Puppies

Holly Jolly Christmas Litter: Winter 2017

Zazu

+

Howard

+ more about the parents

This is the first litter for both Zazu (52 pounds, 24 inches) and Howard (82 pounds, 24 inches). Zazu is a fun loving, sweet girl with a great head and rear. She has excellent drive in harness and is built solidly for speed. Howard is a friendly and gentle boy. He has a thick coat, heavy bone, great balance, and a very good head.

Both have OFA 'Normal' eyes and have OFA 'Good' hips. Neither has a history of seizures or food allergies. Genetic diversity is extremely important to the long-term health of the Chinook breed. As with all Desert Sol litters, dam and sire were chosen to maximize genetic diversity of the resulting puppies.

CH 'PR' Desert Sol Zazu's Pride DNA-VIP

Birth Date: 5/1/2014

Pedigree: Click here to see Zazu's Pedigree

Hips: OFA Good

Eyes: OFA Normal 8/10/2017

Genetic Testing: MDR1/Dwarfism clear

Stats: 52 pounds, 24 inches

Other: Seizure & allergy free

More Photos & Info: Zazu's page

Zazu is a sweet, smart, and fun loving girl. She is an outdoorsy dog and will let you know when you are late for her morning walk. The sad puppy eyes and pathetic small whine will follow you around until the walk has begun. Zazu loves playing with other dogs and enjoys her weekly visits to PetSmart Doggie Day Care. She also loves people and can be just as friendly as her mama Kyra, although in her home she's a bit more reserved with strangers. After lots of training and socialization, she now warms up quickly to strangers- the more dog friendly the people, the faster she starts to lick you and want attention!

Zazu is a curious dog and will follow you from room to room to see what's going on, and will try to play with anything if she can. During chore time it's really hard to use the Swiffer sweeper with all the barking and attacking of the sweeper going on. Zazu has that perpetual puppy personality that we hope she passes onto her puppies! She had a blast taking care of and playing with Kyra's third litter, so we tell her frequently that although pregnancy isn't the funnest thing, she is at least creating little friends to play with soon!

Rain Mountain Lummi Song (Howard)

Birth Date: 6/28/2008

Pedigree: Click here to see Howard's Pedigree

Hips: OFA Good

Eyes: OFA Normal w/ Breeder's Option 10/20/2017

Stats: 82 pounds, 24 inches

Other: Seizure & allergy free

Howard (Rain Mountain Lummi Song) lives in Southern California with his owners, Mark and Jenine. They consider him to be the best dog ever and for good reason. Howard is a lively dog, full of life and love. He is gentle around children and “dog people”, but watches over his turf and family. Howard knows who is ok and who is not and it is a great comfort knowing he is always on the job. Jenine says she feels safe with Howard around.

Once, Howard and Mark went to visit their friend and neighbor, Darlene. Her grandson, who was about 7 years old at the time, was there and Darlene asked if Howard could stay outside since her grandson was terribly afraid of dogs. Before I could say anything, her grandson saw Howard, all 80+ pounds of him, and began to tremble. I could tell he was afraid, but before I could respond Howard dropped down on all fours to get as low as he could and put his head on the floor. Then he started inching slowly toward the boy. I said to the boy that it was ok if he wanted to let Howard smell him and showed him how to put his hand out. He did it and Howard gently licked his hand! A few minutes later, Howard and the boy were playing on the floor. I had never seen anything like that in my life! His entire life he has been like that around children – gentle.

Another time, someone knocked on our door at 2 o’clock in the morning and Howard woke us up out of a sound sleep with his barking. This was not the “someone’s at the door and I want to meet them” kind of bark, but the kind that let us know he was serious. I found my bearings and took Howard with me outside (by a side door) to see about our visitor. We trained Howard to heel with the words “stay close”. As we went out, I whispered to him, “stay close!” He never left my side, but focused intently on what turned out to be an observant policeman who noticed that we had left our garage door open! Howard gave me the confidence I needed to go outside. I don’t think I would have done that had I been alone. Once he felt me calm down, he went about the process of marking his territory, but not before letting the police officer pet him. Such a good boy!

