I hope this Blog proves to be both fun and educational for anyone interested in Showing and/or Breeding Dogs. Spend some time with us and you will really understand the time and effort and emotions that goes into this hobby. Join me here for the good times and bad times, the joys and sorrows, the wins and losses. Welcome to life at Vista Dei!

I was playing with the puppies tonight and both the boy puppies #3 and #5 have started giving me little kisses on my lips.. now you want to experience something SWEET.. they are so tender and smell of puppy breath. sigh.. going to play with them some more, well you can't really PLAY yet, but I can hold them and fiddle with their ears and kiss them.  Some of them are starting to try to interact with the others, with little gummy bites of each others ears, and their little "big kid" barks.

Posted by: Vistadei at 20:19 | link | comments

All the puppies have both their eyes open now.  Their ears are open too, cause the other day was the first time they re-acted to the daily VACUME monster.. oh they jumped and hopped up and scrambled this way and that!  They are also learning to bark, instead of squeak.  Last night one of them gave out a HUGE adult sounding bark and scared himself!  He rocked back off his feet and looked all around, like "what the HECK was THAT!?!?"  They can also do the little wolf howl now too, when Mom moved out of reach, before scrambling over for more dinner, they will pucker up their little lips and tip their head back in the wolf howl.. wwwooooooooooo!!  Puppy #2 very deliberately walked all the way around the perimeter of the welping box, one step after another, really careful so that he didn't fall over once.  It was cute, you could tell he was really concentrating on each step.  The other funny thing they do now is stand up to poopie, and try to scrunch up like a big dog, but they are not steady enough on their feet for that stance, so sometimes.. eww.. sit down in it, or just topple over to the side, cause they got off balance.  They are growing so fast that when I come home from work at night, they have grown and developed very noticably just since the morning when I left.

Posted by: Vistadei at 11:42 | link | comments

Posted by: Vistadei at 12:04 | link | comments (4)

Ok! My Aunt came over today and helped hold the puppies so they didn't look like bobble headed dolls in their pictures! So here is the long awaited pictures of the litter at two weeks old.. drum roll please..

Girl puppy #!

Boy Puppy #2 - eyes are open today!

Boy Puppy #3

Girl puppy #4

Boy Puppy #5 - HELLO WORLD, HERE I AM!! Barely peeking open my eyes..

Little Girl Puppy #6

 

 

Posted by: Vistadei at 16:14 | link | comments (3)

Man, I am almost too tired to type!  Yesterday Darby finished his NA and NAJ titles with two more first place ribbons! woooo... hooooo..

Regis earned another leg in Open Standard, and Drifter earned a leg in Novice standard.  They are both running today, but I am too tired to go, and didn't feel Darby and I were ready to move up to Open yet.  Was nice to see Sue and Mary and Alena there, you girls were great bar setters.. it was a long day tho wasn't it?

Puppies are doing great, more eyes opening, and they are all toddling around the cage pretty good.  Can't walk more than about 3 steps before the roll and tumble, but they can get where they are going!

Posted by: Vistadei at 10:32 | link | comments (2)

ahhhh I deleted last nights post with the puppy pictures, they are cuter than they looked in those pictures so after today's shows I am going to try to take new pictures of the group.  Maybe my son can help hold them so they don't have their heads bobbing about!! hahahah

Posted by: Vistadei at 06:32 | link | comments

Back from lunch break, Diana looks like she is feeling alot better, I got her back on the yogurt/egg mixture to try to get more calcium in her.  It is hard, cause straight calcium supliments do more harm than good sometimes, it needs to get into her in a food source balanced with Vitamen D to help her make good use of it in milk production.  Pups were fine and sleeping, so I didn't poke 'em and wake them all up to kiss their little faces, cause I only had a little bit of time before I needed to be back to work.  Gotta earn them dog food bucks!

Posted by: Vistadei at 15:39 | link | comments

It's Friday, puppies are two weeks old and it is update day, but no pictures yet!  I picked up the puppies this morning and what did I see?? little bitty eyes looking back at me!!!! So no flash photography this morning, don't want the bright light in their little eyes.  Hopefully by this afternoon thier eyes will be open more, and I will have more natural light to take their pictures.  Some of them are pulling up on thier feet and taking a couple steps before the plop over and roll.

