welcome to the kennel blog
June 2009:
Miss June at age 10 years, our miracle girl
What a whirl-wind spring. Mother's house is doing well and will be finished rehab soon, following her house fire in the winter. Mother is doing well following an ER hospital admission for heart failure. What a year for her.
Visiting girl, Genesis, had a successful stay here at Ynda, whelping 12 beautiful pups in April, who were delivered June 2 at 7 weeks of age to their owners. Congratulations to Genesis and John on a fab litter, and to Genesis recovering well from motherhood, and to her owners.
Our beloved beloved June turns 10 years old on June 15th !
Our beloved Hawkeye, Tango, Anna, DJango, Maggie, Bella turn 8 years old on June
24th!
ALL of St John's puppies at Hearing and Service Dogs of Minnesota are doing well in training -- 9 of them there as of this writing. They age from 20 months down to 6 months old. They are just wonderful and the Minnesota folks are SO pleased with each of them. Doreen, 'Reena', is designated to be a foundation breeding female for them. Reena is litter sister to Solace Labradors Man of Distinction 'Lincoln' and they are whelped by Solace's More Than A Feeling, a Martin daughter out of Pacesetter's Golden Solace. The "E" litter out of Pacesetter's Jazzy Blue and John are now going into advanced training. Their litter sister, Georgie, has a great pet home with the Hill family in Charlotte and is the beloved companion of 3 great youngsters there.
Achilles and Toby returned from training at St Francis during Genesis' stay. Both were up for adoption, and Achilles is 'spoken for.' Toby's pictures are on Available Older Dogs page.
June 17th marks the day that Ynda's Sweetie-Pie will return home. "Pie" is one of AKC CH and UKC CH Sienna's Thunder Alley's puppies. She is litter sister to MoonBeam and Hunter. Pie has been the constant companion of Frances O'Mara who sadly died suddenly this week. Our hearts go out to Ann and Betty, and we welcome Miss Pie home with open arms.
Read again to see pictures of Miss Pie with her Ridgie family and learn whether or not we will offer her for adoption or decide to keep her here with us as her forever home.
As a result of so many dogs being returned from St Francis training to us, we are not planning any labrador litters in the forseeable future. We want to devote our time to family, each other and the doggies we have here now.
March news:
Happy 11th Birthday to Ali on the 13th!
Happy 5th Birthday to Granddaughter Kayla on the 13th !
Congratulations to LEWIS on March 22nd he became a UKC Grand Show Champion.
Way to go Lewis. Currently #2 in Top Ten for 2009.
Congratulations to Esquenevet Labradors with Ru-gr and John pups -- 4 Best Puppy
In Show for son 'Jack' who beat litter sister 'Wink' who was Best Female
Labrador puppy all 5 shows. In the other show, Jack was Best Male Labrador
puppy. What a combination ! wow
Congratulations to Hearing and Service Dogs of Minnesota for 6
St John new pups in training this year -- 3 from Solace Labradors and 3 from
Esquenevet. We are so very grateful for the sharing of Labrador Love in
this way.
PUPPY BLOG 2009 IS
OPEN.................................................................
February went by too quickly.
John welcomes the birth of 9 beautiful puppies in Illnois. Miss Ru-grr is
the proud mother and those pups are absolutely gorgeous. Congratulations
to Ellen and Mel McKinnon!
Hawkeye welcomed a lovely new mate, who loves Rhubarb Pie, Miss Bee-Bop.
Thanks to all who have been so helpful following Marti's mother's house fire. What a lot to do, but we are so grateful that mother is OK.
Jan 26, 09: Picture updates: Lewis, Hoss, Rickie, Maggie
Jan 20, 09: Ynda is proud to announce our newest Specialty winner -- Lewis is now a BISS. Lewis also won a Reserve Best in Multi Breed Show the same weekend. Thank you Judge Gene Reynolds for the Specialty win and Violet Denney for the RBIMBS. Thank you also to Matthew Procter for a BOB from the CH class. 3 legs toward Grand from the CH class. Yippee ! What a thrilling weekend.
Jan. 12, 09: Ynda announces with great pride that little Miss Pink below is going to Hearing and Service Dogs of Minnesota to become a foundation brood female for them. Pappa St John is so proud he could just about burst at the seams. Us, too ! Congratulations to Hearing and Service Dogs of MN on their recent Assistance Dogs International certification. John already has 3 youngsters in training with HSN MN. We are grateful for this opportunity to make a difference in other people's lives.
