The nursing home my Father In Law was in welcomed families bringing in pets to visit the seniors. Magic would occasionally go with us and visit, which he seemed to enjoy, so a while back we tested for his TDI certificate. He did very well, passing his test easily. Since that time, we had done a couple of visits to the home, but nothing regular. I hadn't realized how much Magic seemed to enjoy his visits until a gal in a power chair joined our agility class. Magic would go absolutely crazy as soon as he saw the chair. I had been thinking that we should perhaps try to go visiting more often.

Fast forward to this weekend. My Father In Law was dying, and we wound up spending all of the long holiday weekend there. Truthfully, in light of all that was happening, it never occured to me to bring him along, until Monday. He wasn't clean and need a bath, but I brought him anyways, mainly for my own needs. He was so excited to be there, but dirty, so I didn't feel he could go in. But Magic being Magic, he managed to do his job anyways. He performed outside, just for our family, but he did his tricks, gave unconditional love and many many doggy kisses, and helped our family through a very tough day. He took our minds off the bad stuff if only for a short time.
Thank you, Magic.

Puppy update

The puppies are 16 days old today. Several have both eyes open, a few have one and a couple still need to open. Probably tomorrow. They are so cute at this age wobbly but determined to go where they want to go, that is until they pass out asleep. Noses are getting dark, they look so cute all spotty. I can't thank Diana and Mac enough for the great care they are giving them. Its was such a relief not to have to worry about them this weekend, and going into this week while we are spending countless hours at the hospice facility. Not to mention how peaceful and calming to view the beginning of life, and temporarily letting go of the pain at the other end.

. This is the best group shot I could get. They do not stay still at this age and one or two were wandering away. Okay, Peace would stay still, here is is relaxing on Mac's lap. You can see that their little noses are starting to color in. They also had their first toenail trim this week.

The Boys

And here are the boys!

Bedbug

Chance

Bolt

Ziggy

Nine

Sorry they are all in motion- they are hard to stop!

11 days old

Reba

Peace

Siren

The Girls

The pups are 11 days old in these pictures. I went down last night to visit them and was so happy to see how much they have grown. I am so grateful that Diana and Mackenzie were able to help me out with the care and bottle feeding of these little guys. Grace is doing much better, but still is not producing enough milk for all of them. But she is being a really good mom in caring for them. For those that know grace, you will be happy to hear that she is feeling well enough now that she told me all about her visit at Fernbriar. WOO woo woo. For about the first five minutes. Then cuddles and loves. It will be interesting to see if any of the pups are talkers.

Puppies

Grace's litter is growing and doing well. We had a bit of a scare as Grace became very dehydrated and ill following the delivery, but is now coming around and starting to feel better. Due to the dehydration, she isn't making enough milk to support the growing puppies needs, so we are supplementing her milk with bottle feeding. Since I had to go back to work, our very good friend Diana is hosting the Grace and the kids for the week. Hopefully by Friday she will be well enough to come back home with the puppies. They have only been gone a day and I miss them like crazy! New pictures will be coming soon.

Puppies!

They are here! 8 beautiful puppies, 5 boys and 3 girls. And a pooped Momma! Grace did a great job free whelping her pups in just a few hours Late Saturday into Sunday morning. I guess she wanted to be a momma on Mothers Day. Mother and pups are all doing well.

Expecting

Grace had her x-ray today and we could see 8 little skeletons. Oh My 8 puppies. She has been really restless today, I think she is feeling rather uncomfortable, poor girl.

Grace

This is Grace. This is not what Grace looks like now though, she is all belly. Grace is pregnant and due in a week, and I am a nervous wreck. Never again, never again. I will not do this to my poor baby again. You cant really see how much belly she has here, but trust me its huge!

This is Magic, my fluffy Cardi boy. He is my first Cardigan and the first dog I have trained. He loves agility! He could be an incredible agility dog, unfortunately he is hamper by his handler-Me.

This boy is so willing, he will do just about anything I ask. Maybe not perfectly, but thats my training errors, not his. Along with obedience, and agility, we have played a bit with some sheep, we have gone lure coursing and even dock diving.

Magic and I are taking a short break from agility. I am hoping that we can work on learning to like heeling. But, somehow I have my doubts, this boy wants to run!

Introductions

Hello! Welcome to my blog. This blog will primarily be about my life with my dogs, 2 Cardigans and a mystery mix. But you will probably also get to hear about the rest of the family, and the birds too. I have had dogs all my life, but recently became very active with the dogs, showing in conformation and obedience, training and attempting agility. I am new at this, but I am having a ton of fun with the kids. I hope to share our joy with you.