​Let’s me honest. When you own a puppy, stuff is going to happen. It’s just a matter of time - I don’t care how on the ball you are, an accident is going to happen. Aiding potty training is fully and properly cleaning where the accident happened. So how do you deal with it? Sprays are pretty much 100% ineffective on their own regardless of how fancy they claim to be. You gotta get up what got put down. Using a sponge or a stack of paper towels is much like putting a Band-Aid on a gunshot wound. Sure, you’ll feel like you did something, but really far too little to actually be effective. Your patient, er ah your carpet, is about to flatline (have an odor pretty much forever). You really need to invest in a carpet cleaner. If cash is tight, one of the handheld units is better than the old school paper towel routine you may be used to. At least these have the ability to suction stuff up, and then pull clean water and/or cleaning fluid through the carpet. However, I used one of these portable units for years because I didn’t want to invest in an upright cleaner, and I was sure it did a good job. What a mistake! About six years ago I saw the light. I bought a Bissell ProHeat Pet Pro Cleaner - the new ones are even better - and I now wonder how I ever thought the portable unit was even effective. What makes is so much better? Break out your best Tim Allen, or if you are a Top Gear fan, Jeremy Clarkson, impersonation. Raw Power. Lots and lots of power. You can pull the accident wetness out and make the carpet nearly dry, then set about cleaning it by cycling ample amounts of water and cleaner through the affected area. The final suction run will pull all the remaining wetness out of the carpet, even out of the padding. Most have a hand attachment, and most have much less power than the main cleaner, but still much more than a portable unit. Even once pup is potty trained, accidents happen, or they may get sick…who knows you may even have a major spill of your own. In the end your nose will always appreciate the purchase.

​Cooler weather makes it excusable and fully justifiable to make dishes like this fantastic rendition of a Dutch Classic. Then again, why wait for fall or winter? I prefer to add a bit of garlic and onion powder to the mashed potatoes, and Trader Joe’s has the best “ready to go” curly kale your money can buy. If you can find it, enjoy with an Alfa Bok or Lentebok Bier. Otherwise, your go to Cab Sav will be just fine. You need this in your life.

List of Ingredients:
5 large russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces (~4 pounds)
4 teaspoons kosher salt, divided (plus more for seasoning)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
½ cup 2% milk (or whole milk)
½ teaspoons freshly ground black pepper (plus more for seasoning)
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 large cloves garlic, peeled and minced (1 tablespoon)
1 bunch of curly kale, stemmed and chopped into ½-inch pieces (about 12 ounces)
¼ cup water
½ teaspoon white wine vinegar
1 pound fully-cooked, smoked pork sausage such as Dutch Rookworst (or substitute
Spanish Chorizo or Polish Kielbasa), cut crosswise into thin slices
4-5 teaspoons olive oil, optional garnish
4 green onions, trimmed and chopped, optional garnish
 
Directions:
Prep Time: 15 mins / Cook Time: 40 mins / Total Time: 55 mins
1. Put potatoes and 2 teaspoons salt in a large pot. Cover with cold water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce to a simmer and cook until potatoes are tender, 10-15 minutes. Scoop out a cup of potato cooking-water and set aside. Drain potatoes and return them to the pot. Add butter, milk, 2 teaspoons salt, and ½ teaspoon pepper. Mash potatoes with a potato-masher. For creamier potatoes add potato cooking-water, a little at a time, stirring, until you get the desired texture.
2. In a large heavy skillet or pot with a lid, heat 2 tablespoons oil over medium-low heat. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 6-7 minutes, until translucent. Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Raise heat to medium. Add kale, ¼ cup water, and ½ teaspoon vinegar. Cover pot and wait 2-3 minutes for the kale to wilt. Remove cover and cook, stirring occasionally, for 3-4 minutes longer or until the kale is tender. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and a few grinds of black pepper. Add kale mixture to potatoes and mash until thoroughly combined.
3. In the same heavy skillet used for the kale, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium-high heat. Cook the sausages for 4-5 minutes, until nicely browned on both sides and heated through.
4. Divide the kale-potato mash between 4 or 5 bowls. Arrange sausages on top. Drizzle on a teaspoon of olive oil per bowl and sprinkle with chopped scallions, if you like. Enjoy!
5. Time Saving Tip: Before you do any other prepping, peel and slice the potatoes and get them into the pot and onto the stove. It will take a while for that pot to get boiling so you should have plenty of time to get everything else sliced and diced while the potatoes cook.

