursday.

Nina (Yellow Girl) and Echo (Black Boy)left Saturday.

Finley (Purple Boy) and Winter (Orange Boy) left today. More on their departures in the next post. Before they left we did the regular "birthday portraits"...






And YES, I do cry when they leave. Except for Casper. Not that I didn't miss him.. it's just that I was so excited for John and Becky to have FINALLY made it and to FINALLY see their puppy and hold him... that I just couldn't be sad at all. But I cried for Nina and Echo. And for Finley and Winter.

Saturday, December 23, 2006

Oh! The Drama!

(Nina and Echo Go Home)


Mama Kelly says "More people are coming today, you puppies better behave!"

Donna and Mary came to pick up Echo (Black Boy) and Nina (Yellow Girl) today. Unlike John and Becky, they didn't have to battle any blizzards to get here. The sun was shining, the snow is melting, their flight from Houston was on time. They arrived at my house about 11:30.


What could possibly go wrong?

About 30 minutes after Mary and Donna had arrived, just after they had met their puppies and about the time we were starting to look at the paperwork, my husband comes downstairs and says "Ilsa just jumped the fence."

(It should be noted here that although my fence is 5 feet high and electrified, the recent snow caused drifts in some spots that brought the fence level down to less than a foot. Yes, that means 4 foot snow drifts. Which are smaller than the 6 foot drifts in my kennel runs. Yesterday I had checked the areas of drifts and no paw prints came within 5 feet of the fence. They respect the electrical properties of the fence and don't get near it, even when it's not capable of shocking them because it's buried under snow. Or so I thought.)

I look out the window and sure enough there's Ilsa headed down the road at top speed. I apologize profusely to Mary and Donna, my husband gets in the truck, I get in the van and we go in hot pursuit. By this time Max has also hopped over the fence. The last I see of the terrible twosome they are heading down a dead end street and across an open field.


I drive around for 15 minutes or so then remember there were OTHER DOGS OUTSIDE with Max and Ilsa. Where are they now? I think I remember bringing Sam in....

I go home and sure enough Sam is in, and (thank goodness) Mary and Donna brought Taiya in. No sign of Ilsa or Max. I leave my cell phone number with Mary and Donna and head back out. Again, apologizing profusely.

Periodically I run into my husband. Neither of us has seen them. I am beginning to feel totally panicked. These are my BABIES!!!!!


After about another 15-20 minutes my cell phone rings! It's Donna and Mary!! Max and Ilsa are in front of the house!!!

Donna and Mary are holding down the fort, they can't catch them, but they are keeping them interested enough so they are not leaving. I get home and without too much trouble manage to catch Ilsa.

Max is another story. He takes off into the neighbors pasture where Max the Herding Dog discovers their horses. Well at least they keep him from going any further. He circles them. He stalks them. He wants them to MOVE and they won't.

I knock on the neighbor's door and tell her what's going on. She grabs one of her poodles to use as bait for Max and we head down to the pasture. After about 10 minutes (thank God Max was REALLY interested in the horses) we finally catch him.


All in all they were gone less than an hour. It took about 2 hours, but my heart rate and blood pressure did finally return to normal.

All the dogs will be taken out on leashes until the snow melts.

Mary and Donna? They were great sports about it all. And they learned a valuable lesson about NEVER EVER EVER trusting your Samoyed when the open range calls.

And Yes, they got their puppies and headed back to Houston without further incident.


Kelly explains the proper way to care for her babies




Wow. I bet Gary, Brie and Maria can't wait to see what happens when they pick up their puppies....

Thursday, December 21, 2006

WhiteStar's Perfect Storm?

Casper (Green Boy) went home today. The title above may be his new registered name.

Why?

You're never going to believe what his new family went thru to get him.... they will have a story to tell for years....



John and Becky left their home in Genoa, Nevada Tuesday evening. They had to drop Becky's daughter off at the airport in Reno that evening and were going to spend the night in Reno, then catch an early morning flight into Denver, arriving about 9:30 Wednesday morning. The plan was they'd rent a car, travel down to Colorado Springs leisurely, maybe see a few sights, then meet the pups at about 3:00, help me take them for their CERF exams at 4:00, head back to Denver and fly home on an 8:30 PM flight.

Well, on Wednesday morning John and Becky flew right into one of the biggest blizzards Colorado has seen in awhile. So big and bad that by the time they landed their return flight had already been cancelled. And by noon Denver International Airport had shut down completely!

It took them several hours to get to their rental car place. They upgraded their rental vehicle to an H2. John was determined to pick up his puppy!

By mid afternoon I-25 (the main route from Denver to Colorado Springs) was shut down. By taking back roads, John and Becky made it to Castle Rock, normally an hours drive from DIA and about 45 minutes from my house. They spent the night in Castle Rock where the only thing open was the Waffle House and their Motel. (They have stories to tell about the motel...)

Bright and early they headed out again. Back roads, as I-25 was still closed. I've never seen anyone so determined as John was to get his puppy. Back tracking and turn arounds. Snow drifts 6 feet high. Late this afternoon, just as the sun broke thru the clouds, John and Becky pulled into my driveway, 30 hours after landing in Denver, normally 2 hours away.



"Casper" met them at the door. John says he is worth every minute of the last two days :) This is the best part of being a breeder.

DIA is closed until noon tomorrow. Becky and John think they are just going to take the rental Hummer and hit the roads heading South (where the weather is already melting off the snow) and drive back to Nevada.... they have what the came for.

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

SnowBabies.... and... Who's Going Where!

