Happy 5th Birthday to our Hendrix litter!

Happy 5th Birthday to our Hendrix litter!!! 

These pups out of Parker, BISS GCH HiBourne's It's All About Me and our Trixie, CH GraytSky's I'm Not Really A Waitress, CD, RN, AX, OAJ, V, BROM, have a very special place in my heart as this was our first litter. We've developed wonderful, lifelong friendships and look forward to many more years of fun! 

All our love to...

• "Marshall", CH Grayhart's In From the Storm, RN, CGC, 
• "Sky" CH Grayhart Lightfoot Early Morning Rain, RN, TD, JH, OA, AXJ, NSD, NRD, CGC, VX, 
• "Mia", CH Grayhart's American Woman, CGC, finished with 2 Specialty Majors
• "Jam", CH Grayhart's Purple Haze, CD, JH, AX, AXJ, SD, CGC, V, 
• "Ranger" Grayhart's Midnight Lightening (Specialty Major Pointed), 
• "Monty" Grayhart's Stone Free, JH, CGC!!!

S-P Pups Day 16-17 How they grow

 The pups are growing like weeds thanks to the great nourishment from Momma Savi.  This week, from 14-21 days of age, is what we call the transitional period.  The pups can now see, hear and interact with each other.  They are all walking and show a startle response to sounds, although they are not capable of fear at this age.  We introduce all kinds of sounds, like the vacuum, to ensure they are not noise sensitive and comfortable with all kinds of noises.

 The pups are enjoying the different toys we've added to the box and we will continue to alternate toys that are made of different materials to give a new tactile experience as well as make all kinds of sounds.

 Savi is looking terrific 2 1/2 weeks post whelp.

 Hmmm, we must taste and smell all these toys!

 Soon the warming basket, which is used to hold the pups while we clean the whelping box, will go away as the pups are beginning to escape...a few brave ones have already jumped the wall!

Rockstar Update: Rigby & Roxie...pirated post from Rigby's blog!

Thank you Nina for Rigby's (Summit x Jam) fabulous blog posts...now for your reading pleasure...

Catching Up a Bit

I haven't posted for a while about Rigby and her exploits, so in order to bring the blog up to date this posting will be a mix of subjects, stories and photos.

As Rigby continues to grow and mature into a lovely young dog she is going through some mischievous times and her curiosity leads her to many new adventures.

BURIED TREASURE

The couch in our living room is a sectional that curves along a corner of the living room, creating a bit of an open space where we have a lamp placed.  Since Rigby's arrival, that space containing the lamp has also become a storage area for our throw pillows, keeping them safe from puppy teeth.

Recently Rigby has become more interested in the open space and she takes her toys to that area of the couch and holds them there while gazing into the void.  Now it seems that she thinks it's a hiding space for her treasures and, when we can't find one of her toys, that is the first place we look.

The other morning, as I was preparing to take Rigby for a walk, I could only find one of my tennis shoes sitting by the couch where I had left both of them.  I searched high and low, room to room looking for my other shoe, not understanding how one shoe would be where I expected, but the other one totally gone.  Then it hit me, Rigby must have taken my shoe.  Sure enough, when I looked behind the couch, there was my shoe in her special hiding place!

CRATE GAMES

Rigby's favorite crate game is not one you'll see on any video for training dogs to love their crate, it's one she has developed and perfected on her own.  She loves to take her Nylabones and stick them through the openings in her wire crate and drop them on the floor.  Now, as you might imagine, this takes a bit of skill to get the bone positioned in her mouth just right so that she will have the correct angle to line the bone up with the openings in the crate, then to push it far enough through until it falls out of the crate.  Sometimes she will even use her paws to get the bone into the desired position.  

She knows that when Rocky hears the bone drop he'll come to get it and go chew on it.  Then she protests loudly, crying and barking, until Dan or I fetch the bone from Rocky's mouth and return it to the crate.  Because she has several bones in her crate, at times there will be two bones laying on the floor near her crate that she has pushed through the bars. 

IN THE PINK

Rigby loves pens and so we try to keep all writing utensils out of her reach at all times.  The other night, though, I fell asleep on the couch with a red marking pen in my hand.  It must have fallen onto the couch where Rigby was chewing a toy beside me.  I woke up to the voice of my husband telling Rigby, No, and him trying to wrest the pen from Rigby as she was totally destroying it.  There was red ink on a couple of the throws we had on our couch as well as Rigby's legs and her chest.  She did a pretty good dye job on herself, but we're just pleased that no ink got on the couch.

Aww, don't tell everyone what I did!

You can see the pink on the white spot on her chest!

Rigby Red Legs -- she might start her own baseball team!

This shows the ink on her chest and her legs.

These stories show just a bit of Rigby's personality, the crazy puppy side.  For the most part Rigby is maturing into a well-behaved family dog, who listens pretty well.  She has been accompanying me to many different places and meeting people along the way.  Her manners are improving nicely and it's seldom that she attempts to jump on people.  Her mouthing has gotten to a minimum and usually only happens when unknowing people dangle their hands above her head as though they are toys to play with.  Her play time with Rocky has taught her to enjoy other dogs and she is always friendly and happy to meet new friends.

A PUPPY CELEBRATION!

One of Rigby's sisters, Roxy, (formerly known as Miss Yellow) had a big day with her family earlier this spring as she reached an important milestone in a puppy's life -- at least a Jewish puppy's life -- when she celebrated her Bark Mitzvah!  Here are some photos from the celebration, as well as some family photos.

