Puppy update 6 weeks: Meet and Greet

The six week milestone has been reached.

This is the time I really like the pups to get out and meet new things, build experiences and explore a larger world.

The pups have sheep in the barn to see and watch, the old red cat comes and visits and they have mom.

This week I wheelbarrow-ed the pups way back into the bush to meet some of the other sheep, meet the other big dogs and visit with the collies.

The meeting the other dogs went great. Vuk, the dad came and said a brief hello but then mooched off to watch all the puppy shenanigans from a safe distance. Mali was a little aloof, but kept a good watchful eye out for them. Silver, who is almost a yearling now, was most intrigued by the pups and spent most of the time hanging out with them.

The pups found Ash the collie interesting, but as Ash was mostly off looking to gather some sheep he was not too involved with the pups.

The ewes are grazing in very thick bush and it is hard to find them, so ultimately only 2 ewes came to the meet and greet.

Here are the photo's from this day.

Female

Male

Dark male

Dark female

Dark female

Male

Large male

The next day was VET day! All the pups were vaccinated and had their first health check and all looked great. This was another new experience for the pups, travelling for 2 hours in the truck, in the clinic and getting cuddles from Dr Chris and staff.

They are now microchipped.

Every day their learning experiences expand it it is such fun to see them growing and changing.

And, cutest photo of the day!

Summer 2017

Blogging during the summer, always takes a backseat to other farm work.
With the long summer nights and lots of farm work to be done, there is little time to sit behind the computer and write.
When the long cold winter nights roll back in, I will have  more time again to write.

Here is a short catch up on our summer.

In a nutshell, the summer began with the kids and their sheep and cattle show at Summer Synergy.
Both the kids did very well and both moved on to Calgary Stampede and won scholarships.
Part of their Synergy competition was their Marketing projects, this year they needed to do some market research and required them to do surveys on opinions. Thank you to all the people who took the time to respond and complete the surveys of Jess and Roy. I know a lot of people asked to see the final results, so here is the marketing project of Roy. (Once I get the one from Jess, I will post it too.)
 Click here: Roy

Here is an impression of some of the activities the kids did at Summer Synergy.

After Summer Synergy, it was time for haymaking on the ranch. We rented additional land this year so we had plenty of hay making to do. With a big effort from Eric, myself and Roy we got the job done. Eric bought a hay mover this year, so that task of getting all the hay hauled home should go smoothly.

We decided to go camping in the mountains with the horses for a few days. This was a great break for all. It was also a learning experience for 3 of the horses, as none of them had ever been to the mountains before. We sat around the campfire, ate well, rode our horses, went for walks. A perfect vacation!

                                                                                     

We also had the sweetest litter of sarplaninac pups this summer. It is so nice to have a small litter, so easy to cuddle all the pups.

Most of the lambs are sold, breeding is in full swing for January lambing.

This summer has also had its share of sadness.

We lost our dear matriarch sarplaninac,  Fena.

She died quietly, while sleeping under a tree watching over her sheep.

She is missed everyday.

So despite the slow down in blog posts,

we are well, busy and enjoying summer.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Lucy pups

The pups are doing very well, and it is such a pleasure just having 5 after the last litter of 12!
They are now eating well, wrestling and playing, going on mini adventures and are all excited to see us. Their world is expanding and it is fun to see them develop and grow.
Their characters are starting to show more and more and it is fun to see how they change every day.

We still have one male available from this litter.

“The world would be a nicer place if everyone had the ability to love as unconditionally as a dog.”
~M.K. Clinton