Figs The Destroyer: 12 Weeks and Counting

Right now I'm sitting on the couch with Sage on my lap, Figs has positioned herself across from us at the furthest end. She's flopping her entire 18 pound body around like a mental patient in the midst of uncontrollable fits. She's making mouth noise at Sage and also invisible objects around the room, the ceiling and perhaps even on her own back. She rolls her eyes all wonky as she postures up and makes contorted faces. I can't help but laugh out loud. The second she settles down Sage sticks out a paw and pokes her and the puppy wackiness starts over in full swing. This my friends is Figs the Destroyer.

Volume Required

Not every puppy gets an ancient conqueror's name but quite frankly this little beast has earned it. It's been 5 weeks since we picked our little bundle of spots up in Wisconsin and Figs has since made herself well at home. She's recruited Sage as her BEST friend, she's stolen our hearts along with the toilet plunger and she has managed to bind this little family together with spotted love cement.

Toilet Plunger? I'll be taking that.....

Pita Prison Break

Figs beats to her own drum. After chewing an escape hatch out the back of Sage's dog cave she insists on using this as her personal entrance and exit. She likes to find any squeaker toy Sage hasn't yet obliterated and runs barely controllable laps around the kitchen and living room at full speed. I've considered buying her a T-shirt that says ride it like you stole it. She has a little motor in her that's always full tilt with puppy rips. Sage Monkey is going to have her paws full once this beast gets full grown. But as hard as she plays she crashes and snugs just as hard. At nap time she bebops over, stumpy tail at full swing and sits like she's saying, "Ok! You can hold me now please!"

Figgy's prey drive is off the scale and I have been dying to get her out on birds. We allocated some chukar this past weekend but the temperatures were down in the double digit negatives and the snow is still too high to properly give her an introduction. At this point our hotel chukar guests are sitting pretty until January Montana weather decides to get on board or at least give us a tiny window of opportunity. Until that occurs we'll keep working on her basic commands and housebreaking which is going incredibly well. She's smart (and cute) as a whip. We also managed to get a pretty nice whoa table from a local source so when the time comes we finally have everything we need.

12 week old Lex Luther

As Fig's prey drive is so high she has a sincere obsession with the cats. I went through this with Cleo, Luna and Sage and managed to get all three to have a happy and healthy relationship with them. With that said there are always bizarre bumps along the way with each dog. In the photo above the baby gate blocks entrance to our laundry room where we keep the cat food and litter boxes. Figs WAS sitting right on the other side of the gate but quickly learned the cats won't keep regularly scheduled movement through cat central station when she stands there. So she's learned if she sits on the bottom step of the stairs and waits until they jump over she can make her move on them when they least suspect it. It's all very clever and rather Lex Lutherish for a 12 week old puppy. Lots of work on the leave it command in our future.

Hopefully the next update comes with some pics and videos of intro bird work. Until then I leave with you a video of Sage playing possum. Be sure to find us and follow us on Facebook at: Adventures of a GSP.

Road Trip: Bringing Home our New Puppy

Last year I had contacted Sharp Shooter's Kennel in New Richmond, Wisconsin and went through the screening process to procure another GSP puppy. Sage's father is a Sharp Shooters's NAVHDA Versatile Champion and her mother has some SS bloodlines. I've seen my fair share of SS dogs in the field and knew that if I ever added to my pack that I would hope it would be with a pup from their kennel. A litter had been born on October 8th and lucky for us a female from the litter would be ours and would be available to be picked-up Thanksgiving weekend. Wyatt and I decided it would be the perfect time for a road trip.

We set out on Black Friday with Sage in tow as she was just coming out of heat. We spent Friday in Glendive, MT and then on Saturday commandoed across North Dakota, and Minnesota arriving to the quaint town of New Richmond, Wisconsin (we've dubbed it the round-about capital of the midwest) on Saturday evening.

Jessica Lieffort from Sharp Shooters was kind enough to let us come over Saturday night and visit our pup. We spent a couple of hours getting our fill of puppy breath (like there is such a thing), watching spastic puppy play and chatting with the breeders Clyde and Marilyn Vetter and Jessica. They couldn't have been more kind and professional. It really was such a lovely experience and we were very appreciative of their time and company, it alone was worth the 2,200 mile journey.