I think Diana might have been getting on the verge of Eclampsia, were the demands of a large litter on a small body takes too much calcium out of her system.  I am keeping a very close eye on it, if need be I might have to skip the agility shows tomarrow, I will wait and see.. going to run home on my lunch break again.

Posted by: Vistadei at 13:11 | link | comments

I am trying to do too much again.  That is a huge issue with me, trying to do too much.  Last night I took Darby out to a new facility to practice agility, we have 2 shows this weekend.  Now if you are keeping track that means I have titled Darby in Rally obedience, and finished his conformation Championship, and now trying to finish 2 agility titles, all in under 30 days, and in the middle of that, having a new litter born.  It is too much.  We did really lousy at the new place, the worst of it was Darby decide to dive off the top of the Dog walk, which is what, 4 1/2 feet high.  Landed on his head.. not good.. thought he hurt his shoulder, but seems ok, no limping.  We haven't practiced enough, I just haven't had the time to work morning and evening with him like I should be doing to get ready for this show.

Top it off, because the training was an hour drive each way and the time out there, plus I had been at work all day, Diana decided she had been in with the babies WAY too long, made every effort to get out of the welping pen on her own, tore it all up, didn't feed the puppies, they were desperate, ate too fast, got the runs, her milk  bags must be a little sore, cause even this morning I had to MAKE her lay down to nurse, so it must hurt her from being too full, at least none are hard or infected. sigh....  and the weather.. in the morning it is chilly and they need a heat lamp early in the AM before I go to work, but by the time I come home from work it is HOT.. so I am having to come home still on my lunch breaks to adjust if they need a window open etc.  I truely don't understand how people can have several litters a month and crank out hundreds of puppies in a year.  I can barely manage one litter!!

Posted by: Vistadei at 11:17 | link | comments (4)

I am exhausted today, I think the stress of the shows and then the ahhhhh feeling of getting that UKC Ch. on Darby has just worn me completely out.  I believe I am going to order more of those big crates that I bought at the begining of the year.  I would like a couple more for when I have dogs spending the night, like Drifter, or when Destiny comes over for a visit.  I just LOVE them, love the extra room that the dogs have to walk around, stand on their hind legs, streatch wayyyy out etc.  They are much easier to keep clean than the smaller travel crates, and I think they will be great in the summer since they are open wire.  It also gives me all the travel crates free so if I need to put 4 crates in the car for a show or something, I don't have to disturb my set up.  I love it.. Of course the dogs only spend a few hours a day in their crates, and sleep at night and eat in them, but they are soooo esential to have to keep boys away from girls in heat, to keep everyone's meals separate so they can gte the amounts they should have instead of one pigging out etc.

Oh and note to one's self, the wooley plaid berber I bought and made crate pads with, is NOT holding up to the laundery that I do with the bedding.  Bummer... it is wearing badly with less than 6 months of wear and washing.  It won't make it a whole year, and that was too much sewing for less than a year use.  I might splurge on those wooley beds with the raised sides, I am sure they would love those..

Posted by: Vistadei at 16:11 | link | comments

Mom's out to the potty, let's snap a picture!! 

Sleepy puppies..

Mom's back, looking a little tired and frazzled, but hey, isn't every new mom of 6?

Oh.. should have left sleeping dogs alone, now we woke them all up!

Dinner time!!!

Posted by: Vistadei at 21:22 | link | comments (2)

wooooo hoooooo...
We have a new UKC Champion...it was a long time coming!!

U-CH Sirius Stellar Perfomance CD, RN, 2/3 NA, 2/3 NAJ,CGC,VCCX

Went Best Adult male (over some nice competition ), Best Male, Best of Breed
and a Group 2

Doin' the happy dance!!

Decker showed too, but only got third in his class today, so his day will come...

Posted by: Vistadei at 10:45 | link | comments (1)

I weighed and took pictures of each of the pups tonight.  They are so similar it was difficult to sort out which pup was which, but after lots of shuffling and looking at my birth notes, here is the line up..

At week 1..

