J&A's Brittanys - Hanging With Puppies

Hanging out with Beauty, Hawkeye and all the pups.

Tomorrow is opening day for Maine's bird hunting season.  This morning John is helping with the state's pheasant stocking program in Southern Maine, something he thoroughly has enjoyed doing for many years now.  The email arrived from IF&W last week indicating the date, time, and locations.  I was going to go with him but as everyone knows I am NOT a morning person. This is especially so when we have puppies.  Last night I hung out with the Jack of Hearts litter of 9 until midnight. This morning I am working through my pumpkin spice coffee and relaxing briefly while trying to catch up here!

Evenings are a special time when there are puppies. At 8pm I turn the lights down in the puppy area and make sure that the music is set to something relaxing.  During the day when pups are not outside there is always something playing.  They have listened to westerns, situation comedies, talk radio, sound effects, and of course lots of music. Yesterday I actually turned the t.v. to face the puppies because a couple of them were sitting there looking up at the television! As their energy dwindles and their playful, typical mouthing and biting comes to an end they will crawl up into my lap. I will cuddle each pup one by one and gently place them back into their box. Timing is critical as I don't want them to wake up for another round of puppy playtime! At least not at midnight.

Pretty soon photographs and memories will replace the reality of 8 weeks of loving, nurturing, and caring for Arrow, Beauty, Carly, Dude, Eclipse, Flint, Ginger, Hawkeye, and Ike.  As surely as every planned breeding we have ever done is special in it's own right, the Jack of Hearts puppies is even more so.  John and I remain in awe. While Jack was alive, he was a frequently used stud dog not only for us but for other breeders who are focused on a close working gundog.  Everyone always knew what to expect and that was especially so with this pairing with Holly.  Yet even at 7 weeks old we felt these puppies exceeded our greatest expectations. I don't believe there was ever a happier litter.

For starters there was only to be 4-5 pups born according to the ultrasound. We know ultrasounds are just to confirm the pregnancy in most cases.  And because this was an artificial surgical insemination using semen frozen 5 years ago, we didn't expect 9 and our reproductive veterinarian were as surprised as we were. Good job JackDog!

We looked for and identified the desired traits in these pups from the very beginning.  Many were obvious such as natural retrieving instincts at 7 weeks of age. ( I believe in crediting the dogs that are behind these pups.  Birch Springs Wish Upon a Star, their great, great grandmother had incredible natural instincts, strong prey drive and more. This paring doubles up on our Wish.)  As the pups grew and matured they just kept getting happier and happier!  All pups get excited and are happy, that shouldn't be unusual at all.  But it was the wiggly butts with waggin tails that got me.  One of Jack's many memorable traits all hunting ability aside was how joyful he always was and how he made others happy. I see this in the pups. With Jack, all you had to do was gently scratch the base of his tail over his butt and he would immediately turn into a gleeful, happy boy!

Note  Miss Beauty's wet left ear as she sits next to Ginger.

Another thing that Jack always did was to suck on the ears of other dogs. Not just get them a little wet, but get them absolutely soaking wet!  It took me awhile to figure out why the hair on the ears of these pups were often drenched but last night the light went on.  I watched in amazement as a couple of the pups gently mouthed the ears of their sleeping littermates.

From the time they are born up until when they go home our puppies benefit from specific  'extra curricular activities'.  For many years we have used the Volhardt's Puppy Aptitude Testing for evaluation of a litter. I have also used the "Super Dog" (early neurological stimulation) which begins at 3 days old for newborn pups. If you're not familiar with this one here's a great article on it www.royalspaniel.com/health-testing/early-neurological-stimulat.html. I also implement many suggestions found in the book "Another Piece of the Puppy Puzzle" by Pat Hastings as well as use her DVD called The Puppy Puzzle." The greatest benefit?  Well, while this utilizes the best possible use of time spent with each and every puppy it also allows for the human/animal bond to become solid. And above all - what could be more fun than hanging with puppies with a purpose?! Oh how I love these baby dogs.

Carly's reaction to a suspended bird wing for visual response.

We wait until after the P.A.T.s to determine puppy selection. From the start we ask puppy families to fall in love with the entire litter, wait until they  meet them in person to give us their top 3 choices.  Following the evaluations and based on what we know about each family we determine the best possible fit.  While it's true any puppy would be a good choice there are also subtle differences in each personality which a breeder is aware of.  We rarely guarantee a specific color or gender but do try very hard to honor someone's preference. This was a busy week. Microchips, PAT's and well puppy exam and first puppy shots. As of yesterday, everyone now knows which puppy they will be bringing home.  No one was disappointed. For the time being, I will enjoy hanging with the puppies and making sure to make the days count while we count down to the first day of the rest of their lives.

As always, take care, God bless, and thank you for your interest in All Things Brittanys.
John, Ann, and our amazing crew