Brady at 16.5 weeks

Brady is pictured here at 16.5 weeks.  He is growing up nicely.  He has begun an open/utility class for puppies.  All the exercises are games to him at this point.  Class if fun for both of  us.  He also goes to a small dog play group on Fridays.  There he has met and played with dogs of all ages and many different breeds.  This is great socialization for him.  He goes tracking once a week.  He is doing long serpentines-about 100 or more yards.  He puts his nose to the ground and doesn't leave the tracklayer's path.  He loves this activity.  This puppy is lots of fun.

Today, Dec. 18, 2010 is Great Grandma Mackie's 13th birthday.  She got special treats from our good friend, Pat.  Mackie loves Pat's pumpkin biscotti.  Pat makes them every year just for Mackie.  When Pat came in with the biscotti, Mackie squealed, smiled and gave Pat the big thank you greeting.

We've changed the name of the blog from Monumental Puppies to Monumtental Dalmatians 2011--yes a bit early, but the New Year will be here before you know it.  We are looking forward to all we will be doing with the dogs in 2011.

Brady--14 weeks and growing

These photos were taken of Brady today.  We are liking this boy a lot.  He's smart, sweet, and very creative.  He says he is getting the idea of this thing he's supposed to do called showing.  He had his first lesson in nosework today.  He took to that game very quickly.  He begins an open/utiltiy obedience class for puppies in December.  I can hardly wait-that is going to be great fun.  He did his first therapy visit at an Alhzeimer facility.  The residents and empolyees there really enjoyed meeting him.  I was amazed at how good he was--very calm.  He seems to have the special personality it takes to do therapy work.  He is quite the people magnet.
Brady's ears are always up and his tail is always wagging.

Future Tracking Champion-Brady

Today Brady started his tracking career.  He figured out the game very quickly.  We start a pup by using small flags to mark a curve.  We do both right and left curves--doing each 3 times. There is food planted along the way so that the pup will learn to keep its nose on the ground.  Once the pups gets the idea, it will begin to skip some of the food drops to get to the glove.  Didn't take long for Brady to start skipping treats--good sign. Today I used boiled chicken which Brady loves.  We have high hopes that Brady will be our 4th generation Champion Tracker (his mother, Sadie, will be our 3rd; Great Uncle Jordi was our 2nd; Great Grandmother Mackie was our 1st and the first Dalmlatian to earn that title).  It will be great when we have 4 generations of Champion Trackers living here. Tracking is a lot of fun. Our dogs love it.

His first start-burying his nose in the start article to get the treat.

Great-found another treat.

What's this I see?

A glove with a jackpot!

Brady gets lots of praise from Tana.

Second track--he's got the idea.

Already pulling to the glove.

Another jackpot at the glove.

"If I shake the glove will it give me more treats?" 

Keeping his nose to the ground.

The glove is in view.

Intense!

Finally the glove and another jackpot.

Great Uncle Jordi and the dishwashser

Great Uncle Jordi loved his brood of puppies.  He often took them outside for mini field trips.  He watched over them like a mother hen.  He misses them now that most are gone, but still takes the ones we have here outside several times a day.  Soon he will have just one pup to watch over and 'raise'. 

Jordi 'cleans' Tedy

Proud Great Uncle Jordi with some of his charges.

Just checking!

The pups like him, too.

He's always careful not to step on them.

Joie and Jordi have a special relationship.  She adores him and he loves her.

Jordi and Joie

He thinks Joie is very smart and clever-which she is. 

Is Joie kissing him or chewing on his neck?

We've never seen a pup that didn't love to explore the dishwasher.

How many can lick the plate?

Helping BJ

Sometimes there's only room for one!

8 week photos

The pups were looking good at 8 weeks.  We are so pleased with the way this litter is progressing in both body and mind.  They are a great bunch-so smart and so much fun.

Johnnie-b/w female-living in Texas-Now called Grace

Georgie-b/w female-right ear patch--we love the 'D' on her hip.

Living in Colorado-Now called Halley

This is Petey-l/w female-right eye patch-living in Washington -Now called Gimme

Montana-b/w male-now living in Wyoming. Now called Jasper.

Elway-b/w male-now called Brady and staying  here.

Joie-l/w female-going to NC

Tedy-b/w female-would make a great performance dog as she is very biddable and cute as can be.  Lots of personality. Tedy-now called Cinders-- is living with her new family in NC.

Timmie-b/w female-right eye patch-now called Pixel. She is living Colorado

Brady-b/w male-now called Maverick-Mav for short or 'Mensa Boy' by his new owner living in Canada

Tommie-b/w female-now called Posy and living in CA

We are so happy to have these pups go to such great owners.  They will be involved in many activies including conformation, agility, obedience, and therapy work.  Most of all, they will all be dearly loved.

Temperament Testing-Day 49

The pups were temperament tested using the Volhard test this past Sat. Oct. 9.  They all did a great job.  The person who did the test thought they were wonderful.  She said it was the first time she had not been nipped or growled at during a test.  She found this litter to be very consistent and really enjoyed testing them.  She was very impressed with their great temperaments.

These pups are being held  on their backs for 30 seconds.  All made great eye contract.  Of course they struggled some--and some more than others--but all forgave and gave kisses after this part of the test. 

This photo shows a pup that is very willing to follow.  The pups thought this part of the test was fun. Tails and heads were up as they trotted after the tester.

These pups are elevated in a way where they are in a position of no control.  All accepted this readily, although it doesn't look like they are having the most fun of their life.

These 2 pups are experiencing the touch sensitivity part of the test-the tester put pressure between 2 front toes.

Tedy says, "If I kiss you will that help?"

Brady says, "People sometimes do weird stuff."

This tester put the large unbrella out-Elway walked past and through it--didn't bother him one bit. 

The pups loved chasing and attacking the towel as it was being pulled away from them.

Petey runs after the paper wad thrown out by the tester.

She picked it up and retrieved it to the tester!!

We added a food motivation test--just to see if the pups would follow the tester's hand when she was holding a small piece of food.  They were to turn in a circles-both left and right-then sat and several jumped up to get the food.