Bluestem Kennels

It has been a busy week of homegoings for the 8 week old “E” litter this week!  I will just give you a quick run-down with the photos:

Esther went home to Cheyenne, WY with Stephen and Taylor on Saturday

Also on Saturday, Jimmy’s family came by and took Edith home to Oklahoma

Right afterward, Brian’s family took Evangeline to Eastern Missouri

Sunday, Bob and Faith took Edward to Minnesota, eh.

Elizabeth started the journey to Maryland with Ben and Marilyn on Tuesday.

We were excited to meet all of the new families and are hopeful for years of fun, adventure and love for all of them!  Looking forward to getting updates about how they are doing in the future!

I have 3 puppies from the “F” litter left here with me.  Two will leave soon and one will board with me until Memorial Day weekend.

Edna will move across town on Friday

Eustace will catch a plane to Ohio on Monday

Etta will be my temporary pet until she leaves for Colorado

All of the “E” litter puppies had 100% pass rate on their veterinary inspections and weigh between 10 and 14 pounds.  Speaking of passing inspection, right before Ben and Marilyn arrived on Tuesday, a vehicle marked “State of Nebraska: Department of Agriculture” pulled into my driveway.  It was time for my annual surprise inspection as a licensed commercial dog breeder.  He checked the that the kennels are in good order, with proper equipment, housing and sanitation practices, that the dogs all look healthy, then reviewed my health records and veterinary plan.  Those inspections always make me nervous and I’m always happy to pass with no required corrections needed.

Oh we mustn’t forget the “F” Litter!  It has been raining every day for a week, but they are finally starting to move around outside the kennel a bit.  Usually once they get to the point of crossing the threshold of the fence, it is all over from there.  So by this time next week, they will be all over the place.

The “F” Litter at 6 weeks: Fern, Frieda, Francis and Flora

Fern in action

Frieda playing in the dirt

Francis stretching out

Flora peeking out of the dog house

It is supposed to be a sunny and warm weekend, so it will be the “F” litter’s turn to go on an outing away from the house.  I will be sure to capture some new video of them before they start heading for their new homes soon too!  Having two litters at once has been a wild ride, but there isn’t anything better than watching helpless little sausages turn into big strong dogs right before your eyes!

Spring is finally here for good this time, hoping that it comes to those of you still buried in snow soon.  See you next week!

I had just sat down to write my blog post for the week, running a little behind schedule, when I popped over to my e-mail.  What a surprise awaited there!  I was offered and have since accepted a web writer position with Lion Country Supply http://www.lcsupply.com/.  I am really just beside myself with excitement, who would have thought that having a passion for hunting dogs and having an English degree would somehow come together to have a purpose.  I mean, a purpose other than entertaining you fine folks, which is a great purpose too!  So I’m not going to have the focus to edit down my video for the week just yet.  Plus I’m running into my time that we have to go to the vet for microchips and shots here in a few hours, so I had better get my pictures posted and say what I have to say!

The “E” litter is ready to go, the first pup leaves on Friday.  They are full of energy and are running up and down the hills of the woods.  They love to eat their kibble and fight with each other.  They use their noses and find interesting things to drag around (and fight over).

We picked up some male chukars to train Sam and BB with, so Charles dispatched a few in training, so we brought them out to the pups.  (Just as an aside: chukar roosters are loud.  They are not quiet or melodic like pigeons or quail.  Our bird holding pen sits right outside our bedroom window and these chukars are like rooster chickens.  I know when the sun is coming up!!  I can’t wait to get through this pot load so we can get back to quail.)

Edna and Edith chew on the chukar

Edward and Esther mess with the bird

Everyone had a turn with the bird in the woods, but I was shooting with the camera phone and so the pictures were cruddy at times.  Then they would drag it into a brush pile or something and you couldn’t see anything.  But you get the idea with this.  Plus I missed Esther with my good camera, so I wanted to make sure to get her in.  Here are this week’s “E” litter pics.