We chose not to take our new puppy home that night upon the very wise suggestion of Jessica. Instead we headed back to the hotel and toasted our new spotted dog child with a wonderful bottle of wine (thank you Marilyn and Jess), we held Sage a little extra tight and got a darn good nights sleep. Jessica gave us the opportunity to swing by in the morning and intro Sage to the pup and then we would head out for the 1,100 mile trip home.

Sage sucking up as much sleepy love as she can. It's borderline rude.  

We showed up to Jessica's at 8am sharp on Sunday chock full of excitement. We came in and snuggled our pup and her last litter mate. Then we brought Sage in to meet our pup. It's a super common question about the proper way to introduce an older dog to a puppy. I've done it before and I have to say that no matter how crafty you get there is always some ill feeling on the older dogs part. Once they realize what is happening they are a little less then pleased to varying degrees. So here is how our intro went:

Sage came down to the whelping room which is immaculate by the way. With that said it is full of lots of other dog smells and of course an adorable and perfect pup. Sage did the normal unsure growling and hopping about. Nothing out of normal in my humble opinion. It's a big event with a relative amount of pressure and after 2 days in car and a modified schedule it's a lot for anyone or any dog to take in. With that said I could tell Sage needed to use the bathroom and maybe get some space. I asked Jessica if it was OK to let her into her backyard to do her business. Part of the yard had been fenced off with puppy fencing to keep the small hooligans in.

I let Sage out and could immediately tell she was being pissy and she began to run and sniff the perimeter of the fenced area. As soon as she hopped the fence I knew that I was in trouble. She knew exactly what was occurring and like a toddler in the middle of temper tantrum she planned to drag me into deep water before she would submit. I winced and began what felt like a thousand yard walk over to the fence in pursuit. Sage was legitimately pissed about all this puppy business and was opting the route of giving me the paw. I called her around and she defiantly ran a lap by me before taking up residence in the nearby woods and proceeded to take a shit. But unlike any other poop she's had in the past she locked eyes with me the entire time making it as uncomfortable as possible as if she was was trying to tell me how much she hated me. I mumbled under my breath God help me and as she patched out backwards (not breaking eye contact of course) and I watched in horror as she transformed from my sweet beloved Sage into her insanely sassy and mouthy mother Cleo. It was one of those moments so many of us experience looking in the mirror or hearing our own parents rhetoric escape our lips. What the fuck was happening.

She proceeded to take off with the type of attitude only seen in hormonally charged and angry teenage girls as they scream at you, I HATE YOU, YOU RUINED MY LIFE, before stomping down the hallway and slamming their bedroom door with Emmy winning dramatic flair. She tore around Jessica's backyard before I could half tackle and drag her back to the house. Well this is going well I thought and as we re-entered the Leiffort residence I asked Wyatt if he would be kind enough to take our spotted time bomb out to the car.

We said our goodbyes and collected our fur baby and headed out to begin the long journey home. We named our puppy Sharp Shooters Sweet Mission and we shall call her Figs.

The trip home was long but not nearly as bad as we had thought it might be. Both dogs were very well behaved and slept most of the journey. We made it to Miles City, MT our first night together as a family and took up temporary residence in a pet friendly Best Western. It was the first opportunity we got to see Fig's personality as well as the first real opportunity to see Sage and Figs interact.

Sage was clearly wounded about the new family addition but still made small efforts. She would take a toy and poke it into Fig's head trying to get her play while growling awkwardly the entire time. Clearly conflicted play but positive nonetheless. It took Cleo almost 6 days to get to that point when Luna was introduced into the pack so realistically I was thrilled. We had a great first night and since we were on the road she got to sleep on my face while Sage took residence beneath the covers.

Hotel Ice Breaking Shenanigans

Wyatt decided to be the paparazzi when I passed out. Not sure if you 

can see that pup hogging my pillow.

