gunnar jr.

over christmas break mauricio's sister, cristina, and her family came down from north carolina. they have one of our puppies. he was mauricio's fave. well, he is a complete clone of gunnar! it is uncanny! even his temperament (and yes this is the correct spelling. i checked on dictionary.com) is the same. WEIRD!

too bad we don't have any pics of the happy family reunion with all the dogs. let's just say it was not a moment cesar milan would be proud of. YIKES! but after the initial reintroduction they all played nicely. and no, he still does NOT have a name! what is up with that guys? they still call him puppy.

puppy

lost puppies!!!

okay this week was a bit draining and stressful from wednesday night until thursday evening.  for those of you who didn't know we lost our little puppies, lucy and max, when the gate didn't get shut tight.  (see photos of them on the sidebar.)

unbeknownst to the girls and i they had gotten out while we were inside having dinner wed night.  mauricio came home and said he found gunnar and maya, our adult dogs, out of the property down the street!  but no puppies!  we were all a bit freaked out needless to say.  mauricio went out to search, we went out to search, along with my fabulous neighbor, sue.  once the girls were in bed i went out again and then mauricio another time too.  i registered them on several sites for lost dogs where they forward the messages and pictures to various shelters in the area, including the pound.

i couldn't sleep or eat the entire time.  pure adrenaline was pushing me all day on thursday.  my neighbor, sue, made some flyers for me since my printer was out of ink.  she and another neighbor, michelle, also were looking that morning.  sue called several people to keep their eyes out for them.  i also did the same.  so once i got the flyers made up gracie and i went and hung them up EVERYWHERE!  we put them in the store fronts, telephone poles, stop signs, handed them out to people we saw on the street, gave them to crossing guards, etc.... everyone was so amazingly helpful!  as soon as they would find out they would pick up the phone and call kids that were at home to keep an eye out, siblings that live near us to go take a look around their streets.  it was unbelievable!  

our search took us to animal control (the pound) to file a report and to see if by some small chance they had been picked up and taken in.  NO LUCK!  we were on our way home after putting up our last flyer in the local feed store feeling very sad and depressed, but with plans to hit the ballpark that night to pass out flyers to all the families there when we got a phone call.  YES!  a very nice family just down the street and around the corner from our house had our puppies!!!!!!!!  what a relief!  she and her husband had been at work all day, since 6AM, and had just gotten home and saw one of the flyers.  

we were sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo excited and relieved to get our babies back.  when we got home the happy family was reunited and lots of licking and barking ensued.  max jumped out of the car when he saw maya.  we, the humans, celebrated by going out to pizza.  (basically i didn't feel like cooking after all that.)  

when we were home enjoying the puppies sarah and i were pondering about how one thing can change your life for the bad or the good.  when we lost the puppies it was bad but how one phone call from an honest and sweet neighbor changed it back for the good.  

many thanks to all those who pitched in to help whether by looking, calling, making flyers or just being good friends by listening to my sadness and frustration on the phone!  

the two that stayed

well, we are done with selling the puppies. we had decided to keep one but ended up with two. we had some people come out and look at our last male (greenie), but he was set on a female and we were not selling the female. sorry dude. anyway, at this point we couldn't separate them because they are so bonded. they are stuck together like glue. and the female (minty) is a daddy's girl. she loves playing with gunnar.

minty has a new name. it's lucy. we still need to find a good name for the other male. we'll post it in the sidebar when we get one. but for now he is still "greenie."

it is a bittersweet feeling that that chapter in our lives is over. our family had a great experience and we learned so much about dogs and puppies. it was fun while it lasted but also was A LOT of work and we are glad that that part is over. it is much easier dealing with only 2 as opposed to 8 puppies. we are just happy that everyone went to new homes and that they will be well taken care of and loved. and we don't want to do this again!

here are green and lucy with pinks.

green is the one on the left and lucy is the one in the middle.

