Some Trigger Pups
UCI Nat'l/Int'l CH CHEECHAKO (“New-comer” in the Chinook Indian language) is a Rose X Trigger pup. Her Human Parents say, "amazing how much all the pups from this cross look alike!
When we started our search for another Standard Poodle to fill the void left when our last girl passed, we contacted several out-of-state breeders to enquire about available puppies. Two out-of-state breeders told us about Harmony Mountain and the nice puppies available there. Harmony Mountain is almost in our neighborhood and we didn't even know about them! Neil and I lucked out when we looked at the Harmony Mountain puppies, Lori and Rich had a puppy they had planned to keep but changed their minds due to having enough dogs in training to keep them busy. That puppy became our fur-kid “Harmony Mt. Cinnamon Cheechako” or Cheechee as we call her.
Cheechee is a very confident, outgoing girl. We are not hunters but if we were she would be a great hunting partner as she is very prey driven. She has never met a stranger while in our company, but is a good guard dog around our home. This is important as last year someone tried to break into our home while I slept, that won’t happen anymore with Miss Cheechako on duty! She is a wild child, headstrong but still capable of getting her “Canine Good Citizen” award without taking a single wrong step. She is correct and pretty, and has achieved her IABCA Championship title.
Cheechee’s favorite move is to stick her head between our legs and look up at us, not easy to ignore her if she wants attention (and pretty funny if you have guests and forget to tell them about her little act!). She is particularly fond of Lori and gets pretty excited whenever we stop by Harmony Mountain for a visit. Lori and Rich’s boy Ace is her favorite playmate. She torments him, pulling his ears and pestering him to no end which he takes very good naturedly (lucky for her).
I don’t know how we lived without a poodle, life is a lot more interesting now we are a complete family again. Can’t wait to add the next pup (which will be soon)."
JACEK, left, and CHEECHEE, right (both Rose X Trigger pups) enjoyed a fun day of showing at the Desert Sieger International All Breed Canine Association show in Tucson 3/13/10-3/14/10. They both achieved their conformation championships at the show, and CheeChee also obtained her Canine Good Citizen certificate. Jen, Jacek's mom, loves to show, so she will continue to enter him in Arizona shows.
ROUX is a Cedar X Trigger pup whose Human dad says at 10 months of age: "Finally - some ducks for Roux to retrieve. Four of the five in the photo would still be hiding in the tall, thick weeds if it weren't for her. She loves to hunt, but still thinks some of what she finds should be hers.
I really have to work on getting her to stay at the shot. She hears the gun and she is off, knowing I must have shot something. She has more confidence in me than I deserve!
She made 8 retrieves, sort of. She got all ducks she was sent for but didn't want to pick all of them them up. She did pull the three out of the weeds and she grabbed any wounded bird and held it until I arrived or it died, though she did retrieve three to hand.
A big problem is that she doesn't want to sit quietly by my side while waiting. She wants to explore the weeds and water. Not the best trait in a duck dog! We will work on that but for now, I let her go and it doesn't flare the incoming birds.
The temperature was 45 with a steady, strong wind. The water is probably around 38 degrees. She wore her vest but shivered most of the time though she remained warm to the touch. After about 5 hours of hunting ducks, on the return to the car (1000 yards), she covered the fields of wheat like she just woke up.
Now the hard part - cleaning her up. I showered with her and the water ran black. Then she shook and the bathroom became covered with tiny burrs. Tomorrow she gets clipped again to remove the remaining 5 million burrs and tangles!
Here is the proud puppy with her first five (center picture in 2nd row above)!
SACHA, CGC (the red girl above) is a Daisy X Trigger pup. Her Human Parents say at 4 months of age: "She is sturdy and stocky like her daddy, solid as a rock with leg muscles like a linebacker. She is such a lover, and what astounding intelligence! Yesterday, I looked at her and said, 'Sacha, Mama's going to give you a bath in the shower.' She immediately trotted over to the shower, went inside, laid down on the floor, and looked up at me. Although she's watched me bathe Barney there, this was her first experience, but she knew exactly what I said. After being bathed/dried/brushed, she decided she was MY DOG and spent most of the evening snuggling with me on the couch, much to Barney's annoyance. Her hair is GORGEOUS. It's several shades of red now, everything from light red to dark, but she's currently what I'd call cinnamon. She has a face to die for!! But oooooh, is she ever sneaky............and her tail curves -- everything about her just makes her more adorable to us!"
Comments by her human parents about the Beach pictures above: "This went on day after day. Sacha would start digging. Barney (the light apricot in the pictures who is a Meg pup at 10 months of age) would eventually help, lose interest, come back and dig some more, lose interest........but Sacha always stayed with it until Barney managed to lure her away."
The two pictures above were taken when Sacha (red girl) graduated from Beginning Obedience. Sacha's coat color has changed from a dark apricot as a baby to the beautiful red shown above at just 7 months of age. She should be completely red as an adult. She also passed her Canine Good Citizen test on 5/28/09. Congrats to Bob, Lynn and Sacha!
