Yes, I know, it's been a week almost since my last post. We have had a very busy week. Monday, Kolton and Harley had class with Jenn. First they worked a bit on agility. Kolton will be running Harley at the State Fair in the 4H dog show and needs to improve weaves and a bit of distance on them with Harley. After agility they did a bit of obedience. Harley's stays are getting better, not great but hopefully with work and three weeks to go they will do great at the fair. While Kolton and Harley worked, Nimbus got to hang out with his best buddy, Potion. It is amazing how rough they play and yet both of them go back looking for more. Nimbus will grab Potion by the side of the face and just drag her across the xpen. But she is always coming right back for more.
Tuesday, we had our second week of puppy class. Nimbus loves playing with the other puppies and is not rough with them like he is Potion. This week at class, Nimbus got to meet another Sammy lover. Her name is Vicki and she has shown Sammies in the past. She kept trying to give me instructions on how to train him and that it's ok to train a sit. Nimbus has a sit, he has no verbal cue for a sit, but does sit. He also has a down and stand. Stand is starting to get a cue as is down, but I am not working extremely hard on it yet. We have been working on walking nicely on a leash, and waiting at the door. Wait is coming along wonderfully. He does it great at home, out and about we are still working on, but it's coming along. Walking on the leash is also going pretty well unless there is something he absolutely has to get to, ie: Potion. Usually when he sees Potion he wants to pull hard on the leash, so we are working on it. He is still doing great with house breaking; granted right now it's more preventive than anything...taking him out often and giving him plenty of time to do what he needs to do. He has had a couple of accidents, but it's not because he hasn't told us..usually it's because I have to go before I take him out.
We have also been working on the table. I have been feeding at least one meal a day on the grooming table. I really want him to feel comfortable on the table, whether he is standing or laying down on it. He still is not quite sure of himself when he's on the table.
So, today Nimbus went to the vet for boosters. He was amazing..well he did pee on the vet, but he was very excited and just couldn't help it. He got a great bill of health and did fantastic for the shot. He weighs 15.8lbs. Wow he sure is growing fast. The vet was glad to see that I have trained for him to looked over. He didn't mind her "digging" in his ears or fumbling around with his feet and belly. He was not thrilled with her looking at his teeth but he tolerated it. Yeah, we are working on that too. I try to take about 10 minutes every night and go over him. Mess with his feet, rub his belly and back, and try to get fingers in his mouth. He is not thrilled with people messing around his muzzle but it is getting better.
Ok, so on to some fun stuff. We have a blast playing with Nimbus...he cracks us up on a daily basis. Tonight I took him out and he was cat pouncing crickets in the yard. He also likes to cat pounce his tennis balls or the zapp ball. The zapp ball makes all sorts of noise and lights up. He loves to throw it and chase it. Sometimes he gets the pink tennis ball mixed up with the zapp ball and gets a quizzical look on his face...as if to say, "Hey, I bounced you, why you not make noise and light up?" He loves and when I say loves, I mean LOVES plastic water bottles. We take the cap and wrapper off of them and just hand him the empty bottle. He will play with it until it is as flat as it can possibly get. He will slide on them around the living room, chew them, throw them or just carry it around. I don't know what it is, but he loves those things. He loves to chase Harley around and to torment the cat. However, the cat loves to torment him as well. When he is in the xpen, she will lay just right outside of it swooshing her tail. It drives him crazy. He will bark and bark at her and she just lays there knowing he can't get her.
Going to bed has become much easier, Nimbus has a pretty good "get in" command. When we are ready to go to bed we tell him to get in, and he gets right into his crate. For awhile he would get agitated if one of us got up in the night to go to the bathroom, but lately it's been getting better. He doesn't fuss as much if at all. He likes to get a piece of ice when we get ready to go to bed. If I have ice in my hand on the way to the bedroom, he will run ahead and just in his crate without being asked. He is such a great puppy. We all adore him and have fun with him. I find training the humans to be harder than training Nimbus. It's amusing to watch the others try to get him to do something by telling him rather than giving him a hand signal. He just looks at them like they are crazy. I have been showing them how to work with him because he needs to know he has to listen to everyone not just me, especially since I will be gone for three days next week. So I have been trying to run errands and spend a couple of hours a day away from home so he doesn't have a horrible time with me not being home. So far, it's been going well, and he always gives me a wonderful greeting when I come home.
