Flint Update and New Pups

 Most of you know by now, but for the few of you who don't, I got another dog. I didn't want to tell anyone, and most of my family didn't know until the day before he came(he had to be shipped, and I owned him for almost a month before he got here), because I was worried/still worry that people think me impulsive(well to be fair, I am impulsive), silly, picky, or fickle with my rapid turnover of dogs. I've had 5 dogs, Kate, Cash, Jinger, Flint, and this new one, Jasper, and of those, as of now, Jinger is the only permanent one. I know the reasons in my head are that I'm very, very particular about what I want to have and breed for, and that dogs that don't make that cut are gone, but I still fear what others think. That fear of what others will think of me oftentimes stops me from going forth with my plans at all. In this case it didn't, but I felt super sheepish and kept the plans under wraps until I couldn't anymore. 

But before we go any further, Flint.

Flint is a great pup, and should make a great cowdog with head, heel, and front foot bite, but from day 1 I noticed that he is very independent, timid of certain things, and flat untouchable by strangers. He has lashed out at a stranger once, and at me once, which I don't like at all. When he snapped at me it was when I'd had him for about 1.5 months, and was awkwardly trying to pick him up, and grabbed him in a way he didn't like.  That is understandable-if I were a stranger. I'd had him for long enough at that point that he should trust me and respect me enough not to do that-he still doesn't trust me, often dodging and hiding from things I'm doing or carrying, and I have to coax him out, freaking out from leash pressure, refusing to get on things because he's scared, etc. (Or, like the time he overturned a rubbermaid container in his pen, somehow worked up the nerve to get on top of it, and was stuck, too scared to get off.) 

The last couple of weeks he has finally started paying some attention to me randomly, trying a little harder to obey me when he's scared, and is very handy at biting the heels of goats that drag back on the leash, so I am liking him more now.  

When I'd had Flint a little over a month, I started having second thoughts about him, wondering if he was gonna make the cut. I had decided that 1.) I wasn't going to make a decision on Flint until he was 8 months old, and 2.) that I wasn't going to go out looking for another male, but if that one came up for sale that I really liked, I'd probably buy him.  Then I found Jasper...

When I'd decided I wanted a male pup, before I found Flint, I contacted Jasper's breeder and asked if she had any pups left out of either of the two litters she'd recently had. She didn't, so I went on my way. Jasper was out of one of those two litters, so when he came up for sale from his new owner, through no fault of his own, I jumped on the chance to own him. 

Jasper is a great, great dog, very friendly, calm, confident, and thoughtful. Maybe a little too calm at times, but I think he will be good to balance out Jinger's extreme drive-one crazy dog is enough! 

His sire is a full brother to the sire of Jinger's puppies, so there will be some inbreeding if he and the female pup I keep turn out to my standards. 

The below picture is old, but it shows his coloring and markings better than the ones I got today. 

This is current. Now that he's through teething his ears are starting to go back up. 

There is a two week age difference between Jasper and Flint. They are both 5 months old, but Jasper is already 40 pounds to Flint's 27 pounds. He's gonna be a huge dog! 

(Please pardon Jinger's appearance. I haven't been able to get a decent picture of her in 2 months, and got sick of trying to pose her just so. She is practically dry now, so will be back to looking good in a couple more weeks.) 

Also, Mom sold Amelia because she was super, super crazy, something not common in the breed, and not what Mom was wanting in getting a Bernese Mountain Dog. She found a different pup, and that pup arrived a few days after Jasper did. This is Mattie.