The Time Litter Nears Departure

These are Libra's puppies with Griffin. Many of
them are able to escape the pen, always a sign it is time
to leave.

Are those Blue Run dogs at the White House?

I'm often asked if Bo and Sunny are from my kennel since folks
know I try to place locally. No, neither is a Blue Run dog but both
have been great ambassadors for the Portuguese Water Dog breed.
Now people know better than to ask "Is that a Doodle?" which is
like waiving a red flag in the face of a pure bred dog breeder. (No,
doodles are not and never will be AKC recognized "breeds". They
are mixed breed dogs being sold to gullible buyers. It's a case of not
getting what you pay for. Just sayin'.)

Blue Run Therapy Dogs

Some dogs are just meant to do therapy. Pictured is 3 year old
Mari with a 96 year old family member in hospice. Mari is
doing what is called "the melt" in which she applies her body
against the patient and lies there quietly. This is bringing comfort
to both the patient and family who bring Mari to her regularly.

The Resolutions at Eight Weeks

These pretty puppies will be going to their new homes soon.
They are shown with their "box names" but soon will have
much more sophisticated monikers.

Puppies are Anxious to go to their new homes!

With puppies 6 to 7 weeks old, all craving attention, it is
hard to cuddle everyone each day. New owners come and
help to socialize the puppies when they aren't watching
them on puppy cam. Soon, the puppies will be able to escape
this pen and then all Hell breaks loose. Clicker training has
begun and they all sit quietly for a treat....all 16 of them!

Amelia to Deliver March 18th

This is pretty Amelia, Blue Run's Willing to Work, who was
bred to CH Scrimshaw's Griffin in January. She is Korra's
sister so I expect we will have a litter of puppies that have all
the colors we got with the Resolution litter...blacks and
browns with Irish, Tuxedo, and pibald coat patterns.

Rocky

This little guy is two weeks old and is having a
rocky time. He has been  slowly gaining weight
because I tube feed him every 2 hours 8 to 9 times
a day. I named him Rocky because I hope he will
be the "come back kid"  and turn into a robust
puppy. It is puppies like these that the breeder
struggles to save but often they don't make it. 
Could he be any cuter?

Tuckered out after delivery of 9 pups

Libra delivered 9 pretty black and white puppies, 6 girls, 3 boys,
on January 10th, 2016. Although Griffin also sired this litter, there
are no browns and no "pi's". One little guy looks like Korra who
is tending her 9 in an adjacent bedroom.  Two litters at the same
time? Color me crazy. I didn't think Korra was pregnant due to
mishandling of her blood work used to time the breeding. So, I
have an embarrassment of riches with these two beautiful litters.

Do Porties have an "off" switch?

Thankfully, the answer is"Yes!" But, the off switch generally
doesn't kick in until about age 2.  This is Isa lounging and
recalling the lovely puppies she produced last year.

The Resolutions

Here is a picture of the 9 puppies in the Resolution Litter born
on 1/1/2016. The 3 female pi-balds are easy to tell apart with
their very distinctive markings. The 3 brown puppies at the top
right, two boys and one girl, are almost identical and probably
curly The two black pups are almost identical, too, except one is
wavy and the other curly. The pretty Irish marked brown boy will
go home with Korra. He has show boy written all over him.

Korra Has Delivered

All nine puppies made it and there were some real surprises in
this colorful litter of 6 girls and 3 boys. First, I think all but one are
curly (which is recessive). Five of the nine are brown (which is
recessive) and the stud owner says that the browns that Griffin
produces stay a nice rich brown without fading (Yay!). Three are
pi-bald, one is Irish marked, and the remainder are solid colored
with small amounts of white. All seem robust. Mom accomplished
this miracle in just 4 hours.
These puppies make up the "resolution litter" since they are born
today, New Year's Day, 2016.

The Prewhelp head count

It isn't easy counting babies when there are this many. Of course, it
helps when you put numbers on the skulls. It looks like Korra has
a baseball team in there.
Prewhelp X-rays are done a few days prior to the expected delivery
as the babies' skeletons only start to calcify 10 days prior to the due
date. Now my job is to get them all out alive. Fingers crossed for
the New Year's Day delivery.

Blue Run Does Brown

We don't very often see a brown dog among the Blue
Run family but this pretty girl is a nice rich brown.
Typically, brown dogs fade to a latte brown by age
2. We'll have to see how this puppy matures and if she
keeps this nice color.

CH Scrimshaw's Griffin

This lovely boy is the father of the two expected litters due in a
few days. He is currently 12 years old and still going strong. He
has produced many healthy offspring which is one of the reasons
I chose to use him in my breeding program.

It is a sad Christmas greeting that does not feature
a Blue Run puppy with the family. Here, Jfez is
shown with Santa in Mary's Christmas card. He
is just 6 months old and he is awfully cute! Jfez,
not Santa.