We had snow (nearly an inch! lol)

Just pictures today and a reminder to keep an eye on the blog for details of Beetles imminent litter :)

It may not have been much snow, but the dogs enjoyed it.

Whoopi is growing fast 

Training

Have been trying a bit of shaping with Florin. My friend, Rosie, got us started about 10 days ago, the idea being is that she has to offer a behaviour in order to get a reward. We started with her showing any interest in the box, then it progressed to 1 foot in the box, then 2. 3 feet took her the longest to master and yesterday and today she has reliably offered all 4 feet in the box.

Alongside this she has started at trick training classes, which she is loving and is proving very keen to try. Whoopi is also benefiting from all this as she is getting lessons at home too, she is pretty good at (with a treat lure), sit, down and give a paw. We have also started box work and twists to the left and right. 

Whoopi

Introducing Whoopi, the puppy I am keeping from Spirits litter :)

This is the last litter of puppies at Itzapromise for a little while, but life will be far from dull with two young dogs to bring on. Then there are the cats, Beetle is due a litter at the end of the month, so looking forward to a houseful of the naughtiest kittens soon. 

Merry Christmas from Itzapromise

Another year draws to a close, it's been quite a tough 12 months having lost, in fairly quick succession, Purdie and Dollar and then having to make the very tough decision to rehome Dime (who is loving her new life and so far is behaving). The positives have been some cracking litters of kittens and two wonderful litters of pups. Florin was one of the pups and I a so enjoying having her, she is just loaded with character and loves everything and everyone. She has started doing some pre agility training and we have also started attending a trick training course, look out for a skateboarding dog soon, lol.

Spirits puppies are just the easiest litter ever (famous last words!) I will be keeping one of these pups as this was Spirits last litter. They are now 5 weeks old and are taking everything in their stride. Here are a few pictures of them enjoying some garden time.

4 Weeks tomorrow.

Spirits pups have been the most laid back puppies I have ever had, I'm guessing this is due to lack of competition. At this stage (4 weeks old tomorrow) most of my litters would be ravenously eating 4 meals a day and would have been escaping from the whelping box. Not so with these 3, Spirit is obviously feeding them very well as, although they do eat when food is offered, they just have a few bites and then go to sleep it off, all are chunky monkeys so no worries there. Today I took down the divider between the pen and the first part of their run extension. This thoroughly confused them, and they spent about 20 minutes screaming and wading through their water bowl before falling asleep at the front of the run, completely oblivious to their mum who was happily lying on the bed behind them, lol.

By the afternoon they have got it sussed and are happily playing again. The photos may give the impression that Somme is the dominant character out of the litter, this isn't strictly true, the fact that she is cream makes her stand out from her siblings and of course, she is far easier to photograph than the blacks.