Here is Magnus, in the Pacific Northwest - one of the beautiful pups from a couple years ago. Thanks, Larry, for sending it on!

Here in New Mexico I've been busy volunteering at the local No-Kill shelter 3x per week training dogs. It's exhausting but interesting to see the differences in the various breeds. They seem to have a lot of pitbull cross dogs, big and strong but not aggressive (thank god...) and then some 'reservation dogs' from the Mescalero Indian Reservations - these tend to be smallish, thick coated black dogs that look like they have coyote or shepherd backgrounds - and they tend to have a lot of interesting personality. So, as I say, I'm learning! We have an appointment to take Una in to the vet next Tuesday to be spayed; she will be 8 this year and we certainly don't have any intention of having this grandma pregnant. Her son Solo is getting in a lot of training, some VST-style tracking, obedience classes indoors and work at the local college for socialization. Trouble and Birdie should be in season this month so we do have breeding plans for them - which will mean puppies this spring! We have some deposits on the litters but are mostly asking folks to wait until they are bred before sending them to us.

Thanks to our friend Betsy for giving us a report on Stryker's new AXJ title! And to Susan for keeping us posted on Noche's progress!

A couple surprise emails today!

First:
My husband got Bigsby and brought him to Chicago ten years ago – I thought you’d like to see him now! He’s happy and healthy and the love of our lives. Thank you so very much!

And here's Lee and Sam down in Alabama! Thanks so much for sending pictures everyone! Sam looks so much like Trouble!

A picture of Noche' up in Minnesota - we're glad to hear it is warming up a little bit as it's been frighteningly cold there. Meanwhile, we're enjoying sunshine and mild temperatures here in New Mexico, taking hikes in the mountains and generally enjoying ourselves. Solo is attending obedience classes in Alamogordo on Saturdays and I continue to volunteer at the local no-kill shelter, training dogs. My son Seth called this morning to tell me that he's going to be delivering a sauna sometime in February down here in New Mexico so Yippee!! We'll get to have a teeny vacation together!

Our Juliet au Clair de Lune from Lark in April, 2009 is a lovely pet for us and the darling of our neighborhood. Here is a recent photo of her sitting on our front porch.

My husband, Chuck, and I and our two girls, Jackie and Juliet, relocated from Louisiana to Pawleys Island SC last summer. Juliet loves the beach. We picked out this location in part because the beach is pet friendly.

I read your blog from time to time. Thought you might like to see Juliet. She is a regular at our local Ace Hardware store where they have named her their mascot.

Carol Ann

A note from Gary - this is Kane from Cyrano x Ruby - and Gary's Malinois Lexi. They live in Michigan; we're delighted to hear from them and to see what a handsome fellow Kane has turned out to be!

We're enjoying more warm weather down here; the dogs all joined me on a walk yesterday in the canyon - we seem to see quite a few pinon jays and this morning a raven was torturing Jet by calling back and forth to his barking...lovely!! I began volunteering at the Animal Village of New Mexico yesterday - and, as I suspected, it is an experience to work a dozen pitbull cross dogs in one afternoon.

I have also been working on painting and repainting in the house; it looks great! And, Solo and I are continuing to work VST tracks using the Steve White hydration method. Next weekend there is a big powwow in Silver City that we're hoping to make time to attend - it's a bit of a drive with 5 dogs though so we'll see what happens there.

This morning I saw a large black spider behind one of the wall rugs - a body about the size of a blueberry!! I had a lunch out with a friend who told me that this year they had seen both a small rattlesnake and 3 tarantulas in High Rolls - atypical since at this elevation they aren't usually seen! Yikes!

We're feeling very fortunate to be in New Mexico this year; it was 66F yesterday ~ I took the dogs for a long hike in the canyon, range cattle safely at bay, the dogs running around like crazies. Solo seems to have finally put together the 3 positions for french ringsport! I was very happy to have him do the series this morning along with some jumps before we headed down here to town. There is a great balloon ascension this morning in Las Cruces, something like 75 balloons but we are missing it, instead choosing to watch the local rodeo kids work horses and calves down at the fairgrounds. It is like something out of the 'real' west which, of course, this is...even so much so that I wonder about my "Wool...it's what's for winter" bumper sticker!

