Birthdays are Special

Shoshi had a birthday yesterday and I was a bad gal for not mentioning it even though I wished her happy birthday many times.

Two weeks from now Nathan and I have another anniversary. I expect a fabulous meal. ROFL

But what did Shoshi get? A fab meal, I hear.

Don't fotget birthdays or anniversaries. It's a moment to make memories and life is way too short to not treasure the memories.

Hug your Havanese today and guess what, you are apt t get one back. Now how great is that?

Messy Times

Fiona is our tiniest Havanese and is a delightful ball of hair but sometimes no matter what you do, she gets her hair looking like she just got out of bed.

Personally, I find this delightful. I find dawgs better looking naturally than brushed and kept on a table to stay just right but they still need to be brushed. heh

I miss sleeping with the dawgs. I am still sitting vigil with the pups and the crew is sleeping with Nathan. Fiona loves to snuggle up close to me and I do miss that but so do most of the others but I guess Nathan is enjoying and getting his fix and hey that's okay too. 

It was raining and windy today and I was so busy I didn't get photos but there is something magic about the wind and Havanese. They go together quite nice especially when they are in full coat.

The crew is highly interested in the pups but we keep them separate at this point. We do take them out, let them sniff and look. This is the start of socialization with others.

So, if you have a messy dawg? Get your camera out and click, click and share. I wouldn't mind seeing.

Mother's Have Time Outs Too

Today Yvonne was supposed to meet a puppy buyer at our home and they decided to opt out. They don't know what they are missing with missing out on a Havanese.

The day we we were exposed, the day our lives changed. They are amazing beings - I tell ya!

This is Abigail out for a run in the backyard. She's ever so busy these days but balance is important. So, she gets out for play and running in the backyard and snuggles and massages. Wasabi also does and the rest get mini massages when they are groomed not quite the full body ones that moms get daily but they still do that ooohm does that feel good tune out thing.

One day I am going eat something delish, get a massage and do nothing but play ipad games. ROFL

But if I do that, I will miss the dawgs. hehehehe

Leaves are Falling, I Still Get Groomed

I like it when Mommy takes a break from grooming but usually she only does this every once in awhile.

When I was a puppy, I could get brushed less but as an adult in full coat, she likes to brush me daily. It's not if she does it every few days that I will be a ball of knots. That's not the case as really I am ok. She just likes how I look nicely brushed.

We are still pulling in leaves and doing the sweep and vacuum many times a day.

How are you surviving?

Coach & Sassy Visits

Coach and Sassy came by today to play with the crew but unfortunately we have had much off and on rain. Still, it was great fun having them here. We already miss them.

It's great for the dawgs to have playmates that come to visit. It's great socialization for the visitors and for our crew.

It's important to expose your dawgs to all sorts of environments and other dawgs in a safe way. Know who you are exposing them to and when the mix works, well the fun begins and they are better for it.

No dawgs should live afraid and by us slow conditioning them, well you fear what you don't know not usually what you do.

Well, the weekend is gone. How did that happen so fast? Tomorrow we are in for much grooming and Fiona gets her bath. I am hoping for a sunny day - and you?

More Teddy Fun

We had a glorious time watching and capturing the dawgs at play. Here you can see Raylan with Teddy. Teddy came over to play again today as he had so much fun. Tomorrow Coach and Sassy and their parents are coming to play and we are hoping for more fun. Well the parents will watch. Only Nathan goes running around with the dawgs while they run after him. Me, after grooming, exercising and a lack of sleep - well I can click the camera and enjoy.

We still have puppy calendars for sale for the HFC. Check them out. You can pick them up here if you are local. Proceeds go to help the breed. It's filled with wonderful puppy photos of Havanese for 2011.

We also have a new blog that is getting updated as I can to help you with your holiday needs - heh It's called, Silly or Not Dog Products. Let us know of a product we should add and hopefully this will help others in their search for those precious dawg items.

Today I washed Kat, brushed the rest and I am hoping on Monday to wash Fiona. Everyone is always groomed despite how I feel. The dawgs get better care than I. But...I wouldn't have it any other way.

Catch today's photos. 

Such Teddy Bear Fun!

Teddy came to visit us today to play with the guys and it was a great amount of fun. The guys really missed him. Check out the photos to see what I mean.

Today we had a no brush day. What is that? I decided no brushing for 1 day. hahahaha Tomorrow we will begin again. Every now and then you need a time out day and that's okay.

I did get a laundry room/grooming area all cleaned up. One has to do that on a continual basis. I tend to take shampoos out and they don't make it back in the cabinets. I do similar with the brush and combs and then I look at the grooming table and go yikes - got to clean that up so that was what today was. I also did a fair bit of laundry with pups and all and played and took photos and enjoyed our visiting.

Tomorrow we have another visitor, the human kind.

