Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Silk-Turner Litter Week 1

Eight wonderfully healthy pups (four males and four females). I am really pleased with the vibrancy of the color on the merles. The copper points are so rich and deep at 1 week and they will only darken with age. Looking forward to watching them grow up!

Dam: Ch. Stonepine Silk
Sire: Ch. Heatherhill No Stone Unturned "Turner"

Sash-Deacon Litter Week 3

Seven absolutely gorgeous, fat and healthy puppies (four girls and three boys)! Their eyes are now open and they are sucking on each other's faces!

Dam: Ch. Stonepine Sheer Silk "Sash"
Sire: Ch. Heatherhill Revival Man "Deacon"

Friday, March 26, 2010

Are you a Great Home for An Australian Shepherd?

A trend of new puppy owners is to research the breed, and the suitability of the breed on the internet alone. I refer to this as the “E” or EDUCATION portion of the learning process and the internet is indeed a valuable tool to utilize. There are however two other “E’s” that are equally important in the process, EXPOSURE and EXPERIENCE.

Exposure comes from spending time around Australian Shepherds. Meet as many different Aussies as you can. Talk with the owners. Babysit your friend’s Australian Shepherd while they are on vacation, go to doggie cay care centers and watch Australian Shepherds in action. Visit dog parks and observe the energy level of this working dog.

Experience comes from more in-depth, immersed exposure to the breed. Most often this can be accomplished by attending an all-day Australian Shepherd dog show, making appointments to visit quality breeders at their homes, attending dog training classes where there are Australian Shepherds in attendance. Experience is attained from exposure over time.

After all three “E’s” have been obtained, you will be able to make a truly educated decision about whether an Australian Shepherd is the dog for you and your family.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Sash Pups at Two Weeks


It was hard to get a Week 2 picture as these guys were all over the whelping box! They are very mobile now, eyes are just starting to open. These are very fat and healthy puppies!

Silk Litter Arrives

Silk (Ch. Stonepine Silk) whelped her gorgeous litter on March 20, 2010. The litter is sired by Ch. Heatherhill No Stone Unturned "Turner." She had three blue merle girls, 1 black tri girl and four blue merle boys.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Sash Pups are Here!

Sash had her gorgeous litter on March 9, 2010. Here is their first photo shoot. Mom and pups are doing well. Four boys and four girls!

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Meet The Cat

(Aromas, CA) Chang the Siamese loves puppies...up to a point. The pups are still interesting at this stage and don't overwhelm him. He actually sleeps in the puppy pen. This is the first day out in the big world for the Jade-Trace pups and meeting Chang on his turf. Yes! Aussies get along with cats...if you train them to and socialize them around cats.

Monday, March 8, 2010

Sasha and Maryse Shank


(Arizona) Sasha got her Novice Agility JWW (jumps with weaves) title yesterday.  We qualified in each class we ran so far, now we are on to the Open level.  I've just finished the first day of a 4 day trail.  It has been such fun with Sasha doing agility.  She loves it and now that my handling skills have improved, we are a great team.  She never knocks bars and checks in with me to be sure where to go on course.  I'm lucky to have had a great mentor, who has taught me so much in just a few months.  I'm sending you a lovely picture that a photographer took at our first trial on New Year's Day.  Isn't she beautiful!!

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Peaches and Wiyot


(San Diego, CA) I thought I'd send you a picture for your blog. Peaches is on the left and Wiyot on the right. They're on the pause table out at the training yard - taking a break between classes. Connie and I help out at classes at Kindred Spirits (Liz Palika's canine training school) near San Diego every Saturday and Peaches and Wiyot are often demo dogs for the classes. They are also best buddies and we often take the other dogs out of the play yard to let them have time alone. (They are also faster than all the other dogs and love to chase each other. Peaches is half Wiyots' age and yet you'd never know it when you see them together. She is one fast puppy!). I love seeing all the other dogs on the posting. The new tri litter looks gorgeous - I hope you put more pictures of them up.

Katelyn and China - Westminster 2010

 
(Madison Square Garden, New York) We couldn't be more proud of Katelyn Scott (Lehi, UT) and Stonepine Shanghai "China." The Scotts had retired China from her Junior Show career, and had replaced her. The time arrives for getting on the airplane to fly to NYC and Katelyn's new show dog is injured and China has to fill in at the last moment. "After pulling three chihuahuas of hair out of her, she cleaned up nicely," according to Katelyn's mom Sherrie. This talented team made the Top 7 in the Junior Showmanship finals at the Garden! Whooooppppeeeee!

Dax, Sizzle and Jenny too!

 
(San Francisco, CA) If anyone ever doubts placing a dog in a forever home as a young adult, take a look at this picture of pure bliss at the Scharf household. Sizzle (blue merle) was placed at approximately 6 months of age and was just recently joined by her cousin Dax (red merle) at 25. years of age. Pure heaven.

Jade-Trace litter

(Aromas, CA) The hoodlums (minus one) pictured at 4.5 weeks having a barrel of fun in the puppy yard. It becomes increasingly difficult to clean the yard and almost requires combat gear to complete the task! All pups passed their eye exams this weekend with flying colors!