Week 8 - 7/31/2016

Week 8 (to 10) – There's no place like home! Week 8 is every breeder's bittersweet week. On one hand you just spent eight weeks with the most adorable, fun, sweetest puppies ever and you wish they didn't have to go so the fun could last forever... On the other hand, having 10 eight-week old puppies who very mobile and awake for much longer and getting into everything... well... you can't wait for them to go home!!! Our house is much quieter and cleaner (except for the pieces of Kyra which are all over the floor thanks to her blown coat that seems to never end), and you also find you have more free time on your hands. We still miss our puppies and are ever so happy that Facebook, Instagram, email and text messaging was invented so we can see our puppies often in their new homes as they grow! :)

We got to wean ourselves from puppies leaving since three of them got to stay a little longer than the rest. Most went home the weekend of their 8-week birthday, but we got to hang out with Ursa (Ketsy), Nana (Mango) and Roxy (Ziki) a little longer as their families made the trek out to pick them up which helps with the sting of sending our puppies home. It is so much fun meeting our new extended Desert Sol family members! Each of our babies is going to a truly wonderful family. I'm always amazes me how the breed attracts such awesome people. Half of our families were repeat Chinook owners so these pups will have older Chinook 'siblings' to hang out and go on adventures together! The other half are new to the Chinook breed. It is always fun to be able to get more people into this wonderful breed and become Chinook lifers.

We look forward to hearing about our puppy adventures in hiking, bikejoring, cross country skiing, water play, agility... you name it! In our first two litters we only placed one pup east of the Mississippi. This time, we've got east coast, west coast, in between and two going international! One of those will remain on this continent (British Columbia, Canada) and the other is overseas in Switzerland! The pups placed in Northern CA and CO will join other puppies from our previous litters. Soon hopefully they will start having their own Chinook picnics!

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A huge, heartfelt Thank You to our Chicken Nuggets and their new families. It was such a sweet and fun litter to raise- these pups made raising 10 easier than we thought it would be. We hope you all have tons of fun with your new Nuggets and please continue to share stories and pictures with us! Next time you pick out your favorite dipping sauce or maybe you will try a new one, remember this fun little jingle: 20 Types of Dipping Sauce. :)

The Chicken Nugget litter (as always in order of appearance):

Desert Sol Enzo (formerly "Vinnie")

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Dipping Sauce:

Hot Vindaloo

Sex:

Male

Weight:

15lb 4oz

Saucy Adventures:

Enzo is going home to Northern CA with Leslie and Frank and their 13 year old daughter, Andie, (older brother is at college). Andie hopes to do some agility with Enzo when he gets older and these two instantly connected when he came home! Enzo was named as a tribute to Frank's Italian heritage and is also the name of the beloved dog in 'The Art of Racing in the Rain', a book the entire family loves. Enzo has an older Chinook brother named Niko and the two are becoming fast friends. Niko is showing Enzo the ropes of the new family and how to get all the treats and cuddles he wants. :)

Desert Sol Tala (formerly "Sweetie")

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Dipping Sauce:

Sweet N Sour

Sex:

Female

Weight:

11b 9oz

Saucy Adventures:

Tala is heading up to Fort Collins, CO with Kristina and Dane, also where she'll be neightbors with Grandma Tana and Auntie Scarlet of MountainThunder Chinooks! She's already had a playdate with Grandma and Auntie and has also met many other people and dogs with her new mom and dad. Kristina will be training Tala to be able to come to work with her and visit often. A first puppy for them, she's keeping them on their toes but her 'sweet' personality makes it all worthwile! Tala's new name means "wolf" in Native American, a favorite animal for Kristina.

Desert Sol Kima (formerly "Honey")

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Dipping Sauce:

Honey Mustard

Sex:

Female

Weight:

12lb 5oz

Saucy Adventures:

Kima also heads up to Northern CA to her new home with Kathy and Sean and their three boys, Josh, Elijah and Danny (the oldest just went off to college too). Kima has two kitty brothers that she's learning to be friends with besides just chasing them. She helps mom with the chores as mom feeds the chickens and enjoys helping with the hose while watering the plants. Kima's name is the Alaskan word for 'candy', properly named because they kept reading how sweet these puppies were (and Honey was one of the top sweet pups) and wanted a word to reflect that sweetness!

Desert Sol Jolly-Girl (formerly "Buffy")

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Dipping Sauce:

Buffalo Sauce

Sex:

Female

Weight:

13lb 1oz

Saucy Adventures:

Jolly heads back east to VT and CT with dads Andy and Greg. She has an older Chinook brother named Bohdi. These two go on lots of adventures together, which was always one of Jolly's favorite pastimes. They love to explore their large property, run through the grassy fields, or just nap on the dog couch together! Andy was reading an old article of popular dog names from the 16th century and came across Jolly-Boy as the likely name for their next puppy. Since a female pup was coming their way they changed it to Jolly-Girl but also got a kick out of it that Jolly was also our last name! They liked having the name also have a link to the breeder and this name ended up being very fortuitous for them!

