Run, Run

Did you feel this cold settling in? Did you have to go crazy getting your plants in? We did and we gavea literal jungle in the kitchen but it will wait till tomorrow before we distribute. For now the plants are warm, the dawgs are warm and so is the human.

Is it really deep Fall already?

It does seem to get the dawgs running and playing and jumping and getting into all types of trouble.

Me, I just want to climb into bed with all the dawgs and play with my ipad, snuggle and have the window open and climb under the blankets.

I will let you know how that goes.

At the Word

We were at the word and it was - well not what it used to be but Kat enjoyed himself.

Then on the way to the car we got a hot dog and Kat wolfed it down like he was a starving dawg.

Kat needs a bath but he had fun.

Then we had a visit with Mia and her parents - now that was fun!

Movement

I love the movement of the Havanese. They never cease to amaze me.

Havanese are very agile. They are full of life and truly know how to take a piece of your heart and get you to fall. It's just something that happens.

They can also drive you nuts like trying to wake you up to play or not coming in when you are late for an appointment. All of this is handled with training.

Why do we attend classes when we could teach the course? We have done so many I can tune it out and know what will be said. The reality is it is socialization. bonding, and it's not just the class but the days in-between, the car ride and oh yeah the treats.

Our dawgs are what we put into them. We all get busy. We all fall off the horse so to speak but when we get back to it - well good things happen.

Fiona's Connection

Well Fiona has been mated with Phantom twice now. It means we may have Halloween babies - can you believe?

Fiona is definately calling the shots and he's letting her. This mating stuff is so interesting - seriously. It's not the same old...

Treasure Update

Yes, she is pregnant but you knew that. Check out her blog to find out what the ultrasound said.

Even moms enjoy playing and it is important to have normalcy in their lives and fun. It's easier to strike balance for them when the pups are older.

When they are younger, moms do not want to leave their pups so I still take them out, weigh the pups and give them a full body massage where they stick out their tongue in appreciation. They do tell you when they like something and each day I try to make sure they have that expression at least once and shoot for many more.

When they are happy, I am happy.

Before Heavy Rain

The Spice helped with socializing the pups out on the deck. She's a true character. It's hard to remember that she is a puppy too just fully grown.

She is the first in the morning to pounce on my body to remind me that it is time to get up and if I tell her to go back to sleep, she will give me an extra 20 minutes. But she doesn't have patience when it comes to Mommy i am HUNGRY!

I had big plans to take the pups outside, wash dawgs and all that but nothing today is going as planned.

Still, we will have to kitchen it and I will eventually get the 2 moms washed. 1 down, 1 to go. Then I have to groom the rest.

Not Eating

Poor Treasure has morning sickness so we know she is pregnant. She is a food hound and NOTHING and I mean NOTHING stops her from eating except morning sickness.

She is also keenly interested in the pups and is carrying a dolly around. This is not her norm.

We are on puppy watch starting the 29th of August - oh boy...

Visitors

Shelly, Al, Chinook and Summer Breeze came for a visit and although I was extra busy during that time, Nathan socialized, I got things done and every now and then I got to say hello and enjoy them.

We hope I have more time on Saturday when we see them again.

Shelley is so photogenic and so is Chinook.

They left their suits up at the cottage so no swimming today but tomorrow, I vow to get myself and maybe a few dawgs. We shall see!

Hair Raising Times

 I have a photo of Wasabi (Spice's mom) somewhere on this site with a mohawk and she didn't actually have one, the wind just gave that perception. I thought of it when I took this photo of Spice.

Like mom, she is a dawg that likes to beat to her own drum. She's fun, fun, fun but creative too.

When we have visitors she thinks they all came to see her.

I should have called her Kissy Face. She loves to give kisses, play and muck it up as all dawgs should.

Inbetween shows she has an amazing amount of fun and we don't keep her crated so her hair is perfect cause she is a dawg and that's more important than championship points. But still, the gal is halfway there. Then she can just enjoy without getting bathed so much. heh

Green Feet

We had family show up to help me weed so I got the front mowed, Nathan did the back and then I helped weed but I am fading very fast - silly me but it does look better. Nathan is out helping now as I type and will go lay down as I need it unfortunately.

