About Us

If you wanted to learn all about me and my family, you've come to the right page!

First up: Me--Champ!
Birthday: July 3, 2009
Likes: Birds, squirrels, bunnies, my Kyjen hedgehog, my family
Dislikes: Car rides. They're exciting but stressful. Nail trims: again, stressful.
Favorite activities: Going out, training, playing with Mom
Why I'm special: Coming soon!


Sophie
Birthday: October 6, 2002
Likes: Birds, People, kitty cats, pretending to be a tornado on beds, dirty socks, treat dispensers
Dislikes: The rain.
Favorite activities: Going out, upland hunting, training, snuggling, observing, sunbathing, hanging out with Mom, hunting mice and flies
Why I'm special: Coming soon!

Morgan
Birthday: June 18, 2004
Likes: Birds, Remi, hoof trimmings, buried treasures, my dad
Dislikes: The vet office.  They do scary things there like pull foxtails out of my ears.
Favorite activities: Upland hunting, mousing, camping, climbing trees, playing with Remi, doing belly slides in the grass and relaxing with frog legs, hanging out with the guys, and going "riding" with the guys
Why I'm special: Coming soon!

Remi
Birthday: May 31, 2009
Likes: People!, big floppy toys, anything edible, birds, Morgan, water, car rides, being goofy
Dislikes: I dunno, I'm a pretty easy going guy!
Favorite activities: Hunting, playing with Morgan, giving big hugs and sloppy kisses, relaxing in my pool, drinking from hoses, eating, hanging out with the guys
Why I'm special: Coming soon!


Elsie
Birthday: June 18, 2004
Likes: Birds, my flirt pole, food, snuggling, paper products, rolling in the yard
Dislikes: Being left alone
Favorite activities: Hunting, playing with my flirt pole, going out, playing my new Sprong toy, playing with my puzzle and treat dispenser toys, training
Why I'm special: Coming soon!

All of us dogs are FDSB Llewellin Setters, which are a pure strain of English Setters bred specifically for upland hunting.  The FDSB is the oldest purebred dog registry in the US, and today is mostly used by hunting breeds.  We aren't double registered with the AKC, but if we were they would just call us English Setters.

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My mom:
My mom takes care of me, Sophie, and Elsie at our "dog house."  She goes to "law school," (aka "blah school") but she actually has a B.S. in Zoology.  After graduating from college, she spent about two years as a veterinary technician at the clinic our family uses. She dedicated about ten years to dog breeding (working Llewellins, in case that's not obvious) but decided to step back for awhile to focus on school and her career.  Since then, she's really gotten into training and behavior (her goal is getting CPDT certification within the next five years), more involved with regional breed rescue, and volunteering at a great animal shelter, where she is a dog handler, training team member, and class instructor.  The only thing that seems to be missing are her horses here.

In the future, she thinks she'd be happy if she could get into administrative work at a larger shelter or welfare organization; otherwise, she just wants to be in-house council for animal, science, or medical related organizations/businesses/institutions.  She plans to "make" plenty of time for us dogs, her other animals, and her future family, and she dreams of helping to improve the shelter system in the rural region where she was raised, modernizing gun dog training with +R methods, and having a small sustainable hobby farm and ranch.

Aside from all-things-dogs, Mom loves to bake, cook, and eat (here's a shout out to my Grandma who taught her well!), garden, shop at farmers markets, spend time relaxing, playing, and working outdoors, read, spend time with her family and friends, ride her horses, upland hunt with her father, listen to music, do crafts, write, and dabble to design.  She hates doing laundry and dishes, unless its our laundry and dishes--then, it's bearable.

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Mom's horses



Orion: 1995 Thoroughbred, registered as "Over Cees Flight."  He was trained for racing but washed out before any starts, became a polo pony, then went to some people who just dabbled in riding with him and eventually abandoned him at his boarding farm.  He needed a place to go, so Mom jumped at the chance to have a horse of her own after years of taking riding lessons and sharing her grandparents' horse.  He's been with her for about seven years.

Orion is my mom's buddy--he's very friendly and silly and has developed a great bond with her.  He tends to be very worried and insecure about the world around him, though, and Mom jokes that he sees leprechauns.  He's settled down a bit and feels much more secure with his buddy around.  Mom and Orion just do basic dressage/English pleasure, and sometimes she just rides him bareback.  At the height of their training, he was diagnosed with Navicular Syndrome in both front legs, so they only do light riding now.  It's all good, though, since just riding out into the pasture or in the garden area is a big deal for him.  He certainly taught mom a lot with all his antics under saddle and on the ground, but they got through it all.  He has a forever home with her family, and as soon as she can afford boarding where we're located, she's going to bring him over.



