Puppy Palooza

As if the 4-week old Cardi puppies weren’t enough cuteness, Linda brought her 6-week old basset puppies over AND I DIED!!!!!!!!  OMG, there is NOTHING cuter than a Basset Hound puppy!!  I give you incontrovertible proof:

Mirra might argue with that, however.  Oh hell, who am I kidding?  Mirra would argue ANYTHING.

“Get him off me!!”

“Help!”

“OMG, why are you standing there taking pictures of this?!”

“May day! Blue merle down! We have a blue merle down!”

Corgi Basset Butts Drive Me Nuts!

Smoochies.

Basset snugglies

“D’oh, what’s goin’ on here?”

 

“High five!”

 

 

Mexican stand-off:

 

 

 

“You let go.” “No, you let go.” “No, YOU…”

 

Toller

And last, but certainly not least (unless you’re looking for color, that is):  Toller.  The fanciest of the fancy, Toller is decidedly NOT legal.  Conformation standard notwithstanding, however, I think he’s going to be very striking-looking, all grown up.  Of the bunch, I think he’s going to have the most Magnum-like head, and he’s got the closest coat of the lot.

“Show” side

“Off” side

Front

Sure looks like a white dog from behind!

back view

Going about his day, one yawn at a time.

Checking it all out

And another yawn…

It’s hard work, being this stinking cute.

“Don’t you wish you were THIS cute?”

Admit it, you want to be the one squidging me.

Profile

Checking out the surroundings.

“Whatth that there?”

Though not timid or shy, this puppy was a little bit more reserved than his brother, and just an absolute sweetheart.  I want to see pictures of him as he’s growing up, because I think he’s going to look very neat.

And here’s hoping that the pups aren’t quite so spaghetti-like when we go back for the 8-week puppy party.  Stay tuned!!

Colt

This is Colt, one of the two boys.  And yes, he’s a fluffer-nutter.  Figures, as I think he might be the nicest of the litter, structure-wise.  He sort of had melting puppy syndrome here, so not the best shots in the world, but the best of what we were able to get on the day.

“Show” side

“Off” side

Front

With his super-duper adorableness, Colt got lots of loving and squidgies.

Me getting my puppy squidgies on

Puppy love

He did manage to sneak in a little taste-test of his own.

“Hmm… sugar… spice… and everything… nice!”

Hangin’ with the peeps.

Such a sweet boy

Colt is another of the fancy pups, and again I think he would squeak by as legal, but I’d have the standard handy.  Alas, it’s a moot point, since he’s a fluff.  Darnit!

About that tail, Colt…

Lest you think it’s all pensiveness and cuddles, though, let me assure you that he can play with the best of them.

Commence frapping in 3…2…

This little guy is going to make someone a terrific pet.  He may be going to an agility home, and I expect he’ll do wonderfully — and look totally magnificent doing it, because this guy is going to be very pretty and flashy.

Cinder

Cinder is the third girl, and the largest of the three.  In fact, she’s the largest puppy in the litter, and was the first-born to boot.  I like the bone on her.  We’re debating whether she’s going to turn out fluffy or not.  My guess is she’ll have a “glamour coat” but not be a full-blown fluff.

“Show” side

“Off” side, with Cinder being NOT ALL ALL cooperative

Front — with a little help from the string cheese

Like most of her siblings, Cinder has a fairy kiss on the top of her head:

From the back

…and a beauty mark next to her nose.  Can’t you just die?

Hanging out

Not the drama queen that her sister is, when Cinder moves around she seems to have a mission in mind.

Things to do, places to go, people to see…

Important things, like munching on fingers.

Om nom nom tasty fingers

You can see from the top down that Cinder is the most conservatively marked of the bunch — no worries about needing an illustrated standard here.  Now, if only the wider part of her collar were on the show side…

What’s this red state vs. blue state business?

It’s “ruff” being the oldest.  Little sisters are just SO annoying.

“Seriously, Mirra?!”

Personality-wise, my overall impression was that Cinder was perhaps the most serious of the three girls, with her own opinion about things, but not overly pushy.  She didn’t carry on with the same histrionics as Mirra, but she had more “weight” to her, metaphysically speaking, than the sweet Pearl.  I’m very interested to see what she looks like when I go back for their 8-week evaluations.

Pearl

Pearl, along with Mirra, is one of the smaller girls.  Her keel is maybe a tad flatter than the others, and with all of her white frosting she’s one of the “fancy puppies,” but she’s super adorable, with the sweetest little face.

Standard disclaimer applies:  Stacking 4-week puppies = stacking cooked spaghetti.  Pearl wasn’t terribly cooperative about this whole table thing, and would not stretch out, hence her looking roachy, which she really isn’t.

“Show” side

“Off” side

Front

As you can see, not as much prosternum as Mirra.

With my mom, her “Great-Grammy”

Once Pearl woke up, we had a little play session, which mostly amounted to her climbing over my leg and back.

Looking for an agility career? Maybe?

Who, me?

“Peekaboo!”

What a sweet, pretty little girl:

Looking pretty

“I surrender!”

“Pthbbbbbbbbbbbbbt!”

Seriously adorbs, here

Certain folks can say what they want to about the breed having “too much white” now, but I for one like all the white flashing.  If you’re looking at the illustrated standard, I think she would squeak by as legal for the show ring — though if I were going to show her I’d make sure I had a copy of the standard with me when I went to the show.