I haven't groomed the dawgs yet but Spicy found fresh mowed lawn too delightful to skip so she is prancing around with green feet.

Daddy is saying, will it disappear before she shows this week? Well maybe so, maybe not. hahahahaha

Don't you think the judges should accept a dawg natural enjoying life? I do but it won't happen.

Sparky, Abigail's Son

Sparky practices higher learning. He has an ipad, he's seen often checking out dawg books.

He is in the know.

Sparky lives in Montreal and he has a wonderful personality.

It was a delight to see him. We are hoping to see him at the picnic.

Sophie and the Stairs

This was taken a bit ago and with so much going on, I keep forgetting to share but I thought it was way cute.

It's part 1 and part 2 of the stairs with Sophie.

Check out Part 1 here.

Check out Part 2 here.

Sending out a big hug to Sophie and her mom. You are doing so well with her. Congrats!!

Is it Pool Time?

I have to tell you, we have a pool cleaner that climbs up the walls and when it hits the air, it sounds like a monster is coming to get you. It's taken a few dawgs and humans by surprise but they get used to it.

We are still dealing with rain and more rain but they say it's supposed to be scorching hot next week so the pool better be ready by then as the dawgs and I will be in it.

Kat is really itching to go in the pool but he won't attempt until Nathan comes out with his swim trunks on and then he will dive in.

If I get my suit on, he ignores the pool. Don't you find that quirky? It's a father and son thing, I guess - human dad and canine son.

Fiona enjoys checking out the bug population vs. the pool. Yes, she will swim but none are quite like Kat.

I am looking forward to seeing if Spice or Truffie is.

We are also looking at getting a scamper mat to see if we can train pups to use it under our supervision, of course.

Tomorrow we head to the vets for ultrasounds.

Is it that time already? I have a garden to do sometime like YESTERDAY. Now to try to train the dawgs to help. Yeah...right.

Gardening and All That

Today we were out gardening due to knee high or is that hip high weeds and the fact hat I lost a stick from the get together that we had in Montreal. What has one have to do with the other? Well, nothing except ripping out weeds de-stresses you supposedly.

I am so miffed but still trying to extract it. I did use another stick so you can see SOME but far from all. :-( Check them out here.

It was overcast today and the dawgs were loving that Dennis and I were pulling but did we make a dent? HARDLY. There is so much to do.

Some of the dawgs decided to help us but when they started ripping on the strawberries vs the weeds, I thought it was time to quit or that was the excuse.

Dennis lasted longer than I did and some of the dawgs stayed out to watch and laze in the overcast weather. The younger set was running like banshees but with all this fun of resizing and extracting, I didn't take a single photo - sorry.

Risa was bug hunting as you can see in this photo. Yes, she bug hunts - yuck. She is fascinated with the moving things and she's the only Havanese we have that eats bumble bees from mid-air. Does she get stung? NO but she smacks her lips - double yuck.

Well, we are going to see Spice's brother tomorrow. He's the sable boy and I am told he has a lot of hair. I will have to take a photo of THAT. Can't wait!

Big Dogs, Little Dogs

When your puppy is young, it is important to get them familiar with the larger set via safe play dates, classes etc.

Sure Spice has Terra so she has some conditioning but big dawgs come in all sizes, shapes and colours.

When Spice goes to handling class, she thinks it's grand that a Great Dane is right beside her. Hey, did you come to play with ME?

It's why we are are taking Truffie to class. He needs that same conditioning. It doesn't start out that way. We are talking about little them vs. the Jolly Green Giant. But once they realize the big one is no threat, they are opened to other big dawgs.

On another note, Wasabi seems to be eating well today so no signs of morning sickness. I suspect she's a couple of days further along than Abigail but we shall see. Last time it was 12 hours apart. Time will tell. Abigail finally ate tonight but this morning, NO THANKS! Nine more days till ultrasounds.

