We took a car ride after dinner, down the road a ways, checking out nearby barns as we prepare for construction of ours to begin.

Xupe’s baby teeth are all out now and his adult teeth are coming in.  If you have one of Xupe’s siblings, check on his/her teeth.  A rubber chew toy worked great for Xupe in getting some of the teeth out.   Rawhides are good, too.  Big, really thick string toys work well, but you need to monitor them as the strings can come undone and will need to be trimmed completely off.

The last snow is receding and the grass has started greening.  Finally, we’re having a gorgeous spring day!

Chev looks pretty relaxed in this photo.  He’s waiting for Finley to finish being “in season”.  Thankfully he’s had Xupe to distract him and keep him company.

Hopefully this is the last of the snow for this year.  Happy Easter from Norling Rise with wishes that you’re enjoying spring wherever you are!

Look at this sweet shot of Dutch that we recently received.  His people report that he’s doing well on puppy training.  He sure looks well-behaved! Once again, Biff and I are amazed at how much all of the puppies look like both Chev and Finley.

We received this great photo of Aya recently.  The first-born of all the puppies, she’s looking good and, as is true of many of her littermates, reminds Biff and I of both Chev and Finley.

Here are some recent shots of first Barley, then Dutch and last, Xupe…

They sure look like brothers!

We are SO ready for Spring.  Yes, we know that spring officially began yesterday but we’ve seen the forecast and could hardly believe that freezing temperatures continue into next week!  The snow is receding slowly (the temps have warmed into the 40’s a few days here and there) and we’ve already endured some of the mud that comes with the season.

The good thing is that the dogs could care less about the weather.  They’re happy to run regardless of temperatures and ground conditions.  We just partition them downstairs ’til their paws dry out.

I’m on Spring Break but knew better than to expect spring-like weather in Minnesota.  Still, it was a bit of a surprise when it began snowing today.  I went out with the dogs this morning and snapped a couple of shots with my phone as they raced around.  Finley and Xupe were chasing around at speeds that surprised me.  Biff and I have noticed that

we have to look twice now to figure out if we’re looking at Xupe or Finley.  (That’s Finley on the left and Xupe on the right.)  Xupe’s grown so much that he’s beginning to look more like a dog than a puppy.

We received a couple photos of Gracie recently.  It sounds (and looks) like she’s doing great.  Happy Griff!

Stache’s family returned from their trip and came to pick up their boy this afternoon.  Stache seemed to have a great time while he was here – running, wrestling and snuggling with Xupe and Finley (and occasionally Chev).

It was fun for us to see how happy his family was to see him.  Lucky boy, Stache!  We hope to see you again soon.

Littermates Stache and Xupe have been having a great time together this week.  They’ve spent a LOT of time running and exploring in the backyard, often with Finley.  But then they unwind and their favorite place to snooze is on the blanket-covered sofa in the sunroom.