Birth

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

Week 8

Week 8 - 2/25/2018

Week 8... As I write this the Christmas music is playing and it reminded me, "Hmmm I never finished the Holly Jolly Holiday litter's Week 8 write up... and they're about to turn one soon! Yikes!" Soooo here I am. As we get ready for the next litter I'd like to give the last litter a final and complete send off.

We got a little blast from the past as we received the names for our Holiday puppies. It sometimes gets a little confusing when we talk to each other and use their new names and we have to clarify if we're talking about these new pups or the previous litter pups. :D Frosty is now Apollo- Apollo was the first puppy born ever for Desert Sol Chinooks during our Sun God litter! Joy is now Zia- and Zia is an indigenous tribe in the state of New Mexico that are known for their pottery and the "Sun" symbol (throwback to our Sun God litter). Winter is now Vader- he's got the new name, we haven't had a Star Wars litter... yet. (Knowing Jon we'll have a Star Wars litter one day!) And lastly Silver is now Simba- Simba was the first born of the Lion King litter, which was Zazu's litter.

The Holly Jolly Holiday litter was so much fun. Only having 4 puppies allowed us more time to play and get to know each one individually, instead of running around and corralling or picking up 10 puppies worth of poop which took away from playing with puppies time. It was a hectic time being around Christmas, but also fun since we could sing Christmas music to them and let Christmas last a little longer into late February when they all went home. For their pick up pictures, I made Jon save the top part of our Christmas tree so we could take Christmas pictures of the new families with their puppies! He rolled his eyes at me as we set the tree up in our backyard to take pictures in sunny February. :) Hey I thought it was a nice touch. ;o)

A family pic with Mama Zazu and Grandma Kyra before the pups go to their forever homes

Photos

Videos

We're lucky that Zia lives about an hour away from us so we can visit each other from time to time. We got to hike with her and her family at her house and she stopped by to visit after her training classes nearby our house. We also got to visit Apollo and hang out with that handsome pup and his mom when we were up in Northern CA for a summer vacation. Hopefully we can meet Simba in WA and Vader in NH one day as well. We always try to visit our pups if we can work them around our vacations. :) So here they are... hope you all have a Holly Jolly Christmas!!!

The Holly Jolly Christmas litter (as always in order of appearance):

Desert Sol Great Moon Apollo (formerly "Frosty")

Call Name:

Apollo

Sex:

Male

Weight:

17lb

Destination:

Apollo was named after the Apollo space missions since his mom and dad (Sammi and Travis) love astronomy and loved that "Frosty" was the explorer and adventurer of the group. He will continue to enjoy the beautiful warm weather as he goes to live in Northern CA with them.

Desert Sol Zia Joy (formerly "Joy")

Call Name:

Zia

Sex:

Female

Weight:

17lb

Destination:

Zia was named after the Zia people who are an indigenous tribe centered at Zia Pueblo, an Indian reservation in the U.S. state of New Mexico. The Zia are known for their pottery and use of the sun symbol. Zia's family, John and Tiina, liked the "sun" symbol representation since they also live in Arizona and well we do have a lot of sun here. :) Their daughter Emily is already in love with her and is training her to do agility and run along with them on their horse trail rides. We're extra happy that they live about an hour away from us so we can see Zia in person as she grows.

Desert Sol Lord Vader (formerly "Winter")

Call Name:

Vader

Sex:

Male

Weight:

19lb 2oz

Destination:

Vader was named after Lord Vader himself. Andrew and Christina are big Star Wars fans and were super excited they got a black and tan puppy so they can name him Vader. Jon was pretty excited over his name as well. :D Vader is traveling to NH and is enjoying the snow in his new home.

Desert Sol Silver and Gold (formerly "Silver")

Call Name:

Simba

Sex:

Male

Weight:

19lb 5oz

Destination:

Simba was named after Simba from the Lion King. He will be sharing his home with another Chinook who is named Wally after another Disney movie "Wall E", so they decided to stick with the Disney movie theme, as well as name one of Zazu's puppies from the same movie she herself is named after. :) Trisha, Conan and their two children are delighted with Simba as this big boy grows up in WA.