Been Busy!

Boo has been very busy getting to know her sister Lily. They love playing with each other and do it constantly, until they both just drop from exhaustion.

I have started taking Boo on walks with Lily. She has done our usual route as well as the walk to 7-11 to get the Sunday paper. Boo hates the leash/collar combo, but tolerates it well once she gets moving. She showed a lot of confidence on the last walk, was spooked by a garbage truck in the alley but rallied once she actually saw what it was. She was quite excited about finding a pinecone, and carried it almost all the way home, until she became fascinated with a grass stalk in our friend's garden.

Boo still cannot make it through the night without waking us, but she is getting better and lasting longer. We usually hear a howl at about 4:30AM. She is ready to be up and running by 6:30AM, but we are not always ready at that time. She can keep herself busy in her crate while we get a few more winks.

First Hunts

Boo went on her first goose hunts on Friday and Saturday. She had a great time playing in the corn field, chewing on stalks and retrieving corn cobs. She did fine with the shooting. I was with her a couple hundred feet away for the first shot and she was excited by the geese we retrieved. I brought her to about 100 feet away after that and she did great. She is really getting her feet under her, although she is still quite a klutz.

1-15-09 Settling in!

Last night was Boo's first night sleeping until 4AM. The coyote howls started then and the next howls came at 6:30AM; a totally acceptable time for this early-ish rising family. But-at that time, you better be ready because Boo is shot out of a cannon. She is full of energy, ready to eat and then play hard, much to Cochon and Lily's dread.

Today was a sort of breakthrough for Lily. She realized that this small terror was actually willing to chase her, which just happens to be Lily's favorite thing in the world. Lily stole the new nylabone and took off running with Boo on her tail-literally. That little dog was keeping up, but Lily did her favorite juking maneuvers and Boo kept right on her heels. It was a fun thing to watch. Up to this point, Lily has been a bit jealous and annoyed by Boo-that changed today.

BIG NEWS: Boo retrieved her first duck today....she is very advanced for 7-3/4 weeks!

Bird Dog? 1/13/09

I thought today "I should pull out a bird wing and see if I get a reaction from Boo". So I bring in a pheasant wing from the garage. As soon as I put it in front of Boo, she attacks it. She clamped down, shook it and ran with it over to her kennel. I almost could not get it out of her mouth. Sorry, no pictures. I was afraid she would devour it before I could get the camera. Wings are put away now and won't come out until we start getting into formal training. I don't have to worry about whether she is a bird dog.

Big Snow - 1/12/09

We woke up this morning to a little more snow than was forecast. Wasn't so "big" to most, but to Boo it was HUGE. So far, Boo likes chewing on everything and loves chasing Cochon. She does great in the truck (in her crate) and we went to see Beth's office today.





We hope she gets the "sleeping through the night" down soon. She sounds like a pack of coyotes in the night.

January 11, 2009

Boo was born 11/21/2008. I picked her up after duck-hunting alone on the morning of 1/11/09. She had been playing with her litter-mates until mid-day before I picked her up. We stopped to see Joshua, then headed home. She met Lily and Cochon, played, napped, ate, napped some more, ate some more, played a little more...you get the idea.

By the end of the day, Boo had retrieved to hand 4 times, chewed the carpet 3 times and messed in the house once and melted hearts countless times. It was a good day.