Dixie x Heath Puppies 5 weeks old

The puppies have had a busy week.  We have been working on weaning and they are playing with each other more.  Weaning time is also when I introduce the whistle to them - they already come running when I whistle to them.  The second video shows that.   So here are the photos and videos, enjoy!

Videos from today:

                                 

Puppies: Dixie x Heath Ryman Setter litter 4 weeks old

Week 4 is a big one for puppies.  They begin to play and explore and very importantly, weaning begins.   After just 2 tries these guys are skilled at drinking from a bowl so the weaning process will slowly step up over the next week as they are introduced to puppy food gruel.

Here's the gang.  I have to tell you, my photography and these photos do not do the cuteness of these puppies justice!  I do think that next week I will be comfortable stating which pups will be tri-color.

The 3 boys first:

  Brown collar: largest boy

Light Green: belton boy, medium size

Half-mask boy, medium size

Girls!!

 Green collar: eye patch, smaller female

Purple collar: black ear, slightly smaller

Black collar: black ear, a bigger girl

Yellow collar: belton girl but has coloring around her eyes

Pink collar:  belton girl, one of the smaller girls

 Red collar is the smallest girl.  Small, but with a big personality developing.

Orange collar: has shoulder patch, medium size

I took a video with the puppies wearing their colored collars but You Tube difficulties prevent me from accessing it.  Instead, here is a short video that I took yesterday, just without the collars.

Next weekend, Dixie's owners Warren and Roni are flying out to see their girl and the puppies.  I can't wait for them to see them all!!    I hope that over the next couple of weeks everyone will be forming favorites (boy puppy owners already have it seems!)  I suggest that you give it another week or two before letting me know your favorites as they will continue to change as they grow and I will give more video time so you can see them in action.   If I can figure out my video challenge this week I will let you know to look for it.

I have to run, I hear hungry puppies!

Cheers
Lynn Dee

Dixie x Heath puppies 3 weeks old

This post is a test for me.  My usual practice with our litters is that once a week I email photos of puppies to the owners to show them progress and growth and to help them make their puppy choices.  Today I am instead posting the photos and video links here in a blog post since other folks have also asked to see photos and videos of the pups.  I welcome feedback - I hope people enjoy but I don't want to turn anyone off from reading our blog by being redundant and overwhelming with puppy pictures.

Enjoy.  And if not, please let me know.

Dixie x Heath puppies, 3 weeks old

Photos.

Off-season Busyness and News

It may be the off-season (from hunting, in case someone out there doesn't really know us well) but that actually means we are busier than ever.  The off-season is when we earn the right (and dollars) to non-stop travel and hunt the 5 months of Sept - Jan.

Mike runs a small organic produce operation and I am the marketing department.   Mike specializes in strawberries but grows everything from asparagus to zucchini.  Within the next 5 - 6 weeks we anticipate picking, packaging and marketing up to 2000 quarts of sweet red strawberries, other produce is in more moderate quantities.

I will be working 3 different Farmer's Markets here in northeast Kansas, selling the produce along with my baked goods including homemade breads made exclusively from wheat grown here in Kansas.
 

The off season is also the time when we breed our occasional litter of pups to add to our own pack and to fill a few of the slots of families hungry for companion bird dogs.  This spring we have had the honor of breeding and raising a litter from a Setter that 4 years ago sealed our wonderful friendship with Warren and Roni back in Vermont.   Dixie is a Tweed daughter and grew to be everything that they had wanted and hoped.   So back in January Mike and Warren drove and met halfway in Columbus, OH and Dixie temporarily joined our home.  In February Mike and Dixie traveled up to the snow covered mountains in Idaho and she was bred.  We now have a wonderful, noisy, adorable group of 10 Dixie puppies who are 2+ weeks old.

Our 2 pups from Sally's litter are almost 6 months old now and our Kate and Flint alternate between being the Daring Duo and sometimes just The Delinquents.  

Well, time to go and prepare Strawberry Shortcake for Mike's Birthday dinner.  But stay tuned - we will have exciting French Brittany news very soon!!

Cheers

Lynn Dee