Disappointed

We had very much hoped for spring puppies out of Cava, but when we had the ultrasound done today, there were no puppies seen.

New Champion and Blazingstar's First HIC

Congratulations to Lync and Jolene on a very successful start to the year.  In March Lync finished his conformation championship, shown by Jolene.  Then in May he went on to earn his Herding Instinct Certificate.  Yes, you heard that right.... HERDING!  We have had a few flat-coats over the years that have shown interest in herding the cattle on our land and Lync's grandmother, Tally, was won of those.  Perhaps this bit of herding instinct goes back to the breed's roots, when collies were used to lengthen the muzzle and improve scenting abilities.

Lync is now Ch Blazingstar Galwey WC HIC.

2015 Calendar Preview

Better late than never.....  Our 2015 calendar is now available.  To order, you can either send Liz an email message if you are in Canada ($20 Can plus shipping) or the UK (12 pounds sterling, including the shipping) or you can order them directly from Cafepress (this is the best options for folks in the USA), using this link: http://www.cafepress.com/blazingstar

Here is a preview of the cover and inside pages:

Bad Blogger

Now that winter has arrived, we have a lot of catching up to do with Blazingstar news.  With a spring litter and all of the usual summer activities, our blog fell by the wayside, but we will endeavour to catch up over the next few weeks.

Stay tuned...

The Lethbridge & District Kennel Club Show

From left to right:  Amber, Bow, Minne (who came all the way from Utah!), Odin, Puffin and Sibley.

The Lethbridge show saw a family reunion of 5 of the 8 Rain litter puppies and their dam, Puffin!  What a pleasure to be able to see so many of them together at 7 months old.   Not to mention the fun of meeting up with their owners and families again.

In other show news......

Cava went back into the Rally Obedience ring after a long break and picked up her final two Rally Advanced legs.

Tinbie's son Blue (Fall Flight's Blue Rodeo) picked up his second CD leg with a nice high score.

Sibley (Blazingstar Rain Bird) picked a whopping 6 points from the 6-9 month class.  Her lovely sister, Amber (Blazingstar Rain Delay) won reserve several times.  Larkin (Blazingstar Black Bubbly WC) surprised us all on the last day by winning Best of Opposite over her mother, Cava, for her first 3 championship points.

Lync (Blazingstar Galwey WC) won another 3 points and is now just one point away from finishing his Canadian Championship.

Gwen and Brooklyn made their debuts in the Junior Handling ring (with Puffin and Bow) and both did a fantastic job for their first time in the ring.

But best of all was the time spent with friends, in and around the show ring.

Puffin Puppies

Puffin is expecting puppies in early April. Our original plan of breeding her to Tygwyn Tawney Porthos did not pan out, as the semen we brought over was not viable when thawed.  That was a very disappointing, expensive and stressful discovery.  A very quick decision was made to breed her to Rainesgift Seymour as we had semen stored from him at the same clinic.  Thank-you to Hayley for allowing us to use Seymour. We have long admired him.  

Puffin was confirmed pregnant by ultrasound on March 7th.  We saw 4 puppies in one frame and our vet thinks that there are at least 6 in total.  But ultrasounds are not very good at predicting litter numbers in dogs. 

Here is Puffin with 3.5 weeks to go.  She doesn't look too different from the side, but when viewed from the top or behind, she is starting to look significantly wider than usual!  She remains happy and fit and very keen on chasing the ground squirrels that are now up and about!

Songdog Puppies

Congratulations to Brian and Katy on their litter at Songdog kennel in Indiana.  The proud mother is Keetch (UH HRCH Songdog Red Flag Warning CDX SH WC), daughter of Annie (Tinbie's sister).  Sire is Pinch (CH MACH2 Ardrossan Inchmarnock UDX TD MH WCX **). Apparently Annie is taking great interest in her grandpuppies and has been helping look after them while Keetch takes much needed breaks.  

Anne counts her grandpuppies

You can follow the progress of the puppies here

In other news from Indiana, Annie completed her Upland Hunter title in one weekend about a week before the puppies were born.  Congratulations Annie! She is now UH HRCH Blazingstar Beaufort CDX MH WCX.