We've been home in Bozeman since Monday afternoon. I took sometime off of work to spend with the girls to help get them transitioned and get on a schedule. It's been a real hoot. Figs has so much moxy and plays with spirited gusto. She loves to retrieve any toy to hand and she has been such a quick learn. I have been incredibly impressed with her intelligence and she is extremely cooperative and sweet. We already LOVE having her around. Sage is doing much better with her and they spent hours chasing each other around the kitchen and living room today and bebopping though fields. Things are going to be great and I can't wait to intro her to birds. There is so much to look forward to over the next several months.

Be sure to find us on Facebook and show us some love at: Adventures of German Shorthaired Pointer.

Sage the Savage: 4 month update

It's hard for me to believe that my little Sage monkey is 4 1/2 months old. I feel the last few months have flown by at lightening speed. When both Cleo and Luna were pups I found myself just waiting for the stress of the puppy months to be a distant memory (the teething, the potty training, and unruliness). With Sage I'm hanging on to every nano second that she is still a puppy. Third time around you undoubtedly appreciate how short lived those fanciful puppy months are.  They have a lifetime to be the dogs they quickly become but only a short time to be rambunctious pups.

It's clear though that her puppyhood is coming to an end. Sage is getting huge. Last Saturday at the vet she tipped the scales a 35lbs! That's 5lbs more than Luna weighed at this age and more than half of Cleo's current weight. Sage is going to be a big girl! A trait she clearly inherited from her daddy VC Sharp Shooters Doc Holliday.

Keeping her gigantic pup paws off the counter has been a constant battle. She is hands down the most food motivated puppy I have ever seen. Every time we open the fridge door, a cabinet or the pantry she materializes out of thin air and puts on her best begging show. She also doesn't discriminate.  I'm pretty sure she would eat anything we offered her. One of her favorite foods hands down are fresh green beans (just like her Momma). Luna is not a fan of veggies but will take one begrudgingly just so she's not left out. Luna wishes bacon grew on trees.

 No one be alarmed! It's Jim shoe so its OK. ;)

Sage is a wild woman. Not quite to Luna "hell puppy" status but then again not many dogs can get to that level. Luna has left a legacy and some very big shoes to fill....or eat. With that said Sage is doing her best to leave her imprint. She gets into plenty of things she shouldn't and is never even remotely apologetic about it. Which certainly is par for the course.

Running down the big dogs!

Oh how the tables have turned little dog

In the last few weeks she has earned the nickname "Savage". Sage has a touch of alpha in her and her most favorite thing in the world is some good old fashioned wrestling. Last week in the yard I watched her take down Luna and later in a moment of complete insanity she drug her mom Queen Cleo to the ground. That is by no means an easy feat and the result was as an entertaining ass kicking from Momma. I guess she never learned the lesson don't try to dance with the old man (or your mom) unless your absolutely ready. And just like her mother she talks, snarls and growls the entire time she plays making her sound like Cujo. Cleo is vocal dog and this is just how they play but to others I'm sure they think Sage is well....Savage.

                    If synchronized sleeping was an Olympic sport they would take gold

Momma Baby Snugs

Although she can be barbaric during playtime Sage has to be the sweetest most endearing pup. Whens she's ready for downtime she will come and paw at Jim or I to let us know she's ready to snuggle. I'll go sit on the couch and she will jump up, nest in my lap, lay her head on my neck and promptly fall asleep. She loves to be touched, cuddled and held. If she can't occupy our laps she snugs in as tight as Cleo and Luna will allow. She is a lover to the core. When we nap together she lays her head across my neck and chest or if she's cold she rests on my hip under the covers. I love holding her and can't get enough of her love. I think Aunt Luna feels the same way and has opted to give up her mornings sleeping in with me to chew faces and play with Sage Monkey.

Her field training has been coming along superbly. She runs great, uses her nose and is pointing. I couldn't possibly be more happy. She is responding to my whistle and shows me little glimpses of the future and the amazing hunter she is destined to be. Handling her myself has been a blast and the thought of getting to watch her develop over this summer in preparation for our trip to North Dakota this fall has me pumped! Although I'm not so sure Cleo and Luna love the extra time I get out and spend with her in the field.

We've also been training with a good portion of the pups from Cleo's litter. I'll do a blog post later this month showing some of their progress in the field as well. In the meantime follow us on facebook at Adventures of a German Shorthaired Pointer.