Monday I start training dogs at the local (and very new) no-kill shelter. It will be a new experience for me; many of the dogs have come off the Mescalero Indian reservation and are "indian dogs" whatever they are. It'll be an experience regardless of the dogs and one I expect to learn from. I am also taking some dog obedience training classes of course and am doing VST tracking with Solo ~ great opportunity down here with no snow and all.

Just stopping by the library to check my email - Trouble's OFA hip report arrived with a rating of "Good" so that is always excellent news. All else is going well, we're getting in some long hikes in the warm sun (60F!) and generally enjoying ourselves!

Thanks to my friend Lynn for this lovely picture of Ziva - one of Una's girls, looking lovely in the Minnesota winter.

Before I forget! This year, our mailing address is:

Sunny DeYoung
General Delivery
High Rolls, Mountain Park, N.M. 88325

Amazing that I can actually upload photos you send! Here is Noche' after an extreme buzz job - she is busy with obedience and from all accounts enjoying Minnesota winter!

In the meanwhile, down here in the southwest, we spent yesterday in Capitan, N.M. (home to Smokey Bear) where Jet-the-Kelpie was neutered at Dr. Becky Washburn's clinic - Becky is somewhat of a local legend, ex-racehouse jockey, vet for the Wild Horse removal from White Sands, etc. She also is extremely affordable ($57 for the neuter included a current rabies vaccine!) At any rate, we went to art galleries in Capitan and Three Rivers, had a great lunch of chili rellenos in Carrizozo and motored out way back to the Sacramento Mountains in time to watch the sunset. We got up this morning to another 40F degree day and, unfortunately, some well problems, now hopefully sorted out. The well crew consisted of two extremely polite cowboys, "Yes ma'am, it sure doesn't look good" and a bill somewhat higher than Jet's visit to the vet. This afternoon we're doing some little errands and will head off for a hike once we're done here at the library.

Here in New Mexico we have 60F this afternoon; we are just back from a lunch of onion and cheese enchiladas and dog training and are now winding down the afternoon with some computer time at the library. Our neighbor James Cadwallader brought over a cord of wood ($90) mostly pinion which smells heavenly...he remarked (among other topics) that the elk and deer buck population was down due to the increased mountain lion population. Yikes! The dogs are all doing well and enjoying the long snow-free walks in the mountains with us.

Hello from Tucumcari, New Mexico! The first leg of our trip, Wisconsin to Des Moines was JUST NUTS! as Jim was repeatedly describing it - blowing snow, icy roads, you could hardly see the car in front of you going along I-35 much less the cars across the freeway heading north...we crept along at 35 mph for much of the trip...but finally, after Des Moines the roads cleared up - no snow but huge gusts of wind catching the van and trailer combo - all quite exciting! We got to just north of Kansas City last night and stopped for gas in Liberty, KS - it was dark, around 5 or so and we noticed that the lights were off on the trailer -- well, actually, they were off on not only the trailer but the running lights on the van were out as well. Jim checked and replaced a fuse, grinning as he jumped back into the van only to have them short out again...needless to say, we weren't driving through KC with no lights .... so we drove about a mile down the freeway to a motel (Indian run, having a party in the office, curries and all!) This morning we got up to 40F and sun - a Starbucks across the street and life was looking pretty good. Jim checked the fuse again and reseated it and the lights on the van came on. No lights on the trailer but that's okay, we'll stop at night...we drove straight through, stopping near Pratt KS for a mile walk with the dogs (all 5 of them have been great travelers!) and then again in Liberal where we went to "Super Pollo" for outdoor bbq chicken (very good!) and now are in Tucumcari. It was 55F in Liberal where we ate outdoors, the sun shining, the smoke drifting skyward and all seemed right in the world. We have been listening to public radio some of the time, this afternoon we ran across "The Thomas Jefferson Hour" - amazing!!! It is a weekly program out of North Dakota of all places, which has 2 actors, one being President Jefferson - the other the interviewer - and they discuss topics current and historic. It was wonderful. We are seeing lots of hawks of course and waterfowl, some cold looking meadowlarks and a couple mule deer near the roadside; Jim saw a coyote run across the road but I missed that one. We're having good conversations and are enjoying spending time together...tomorrow we'll be in High Rolls!!