The weather has not been good, as of late. I washed the dawgs and they look like I never touched them. But we finally had sun and I let them run through the grass and they were delighted. We also did walks last night and they were drenched. They aren't pretty but rain is supposedly coming again tonight - joy - NOT.

Gidget came to visit today and had the wet chicken leg syndrome. She arrived after big rains and then the sun came out as if she brought it with her. It was nice. She was making the most of the sun as we all were.

I love this lull between litters that we are in. We are out and about doing classes, seminars, having friends and their dawgs come to visit.

Just a few days ago (should have had my camera going, we had Coco and Doozie's mom and dad here with the pups and Doozie and Spice was playing kissie face. It was a memory I wish I had captured. I have a feeling Doozie and Coco do this with each other all the time.

We are signed up in Ajax at Whos Walking Who for June 1st at 7pm for a class with Truffie. I hope other Havs can join us in Family Dog. It doesn't have to be our pups but anyone who is heading to their first class in the area. Boy would that be fun.

Well, the pool is semi clear. The pool cell needs to be repaired. The pool is sitting at 65F - chilly but better than 50 and that's what it was. So where is the weather? I know, they are waiting till the cell comes in - yeah right.

Handling Class for Spice

The Spice had another bath. I am conditioning her to getting used to frequent baths. Why? Well, at show time you get washed daily most times. So the more she gets washed, the more she gets used to it and a clean coat knots less and stays in better condition for the show. It's not something I advocate for a non-show dawg. I am washing her about once a week. That's a lot more than necessary - believe me.

Spice is off to handling class tonight to learn how to not go off to play with evryone and anyone when you are supposed to be doing conformation.

We shall see where that goes.

PS: Abigail and Wasabi is acting way preggie. No eating in the morning but making up for it at night time.

Snow Faces

We have all heard about snow angels and Havanese do them but Risa spends a great deal of the time just cooling off her head by sticking her entire head into a snow pile.

Then she pulls it out and shakes and here is what she is left with.

I often wonder why she finds it fun to not only stick the head into the snow pile but at times she leaves it there. I wonder how the hey she is breathing and just when I go to pull her out, she does it herself, shakes and almost smiles as if to say this is so much fun.

I do believe it is a game and now she has Shoshi doing it!

Knots Inbetween Toes

We have been busy today but this is a reminder, if you live in cold climates, we do get cold. Pay attention to us lifting our paws. It means it's cold and I need snow out of my pads or to come inside.

If you are getting a cold weather alert, a quick out and in is best for your dawg and for you too.

Be sure to check all pads and cut out any knots in-between them. They can be mighty uncomfie and it's not often that we tend to think about that spot.

Marathon Washes

We are down to the last week of Fiona's pups making their debut so I did a marathon of washing the adults. I have yet to wash the Spice but will tomorrow. I ran out of steam.

When I wash, I cut the hair between the pads as winter time brings snowballs and when the havanese tend to bite them out, they also can create mats between their pads that are painful. Some people use a clipper and I use a pair of curved scissors but also my dawgs lay on their back and let me do it. I have yet to achieve this with Spice yet so with her it wil be a two person job, I imagine. We shall see as I will try.

My goal is to get her to lay on her back so I can find any mats in her armpit area and it also allows me to groom her underneath. It's a true bonus to get them to lay on their back and I always work at having that as a goal. It's just conditioning and trust that is a factor.

I also use grooming time to check their ears, clean around their eyes and just simply make sure they are knot free with a comb. I don't pull out the mat with a comb. I just either hold the mat in place and pull it apart with my fingers after spraying it with grooming spray or I use a brush to break it apart. Then I go on the hunt again with the comb. If you are this thorough at bath time, your job in-between is much easier even at the once in a lifetime 'blowing coat' stage.

PS: they don't blow their coat but actually they get their undercoat and due to the different lengths, it creates mats more easily. That is why so many choose to cut the hair during this time to even it out and let it all grow in one length reducing the struggle.

Besides, hair does grow back says I with my long hair. ROFL!