Pupdate: And Then There Was One and She was Wild

GSP Sandwich

Five weeks ago 7 of Cleo's 8 puppies headed home to begin their lives with their new families. That weekend was met with mixed emotions from Jim and I. The last two nights the entire pack was together Jim and I got uncharacteristically sentimental. We knew every second we had with them we had to make them count. Hugs were extra long, puppy kisses were even more cherished and when they transitioned into wild little devil dogs we laughed a little harder. When the weekend was over I took some extra solace in a glass of wine or two (in reality, if were being honest that's probably a gross under estimate.....don't throw stones people). We loved each and every one of those pups SO MUCH. But they have all been placed with the most amazing hunting families and we couldn't possibly be more pleased. And when it was all said and done and the dust finally settled there was one pup left and she is ours....and she is a flippin wild woman.

Sage Monkey

Sage is a free spirited trouble maker. She's not nearly to hell puppy level....yet. But in her defense we've had nothing but snow for weeks so she really hasn't had the opportunity to live up to Luna's hell puppy  Legend. I have no doubts that she will spawn some tall tales on this blog. 

She has moments when she is mellow and then moments when she is an absolute friggin handful. All sharp pointy puppy teeth and her mothers back talking Sass. She runs hard for hours at a time and then crumbles into a lap to snuggle and sleep. We are more relaxed with her than we ever were with Cleo or Luna. The third time down this path were not even remotely phased by anything she can throw at us. In fact we are incredibly entertained and loving every single minute of it. There is this line from the movie Parenthood that came out in 1989 with Steve Martin and Keanu Reeves when Mary Steenburgen's character says, "It's because he was our first. I mean, I think we were very tense when Kevin was little. If he got a scratch, we were hysterical. By the third kid, you know, you let them juggle knives." Or in our case toilet paper rolls. 

She's incredibly aware and smart for her age. We hope its a sign of good things to come especially in the field. If we would get rid of this never ending snow we'd be spending way more time outside with her. But good things come to those who wait (that is such horseshit btw....I WANT THE SNOW GONE....it's making me mental).

Cleo had enough of Sage's crap. She dug a hole with Aunt Lulu's 

help and they stuffed her in there. 

She LOVES battling her mother and testing her patience every single second she can, which feels incredibly vindicating for the years of torture Cleo has put me through. Now she has a savage little clone to push her buttons. Muhahahahaha! On the other hand Luna is her beloved snuggle buddy and they are constantly sharing dog cave snugs. Sage is also consistently trying to "share" (AKA Steal) her bones which has gone over like a lead balloon with Aunt Lu. Sage is the most food motivated puppy I have ever seen. She comes running the second she hears the refrigerator doors open, or when we open the cabinet that holds their doggie treats. She watches intently when I cook dinner and some how managed to steal an oven mitt the other night. Go figure how she pulled that off. 

Doesn't make you just want to climb in there with them!?

Puppy sleepy time

She's a gem of a puppy and we are completely smitten with her. And were excited to take you all along for the ride as she grows with us and our pack. Check back and follow our shenanigans on Facebook at Adventures of a German Shorthaired Pointer!

Cleo and Pupdate: 7 Weeks old and Counting

Orange and Mini Doc

Let me fill you in incase you don't know already...when GSP puppies reach 6 weeks of age (specifically Cleo and Doc puppies) you start questioning if they are part Velociraptor. All of their cute and whimsical innocence has left them and has been unequivocally replaced with hell raising, whelping room destroying, spotted leg biters. Jim came home last week and they had somehow used their black voodoo magic to separate the two connected whelping boxes and spilled out into the whelping box room to reek as much havoc as possible. They spent approximately 2 hours shredding bags of stockpiled newspaper, emptied a full box of black hefty trash bags and played tug of war with them and oh did I mention....they shit everywhere? Take that lightly colored beige carpet! They worked with doody like some artists work in watercolor. The boxes are now reinforced with ridiculous don't fail me now industrial clamps and we've also bought stock in Stanley Steamer.