We have a busy weekend planned. Saturday, Kolton will have an agility class, then Sunday we are going to an obedience/rally show n go and taking the puppy so he can hang out and Monday we are doing a rental and also taking the puppy. I don't think I will be able to post again for another week or so. I leave Wednesday or Thursday for Cincinnati for training with Pure Romance (my business) and won't be home until next Sunday. So until next time....
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Well Then...
I know I haven't posted in a few days. It's been really busy around the house. Nimbus is doing great. Wednesday, he got to go hang out at the farm with Potion while Jenn taught a couple of classes. Before, between and after her classes we tried to get some stack and movement shots of Nimbus. They are posted on her Facebook profile. Some of them aren't too awful bad. I have a very handsome guy on my hands. He loves playing Potion and whenever I mention her he seems to get excited. He is starting to bully her though. He has figured out how to throw his weight around a bit and will drag her by the side of her face. I hope this stops soon because Nimbus will be quite a bit bigger than Potion once they are both grown.
I have been working on getting Nimbus comfortable on the grooming table while lying down. He is doing better; I hope to incorporate some kind of grooming while doing this next week. We'll see. Today, I finally got his nails done. It was a bit of a chore: My husband had to hold him and I finally just got the Dremel out and did them. That was much easier than trying to use the nail clippers. He also didn't seem to mind the Dremel nearly as much as the nail clippers. After we were finished we gave a lot of treats and let him go out for some fun. I hope as we work more on this it will get easier.
Nimbus is finding some entertainment with a soccer ball now. He will chase it and bump it with his nose or will jump on it and make it go rolling away. It has been so hot he mostly would rather lay in the shade. I can't blame him, that's what I would like to be doing too.
We have continued working on door manners and he is doing very well. Most of the time he doesn't try to bolt out the door and will wait for me to say "OK" before he goes out. He is also starting to sit and wait for the signal. We have also applied this to the xpen and crate. He's learning. He has also learned that some people don't know the rules and tries to take advantage of them. It's a lot of work not only training the puppy, but also the people who live with the puppy.
I am thinking of starting a Facebook account for Nimbus so that more people can follow what he is up to and watch him grow up. Keep an eye out for this. So until next time...
I have been working on getting Nimbus comfortable on the grooming table while lying down. He is doing better; I hope to incorporate some kind of grooming while doing this next week. We'll see. Today, I finally got his nails done. It was a bit of a chore: My husband had to hold him and I finally just got the Dremel out and did them. That was much easier than trying to use the nail clippers. He also didn't seem to mind the Dremel nearly as much as the nail clippers. After we were finished we gave a lot of treats and let him go out for some fun. I hope as we work more on this it will get easier.
Nimbus is finding some entertainment with a soccer ball now. He will chase it and bump it with his nose or will jump on it and make it go rolling away. It has been so hot he mostly would rather lay in the shade. I can't blame him, that's what I would like to be doing too.
We have continued working on door manners and he is doing very well. Most of the time he doesn't try to bolt out the door and will wait for me to say "OK" before he goes out. He is also starting to sit and wait for the signal. We have also applied this to the xpen and crate. He's learning. He has also learned that some people don't know the rules and tries to take advantage of them. It's a lot of work not only training the puppy, but also the people who live with the puppy.
I am thinking of starting a Facebook account for Nimbus so that more people can follow what he is up to and watch him grow up. Keep an eye out for this. So until next time...
