Stories about Snow Wind Dogs & Puppies

Just a happy note to say that all of our dogs here at Snow Wind Farm were eye tested ( CERF ) this month  ( March 2016 )  and all of our dogs that are being used for breeding or showing are clear of any eye disease. Our CERF results as always will be posted on the OFA website. Our dogs are CERF tested on a yearly basis. Thank you Dr. Sarah Maxwell DVM for doing all the testing. :) 

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We are so very thankful that Dr. Sarah Maxwell is always willing to come to the farm and eye test ( CERF ) all of our dogs. All the dogs were very good about having drops put in their eyes to dialate them, much better than I am.

All the dogs, even Louie at 11 years old passed their CERF tests, and the results will be posted on the OFA website over the next few weeks.

Scotch & Nonammee both had their patella's checked, and they are perfect. Those results have also been sent to OFA and should be posted in the next few weeks.

Mary :)

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Our little Kate as occassionally happens did not mature as we expected and though she was sweet in temperament it was clear she was not going to be happy in the show ring. We then took inquiries from many different families trying to find the right family for our special little Kate. We ended up sending Kate to a lovely couple who lived just outside Washington DC, they had a dog from us before and were anxious to have another. They recieved Kate into their home and for the first day all went well. Except that Kate after looking things over decided that she really did not care for this home at all. The woman was ok - but the husband was tall and she just did not care for him. She made this rather clear by using their upstairs as her hideout. She hid under beds, sofa's and if the front door opened she shot outside like a little bullet. Her frantic owners would give chase running behind her in their pajamas down a lovely tree lined suburban street at 6am in the morning. ( They had not read the book on Parsons as that would have told them that the chase is just a part of the game ) After a week of Kate escaping at every opportunity and hiding under the furniture they thought it best to send Kate back as things were clearly not working as they would have hoped - Kate was not their dream companion and I am sure that Kate felt they were not her dream family either. So Kate winged her way home. She leaped out of her crate into our arms like we were long lost family.

We then thought well maybe we should just keep Kate with us.......but Kate had other plans.

About a week later we had need to have our semi tractor repaired and since it is a big rig one of the auto mechanics from Lafayette came down to take a look at the truck. While Carl ( not his real name ) was here he glanced over at Kate who was staring at him rather intently. He told us the story of losing his black lab a few weeks ago and how heart broken his children were and they really wanted another dog, but a smaller one this time.

Carl looked directly at Kate and asked if we had any older dogs available. He did not want a show dog, just a loving companion. Well, matter of fact we have Kate over there that would love to be in a family home. Carl went into Kate's run to play with her and she leaped in his lap which was rather uncharachteristic for Kate as not all people were her friends and she had the ability to be fairly discriminating on who she liked and who she did not like on any particular day.

So Carl left to go back to work explaining that he needed to talk with his wife and that he would be back after work to pick up Kate, at which time we encouraged him not to make a full commitment but instead to try Kate for the weekend and if she and the family did not get on together than to certainly return her to us on Monday.

The weekend came and went and I wondered about how little Kate was doing.......so we went to town and stopped by the Auto Body Shop. Carl was out on a repair call and one of the other guys that works there came out to say hi and said that it was pretty funny how Carl took that little dog home after his wife had told him under no uncertain terms that she did not want another dog and that he need not bring Kate home with him. The guys were all betting that Carl was going to arrive home with the little dog and be told to turn around and come back to town and return the dog.

But that is not what happened. Instead Carl took Kate into the house and Kate being a very smart girl went to the wife first and jumped up in her lap showering her with kisses. How could anyone resist that! Carl's wife said: ok, it is late and we can just keep her for the night, but she will go back in the morning!  That evening Kate sat on the wife's lap watching movies for quite sometime. Then the children came home and that was a whole new adventure. Kate thought the children were delightful and she ended up sleeping the rest of the night away with the youngest boy.

In the morning it was right back to the wife's lap, trying to be as charming as possible. Well, it worked quite well. By the early afternoon Carl said to his wife, well I had best get Kate back to the farm. Carl's wife then announced that there was no way Kate was going anywhere. Kate had found her new family.

So even though we think we may know best, in the end I believe these little guys are fully capable of choosing their own families.

