puppies with bones

The pups understood straight away what to do with a chicken neck. It's a good use for those sharp teeth!

 

more puppies

The puppies latch on to Mum any chance they can get. She is very patient with them most of the time.

The pups at play under Gracie's watchful eye.

More puppy photos!

The pups like to spread out in their big pen.

Typical Airedale...looks asleep, but there is always an eye open to check out what's going on.

Sleeping with a toy for a pillow.

Starting to play with the toys.

First bone - very interested!

Puppies in the grass

The pups are able to have playtime in the yard now. They think it's pretty neat.

Merry Christmas from the Doubledaire pups

Merry Christmas to everyone! Have a great holiday.

Well here's a crazy idea...put hats on the puppies says Neil. I guess it's never too early to start with dressing up your Airedale!

The first photo shoot was chaos with puppies and hats everywhere. Then we tried it again when they were a bit sleepy and managed to get this photo.

Gracie and I lucked out this year and didn't have to wear hats or tinsel or santa claws outfits or nothing. It's pretty hot this time of year, so that's a relief.

puppies are three weeks old

 The pups are so big now, hardly room at the milk bar anymore.

They are already showing unmistakeable Airedale habits,  playing bitey face...

 sleeping on their backs...

and as of  this morning, they have decided they want out!

puppies' first video

Here's the video of puppies at play from yesterday.

They have a lot of white toes at the moment, but those mostly fade out as they get older.

Puppies at 18 days old - starting to play!

The puppies have just started to play! Their eyes are open, they are up on their feet and ready to start investigating the world.

Here's yesterday's after-lunch play time.

It didn't take long before they were all asleep again though.

Breakfast time

The pups are sleeping through the night now, which is good, but it does make breakfast a feeding frenzy of hungry pups.

 Gracie is finally past the sore nipples part and is much happier to stay with them until they can drink no more.

Full as a goog (Aussie slang for stuffed to the eyeballs).

Sleepy little boy, so cute!

A day in the life of a 13 day old puppy

Have a feed...slurp, slurp. Thanks mum!

Test out your legs for walking

Sleep.

Repeat at 12:00, 3:00 6:00 and 9:00.

Growing fast

 Puppies at day 5. Look how big they are already! 

These are the three sisters.

Puppies are here!

Exciting news - Gracie's puppies have arrived! There are three girls and two boys. Here is their very first photo.

Gracie is being a good mum and feeding them every time they squeak... which is pretty often.

Now that the hard work is over, the fun can begin. Puppies are so precious. I'm a grandmother again! (Gracie's younger sister, Elsa had pups last year.) I'm fascinated by these little guys and keep trying to get in the room with them. Kay says I have to wait a bit until I can play with them. Hmmph.

Gracie update

It's me, Gracie, again. I have had a great time lately....I've been eating, eating and eating some more. Food is my favourite. I've been getting four meals a day! So yummy.

However, you can see it has had an definite effect on my formerly svelte figure. I could hardly drag this tummy home from our walk this morning. Kay says not to worry, it is all going to change in the next few days. Hmmmm, wonder what that is all about?? Stay tuned for more news!

Puppy news

Hi, it's Gracie here. I get to tell you that we are going to have puppies again! And this time, it's ME that's going to have them, evidently.

Ruby says it all comes from that time we went and visited that cute boy, Jay Jay, up in Queensland. He was quite nice, I liked him a lot.

So, watch this space and we'll post photos when they show up... in about three weeks!

Sorry we don't post so much anymore - we've gone over to FaceBook these days. Who knew there were so many Airedale pages over there?!

Agility success

Gracie and I went over to the Port Macquarie Agility Trials last week-end. We had a great time, winning lots of ribbons and qualifications (quallies). We got to run around, up and down the dog walks, through the tunnels..excellent fun!

We each had four classes over the two days and I came home with 3 quallies, a first place ribbon and 3 third place ribbons. Pretty good, eh.

Unfortunately, they weren't giving out toys for prizes, they were giving out household items. I so look forward to winning a toy. I never take my eye off the lady with the microphone, because she might call our names. Kay let us rip up the cardboard box from the household item that we won instead.

Here is a video of our first place agility excellent run. Who would have thought the Airedale would win it??

Oh yeah, Gracie went really well too. She got a quallie in her jumping class and that made her title. Now she'll be up in my class...the excellent level.

We're back

We've been away. Kay said it was going to be like a holiday camp... but it was more like prison for dogs. I think it's called a boarding kennel.

We had to sleep outside... in the cold. That's why we look so furry, we needed to keep our hairs on so we didn't freeze to death. We had to stay there for a whole month.

But now we're home and so are Kay and Neil! Hooray!

Life can now get back to normal, just how we like it.

More beach fun

We are having the most gorgeous Autumn, here in Australia. Day after day of lovely, not-too-hot days and no rain! 

  This morning, we were up and at the beach just after dawn. This is on the breakwall, where the Macleay River meets the sea.

The water is warm and clear, perfect for a swim.

And to fetch a few sticks, of course.

Followed by a bit of digging.... there are all these little crabs on the beach. If you are really quick, you can dig them out... and crunch them. Sorry crabs, but it's just too much fun to stop.

Gracie was on to bigger game - she was tracking some horses. We never saw them, but they had left delicious little presents along the way. What a great way to start the day!

kookaburra fun

We caught a kookaburra this morning! It was in our yard and we got him. Boy did he make a fuss, squawking and flapping about. He looked like this.

Unfortunately, Neil heard all the noise and came to investigate. He made us let it go.

Never mind, we were excited about it for ages afterwards. We finally caught one, amazing. Sorry there is no photographic record of our hunting prowess - but you can imagine two excited Dales with their mouths full of feathers... that was us!

Frisbee at the beach

We went to a different beach this afternoon. It's called Hat Head and it's down the coast a bit from our regular beach. It goes for miles!

Neil had the frisbee with him - I love the frisbee. The game was on!

Bad dog Ruby

Ruby is in such big trouble this morning... Instead of our normal walk on the beach, she took off into the bush - seems she had spotted one of these...

She didn't come back and she didn't come back and we had to spend the next three hours scrambling through the bush tracks looking for her. Kay was worried that she might have gotten too close to one of the big kangas, as they can kill a dog with their big hind feet, like this.

Ha, as if an Airedale is fast enough to get that close! I know, I've tried it before myself. They are sooo fast.

We finally did find her. She hasn't budged from her bed since she got back - she's feeling a bit the worse for wear I suspect. It was a pleasant change to not be the naughty dog this time... 

Bad dog, Ruby! Glad you're back.

foamy beach

Our beach was really funny yesterday morning - it was covered with foam. There have been floods and storms lately, and everything go whipped up into an amazing froth.

Early morning was unreal, the foam was a few feet high - by the time we got back in the afternoon with the camera, it wasn't quite so impressive. But here we are in it anyway.

  It didn't taste very good, but it made our paws white.