Merry Christmas!

All up to date!

Gemma is very interested  to see what the public response to her blog will be.  She is getting more interested in the internet, here she is watching video of corgis.

Froggy Surgery

A favored squeaky toy - the frog - required surgery today to close a hole in his head...no one is admitting any culpability. Gemma was fascinated by the process, and very keen to get the frog back. As soon as Froggy was repaired and returned, G started gnawing at the wound site. We will soon have to perform a squeaker transplant of the frog noise into a sheep toy that has gone quiet. Ribitt ribbit!

Super sniffer

After sniffing fresh moose tracks  (mom and calf eating rosebushes this morning) in the yard today, G suddenly froze and woofed, didn't want to go any closer to the driveway.  We moved along close to the house and she woofed and stopped again, a perfect point.  I still didn't see anything so we proceeded onto the driveway.  Half-way down we could see that there were two moose bedded down below the driveway, visible only once we were over them.  She has a wonderful nose and would just as soon avoid trouble.  But if the silly person on the other end of the leash wants to proceed, she will accompany you, giving further warnings as warranted.

Of course my dog doesn't get up on the furniture!

The many names of Gemma

Alligator dog - baby teeth, ouch!

Beaver/termite dog - chewing holes in the deck planking

Gemgem

Kitty-cat dog - holding things with the front paws, batting at them with the back ones

Gemmalicious

Carpet shark - lurking and watching

Super puplet

Gemmaroo - bounce bounce bounce

Wild dog dingo

Puppylove

But she isn't very puppyish any more!

Napping puppy

What could be sweeter?

Is there any dog under all that hair?

Wow!  Have we ever hit shedding season - aka "blowing the coat".  Corgi's supposedly do this fully once or twice a year.  Every day I'm brushing softball size mounds of fur off her morning and night...then I took her to the dog wash and brushed most of a trash can's worth of hair off G.  Each swipe got a brush-worth.  I only hope this ends soon before my whole house is covered with a layer of felt. 

And you know it is bad when the dog comes equipped with its own clothes roller to remove hair!

Bird Ridge Hike

Given a beautiful fall day, we headed out for a hike.  Made friends along the trail and tested Gemma's 4x4 capabilities on the steep rocky bits.  Being low to the ground with four powerful legs, she moved uphill and downhill more quickly than I did.  Gemma the mountain goat!

Gemma of the woods

The family headed out to the cabin this weekend.  After a long interesting drive up to the lake, an hour loading the boat next to an active gravel trucking operation, an hour plus crossing the lake with whitecaps whipped into our faces by the wind, and unloading and opening up the cabin, the dog was wiped out.  Totally overstimulated.  After a solid nap she was ready for the rest of the weekend, picking berries, tangling herself in the woods, sniffing the lake edge, and hanging out at the cabin were her favorites.

Gemma's Zone of Destruction

G has become an absolute machine at shredding cardboard boxes of all types.  Big or small, they all turn into small spitty bits after a brisk chase around the room.

Moosed, again

Just in case you were wondering, Moose is still with us and absorbing abuse on a daily basis.  

First Show

Since everyone has been saying what great form and expression Gemma has, we are going to try out a few confirmation shows.  This weekend was our first one, three days in a row.  We won our uncontested female puppy class (6-9mo) every time!   But no further.  We need more practice and greater drive.  Most of the other dogs are local and related so G looks quite different.  I'm also brand-new to this rather than an experienced breeder or professional handler so overall we are working against the odds even if G is fabulously well put together.

Queen of the mountain

We went to an open agility practice time run by a local vet clinic today.  Gemma is very young to start training on the apparatuses but I wanted to see how she would react to the equipment.  The first time through, G didn't know what to do with the big A frame ramp, but after watching other dogs run up and over it, she roared right on over!  Then she went back up and wanted to stay at the peak, nearly my head height.  She has been playing queen of the mountain on the stairs at home as well.  She is still a bit tentative coming down.

The same technique of watch and learn was what finally turned the trick to learn "down" months ago - watching a friends dog do "down" a few times, and Gemma had it! 

Where is the puppy?

A new hanging out place has been discovered!  This fortress of solitude is under the bed.  Can you find Gemma?

Sun Dog 2

Summer sunbeam-bathing! This lounging pose demonstrates G's excellent hips.

Puppies are Carnivorous with a Little Greenery on the Side

Gemma had her first raw chicken back at 8 weeks old.  She eats a mostly raw and biologically appropriate diet laced with organic chow.  Her feed includes: raw beef liver, chicken hearts, beef ribs; cooked salmon (with skin and fat, no bones) and fish oil capsules; eggs, with or without shell, cooked or raw; yogurt; garlic, yams, pumpkin, and any non-nightshade veggies, especially spinach; most fruits and berries; molasses, olive oil, coconut oil, kelp, apple cider vinegar.  Big no-nos include citrus fruits, onion, rasins/grapes, chocolate, cooked bones, pork, turkey bones.  

My Moose

After browsing through the Paw Prince pet shop and showing G various toys that I thought seemed intriguing and getting no interest from her, I was checking out with the pet shampoo I came for when I heard a "honk" behind me.  I turned around and saw G with a huge squeaking moose toy, bigger than her whole body, dragged off the shelf.  She went all around it, squeaking each foot, the nose and the body, as if to show me how cool the toy was with its multiple squeakers and why she wanted it.  Of course, it came home with us...and it is way more popular than anything I've selected.

