After getting the pups vaccinated in the morning of July 30, the thunderstorms and rain finally eased off & I packed the van and piled all the critters plus Grandma Nova in for our estimated 3-hour drive to the cottage of Eileen Wilkes, Nova' breeder. Miska stayed at home because I was still weaning her from the puppies and I didn't want them trying to suckle.
Eileen had recently used the same stud, CH Hubertus Quality Control FDJ, as I did for our puppies. Her pups are 10 days older than ours and not only was I curious to see them but they were about to be evaluated using Pat Hastings "Puppy Puzzle" method. In actual fact, the mother of her puppies ("Dasher") is a cousin to Miska so it made it more intriguing to see how similar or dissimilar the pups from the 2 litters would be.
That day, my puppies stools were rather loose (trying to get the food quantities right) and so I gave them a bit of Pepto Bismal before we headed up to cottage country for the 3 hour drive. They were quiet as mice in the van and slept well and I was hoping they wouldn't need a potty break. Altho we were heading into a long weekend, it was the middle of the week and I didn't expect any problems on the highway. We were running late but making good progress until an accident occured just about 1 km ahead of us. For anyone who knows Hwy 400 in Ontario, it's an extremely busy highway running north of Toronto to cottage country, used by commuters and cottage folk. We crawled along and then finally came to a complete stop. When people starting getting out of their cars, I knew the problem was serious and heard on the radio they had completed closed the highway. We had no way of getting off the highway so how long would we be stuck for? No idea.
I started worrying about a potty break for the pups as any delay would make it difficult for them to hold their bladders. I was stopped in the centre lane and emergency vehicles were racing up both shoulders. After about 20 minutes, I made the attempt to get the puppies out, 2 at a time, on leash
and take them to the road side to pee and poop. Needtheless to say, they created a little stir with the folks around us who were very curious to see the puppies. I discovered one or more had made a mess in the crate but being an experience dog traveller, I had extra crates and bedding so moved them into clean crates. No sooner had I got them all pottied, given them a little drink when the traffic started moving again. The accident delayed us by almost 1 hour and I eventually arrived at Eileen's cottage at 6:30 pm. After our long journey it was a haven - right on the lake, beautiful views!
Our pups got to meet their 3 older and bigger half-brother. As there were only 3 puppies in Dasher's litter, the pups were larger at birth and didn't have to fight for nipple time so they were amply fed by Dasher. :-) Our puppies were rather dwarfed by their older siblings but they made up for their smaller size with their might. Anyway, they had lots of fun playing with their bigger brothers. And Eileen's two kids, Connor 7 and Erin 5, had a wonderful time handling and playing with 6 extra puppies as you can see from these photos. Erin kept saying she loves the 'girlie girls' and desperately wanted to keep Miss Purple.
At the end of the stay, I took photos of the 6 puppies and their Great-Grandmother Bree (11 yr old) and Grandma Nova (9 yr old).
Eileen had recently used the same stud, CH Hubertus Quality Control FDJ, as I did for our puppies. Her pups are 10 days older than ours and not only was I curious to see them but they were about to be evaluated using Pat Hastings "Puppy Puzzle" method. In actual fact, the mother of her puppies ("Dasher") is a cousin to Miska so it made it more intriguing to see how similar or dissimilar the pups from the 2 litters would be.
That day, my puppies stools were rather loose (trying to get the food quantities right) and so I gave them a bit of Pepto Bismal before we headed up to cottage country for the 3 hour drive. They were quiet as mice in the van and slept well and I was hoping they wouldn't need a potty break. Altho we were heading into a long weekend, it was the middle of the week and I didn't expect any problems on the highway. We were running late but making good progress until an accident occured just about 1 km ahead of us. For anyone who knows Hwy 400 in Ontario, it's an extremely busy highway running north of Toronto to cottage country, used by commuters and cottage folk. We crawled along and then finally came to a complete stop. When people starting getting out of their cars, I knew the problem was serious and heard on the radio they had completed closed the highway. We had no way of getting off the highway so how long would we be stuck for? No idea.
I started worrying about a potty break for the pups as any delay would make it difficult for them to hold their bladders. I was stopped in the centre lane and emergency vehicles were racing up both shoulders. After about 20 minutes, I made the attempt to get the puppies out, 2 at a time, on leash
and take them to the road side to pee and poop. Needtheless to say, they created a little stir with the folks around us who were very curious to see the puppies. I discovered one or more had made a mess in the crate but being an experience dog traveller, I had extra crates and bedding so moved them into clean crates. No sooner had I got them all pottied, given them a little drink when the traffic started moving again. The accident delayed us by almost 1 hour and I eventually arrived at Eileen's cottage at 6:30 pm. After our long journey it was a haven - right on the lake, beautiful views!
Our pups got to meet their 3 older and bigger half-brother. As there were only 3 puppies in Dasher's litter, the pups were larger at birth and didn't have to fight for nipple time so they were amply fed by Dasher. :-) Our puppies were rather dwarfed by their older siblings but they made up for their smaller size with their might. Anyway, they had lots of fun playing with their bigger brothers. And Eileen's two kids, Connor 7 and Erin 5, had a wonderful time handling and playing with 6 extra puppies as you can see from these photos. Erin kept saying she loves the 'girlie girls' and desperately wanted to keep Miss Purple. At the end of the stay, I took photos of the 6 puppies and their Great-Grandmother Bree (11 yr old) and Grandma Nova (9 yr old).
Here is a slideshow with more photos of our visit to Eileen's and then a link to the same pics in our Picasa album if you want to download any.
 |
| Visit to Eileen's |
What a lovely place. And such a great experience for the puppies.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful pictures!
ReplyDeleteWow, what a difference in sizes, but after your explanation, Sylvia, it does make sense.
That was a very adventurous trip that you guys made. Definitely interesting for the puppies and at the same time proving once again that you can handle any situation, Sylvia!
Have you ever consider writing a book about Vizslas? Your descriptions are so attention-grabbing and humorously written which would make a perfect reading for all dogs lovers...