JACEK's (Rose X Trigger) Human Parents say: I had Poodles in my life continuously for the past 25 years and I have vowed not to be without one. I currently have Andre (not shown), Rose (the Harmony Mountain sweetie herself that Jacek is climbing on) and Jacek (pronounced yaw-sec) a 4 month old Rose x Trigger puppy. They are a hoot and I really enjoy being with them as well as they appear to enjoy being with each other. Jacek requires a lot of attention, but Rose is always willing to lend a hand to keep him entertained.
My husband is only a recent dog person, but you'd find it hard to believe. He is often snuggling and sweet talking Rose, playing with Jacek or trying to get Andre to listen to him. The Jacek pictures above don't show all of his 28-pound glory. . . Or energy. . . Or tail wagging.
PIPER's (Rose X Trigger) Human Parent says: Piper has a georgous face and an awesome personality!
SUMMER's (Rose X Trigger) Human Parents say: Summer has a VERY tight sit and is quick as a flash. (I might add that she has an alternate sit that looks like a very spacious teepee.) She won both the "sit" and the "down" contest in her puppy class. I was embarrassed that my dog slept through class, woke only to perform, and always won, so the second time she won I gave the prize to the runner-up. She doesn't even like the first toy, but Sacha (a Daisy X Trigger girl) thinks it's wonderful.
Summer "graduated" from PetsMart puppy class on Sunday. I enrolled her only for socialization. 100 bucks. It was a total bust. From the beginning, having her own perfectly good dogs at home, she had no desire to associate with any of the dogs in that class and largely ignored all of their overtures at friendship. After making the rounds to greet all the people, she'd curl up on my purse under the stool and nap, waking only to perform whatever she was asked.
As usual, she slept through most of Sunday's class, this time on a large pillow bed the trainer had brought in just for her (seriously). She briefly rose to do a couple of skills for the trainer but slept through all the struggles to get the mortarboard cap on the other pups, until it was her turn for photo ops. When she saw all the cameras trained on her, she sat up straight as an arrow on that pillow, cap perched on her head, head up, eyes on the camera, and posed.......and posed........and posed........for several minutes. Everybody was howling at how important she thought she was, sitting there in a perfect pose on "her" bed.
BRIDGER, CGC, TDI (Rose X Trigger pup who earned his Canine Good Citizen and Therapy Dog International Certificates on 5/15/2010) Human parents say: "Well we (me & 4 dogs) went to Flagstaff for fun & exposure at the Rescue Roundup. There was a lot going on....an agility ring with a band playing at the north end, disc dog demos to the east, vendors set up in every spare space & people with their dogs EVERYWHERE. Some dogs were well behaved most not....dogs getting loose, running on course, running through the vendors & on & on. I forgot the lure coursing & another terrier event, barn something or other, which meant continuous barking from them.
Bridger was a hit! He walked the whole venue with another dog & sometimes all 4 together & acted like he'd done this all his life. The friend who went with us could not believe he is only 4 mos (almost 5), kept looking at his teeth cause his size & manners made her think I was lying ;) He stayed in his crate when I ran a dog, never barked, pottied on leash, ate his lunch & traveled like a veteran.
Of course when we got home, he cranked it up & became that 4 month, almost 5 month old puppy, terrorizing the rest of the pack, had dinner, then promptly crashed & so did I." Bridger is owned by Lori Chandler of Leader of the Pack Corp.
Update 5/15/2010: Bridger passed his CGC & TDI evaluations today at the ripe old age of 1 yr. & 12 days :) In fact the evaluator added a comment on the application for registration: "Very Mellow, Well behaved dog. Will do well in therapy work."
I'm so proud of him. I bet I told the "what made me choose him at 5 1/2 weeks" story 50 times. In fact a lady who has an organization called Wonder Dogs that works with the disabled & training their own dogs asked me if I would help her choose her next service dog (she has polio & is wheel chair bound). Said I would love to :).
The only thing is.....what you see is a dog that started with great temperament (thanks to the dedication of Lori & Rich) and training that is a way of life not just certain times of the day cause it's "time to train." So in a way it's deceiving. Some who saw him today may not have realized they were seeing the combination of good breeding, plus training, but think he is a dog that "came that way."
This is just the start...stay tuned :)
RUGER is a Rose X Trigger pup. His Human Parents say, "Ruger is very playful and a quick learner. He is our first standard (we have a 14-year-old toy) and my husband wants to make a retriever out of him.
Ruger is VERY huggable, my daughter lays snuggled up on the floor with him while she reads her school books.
He went on his first pheasant hunt a few weeks ago and will go on his 3rd this coming weekend. He mostly hung back behind Ron that whole first weekend, but by the 2nd day of the 2nd hunt he was getting out and sweeping the field! Must be pure instinct he hasn't had any real formal training."