N Litter

The breeder who we got Ramsey from names each letter alphabetically. Rams is from the 'N Litter.' This is just her personal way of keeping track of which pups came from which parents etc. Their 'call' names can be whatever you like, but she asks that their 'title' names (on their papers, and for show) begin with the letter of the litter they are a part of. I won't share what we plan on putting on Ramsey's title just yet, but once we are sure, I'll post. (If you've got suggestions, let us know! Just has to start with an 'N.')

Anyways, I found the breeder on facebook who has a page dedicated to her springers. You can search for Keswicke Springer Spaniels and you'll surely find them!

On the site, she had photos of both the Sire (Dad) and Dam (Mom) of Ramsey's litter. (I can't take credit for these photos! They are taken from the facebook page and I assume taken by the breeder).

Ramsey's 'Biological' Dad... Ch. Mystic's Just Fine.

'Biological' Mom: Ch. High Plains Rendezvous.

It's amazing how much Rams looks like his mother!

Last but not least, here is a picture of Ramsey practicing his winning stance:

Rams at 5 months.

Also, Rams turned 8 months yesterday! Holy cow, where did the time go? :)

Boarded and groomed

This past weekend we left Ramsey with his breeder while we made a visit to Pennsylvania. While we were away, Rams got rid of the 'Fro hair do and got a little glammed up. I think he's ready for the Westminster!

The breeder also re-asked (or semi told) us that we need to have him shown.... Maybe Westminster IS in our future! (We can dream right?) Maybe I'll get rams on board by watching a little 'Best in Show' later. (If you haven't seen that movie... you must)

Read to go home!

Quick glam shot for the camera! (I still think he looks a tad like a dinosaur with his hair so short! Who decides on standard cuts for the different breeds?)

Nap time in his favorite spot...

Still up in the air...

We decided last night that taking Ramsey to both Confirmation (show) and Obedience classes is going to be too much of a commitment, both time and financially. I opted out of last nights class until I could figure out a time to talk to the breeder (who also runs the confirmation classes) to tell her it's just too much. She emailed me today asking me to drop Ramsey off at her place to get groomed and do some photos and she'd meet me at next weeks class with him. This would be a 45 minute drive to her house, and 45 minutes back straight to work... and then another 30 out to the class directly from work. This directly following work is one reason I can't keep doing this. I just feel guilty that she is willing to put so much work into my dog, and I'm not. Am I a bad parent?

To Show or Not to Show?

We attended our first confirmation class on Tuesday! This was rather unexpected.... The breeder contacted me Tuesday afternoon asking us to attend just a few hours later. We have been up in the air about showing Rams.... but I agreed to bring him to the class anyways. (I honestly thought we were just watching for social purposes, she has invited us for this reason in the past). When we got there, she tossed us in the ring with the others! Oh man oh man!! I wasn't as embarrassed as I thought I would be luckily, haha. The treats she gave us must have been much better than what I have at home because he actually paid attention to me for them. :Sigh of relief:

We had been up in the air about showing for a few reasons:

1) What are the financial and time commitments necessary to show? Can we meet these commitments?

2) There are precautions in having an un-fixed male dog...

2.5) We are also co-owners with the breeder until he is neutered. This isn't really a problem but does that cause complications if we decide to move?

3) Is doing the confirmation classes AND obedience too much on him? We also wanted to try out agility and tracking in the future and don't want to become those parents who over book their child :-)

4) Froofie (spelling?) hair cuts! Ramsey is already on the 'sissy' side of things, having a 'froofie' haircut might not help (This is obviously the most important reasons to not wanting to show him.... just kidding!) However, his neck hair has finally grown so that he doesn't look like a dinosaur and she mentioned him needing a hair cut.

This is from one of my original posts, you can surely see... we got a baby dinosaur instead of a puppy! A fluffy, tiny headed, dinosaur. "Dinosaur Puppy on Day 1"

I'm also concerned that showing will interfere with Coaching. I coach Track & Field and we travel to meets most weekends during the season. I'm assuming that dog shows too are on weekends. We will see. Ramsey really did seem to enjoy himself at the class though. If it's something he enjoys doing, I'm more willing.

There is a lot to think about and I don't think it's a black and white yes or no decision to make right now. We'll see how things progress. I'd love to hear from some people who do show their dogs to find out what the commitments are and try to get some of my questions answered!

One thing I do know is that Ramsey has been feeling a little cocky since class and is often caught staring at himself in reflections!!

"Wow am I handsome!"