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Baths and Puppy Class
The last couple of days have been busy ones for Nimbus, or has he has been dubbed by Jenn and just about everyone else, Busbus. On Sunday, he had a nice play date with his Poshey. He loves Potion and they play very well together. It is amusing tho when he decides it's time for a nap and Potion tries endlessly to wake him up. She gets rather frustrated and will start grunting at him and pushing toys at him, or jumping over him, pretty much anything she can think of to try to get him to wake up. I guess she figures he came over to play and not sleep. Poor Nimbus just is not a border collie puppy with endless amounts of energy. However, Jenn was taking some wonderful pictures of the puppies and in those pictures we noticed how dirty Nimbus was. So I decided I would give him a bath. Sooooo, this is how it went:
Kenny, my husband, and I got the water started and made sure it wasn't too hot or too cold. We got towels and puppy shampoo out, and took off Nimbus' collar and then stuck him in the bath tub. That went great, of course the sprayer wasn't on yet, so he thought, "Oh cool, a pool in my home, how great, and the water is just the right temperature, this is great!!!" Kenny and I thought well this should go well...take notice of the word "thought". Let's skip ahead to when I turned on the sprayer. Oh my goodness, you would have thought someone brought out a knife and started stabbing a puppy in the bath tub. He started yelping and whining, and barking, and scrambling to get out of the tub. In about a minute Kenny was barefoot and in the tub with Nimbus. I had to remove my shirt due to the fact that the whole right side of it was dripping wet from where Nimbus had grabbed on with his front paws and tried to climb on me to get out of the way of the water. After about 25 minutes of spraying and washing and rinsing we were finally done with the bath portion of the evening. On to getting dried. After letting Nimbus shake and towel drying him as much as I could and cleaning up the hurricane mess in the bathroom and getting dry clothes on, we come into the living room to find Nimbus as hidden as he can possibly be up next to the couch. He had his whole right side up under the couch. Now, I don't know how often other people vacuum under their furniture, but we try for about once a week, unfortunately it had not been done yet at this point, so when we pick him up to put him on the grooming table he has dust all along the right side of his body. We get him onto the table and turn on the shop vac. (yes, I know, this is not an appropriate way to dry my sammy, but for now it works until I can find a dryer I like). I don't try to blow him with it yet, I just turned it on and started giving him treats, well let me tell you, this was not happening in his mind. He was trying with all his might to jump off that table. It ended up taking me, Kenny, and our youngest son to get Nimbus dried. Kolton fed him treats while Kenny kept him from jumping off the table and I blew him with the shop vac. We finally got him dried and combed out. He is such a gorgeous boy when he is clean. We have noticed he has a little bit of biscuit coloring in his fur around his face mostly by his ears and on his forehead, which makes him look as if he is wearing a bright white mask on his muzzle. However, he is clean and none worse for the experience. So it looks like I have a lot to help him work thru, but we are going to take it slow and make sure he knows that everything can be fun and not so stressful.
Tuesday was a great day for Nimbus. He got to go to his first puppy class. I think it made it better for him because Potion is also in this class. But he had a lot of fun with the other puppies in the class. He played very nicely and really impressed the "teacher". She couldn't believe how well he behaved being his first experience in the class. We have been working on door manners and although they are nowhere near perfected he is starting to show some impulse control. He did awesome on the recall exercise, coming right to me when I called him and when it was time to not play and settle, he only took a minute to do that. I was very proud of how well he did. I am excited to go back next week. I really like the class, they use +R in the class so if I want to c/t something he has done well then I don't have to worry about it disrupting anything because it is encouraged.
We have had a lot of fun the past few days with outings and playing. Nimbus has learned his name and comes running willingly when you call him. He has learned the kitty is not something that wants to play with him and he is learning to be easier on the minis. Although the two biggest ones weigh more than he does at the moment, he is as big as they are and then double the size of the other two. He still loves to hide in the cats "cave", I don't know how long he will actually fit in there but until he is too big, I'm sure that will be his favorite spot. Until next time...
Nimbus and Potion playing
Nimbus playing with Koda our oldest Schnauzer
Nimbus outside in the yard
Relaxing inside
In the tub, not very happy
I'm flat, and hiding under couch, you don't see
me
Look, all clean, what a pretty puppy dog
Kenny, my husband, and I got the water started and made sure it wasn't too hot or too cold. We got towels and puppy shampoo out, and took off Nimbus' collar and then stuck him in the bath tub. That went great, of course the sprayer wasn't on yet, so he thought, "Oh cool, a pool in my home, how great, and the water is just the right temperature, this is great!!!" Kenny and I thought well this should go well...take notice of the word "thought". Let's skip ahead to when I turned on the sprayer. Oh my goodness, you would have thought someone brought out a knife and started stabbing a puppy in the bath tub. He started yelping and whining, and barking, and scrambling to get out of the tub. In about a minute Kenny was barefoot and in the tub with Nimbus. I had to remove my shirt due to the fact that the whole right side of it was dripping wet from where Nimbus had grabbed on with his front paws and tried to climb on me to get out of the way of the water. After about 25 minutes of spraying and washing and rinsing we were finally done with the bath portion of the evening. On to getting dried. After letting Nimbus shake and towel drying him as much as I could and cleaning up the hurricane mess in the bathroom and getting dry clothes on, we come into the living room to find Nimbus as hidden as he can possibly be up next to the couch. He had his whole right side up under the couch. Now, I don't know how often other people vacuum under their furniture, but we try for about once a week, unfortunately it had not been done yet at this point, so when we pick him up to put him on the grooming table he has dust all along the right side of his body. We get him onto the table and turn on the shop vac. (yes, I know, this is not an appropriate way to dry my sammy, but for now it works until I can find a dryer I like). I don't try to blow him with it yet, I just turned it on and started giving him treats, well let me tell you, this was not happening in his mind. He was trying with all his might to jump off that table. It ended up taking me, Kenny, and our youngest son to get Nimbus dried. Kolton fed him treats while Kenny kept him from jumping off the table and I blew him with the shop vac. We finally got him dried and combed out. He is such a gorgeous boy when he is clean. We have noticed he has a little bit of biscuit coloring in his fur around his face mostly by his ears and on his forehead, which makes him look as if he is wearing a bright white mask on his muzzle. However, he is clean and none worse for the experience. So it looks like I have a lot to help him work thru, but we are going to take it slow and make sure he knows that everything can be fun and not so stressful.