This morning when I put the puppies outside so that I could clean their pen, they got to experience something new, something no other WhiteStar pup has ever had a chance to see this young....



SNOW!!



Unfortunately, every time I tried to step outside and get good pictures, they mobbed me. So I settled for going out on the other deck and snapping a few shots. Note the wire mesh around the deck to keep them safe... it's about a 10 foot drop off that deck!



Where Are They Going?

WhiteStar's Sleepless in Seattle (Ryan) is staying right here.

WhiteStar's Ninotchka (Nina) is going to Houston, Texas to live with Mary and her family.

"Casper" is going to Genoa, Nevada to live with John and Becky.

Purple Boy is going to Los Almaos, New Mexico to live with Gary and his family.

WhiteStar's Scotch 'N' Soda (Fizz) is going to Gainseville Florida to live with Maria and her family.

WhiteStar's Polar Express (Winter) is going to Colorado Springs to live with Brie.

Black Boy is going to Houston, Texas to live with Donna and her family.

Do we see a theme heavily favoring movie titles for names in this litter???? 3 of 7 so far....

Monday, December 18, 2006

8 Weeks Old

Is it really possible? Are they 8 weeks old already???

More than any other litter I've had it seems like the time has flown with these little guys.

This is the last time we'll have all 7 puppies together for Monday morning portraits. This time next week at least 3 of them will be in new homes, scattered around the country. Another leaves Monday afternoon.






Who's Going Where?

Yesterday we did puppy evals. Several friends (and one new owner) came over and we put the puppies to the test. Who is the most laid back? Which puppy needs a firm hand to guide him? Which puppy is dominant and which puppy needs coddling? Testicles were checked, bites (the way the teeth sit in mouth) were examined. Coat was considered as well as size.

I still have a few specifics to work out but it's just about decided where each puppy will go... announcements to be made as soon as all new owners are told first.

16 Degrees

So you know how last week I whined about the weather and how these "poor puppies" had not been allowed to go out because it had been too cold? You know inthe low 40s?

Well they really LOVE being outside. So much so that when I open the door of their pen to get them out so I can clean it, they head, in a huge thundering herd, to the back door. When they headed that way this morning I started to round them up to put them in another smaller pen.... it was only 16 degrees out! But they would have none of it, they wanted OUTSIDE. So out they went.


They had a great time herding their Cousin Sam around the deck.

After the pen was cleaned I brought them back in. After all it was COLD out! Their protests were so loud they are now back out again. It has warmed up to 29 degrees and they all seem quite happy.

Next on the Agenda

Three puppies go to the vet tomorrow to be issued health certificates. They'll be flying out with their new owners over the next few days. On Wednesday they all go to the opthamalogist for eye checks. That will be fun. me and 7 puppies in the van for the first time....

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

View From the Kelly-Cam at Noon...


Finally!


Ears Up!

Yes, really for real this time.





Cousin Max


CH WhiteStar's Beyond Thunderdome HIC

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

7 Weeks!!

The weekly pictures are a day late but the puppies are freshly bathed!

Yes, they got their first bath today. Winner of the Most Well Behaved in the Bath award was Purple Boy. Winner of Worst Behaved in the Bath was Blue Boy. Black Boy LOVED being dried with the dryer, Orange Boy not so much.

A few of them look a little bit like the Flying Nun with their ears starting to come up.....






Tomorrow I hope to get these guys outside in the yard for their first safari. The weather has NOT been cooperating. Earlier today it looked like it would be warm enough by the time they were thoroughly dry but it's dropped from the high 40s to the low 40s so I might wait until tomorrow when it's supposed to hit the 50s.

I did post the latest weights, taken yesterday morning. Looks like Blue has gone from being the smallest of all the puppies to trying to challenge Orange for Biggest Boy Bragging Rights. Yellow Girl has decided the best things come in small packages.

In other puppy news...the puppies have claimed their first victory. They have officially beaten my washing machine to a pulp. It gave up the ghost and died last Sunday so I'm off to buy a new one today which will hopefully be delivered on Thursday. I sure hope so, as I already have two loads of "puppy laundry" waiting to be done. My laundry can wait, theirs can't!!

More pictures when I finally get them outside.

Monday, December 11, 2006

Drive By Shooting Blogging

We are back from Amarillo and Cousin Max is a new champion!!! Yay!!!!!!!

Puppies have been weighed for this week, I'll post the results later tonight (it's more work to update the template than to spit out a quick message and it's just about feeding time here at WhiteStar) and new pictures will be up tomorrow after the puppies all get a bath.

The puppies will be receiving visitors next Sunday...several friends are coming to evaluate them. At that time suggestions will be made on where each puppy will go based on what the potential new owners are looking for.

Here's all I can say for now.... one goes to Florida, one to Nevada, one to New Mexico, one (or more?) stays here in Colorado and one (or more?) to Texas!

Monday, December 04, 2006

Hallelujah!

I think the puppies have figured out what the litter box is for!

They are using it for it's intended purpose about 90% of the time. It always amazes me how they just sort of figure it out after about a week.

6 Weeks!!

Wow! 6 weeks old already. And before I know it they will be 7 weeks. I am going to a dog show in Amarillo Texas this weekend and my husband is taking time off work to keep an eye onthe puppies. I'll be leaving Wednesday morning and not getting home until Sunday night so they really will be 7 weeks old in a flash of time.







That's Red on the right, not sure who is on the left, maybe purple.


Yellow on the far left. The rest I haven't a clue!