Almost five months!

Wow! Where does time go??? I couldn't believe it when I did the math and saw that Lil is almost 5 months old!! It seems she's still such a puppy- waking me up every morning EARLY and constantly tormenting her big brother. I finally got around to registering her and she's officially Coedwig's Dark Goddess. She definitely can be quite the demon sometimes, but she is absolutely gorgeous!! So, I guess I need to be more regimented about table training and ring practice as I think her first show will be in January at the Golden Gate KC show- which I believe is an open benched show- Hmmm, not sure that I'll dig it, but gonna give it a whirl anyhow. I'm undecided about the Portland show as it's just sooooooo big!! I may just go and spectate and catch up with all my wonderful cardi mentors!!
I was able to get some post bath pics of Lily tonight that I want to share. Still working on table training and have been unable to get good stacked shots.. Soon, soon..

tease stack shots

Over the weekend I had Steve and Kelly watch Lily for me since I had to work three nights in a row and my roomate was unavailable. I figured it would be good socialization for her since he has 12 week old puppies on the ground and tons of visitors each day. He raved about her when I came to pick her up on Monday, going on and on about how great her disposition is. It's always good to hear these things! I was pretty tired from my night shifts but I managed to get a couple pics with his help of her stacked, only I realized later that we didn't have her on her show side-DUH!!! So I promise I will work on getting some better shots, but here they are for now for the curious minded.
She is definitely taking on that great cardi length, not only in body but in neck. She seems leggy to me right now, but maybe she's just spurting?? Love the topline and tailset though. And and check out them ears!!! She's about to set sail!!!
She's sweet, spunky and social. I love her colors, she even has black whiskers on one side of her face- so cute. Need to curb the barking though and wish she wasn't such an early riser- but then, can't have it all!

dog daze

And just when I thought the pace couldn't be busier, I had to go and bring this wild whipper snapper home and top it!! She's growing up quickly it seems and is finally tolerating her crate better so the potty training is improving. She and Ash just wrestle and play constantly, and when she's not with him on the nights I work she comes running up to my door and cries to get every one outside while I'm sleeping. Oh babies!!

I tried to pose her by my flower box on the deck and she wasn't really having any of it, but I manage one decent shot.

Off to dinner then to pick one of my old high school friends up from the airport- fun times ahead!!!

Fennec fox in disguise

Shasta, who is pretty much now Lily or at times still "puppy", is 12 weeks old tomorrow. She is fitting in nicely here and we are still working on those typical puppy challenges. I'm sure the housebreaking is going slower than usual due to my tenant and I sharing the care until I go to part time in September. I'm also trying to get her used to her crate as she whines and cries every time she's in it. I think because she came from such a large litter it's probably harder for her to accept some alone time. Other than those things she's a confident, happy and healthy puppy.
Thanks to Carolyn, and after a couple of failed attempts, I finally got her HUGE ears up. She looks soooo different now! She looks just like one of my fave foxes- the fennec fox! Hopefully it will all come to proportion soon. Here are some goofy pics of her to enjoy!

First mug shots

Surprises all around!

Soooo, I've been slowly looking for a blk/wht bitch to add to my pack and though the timing is very tricky for me right now I couldn't resist looking at the latest litter out of Crystal and Rocky from Coedwig. Of course this was a large litter with lots of pretty girls to choose from, Kim offered me the second pick of the litter. I drove up through the PNW ( in unbearable heat BTW) and on the last day of my vacay we made a quick stop to Kim's in Portland. Perhaps it was the heat, but probably more the irresistable puppy breath everywhere I did in fact end up taking the girl known as Shasta home.

She is undeniably cute and has gorgeous markings- that true black and virtually no points on her. She was extremely good on the 7 hour drive back home and of course to no surprise Ash LOVES her. As Kim said- I won't have any problems with sex drive in that boy!

First night she slept for a good 4 hours and then kept me up from 6:30 am to almost 8. This will definately be trying being a night worker- but it was truly only with the offer of my friend and tenant that she could watch her while I'm gone at work that I can pull this off for now. I've completely forgotten what having a puppy is like and I'm certainly drained but when she looks up at me with those sweet, sweet eyes it makes up for it all!! She is very confidant yet cautious with other dogs and we are working on my older girl accepting her right now. I can only hope for harmony and then it's back to shows for me!!!

More photos to come!

Coming Along

Sometimes i feel that since Ash is a Champion now and i've decided not to special him that there's just nothing to blog about!! But as someone so nicely reminded me (Thanks Kim ;-) ) I do have a lovely new home that I own and we are feeling like kings and queens on this beautiful redwood forest of 5 acres! It's actually really funny the things that i get excited over like- Yay! I just had 8 yards of gravel delivered to our roadway and yay, I just got the compost piles up to speed and yay, I just got my new on-demand water tank installed (that one I'm REALLY excited about!) Next month I will be ripping out the old wood stove and putting in a new one and maybe topping /limbing some trees to allow some light in on the studio. Down the road I want to convert the storage garage into some dog runs and start building my own cardi empire- I figure I'll wait till I'm done working nights and have more normal people's hours before that happens. It's just absolutely amazing and empowering how owning your own home feels- lots of work but oooooh the freedom!!!! Oh and not to mention, I just filed my taxes and because I closed in 2009, I qualify for the $8,000 first time home buyers credit!!! Yep, I'm getting almost $10 grand back this year in taxes! Vegas anyone?? So, I feel buying this home was the smartest investment move I could of ever made.

As far as Ash goes, he's finally out of his splint, which he ended up developing a yeast infection underneath- because they expected me to keep that leg dry despite our heavy rainfall. So then he needed to live in a cone head- which broke his spirit. After a week of that he was released on light duty ad he's slowly been feeling his normal self- he still doesn't always put his weight down on that foot, but I'm hoping it's just a habit thing. He's still the best cuddler in the world! Oh and i will put out in the cardi universe that if anyone knows of a nice show prospect blk/wht bitch know that I have my feelers out again for one now that I feel more settled in my new home.

Hope all is well, it looks like it as i keep up with your blogs and might have to follow suit eventually and switch to word press- nice job Kate! I'll keep updating with new pics of the house especially as the gardens begin to come along!