Magnum

Just back from Monticello, Minnesota to pick out my puppy.  First, if you can stand the suspense, there were 8 five-week old English Springer Spaniels.  And, they are all gorgeous.  Shortly after we arrived at Patty’s house, we were introduced to the puppies in their area of the house.  Patty has a separate dog whelping room/crate room/grooming room off of her laundry room.  She and her husband built the house, so it included this dog area.  She has a large double wide utility sink to bath the dogs.  Neat!  The puppies were in a 5ft by 12ft whelping box that included a wood chip area for them to potty.  Oh my gosh were they cute.  As soon as they saw us they started crying and little barks.  We got them all out and played with them on the floor for about half an hour.  There was another woman  there from Florida to pick out a puppy, but she wanted a black and white female. 

Late morning a Veterinarian and her daughter who is in Vet school came by to look at the puppies and pick their favorite.  I was getting a little worried because we hadn’t tested the boys yet to select ours.  We had lunch, fed the puppies and then began the testing.  These puppies and their mom and grandmother eat raw.  The concentration is on meat so that they have more muscle and are leaner.  I will probably feed a dry food called Evo, which doesn’t have grains.

We tested each puppy starting with Michael.  Michael probably got a little short changed in the testing because I got better as I went a long.  Patty thought the best dogs for me were either Michael (liver and white) or Harry (black and white).  Both were so sweet.    Michael scored a perfect score on visual startle, which is important for a future agility dog.  Puppy is placed 10 -12 feet away and an umbrella is opened and placed on the floor.  Michael immediately raced up to it and started playing with it.  The 3 other males scored lowest and avoided it.

After testing the males, we took them outside for their first time.  They were so cute racing around playing.  Their mother Kelly was out with them and played with them.  We played with them until they started going to sleep.  Michael and Kate curled up on Alan’s lap and fell asleep.

So, Magnum is Michael! He had the highest score, even with not getting a fair shake in testing. I will be picking him up in 3 weeks when he is 8 weeks old.  I rubbed him with a towel and put it in a plastic bag.  I will share the towel with Shadow and Kinsey to get used to his scent.