Maggie's Legacy--Another Giant:

The late January afternoon after we had Maggie put down, we went for a ride to look at the many pretty views on our peninsula. We needed a happy memory for the day, and we found it at a place called, appropriately enough, Joy Bay. By the time we got home that night, we had decided that we did want another dog, and that we wanted a female Giant Schnauzer. Maggie was such an outstanding dog that we have also fallen in love with the breed. 

And, we wanted a puppy.  The adoptable Giants were few and far between and were going to need a lot of retraining to make them good house pets. From what we had been reading about the early months of a puppy's life, we had a new appreciation for the care that Maggie and Spike had obviously had before we got them. But this time, we wanted to start from the beginning. 

The Web

We looked once more on the web and found a Giant Schnauzer breeder South of Boston--"only" a six hour drive from here. Her dogs had had a litter of 10 puppies on Christmas Eve. Six females and four males. She had one female left. We drove down on January 30th to have a look see.   It was love at first sight. 

Puppy and Family

And, not just the puppies. The mother, the grandmother and the father were outstanding dogs, and we are just beginning what seems like it will be a long and enjoyable relationship with the breeder--Barb Moeller of Legacy Giants.

The puppies' parents and grandmother are all Barb's dogs. Max (a.k.a. Sire) and Ellie (Dam) and Tika Grandmother (Ellie's Dam). (Their AKC registered names below.). Max was quite willing to let us throw his ball all we wanted.  He is 3 and life if fun. Ellie was doing what any sensible mother would do with 3 humans and her mother to watch the puppies--she was having a good long chew on some rawhide. 

The grandmother, Tika, was a wonderful creature who spent her time looking at the puppies with us. She seemed to find them very interesting. Good story about Tika on Tika's page.

Barb does temperament testing the seventh week--so the week of Feb 11-17. Then she makes her final decisions re which family gets which dog. She was leaning very strongly toward having us have the "red ribbon" puppy. *She puts color coded ribbons on the puppies to help her keep their temperaments straight. (Breeders don't name puppies because that would confuse the puppy if you changed it.)  The Red Ribbon Puppy is the biggest, and probably will be built like her father Max--not stocky but not rangy either. And, any way you cut it, she will be bigger--taller--than Maggie.

Barb says of "Red Ribbon":

"I think, from what I have seen of her, that it would be a good fit....She is confident and full of herself, yet very trainable and loving. We'll keep an eye on her temperament to see if anything changes but, I think she would be a good choice.  She has been a stand out since birth and I tend to give the red collar to those type of pups."

So, we are off to S. Boston next Tuesday 17 February (which happens to be our 14th anniversary) to get our puppy.

We have bought puppy food, a newer smaller bowl--but we won't need that for long--a gate for the kitchen. etc. It is slowly sinking in that we have quite an adventure ahead of us! But it should be fun to watch her grow up and to see her own particular personality take shape.

No final name for puppy yet. We have a list for AKC registered name and for "call name" but no final decisions yet. And, yes, she has her full ears and she is keeping them! Max has full ears too. We will be having her neutered as per our agreement with the breeder.

Spike is still with us. He is certainly getting up there--at 13.5 years old and 94 pounds, he is about 125 in human years. That is very old for a dog but he doesn't seem to care. He spends most of his day under the kitchen table, in front of the wood stove. He loves eating--dog food, cheese, popcorn, you name it. Hope he is ready for a little excitement.