Tuesday was a great day for Nimbus. He got to go to his first puppy class. I think it made it better for him because Potion is also in this class. But he had a lot of fun with the other puppies in the class. He played very nicely and really impressed the "teacher". She couldn't believe how well he behaved being his first experience in the class. We have been working on door manners and although they are nowhere near perfected he is starting to show some impulse control. He did awesome on the recall exercise, coming right to me when I called him and when it was time to not play and settle, he only took a minute to do that. I was very proud of how well he did. I am excited to go back next week. I really like the class, they use +R in the class so if I want to c/t something he has done well then I don't have to worry about it disrupting anything because it is encouraged.
We have had a lot of fun the past few days with outings and playing. Nimbus has learned his name and comes running willingly when you call him. He has learned the kitty is not something that wants to play with him and he is learning to be easier on the minis. Although the two biggest ones weigh more than he does at the moment, he is as big as they are and then double the size of the other two. He still loves to hide in the cats "cave", I don't know how long he will actually fit in there but until he is too big, I'm sure that will be his favorite spot. Until next time...
Nimbus and Potion playing
Nimbus playing with Koda our oldest Schnauzer
Nimbus outside in the yard
Relaxing inside
In the tub, not very happy
I'm flat, and hiding under couch, you don't see
me
Look, all clean, what a pretty puppy dog
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Settling In
The last couple of days I have been working with Nimbus trying to build a relationship with him. We have been working thru most of his meals on simple things like sit, down, left, right, and stand. Obviously I have not given cues for these things. He is doing really great with them. Today we added a "wave". I have begun to shape this with the clicker. It is very amusing watching him try to figure out what it was that got the click. He really started getting it towards the end of his meal. What I was looking for today was for him to lift his paw. By the end of the meal he was "waving" his right paw at me for kibble. Tonight, we thought we would clip the tips of his nails. They have grown quite fast and are scratching us again. However, Nimbus was not having any of that, so instead we are working on being comfortable on the table while laying on his side. I want to be able to groom him while on the table and of course I want him to be comfortable with it. So baby steps it is.
Yesterday, Nimbus got a new toy. He got a Zappo ball. It's a red ball that lights up and makes all sorts of noise when bounced. He loves it. He will pick it up and toss it and then go bounding after it. Every now and then he will bring it to one of us to throw for him, but for the most part he entertains himself with it. He has already torn a hole in one of his toys. I'm sure I can fix it, but I'm not sure for how long it will be safe. So it may be one that finds the recycle bin. Nimbus has also learned that the cat means business when she hisses at him. She has not actually gotten him, but has come close several times. Tonight we noticed he just looks at her and leaves her be. Maggie and Koda have finally taken to tolerating him. Maggie was very concerned about him when we were trying to clip his nails. She had to check and make sure he was ok. Koda has decided that barking at him doesn't make him go away and that playing with him is a lot more fun. I let the two of them run around together in the back yard yesterday and they both seemed to enjoy it...just them, no girls.
We are hoping for a play date with Potion tomorrow. That is if Jenn is feeling any better. I know Nimbus would love to play with Potion. She has a bit more energy than the minis at home.
Oh yeah, late at night, I let Nimbus roam around the living room so he can play and burn off some energy before we go to bed. I can always tell when it's time for bed. I acquire a new fuzzy rug at my feet. He loves to lay at my feet and get a belly rub. He's never far from one of us. I am so happy with him. He truly is a wonderful puppy and settling in well.
