9/28/2020 1 Comment What A Day!I was not mentally prepared for the way today went. I thought all the puppies would be here at least until tomorrow... Where to begin! This morning I rearranged the inside pen to allow for more crates so individual puppies could sleep alone before going to their new homes. (They did great last night all in one wire crate with the door shut. I put them in there around 11PM and they didn't make a peep until after 6AM this morning. The blanket on top of the crate pad was a little damp so I think someone had an "accident", but when I went down about 6:40 and opened the door on the crate they all barreled out and made a beeline for the grass mat to commence doing their business! What good puppies! Imagine that!) Funny story....After I got the pen re-organized, I went upstairs to do some stuff and heard much commotion down there. I told Dave they were playing with the empty plastic lemonade bottle. Nope, they had dragged the smaller crate out into the middle of the pen and pulled the cute fleece halfway out through the wires! That crate is now zip-tied to the "courtyard kennel" panels! The puppies are officially little dogs with a whole lot of strength! Then, it's Monday...so pedicures for all the puppies were in order! Today we did it like big dogs on the grooming table. Oh my....that made a big difference in how fast I could get them done! Glad they are finally big enough for that! After that, the dominos starting falling! I heard from one of the families who was planning to get their puppy on Wednesday, that they got back early and could pick her up anytime. Poof! There goes Sadie! We love Sadie! She reminds us of Lucy and Raj with her beautiful face and ever-wagging tail. When the Dodson's came to make their choice of the puppies I offered them on Thursday last week, she sold herself hard to them! This is an awesome home! Michael is Elaine Dodson's grandson. Elaine was a lovely lady who bred Dalmatians and showed and competed in performance with her Dalmatians for many, many years. Some of her line is in the pedigree of these puppies, so there is a family connection. Michael is in charge of the canine unit for the Lambert St. Louis Airport - TSA/Homeland Security. He previously handled a bomb detection dog in Iraq and trained military canines at the base in TX. I think Scent Work and Tracking, as well as Conformation are in Sadie's future. But the biggest things in her future are a lot of love and fun with a great family! Michael and Ina have three children - Ezra, age 13 months who shares these puppies' birthday!; Makayla, age 11; and Sienna, age 13. And we must not forget, Chip, Michael's retired detection dog, age 5. Tears were shed as I said good-bye, but I will see her often as they live nearby, and she is going to have a great life! Juju N Onsengeltje She Loves You (AKA Sadie - at least for now) will be Futurity Nominated. While I was working on getting Sadie a bath and pulling her paperwork together, I got an email from the person who was considering a show boy letting me know that he just couldn't make a decision right now. That was the next domino to fall! After a few emails, it was decided that Maxwell would also go to his new home today! Another AWESOME family! I met Valerie and one of her daughters one day while I was laying down one of my sidewalk chalk messages at Long View farms. She told me how she and Mike had a Dalmatian when they were first married. They lost him when their triplet daughters - Amelia, Campbell and Riley, now 17 - were 3 years old, and have not had a dog since but always wanted another Dalmatian. I told her we were planning puppies and to look us up if they were interested. Well she did and the rest is history! They have visited the puppies every week since they were born, been completely open to whatever puppy I had for them, didn't just visit but actively worked with the puppies while they were here each time, and ultimately welcomed the opportunity to try out the show ring! What a lovely family. Parting with Maxwell was a tough choice. He and Jo Jo are very similar in quality for the show ring, but Maxwell is as sweet as the day is long and Jo Jo is a bit of a pill. I love them both dearly and am so so lucky that Maxwell is nearby and I will also get to see him often and mentor the family as they work towards his AKC championship. Juju N Onsengeltje Here We Go Again - AKA Maxwell will also be Futurity nominated. Baths for Max and Sadie were "fun"! We did them in the big kitchen sink. Their favorite parts were getting rubbed dry in a big fluffy towel and climbing up and down the stairs to and from the lower level! They also enjoyed running around the kitchen with little to no supervision. There are only a couple little teeth marks on one of the kitchen table chair legs! LOL! They were so soft and smelled so good after their baths!
Tomorrow, Lizzy will go to her home, and next weekend, Rita will go to hers. It already seems so much more quiet. And yes, Jo Jo will stay with us! It was an emotional day for me. Today should have been our Raj's 8th birthday. Losing him last January scarred me for life. I love all my dogs, but I've never lost one before they reached a reasonable old age until Raj last January. He was such a good funny boy and everyone in this house misses him to this day. Sadie and Maxwell most remind us of their Grandpa Raj so saying good-by to them on this day was hard. But it was also easy because they went to such loving homes so nearby and both families will help preserve his legacy. We try to look forward and remember that Every Day Really Is A Gift! I leave you with some favorite images of our sweet Raj, grandpa to these beautiful Imagine babies Until next time....
1 Comment
Prue
9/29/2020 04:20:00 am
So sorry about Raj. So painful. You had a day with many elements in it. Great work with the pups.
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Toni LinstedtI like to keep a diary of the puppies as much for myself as for prospective puppy buyers and interested friends. Sadly my blogs for Lucy's and Baili's litters are no longer available due to legacy systems, but I saved them off as pdf's and was reviewing them last night. It was a good refresher on all kinds of things and brought back lots of good memories. Looking forward to Imagine memories too! Archives
January 2021
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