Sacked out

 

Mirra

On Sunday, I had my first look at Magnum and Eva’s puppies, and as expected, the cuteness was nearly overwhelming.  Being me, I of course had to look the blue girl all over first.  In addition to being the only blue in the litter, she was also the one demonstrating the most personality on this particular day, talking and carrying on while all of the others were sacked out in the ex-pen.  Kate Roberson gets credit for ALL of the photos — Lord knows that if I had tried to take them, all we’d be seeing is some unfocused grass.

As you might expect, trying to “stack” 4-week old puppies is sort of like trying to stack cooked spaghetti, so these table photos are more just to show the pups from each side for markings, not to evaluate structure or anything, which is a guessing game at best in pups this age.

Here’s her “show” side:

As close to stacked as you get with a 4 week old puppy 

And the “off” side:

Off side

Not a table shot, but here’s sort of a look at her front:

Thinking up trouble

Like her dad before her, Mirra seems like kind of a little ham, though with a little more “edge” than Magnum, being as how she’s a girl.

“I’m ready for my close-up, Mr. Demille!”

Did I mention that Mirra has a lot to say?  Like, A LOT a lot?

“AWOOOOOOOOOOO!”

The view from the back of the line, where Mirra fully expects everyone else will be:

From the back

Mirra’s pensive look:

Right profile

And her “I will have dominion over you all!” look:

Left profile

We’re debating whether Mirra’s left eye will be completely blue, or a broken blue.  The outside looks a little dark, so this eye may have a marbled appearance as she matures.  Her right eye we think will definitely be brown.

Behind bars, which is where this gal is likely to end up

When I saw this photo, I seemed to remember a similar one of Magnum when he was back with his litter and, sure enough, I found one:

“Be vewy quiet, I’m hunting wabbits!”

Like father, like daughter

After a long, loooooooong time, Mirra did finally fall asleep — for a nanosecond or two.

Off-switch

Of the five puppies, Mirra seemed the most “Mag-like” to me in terms of personality.  A “little pistol” for sure.  I expect there are many years of fun and chaos ahead for this wee one!

Magnum, being Magnum

LOVE this photo Kate took of my crazy blue boy:

A Lovely Weekend

On Saturday, Kate, Whiskey and I headed down to Scarborough, Maine for a show at the Wassamki Springs campground.  The weather was absolutely gorgeous — sunny and in the 70′s, with a nice breeze.  Space under the grooming tent was at a premium, and since we didn’t claim a spot on Thursday when the shows started, we set up instead under some lovely shade trees, alongside other Cardi folks.  It was such a nice spot that we opted to have our club meeting there as well!

Saturday was the Yankee CWC Club’s supported entry, and Tom Stewart came all the way from the mid-west to judge Sweeps for us.  He did a terrific job, and Nancy Cunliffe’s bitch “Pretty” walked away with the Best Puppy in Sweeps honor, with Kate’s Ollie as Best Opposite.

Regular classes were judged by Dr. H. Scott Kellogg, who was certainly very thorough in his examination of the dogs, and there was a lot of depth of quality in the entry.  Best of Breed was Liz Lewis’s Colin; Best Opposite was Pixie’s Megan; Winner’s Dog was Liz’s Aidan; Reserve WD was Cheryl Black’s Cosby; Winner’s Bitch was Nancy’s Pretty; and Reserve WB was Whiskey.

After judging and the Yankee club meeting, Joanna Kimball took some photos of the dogs for us.  Whiskey was *ahem* less than cooperative, so the shots below were the best Joanna could do with her:

Front (somewhat obscured in the grass)

As close as we could get to a stacked shot

Yesterday was even warmer and more beautiful than Saturday, so we hooked up the hose and had an impromptu pool party in the back yard.  Kate was the designated photographer this time.

Typically, Magnum drove Ella to distraction by rushing to beat her to the toy every. Single. Time.

And one ring to rule them all…

As Kate said on Facebook: “Blues are a special kind of ‘special.’”

As usual, Elli was fairly unimpressed to be outside, but she did join in the fun a little bit.

At least until she decided that she had… um, other things to do?

Yeah, I don’t know either.

Whiskey wasn’t too sure about this whole pool thing.  I set her in there once, and she promptly jumped out.  Maybe she thought it was weird how everyone kept jumping into the REALLY BIG water bowl?

“Doesn’t mom usually scold us for playing in the water bowl?”

She mostly ran around and tried to get in on the game of fetch.

…but she DOES have her moments of silliness:

*derp*

Ian, not to be outdone by these young whippersnappers (I LOVE this shot of the boys):

Brothers

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, even beautiful, dog-filled weekends.  Before you know it, it’s all “behind” you:

New entry into the “Corgi butts drive me nuts!” meme

Here’s hoping the June shows have such lovely weather!

The Wee Ones – One Week Old

Sarah posted a couple of pics over the weekend of the babies at a week old:

I’ll be going to see them over Memorial weekend, and will be sure to take my camera with me!!

The puppies DO have faces

Sarah kindly posted some face shots of the wee ones.  Reposting here in case some of you aren’t following Sarah.

Toller 

Pearl

Mirra

Colt

Cinder