Desert Sol Pancho

Dipping Sauce:

Creamy Ranch

Sex:

Male

Weight:

12lb 1oz

Saucy Adventures:

Pancho is our first international dog that remains in North America as he heads to Surrey, British Columbia, Canada to live with Katie and Matt! He also has a cottage by a lake in WA that he gets to visit on weekends and is learning to enjoy playing in the water! Matt and Katie were asked what they were going to name their pup and it was suggested to use something that speaks to the heritage of the dog or where it lives. The first thing that came to mind when thinking of the Southwest was Pancho Villa and the battle at Columbus, NM. They joked about using Pancho and the name stuck! The name also brought back good memories of their family's vacation home in Mexico so it tied in nicely for them. You can follow handsome Pancho on his very own Instagram account: pancho.moss.

Desert Sol Great Nana (formerly "Mango")

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Dipping Sauce:

Mango Chutney

Sex:

Female

Weight:

12lb 0oz

Saucy Adventures:

Nana is our first international puppy that went overseas to Stansstad, Switzerland to live with Lynn and Rene! They hope to be able to breed Nana and have a litter of Chinook puppies in Switzerland one day! What an adventure that will be for the Chinook breed. :) Nana has a Chinook brother (or future boyfriend?) named Manuk and these two will be able to do a lot of nice and fun hiking together in the Swiss mountains! Nana was named after the Newfoundland dog in Peter Pan who was Wendy and Michael's caring nursemaid.

Desert Sol Roxy Reynolds (formerly "Ziki")

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Dipping Sauce:

Yogurt Tzatziki

Sex:

Female

Weight:

12lb 8oz

Saucy Adventures:

Roxy is heading to San Diego, CA with Heather and Chris. When they were interesed in the Chinook breed, they took a road trip to come visit the puppies and loved every minute of it! Now hooked on the breed, they are very happy to have Roxy as their own. She will have fun going on hikes with Heather and Chris and for walks on the doggie beach. She lives close to Bandit (the sire of our first litter) so she can have play dates with Uncle Bandit in the future!

Desert Sol Kokopelli's Jazz (formerly "BB")

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Dipping Sauce:

BBQ Sauce

Sex:

Female

Weight:

13lb 1oz

Saucy Adventures:

Jazzy is going to Arlington Heights, IL with Lisa and William and their kids Bill and Sara. Jazzy is also living with her cousin, MountainThunder Calamity Jane and a Jack Russel named Merlin. Jane loves teaching her little cousin her favorite pastimes: playing with the remote control and digging in the ice chest! Ut-oh sounds like trouble! Sara hopes to do some agility with Jazzy as she gets older and Lisa is a great photographer so we'll see lots of awesome pictures of Jazzy! The Kokopelli part in Jazzy's name is a fertility deity and a trickster god who represents the spirit of music and is said to have traveled from village to village bringing the changing of winter to spring, melting the snow and bringing about rain for a successful harvest. What a great way to celebrate Jazzy's roots to the Southwest!

Desert Sol Argos (formerly "Nacho")

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Dipping Sauce:

Nacho Cheese

Sex:

Male

Weight:

11lb 0oz

Saucy Adventures:

Argos is going home to Port Washington, WI with Lena and Chris. This fluffy little guy has an older Chinook sister, Sugi whom he adores and loves to copy all of her moves, play bows, roll overs and all! His favorite game is stealing her toy crocodile and running around the house with it proudly in his mouth. :) He is being a sweet little brother and giving Sugi space when she needs it, but loves to follow her and imitate her when she's up for play! Argos is named after Homer's dog in 'The Odyssey' and Lena and Chris loved that the name is a great symbol for loyalty!

Desert Sol Ursa Nivalis (formerly "Ketsy")

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Dipping Sauce:

Ketchup

Sex:

Female

Weight:

14lb 0oz

Saucy Adventures:

Ursa is heading to Boulder, CO with Victoria and John and will live close to her sister Tala (hopefully they can meet up for playdates and hiking too!). Victoria and John met us at the 2015 Chinook National Specialty and Family Reunion in Longmont, CO and fell in love with Kyra and Zazu and all the other Chinooks they met that day! They are super excited to have their very own Chinook now and when they came to pick Ursa up, they actually camped along the way home and she did great in their campsite. Ursa will be one heck of an outdoorsy dog in no time with these two! Ursa was named after the Constellation of Ursa Minor (also known as the Little Bear or commonly the Little Dipper). Why Ursa Minor instead of Ursa Major, Ursa Minor has the star Polaris (the North Star) and being avid hikers, well you never know when you might need to use the North Star to find your way home! Nivalis (stem word Nix) means 'Snow' in Latin. So Ursa is the 'Snow Bear'. Ursa has her very own Instagram account too: ursa.nivalis.