Waiting for Visitors

This week we have had a couple different visitors to the house for puppy socializing. Today the pups turned 5 weeks old and we invited the new owners of the pups to come to the house to meet them along with a few of our adult schnauzers. This photo was taken about 15 minutes before anyone arrived, Daisy has already staked out her spot in front of the door to wait. My guys LOVE visitors, some more then others, Daisy is always the well behaved one, Edee was also on hand, she is the big, hairy one that thinks everyone that comes to the house is here for Edee and that everyone loves to have a schnauzer leaping all over them, and of course mom Fiddle was here. A full house of strangers was a little unsettling to Fiddle at first, but once she figured out they were not here to take her pups she relaxed, visited with everyone and then lay down to observe. Pups were passed about and cuddled and then all curled up in a pile on the pillow to snooze.

A new mind

Fiddle's pups turn 4 weeks old on Sunday. I love them at this age, everything in their world is fresh and new. They have the basic instincts they are genetically born with, however, it is the next few weeks and months that will develop and turn them into wonderful family companions, or, with poor choices and exposure by the humans in their lives they can be spoiled and never reach their potential. I cannot emphasize enough, you get back what you put into these guys, are you prepared to do all it takes to raise your best dog ever, or, are you not ready yet to put in the time? More photos of the pups here.

East Coast Schnauzers

The Standard Schnauzer Club of Canada held a Booster at the Halifax show on the weekend. They had a very nice entry, larger then we have seen in Ontario at the Boosters recently. A couple folks even dropped by for a visit that were not entered, just to say hello. They had Schnauzers entered in the Rally and Obedience as well. And they all turned out to pose for some photos. I bet the Halifax club has never seen this many Standard Schnauzers at one time! This assorted crew of schnauzers and their owners are not only conformation title holders, but we have Obedience, Agility and Therapy dogs in the photo, a really versatile group on our Canadian East coast. Congratulations to everyone. To see a few of the Winners of the weekend, check out my brags on my Dinsdale website.

Looking Good

Our young boy Beamish is starting to mature into a very handsome young man. I did a little grooming on him yesterday in the hope of getting some new photos of the rowdy teenager. Well, after 60 frames this is the only one I could find that wasn't blurred by motion, or, with his snout (too) covered in snow.

Don't laugh at me

Token breaks us up, she really does take herself very seriously, no really she does. She is very intense in most of what she does, she is VERY interested in everything that is going on in the house, more so then the schnauzers, which really surprises me. She doesn't like to be laughed at and can throw you looks of disdain if you do so. I also love that she wrinkles her forehead when she is concentrating, like in this photo.

Sad Goodbyes

Griffey Fox I was saddened to receive recent news of the loss of two Dinsdale Schnauzers. Sunday I was told of the passing of Griffey who has been the very loved companion of Jan, Michael and son Jonathan for more then 13 years. Jonathan and Griff grew up together, he was a big part of their family. Griffey is a littermate to my old girl Jewels, who has been having a rough time herself the last few months. My thoughts are with Jan and her family as they mourn the loss of Griff from their lives. What a beautiful photo Jan sent me of Griffey, he reminds me so much of Jewels. Arby Barsky Monday came news of Arby's passing. Arby was a littermate to Charlotte, one of our Madie daughters that is dam to many of the dogs in our breeding program, Arby is a half sibling to Griffey through mom Madison. In our early days we use to offer in house boarding to some of the owners of our dogs and Arby came back to stay with us a few times. He was much like Charlotte, happy-go-lucky and you always had the feeling that the world was Arby's oyster. Arby matured into a big dog with an even BIGGER personality. I love this photo that I took when he came to stay as a puppy with us, he was all long ears and legs.

February Blues

No I didn't escape winter by heading south to places exotic and (sigh)....warm, wish that were true. This is Hexe enjoying the waves in Lake Ontario last summer. I am feeling the grind of winter, February has got to be the most dragged out, depressing month of the year. I was at the computer cleaning up some of my files and came across this summer splashing series of photos, has me wishing for summer breezes and cool waves. Meanwhile........ Hexe is happy regardless, here she is sporting a big smile looking as happy as she was in the previous photo regardless of the freezing temps and frozen ground outside. Gotta love dogs.

Covering all the bases

We have pups, they arrived about 1.5 weeks ago. This is Fiddle's final litter, she has always been a fantastic mom, this time is no different. They are set up in one of our spare bedrooms which allows me to stumble out my bedroom door at night to check on the family should I hear any noises. The beauty of a great and experienced mom is there are seldom any problems, thank you Fiddle for allowing me to sleep every night. This photo kind of sums up Fiddle's priorities at the moment, her pups and her stuffed Canada Goose. From this vantage she can keep track of both comfortably and ever watchful from the bed, she can also glance over her shoulder when I am upstairs to see what I am up to, which hopefully is the delivery of her next meal....her third favorite thing at the moment. Be sure to visit Fiddle's Nursery for more photos of her family. Just click here