Edna will be the first to leave on Friday. But she will just be across town so I will see her

Eustace will fly to Ohio on the 29th

Edith (left) will go to OK and Edward to MN this weekend.

Etta is going to hang with me until Memorial Day, when she’ll go to CO.

Evangeline will go to MO on Saturday

Elizabeth will roadtrip to MD starting on Tuesday.

The “F” Litter is getting quite big, it won’t be too long before they are hitting the road themselves!  I’ve finally got them broken to dry kibble, so it is nice not having to deal with the canned food.  They are climbing in and out of the dog house and chasing each other around the kennel, so this weekend they should be ready to start roaming the hills here.  If it stops raining long enough for them to (it has been raining here since yesterday morning, but we are in a drought, so we really can’t complain at all.  At least it isn’t snow like it is out west and further north.)  I have also made my picks, it is much easier with 4 puppies.  The male is going to western Wyoming, Fern will stay in my breeding program and move in with friends in Montana, Freida will go out to Ohio and Flora will go to Texas.  Mae’s pups also had a chance to check out a chukar.

Mae’s pups check out the chukar. Clockwise from top left: Frieda, Francis, Flora and Fern

Closeup of F litter and the bird. Freida, Francis, Flora and Fern

Freida, Fern and Francis chowing down.

Flora doing some laps around the kennel.

It is about time for me to go pick up Charles for a celebratory Thai lunch and then haul some muddy pups up the hill to go to the vet.  I am truly in awe of how something that started on a whim (breeding dogs and blogging) has turned into a full blown real deal.  I never once growing up thought that I would be a professional crazy dog lady, but I guess that is where I’m at and I have a feeling that this is only the beginning.

Next time I’m back here, we’ll have pictures of “E” litter puppies with their new families!

Caleb enjoys a puppy attack

Everyone is happy and healthy these days, now if the weather would just decide what it wants to do.  It was nice all last weekend, until we decided to take the “E” litter puppies down to our friend’s pond, when the wind picked up and the clouds rolled in.  I managed to get some video and some still shots of our outing.  It was also good for the pups because they spent an hour to an hour and a half paired up in the truck dog box.  Good practice for traveling soon!

Pups paired up in the dog box

I took individual pictures of most of the “E” litter puppies out at the pond, but noticed once I got home that I missed a couple, so Elizabeth and Eustace’s pictures are taken in the back yard.

Esther taking it all in. She will live in Wyoming.

Edward watches the kids in the water. He will live in Minnesota.

Evangeline has her nose to the ground, she go home to Missouri soon.

Edna hanging with the kids’ stuff, she will stay in Sarpy Co., Nebraska.

Edith is hiding out from the wind, which is a good skill in Oklahoma.

Etta will continue her investigations in Colorado.

Eustace is heading to Ohio.

Elizabeth is ready for some beach time in Maryland and mountain fun in West Virginia.

Here is this week’s video.  I finally figured out some settings on the upload to YouTube that makes it high resolution (like I see it in the original video file), I apologize for the fuzzy quality on the previous videos.

The “E” litter critters will start going home in a week and a half, I can’t believe it!  They have all grown so big and healthy, I look forward to some nicer weather this weekend (it is has been a bit wet this week) to get out and enjoy some more adventures with them.  If you are a future owner, please check your e-mail to verify the microchip information to be given to the vet, along with a list of items for traveling with your pup and what you need when you get home.

Of course, the “F” litter is growing too.  I’ve finally gotten them on to puppy food and they are moving in and out of the dog house on their own.

The “F” litter having some chow

Caleb is head puppy socializer. Clockwise from left: Fern, Frieda, Francis and Flora.

Francis and Frieda peer out of the doghouse.

Here is their video for the week, just hanging out in the dog kennel.

