Updates

So CARSON is officially off with her show handler, GRAYSON has left with her hunt trainer... so things should be pretty less chaotic around here, right?! Maybe. I've taken on a project for the week with Project 2 Heal's PHOEBE to teach her some new commands and also work on becoming a show dog! EMERSON is starting to show her baby bump... we are excited for EM x NASH round 2! LAIKEN and FINLEY are doing great, as always! And baby BRYDEN has been with my friend at Nose To Tail Training, where he's learning a ton! That's been my last few days in a recap! I have some super exciting news (okay, A LOT of super exciting news) but I can't share juuuuust yet!

BRYDEN got to go to Pine Knoll Shores for Easter 

He loved the beach and to swim! 

LAIKEN 

GRAYSON 

the happy couple... EMMY and NASH 

EMERSON 

NASH 

EMMY's baby bump 

Miss PHOEBE 

PHOEBE 

Meet BRYDEN!

We did it again... got a new puppy! This little guy is a show hopeful, and when he's two we will find out if he passes all his clearances and is able to be a stud dog for us. He brings new lines, nowhere related to any of my girls! Trey and I made the drive after spending some time at Project 2 Heal all day Saturday, up to Pittsburgh where we stayed with family, then off to Niagara Falls, back to get the puppy, stop by and see more family, then the 10+ hours back! We spent over 30 hours in the car but had a great trip!

Niagara Falls (aka cold and windy) 

Me and Trey at Niagara Falls 

SLATER, NALA, and NASH at the US/ Canada border

big baby BRYDEN 

look at this chunk 

love his head! 

NASH, SLATER, and NALA practicing long distance stays when we got to VA

of course, had to get one with BRYDEN 

happy boy to be home! 

sweet face! 

sweet smile! 

Once Again...

...I'm awful at keeping up. I keep promising to make it a "thing" but I get so busy it doesn't happen. (Dogs first, y'all!) So quick updates: EMERSON had her first litter of puppies and it was an amazing experience all around, and they are some of the best puppies!! I kept one - her name is GRAYSON. She's full of spunk and love and is a sweetheart. She has beautiful conformation, but is a bit small for the show ring at this time, so she'll be trialing for hunt test titles (hopefully!). Now, I also have another puppy that I got back in the fall, her name is CARSON. She had her show ring debut in Atlanta about a month ago and did pretty well for being one day over turning 6 months! She may also go and get trained in hunt testing, but will also keep being shown in conformation. Her daddy is a champion, so she has quite the shoes to fill!

Emerson & Co. is still up and running. We were doing very, very well in the Raleigh area and then... I moved. I haven't worked as hard to build a client base here in Greensboro, but do still work with some of my Raleigh clients on the weekends. Good news is, that my boyfriend and I will be moving back towards the Raleigh area this summer!

Both LEDGER and DJOLI will be staying with Phoenix Assistance Dogs as breeding dogs (pending health tests, obviously). The program with LEDGER ended up falling through and he has been with them for a while now, and DJOLI will leave me this coming week. She's my beloved shepherd and hopefully the beginning of some amazing shepherd service dog lines, but I know she needs more one-on-one attention than I can give her, so she'll be living with a wonderful breeder caretaker. I will miss her a ton, but it's not fair to her to be one of 10 dogs and not be receiving the training (she gets the attention and exercise) she deserves to keep her brain sharp! It breaks my heart to make this decision, but I know it's best.

I think that is really all for now, hopefully we will have some EMERSON x NASH puppies in May if all goes well with breeding! The first batch was amazing, so I can't wait to see how the second will turn out.

And now... for the pics!

EM and her babies! 

EMMY with her babies - she had 11 - 9 survived! 

show girl, CARSON 

DJOLI 

LAIKEN 

puppy DAISY aka orange collar girl, playing with GRAYSON (aka red collar girl) 

CHEETO & TINSEL ..  my little assistants! 

GRAYSON, SLATER, NASH, CARSON, NALA, CAIDEN 

GRAYSON 

EMERSON & FINLEY 

lap dog DJOLI 

DJOLI in her "place" command 

CARSON 

handsome NASH man 

one of the puppies, MILA, aka yellow girl 

CARSON and GRAYSON 

we donated this puppy to PAD, her name is AZRA aka teal girl 

GRAYSON 

GRAYSON 

GRAYSON 

GRAYSON 

typical silly EMERSON in her free time! 

GRAYSON

Anddddd It's Been A Year

Or almost a year. I'm the worst at updating. BUT I'm making an effort to be better because (drum roll), I have a very cool project that I'm working on. His name is LEDGER and he is a 12 week old goldendoodle! He's about as cute as they come! He will be training with me to eventually be able to go and assist the Guardian Ad Litem Advocacy Team and the juveniles that are testifying. He will be an amazing facility dog if he keeps up how he's been doing. I don't see that path straying!

solid "leave it" 

So, even though LEDGER has his own Facebook page and Instagram, which are updated pretty frequently, I'll discuss more of his training on here! LEDGY was born at and started out his training at American K9, and then did some puppy socializing at Phoenix Assistance Dogs before coming to me. As always, here's a bunch of pictures and maybe some videos if I can figure out how to upload them.

sit-stay at Target 

going for a ride 

happy boy!  

posing for a fundraiser with DJOLI (she'll be introduced and we will follow her, too!) 

learning retrieval with the bucket of "fun things" 

look at that smile! 

Now, about DJOLI. She's gorgeous, intelligent, spunky, and one of the best mannered puppies I've ever had. Her name means "happy" in the Island language of Papiamento. I learned it last year when I visited Curacao. Well, she certainly lives up to her name and is a happy, happy girl! Our hopes for her is that she is a working dog, but also the start of our shepherd breeding program! We have two long years to wait to find out about that, but in the meantime she's been amazing to train!

Gorgeous girl!