Strategies

Okay, Raylan says Kat, let's run in a quick fashion, take Red at the stairs and jump and play and show him how to do it?

Okay, I didn't hear any conversation on this one but that's exactly what they did.

Don't you imagine what you dogs are saying to each other? They do communicate, just not like us.

Here's Looking at You

Ever notice how some dogs seem to pose? That's Raylan. I am going to miss him when he goes to England. He's just a ball of great personality and I know Iam biased but he is also a cutie-patootie.

Raylan is an Abigail and Katsura son.

Where does he get this 'look at me' attitude? Oh we know who it is from.

Well, I washed the two moms today. Tomorrow I will wash someone else. I usually do every 2 weeks on washing but Raylan is once a week and so is Kat. Soon Red will be the same. Show coats stay nicer the cleaner they are so we go the extra step so they can look nice for their debut in England.

I fell asleep mid-day today. That's so unlike me. The son was here to feed dogs and let me sleep.

Dawgs, pups etc are exhausting but that unconditional love - worth everything so I don't mind getting tired when I have snuggles to look forward to especially at bedtime where they all crawl into us and sleep. Yeah, they sleep on our bed. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Muddy Times

Today and last night the crew found the mud UNDER the leaves. I just bought more bags so the sunlight can get to the ground.

Why bother? Well I had mud tracked all through the house. I found taking an old towel, spraying the floor with a spray bottle and walking on it over the mud cleaned it faster. What a riot. It happened so many times that I had to find solutions to all that cleaning. Who can wash a floor many times a day? Not I but I can't just leave tracked paw prints either.

My floors get thoroughly washed the old fashioned way each Friday or Saturday. They get vacuumed daily in the Fall. Come Winter I do the towel dry thing I did with the towel minus the spray bottle.

I guess I could use a Swiffer but this method is actually faster as the towel is larger and it doesn't leave all that cleanser residue. hehehehe

The dawgs have a grand time trying to grab the towel as I do it too.

What kind of shortcuts have you learned since you have dawgs in your life during muddy or leave filled times?

Oh Fall is So Much Fun

We have piles of leaves out back and Risa ran her little heart out and dove into the piles of leaves. I wish I had the video camera going as it was funny.

So, I took about, okay I took out 129 leaves off of Risa. Yes, you got that number right. They stuck all over her and I counted them. I know some were just pieces but I counted them none the less. When I groomed her today, I still found a few more and I think the floor also had a dusting. I know it did as I swept.

Then I captured Kat in this photo and said, don't you DARE go into that pile. Can you tell he has this silly little smirk on his face? Well, he does and what did he do? Yes, like mother like son. To make it worse, he rubbed into it as if he was scratching his back to say - well THERE! The pups followed suit. So now look at what the adults taught the little ones. Oh and Raylan had that silly smile just like his dad. Mischievous Havanese and I guess other than the work, I wouldn't have it any other way!

I just wish that lottery ticket came in and I could just play and have someone else do the work. Yeah - right... knowing me I would be doing just what I am today just with some extra hands.

Our son Tal now has to rake yet again. Me, I just get to pull leaves out and sweep the floor. The dogs are all brushed out, teeth cleaned, ears checked and pads trimmed. Good thing this leave business happened BEFORE their brush out.

Dealing With Autumn

How do you deal with the leaves? Anyone who has seem a Havanese in a pile of leaves knows it is delightful but it also catches on their hair and tracks all the leaves  throughout the house.

I use a Dustbuster but a fast upright light vacuum would do and it's on my list after this week.

It's a riot to watch the crunch, crunch fun. They dive in, run through and make a pure mess out of any pile you didn't pickup yet or maybe if you are like us you actually create them so they can have fun.

But we are crazy dawg people who would rather have extra work if it means the dawgs will be having fun.

The laughter you have makes the extra work worth it!

Where Did They Go?

What were the humans doing today? They were off at a breeding seminar on structure and genetics. They even came back with the smell of Risa's father on them. What was THAT about?

We had a truly fun day with that human Dennis. He played with us, cuddled with us and showed us a good time but when that mom and dad came in, we decided to give them the best greeting of all!

Tomorrow we have a late morning but we will probably wake up the humans at 5am. Yeah the clocks change tonight but we have that internal clock thing going on and they are going to try to stay up late to fool us. Will they be able to pull it off? Time will tell!

Change of Food

 We are changing our food to a grain free. We are feeding Beef Fritatta, a new Fromm's product. When you change food, you have to go in stages otherwise your dawg can get loose bowels. So you add oh about 10 kibbles the first day, 14, the next and so on and so forth till you are changed over completely.