Kate has remained with Carl and his family as a valued companion. Though in talking with Carl a few days ago they have found out that as perfect as Kate has been she does have a few training aspects that they will work on. The first one being her rather selective hearing.....definitely a typical Parson!

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Cassie our 12 year old Parson girl like many Parsons can be either the most loving little dog or the best at making it clear that she will do what she pleases when she pleases.

This last summer it seemed like Cassie was with us one moment and gone the next. We looked high and low for her, calling her name countless times to no avail. We have quite a few coyotes in the area and it is always such a worry as the coyotes will often come out in the daylight hours and it would not be hard for them to snatch a little dog.

We searched and searched for Cassie, walking many of the hiking trails behind us and still no sign of her. After looking through all of her favorite hiding places we took a break and just at that moment we notice a couple walking up the road with our little Cassie following tight behind them.

Apparently our Miss Cassie had found this family that was hiking and she followed them back to the Trappist Abbey where she proceeded to go swimming with them, share in their picnic goodies, and generally ingratiate herself to this family. It was not a wonder that Cassie acted as though she was not very keen in returning to the farm.

The monks are the ones that basically put an end to Cassie's adventure as they asked the young family if this dog with them was their dog or one that had found them? The young family stated that Cassie indeed found them while they were hiking and that she was so adorable that they just let her come back to the Abbey with them. The monks told them that they were fairly certain that the little white dog belonged to the farm that was about a 1/2 mile down the road and they were quite certain we would be looking for Cassie. The monks knew that Cassie wandered on a somewhat regular basis, especially during the summer months since we had been over to the Abbey several times to see if she was visiting yet again.

So up the road the family traveled with Cassie in tow. When they came up to the house Cassie gave her usual performance and acted like she did not even know us. Her new found family told us of all the fun they had with Cassie and how she was so sweet. They loved how she smiled. However the monks had told them that they were certain that she belonged back at this farm. We thanked them for taking such good care of Cassie and off they went back down the road to the Abbey. Cassie was in our arms at that point and all she could do was look longingly at her new family walking down the road without her.

This is of course is not the first time Cassie has wandered. Cassie is quite the beloved princess of not only the sofa but the bed too. She is very spoiled, loves her pizza crusts, peanut butter toast, and her special memory foam bed that she is currently sleeping on while I type, but you would never know that from her. I think she just feels that it never hurts to check out the other options that might be available to her and have a little fun in the process.

So with the summer months now approaching it will be interesting to see if Cassie has for some unknown reason outgrown her wanderlust or if she continues to check out those other alternatives.

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I have had dogs all my life. My first breed as a young college graduate was two Miniature Shnauzers named Nicklaus & Nadia. Both were very spunky Terriers and full of life. My family, especially my parents were quite in love with these two little salt and pepper cyclones of energy.

My father had called that day to ask that I deliver some papers to him that he had left at home. So I scooped up Nadia who was always at my feet and drove over to my father’s office which was then located in a two story brick building in North East Portland. It was a typical rainy Portland day and I left Nadia in the car while I went into my father’s office and up the stairs to his office. He was in a meeting with my uncle though as soon as I entered the room he asked: "So did you bring the dogs with you?" I told him that I had only brought Nadia and that she was still in the car. At which point my father said: "Oh just bring her inside, she knows the way up to my office" I warned my father that Nadia is very excitable and after all he was dressed in a business suit and did he really want her jumping into his lap with four wet little feet? He said: "Oh just bring her in.

I went down the stairs and out to my car and Nadia jumped into my arms. I carried her over to the office door not to get her feet wet and since she did know her way around the office I put her on the floor just inside the office door. Nadia took one quick look around and bolted up the stairs at a full run. I quickly ran up the stairs two by two thinking that Nadia at full speed might be a bit of a shock to my father.

I got inside the door of my father’s office just in time to see Nadia leap into his lap and pee all over him because she was so excited to see him. My uncle thought this was hysterical and the look on my father’s face was one of total shock and he was speechless. His lovely 3 piece suit was now soaked; but little Nadia was so pleased to see my father, all licks and kisses.

I gathered up Nadia and told my father I would run home and get him a new suit for the rest of his day. As I left the office my uncle was still chuckling over what had just happened. I was also very sure that this story would be retold on many different occasions.

So be careful what you wish for.......little puppy Terriers can be unpredictable and very excitable. Taking the dog out for a quick walk after a car ride is probably a good idea too!

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