Weighing in at 16 oz, a gain of 7ounces is a girl PUP #1

Below is PUP #2 a boy now weighs 12 ounces, a gain of 3 ounces

Below is PUP #3 another boy now weighs 14 ounces, a gain of 4 ounces

Below is PUP #4 a girl, now weighs 14 ounces for a gain of 5 ounces

Last boy, PUP #5 now weights 15 ounces, a gain of 6 ounces

And last.. and smallest, is a girl, PUPPY #6 weighing in at a wopping 10 ounces, a gain of 3 ounces

 

 

Posted by: Vistadei at 20:16 | link | comments (8)

DAY 7

Today I went over each pup really well, all their umbilical cords have dried up and fallen off, and most of their dew claw areas are either completely healed, or have nice scabs. They all seem to enjoy being held, they wiggle and squeek when they are first swooped up, because of course their eyes are closed and they can't see me coming, but all of them snuggled right into my hands and enjoyed being stroked. Tonight I will weigh each one, and hopefully take pictures of each individual.  I like to chart their growth and take pictures each week so I can compair weights and growth and that helps with predicting size.  I have a big chart that has weekly growth of every pup we have had, and then the size they ended up as adults.  I am starting to see patterns of size at a certain week seems to predict the final size.

 

Posted by: Vistadei at 11:48 | link | comments (1)

DAY 6

Several of the puppies are starting to scoot all over the 4 foot welping pen, when their mom moves to the far end to eat or drink, they come scooting along squeaking and squaking.  The rest of the group just curls up and goes to sleep in a pile, while 2 of the dogs work hard at moving and following.  Already, these are the signs we start to look for when pulling agility prospects out of the litter.  Usually the bold active ones are the ones that are best suited for performance sports.  While small puppy #6 doesn't explore the whole welping box yet, she is making a directed effort to stand up already.  She deliberately will pull one and then the other of her back legs up under her, and then push up.  Of course she topples right over, but she is the first to try.  Often the smallest pup is the first to walk, as they are not supporting as much body weight so can get up on their feet first. 

I start this early the process of socializing the pups.  Socializing to me mean exposing them to different situations, a little bit of stress or change and then re-assuring them that the change is just fine, and they will not be adversely affected by it.  So at this early stage, I change the bedding twice a day for cleanliness, and try to pick different types of bedding each time, sometimes a thick terry towel, sometimes that wooley fabric, sometimes a fleece blanket, sometimes a cotton quilt, etc.  This gives them different textures in their limited world, different amounts of traction, etc.

Over the winter I have been dreaming.. I sure would like to find a large property with a very small, modest home, but plenty of room to build a training building with kennel runs.  I found a basic plan from a company, tho the blueprints for this building are smaller than what I want, it is the basic design.. I would like a training building in the center, indoor kennel runs on the right fore-front pop out, and then add exterior chain link runs to that right pop out area.  That would allow me to do a little more with the dogs, grow out more pups, give them more to do on rainy days than they can in the house, give my friends and I place to leave agility equipement set up for training etc.  What do you think??

 

Posted by: Vistadei at 11:37 | link | comments (1)

DAY 5

The puppies are on day FIVE already!! oh my, how time flys.. they are growing alot, nice and fat and sleek. Diana is doing great, she spent about an hour out around the house getting a little break, she is back to her happy wiggly wagging old self, and looks like she feel soooo much better.

Posted by: Vistadei at 09:41 | link | comments (6)

It's "over the hump" day.. I guess I am supersticious, but I don't like to talk about a litter till they make it to 4 days old, as I see too many breeders bragging about new born litters, then loose them one after another.. sad commentary.  I usually feel if we make day 4 with no major problems, then the little wigglers are in good shape.  Diana seems to feel alot better yesterday and today, she doesn't want to leave the babies alone, but will go out to the potty and jump up and down off the bed and enjoy a brushing while I check her milk and discharge etc.  She is drinking alot, but has also started to eat 3 full meals a day with yogurt and egg in two of the meals and a little canned food mixed in to the mid day one.  She will need all the food and water and broth we can get into her to make enough milk for these big fat babies and so many of them!

I went home from work at lunch to let her out to the potty and check the pups and give her mid day meal and broth, and I swear those puppies have GROWN since I left for work this morning!! wowow!

Posted by: Vistadei at 15:51 | link | comments (4)

We have NEW PUPPIES!!!  Ok, I know they look like hampsters, but I can assure you they are shelties!!

