Windows to the soul...

What do these eyes say?

Jack the Ranch Dog

Introducing Kaname aka "Boogers"

Kaname (Khan-a-mae) is my daughter's dog actually, but she is part of the pack so I will include her in this journey. She was born second in the litter and weighed average. She is a perfect mirror image of her mother. Right down to her odd little mohawk that goes from the base of her skull right down to the middle of her neck.

As a young pup at about 6 1/2 weeks old she broke her right hind femur with what the vet called a "green stick" break. She was kenneled and given some heavy medication to keep her calm while she healed. A little more then a month into her healing process she showed signs of improvement. Medication was stopped and she began to have a full recovery. My daughter at this time took it upon herself to be her nurse when school was not involved. That was a big job for a 12 year old at the time. The first three days that she was home my daughter slept right next to her kennel to keep her company and to be there for her. They have a great bond. The picture above is of her in the chair waiting for my daughter to come home from school.

Boogers as she is lovingly known is a total couch potato and failed all of the obedience training unless of course you include treats of some kind, then she is all stomach. Manners is not the first thing on her mind food or loving is first and foremost on her agenda. I plan on hopefully getting her to do some field work, but with the leg she already has and the bond with my daughter, her process will be very slow indeed.

Introducing Drum

The next one in line to be introduced is Drum. He was born toward the begining of the litter with average weight. He is what other houndsman consider a pack dog. Drum enjoys being part of a group human or canine. He is not the sharpest tool in the shed where obedience is concerned as heal and down where two of his hardest to understand. But he makes up for his faults with a willingness to try anything once or twice.

The best part about Drum is his nose and his singing voice. Other houndsman with years more experience then I have said that Drum is what they call a rig dog, or a striker. That means they would put him on their truck and wait for him to catch wind of whatever prey they are looking for. Drum having a sharp nose out on a scent would be the first one to sound off or open up. Hearing him set loose his open mouthed bawl is a joy to hear.
I look forward to the day that we are able to put his great nose to work doing what his mama was bred to do. For now he is my goof ball who always finding weird ways to get stuck.

Welcome Everyone!

Hello! I would like to start off this blog by introducing you to my hounds. Cypress was out first, my husband found her on the side of the road. Bringing her home we did not know how much of an impact it would make on our life. She was very skinny, and very loving. We found out about a month later that she was pregnant, also that she had gotten heart worm. Heart worm disease is easily preventable, but for what ever reason she was not so lucky. Cypress had a huge infection of it in her heart, the kind that can cause death. The puppies were born on 1/1/11. There was 11 total. Odd how numbers start popping up. 7 weeks into the their growth, and for some reason or another Cypress turned her aggression on other members of our canine family including one of her own puppies. Complications to her heart and pain had caused this.

We were hurt by this and decided to keep four of her puppies, these puppies I have decided to work and train to be the hunting dogs that their mother had been bred for. Also I found that in my family tree, my grandfather on my mom's side was an avid hounds man as well as his before him. Not to mention that on my father's side they too kept a kennel of hounds. So in keeping a family tradition and to honor Cypress's passing I am on a mission to train these puppies for what they were bred to do.