The Trio (Updated)

I thought it would be fun to try and get a photo of Capella with both of her remaining whirlwind puppies.

All three decided to get in on draft practice 😂

I hope you have a happy day ❤️

(Later)

Stick Party!

The puppies and the kids had a sprinkler party. There were just too many good photos ❤️ Please enjoy the show!

I love this video. From the very beginning, Sapphire has been so very loved.

His circle of love is about to be expanded — tomorrow is Sapphire’s day to join his new family 💙 There is travel involved and so there will be no morning photos but I will post in the evening — from Montana!

🩷💙💙💙

(Updated) The Bad, Awful, No Good Day (Hyperbolic with Some Truth & Several Take-Home Lessons)

The puppies had an eight week check-up when they were, of course, eight weeks. Sapphire had a murmur that was not present five days before when he was seen for his growing pains.

No big deal — puppies get benign murmurs as they grow. But how convenient — the puppies were already scheduled to have both eyes and hearts screened the very next day by specialists at WestVet.

Bully stick in the holder — safety first!

The cardiologist heard Sapphire’s murmur — the other three puppies got a clean bill of cardiac health.

Sapphire was always going to stay until he was 10+ weeks and that was also quite convenient because it allowed time for a follow-up appointment. The plan for that appointment was that if Sapphire still had the murmur, the cardiologist would do an echocardiogram at that same time. If no murmur — no echo.

Yesterday was the day.

I still will not leave the puppies home alone and so I packed up Sapphire and Star Garnet and off we went.

The tech informed me that the appointment had been incorrectly booked and blah blah blah and they could take a quick listen but if he still had the murmur, they would have to schedule the echo in the future and it would cost twice as much as they said it would and yada yada yada.

Anyone who knows me likely knows how THAT went down.

Sapphire still had the murmur. They would do the echo at the end of the day.

I took the puppies home for a bit before packing them up again — this time with Capella as being left home for that first appointment did not sit well with her — and off we went.

Capella needs a grooming!

I wish the echo had shown a structurally normal heart — it did not.

Sapphire has a very, very rare heart defect called Double Chambered Right Ventricle; there is one other dog in Berner-Garde listed with a similar diagnosis. Double Chambered Right Ventricle is a congenital heart defect, meaning that he was born with it. We do not know why or how this happened.

There is no fault or blame in this diagnosis. No need to spin elaborate stories or excuses. No need to create a crazy narrative that suggests a known cause for something that is clearly random bad 💩 with unknown etiology.

It is, however, normal and understandable that we want a causal explanation because that helps us have the illusion of safety. If I know how or why the bad thing happened, I will just avoid doing that in the future and my safety is assured — easy peasy!

But the truth is that sometimes — often — we cannot know why a bad thing happened. All we can know is that it happened, and our Little Soldiers need to be dispatched to the “Now What?” part of things.

What we have is a beautiful puppy with a heart defect who is still as perfect and wonderful as all the other imperfect dogs and humans on this planet.

💙

His new family still wants him, and they are the perfect match for what he needs. He will be evaluated at a leading veterinary teaching hospital but quality of life will, of course, dictate their decisions on behalf of Sapphire.

I was prepared to keep Sapphire with us but I know his new people will be thoughtful, kind, loving stewards of this puppy’s lifetime — however long or short that lifetime turns out to be. In fact, they are the only people I would let have this puppy.

And so, just in case the Take Home Lessons are not clear:

1. Breeding dogs well is hard on the heart in so many ways.

2. There are no perfect dogs.

3. Random bad 💩 happens.

4. Persistence and Politeness are effective.

5. Knowing matters; ignorance is not bliss — it is just ignorant.

6. Nothing terrible happens when we are transparent and honest about #2 and #3.

7. Life is not fair.

And so I will send the documentation to my favorite Berner-Garde Operator to update BG Dog ID #229623 — and then just keep doing the next right thing for this precious Gem 💎💙

(Later)

And the next right thing is just normal life.

Remember the Flying Nun?

Sapphire has just two more days with his mom before he launches.

Today we were back at the regular vet for a blood draw — Star Garnet took one for the team so we could send a sample to Madison to assess whether the vaccine they received at eight weeks provided immunity. These puppies are so chill in the van, at the different places we have been, with all the new people, etc. Lovely temperaments in this litter 🥰

Not only is Star Garnet a water dog like generations before her, but she also is going to be a fine retriever like the rest of the Bright family 🩷

Now, if only she had a name…

Thoughts and Puppies Again

This is the consequence of raising puppies with a constant series of novel and easily mastered challenges. Sapphire chose to do the teeter that while flat, just has a bit of a drop/bang. Both puppies do this with no concerns.

They have confidence in their competence — so important.

Capella then gave them a lesson in how much fun it is to play fetch.

Capella is a REALLY good mother. She is still choosing to nurse these puppies multiple times a day. I want puppies nursed for at least eight weeks but then I let the mom decide when to close the milk bar.

This morning a puppy must have used teeth when nursing. Capella did what she has done many times before — she growled a bit at nobody in particular and walked away.

THAT is what mother dogs do — they walk away. Disengage. Remove what the puppy wants. And that is what humans should do. Just walk away. With puppies and some people, now that I think of it.

Puppies at this age are also easily distracted, and that is another strategy for managing undesired behavior. For example, the puppies are wild biters, and even the kids know how to handle this — yelp/say ouch and grab a toy for the puppy. Distraction almost always works (unless the puppy needs a nap).

Something else I have been teaching the kids — we do not say “no” to puppies. That is an unhelpful word. Instead, I am helping the kids find ways to get to “yes” when they are with the puppies. So instead of “no” when a puppy is biting (which is, of course, in the Puppy Job Description as a mandatory activity), we distract and substitute so we can say “yes” to the desired behavior (chewing a toy).

Mother Dogs do not “show a puppy who is boss.” They don’t need to, and neither do we.

Unless, of course, a person feels powerless in the world and needs to have dominance over something — but in that case, I recommend a good therapist and not a puppy 🤷🏼‍♀️

(Later)

My mom was fond of telling us that, “life is not fair.” This was usually because I pointed out that something was not fair, which happened a lot in our chaotic household (five kids in just over four years — and no twins, unless you count Irish Twins).

I have never outgrown my moral outrage at things I perceive as unfair. I am still shocked and indignant — okay, angry — when things are unfair. What the heck, Universe?!

But yes, in my heart I know my mom was right — life is not fair. That knowledge, however, doesn’t actually help when the unfair thing happens. Which it has.

For now, let’s rest our minds on this beautiful, calm, peaceful photo of healthy, happy, smart Jasper living his best Gem life.

💙💙💙🩷