If all goes well, we will be on the road tomorrow heading south to New Mexico! The weather's been frightful here the past day or so with ice and sleet and wind; we've been keeping an eye on the National Weather Service website along with 511mn.org for weather and road conditions!

We spent the past couple days getting the sheep all set for our absence although we do have a farm manager who will take care of them along with the rest of the farm but we try to have all the details worked out to make the process simple! You just never know if there will be an early lambing!

Here are a couple pictures from last year; one is of ruins near Mountainair, the other is of a small herd of Oryx that were near Corona, NM.

My NM phone number is on the homepage of my website but if you lose it: 575-682-3992.

Thanks to Beth for sending along this picture of Tulie (in black) and her younger blonde dog as well!

My son Miles lives in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and works for the Routt County Sheriff's Department. This evening he sent along this note: "I was doing snowmobile patrol yesterday and a friend and his sister (she took these pictures) were along when I ran into this bull elk that wouldn't get off the groomed snowmobile trail. I'm on the left in the blue jacket, we finally snuck around him through a small meadow....he was getting agitated and at one point I thought he was going to charge us......oh well, excitement as a cop in the mountains of Colorado!"

As parents out there know, there's nothing quite like having our kids come visit. Seth, Bonnie and grandson Anthony arrived yesterday morning; Anthony with a sled which was put to good use out back of the house. Bonnie settled into the house with a book (Olive Kittridge) and Seth helped me with the hay bales. Supper was cold ham sandwiches (remembering Spot and Red) along with potato salad (our own potatoes, onions and eggs!) and followed by sweets a friend had sent over. A good time was had by all!

Happy Holiday to everyone from those of us here at Briarlea Farm. The snow is coming down this morning in big clumps and as there is no wind, it is calm and beautiful. The dogs managed to contain themselves until an hour or so ago then convinced me it was time to take them for a gallop down the road. It's quiet here as those of you who have visited will attest, so a mile run is a common morning activity.

The barn seems lonely now with no friendly goat faces to greet us in the morning but we've been assured that they've settled into their new home. For that we are thankful. The sheep are looking fat and warm in their heavy woolen coats and the barn turkeys have figured out how to roost above them as well as how to bully their way to the grain feeder. In the henhouse the peafowl are looking sleek, we're getting eggs still although not nearly so many as in the summer. The old pair of geese are already looking forward to spring.

Our friend Lee from Pennsylvania sent this picture of Bruta, Zeke and Sam. Bruta and Sam are littermates to Margeaux, Trouble, Bennie and Kaida....can you tell?!

We will be heading south next week this time, to places warm and sunny - a welcome respite for me - and an opportunity to work the dogs on dry land. We'll keep you posted!

From Tilly in Montana:
Merry Christmas to you all. As you can see, I LOVE the snow, love chasing my brother, love going on hikes, love to chase all the deer in our yard (& get yelled at!) love Montana and LOVE my family! Thank you for finding the perfect home for me. Love Tilly.

A note arrived in the email box this morning from John down in N.M. "I hope you are having a happy holiday season. I wanted to send you a photo of Margeaux. She is doing very well. She is living with me in Santa Fe and is having a wonderful life."

Also from Reed in Illinois: "Cooper is growing on us every day. Quite a dog. Smart, attentive, affectionate, good house manners, a great traveler, and starting to show a little protective streak but has been so well socialized that he has not been over the top with that. High energy but we walk and/or play frisbee everyday. Still has his orchids and is finally starting to muscle up a little. Guess he's up to 65 pounds but will weigh him at the groomer tomorrow. Expect to neuter between Jan and April."

And from Ezra in Montana: "Jubal, our brindle male is now not quite 7 months. He has just the personality we wanted and we thank you for the good match. He is loving and attached to my wife and I but already showing the signs of a good watch/ guard dog. When a stranger comes he will get in between the stranger and us and bark at them vigorously. We take him out in public with no problems but If someone tries to pet him he will bark and back off but then comes up to them on his own terms. This may be too aggressive a dog for some families but for us, living in the country and having had 2 encounters with unwanted visitors over the years I think he will be just right for us. So far a great match!"

Thanks to everyone who has been sending email updates about their Bouviers! I so appreciate hearing about them! We're busy poring over the Seed Savers Catalog that arrived this week; lots to look at and dream about!