Parting is such sweet sorrow...

We said a bittersweet good-bye to Inseguire Memento last week. She left for her new home in the Yukon, via Vancouver, and while we will miss her terribly she is going to a wonderful family. Her new people got in touch with me a few weeks ago and went through our screening process with flying colors. They had previously owned a JRT and their idea of a vacation was a week long canoe trip with evening hikes. I am not sure you can find two people more suited for a JRT but to top it all off they were willing to fly to Vancouver and spend a weekend there just so she wouldn't have to endure a long plane ride alone.

Sunday morning arrived and we packed her up with a blanket and tug and kissed her goodbye. A few tears later, of mixed joy and sorrow, and she was on her way to Vancouver to meet the people she would be spending the rest of her life with. The flight from Saskatoon was a fairly short one but of course I was still not able to relax entirely until I heard from her new family that she was safe in their arms. Thankfully the plane was on time and there were no complications with picking her up and I received a phone call right on time to say she made it and they loved her! They reported she handled the trip well and was already handing out kisses as if she had known them her whole life.

Sending our little ones so far away is always difficult but seeing them in their new homes, so content, so loved, makes all the heart ache of saying goodbye worth it. A picture speaks a thousand words and seeing Mika, who is now Ripley, snuggled up with her new "mommy" on the couch without a care in the world lets me know we made the right decision for her. This is why we breed. Seeing the pure joy in our dogs and their new owners when they are together makes it all worth while.

Reasons to Celebrate

Despite some minor setbacks this week there is reason to celebrate here at Inseguire. Mazel Tov, our little Atresia Ani puppy, had her appointment with the surgeons at the WCVM. As always I was a little nervous, there are so many unknowns with her that it is hard for me to have any expectations as to what may be found. Tov on the other hand loves going to the college. She has a great time as everyone fusses over her and feeds her treats. We have spent enough time there in her short life that all the residents know her by name and all the girls at the front desk spoil her. It never ceases to amaze the staff how big she is or how well she appears to be doing.

After her initial exam she went for another set of radiographs. A few of the surgeons met and discussed the similarities and difference between the sets taken a month ago and her initial ones taken as a newborn puppy. Eventually we were called back and presented with a number of options and a difficult decision. As she is today Tov is considered an "acceptable" pet. She is continent, happy, and relatively healthy. Doing anything may jeopardise this and while there is a chance that constructing an anus for her may improve her quality of life there is also the risk that it may diminish her current quality of life substantially if she does not have any sphincter muscles or she gets an infection. The surgeons discussed in depth what our spectrum of options are but in the end we all concluded that minimal interference until we absolutely had to was the best way to proceed. Tov is really such a medical marvel that we are all a little hesitant to interfere with what appears to be a pretty good thing.

With this diagnosis we can now move forward with placing her in a permanent home. She is welcome to stay here at Inseguire indefinitely but she may very well be happiest in a home that is all her own. She loves to be spoiled and cuddled and we will be hard pressed to find the perfect place for her but if and when it does come along we will now be able to provide some insight into her future. We have invested countless hours into her care, but days like today make all the sleepless nights and long days worth it. Having her kiss my nose every morning when I wake up is all the thanks I will ever need.

 

Glamour Shoot

Well the time has come to take pictures and evaluate puppies. This is always the hardest part when you have to put personal feelings aside and look critically at each dogs strengths and weaknessess. I am blessed to have the help of two wonderful women, Sadie's breeder Shirley Buist and Gaye Redpath of Conquest Terriers, to help me out. Even though we have two puppies destined for pet homes I like to evaluate the whole litter to see what my bitch is producing and what the cross provides. Inseguire Keepsake and Inseguire Memento (pics one and two respectively) are both outstanding individuals and after great debate I have decided to run on with both of them, at least for a little while. Inseguire Tricuit is an absolute sweetheart and fairly well put together, in another litter she may well be a keeper, but her personality makes her ideally suited to a loving pet home Inseguire Mazel Tov is cute, and feisty, and even though she has some flaws caused by being the runt she has some very nice qualities as well. On a whole I am thrilled with this litter, exactly what I was hoping for in Sadie's curtain call as a brood bitch. I will be excited to watch them mature, and even more excite to put them into the show ring!

Jack Russells, Border Collies, and Wine, Oh my!

