J&A's Brittanys - As Time Goes By II

From ATB Archives:  2009, True is the puppy with spot on his head❤

This morning one of our vets made an official house call. We are blessed that he offers this service and it makes things a lot easier for us.  True and Toph's pups had their pre-health exam and were microchipped. They did great!  Next week they'll have their final health exams and receive first puppy shots (DA2PP). They too will have their P.A.T. evals.  Puppy selections will be determined. They will be 8 weeks old by next weekend and we will kiss them goodbye as the first day of the rest of their lives begin. We have had great reports on all of Holly and Bullet's pups in their new homes. I mentioned this to our vet. He complimented us, saying that all to prepare our puppies assures that the new owners will have a well adjusted puppy ready who will succeed from day one. He was also happy because his own new puppy has slept through the night and that housebreaking is going well. 

"Time is a gift, given to you,
given to give you the time you need,
the time you need to have the time of your life." N. Juster

I like that quote. Each day we are all given the same number of hours and each day we make use of them to the best of our ability.  It's different if you are retired, I get that.  But we are just as busy if not busier than we ever were before.  Especially at the moment.  My philosophy is that if I cannot give 110% to breeding, caring for the mother properly throughout pregnancy, thoroughly preparing for whelping, and devote myself for 8 weeks to rearing a litter of pups and screening for the absolute best families and homes - then if I cannot do that I should not be a purebred dog breeder. 

John, being the morning person that he is, often has his entire planned and has worked through most of it while I barely make it through my first cup of coffee.  On the other end of the day, I am at my best with the most energy happening in the evening and sometimes even into the next morning. It's crazy but it works and for the most part we can deal with each other's differences.  We're going on 44 years of marriage so that testifies to being able to work things out.

Before he retired 10 years ago all things whelping, breeding, training, cleaning and other responsibilities pretty much were left up to me as I was home full time at that point.  You develop your own way of doing things.  John was often so exhausted after often working 60+ hours a week plus the commute he had little left to give at the end of the day and understandably so.  As for me, this was before severe osteoarthritis reared it's ugly head, before the knee replacements and other things happened.  I remember it always seemed that pups came when John was at work and we kept the telephone lines open between us - there was no texting, messaging or Facebook.  I would also enjoy a daily training routine with Rosie, Jack, Molly, Scooby, Wish, and Promise.  Each morning I would bring them to the stake out chain in the front yard and one by one bring each dog out to work on a focused skill I was working with. They were fascinated to observe and behaved so well, each one waiting for their turn.  I did this morning and night.  On alternate days I would make trips down the road to the grounds that we ran dogs on.  My training methods were pretty much text book and I enjoyed seeing each individual Brittany work.  I learned so much from the dogs that we had at the time and felt a good foundation had been laid.

When John retired he hooked up with several other pointing breed owners involved with field trailing and gundog training, one being a trainer themselves.  They would frequently train together early in the morning, helping each other out.  It was a whole new schedule and as anyone knows, retirement brings with it new adjustments!  I continued to devote myself to other aspects of dog training such as basic obedience training, handling classes, and began to learn about showing dogs.  I focused now on learning more about the best breeding practices, the importance of proper puppy rearing and overall kennel management.

Fast forward to today and where we are now, we have become a team in regards to the Brittanys we love and live with.  Field training is ongoing for the crew. Not that they are all involved with competitive venues but they all thrive with their daily opportunities to run, exercise, and frequent exposure to birds and shot guns.  It is truly line up on line, precept upon precept. 

I'm seeing this teamwork especially with the busy-ness of the past year as we prepared and planned for the first litter of pups in 4 years.  And in doing so time has truly flown by, thus the quote above if you were wondering what the point was in posting that.  I cannot believe that September is a week away!  I can't believe that this season of rearing puppies is winding down.  Side by side, John and I have worked diligently to assure the best possible start for our puppies.  We have devoted ourselves without hesitation to their well being while working closely with our veterinarian(s).   We have also worked things out so there is no neglecting of those dogs with seniority so when I am with the puppies, John is with the older dogs. They swim, play, relax and also get to the field.  This summer I'm very happy to see Hemi coming along with his retrieving.  Especially happy to see how well Charlie has come along since coming home, he's a great bird dog, just like his father Jack was. My old girls are pretty accepting of the puppies.  Rosie did give us a scare this summer, she's going on 14  and we thought she was telling us it was time to make the journey to Rainbow Bridge. Our vet checked her out and miraculously she made a comeback, remaining happily now in her own little world.  It's getting so senior dogs are in the majority resulting in a geriatric crew!

I am tired but for all the right reasons.  I am not going to say "oh I will be so happy when all the puppies are gone".  Because that's not how I feel.  Tons of work, lots of puppy food, many bills, poop and more poop, and so on and so forth. I wouldn't miss this for the world though. My body aches, exhaustion has become the norm but by the Grace of God and those prayers that many of you say on our behalf, this puppy season has been full of joy, laughter, happiness and lots of love. It's how I spent my summer vacation.

Take care and God bless. Hope you've enjoyed the live videos on Facebook and the many photos I have shared.  John, Ann, and All Things Brittanys