enjoying their new bones.
"greenie"
lucy

so long pinkie

pinkie was one of the four that went last week. she was one that we thought we might keep since everyone seemed to love her. maybe because she was so petite. but she has gone to a good home. she will have 2 other dogs to keep her company as well as a teenage girl. her new owner, sheri has always wanted a german shepherd since she was 10. she was unbelievably excited to take pinks home.

we love ya pinks!

with her new owner, sheri.

her new name is sasha. totally fits her.

goldie's gone

so our little goldie went last week too. he went to a couple who have 3 dogs and some cats so he won't be lonely. this, as you can see by the photos, was savannah's favorite puppy. before he left for his new home we took off his pretty gold ribbon and savannah has it as a keepsake. he was the only one who cried and didn't want to leave. poor little guy. we will miss you.

we love ya goldie!

savannah and her goldie.

goldie and his new owner, vera.

his new name is chico.

Ruby's tribute

this is our sweet little ruby (red). she is the puppy that we saved when she was born. she was my favorite one out of the bunch. maybe because we had a special bond. she would always come to me when i was out with them and she would sit right down next to me and hang out by my feet. she has a very sweet personality and is really smart.

she has gone to live with mauricio's sister, glenda, in utah. her new name is lizie. she has two doggie friends, a cat friend and two little girls to play with. we miss her lots but know that she is in good hands.

i know there are a ton of pics but bear with us, we did take care of these little ones from birth to 10 weeks.

we love ya ruby!!!

playing with brady.


me and my ruby. getting ready to go to utah.

here is lizie (ruby) with her new family. this one is with my niece summer.

here she is with their other german shepherd, harley.

one more with harley and my brother-in-law, james.
she looks very content.

a tribute to "yellow"

here are some pics of "yellow". he has always been dad's favorite and you can see why. he is sooooo cute! one of these pics we used in the add to sell the puppies and i think that helped us sell them so quickly b/c he is adorable. he is a big fluffy bear.

he is the one who went to mauricio's sister, cristina, in north carolina. they have two energetic young boys who are going to have a blast with him. i would tell you his new name, but they are in the middle of moving and haven't had time to come up with one yet.

we love ya yellow!

the above one is the picture we used for the ad.

off to north carolina!

a "ruff" week ):

this week was a rough one for us. there were lots of tears. four of the puppies left in one day! that was really hard. especially since 3 of the four were some of our favorites. pinkie is the one in the top photo. she was the tiniest at birth. then the bottom pic shows from left to right "yellow" who was mauricio's favorite, ruby ("red"), mom's fav, and "goldie", savannah's fav.

they have gone to good homes and will be very happy, i'm sure. yellow went to mauricio's sister in north carolina and ruby went to his other sister in utah. goldie and pinks, as we like to call her, went to really good homes here locally. as soon as i have a chance i will post more pics of them and of the 2 that we are keeping. one by choice and the other because nobody claimed him and now that they have bonded we can't bear to separate them. so we are now a 5 dog family!!!! i'll keep you posted on how that goes.

another one gone ): ):

well another puppy has left us today. it was an especially hard one for sarah as it was her all time favorite. ): she is getting better and dealing with it. i have to admit it was hard for me too as she was my favorite also. she and i could definately NOT live on a farm. we would be big bawl babies everytime an animal left or got eaten. turquois has gone to a great family with two teenage girls. she will be well looked after and loved.

we love ya turquois!

last kisses for sarh.

bye bye big blue ):

well the first of the puppies is gone.  it is a bittersweet feeling.  well, kind of.  let's just say there were some tears.  as much as we want these guys to go it is hard to say goodbye.  even with the check in hand we waved very sadly, as the nice couple who adopted "big blue" aka "fatso" drove away.  he will, however, have a great life with them.  they have 3 other dogs and about 6 horses, live on 5 acres with a big pond.  so he won't be lonely and he will be well taken care of.  and they use the same vet as i do for brady so maybe we'll run into them sometime.  the girls were sad, but with a promise that we would keep one puppy they are somewhat consoled.

here's a few parting pics of our little big guy. 

  have a good one "fastso".  

we love ya! 

one last romp with brady

final kisses for sarah