April News at ATB

Top: Bullet & Julie with his recent Best Gun Dog in Breed win

(Photo courtesy of owner Julie Harris)

Bottom left:  Bailey new AKC Junior Hunter with perfect score of all 10's

(photo courtesy of owner Dawn Hill)

Bottom Right:  Remi pointing wildbirds over in New Hampshire

(Photo courtesy of owner Bob Poulin)

These three 2 1/2 year old J & A's Brittanys above are from the same litter, sired by our Jack and Chrissy. 

Congratulations to all of you, and thank you for sharing your pride and joy with us!

Homecomings, reunions, visits with friends, family times, and awesome Brittany dogs!



We have been so incredibly busy here at ATB !  But it's all a good kind of busy. All of the dogs are enjoying frequent trips afield with John and Sam.   They are esepecially focused on getting ready for upcoming hunt tests and who knows, maybe even a field trial. The important thing is that the dogs are finally getting the amount of exercise they should have on a regular basis. I love tagging along too because where the dogs are worked affords a good view for me to really watch them in action.  This week we have a houseguest as Bullet is here in anticipation of John handling him in his first hunt test.  It's all 'maybe' at this point but so far so good!  We have Miss Piper back from down south and we had such a happy reunion.  She has not grown a lot but has matured beautifuly and is still very bouncy, happy, outgoing and ready to run as far and as fast as her legs will carry her.  It was a very happy reunion when John brought her home yesterday.

The collage above includes a happy Piper and John as well as pictures of all of the owners of Treasure and Gibsons pups.  I had wanted to put them up previously as I attempted to work into the "Happiness Is" theme... but sometimes it is just not possible to keep this blog as up to date as I would like to do.  All of the pups are doing well in their new homes and it's fun to get updates and pictures.  Some of this occurs on our ATB Facebook page which further makes staying in touch a lot of fun for all!  You'll see a few field pictures of Remi (aka as BBB) working on wild birds last week in NH.  Also in the collage are a few photos of Riley and his owner.  Riley is out of Treasure and Gibsons first litter in 2009.  John and I met up with Julie, Pam, and Sam and Riley's owners Tiffany and Denis at the recent Maine Sportsmens Show.  Denis is a taxidermist and some of his award winning work was on display there.  Riley was the perfect ambassador for the breed as he visited and socialized with the hundreds of people who attended the show.  I was very surprised to bump into none other than our son and his children! We all enjoyed watching the Yankee Chapter NAVHDA training demo at the show and our oldest granddaughter was invited to particpate on the stage during the presentation. Blaine and Patti always put on a good show, plus I never tired of hearing compliments from Blaine about our Brittanys LOL!  (Our son had brought antlers up to be 'scored'  officially according to the Boone & Crockett club.  I will have to write about that separately because I would probably not get the information right - suffice to say they scored well.)  We ran into a lot of friends there and saw folks we really only get to visit with once a year at the show.  At the end of the day we relaxed over dinner at a nearby Olive Garden.  Julie had brought Bullet with her so that John and I could bring him home to see if he's ready for a hunting test at the junior level.  I know that was hard for her to release him into our care for a whole bunch of reasons. But we love Bullet and he's enjoying himself.  He did really well his first day out; pictures of that outing are also included in the collage above.  

Molly Rose is quickly approaching her 7th week of pregnancy. Now that just doesn't sound possible, does it?  Here we are waiting to confirm whether or not she is going to have pups and suddenly, the calendar and her appearance say puppies are well on the way!  Molly is simply being Molly, she looks wonderful but it's easy to see she is beginning to feel some discomfort as the pups develop within. I am watching an interesting behavior develop between Molly and Pippin.  (As you may remember, Pippin was bred to Chevy last month.) Whenever Molly has been pregnant she especially has enjoyed lying underneath our end tables.  She does normally like to lay under the coffee table, bed, and rocking chair. But it only when she's been pregnant she seems to prefer the end table.  Pippin on the other hand is unlikely to lay under anything.  But last week she decided that it was time to discover why the end table was so intriguing to Molly and sure enough, I saw her head peaking out and she really did look quite funny! She's a Brittany with real attitude that always shows in her expressions, which are most often a look of utter disgust.  That moment came and went.  Yesterday John and I were sitting in the den and he motioned for me to look at Pippin and Molly.  I slowly moved so that I could see what he was talking about.  Underneath the end table, the two of them were cuddled up next to each other with Molly clearly blocking Pippin in so that only her head could be seen. But it was if Pippin was cuddled up next to Molly. Now THIS is strange and unusual behavior for BOTH of these girls!  John and I laughed to the point where the girls seem to understand they were the subject of our amusement and both came out from under the end table.  If you've visited us here, you know the end tables are small and square, not a lot of room underneath them.  Another interesting behavior in regards to wondering whether or not Pippin is pregnant or not (we are CERTAIN Molly is).  When Pippin's mother Chrissy was pregnant, our other girls always seemed a little overly interested in the particular scent of Chris. In other words, excessive sniffing of her private area. Sure it's common for dogs to sniff out each other, it's a social thing, but when you have a multiple dog family they do not tend to obsess about it. Pippin, like her mother before her, is also now the object of excessive sniffing from the girls.  Time will tell.

I'm really pleased with those who have found their way to ATB and are anticipating a pup from Scooby's first litter and from Molly's last.  It's always so enjoyable to get to know new people, for the timing to be right and for the needs to be met for both the excited new puppy owner to be, and for the anticipated pup as well.  I enjoy spending time emailing, visiting, talking on the phone and sharing all the updates.  Remember, this is the time to be reading the 'Art of Raising Puppies' book and if you're planning to hunt with your pup, also "Tarrant Trains Gundogs"!  Required ATB reading, thank you.

This year is unusual in that our breeding program led us to breed for 3 successive litters.  Although not the norm here, we have experienced this situation in the past.  John was still working full time and we certainly did not have the wonderful new area dedicated to whelping, raising, and socializing Brittany puppies in the best sense of the word.  We have had pups born in the house before and it has worked out well.  Even so, we find it to be not only enjoyable but also practical to extend our home environment to include our very own 'puppy cave'.  Our puppies are included in our daily activities, entertain visitors, and experience normal household living in many ways. They are safe, warm, clean, monitored, handled, and the results speak for themself. 

John and I have decided to call Molly's litter the "Brook" litter.  You see, when you have 7 grandchildren and raise Brittanys chances are good that pups will eventually be born on one of their birthdays. Such as the case when Treasure's pups were born on the birthday of our oldest granddaughter - Nova.  Thus, the "Nova" litter and also one of the pups actually named "Nova." (Thanks Jim and Lori!)  Well believe it or not, Molly's due date is on the birthday of our next to the oldest granddaughter - Brook.  John and Brook were going over 'their'  list of possible nicknames the other day. We are also keeping with a "Scooby Doo" theme so stay tuned - this is going to be interesting!

Speaking of grandchildren I received a very sweet phone call yesterday from our youngest grandaughter. She called to tell me she would like to come up and bake some cookies with me, we have not that together for quite awhile.  I think I shall clear my calendar for what could possibly be more important than baking cookies with my daughters, daughter?  No dog show, no hunt test, no litter of pups, nothing... The big decision will be 'sparkle' cookies, M & M cookies, chocolate chip cookies, or oatmeal?  Maybe...all of them.  As always thank you for your interest!  Take care and God Bless you all,  John, Ann and ATB