The dogs love the change but with a grain free you have to feed less. Yes, it cost more but yes you are feeding LESS. Grain-free is easier on the digestion system and we are pleased thus far. We will update you in a couple of months when we see how it goes. We still add wild salmon oil and Missing Link to our adult dogs as we strive to give a balanced diet for our dogs and minimize any dry skin.

Talking about food, the only time I go a tad crazy about making sure they eat is when moms are feeding pups or are pregnant. Otherwise, if they skip a meal, they will eat the next. It's taken me a long time not to fret but I accept that you can have a picky eater and one that eats less than you think they should eat and some will eat anything and everything and then you are dealing with a diet. We add leftovers - chicken cut up, beef - and even sometimes bacon. But we only add enough to add some renewed interest. Remember, if you overdo with the additives, you may be feeding too much.

Today, just for the moms they got vanilla ice cream for a cool treat, some yogurt, bacon, chicken, an egg and veggies. Not good enough for Abigail? So I poured chicken soup broth over the non dairy portion and she went yum. You do whatever you can to make sure the moms are eating sufficiently. They eat oh about 5 or 6 times a day. Amazing, eh?

It's raining today. Everyone got brushed out and already looks like - well we won't go there but hey no knots and that's what is important.

Tomorrow we are going to a seminar that is breeding related. We strive to learn always. Our son will be watching the dogs and pups.

What are you doing this weekend?

Well back to playing with the dawgs till we take a nap...yeah right and when do I take a nap?

Grandmom and Grandson

It's funny to see the mannerisms often of the grandmother vs. just the mom and dad when you see dogs.

Raylan acts a lot like Risa in a lot of ways. He also acts a lot like his dad and mom. It's funny how genetics works - pulling from various relatives to arrive at what you have.

You see it in your kids too. But Raylan likes to muck it up like Risa and you can often see him mimicking her. Is it a learned behavior or genes or perhaps both?

Mismatches?

Put 2 Havanese together even with different personalities and eventually they will bond. Put two similar personalities together and soon they will be playing like banshees and give you a ton of smiles and a few shaking your heads at the nonsense.

That's why it is important to us when someone wants to acquire another pup to match personalities with the existing dog as well as the owners.

We have way too many that say I like x colour and they 'get' the personality aspect but don't fully grasp it unless they are matched with a dog that doesn't fit their household but happens to be the colour they like.

Day After Bath

This is Fiona this morning before she is groomed. She had a bath yesterday and she stays relatively clean and looking semi-brushed.

Although Fiona is a Risa grandchild, she has a desire not to roll and muck it up. I call her my delicate beauty. Give me cuddle time and I am happy oh and feed me the good stuff too!

It's so interesting how personality plays a part but it makes sense. The human caretakers play a huge part in helping them be all they can be too.

Not all like to swim or do agility or be a calming dog etc. You have to explore and find what floats their boat, so to speak. Cultivate that when you figure it out and enjoy!

Bath at Talemaker Havanese

It's hopeless - yes I mean totally hopeless. I gave a bath to Fiona and the dainty little thing - our smallest Havanese stayed beautiful all day long and Risa, well as you can see in this photo this was her AFTER the bath.

She shimmied and rolled and she just can't help herself getting leaves, sticks and all that dirt all over her beautiful, clean coat.

I caught her in action. Check out the photos here.

The Nose Knows It

We had a number of visitors today and there was a lot of sniffing going on. To learn more about a dog's smell, click here.

It was delightful to see Saki and Takara and Lyndall and Joe but it was also quite nice to see our other visitors as well though I was puppy sitting for the most part.

Tak and Saki are off to Austin till February so it will be a long time till we see them again. They will be missed.

Can you believe the air had this white stuff that had the audacity to hit the pavement but it had the common sense to melt on contact. I am not sure if we are ready for that. The waterpots are not even in yet but tomorrow is the day.

Dawgs also need to be washed and groomed. I fell a little behind with pups and all that brought to us but we are playing catchup. Sure I did the brusha brush but I like to snuggle under the covers at night with clean hairy things. I will let your imagination go on that one.

Nathan took some of the photos today and I took the rest. Check them out.

Visits to Make You Smile

Coco came to visit today to play with Raylan and Red. She is an amazingly balanced dog - ever so friendly - a credit to their owners. They will be adding an additional one from Wasabi's crew and I look forward to hearing the stories about Coco and her new sibling.

She rather gave us a spark of fun today - most needed.

Tomorrow, Saki and Tak will come to visit as they are heading off to Austin, Texas next week till Februrary and this will be our last time to see them for a bit. Lyndall writes about their adventures in the Havanese Breed Magazine and I hope I can follow along and feel comforted about the adventures and smile and enjoy and be envious that they will be warm. Then they will have to come visit on their return to play in our snowy yard.

I got many baths to do but that will wait till Monday when I start one here, one there and get it done but this weekend - well it's just dawgs, snuggling and puppies.