10 Weeks Old

Aliy's Angels are 10 weeks old today. The three that are not staying here at WhiteStar are in their new homes. Mia is in California, Bonnie and Domino are still here in Colorado.

It's time to turn off the Aliy-Cam and say goodbye to Aliy's World. I will ocasionally update this blog with any big news that occurs in the lives of the puppies, but for more day to day information about Babe and her sisters, as well as all of the other WhteStar sammies, pay a visit to Babe's new blog....



It's been fun. Thanks for watching!

Mia Goes Home!!!

It was a whirlwind week for little Mia. First we realize the home she was to go to might not be the place for her to go. Then another home in California is found but to get there she must FLY. Some people ship dogs by air all the time. I've never done it. I don't fly and I don't want my dogs flying but this home was so perfect we had to get Mia out there. Meanwhile, Kelly, Ilsa and I had plans for an out of town dog show!

A huge THANK YOU goes out to Mia's New Mom Aimee who made all the flight arrangements and got us all organized on this end!

So how is Mia doing as a California Girl? See for yourself....


Mia has a beautiful deck to play on.


And a Big Brother named Max.


Best of all she has her own little girl named Rachel! (Also a little boy named Josh!)

Leaving on a Jet Plane.........

Some things were just Meant To Be.

Stay tuned to this channel.....

What Puppies Do on a Summer Afternoon

It was a warm windy day today on the plains. What did Babe and Mia do? Not much.


Rested


And worked at looking cute!


Which is not hard to do...


... when you are a 9 week old Sammie puppy!

The Fate of Aliy's World?

I'm not sure what to do with Aliy's World and the Aliy-Cam.

Both have served their purpose. I'm not going to delete Aliy's World, it has so much good information that even if no one else ever cares to look at again, *I* want to be able to refer to it.

Last night I accidentally deleted my WhiteStar blog. I lost everything I had posted fromthe last 4 months. For the first few minutes after I realized what I had done, I had moments of sheer panic where I thought I had deleted THIS blog. At that point I realized how much the words I've written and the pictures I've posted over the last 4 months meant to me. So Aliy's World is here to stay. I have a permanent link to it on the WhiteStar Travels page. But will I update it for much longer? And what about the Aliy-Cam?

Should I create a blog for Babe chronicling her life as she grows up? Does anyone care??? Originally I had thought the WhiteStar blog would contain more dog information but it's pretty much ended up just being about my crafty stuff. Maybe I should do separate sammie blog....

And should I turn the Aliy Cam into the Babe-Cam??? Or just turn it off until the next litter of puppies?

The Homeless Waif

It appears that my little Purple Girl is without a home.

As recently as two weeks ago the people who were supposed to get her indicated they wanted her. They had been waiting since before Aliy was even bred so there was no reason for me to doubt the seriousness of their desire for a puppy. They came and saw the puppies when they were three weeks old and tried to give me a deposit on one. They even named her!!

But, now that the puppies are ready to go home, they have not responded to the emails I sent, not commented or returned the puppy contract I sent, nor have they returned my phone call (as they promised to do when I apparently called at an inconvenient time earlier this week), so the only assumption I can make is that they no longer want the puppy.

Poor little Purple :( :(

What About Mia???

Mia (the puppy formerly known as Purple) will also be staying here at WhiteStar.... but only for a couple more weeks until the details for her new home are finalized!

In the meantime she can keep Babe occupied.


Mia at 9 weeks.


Yes. I know I'm cute.


When do I get to go home????


For now I'm calling her Mia after soccer star Mia Hamm. Will this end up being her forever name???? Time will tell!

Introducing Babe

"The Babe is here. Who's coming in second?"
Babe Didrikson Zaharias

Babe (the puppy formerly known as Red) is staying right here.

She is named after the great Babe Didrikson Zaharias, possibly the greatest female athlete to have ever lived. If you don't know who Babe is, or you think she was "just a golfer" check this out.

In addition to golf, Babe played softball, baseball, basketball and was a multiple Olympic gold medalist in track. And then there were all the things she did "just for fun"!

Babe's registered name? What else but WhiteStar's Ready For Anything!




Where have my sisters gone???


My bone. MY Bone.

Bonnie Goes Home

And now there are two.

Bonnie (the puppy formerly known as Yellow) left about 15 minutes ago.

Yes, I cried again.

Bonnie has gone off to live with New Dad Mike where she has bunches of adventures to look forward to. I know she will be loved and cared for, but it's still so hard to let them go.


Aliy poses for one last picture with her daughter.


New Dad Mike and Bonnie.


Bonnie heads home...


Bonnie is named after 5 time Olympic gold medal speed skater Bonnie Blair. Her registered name will probably be WhiteStar's Girl of Gold.... Mike and I spent a bit of time trying to come up with names.....hmmm Mike are you reading this?? What do you think of WhiteStar's White Hot and Gold?????

