15 Minutes of Fame

Well, we got to be on the front page of the Grand Island Independent newspaper today. Hastings opened a 55 acre dog park last weekend. It has been a blast taking the dogs out there and letting them play their little hearts out. Yesterday when we arrived there was a reporter and a photographer there waiting for someone to show up with dogs so that they could do their story. (I was disappointed they chose the one they did of Rocky, he appears to be a vicious devil dog in the photo and he's not like that at all, he's just a big sweet goofball that loves everybody!!) Anyway, here are the photos they ran.

Sampson, Aunt Kiera, Tommy & Babies

I posted this photo for a little background info. This one was taken back in June when the puppies were just a couple weeks old. Rocky is the only one I can identify, he's the grey lump. Tommy is holding on to Sampson (the dad) because at this point we don't know if he knows they are his kids or he thinks they're snacks. Kiera, the shepherd on the right is another one of our dogs, she's queen of the group and puts the smack down on everyone quite often. This pic was taken in my sisters backyard, her dog, Kara is the mom of this "little" group. I took them over when they were about 5 weeks. They got too big for mom to deal with.

Zoe at Five Months

This is Zoe, she's 100% angel, love them all but she's probably the sweetest of the bunch. She's also the smallest of the three puppies at about 60 pounds now.

Sadie - Five Months

Here's Sadie on her make shift perch. She's had some bad luck with families who have wanted her. She was with the first family for three weeks and they had problems and couldn't keep her so I took her back and kept her for a few weeks before finding her another home then same thing happened again. She's a very good girl so I know it's not her fault. She's been back with us for about a month now again. I question our sanity but we'll probably keep her also.

Rocky 80 Pounds and Still Growing

This is Rocky now at 5 1/2 mos. & eighty pounds. He's a big goofball/clown. He's developing a pretty wonderful disposition. He has his moments though when he's as stubborn as a mule, I hear that is the Great Dane in him. It's fairly common to see our furniture covered with sleeping dogs and us sitting on the floor. They LOVE movie night.

Painted Paws

As you can probably tell I'm not getting much painting done myself, but Sadie, Zoe and Rocky decided to give me a "hand" and finish one of my paintings while I was in the salon doing a hilight. They didn't actually get ahold of my painting but got the palette instead. They've done quite a number to my floor too...lol...going to have to repaint that soon also.

They all came to the shop with me today to go down and get their 2nd set of shots. (Their vet is only a couple doors down, very convienent.) They are twelve weeks today. Rocky weighed in at 34 pounds, Sadie 31, and Zoe 30. I'm sure people up & down the block shake their heads when 5 dogs spill out of my Durango every morning. There is a large grassy field across the street from us so it's easy to take them all outside during the day and a walking path cuts through it so we can go for walks also. We had a scarey moment with Kiera tonight though as we were loading everyone up to go home, evidently we weren't paying enough attention to her as we were putting the puppies in and she went and stood in the middle of the street. Fortunately cars got stopped. SO unlike her to do something like that, guess you can just never let your guard down no matter how much you trust them. But she's fine, so lesson learned. Have a good weekend!!

UPDATE ON SARGE: He has now gone to live with our neighbors, Cindi & Eddy. His new name is Zeus. He loves them and has settled in well. Two days after he went to live at his new home (I thought I was down to 2 puppies) we got the news we would be getting Sadie back. Her owners didn't think they could afford to keep her, so we're back to three and looks like it's going to stay that way. Anyone have a farm for sale??

26 Pounds!!

Here's Zoe doing what she does best!! She likes sleeping in small spaces so usually she crams herself inside this box on her pillow under my painting table. (Or wraps herself around the wheels of my chair) They all like to do that so I have to be very carefull when I move. Taking care of the puppies has been a huge amount of fun. I just love working with them, training them. They are such smart dogs. I took Sarge to TLC this morning and he weighed in at 26 pounds, up 3.5 from last Wednesday! They all walk very well on a leash, know their own names and can sit, shake and lay down. If I ever find a home good enough for Sarge I'm going to have to tack on a training fee!! They are about 50% housetrained, but they do use papers in the house, which can't last too much longer they are just getting too big for that..... That's about all that's new on the puppies, keeping up with them is wearing me out...=)

Puppy Pics

In the first photo Rocky wanted to take a picture of me. I promised him he could if I could take one of him first....here he is. The one he took of me turned out too fuzzy to post. I took him to TLC this morning to weigh him. He's 22.5 pounds, he's gained 6.5 pounds in a little less than 2 weeks. It's anybodys guess how much he'll finally tip the scales at - I'm just hoping I can afford to feed him - and his sister and brother. He's at the shop with us today but he's lonely, he misses his siblings. Sampson and Kiera are here but it's not quite the same evidently. He's displaced Kiera from her couch and sent her to the cold tile floor.

Update on Wedding and Puppies

Well, I just spent part of the weekend with Nicole picking out her wedding dress. We also booked the spot for the reception at "The Nebraska Room". It is the whole 20th floor of the US Bank in Lincoln. It should be a fun place, it has nearly a 360 degree view of the city, including the Capitol Building, Memorial Stadium and the downtown area.
I can't describe her dress as it has to be a surprise but I do have to say it is almost as beautiful as she is. I didn't think I would cry until the wedding - but I did - I lost it when I saw her standing in the dress in front of the mirror. (A few more tears fell when we were writing the check at desk.) I didn't feel quite so ridiculous when Julie teared up, (she's one of my closest friends and Nicole's Godmother.) Julie's son Jef and daughter Rhiannon are also in the wedding. She considers them her brother and sister. She and Jef are especially close, lucky for him Adam chose him as Best Man or he would have been wearing a bridesmaids dress...!!
She also picked out the flowers she going to use, a mix of Calla Lilies and Hydrangeas. Her colors for the wedding are Claret, that's a color somewhere between red and a burgundy, with various greens and cream accents. Her fiance Adam is an avid sportsman and hunter so we keep trying to convince her to incorporate pheasant feathers (yes, you can buy them in Claret at Hobby Lobby) and Camouflage tuxes. That's about all the progress we've made at this point.

The Puppies? Well, we thought we had a home for Sarge last Monday until the girl said "to be quite honest with you he'll have to be outside during the day, (not) and he'll be in a kennel with 3 pit bulls. PIT BULLS????? (absolutely not, no way, not ever!!!) So - we still have him - and every day he's here it just becomes harder to think of him anywhere else - kennel license here I come.
Rocky and Zoe are great too, we finally had time for some training and after half a box of Cheese Nips they can now sit and shake on command. Housebreaking is a whole other story, but with THREE of them at nearly 20 pounds already picking them all up and running outside every twenty minutes is not an option. Patience and training pads will be my best friends for the next few months!!

That's about all for now, I'll update with a few pictures in a day or two.