Periwinkle

The pups personalities are really starting to shine through. Periwinkle (black and roan female) has happily filled the Houdini role. At least once a day when one of us enters the whelping room she comes and meets us at the door. Yea....lets back that up. SHE COMES AND MEETS US AT THE DOOR. She should be in the whelping box with all the other pups but she somehow manages to escape ALL THE TIME. We've removed the whelping box rails and Jim built a special attachment to increase the height of the whelping box door but she still manages to get enough leverage to pull her chubby spotted belly over the wall. She has even now figured out to get back in once she's finished her self granted playtime. We know this because she never forgets to leave her calling card. Bet you can imagine what that is.

Sweet Green - Liver Roan Male

Although they are quite mischievous all the pups are incredibly loving. They love to be held and snuggled and each one gives excellent kisses. They respond amazingly well to a whistle and hearing one from Jim or I will send them barreling down the halls like a herd of elephants. We get them out of the whelping room 3 or 4 times a day to let them play and interact with Cleo and Luna around the house. It's been a blast to watch them experience new things and they soak up everything like little sponges. Cleo LOVES being with her puppies and will lay on the floor letting them chew on her face and ears. She pokes them with her paws and goats them into chasing her around the living room. She brings them toys to play with and wags her stubby little tail with furor.

Big Red - Black and Roan male

Blue Bear - Black and Roan Male

Purple - Liver and Roan Female

The pups coats have darkened considerably and they have been growing and packing on the weight. We haven't weighed them in a couple of days but I have no doubt that at 7 weeks old some of the males are close to tipping the scales at 12 pounds. I'm starting to think some of these pups are going to be absolutely huge when they go home in a week. At least two of the male pups will be pretty large in size maybe even Doc size! Only time will tell. They have been to the vet and received their first deworming and DHPP booster. Not one of them fussed or cried at the vets and Mini Doc seemed to love his banana flavored dewormer. I have a feeling he might be a food hound.

Yellow

We have also decided on who we are going to be keeping out of this litter. She is a black and roan female and wore the yellow collar. Her name will be Von Schonheits Across the Plains and we will call her Sage. Like all the pups she is very bold, super aware and maybe too intelligent for her own good but more than that I've developed a great emotional attachment to her. She also has a propensity for chewing on Jim's shoes and quite frankly after all the stuff of mine Cleo and Luna have destroyed over the years its high time I have my own minion. I mean its only fair right!? Besides I can't even begin to explain how excited I am for her to be my personal gun dog!!

Cleo Update!

Cleo is doing much better! At her most recent follow-up appointment they were able to express some nasty fluid from her infected mammary gland which showed she still has an infection. So she will be on antibiotics for another 3 weeks. She goes back next week for another checkup. You would never know it from her sassiness that she still has an infection. Her spirits are up and she's even giving me some barky back talk. This past sunday we even took her hunting.

Cleo on Point with Doc honoring while Jim and Geof flush the chukar

Considering that Cleo hadn't been out on birds since she was bred to Doc in September her fieldwork was spot on and she ran like she never had any health issues in the last few weeks. You can tell it did her soul good to get out and do what she was meant to do in life. It put a little extra bounce in her step and Jim and I finally breathed that we had our baby back. It was also awesome getting Cleo and Doc together for a little reunion. Luna was there as well as two more of Geof Ferrer's GSP's. We ran them two at a time and at the end of the hunt cut all 5 dogs loose at once. I can't begin to explain how nice it is to watch 5 well trained and finished dogs work together. Below are some pics from our chukar hunt at Bent Creek Preserve in Allentown, NJ.

Look at that face...LOVE!! VC Sharp Shooters Doc Holliday

VC Rahway River's Prince of Darkness on point with Luna honoring in the back

Luna doing what she does!

Cleo honoring Doc on point. She hated that skid plate but we wanted to protect her chest. 

Rahway Rivers She's So Fine honoring - Call name Sophie

Sophie on point with Cleo, Doc and Ozzie honoring. Luna is off to the left honoring as well.

Doc looking huge and handsome!

Just wanted to thank everyone again for the outpouring of support we recieved when Cleo got horribly ill. All the comments and well wishes really did my heart well. There is something to say about all of you for rallying around us when we needed your good vibes. Thank you.

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