Domino Goes Home

Domino (the puppy formerly known as Black) left for her new home just a short half hour ago.

Yes, I cried.

But I know that Domino is in a wonderful home that she will share with New Dad Carl, New Mom Dottie and her new big brother and sister, Skye and Nikki.


Aliy poses with Domino and her new family.


Domino and New Dad Carl are hitting it off already.


Domino waves goodbye.


Domino is named after Olympic gymnasts Dominique Dawes and Dominique Moceanu. Her registered name will probably be WhiteStar's Swingn' on the Bars.

8 Weeks - a Bittersweet Birthday

The Angels at 8 weeks....




I can't believe there will be no 9 week portraits of all of them.

Two of them will probably be leaving this weekend. The third will go in a few weeks. The last eight weeks have flown by and I can't believe how hard it will be to say goodbye to these little girls. In my last litter I had 3 boys and 3 girls. I knew from the day they were born I would not be keeping any of the boys. And I knew from the time they were about 5 weeks old that I'd be keeping both Aliy and Raven. It's not that I didn't love all the puppies, but I "knew" which ones to get more attached to, if that makes any sense at all.

With this litter, here we are just days from the departure of the first pup and I have NO IDEA which one I will be keeping. I've allowed myself to get attached to ALL of them. Each is special in her own way....

Yellow with her sparkling personality and NEED to chew on everything....
Black with her waggy waggy tail, she loves to be held and cuddled....
Purple with her shy and and very sweet demeanor, but behind the scenes devilish personality....
Red with her love me, love me, I love YOU attitude....

Wow Wow Wowie WOW!

The Angels have a new CHAMPION big "sister"!

I know this blog is supposed to be about the puppies, but I had such a GOOD weekend at the dog show with Ilsa and Kelly I just gotta BRAG!

On Saturday, Ilsa finished her championship by winning her fourth 4 point major AND taking Best of Breed over all the specials! That pretty much made my weekend right there, but the girls were not finished.

On Sunday, Kelly took Winners Bitch for her first major. Yes, Kelly of the muddy picture on Friday. And Ilsa, as a new special, took Best of Breed again! Like I said... Wow, Wow, Wowie, WOW!!

Now I have to get back to the real world, which includes the really hard job of figuring out which puppy to keep. I thought I had it all decided, then I came home last night and they were all so cute and I just don't know what I'm going to do!!!!

Birthday pictures later today!

What The New Angel Owners Have To Look Forward To...

This is Kelly at 5:30 am yesterday morning. She had been out less than 15 minutes.

What was she doing?????!!!

Just think, the little Angels can look like this in just a few months. And most likely the one that stays here WILL look like this!

Ilsa, Kelly and I are heading out to a weekend dog show this evening so no new news until Monday when I post the 8 week portraits!

A Day of Firsts

The puppies went on their first car trip today! And they went to the vet for the first time. Okay, so they actually rode in a car to the vets when they were four days old to have their dewclaws removed. But we're not counting that because they were kind of "unaware" at the time.

They also went in a crate for the first time. The last time they rode anywhere the four of them rode in a shoe box.

They were very good, brave puppies while getting their shots. And they were VERY good quiet puppies the whole time we were riding. I had to stop at Target on the way home to buy more ice paks and when I got out of the store they were all sleeping soundly.

Today was also the first time the puppies ever got out on grass. Well, grass may be too kind a word for the green stuff growing in my yard.... but whatever you want to call it, the puppies experienced it and Yellow even tried to eat a lot of it!

As more proof how quickly the Angels are growing up...when we got home from the vet I took them out of the crate and set all four down in the drive way. They followed me all the way up the driveway, thru the courtyard, up the two front steps and into the house all on their own!

I mentioned buying more ice paks... yes indeed I had to purchase another half dozen ice paks today. Those sharp puppy teeth are doing quite a number on the ice paks and the puppies are most definitely still addicted to them. See....




Next big thing for the puppies is having their eyes checked.

40 Pounds of Puppies

A very special treat tonight.... my friend Scott Vail, who is an excellent photographer, paid a visit to the puppies this afternoon and we did a photo shoot. Here are the results....


Purple, Yellow, Red, Black


Yellow


Black


Purple


Red All pictures in todays post are copyright Scott Vail.

Mommy, Mommy!

A new mini-movie of the puppies chasing Mama Aliy around in hopes of getting one last meal at the Milk Bar....

Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!

The Angels at 7 Weeks

No weights on the pups this week, they are all over 10 lbs which is as high as my scale goes. Next week they will get weighed at the vet when I take them in for their shots.