Yesterday, Nimbus got a new toy. He got a Zappo ball. It's a red ball that lights up and makes all sorts of noise when bounced. He loves it. He will pick it up and toss it and then go bounding after it. Every now and then he will bring it to one of us to throw for him, but for the most part he entertains himself with it. He has already torn a hole in one of his toys. I'm sure I can fix it, but I'm not sure for how long it will be safe. So it may be one that finds the recycle bin. Nimbus has also learned that the cat means business when she hisses at him. She has not actually gotten him, but has come close several times. Tonight we noticed he just looks at her and leaves her be. Maggie and Koda have finally taken to tolerating him. Maggie was very concerned about him when we were trying to clip his nails. She had to check and make sure he was ok. Koda has decided that barking at him doesn't make him go away and that playing with him is a lot more fun. I let the two of them run around together in the back yard yesterday and they both seemed to enjoy it...just them, no girls.
We are hoping for a play date with Potion tomorrow. That is if Jenn is feeling any better. I know Nimbus would love to play with Potion. She has a bit more energy than the minis at home.
Oh yeah, late at night, I let Nimbus roam around the living room so he can play and burn off some energy before we go to bed. I can always tell when it's time for bed. I acquire a new fuzzy rug at my feet. He loves to lay at my feet and get a belly rub. He's never far from one of us. I am so happy with him. He truly is a wonderful puppy and settling in well.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Day two in Indiana
Today was a pretty laid back day. Nimbus got to stay home all day. It was either way too hot to go anywhere or storming. And it's nice to not have to rush off anywhere. He is learning some door manners and his name. We have been clicking and treating his name. Hopefully it will sink in when we say "Nimbus" he comes running. I know the minis do because they know that the momma has cookies. Poor minis, the puppy gets all the clicks and treats. Well not all but a whole lot more than they do. He is still doing really good with pottying outside and letting us know he has to go. We have been letting him out of the xpen a bit more today. My living is set up so that we can close off the hallway and the kitchen and keep him in just the one room. His favorite place to sleep when he is not in the xpen is at my feet. I love that even if it does make my feet hot. Maggie and Koda are starting to get used to him more and not so grumpy when he checks them out. The cat loves to torment him thru the xpen wires. Nimbus will just play bow and bark at her and she just lays there with that look of, "ha ha, you can't get me here". I never said the cat was nice. Actually she doesn't really seem to mind him too much, just really enjoys tormenting him. Mostly today we just worked on door manners and his name. Door manners are getting better. Well it's late and just about time for bed. So, until next time.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Day one at my new home, in the words of Nimbus
Wow, what a day I had. First after sleeping all night in my new home, my new mommy and daddy took me outside. I have been doing very good about not pottying in the house. Then I got breakfast. Half of it was in a bowl like normal, the other half was in a toy. That was fun trying to get out of there. Even more fun was watching the other dogs watch me as I played with it and food came flying out. Then, I got to play with my Harley and Jozie. Harley likes to woo woo at me when I bark at her. I like to hide from her and then run out and jump on her. She is a good big sister. Hope she knows I am soon going to be lots bigger than her. After all of that excitement, I took a little nap. Then I had lunch and pottied outside again. Wow is it ever hot here, but I am getting used to it. For dinner, my new mommy she did some funny things. She made me sit on my bottom, stand up, lay down, and turn circles before she would let me have food. I tried to jump up on her but she said I couldn't have any food if I was going to jump. Oh yeah, and she made this clicky sound, and whenever she did that I got food. I really liked the clicky sound. After my mommy had her something to eat, we got in the car. I'm not so sure if I like the box in the car, but all I know is when I got out, I got to see my good friend Potion and her mommy Jenn. We played and played and played outside. Then Jenn got the pool out and we got to get in it and play. That was nice cuz it was really hot. After we got dried off some, we went inside Potions cage and I took another nap. I don't know what my mommy was doing with Potion's brothers but then she decided she needed to do it to me. I was not very happy, but I got lots of treats when I was being good. Now, my feet are not so hairy and my toes don't scratch my mommy anymore. I also learned I can't use my teeth on peoples hands. After that, I got to outside again, and play with my buddy. Then we got back in the car. Oh yeah, while I was playing with Potion, she told how fun it was to drive the mommies crazy with barking, and whining, and screeching while you are in the boxes. My mommy was not impressed, but she just let me keep doing it. That really was not fun, so I decided to lay down and go to sleep. Then we got home and my new brother, he keeps barking at me. I don't know why, but tonight when I was in my cage (xpen) he stopped and just sniffed and then went to bed. I think, I am liking my new home. Everybody has been nice, and I have lots of other doggies to play with. Look at the video my mommy has posted of me and my Harley.