Roxy at the synagogue.

Roxy and her family.

Aunt Danielle got in the photo, too!

The perfect pose -- Roxy is ready to follow in her
mom's footsteps for a modeling career!

Roxy on the day of her Bark Mitzvah!

Trixie: She's got the look

Still a beauty at 8 1/2 years old, Trixie is still a working model!  This week, multiple agents called for possible jobs for our girls.  It had a been awhile since we updated Trixie's portfolio and we needed to take new head shots to submit to her agents.  Yes, the girls have agents and like any respectable model, a portfolio of shots to send to potential clients.  It didn't take long to get the perfect shot!

S-P Pups Day 13: Motion Picture Debut!

Eyes are all open and the pups are learning to walk and travel around the whelping box.  They are also beginning to interact with each other.  An amazing development in growth.

S-P Pups Days 10-12: Peek-a-boo

Almost all of the pups' eyes are open in varying degrees. Their vision however, is not very sharp but don't worry by day 18 or so, they will be able to focus on objects and people. Very young Weimaraner puppies have striking blue eyes. As the pups mature, their eye color changes to shades of light amber, gray, or blue-gray.

The pups still spend most of their day eating and sleeping but are doing more toddling around the box.

 A little photo session with the one of the pups...trying to keep Savi from photobombing the shots!

 Puppy piles

New Champion Mia!!!

Mia winning her 1st Specialty Major

We are thrilled to announce Mia is now CH Grayhart's American Woman, CGC!!! Mia is out of our first litter, sired by Parker, MBISS GCH HiBourne's It's All About Me, BROM x Trixie, CH GraytSky's I'm Not Really A Waitress, CD, RN, AX, OAJ, V, BROM, owned by Michele Gravlin & me. Thank you to Steve Lane, her sire's owner/breeder for finishing Mia with 2 Specialty Majors and all her points.

Mia showed at the Long Island NY shows, Ladies Kennel Association of America on Saturday and the Long Island Kennel Club show on Sunday, sweeping the weekend to earn the last 4 points needed to finish her AKC championship. She is the 4th champion from this litter and her dam's 9th champion.  Our other champions from this litter are Marshall, Jam and Sky.  You can see them on our website.

We not only celebrated Mia finishing but Steve and Bonnie Lane's bitch BeBe, went BOB (Best of Breed) shown by Steve, all 3 days and finished her Grand Championship title! She is now GCH HiBourne's Bartered Bride.

 After showing in the rain, we celebrated by buying Mia a new toy, which she picked out and some champagne for the humans!  Once we receive the official win picture we will be sure to post it.

It truly took a village to finish Mia and our gratitude goes out to Bonnie and Steve for showing and traveling with Mia to shows and her awesome owner Michele, for taking Mia to classes, spending hours driving to drop her off to stay with me for training and showing and sharing her with us!

Mia is Winner's Bitch for 2 pts!

 A lovely day at the Ladie's Kennel Association of America show at the gorgeous Planting Fields Arboretum in Oyster Bay, New York.  Mia, Grayhart's American Woman, CGC, (Parker x Trixie) shown by Steve Lane, owner/breeder of Mia's sire, handled her to winning the Open Bitch class and then going Winner's Bitch for two points under judge Dr. Elizabeth Wenner.  She was very complimentary of Mia and Steve's special, BeBe, who was Best of Breed, saying they were beautiful, similar in type and what a Weimaraner should be. Mia, a two-time Specialty Major winner, only needs two points to finish her AKC show championship.

 Mia had enough of the picture taking...she just wanted a cold drink and a nap!

S-P Pups Day 9: Dim the Lights!

Mr. Black found the perfect spot for a nap

Today was an exciting one as some of the puppies' eyes are beginning to open! Miss Purple was the first one to open her eyes and it is amazing how much more character her face has with her eyes open. A few of the others are beginning to see as well, therefore we've dimmed the lights and will not be using the flash to take pictures looking directly at the pups' faces for the next couple of days.

 The eyes opening is a major milestone in their development. Next, we will see their ears open and they will go from crawling, teetering a bit, which some are already doing to actual walking.

 Savi spends most of her day and night in the whelping box taking excellent care of her pups.  The wire you see behind her is the probe for the digital thermometer.  It is critical that the pups do not get cold and we keep a close eye on the temperature in the box, keeping it at about 85 degrees, with the help of a heat lamp.  The puppies cannot regulate their body temperature and keeping them warm is critical or they can die.  The other two most important things keeping pups alive and thriving is making sure they do not get dehydrated or any infections.

S-P Pups Day 7: The Fast Times Litter is 1 week old!

Hard to believe that the Fast Times pups (Parker, BISS GCH HiBourne's It's All About Me, BROM x Savi, CH Grayhart's Shear Genius, SH, NSD,NRD, CGC, V) are one week old!  They have changed so much in such a short period of time.  It is amazing how they develop and continue to make monumental changes in days and will continue over the next 7 weeks.  

The puppies eye will begin to open from day 9 to 12 and then their ears will open after that.

 These pups are great little eaters.  All of them latch on and nurse, kneading Savi with their front paws to stimulate the mammary glands.

 What goes in must come out and Savi keeps her pups immaculate.  She licks them to stimulate them to urinate and defecate as the young pups do not do this on their own.

We weight the pups daily and track their progress on a chart.  The pups should double their weight in the first week.

 Savi spends all her time in the box with the pups, either nursing, cleaning or just hanging out with her babies.

 Milk drunk!