Just before taking the pictures tonight they were all playing around in their water bowl and got their heads all wet. All four girls love water, just like their Grandma Kachina who was the only WhiteStar Sammie brave enough to go swimming in the Pacific Ocean back in 1998 when we visited the beach after the National Specialty in Escondido, California.



Yellow Naps.


Rock and Roll Puppies

Although the Aliy-Cam will still be up 24 hours a day, I've decided not to leave the light over the ex-pen on all night long any more. I know we have a number of frequent viewers who do like to check in on them during the night, I'm sorry to be disapointing you. The light will probably go off between 10 and 11 PM MT each night. Sunrise these days is about 5:30 AM MT so that is when the picture will start to get brighter each morning.

The pups are getting to be very rambuctious at night... they have earned the nick name Rock and Roll Puppies 'cause they just seem to go all night long! I'm hoping that maybe by keeping the light off they might start to sleep a bit more during the night. I think the new owenrs, who will be getting them in less than two weeks, will appreciate my attempts to get these guys to sleep thru the night :)

A Weekend is a Lifetime!

Kelly, Ilsa and I left Friday evening for a weekend dog show and got back very late last night. I could not believe how much the puppies changed in just a little over 48 hours! This was the first time I had left them since they were born and it was hard to do but also kind of interesting to be able to see them again with "new eyes".

They are, of course, still the worlds cutest puppies! I'll prove that tonight when I post birthday portraits.

Something New!

MOVIES!!!

I pulled out the "old" digital camera today.... it has one capability the "new" camera doesn't... it can take short 5 - 15 second mpeg movies. So CLICK HERE to see the puppies experiencing a bowl of ice cubes for the first time.

And just 'cause it was so cute, here's a shot of the pups eating their dinner a little while ago....

I Was Wrong!

Over a week ago I said Aliy was done nursing. In fact, I thought she had completely quit producing milk over the past week. This morning I was leading the puppies to the ex-pen from the deck. 3 puppies folowed me, one was missing. When I went looking for little Yellow, this is what I found:



After a week of seriously avoiding this situation, Aliy seemed happy to let Yellow nurse for about 5 minutes.

Happy 6 Week Birthday Little Angels!!!

Aliy's little Angels spent their 6 week birthday doing pretty much what they do every day... sleeping for several hours than playing like crazy for a half hour or so then starting all over again.




Two items of interest for the week....

First in the "EWWWWWWWWW HOW GROSS!!!!" department, Mama Aliy, still trying to provide for her babies, brought them a dead ground squirrel to munch on. Needless to say, I did NOT allow them to make a meal of it.

And second, Grammy Kachina was playing with the puppies yesterday! This was the first "play interaction" I've seen between the adult dogs and the puppies. Kachina was play bowing and nudging them and letting them jump and crawl on her. It was hard to tell who was more delighted, Kachina or the puppies. (Or maybe ME getting to see it!)

I think Aliy would like to try playing with her girls, she occasionally gets in the pen, or goes out on the deck when they are there and acts like she'd like to play, but the pups try to nurse and she runs away and will sit outside the gate watching them and proudly wagging her tail.

The Name Game

Sorry for not being better about posting this week.... I was VERY busy at work... and then yesterday my internet connection was down most of the day and into the night. Excuses, excuses....

In any case, the pups continue to grow like weeds.... Red is closing on on 10 lbs! Six week weights will be posted later this evening when I post their birthday pictures.

In the meantime, put your thinking caps on... I'm trying to come up with names for the girls that I can suggest to the potential new owners. Given that mom Aliy (CH WhiteStar's Yukon Quest HIC WS) is named after Aliy Zirkle, first woman to win the grueling Yukon Quest sled race, and dad Tiger (CH Silverplume's Hole in One) is named ater Tiger Woods, one of the worlds greatest golfers, I think we have a sports theme going on. I'm trying to come up with names that fit famous female athletes of the past and present.

I have a name all picked out for MY puppy already, but I'm not telling yet :) I have to make SURE it's right for her.

Here are some of the others that have been suggested:

WhiteStar's All That Glitters - Shane (Gould) or any other gold medalist....
WhiteStar's Pitchin' a Fit - Jenny (Finch)
WhiteStar's Ice Dancer - Katarina (Witt), Midori (Ito), Oksana (Bayoul)
WhiteStar's Danc'n on Ice - Katarina (Witt), etc
WhiteStar's Elegance on Ice - Katarina (Witt), etc
Whitestar's U Can't Catch Me - Flo-Jo (Florence Griffith Joyner)
WhiteStar's Downhill Racer - Picabo (Street)
WhiteStar's Playin' with the Boys - Annika (Sorenstam)
WhiteStar's Winter Quest - ??? a skier? a skater??

Give me more ideas!!