English Cockers

I'm hoping that in the future some of my IT folks are going to show me how to post some photos with my blogs. Right now, I'm posting a blog,then forwarding that blog to my Facebook account where I DO know how to include photos. I took a couple of good photos of these sweet flushing and retrieving dogs this morning. Well, actually Cader IV snapped the photos since my hands shake a wee bit. Martha often complains about my pictures being fuzzy.

If any of you do go to Facebook after reading the blog, you will see a couple of photos of really pretty English Cockers in various ages and stages of training. You will also notice Chuck, Jerry, and Andy in those two photos since they are the three men primarily working in the breeding and training of these lovable dogs. If perchance, these three employees appear to be a little "well fed", I should note that sweet corn is so cheap this year that we are paying salaries this summer in crates of sweet corn rather than dollars. Evidently, they are getting their money's worth.

There is an old song about two tear drops falling and rolling slowly to the ocean. One tear drop is a drop of sorrow over the loss of a loved one. I experienced that tear drop this week as I laid my beloved Lab to rest in my yard. The other tear drop is one of joy over the birth of a new soul entering the world. I had the privilege of seeing that this week also as two of our best English Cocker females had healthy deliveries of litters this week. Jerry and Cheri served as midwives on both litters. They have been very proud of the mothers who have taken to motherhood with much enthusiasm. It may surprise you to know that sometimes Mama dogs are not good mothers, and will reject their puppies. I can't tell you how many bird dog puppies I had to nurse as a child with one of my sister's baby doll bottles because the mother would not let her puppies nurse.

Both of these litters come from great bloodlines, and we are very excited about their prospects. Meanwhile Chuck and Andy tell me that their started dogs are all progressing in their training on schedule or ahead of schedule. The English Cocker is a very smart animal. They are also one of the most affectionate breed of dogs that I have ever been around. When Jerry was holding two of the puppies this morning, they were wagging their tails and about to lick me to death. I absolutely love the smell of puppy breath! You can take all of the perfumes in the world, and it would not smell as good as that to me.

While my heart just is not ready for another dog right now as I continue to mourn the loss of my sweet Sugar, I am going to have to be very careful around these dogs because one could steal my heart in a minute.