Babies get the best toys!

After a visit with a friend with toddler, Gemma is totally excited about that old baby standby, the plastic stack of rings on rocker base toy so I went out to find her one of her own.  So many games in one!  So far the possible range of games with this toy resemble hockey, kick the can, toss the ring, and off course, fetch.  She can even toss the rings to herself.

Actually, any toy with a ring shape is a good thing.  Gemma's crinkle ring is still a favorite.

Nature girl

Turns out I didn't need to worry about checking all my house plants and yard plants for toxicity to pets.  Gemma has a better nose than I do.  She is batting 100 and is totally reliable as far as I can tell.  She eats the tender shoots and buds of wild roses, dandelions, fiddle head ferns, horse tails, birch, spruce -- all of which are safe and healthy for people to eat too.  Every dangerous wild plant we have run across is well sniffed, then ignored.  Ditto the house plants.  I panicked when she wolfed down a dropped leaf from the jade plant before I could grab it from her mouth, but turns out she was correct, not toxic to pets according to most internet sources and the fact that I still have a healthy dog! 

Unfortunately, rabbit pellets and moose nuggets also have a high plant content and are highly desirable to her, too.  Yuck!

Happiness is a Warm Puppy

While I've learned lots of practical things in the last month, here are some of the more esoteric things Gemma has taught me.

Puppies can sleep anywhere

Puppies don't let anyone else sleep more than two hours at a time

Socks are better than the most expensive dog toy from the store

Puppies hold no grudges

Puppies live in the present

Puppies seize the day (the broom,the snow shovel) with both paws

Puppies want to help

Puppies know where their food comes from

Puppies are always optimistic

Puppies are not subtle

Nothing looks as pathetic as a wet puppy

Puppies love togetherness

Sun Dog

Ah, basking in the spring sun....

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

Coming from high elevation New Mexico winter, Gemma had a great fur coat but hasn't had very much experience with snow.  We've had two big snowfalls since she has been here and snow is now her favorite thing ever!  Snowballs to chase, snow berms to burrow in, bounce in, and piles to play queen of the hill.  She rolls down slopes and likes to slide on her back.  For a short legged dog, she can still move fast in snow higher than her head.  She is a great winter pup!

Things I like to nibble on

"With my sharp little puppy teeth I have to be very careful - they are like razors.  I try to be very dainty with them as Mom yelps horribly whenever she feels them on her toes or fingers!"

On the plus side, Gemma isn't (yet) a destructive chewer, she likes more to nibble and suck on things, with a bit of tearing apart reserved for tags and cardboard tubes.  After breakfast in the kitchen we have some playtime and practice our skills.  "Sit" has been solid since 10 weeks, but "down" still puzzles her.  

Sooooooo cute!

Gemma is so cute she pulled TSA agents to her at the airport security screening in Albuquerque.  

She attracts people from across the parking lot - lots of them!

Complete and total strangers offer to take my dog off my hands.

Complete and total strangers leap forward and massage my dog without asking.

Complete and total strangers will swoop down and scoop my dog up in the store and squeeze and hug her.

*** A serious note to all of you out there - this is not a good idea, while G is well behaved, there are no guarantees - ALWAYS ask an owner's permission before touching their dog, and limit it to some patting.*** 

The warehousemen at Lowe's know her by name.

Construction guys stop working to come visit.

It is actually a little disturbing.  I hope she grows out of this svengali draw sometime.

Travel pooch

At 7lbs, Gemma fits under the seat in airplanes for easy transport back to Anchorage. The soft carry-on case will work until she hits 20lbs or so - or becomes noisy in the cabin. This time I had a pocket full of treats to slip her more or less continually through the top of the case to reduce the trauma of the experience. G got out in the Salt Lake airport to stretch her legs, do some playing, and have a sip of water.  
Scared to death now that I had sole responsibility to take care of my puppy, I had a whole stash of toys to use in succession to cut off any whining at the pass when she figured out that she wasn't going home to mom and siblings again. The crinkle ring and cow hoof took care of it.Now the carrier is Gemma's car carrier, a great place to keep a squiggly puppy contained instead of squirming under the brake pedal, or to fall asleep while running endless errands.

Introducing Sippiwisset Stormy Dawn

But her name is Gemma.

Picked up my 9 week old puppy this weekend in Santa Fe. When I saw the litter of 6 the first time, all the others were sniffing my feet but MY puppy was looking up at me as if she knew

 who I was.  My breeder has been a champ, letting me stay with her and get boned up on all the Corgi care basics and not-so-basics.  We even went to our first puppy class!  Gemma and her brother had no fear.  

FYI - my GSD's AKC name was Russet Dawn...and Julia's Sippiwisset kennel names are nautically (ie Storm Surge) or astronomically related so Gemma's official name is connected to her greater family in several ways.

<--Mom : Sophia 

Dad - Duffel -->

  

New Puppies!

Julia called on January 29 and reported two females and four males in the litter that had just been born. A week later I drove up to Santa Fe from Tucson to visit the family.  Here is Gemma (on the right) at 5 days old!  Squirmy, blind hamsters sniffing around with big pink noses.