Leopalooza - Leonberger Club of Canada Funday

This Sunday (September 12th) Is our annual leo fun day. The dogs and people have a blast. I wanted to post it on my blog incase you are interested in attending. There will be around 30 leonbergers there. Which is so much fun. We have a potluck lunch and a silent auction
If you are interested in getting a CGN on your dog then please let me know as we will be having evaluations at the event. Plus carting demonstrations. It is a great day and I hope to hear from some of you that you can make it

Heidi is all set

I just got the information from OFA. Heidi has good hips and elbows ( we knew that !) Her thyroid was also normal. So Heidi seems to be normal , I do question that about her though lol.

Heidi has now passed everything
Hips and Elbows
Cardiac
thyroid
and eyes

She has her Canine good neighbour certificate and has almost enough points for her Championship. Might have helped to take her to a few more shows last summer . We were having to much fun boating and swimming though

We will be breeding Heidi shortly. Watch my website for more information on the lucky guy.

puppy update

The pups are growing and interacting. They have teeth and know how to climb out of the whelping box. They like coming into the family room and interacting with Heidi and savannah. The cats just stare at them. They can bark and growl and whine and like to all . They bite each other and give lots and lots of kisses.

They LOVE their food and have had chicken and turkey,beef,salmon and even lamb. I give them a bone to chew on while in the whelping box to amuse them.

They have loved having visitors and enjoy being spoiled. If the weather stays nice I will have them outside in a few days.

enjoy the pictures there are lots more to come

From sadies pups and visitors Nover 29 and 30 2008

We are 1 week old !!!

Happy 1 week birthday to the squirmy 6. Thank you to everyone who wrote about our little green boy. I also want to make it known we had 2 greens. A dark green and Lime green. So when you see pictures of Lime boy just know he is all right.

The pups are really growing now and are moving about a bit :-) They weigh from 1 3/4 lb to 2.4 lbs. They already are starting to show a bit of personality and will wiggle over to me and try and climb in my lap when I sit with them. Of course they think I have food and latch onto anything they can. They have favorite nipples and it seems they all want the same ones. Poor Sadie. She is a fantastic mom and washes every inch of them several times a day. Yes they complain about that!

Here is a video of the furkids. Not to exciting they are eating but it is nice to hear them

getting the whelping room ready

This week I have been spending time getting the whelping room ready. I guess you could say I am nesting too. Sadie came inside today with a very dirty nose. I think she is starting to nest herself. I never went and looked to see where she was digging. I did not want to see the hole :-)

Sadie is very fussy in what she eats now. She is very hungry but she only wants heart or tongue. Savannah and Heidi are very happy about this also. They feel they are in heaven getting all the good stuff everyday.

Sadie looks so uncomfortable but you should see her still run when a car drives in the driveway :-)

I took another picture of her she grew again !

Sadie pictures

I took a couple of pictures if Sadie today. Yep she is looking pregnant . I think she has also become a bottomless pit !

Dont forget to visit our website www.heronviewleonbergers.com

our breeding adventure with Sadie Day 1

Monday september 1 we left to drive to Lucan Ontario for Sadie to meet with Monty. It was a beautiful sunny day for a drive. Lucan is about 2 1/2 hours from home. Ed and I enjoyed the drive and chatted all the way. When we got to Straford Ed stopped at the Tim hortons for a coffee. Well there he asked 2 young guys directions to make sure we were going the right way. Yes I know he is a guy and was nto lost and still asked for directions. pretty good dont you think !!

These guys were so nice and were talking to us and giving us a short cut. When one of them said your rear tire looks bad. Ed said I know I need to get a new one. He said no it is really bad. Well it turns out this young guy (dont know his name ) works for a large tire company :-) Because seriously who looks at other peoples tires that closely. He showed Ed where part of the tire closest to the inside of the truck was not bad it was ready to blow!! The steel belting was showing. They offered to change it because they said we would not get more then 50km before it blew !!! Talk about somebody watching out for you.

We got to Jan and Pauls and Sadie walked in like it was her own place :-) Then Monty came out and wow he is even better looking in real life then in his photos. Ed wanted to take him home. He is so sweet. Well this was Monty's first breeding and he could not have had a better partner. Sadie is not shy !!! She was very encouraging to him. We got a good breeding and had two happy dogs.

Then Jan let out the rest of her gang and Sadie played with , Monty,Leisle,Hallie and Odin. We never heard or saw her lift her head all the way home lol

Heidi and Kira the mini donkey

Well Poor Heidi. She will never live down being chased by a 30lb miniature 4 week old donkey.

I think the pictures will tell the story. Kira was so sweet and loving with sadie and then the next moment she was chasing Heidi around the field. We are so mean and almost peed our pants laughing

Sadie is in season

Well what a surprise for me. Sadie is not due to come in season until near the end of next month. I am excited because it means I am closer to having puppies now.  If all goes well we will have puppies here by November.  Everyone keep yout fingers and paws crossed for us.  This is harder for me. I have always had a male ni the house. Harder for me to determine the right time for breeding. I will need to rely heavily on Progesterone testing this time.Watch for all the upcoming adventures in the next couple of weeks. This will be Monty's first time so that should prove to be amusing ;-)

Heidi is in Season

Heidi is in season. This is the first time I will be going through a girl in season without a boy in the house.  Bogie always let me know what was going on with the girls. Yes it was stressful keeping them apart but in the 10 years I owned both male and female I never had an accidental breeding. I questioned my sanity on way more then one occasion !!Heidi is only 18 months so a long time before she will be bred. Leonbergers are giant breed dogs and as such should not be bred before 2 years of age.  In fact we dont even do health clearances before them . We do OFA hips and Elbows after their secone birthday. OFA will not give you a rating before then.  We did do Heidi's Eyes and Heart already. I love this breed and will do all that I can to maintain their health and not breed to young or breed dogs with any known genetic problem. We do not breed out beautiful Savannah because her dad was diagnosed with Poly Nueropathy. She is fine as are all her siblings but why take a chance and add this gene to the line or have to hear the heartbreaking news of a pup coming down with this disease.  As breeders we try our best to make sure all with be well. As we know life soemtimes throws curve balls so you cannot always have things come out perfect. We have had cancer show up even with clear parents,grandparents and great grandparents.  Crap happens and we dont like it.All in all thankfully the Leonbergers are a healthy breed of dog. As long as breeders take things seriously hopefully we can keep it that way and enjoy a healthy breed for a long time.

It is confirmed Sadies boyfriend has passed all his tests !!

Jan got the good news yesterday that Sadies boyfriend to be has passed all his health tests. Monty has passed his Heart,eyes,thyroid and hips and elbows.  I am excited. I told Sadie and she just looked at me and went back to sleep. I will be putting more pictures of Sadie and Monty on my website . Go to www.heronview.4t.com and look under litters.I am very excited because they are both gorgeous dogs with fantastic temperments

Kira our mini donkey amuses herself. Heidi helps her

Kira is our week old miniature donkey. She was amused today by a puddle,her mom and then Heidi. Watch as she bucks and plays and all this in 1 minute :-)

http://www.youtube.com/user/HeronviewLeonberger

New addition a baby miniature donkey

We had a new Mini donkey Jenny born July 30th. Sadly I just missed her being born as I was at the boat with my family. The dogs were beat from swimming and playing in the water for a few days.

They sure perked up when they saw her. She is a mediterranean miniature donkey. Her mom is Aggie and is a real love. She is such a sweet mom and does not mind the dogs. She let the dogs sniff and lick her baby. Here are a few pictures of her