Chip off the old block...

I sent this picture of Finn to his breeder, Carolyn at Vidor. She returned the favor by sending me this picture (below) of Finn's mom, Lenke. Two great looking dogs, don't you think??

Happy Holidays from Winnie and Finn!

Big couple of days for Finn...

Finn and I spent a couple of days at Rose River Farm with my friend Douglas and his Spinone, Enzo. It was a great time all around, but the highlight would certainly have to be Finn's first bird! He had never been introduced to birds before today, and he did great. I'm so proud of him!

But the hunting wasn't the only great thing about our visit. This was the first time I truly let him, with confidence, off leash to run great distances. Enzo showed him the ropes and they had a blast together!

Yesterday was so bitterly cold and windy, if it was like that today there was no chance we were hunting. But we went out at dawn to check things out and it was pretty pleasant out, compared to yesterday.

Douglas is at the other end of the check cord - I didn't want Finn to run over the bird before he even smelled it. He eased into it nicely though, and froze over it. I took a shot with my camera, then flushed the bird and shot it again - this time with my 16 gauge!

What a happy sight. I'm so proud of my boy!

A little off leash play

Tonight I was putting stuff away in the garage and I let Winnie and Finn into the garage to 'help.' The door was open and I let them wander out to the driveway and continually called them back in. Finn stayed nice and close, so then I let him follow me around the back of the house while I rode the ATV back there to put it away. Again, nice and close, then we found a couple tennis balls that had rolled off the deck above so I picked them up and started playing fetch, each time calling him excitedly back to me. It all went really well so instead of pushing my luck I ended on a positive note and just went back to the garage and then put them into the yard. So it was a nice off leash exercise, although I think he never even realized he was off leash!

Not the most earth shattering blog post I know, but we have a lot of space here and I'm excited at the prospect of having both the dogs out with me while I'm working in the yard or just walking around.

Bath Time

Managing multiple dogs, especially larger ones, can be a challenge at times (like when they're so excited to go for a walk they can't even sit still to get leashed!). But I'm really lucky with these two that they stay calm and still for grooming. It's chilly here so the smelly dogs got bathed in the barn where there is hot water but also horses, cats, and all sorts of new smells. But they both behaved great, and now they smell great!