Yes, Nimbus is keeping very busy with his new family. We are enjoying him so much. He had a great time today with Harley and then later with Potion. He was not impressed with getting his feet trimmed and his nails clipped, but liked that he got lots of treats when he didn't fight us while getting it done. We have started working through meals. Right now I am just working on basic things like sit, down, stand, left, right. No cues just luring. He loves the clicker and knows when I click it he's getting a treat or kibble. He threw his first fit today in the crate. It lasted almost all the way home from Jenn's, about 10 minutes. He finally realized that I was not responding to him and he decided he would just lay down and chew on his water bottle. He loves the water bottles. He has been great. No messes in the house so far, and he has let me know every time he has had to go potty. He does like swimming in his water bowl tho. Any how, it is almost time for bed, so until tomorrow...good night. Be sure to watch the video of Nimbus and Harley playing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQJVyv6S5ik
Yes, Nimbus is keeping very busy with his new family. We are enjoying him so much. He had a great time today with Harley and then later with Potion. He was not impressed with getting his feet trimmed and his nails clipped, but liked that he got lots of treats when he didn't fight us while getting it done. We have started working through meals. Right now I am just working on basic things like sit, down, stand, left, right. No cues just luring. He loves the clicker and knows when I click it he's getting a treat or kibble. He threw his first fit today in the crate. It lasted almost all the way home from Jenn's, about 10 minutes. He finally realized that I was not responding to him and he decided he would just lay down and chew on his water bottle. He loves the water bottles. He has been great. No messes in the house so far, and he has let me know every time he has had to go potty. He does like swimming in his water bowl tho. Any how, it is almost time for bed, so until tomorrow...good night. Be sure to watch the video of Nimbus and Harley playing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQJVyv6S5ik
Puppy Love
The last two days I have spent driving in some questionable weather with a friend so that I can fall in love with a puppy.
Jenn and I hit the road around 5:00 am Monday morning and headed to North Carolina. On the way we drove thru some nasty weather. Jenn claims it was because the puppy knew we were headed to get him. We finally made it to our destination around 4 pm. Brandy brings out the puppy and instantly I was smitten. Nimbus is great. So lively, inquisitive and lovable.
We took the puppies, (Jenn brought along Potion, here border collie puppy) into the back yard to meet. They took a few minutes to hit it off, but soon became great friends. They ran and chased each other all around the yard. Then found the tunnel, both I believe are going to be tunnel monsters. Potion found the pool and was very excited to go swimming. Brandy brought out her other dogs, three Samoyeds, and introduced them to Potion one at a time. It wasn't long before all 5 dogs were in the yard. Puppies were the most entertaining, well except for Clover who was in the pool trying to catch the gold fish. Yes, I said trying to catch the gold fish. Brandy has a small plastic kiddie pool in her backyard and has currently 1 gold fish in it. Clover and Venus were trying to get it, however, Clover would mostly just bite at anything and sometimes nothing that would move in the pool.
The night went on and time for bed came. It didn't take him long to settle down, however, it's been a long time since I have had to wake every two hours to attend to someone else's needs. Nimbus decided he had to go potty every two hours. We got up early, but Jenn and Brandy were nice and let me take a nap...yay for good friends.
We started our trip back to Indiana around 3:00 or so. After about an hour on the road, Brandy sends Jenn a text message about tornado warnings and watches...yay for bad weather, NOT. So as we are trying to figure where we are and if the warnings pertain to anywhere around us, we start seeing these ominous looking clouds, driving thru some nasty rain, and then more ominous clouds. At one point we see a cloud start some rotation and a tail forming, and all we can think is look people put your foot on the pedal and DRIVE!!! Needless to say, we didn't get caught up in a tornado, but the possibility of it was more than enough for us. I was given an ultimatum if it were to happen again. Puppy's name would have to be changed. Well as you can see his name is still Nimbus. After some freaky GPS directions and a few out of the way roads, we finally made it home.
Nimbus did great thru the night. He slept all night, thank goodness. The minis are not so sure how they feel about a puppy that is as big as they are. Currently Nimbus is spending some time in the xpen until we can get some house training completed. He is great with letting us know he needs to go out. He's not so sure about this nice hot and humid weather, but that's ok for now, we have some air conditioning in the house. He loves his raccoon toy, and all of my two legged men.
