Carlos points at something in the grass while on our Southeastern Nebraska adventure
The final countdown begins to homegoing and we are super busy having adventures here! We took the pups on two outings away from the home property last week, the first was on Tuesday, the 24th to Walnut Creek Recreation Area in Papillion (a neighboring suburb, a 20 minute drive from the house). I had used the area in the past and it was a little crowded, but growth in the surrounding neighborhoods really made the situation unbearable for all of us. So, the following day it was 90 degrees and the kids were dying for a swim, so we took a big drive out of town to some not very well known public land to get some privacy, which is this week’s YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KPJxIMlklE
I also took them each individually and placed them in the water just barely outside of being able to touch, just to give them the sensation of the water and to watch how they can swim:
This week, we’ve still been running them on the property twice a day. They are strong enough to run the full “big dog” path around the perimeter of our acre. I’m also half-way through individual crate conditioning, wing exposure and time on the leash. Basically what I do is go pick a puppy out of the kennel right before I pick the kids up from school. The pup rides around with us on a few errands, then comes home and sits in the crate for an hour in the bedroom. I then take the pup out to my puppy training pen, where we work with the wing for 10 minutes, I then bring the pup into the front yard and have it on a leash for 10 minutes.
Candida investigates the wing
Carlos gives the wing a thrash
Carlita tugs on some feathers
Normally, we would have worked the cap gun around the kennel for noise exposure, but the whole neighborhood (ourselves included) has been home improvement central, so nailguns have been going off constantly during the weekdays for the last 3 weeks.
Yesterday, the 3 pups who are going home and the two who are flying on Monday went to the vet for their health checks, vaccinations and microchips. I spent most of the afternoon working on the paperwork to transfer them to their new owners. I got a little emotional, but tried to focus on the joy that their new owners will experience on homegoing day!
The remainder of the week will be spent finishing individual crate/wing/leash, then Friday we will give them each individual exposure to a harnessed pigeon in the puppy training pen. I also need to clean the house and groom the dogs/puppies in preparation for our guests!
If you are coming to pick up your puppy, here are some things you will want to bring: a crate, 12-16 inch collar (I keep the ones they are wearing for the next litter), leash, bottled water, dog food (right now they are eating Diamond Performance like everyone else in our kennel), small dog dishes, paper towels and baby wipes. Right now for toys they have small (golfball sized) kong balls and small ropes in the kennel, in the house they have stuffed squeaky squirrels and small squeaky rubber chickens (those all stay here, but some folks have been asking about toys, so I thought I’d share that). I also recommend having rawhide straws on hand at home.
If you will be training yourself and need a place to start, we’ve always found Richard Wolter’s book Gun Dog to be a favorite resource. Here’s a link to a review that I wrote about it a couple of years back: https://bluestemkennels.com/2010/07/22/book-review-gun-dog-by-richard-a-wolters/
I have high hopes for my puppies to go to homes filled with as much love and fun as ours is!!
La casa del perros (the house of the dogs) A view of my house from the street for those coming on Saturday
Bluestem Kennels 
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