Dandy: 2006 Paint, registered as something--Mom forgot.  She's only had him for two years and sadly not had a lot of time to work on him.  He's something horse people call "green," so he spent last summer with her mentor/trainer learning how to be a riding horse.  Dandy Boy was started pretty late by his former owners and had spent most of his life on Idaho range land.  Supposedly, Mom says he is my grandpa's horse, but that's because they can't figure out which one of them to blame for buying him on a whim at an auction.  Don't get me wrong, they both love him, but he's a busy horse aka a brat.  "Poor Orion" is all I'm going to say on that note.

Actually, Orion loves Dandy, and it's mutual.  They spend most of their time together, and everyday they play together.  They have these Jolly Balls and rubber feed pans that they use to play tug-o-war and hit-the-other-horse games.  When they want to act like more mature horses, they play fight and gallop through the pasture.  Sometimes, Dandy has to be a "big horse" and do some actual work.  (Not often, though.)  He's going to be their "western pony" and trail horse.  Right now, Mom is looking for a place to board him here for the Summer so she can continue his training.

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The rest of my family:
My grandpa spends a lot of time outdoors doing "man stuff" at our family home.  He likes to complain about how much work it is to maintain five acres, but we all know he loves it.  We think it's great that he works outside and in his shop because then we can try to help him.  Remi's his right hand man... errr... dog.  Morgan is his shadow--she adores him.  He takes care of Morgan, Remi, and the horses when Mom isn't there; when we visit, though, he takes full advantage of his break from "chores."  He likes taking us hunting, too.  And when I say "us," I mean everyone except me, since Mom hasn't given me the OK yet.

My grandma is a sweetie and gives us lots of pets and treats.  When she cooks, she always makes sure to share with any of us who are waiting around at her feet.  In fact, Sophie's favorite place to hang out is on the kitchen rug--right in Grandma's way. Grandma gave Morgan her own pillow at the foot of their bed, and when it's cold, they tuck her in a blankie with her favorite stuffed animal.  Grandma was the one who took care of the best cat in the world, Levi, too.  Basically, she does her Grandma duties of spoiling all of us!

I have two uncles, but please don't tell them I am referring to them as uncles or that I have my own blog--got it?  They would think Mom and I are NUTS.  They actually already call her the crazy dog lady.  In truth, though, they love us, too.  My younger uncle--let's call him Motorman because he loves motocross--likes to play with us.  He is Morgan's other buddy, but I think he's pretty great, too.  He moved to the Southwest after college, so we don't get to see him much anymore.  My older uncle--Wings, a commercial pilot--keeps his distance for the most part (get it?!) but likes to pet us when we have settled down from the excitement of seeing him.  I think he loved Jake the most out of us dogs but was always more of a cat guy and favored Levi.  Since he has great travel privileges, we get to see him more often than Motorman, but he is going to settle in the same city that Motorman is living in.  Both of them like to go upland hunting when they're home.

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Special animals in Mom's memories and heart: (More about them coming soon.)

Jake

Levi

Brodhi

Rusty--Not pictured yet
Emily--Not pictured yet

6 comments:

  1. Hey guys! Finn and I wanted to let you know we nominated your blog for 2 blogging awards. The details are on our website:
    http://www.barkandchatter.com/many-thanks/#.UZ9sHbXqmSp

    Coralee and Finn

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hello! Luna and I just nominated your blog for a Liebster Award! You can learn about how you can accept this blog award here! Congrats! We cannot wait to see your blog grow!

    Hugs and wags, Jessica and Luna!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hiya! Roy and I have nominated you for the Super Sweet Blogging and Versatile blogging awards!
    http://followingroy.wordpress.com/2013/06/17/weve-been-nominated/
    Cheers
    Roy & Shefali

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hiya, Roy and I have nominated you for the Super Sweet Blogging Award and the Versatile Blogging Award.
    http://followingroy.wordpress.com/2013/06/17/weve-been-nominated/
    Cheers
    Roy & Shefali

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi, thanks for stopping by. It's lovely to meet you all!

    ReplyDelete