Posted by: Vistadei at 12:51 | link | comments (2)

Vista Dei Luvme Like A Rock NA,NAJ,1/3OA,2/3OAJ "Regis"

Regis, one of our Darby x Mysty pups continues his agility streak... On the weekend of May 13,14 2006 at the WCOTC agility trials Regis' ran his first time in Open. He did a great job and got 3 out of 4 Qs. So, now he is 1/3 OA, 2/3 OAJ. He was the speed demon, as usual, earning 3 first place ribbons and clean runs on all 3 as well. WWWWOOOOO HOOOOOO Way to go Regis and his owner handler Tim!

Posted by: Vistadei at 18:40 | link | comments (2)

On Sunday I took Darby and met with SF and Gennie for a really nice agility practice session.  I enjoyed myself alot, and I think I really made some progress with Darby on the big articles, re-enforcing the treats at the end of each obsticle.  I think in training, in the begining we treat and praise alot, then we start to take for granted that the dog understands what to do and will just "do", and we start focusing on things other than the rewards.  I back tracked and used lots of yummy hot dogs with a couple chunks of bacon too and rewarded every time he did one of the big articles.  By the end of the hour, I had to leash him to keep him from going off and doing them on his own.  This was really important for me, as he had been starting to refuse the A frame or bail off the teeter and dog walk.  Now I have more confidence that he will drive through to the end.  SF and Gennie are doing GREAT work.  Oh SF wanted to tell you too that my aunt and mother were VERY impressed by your daughter, how sweet and polite she was, as well as how well she handled Gennie!

Posted by: Vistadei at 08:07 | link | comments (1)

So Cricket wants to know about the "paper clip" huh?  That is a nick name for exersizes #21 and #22 in Rally obedience, in one shown below, exercise 21, the dog is heeling on the left of the handler, and they choose the path that would keep the dog on the outside away from the cones, the other  exercise #22 is reversed and the dog is still heeling on the handlers left, but they would enter the cones so the dog is on the inside towards the cones.  I have attempted to draw a picture.  There are 3 cones in a row, about 6 to 8 feet apart, the dog and handler do a heeling pattern following the line on the drawing.  Heel out around all 3 cones, then around 2 cones then around 1 cone and off to the next exercise.  Last week our "next exersize" was a 360 turn in the opposite direction which was a little dizzy making!

See Cricket, there are LOTS of fun things to do besides go to the car races!!

 

Posted by: Vistadei at 10:52 | link | comments

Boy there is a whole lot of nothing going on around here this week!  The most fun we had was cutting toenails, and that is a weekly event anyway.  It is just same old same old routine, wake up and let the dogs outside in the AM, fill up the water bowls, play with the dogs, pick up the poop, play some more, a little training time - go to work -come home from work, let out the dogs.. shut up shut up shut up (rabbits and birds and squirels oh my!).. play with the dogs, clean the house, brush the dogs, back outside play with the dogs, pick up the poopies, watch some TV and brush some more dogs, let the dogs out shut up shut up shut up (racoons and opposums and kids, oh my!) make up the food and feed the dogs, and go to bed.. guess what.. before my head hits the pillow it is the next day and we do it allllll again.  I think I need some excitement around here..maybe NEXT week!

Posted by: Vistadei at 08:04 | link | comments (2)

Ugghhhh just got out the weave poles again after a 2 week break from agility training!  Oh, you would think Darby had never seen them before in his LIFE.. I have just changed my goal from finishing his titles on the Memorial Day weekend shows to just Finishing those titles in 2006... sigh...  Can't get off work for the UKC show weekend like I had wanted to, maybe if I am really lucky I might make 1 of the 4 shows that weekend, but better one than none!

I still didn't seed the yard, I put down a bunch of peat before I had planned on seeding, and I rather like that, but it is too fine.. however it keeps the ground from being muddy.  I am thinking I am going to buy several more big things of it, and then put some chips on top of it and see how that goes.  It is really much nicer to clean poopie from than the grass too, it just lays there and is dryer and coated and not smeared about.  Of course as soon as I put down chips grass and weeds will grow up because I am not putting plastic or garden cloth down over the area, I still want a good surface for agility work.

 

Posted by: Vistadei at 08:42 | link | comments (2)