Teri J Pieper

Author Archives: Teri J Pieper

Tiffany Lake with Puppy

November 1, 2013 – 8:58 am
Posted in hike
Tagged black labrador, brook trout, hike, puppy, Tiffany Lake
Leave a Comment

Sky is going to be a good hiking dog. So far she has been to Cutthroat Lake and Tiffany Lake in the North Cascades. They are both short hikes but for a ten week old puppy, they are real expeditions. We were surprised to have Tiffany to ourselves on such an outstanding fall day. Here are a few photos from last Saturday’s hike to Tiffany Lake.

This late season butterfly was on a firewood trailer we passed along the road

It should be easy to identify

A very late blooming wildflower. It’s stem was maybe an inch long. I think it is an agoseris.

Tiffany Lake through the snags

A light coating of ice

Sky likes the water

Snags from the Tripod Fire in 2006

Watching Luna

Something stinky that Sky found. Maybe a baby beaver skull?

Beautiful brook trout

Cute

Gorgeous fall colors

Luna doesn’t mind cold water

Sky isn’t so sure about that

She’s a retriever!

Splash

Hmmm, a fish

Helping

I can get over this

Nothing to slow down Luna

She’s getting taller

Another late bloomer. Aster?

Lots of brook trout

Ice

A puppy’s got to rest now and then

An Owl Pellet

Just to prove that this blog is NOT about puppies all the time, I thought I’d share this owl pellet that I found yesterday. Ken and I were in the Okanogan Highlands (a work trip for him; a chance for me and the dogs to get out of the valley) and at the end of the day we were walking the dogs before the long drive home. I found this pellet at the end of a bench. Now that the busy summer season is past and hunting season too, the owl must have found it to be a quiet place to perch. This is the largest pellet I’ve ever found – nearly six inches long. What is an owl pellet? Owls don’t have teeth and swallow their food whole. They do not digest the hair and bones. These parts are regurgitated as a pellet. We picked it apart to try to determine what the owl ate. We found gray hair and the bones of a small mammal. Ken speculated that it was the back half of perhaps a rabbit since there were no scapulas or a skull. You can see the vertebrae on the bottom of the image, thigh bones and hip sockets in the middle, tiny claws on the right with perhaps some long toe bones above them.

Puppy!

We were not able to bring home the little brown puppy. The vet reported that she might have an abnormality in one of her vertebrae and since we plan to have an active busy dog, she suggested we get another one. So Ken went back and picked out a little black lab puppy from the same litter.

We brought her home one week ago and she is rearranging our lives constantly! Her name is Night Sky Star Shine – Sky for short – and she is nine weeks old today. At first Luna was unhappy about this new addition to the family. Sky bit her ears, jumped on her, took all the toys and declared the big dog bed to be hers. She also soaked up all the attention! Two or three days into this, Luna decided she was going to have to learn to live with her and began playing with Sky. Sky adores Luna and tries to follow her everywhere. That’s good for when we go on walks. Sky is also independent and will go off in her own direction if we don’t pay close attention. She is starting the process of house training and yesterday actually went to the door to say ‘it’s time’. Of course, we are diligent to take her outside every time she wakes from a nap and a couple times at night when she wakes up. And she gets special treats for relieving herself outside. So far, so good. We have been introducing her to lots of people and other dogs and she seems to enjoy just about everyone that she meets. I’ve been taking her for walks at different locations and she always enjoys them. She is ruled by her nose and can find some of the most disgusting things. How do I get her to stop that?

Luna says – whacha up to pup?

This is the way home kid.

Sky makes Luna look mature!

Fast!

Wait for me!

Quite the pair

At Patterson Lake, Luna shows Sky about swimming and retrieving.

Sky is not sure.

Her first water retrieve

Like this.

That’s far enough.

And then she sleeps.

A Watchable Wildlife Moment

Last Thursday I travelled down to Wenatchee for the weekend and as I approached Beebe Springs I noticed an animal getting ready to cross the highway. Having had a bad experience near there two years ago with a mule deer, I slowed way down in order to let her cross the road. I was surprised to see it was a bighorn sheep! I have seen them on the cliffs along that route but never on the highway. She was followed by a group of maybe twelve or fourteen with one big ram. After I stopped, giving them plenty of room, they turned and went to the railroad tracks above the road where they watched me and other people who stopped to watch them. It was sort of like a traffic jam in Yellowstone but on a smaller scale. The sheep finally decided that this was not a good place to cross the highway and retreated up the cliff face and disappeared over the top.

Watching from the RR tracks

Their ability to scramble around on sheer cliffs is amazing.

The Latest Addition to the Family

October 7, 2013 – 9:00 am
Posted in dogs
Tagged chocolate lab, labrador retreivers, puppy photos
Comments (3)

Our old lab, Sam passed away in June leaving Luna an only dog. We knew we would get another dog, in particular a hunting dog for Ken but also a pet and friend for Luna and maybe she’d be an agility dog too. Who knows? And we had decided that fall would be a good time for a puppy. Summer is just too busy around here.

Friday morning Ken got up and one of the first things he said was “Did you see what was in the (Omak) Chronicle yesterday?” And I’m thinking to myself, “besides the weekly diatribe against the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife” and he said “Puppies in Omak!” Uh oh, I thought, I guess the time has come.

He called the fellow and we got over there before midday and sure enough there they were – seven lab puppies, five black ones and two brown ones. One brown male was spoken for. I prefer female dogs and we both gravitated towards the brown female. She was on the smaller side (also a preference) but not shy or timid. All the puppies were well socialized and both parents on site. The dad is a stocky yellow lab, maybe with some English lab in him. The mom is a petite chocolate.

Before we left, Ken had written a check for the deposit and we will pick her up next week! How exciting is that?

Oh, and we are looking name suggestions, in case you have any good ideas.