All I can say is I have fallen for this little boy, and am even more excited about my new adventure with him.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Just One More Day
So, I heard from Donna, the breeder of my sammy puppy. I am so excited, I get to pick him up on Monday in North Carolina...So Jenn and I are going to take a road trip to get him and take her border collie puppy Potion along for the ride and to meet Brandy and her sams. I am getting the puppy I was hoping to get, which makes me even happier. I would have been happy with any of the boys with good structure, but something about the "black" boy just really appealed to me. So now I have been counting down hours and at the time of this posting it will be only 28 hours or so before we get on the road to pick up my Nimbus. Check back soon for pictures and updates on he's doing and how we are coming along on our adventure.
So, I heard from Donna, the breeder of my sammy puppy. I am so excited, I get to pick him up on Monday in North Carolina...So Jenn and I are going to take a road trip to get him and take her border collie puppy Potion along for the ride and to meet Brandy and her sams. I am getting the puppy I was hoping to get, which makes me even happier. I would have been happy with any of the boys with good structure, but something about the "black" boy just really appealed to me. So now I have been counting down hours and at the time of this posting it will be only 28 hours or so before we get on the road to pick up my Nimbus. Check back soon for pictures and updates on he's doing and how we are coming along on our adventure.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Hello, this is me!!!
Hi, this is my first ever time blogging. I'm not sure how well I will be at updating my blog...but with any luck I will try to post at least once or twice a month. So, if there are more postings than that, you all can feel extra special..I know I will. My name is Angie and I live with my husband, 3 boys, 1 cat, and 4 miniature schnauzers. However, in about a week we are adding a new addition, a samoyed. His name will be Nimbus and he is my first show dog. I am excited to be starting this journey with him. I first need to thank Donna Cummings for giving me this opportunity to raise one of her puppies and work with him in conformation and agility.
Many people have asked me why I have 4 mini schnauzers. All I can say is that they are a bit like potato chips. You get your first one and love it so much that you think 2 would be even better. Then you think, "wow, I love my 2 I have, I think I'll get a third." After our third we decided we would try our hand at breeding so we got a 4th. Now we don't have the original 4 we started with, but yes, I still have 4 and don't think that will change for some time. We keep saying that when they start to get older and pass on, we won't get any more, but some how I know I will always have minis. Our first was Chewie. He was a birthday present from my husband to me. Chewie was my love. However, he had some social problems to say the least. He was a pet store puppy. Yes, I know all the horrible stories, but did that sway me? Not with Chewie. He looked at me with those soul piercing eyes and just watched the boys as they looked at the other puppies through the glass and I knew he had to come home with me that night. Chewie was a great dog, even with all of his allergies, social problems, and health issues. Chewie know when my sugars were crazy and would not leave my side if I was sick. However, his life was short; we had to put him down the summer of 2008. His health was making his life awful and we made the hardest decision we ever had to make...put him down. Chewie was almost 7 when he was euthanized. He gave me my first taste of owning a mini and I don't regret any of it. Koda is our oldest now and was the second mini to join our family. He is a great dog. He will be 7 this fall and still acts like a puppy most days. He swears that Brock, our middle son, belongs to him and when Brock is not home, we know because Koda is at the door waiting on him to arrive. Maggie is my "mommas". She was third addition to our schnauzer group. When we first started looking for a schnauzer I always said I did not want a black one. Then one day, I decided I wanted a black female and her name would be Maggie, and so it was. Maggie has been the easiest dog to live with. I don't even think we had to house break her. However, she is an escape artist. We would put her in an x-pen and she would get out, so we tried crating her, and still we would come home to find her running around the house, but never did we find any messes or anything chewed up..so we just let her stay out. We decided that everyone needed a schnauzer, so we thought we would try our hand at breeding. We looked for a suitable stud and could not find anybody with a male I liked or anybody I trusted to use their stud. That's how we ended up with Simon. We don't have Simon any more, but he was great stud dog. He gave us 3 beautiful litters with Maggie. All 3 litters had 6 puppies, and all of those puppies are doing great. We hear great things about them when we go to the vet or the dentist. Well that's because our children's dentist has one of the puppies. When we rehomed Simon, our schnauzer family felt off, we liked having four so we were on the hunt again. Only this time, we were looking for one that would not conform to breed standard, he/she had to be small. That's how we ended up with Harley. When looking for a smaller version of the mini, I found a breeder who bred for toy sized schnauzers. We were wanting a black and silver, but got another salt and pepper in Harley. Harley is now 2 and works with our youngest son in 4H and AKC agility. She has amazed us with her talent and willingness to work with Kolton. After putting Chewie down, we were again back to 3 and I had seen liver and tan colored schnauzers and thought that would be nice to have. Well that's how we ended up with Jozie. Jozie is the smallest of the bunch. She weighs about 8lbs and is a liver pepper colored schnauzer. She is my sugars..but her small size has led to some serious issues with trust and control. We are working through them and making some progress. Well that brings me to my current adventure...a samoyed. I'm not really sure how it all started...probably with Kolton wanting a siberian husky and Jenn telling us that a sibe is probably not the best choice...and started talking to us about a friend of her's sams. Well after reading about and talking to Brandy about them, I decided that a samoyed would be a good fit in our home...so here I am waiting until I find out which boy will be mine and when I can pick him up. Well I know when I get to pick him up...just really waiting to see which boy will end up being my Nimbus.
