New Pup in Town

A few years ago I had asked Redwyn Kennel (who bred Jack and Baco's sires) to keep me in the loop if they were having any litters and last spring they reached out to let me know about their upcoming breeding with Sneakers ex Liska. There's a lot to admire in this pedigree, and both parents are beautiful and accomplished, and yes I was interested in a puppy! As it turned out, there was really only one choice, but that has worked well for me in the past so I went with my gut. I was drawn to Wren's structure and overall look from the start. When I met her for the first time I felt like I already knew her. Bev described her to me as "an old soul" and I definitely see that, despite her charming puppy antics and penchant for shredding paper products left within her purview. 

I brought Wren (Redwyn's ON Adrenaline) home in late August. She charmed the whole household in short order, with the exception of Koan, who determined someone should set a few boundaries for the newbie. Sadly, Wren and Koan only overlapped for five weeks before we lost Koan to liver failure. A week after we lost Koan, Wren broke a toe in a freak accident running in the yard. Getting a broken toe set and splinted on young puppy was a stressful and expensive experience, but we eventually got through it. Wren was a trooper through it all. She has a friendly, happy personality, which helps!

Maybe this shouldn't come as a surprise, but Angws is completely smitten with Wren. She can do anything to him and he puts up with it. Wren hangs on his ears, grabs his jowls and bites his legs and he tolerates it all amazingly well. Some people have suggested this will change at some point but I'm not so sure. Wren seems to be just what we all needed, a vivacious, springy Toller pup. 

Right now she's mostly a PIT - Puppy in Training. We do a good amount of training at home, and I've started her in scent work. Wren has also attended most of a puppy class (missed a few due to her broken toe) and is now in the middle of a basic obedience class and doing well for her age. I hope to get her started in an agility class within the next few months.  We are looking forward to doing many things together in the future.

Zephyr's Koan CD RE MX MXJ OF SWA SCE SEE SBE - 5/31/14-10/2/23

We lost Koan to liver disease on October 2nd. We had known this day was coming since 2021. Whelped in 2014, she never had a normal ALT value, and when she was spayed in 2021, a liver biopsy revealed a diagnosis of copper storage disease. She was asymptomatic both prior to her diagnosis and for more than two years after, though once diagnosed we made dietary changes and put her on a chelation drug for a year. In late June she had some GI issues, and her bloodwork revealed her liver values, including bilirubin, were quite alarming. The next few months were up and down. She had many good days and some bad, and it was often challenging to get her to eat. Prednisone bought her about six weeks of relative stability and quality of life. The weekend before we lost her she qualified in all three of her runs at a CPE agility trial, and on Angws's last run of the day she unzippered her crate, which I had neglected to latch, and tried to make it into the ring with us. The pleased, somewhat maniacal look on her face when she was handed to me outside the ring still brings tears to my eyes when I think of that day.

Koan was the last of the Tollers we bred, and was one of our "easy keepers"; a lovely, sparky girl with a friendly, even temperament who also loved to work. Her favorite sport was scent work, followed closely by agility. Shortly after she came into our lives there was a long stretch when I was dealing with many personal family issues, and I think we would have done much more together if there hadn't been so many stops and starts in her training. She always knew her place in the pack, whether in the middle or at the top. She helped raise our amazing Welsh Springer Spaniel, Angws, and saw us finally add another Toller, Wren, to our household. I had hoped Koan would have been able to help raise Wren but they only overlapped for five weeks. Happily, Angws has stepped up and is doing a great job of paying it forward. Angws misses Koan too, and it's taking all of us some time to adjust to our new normal.