5 weeks old and everyone makes their pick

Congrats Kirk to you and your family.  This black roan female is going to grow to be beautiful!

Saturday was the 5 weeks old and time for our new puppy owners to make their picks.  Saturday was a very wet rainy day so we had to keep everyone in the garage but it still worked our great. Our new families where so happy to come and see how much their puppies have grown and to start to see some of their personality.  We appreciate everyone driving and coming to see these pups, some had to drive several hours to make the trip. Amy and I did our best to keep the puppies awake and lively but its not always easy to do that.  Our biggest fear was that we would have our new puppy owners come and have 6 tired rag doll puppies here to greet them.  The pups did get tired but for the most part they where ready for the challenge.  It was a very great and fun day!!

Craig was so excited to get this black and roan female
This is one lucky puppy 

Clayton and his 3 boys where so happy that they got the only male.
When he showed up he said all he wanted was the black male and guess what they got

Josh and his family are so happy to be taking home this solid black female.
We can't wait to see what she grows to look like in the next year

This is the only  male look at the little bit of white
left on his chin.  I hope it stays

Paul had the last pick but was excited to see that there was still a solid liver female
left for him when he got here to see what he got.

We forgot to get a picture of Chad and Erin with their beautiful solid liver female.  Erin was so excited to get her.  The hardest part of her day was trying to decide what puppy she wanted.  

Next week the puppies will go and get their shots and get a physical from our local veterinarian.  Before you know it all these families will be adding a new member to their family and our lives will be a little easier and quieter but a bit more lonely.  Its fun having puppies.

Thanks for looking

What a difference 4 weeks makes!

I can't believe it has been 4 weeks. You can almost see the growth of the puppies daily.  I will give you one example.  Yesterday was the first day we introduced the pups to the outside world.  They didn't like it much and before long they were crying and making lots of noise about not liking it.  We took them inside and instantly they settled down.  Early today before church we took them out and the results were a little better but they still did not like it much.  After church we came home again brought them outside and this time it was a totally different story they played for a couple of hours and entertained us and the grand kids an nephews and nieces.  We all had a great time playing and loving on the pups and they in turn loved on us.

tired pup after playing

already searching in the grass with her nose.

We've begun feeding the puppies food this week.  They have done very well.  We grind up the puppy food and then add hot water and after a few minutes we let them have at it.  They really like it and I'm sure its good to begin taking some of the pressure off of Mom.  We are feeding them 3 meals a day and they are doing very well with it.

Big sister playing with little sister.  Two years separates these two  

G

Mom is part cow these days

Guess who has the most popular house on the  block?

EASTER PUPPIES!!!!

We finally have our puppies! We  could tell that Sage was getting close Friday and Saturday.  She was acting very nervous wanted to be near us always and she began her nesting routine.   Late Saturday evening and into Sunday Morning we got our puppies.  Everyone in our family has been so excited to get these puppies here.  Sage is such a good Mom and knows just what to do.  It is truly a miracle to see what Mom does.  As she delivers each pup she cleans them off chews of the umbilical cord drys them off and gets them ready to nurse.  The puppies on the other hand come out with an amazing instinct to live.  They immediately start crawling towards Mom and looking for milk.  You never know what you are going to get when you are expecting puppies.  This time we were very surprised to see that we got two blacks, two livers and two black and white.  We got 5 females and 1 black male.  We did have some sad news in the fact that late Sunday afternoon many hours after the other puppies where delivered  Sage delivered one pup that was stillborn.

Sage a couple of days before delivery.  Brandon feeling the puppies move

Sage relaxing by the fire

Cute dog pile

Wednesday we took the pups to the vet to get checked out, dew claws removed and tails docked,  We hate this day.  Its hard to have the pups subjected to pain but they came through it with very little crying when they got home. We had a very nervous Mom at home waiting for her puppies.

Look at these last 3 pictures.  If you compare how much they have grown in just a few days it is amazing.  Sage is eating about 3 times her normal amount of food and it looks like the pups are benefiting from all these calories.  It must be pure cream coming out of Mom.  They look like guinea pigs. 

I got some sad news a couple days ago.  Gary the gentleman with the first pick of the litter informed me that he was having some health problems.  He is giving up his first pick because of this.  When Gary found out we where expecting another litter of pups he called me immediately and told me he wanted another pup.  This sad day for him made a very happy day for someone else.  I think he would have ended up with another pup that looks very similar to Lady.  Thank you Gary for your kindness over the last two years and good luck with your health.

Gary and his beautiful pup Lady

PUPPY ANNOUNCEMENT!!! FIRST WEEK IN APRIL

Call now and get your deposit in.  If the next litter is anything like the first they will go fast.  Call Shawn Madsen 801-318-4539

Another hunting season has come and gone.

Youth Hunt 2014  Parker gets his limit again!

I Can't believe it.  Another hunting season has come and gone.  Its been a really fun season, from getting our limits of grouse on the opener in September to finishing up with some chukar in February.

four hot hounds, Sage is glad to be done on this hot day

The upland season started out with a bang.  My brother Brett and my oldest son Michael and I headed up in the hills for the opener of the grouse season. We all had our limits by about 11 am, its a good thing because the temperature was hot and we and the dogs were happy to be done early.

Brett with a nice grouse at the end of another hunt

Michael on the deer opener

We took a break from the bird hunting this year and Michael got himself a nice 3 x 3

Finally pheasant season came and we had a blast.  The temperatures were a little warm but we had a chance to get into some nice birds.  The dogs did great the hunters tried to not mess up.  

Sage and Oakley with nice point and retrieve with big rooster  I should have had a double

4 happy faces!!

The DWR has an extended hunt that we really enjoyed this year.  Dogs and hunters had a chance to try some new places.  I think we will be back.

                                                                         

Tired Oakley with a couple of chukars
 and a photo bomb from Hazel

A few years ago I had a dog bit by a rattle snake,  Since then I don't hunt Chukar until after the pheasant hunt.  This year it was so warm I wonder if the snakes might be out in February.

The pup Oakley is such a great retriever.  It's so nice to have dogs that will find and retrieve.

My last day of Chukar hunting Sage had two amazing retrieves.  The first I marked a down bird and then got distracted by another flush.  I then pointed sage to the wrong place about 75 yards in the wrong direction.  Sage somehow winded the bird from 75 yards away and retrieved to hand.  Another bird my my brother and I shot at and thought we missed she retrieved about 100 yards from where we shot it.  Great day and great way to end the season,

last hunt of the season for Sage and I