Now that the puppies are 6 weeks old and have their first set of shots they can go visiting select friends of ours and their dogs. Naturally they went to meet their BC teammates Jake and Ben first off. Cali came with us to chaparone and get some more socialization herself and she and Ben spent almost 3 hours playing together. They have not seen eachother since our trip to Souris MB so they had a lot of catching up to do. Kiwi, in typical JRT fashion, strutted out of the crate took one look at Jake, barked, and went strait to playing. Jake is fascinated by the puppies, wanting to spend every second he could with them. He and Kiwi played very well together and Mika joined in after a little while loving all the fur on Jake's neck and tail. Tryst was more interested in meeting and snuggling with Megan than playing with the other dogs but once she got her people time in she was more than happy to meet and play with Jake and Ben. Suprisingly enough amidst all this chaos Megan and I had a good chance to catch up. It has been a while since our schedules have allowed us down time and I have missed her.

The Great Outdoors

The weather in Saskatoon has finally warmed up a little so I decided to take advantage of it and take the almost 6 weeks old puppies for their first outdoor adventure. In typical JRT style they rushed out the open door, scrambled down the stairs, and started tearing around the back yard. They have discovered coordination in the last week and no longer toddle about, their movements are deliberate and fairly precise for such small puppies and they have discovered they can jump and leap at things they want above their heads (i.e. Riley's face). They explored every inch of the back yard, climbing into my lap when they needed to warm themselves and then off again once feet were thawed. We all spent a good 20 minutes in the yard and I am sure they would have stayed out longer if I was not so worried about them getting chilled.

You learn to be the voice of reason early on when keeping JRTs as they will often dive head first into all their endeavours and rarely consider what outcome their actions might lead to.

Puppies for Christmas

Christmas time is always busy around here. With all our dogs, the new puppies, and still our foster dog Tasha things can get a little hectic. That being said I love Christmas and I figured I would take the opportunity to photograph our newest additions under the Christmas tree. They were not so thrilled at first about being in a strange new place but soon nestled into the presents and went to sleep. Cali on the other hand has spend the last 14 days since we put the tree up hiding all of her "prizes" in various places underneath it. She is such a little livewire and I have to admit I am more than a little nervous about what we are going to find under there when we take it down. As always the JRTs are a constant source or amusement, frustration, and joy. An interesting combination you may think but once you own one you understand.

10 Days Young

The puppies are growing well. One little girl was born with Atresia Ani and a fistula but with the help of many vets she is so far doing alright. Our regular vet, Theresa Chu, has been amazing through this whole process quite literally holding my hand the night I found the problem (at 3 days old) and I rushed over to the college after hours right up to today coming in on her day off to look at an eye infection. The vets at the WCVM have been equally as amazing and will hopefully be able to correct both issues with a couple of surgeries. We have to wait until she is a little older and stronger to do much for her but she has such a will to live it would be impossible for me not to try. She is just the sweetest little girl and even though she is just half the size of her littermates she is tough and rarely gets pushed off a nipple. I am giving her a little beef liver broth a few times a day and that really seems to help her keep her strength up, especially those first few days. We have named her Mazel Tov, which is "Good Luck" in Hebrew as I think she is going to need it.

The other three are doing very well, just stunning puppies really, with outstanding bone and heads like I have never seen on 10 day old puppies. They are already weighing in around 1.5lbs and round little balls of fur. This is always the stage where I try and justify to myself keeping all of them but I know that the homes we have lined up are going to adore them as much as I do so that makes it a little easier. Sadie herself is doing fantastic, eating like a small horse and taking breaks from the little ones to come and hang out with me every now and then. She would prefer I spend all my time in the office, where her whelping box is, and will stand at the top of the stairs barking at me until she eventually comes down and sits on my lap for a bit. I don't think I will ever get bored of Jack Russell antics, they have so much personality!

Sadie x Jock Puppies

We have been waiting for Sadie to whelp this litter all week and they were definitely worth the wait. I am wanting to keep a female from this litter so as luck would have it I now have four to choose from! My good friend Karen braved the cold and drove 25 min into town to help me whelp this litter and for that I am eternally grateful! I only have one good hand at the moment (broke the other one in a horse related incident) and as anyone who has ever tried to whelp puppies knows it is a two handed job. Karen was also here during the birth of our previous litter lending her veterinary expertise and guiding me through the sometimes scary process.

I had commented to Karen earlier that this might be a very colourful litter so when the first puppy was born with a half-mask and an ear spot she remarked that she was still waiting for her "holstein". Well she wouldn't have to wait long as the next two puppies were covered in body spots! The Tan and white girl came second, then the Tri girl, and thank goodness the last puppy was a little more tame as I think we were both still reeling from all that color. All in all this is a nice looking litter and I am looking forward to watching them grow, although I don't know how i am ever going to pick just one to keep they are all so cute!