So, we start our trip up to the Hunter Valley on Friday afternoon after the husband finishes work (and I might be doing my volunteer shift Friday afternoon from now on too). We'll get as far as Sydney that night, and then the Hunter Valley the next, just to make the drive slightly less tiring, as I'm going to have to test all six puppies when we get there on Saturday. Last time I was fairly organised - I had all the tests printed out and everything, but I had changed the order in which I wanted to do them, so I had to flip back and forward. It wasn't conducive to a smooth running process. So this time I'll make sure everything is in the exact order I want it to be, and since there are six puppies to score, I'll put a score box next to every exercise.
I'm really looking forward to seeing the puppies. The breeder broke her camera recently.... and whilst she has an iphone, she says she couldn't work out how to take photos with it! So I am itching to see the pups, and the breeder's setup and everything. She is raising the puppies right inside the house though, which I am happy about. I wasn't so keen on the fact that the previous breeder we were seeing raised the puppies outside. They were warm and secure and all, but they just missed out on all that human contact I would have liked to have seen. This way is better. The puppies have also been having contact with children, which is just excellent.
They are meant to be lively puppies, confident and eager to interact, so I think the likelihood of finding a prospect up there is good. The only worry I have is they are supposedly quite vocal, and sometimes dogs are washed out as assistance trainees for just being too vocal. I hope I can avoid that!
The husband and I went away this last weekend, probably the last time for several months. It was with his new work group, so I finally got to meet some of them. We went up to the Australian Alps, to the snow.
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They go up as a group every year. I was really worried about slipping, but I was very careful, and actually was fine. It snowed a good deal of the time, and was very dramatic. Hubby and I took the chairlift about 3/4 up the mountain (main chairlift was closed due to wind), up to where the snow is quite thick still (ski season is just about over), and it was bloody freezing, but a fun ride, and very beautiful. Here's a couple of photos (click on them to get much larger versions) to prove it snows in Australia - few people seem to know it!
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| Going up on the chairlift, snow and wind battering us |
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| Me all rugged up, trying to stop my face freezing! |
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| The view from the lodge where we stayed |
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| The ski slopes from 3/4 up the mountain |
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| Going down in the chairlift |
Breeder is bringing them down to Sydney the following weekend, so we'll only have to drive 3 hours for pickup (6 in total), not 6.5 (or 13 in total!!). Much better for the pup, and us. We've been doing a lot of driving around recently, it will be nice to just concentrate on getting a good start with the puppy, and staying put! Wish this pup wasn't so far away, but so long as we do find one there, all will be forgiven.
12 days until we bring our puppy home!! Cross fingers!!!!
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