8 Week Old Pups Swim with Confidence

The pups were introduced to water at 4.5 weeks of age.  At 8 weeks of age, these pups are very confident and do not hesitate to go into the water.

More About the Sire

FC AFC CFC Hellfire's Fast Track MH, MX, AXJ, CD, VS  "Indy" 

2009 Ranked #2 Top Sire for Amateur Field Trial Dogs, only 1 pt. between #1 & #2  Top Sire

Indy is truly a one of a kind companion! 

2005 Nat'l Open Field Trial Championship

Ø      Guns Award

Ø      Certificate of Completion

Ø      Best Performance by a Dog Handled by an Amateur

FC AFC CFC Hellfire's Fast Track MH, MX, AXJ, CD, VS  “Indy”  is a VERY impressive sire.  Producing more successful trial and performance dogs than any other sire in the country. 

Some notable offspring's:
(The complete list of successful dogs and their accomplishments is seemingly endless. Only a couple are mentioned here)


 Indy's son, "Ace", was

Ø      2006 Amateur High Point dog in the East, he also

Ø      Finished the 2006 Nat'l Amateur and was awarded a CM.  

Ø      Earned his Amateur Field Trial Championship, AKC Senior Hunt Test Title & AKC Novice Agility titles, at barely 2 years old!! 

FC Triple Ridges Jersey Girl. Daughter, was

Ø      2008 Eastern IC High Point Puppy.

Ø      She has Two WINS in Open All-Age trials and One WIN in Amateur All-Age trials.

Ø      Jenny is well known as an easy-handling dog.

AFC Baskwood's Fast Lapper

CFC Puckerbrush Briley Full Choke

FC Baskwoods Gotta Have Faith 

Fast Track's Jett Setter 

AFC Pheasant Feathers Black Onyx

Indy has a solid pedigree of top field dogs including 3 National Champions and a total of 7 Champions in 3 generations.  Good history of health and genetic testing.

Week 5-6 Car Rides and Vaccinations.

The Jerome's, missionary family to St. Martin, and friend Ken are found visiting the Golike residence

Over the past few weeks we have been going on car rides.  Even though they do not have an account, they are a big hit at the bank.

I am pleased to say that no one has gotten car sick.  They are all calm and in about 10 min settle down for a good snooze.

Car rides start out something like this.

Then like this.



(I moved the Doken Dummy for better view of pups)

And then like this.

And finally like this!

Sometimes we end up at places like this.

The pups will be receiving their first set of vaccinations this week.

We have just about completed the weaning process.  I expect to be done by Tuesday.  They will be 6 weeks old.

Pups Personality and Order of Dominance

As the pups have progressed we have begun to see who is who in the litter.  I have arranged the order of puppy pictures, in the order of their dominance, as I see it.  It's hard to know for sure how they line up in the middle.

When raising litters of pups, I like to try different things to help me better evaluate a pup's temperament. One thing I have done with this litter, is to give them a "Kissy Kissy" test in their face.  The way children sometimes interact with a dog. The chances are, that they will, at some time, have a child put their face in his.  So they might as well get use to it.  What I have noticed is that #1, #2 and #3 turn their head to the side as if to say that they are not thrilled with this expression of affection. There is no response other than that.  The last two, #4 and #5 start kissing back and seemed thrilled with the attention.  These two also play more gently than #1 and # 2.  If you have small children you may want to consider one of these pups. Number 3 is definitely a middle child.  He can be either way.  Sometimes he is like the first two, other times he is more like the last two. 

As I have continued to do this over the past week, the first three are beginning to warm up to this type of interaction and are responding more like #4 and #5.  Just not with quite the enthusiasm of the other two.

Weeks 4-5 Bathtime, Potty Training, Real Food and Real Play

Reluctant Pups get a Bath

Things we must endure.

The pups are getting fun to be around.  They are getting bolder, as they explore the great outdoors.  And are now relaxed enough outside, to chase each other around and play hide and pounce.  I let them out frequently to get them use to pottying outside. I have a couple pieces of sod inside adjacent to their play area to offer them the opportunity to potty on it.  I also thought it would be a good time to get use to the idea of a bath.  Helps keep a dog humble.  If only men were that easy :-)

                                                                                                                BATHTIME

Too Pretty to Pout

                                     

This week they got wormed.  They were also introduced to dry kibble.

We continue to run the vacuum and shoot the gun off once a day.
                                                                          

WEEK 3-4 Introduction to Sound

Once or twice a day we have family time with everyone on the couch, and listen to the humm of a vacuum cleaner.  Daphne is calm and does not instill fearfulness in her pups about the new sound.

We also step out on the deck just outside the room and shoot a Xgun to condition the pups to the sounds that will most likely be a big part of their life

Car rides and bath are both on the agenda for this week.

Hellfire's Fast Track Versatile Award

Here is a link to one of Indy's accomplishments.  Very few springers have recieved  this award.
http://essfta.org/Awards/2004%20Awards/2004versatile.htm

ABOUT DAPHNE

Daphne is my best hunting dog producing more birds than any other dog I have.  After hunting her last year I was so impressed, I decided I would breed her. 

She has a very dark liver, mahogany color coat.  It stays short and only needs minimal grooming.  Light-Medium build, of 35 lbs.  Good length of legs. 

Hunting with Daphne is relaxing and enjoyable. I do not need to keep on the whistle to keep her in gun range.  She hunts at a medium range.  Which to me means, perfect range.    One thing that makes her so successful at hunting is her exceptional nose and tracking ability.  She will stick with a scent trail in difficult situations when other dogs give up.  She will stay with it, to eventually produce the bird.

She is also that way with mole hunting and has been extremely useful around home.  She is not like some dogs that dig up the whole yard to find the little critters.  She digs down just enough to get her noes in and take a whiff.  If there is no fresh scent, she moves on.  I now have flowers planted where they couldn't grow before and they don't get killed by the moles tunneling around them!  Gardening and hunting with my dogs are my two passions in life and she is a big part of both of them. Daphne is actually named after a very favorite plant of mine.  A Daphne called "Moonlight Sprig".

Daphne has always been a quiet non-destructive dog in the house.  In the kennel she is quiet with good manners as well.  She has never chewed up anything, even as a pup.

Her Grand-Sire, Hall of Fame, CNFC FC AFC Pel Tan Rolly was known to be a very biddable dog.  She also possesses, that highly sought after quality.

She is very level headed. Shows good intelligence, an exceptional nose with a good mouth as well.