News July 4, 2009

Our big news is a litter of new puppies, born to Angelika on June 30th! There are five girls and two boys and all are big and strong, weighing well over a pound at birth. Most puppy litters seem to have a runt of the litter, one puppy that's smaller than the rest, and who has to work harder than the rest to get by. But this litter seems to be the exception. All seven puppies are about the same size.

We haven't been showing much lately and only Nitza is currently in show coat. The rest have had their coats cut down for the summer. She'll probably show a couple of times this fall.

Our other news is that we have a new breed of dog in the house, a Berger Picard also known as Picardy Shepherd). The new puppy Zed, whose full name, Zephyr de la Valee du Mouton, is a real mouthful, was born in Austria in October. We brought Zed back with us from our trip to Munich and Innsbruck, Austria in December. Zed is sweet and affectionate, but is a bit more high-energy than the Black Russians and drives them batty at times.