Birthday Trip to Reno and Puppy Visit

 For my 68th Birthday, we decided to take a road trip.  The destination was two-fold.  The primary target was a Irish Wolfhound Breeder who lives south east of Sacramento California,  We had been talking with her about getting a Wolfhound puppy, and wanted to go down and see them before we made the final commitment.  The secondary destination was a side trip to Reno. for a little birthday fun.

Here we are at are first stop in the morning after we left home.  McDonald's in Salem for a little breakfast.

After about an 11 hour drive on a very hot day we made it to Reno and the Atlantis resort and Casio in the evening, in time for a wonderful birthday dinner, including a nice piece of rich cake.

One of the interesting things we did in Reno, on this trip was to take the better part of an afternoon to take a fascinating tour of the National Car Museum, which used to be the Harrods Car Museum.  This is an amazing collections of automobiles, from the very earliest models, up to recent times.  The car pictured above is a Stanley Steamer.  The one below is a rare Mercedes.

I'm standing in front of a very rare gold plated 1091 DeLorean

I don't remember the name of this car but it is also a very unusual  and rare, fish-tailed 3 wheeled vehicle.   Marlene wants one.

And of course we spent a little time in some of the casinos in Reno.  The one Marlene is standing in front of was the Pepper Mill.  A lot of the older Casinos in downtown Reno are getting pretty run down.

Our second stop of the trip was way out in the country, near a little place called Ione California.  The first thing we saw when we got to the gate was a group of beautiful horses and this very new colt.  They raise horses in addition to Wolfhounds.

 Our first look at a gaggle of Wolfhound Puppies.  

They were all too cute to make a decision on which one...however we did make one decision;  It will be two, not one......so that they have company.  Our next trip down here will be early July to pick up our new pups.

Thanksgiving at 80 lbs.

Sailor wishes you all a happy Thanksgiving, and he want you all to know that he's now up to 80 pounds, or at least he was a few days ago. Yes he had another vet visit (that's the only place we know of that has a scale big enough to weigh him.) He had the Vet visit because he had a Guido bite under his chin that we had to have it checked out. It was ok, not infected or anything. This may be one of the last times that something like that happens. Most of the time they seem to be getting along fine, and besides that Sailor is now taller than Guido. He's outweighed him for several weeks.

So we had a very nice and restful Thaksgiving. We went out to eat this year at a very big buffet. Lots of Turkey, stuffing and all of the other goodies. I'm just as stuffed as I've ever been on Thanksgiving'and we did it with out all the work that usually goes with it.

Well, back to work tomorrow for me, and a hard day of Christmas shopping in store for WHW. Hope everyone who may read this had a great holliday.

Four months and 72 lbs

We took Sailor for his last distemper shot this weekend. The Vet checked him over, and he's doing fine..and he's up to 72 pounds...That's about a 20 lb increase in the one month that we've had him. While we were there we also had an identity chip injected in him, and after that, we took him to the dog wash place and gave him his first official wash job. (Actually when we first got him we washed him in the laundry sink once, but we can't do that anymore.

When we got home we found a small pool of blood in the living room. we were quite concerned for a while, until we then discovered a tooth on the floor as well. He lost his first baby tooth (as far as we know it was the first.) Not sure if the tooth fairy visits pups.

All in all Sailor is doing fine, and Guido is doing better as well. We have finally dared to leave them together during the day, and everyone seems to be in one piece when we return.

Sailor has tremendous bursts of energy and he runs around the house and bites and chews everything in sight...and he also has lots of times when he sleeps like crazy...He pretty much sleeps throughout the night now, although he usually has to get up once or twice to go out side..but at least we haven't had any more accidents for a while...knock on wood.

We've put in a couple of his most recent pictures with this post.

House Breaking Trials

Well it's been a little more than a week now since we've had Sailor. It's been a busy week for both of us at work, and at home as well. Most of the activity at home revolves around the house breaking of Sailor, and it's progressing rather well...or maybe I should say that Sailor is making good progress in training us. You see, sailor moves and we jump. We've learned that certain behaviors proceed peeing. So when we see those behaviors we react by jumping up from what ever we are doing, including trying to sleep, and escort him rapidly to the back door. Once outside sailor almost always quickly does his duty. He's got that part down very well....getting a little treat helps...in fact some times he comes right over to get the treat while still in the process of doing his duty. The part we're still working on is the part where he lets us know when he needs to go...We know that usually right after he drinks water is a very likely time (and he drinks a Lot of water)...also after he's been actively playing with Heartman, or us...or when he just kind of walks around looking at things... The question you hear between WHW and myself a great deal is "Where's Sailor?" we always get a little nervous when we don't actually see him.

But actually it's going well in spite of a few setbacks. He's really quite a smart dog. You get the impression that he knows what he can and can't do already. He loves to chew almost anything, but he seems to know that it's best to chew the multitude of dog toys and chews in various places..he does try an occasional shoe or piece of furniture, but quits right away with a word or two.

He is really attached to Heartman...he follows him everywhere and constantly harasses him by nipping at his beard or face, or just about anything he can reach. Heartman is so very patient with him...he occasionally growls a little if Sailor goes to far, but nothing too serious. It's going to be hard on Sailor if Heartman has to leave. Although he also seems to like Guido, but Guido isn't nearly as patient with him.

It's been great fun having Sailor with us. It's fun to watch him grow and learn, and the bonding process is beginning with him and us as well....It's also great to know we have him for keeps...and that hopefully that will be for many more years to come.

Sailor is in the House

We brought Sailor home last Sunday, September 30th and it has been quite a week.

Both Guido and Heartman do well with Sailor, but unfortunatley all three of them don't always tolerate being together. Sailor can be left with either dog, but Guido and Heartman continue to find things to disagree about. Heartman attempts to make nice and lick Guido's face, but Guido's not having any of it. I forgot what it is like to house break a puppy. I have been outside every morning between 3 and 4 in my night gown trying to encourage Sailor to do his duty. He now weighs 44.8# and is three months old on Sunday the 7th. I was very relieved to find out that his liver bile test was within normal limits, and both vets love him. He is very sweet and an extremely sensitive boy. You should see his feet, they are gigantic!

Puppy Pictures

Here are some brand new Wolfhound puppies...On the top is Yachats...looks like he is destined to have the call name of Sailor. We thought that Yachats would be hard to say, though love the coincidence of his registered name being the name of the city where we were married. The picture on the bottom is the pile of his litter mates. You can see his face in the left with the white dot on his nose and over his right eye.