We also have updated our records and realized St John has a 15th UKC titled offspring. We are humbled by the accomplishments of St John's offspring and grateful for so many beautiful girls that have been brought to him. Thank you.
This is Doreen or Reenah. She was donated in Memory of Doreen Lea
Anderson. Reenah is the pride and joy of HSD in Minnesota. We all
plan for her to be a foundation female for their breeding program.
Dec 23: ... Wishing everyone Merry Christmas ! from the
Ynda Gang... welcome home to Audie who has arrived from St Francis...Thanks to
Ann O'Mara who is finding Pie that perfect home... My people mom had a house
fire last week and is staying with us for a while. Luckily she is fine.
All the rest is just 'stuff.' Count your blessings....
St John celebrates his litter of at least 6 expected in Illinois. Ru-grr is pregnant ! Way to go Ru, and we look forward to those beautiful pupsters. See more under Available Puppies at left.
St John also celebrates his litter of pups at Solace Labradors. Yellows and Blacks on the ground now. See that Available Pups at left also.
Hawkeye is looking forward to 2 girls coming to him in the early spring -- 1 litter for St Francis to be bred by Dr Pam Hand, and the 1 litter at Pacesetter. You go Hawkeye.
Hoss is growing beautifully and has quite a coat. Will try to get some new pics soon.
Lewis is officially a United Show Champion and received his certificate recently. Yeah, Lewis!
Since we now have 20 dogs at home, we will put off breeding Jeannie yet again. We only pray that the time will come when we can breed our beautiful, perfect darling girl!
Sat: Nov 29: ... hope you all had a great Thanksgiving ! we were busy with travel to family for the day but all had a wonderful day, including the 'turkey' treats dispensed here for the doggies ..
Ynda's Sweetie-Pie, litter sister to MoonBeam and Hunter, desperately needs a new home .... she is spayed and up to date on all vaccines ... her person, Frances, needs to go into Assisted Living and there are no pets allowed. Pie is used to being a house dog, sleeps in her owner's bedroom, and is a wonderful companion. Please apply if you are interested. This is a wonderful 6 year old girl who has many years of love to give a family or person. We are concerned to find the right home, not to sell this dog at a big price.
Monday Nov 24, 2008: Today Rascal visited a group home for adults with special needs. She had a wonderful time greeting folks and made instant best friends. It was our first outing together in a 'helping' capacity and what a great day we had.
We also received a letter today from Achilles puppy raiser. What an unexpected surprise! and it is so good to learn about how well he is doing. Last week we got a letter about puppy Alpha. So we feel completely in touch with our latest service-puppies.
Hoss continues to grow and learn and be just a fabulous little guy.
Sunday Nov 23, 2008: due to popular demand from our puppy blog readers, we have started the whole kennel blog ... please send comments and feedback !
Thursday afternoon we had a visit from the Episcopal Bishop of Southwest Virginia, Neff Powell and his wife, Dorothy. We attend the Church of the Good Shepherd which is Episcopal and Lutheran. Our Episcopal Bishop makes a yearly visit to each congregation in the diocese. Our participation with St Francis Service Dogs and our prison ministry Christmas in July program is what attracted the attention of our Bishop. Puppy Hoss interacted with the guests and reminded them he has 2 brothers -- Alpha and Achilles -- in puppy training with St Francis. Holly, Lewis and Morella reminded us that they have 3 brothers -- Happy, Toby and Audie -- in training. Audie and Toby are at Bland and Achilles is at Bland, too.
We have welcomed home Rascal and Holly. Holly is doing very well and is keeping company with her grandfather, Lewis. They are very charmed with each other and really seem to enjoy each other's companionship. We wanted Holly to have level and stable footing, so she is safest in the big kennel and big kennel yard. She seems thrilled to have a place to run and clearly enjoys play with Martin. She is eating puppy chow and will continue to do so until her sister Morella comes into season.
Rascal has joined the house pack of girls. She has easily fit in the group and gets along well with everyone. She is Imp's daughter and half-sibling to Hoss. Rascal enjoys her playgroup which is Imp, Hoss, Jasmine and June. Rascal is looking forward to her new role as my CGC demonstration dog. She loves to show off her skills.