Many people have asked me why I have 4 mini schnauzers. All I can say is that they are a bit like potato chips. You get your first one and love it so much that you think 2 would be even better. Then you think, "wow, I love my 2 I have, I think I'll get a third." After our third we decided we would try our hand at breeding so we got a 4th. Now we don't have the original 4 we started with, but yes, I still have 4 and don't think that will change for some time. We keep saying that when they start to get older and pass on, we won't get any more, but some how I know I will always have minis. Our first was Chewie. He was a birthday present from my husband to me. Chewie was my love. However, he had some social problems to say the least. He was a pet store puppy. Yes, I know all the horrible stories, but did that sway me? Not with Chewie. He looked at me with those soul piercing eyes and just watched the boys as they looked at the other puppies through the glass and I knew he had to come home with me that night. Chewie was a great dog, even with all of his allergies, social problems, and health issues. Chewie know when my sugars were crazy and would not leave my side if I was sick. However, his life was short; we had to put him down the summer of 2008. His health was making his life awful and we made the hardest decision we ever had to make...put him down. Chewie was almost 7 when he was euthanized. He gave me my first taste of owning a mini and I don't regret any of it. Koda is our oldest now and was the second mini to join our family. He is a great dog. He will be 7 this fall and still acts like a puppy most days. He swears that Brock, our middle son, belongs to him and when Brock is not home, we know because Koda is at the door waiting on him to arrive. Maggie is my "mommas". She was third addition to our schnauzer group. When we first started looking for a schnauzer I always said I did not want a black one. Then one day, I decided I wanted a black female and her name would be Maggie, and so it was. Maggie has been the easiest dog to live with. I don't even think we had to house break her. However, she is an escape artist. We would put her in an x-pen and she would get out, so we tried crating her, and still we would come home to find her running around the house, but never did we find any messes or anything chewed up..so we just let her stay out. We decided that everyone needed a schnauzer, so we thought we would try our hand at breeding. We looked for a suitable stud and could not find anybody with a male I liked or anybody I trusted to use their stud. That's how we ended up with Simon. We don't have Simon any more, but he was great stud dog. He gave us 3 beautiful litters with Maggie. All 3 litters had 6 puppies, and all of those puppies are doing great. We hear great things about them when we go to the vet or the dentist. Well that's because our children's dentist has one of the puppies. When we rehomed Simon, our schnauzer family felt off, we liked having four so we were on the hunt again. Only this time, we were looking for one that would not conform to breed standard, he/she had to be small. That's how we ended up with Harley. When looking for a smaller version of the mini, I found a breeder who bred for toy sized schnauzers. We were wanting a black and silver, but got another salt and pepper in Harley. Harley is now 2 and works with our youngest son in 4H and AKC agility. She has amazed us with her talent and willingness to work with Kolton. After putting Chewie down, we were again back to 3 and I had seen liver and tan colored schnauzers and thought that would be nice to have. Well that's how we ended up with Jozie. Jozie is the smallest of the bunch. She weighs about 8lbs and is a liver pepper colored schnauzer. She is my sugars..but her small size has led to some serious issues with trust and control. We are working through them and making some progress. Well that brings me to my current adventure...a samoyed. I'm not really sure how it all started...probably with Kolton wanting a siberian husky and Jenn telling us that a sibe is probably not the best choice...and started talking to us about a friend of her's sams. Well after reading about and talking to Brandy about them, I decided that a samoyed would be a good fit in our home...so here I am waiting until I find out which boy will be mine and when I can pick him up. Well I know when I get to pick him up...just really waiting to see which boy will end up being my Nimbus.
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