Kaibab Bernese Mountain Dogs

This happened yesterday.

In my backyard!

I quickly created a barrier to keep the dogs from the back end of the yard.

How does anyone live a life without x-pens?! They are handy for so many things.

I figured out that the nest is on the side of the house, which is fenced off from dogs so that is great — unless Mama Duck does more field trips to the rest of the yard. Hopefully the x-pen fence will keep everyone safe.

The nest is under the rose bush that is right outside the living room window and within feet of the catio. Cindy provided excellent advice on the care and feeding of ducks, and see for yourself how happy they are all this morning (including the enthralled cats)!

Capella is still percolating her little brood.

I am busy getting everything ready. Yesterday I picked up the small tank of “just in case” oxygen, and did load after load of laundry so everything will be clean and ready.

Multiple conversations have been happening about the litter theme. Yes, it is the N Litter but I also like a fun theme.

Some of us like the idea of “new” but I note that the various combinations with the word, “New” just do not have the right ring to them. For example, New Life sounds like a mega church and New Beginnings is a great name for an inpatient rehab. Not quite the vibe I am going for with these babies.

My daughter, whose name is Nicole, thinks it should be the Nicole litter and all puppies can have variations of the name, Nicole. She even sent me a list. So helpful (not).

Obviously, we need to keep our thinking caps on.

The living room is getting set up with the essentials — that was the view from my Peloton bike yesterday. You can see the edge of the whelping box and the desk chair. I will essentially live in that room for two months, and so it has to have all the things that keep me relatively sane.

Nesting continues today. SO exciting!

Happy Saturday to you — I hope it is a wonderful day ❤️

We begin this Wildflower Birthday Finale post with a photo of Kjempe (fka Paintbrush) and Kitsap (fka Sage) at about six weeks old.

Mariya reports that Kjempe is doing very well but she recently experienced the sad loss of her father. Let’s begin by resting our hearts and minds on Kjempe’s human grandpa.

Deepest condolences to Mariya and her family over the loss of a clearly beloved family member 💔

Mariya was kind enough to send photos and a quick update about Kjempe:

“Kjempe is doing well. Still hiking/walks and hanging with his favorite friends and family.

Loves people more than other animals.

Likes to be around everyone.

Sleeps a lot more these days but still turns playful puppy with us, family and his toys when it’s time! Still loving his pupauccinos!”

Thank you, Mariya, and especially under the sad circumstances. HAPPY BIRTHDAY KJEMPE!!!

I love including our late and beloved Daisy in these updates. Here is Kitsap with Daisy.

Bridget sends us this very itchy report:

“Wow, where to begin about this past year.

Shortly after the 4th birthday stories were posted Kitsap started scratching a lot. In consultation with our vet, who we love and trust deeply, we initially thought his allergies were annoying him since it was a high pollen count time of year.

Little did we know it was going to take us the better part of 5 months and my doing a deep dive into the literature of skin conditions in dogs and two vets to figure out the real issue.

I am delighted to report that Kitsap has now fully recovered from what became a huge problem with sarcoptic mites. He is back to a robust coat that makes it me wonder if he isn’t overweight until I get him wet and see how lean he is. You can see his beautifully thick coat in the picture of him showing his belly, hard to believe that 6 months ago that belly was bare and had no hair.

In the picture of him standing in the snow in the wind in January you can see that while he looks healthy, he also looks like an adolescent because his coat hadn’t matured to the way he looks in the picture with his cart on his birthday (or the belly picture).

Speaking of carting, because his skin was so irritated for 5 months and then we needed another 5 months for the coat to recover, we have only started using our great Wilczek cart a few weeks ago so it was a nice celebration to take a tour around the neighborhood with Kitsap pulling his cart.

He is definitely a working dog. Things that would cause Kitsap to bark during a regular walk are taken in stride while he is pulling his cart.

Agility has been on the back burner, our instructor moved away, and we haven’t found the new right training match for Kitsap’s personality. We have had fun with our tracking group.

Although, I thought we were close to certifying last year, we haven’t yet. It is clear that Kitsap understands the game and when he is motivated to work can track with the best of them. Our challenge is whether the motivated Kitsap shows up on any given day. This video shows Kitsap enjoying a good belly crawl as we went to start a track a few weeks ago rather than take off to follow the scent.

Kitsap continues to be a good traveler with us and spent July in Colorado and Christmas in Delaware.

Kitsap is deeply loved. His unconditional love and devotion I would like to say is appreciated more than you can imagine, but I know this Berner community understands.

Wishing all the Wildflowers another wonderful year of adventure and time with family and friends.”

Thank you, Bridget, for your excellent care and detective work on behalf of Kitsap. HAPPY BIRTHDAY KITSAP!!!

And last but definitely not least — Pozy Clarkia, pictured here with Berkeley when both of them were much smaller!

Pozy is a brilliant, happy, and active girl who continues to enjoy her life and her training more than she enjoys people outside of her family and friend circle. She has a small bubble and prefers people stay just outside of it — unless you are in our house, and then she is in your lap within minutes. Alex and Jennifer were here recently and I kick myself for not getting photos — Pozy LOVED them.

Something else about Pozy — she has the WORST luck with other dogs, and this began when she was a puppy. She ignores other dogs very well — that isn’t the problem. Pozy is not an instigator. The issue is that she has been assaulted, for lack of a better word, by at least six different dogs in her lifetime 💔 It has just been really bad “other dog” luck for Pozy.

Last week it happened again — an Irish Terrier was turned loose in an unfenced yard right as we were walking by, and he did his a$$hole terrier thing. They are bred to be feisty, after all!

I carry pepper spray when I walk dogs for this exact reason. I blasted that dog, and didn’t even feel badly for him — or his human who was going to have a very unpleasant time cleaning him up.

Pozy has an active pick-up business. She once delivered a single coffee bean to me!!!!!!!!

All that explains this — I have Pozy’s back. On walks and in life. What she needs and wants for a happy life is what guides us on this journey together. I hope that the training we do will result in shows and titles someday but if it doesn’t — that is okay. I have an incredible girl that I love so so much 🩷