Pupdates

I apologize for having a backlog of pupdates!!  Here is “D” Litter (Sue/Sam 2012) Gomer, having a good time in the snow a few weeks back in Illinois:

10 month old Gomer in the snow

Here’s a recent one from Whiskey out in Nevada, from our “A” litter from Sue and Sam in 2010.  Hard to believe that he is three years old.  He is pictured here with his new friend Dude, the curly horse.

Three year old Whiskey and his friend Dude

Year-old TracHer up in North Dakota, from our “C” Litter from Sam and Mae has caught and killed seven squirrels this winter.  My dogs are all very jealous because they would love to catch and kill a squirrel!

TracHer with squirrel #7

Trac’s brother, also from the “C’ Litter, Chester, is quite big stuff out in New York!  My husband received this message on the versatiledogs forum a few weeks ago from his trainer:

Greetings from the wonderous Isle of Long. (Long Island) 

We have just about put the pin in the training for a big fella, (about 75 lbs) which is one of your very own pups. We are all but finished up with the classical training, my mystical powers being used to convert the likes of a big Wooley Haired Pointing Dog named CHESTER, owned by a fella named Sal, from New Hyde Park into a well behaved gun dog. All I can say to YOU is- Nice Work…….You should be proud.

Chester is a very biddable dog, very cooperative, easy to train, hard charging, obedient….and twelve other positive adjectives. Nice Job.

All my hard (sort of) work has paid big dividends, and the big fella is now a viable hunting companion. Lord keep em so…..

By the by, he’s only 10-11 months old?

Hoss

Here’s some pictures of Chester from the retrieving clinic recently put on by the Hudson Valley NAVDHA chapter.  What a massive beast!

Chester showing off his style

Chester is definitely the coolest dog in the bunch (middle).

Showing off his retrieving skills

He is very polite on the table

Thank you so much to the owners who send me these great pictures!!  It really helps me to put scooping poop into perspective:)  All of the hard work is worth it when you can put these pups with fabulous people and watch them grow into the dogs I dream they will become.  I’ll be back next week with more!

The puppies are all doing great, but the people are a little under the weather.  Hopefully we can shake this stomach bug that made its way through the house over the last four days and all get better to enjoy the nice weather that is finally going to arrive.  The “E” litter moved outside about a week ago and the “F” litter will be following them soon.  It will be nice to have my house not smell like a dog kennel anymore:)  It is so hard to believe that we are already on the countdown to puppy homegoing at 8 weeks old.  The “E” litter will be 8 weeks on April 24th and the “F” litter on May 8th.  I am planning on reaching out over the course of this week to talk to everyone about transportation plans.  I will finalize puppy picks around 6 weeks old, so please be patient with me.  So let’s get to the fun stuff, the pictures!

“E” Litter at 4.5 weeks old

E Litter chowing down on puppy kibble in the kennel.

Coming out of the dog house door

Peeking out of the dog house door

Stepping up

On the move

Big stuff

On the sniff

Up we go

Puppy party

And a video of them eating puppy kibble:

Another video of them just hanging around the kennel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxZ4wI4jYUA

“F” Litter at 2.5 weeks old

They are still hanging out in the whelping box, but it will soon be warm enough for them to move outside.  Their eyes are open and they are moving around a little, but things should start picking up here within the next week.  It will be time to start them on mush once they start moving around a bit more.

“F” litter taking a nap

Since I had them out in the living room while I was messing with them to take the video, I went ahead and took some individual pictures and came up with some names.  The only one that has any meaning is the boy, Francis, since he was whelped the same day that the new pope came into office.

Francis’s face (boy)

Francis’s back (boy)

Frieda’s face

Frieda’s back

Fern’s face

Fern’s back

Flora’s face

Flora’s back

I have updates from past puppies, but I’m going to hold those for one more week so that I can get to feeling better.  This weekend was very busy with Caleb’s 4th birthday and Easter, so I’m planning a quiet weekend at home with the puppies next weekend and I’ll be able to take time to write and add more pictures.  Until then, please keep me in your prayers for strength and perseverance in this busy time!