Yesterday I had my two nieces over for the day and they just love animals. We went to my neighbors house and brought home one of his 6 week old german shorthaired pointer puppies for the girls to play with. First, I had to set down some ground rules to make sure it was a positive experience for both Taylor and Morgan and the puppy. The main rule is that the kids don’t pick up the puppy. This can often end in disaster if a frightened child drops a puppy on a hard surface. Instead, I have them sit on the ground and then they are welcome to hold and pet the puppies. We were careful not to chase the puppy or be mean in any way. After 20-30 minutes of this the puppy had explored the cool grass, licked all the kids and was ready for a nap. In just the short amount of time I could see the puppies confidence grow as he learned that the kids were friendly and fun. It wasn’t long before the neighbor kids came around and the poor puppy was held and petted by 10 different children ranging in age from 1 to 9 years old. When raising a litter of pups, nothing can be more helpful than positive, safe interaction with lot’s of children. A variety of people and situations will help build a bold and confident young hunting dog.

Our friend Barbara McKell called the other night to check how our little “Annie” puppy is doing. We couldn’t be more happy with Annie’s progress and look forward to getting her into some birds this fall. Barbara has another beautiful litter of Brittany puppies available in Utah. The litter of puppies will be ready for their new hunting homes this week. If you are interested you can call Barbara directly at her home (435)384-2923 or on her cell phone (801)592-7602. She is willing to deliver pups anywhere in Northern Utah.

Our friends at Rooster Valley Pheasants had a litter of healthy hunting puppies this past week. Max loves to sit right down and watch the puppies nurse. The momma pup named “Polly” was very good natured about the intrusion. Their were 3 males and 6 females in the litter and should be some dang good hunting dogs. They are all mostly white with liver heads and will have very light ticking like their father Duke. It will be fun to watch these puppies grow and develop. If all goes well, we will have a litter of our own next year at this time.