This morning I heard from Che's owner! Che is a littermate to Prissy and Pearl, but he's much better behaved. He lives in NYC and gets lots of walks with Charles and Yvonne. Here's what Charles has to say today.

"I just wanted to give you a quick Che update. In short, he's doing great. He's a wonderful part of our lives and the star of the neighborhood. He's very good-natured, very calm, and very easy to be with. We couldn't be happier with him. We've also had an easy time socializing him. People constantly want to pet him because he's such a beautiful dog and, as a result, he's met hundreds of people. He's not gregarious (which I'm glad about), but he's always very obliging. Yvonne and I are so glad that we have him."

Here are a couple of pictures of Che at about 4 months old.

Every so often, a puppy is born that is just "special". Arlo is one of those puppies

Arlo is the only offspring of his dam, our Ch. Clio. We had been trying for years to get Clio bred, but with only one functioning ovary and irregular ovulation, we had never been successful. I thought I'd give it one last try before having her spayed, and miraculously, she got pregnant a few months before her 7th birthday. We knew there was just one pup in there, so I scheduled a c-section for Dec. 15. As luck would have it, her water broke late afternoon of the 14th - on my vet's day off! I waited a bit, but no contractions began, not unusual in a one puppy litter, so the vet's office called Dr. Joe and he came in on his day off to do the emergency c-section. He really is the best vet in the world

Arlo was born kicking and squawking with big cowlick on the top of his head. Clio woke up and never realized she had major surgery, she hopped skipped and jumped her way into the van and took to motherhood like a duck to water.

Arlo just grew....and grew....and grew. At 3 weeks he was pushing Clio out of her food dish! At 5 weeks, his personality was really beginning to come through, and we could see he was one of those special dogs.



Everywhere Arlo went, he attracted attention. It was like there was a light following him around - he just has charisma. I'd bring him into the vets office, and everyone would gather around him, wanting to pet him and give him hugs, which he is happy to accept with a gentle little doggy kiss. By this time it was quite clear he was longcoated, but it didn't matter - he wasn't going anywhere. At this point in our lives, we don't need all show dogs - we just loved him and he was going to stay.

Arlo is now 6 months old and blowing that huge puppy coat. I got him up on the grooming table this morning to comb more of it out, and was able to get this picture.



He's going through a gawky stage now, at 6 months he's about 80 pounds and huge, but he's still special. I think when he's mature and fully grown, we may do some therapy work with him. He's incredibly smart and sweet and calm - he's kind of an "old soul." Just one of those dogs who never does anything bad and is always willing to please. We just love him!

The past two days have been miserably hot and the dogs and I have had enough of it! It's almost noon and its already 88 degrees, but feels like 95 because of the high humidity. The house is closed up and dark with the air conditioners going and fans blowing around the air to make it feel cooler. The dogs are crashed and asleep in their crates where they can be cool, with full buckets of water.

I got all my chores done early, cooked the pasta for tonights pasta salad dinner, and plan on reading and doing paperwork stuff for the rest of the day as its too uncomfortable to do much else.

The boys are getting big! Bugs is 32 pounds, and Pete is 28 pounds, at 10 weeks. Pete has both ears up, and Bugs is still playing with his - sometimes he sticks one up now and then and then it falls down. He is so big and so heavily boned I think it'll be another few weeks before they are up well. Time for some goat's milk!

They are always moving unless they are asleep, so these are the best photos I could get today.

This morning I was able to meet with Zoe and her owners. Zoe is our Dixie's and Ch. Gringo's littermate. Her litter name was Ellie, short for ellipsis, because she was white with three red spots down her spine. I was very surprised to see she had totally lost her black mask! Barbara tells me that Zoe spends most of her day in their office standing up and either looking out the window, or looking over the counter. She thinks she's human!

Here is Zoe at 10 weeks, then 4 months, and then a quick photo I snapped this morning.