Here is another nice video from Standing Stone Kennels and something you are likely to have to deal with if you do a lot of back country hiking, and/or upland bird hunting like us. Last year we spent over eighty three days afield hunting, and easily as many just out hiking. We had two Q-Pine incidents, just in 2018. Ethan does a pretty good job here and I'd like to add a couple of pointers to help you get your dog through this. First if it's a fairly minor incident like one one captured in the video, by all means, do your best to calm the dog and get those quills out. I keep a pair of spring loaded leatherman pliers on me additionally my hunting vest has a pair of hemostats on board just for the purpose of grabbing quills. You really cannot pull quills with your fingers, but you can use your teeth! I only advocate the use of your teeth if you are either crazy, or you dog is ultra-calm. If you have a helper, like in this video, have them help calm the dog - it will feed off of the anxiety - so breath deep and chill. Even more importantly, have your buddy do their best to keep quill impacted skin puller tight. As you remove quills the skin will be able to slide against the dogs body normally, this is the high-risk time when broken quills can and will pull through and go under the skin - this is a trip to the veterinarian. Ethan does a really nice job giving his dog an good exam, which is just perfect. If your dog has really been hammered by Ol' Porky - disregard all of this, and get him (or her) the the vet as sedation is most likely going to be necessary.

Getting a puppy is always an exciting time! Just like most things in life, you get out of it what you put in. In this case I'm talking about making your home a place where pup can not just exist, but thrive. Whether this is your first puppy or its been a while since you have had a puppy, myself included, it's time to start thinking about and doing somethings around the house in preparation for Jr.'s arrival. Yes, that means prepping the house and yard.

General Physical:

Before I cover some of the more typical and mundane things, I need to stress that modern veterinary science has shown dysplasia of the hip and elbow are predominantly environmentally driven! So just what does that mean, and how does it apply to us as puppy stewards? Slick floors and stairs are not your puppy's friend! If you have them, It is time to head out to Costco or your favorite home goods retailer and buy some throw rugs. Because, we do not want pup skittering all over the place, and we really don't want to have pup chasing a ball on your hardwood/tile floors! The other high-risk area is your stairs. In particular, descending is very stressful on the elbow joint. If your stairs are hard and smooth they are really not your puppy's friend. Solve this by carrying pup up and down. Once they are too big for that use a leash to control the rate of their ascent and descent. Please be sure to prevent them from jumping off the last three steps! On this note, your puppy will need exercise, but please stay away from activities which include lots of jumping (intro to agility is the main offender here) or pushing pup too hard/much with becoming your running companion too early. Your pup's growth plates remain open until up to around 18 months of age. You will learn first hand the Drent growth rate, it is pretty impressive. Figure on doing more serious physical stuff with your Drent no sooner than 11 months, and just ease into it.

​Home:

- Get your trash under wraps. Put it behind a door, or install a child safety device
- Cover/contain electrical cords. Your main strategy may just be aware of where you have them because you can't do much about them,,,
- Properly stow your backpacks and purses! All kinds of not dog-friendly things are hidden away in them e. g. gum w/ Xylitol, make up, you name it
- Secure your medications in a drawer. Drents will eat the damnedist things! Best case this will result in a very expensive trip to the emergency vet
- Do you have poisonous house plants/landscaping? If you can't answer that question in less than 2-seconds...you need to do some research
- Where is puppy's area going to be? Try setting it up now to see if it works the way it does in your head...you may have to go back to the drawing board
- It goes without saying, household cleaners need to be secured. 
- Have you ever deployed a chemical mouse or some other bait trap(s)? Go find them, and dispose of them. Once you think you are good, check again!
- Your garage is a high-risk zone. Lawn chemicals, cleaners, and whatnot. Find a way to secure all of this, or just do like us - the garage is a no dog zone
- The puppy should never have unfettered unsupervised access to anything. As they learn and become better potty trained and learn what is and isn't theirs, you can expand this bubble...
- Puppies should stay on the ground unless you are directly supervising/handling them. A puppy rolling off a piece of furniture can be a significant and unpleasant event
- Batteries...yes, they will chew them and swallow them. Secure all batteries and monitor devices pup has access to which contain them. Swallowed batteries = emergency vet visit
- Any cooked bone is a serious high-risk to your puppy or dog, doesn't matter what animal it is from Cooked = Very Bad, raw = could be okay (large beef knuckles generally) if you really want your dog to chew a bone. I prefer Nyla bones. They make wonderful puppy chewers (which adults love even more and if you have Booker visit, they will last about 1 second - chomp and goneski)
- If you have nicknacks on a low shelf, it's time to move them up, or find a way to protect them. Puppies do not know the difference between your stuff and theirs
- If you have a cat, please plan on moving the litter box into an area your puppy cannot get to it. This is for a myriad of reasons, at best it has a high likelihood of becoming a snack bar - how about EEEEEeeewwwww
- Remember those rugs I told you to buy? Did they have a non-slip backing? If not invest in a roll of carpet tape and put it to use

Yard:
- How about that fence? Is it secure? Is it stable? What can it keep in? What can it keep out?
- Once you have assessed your fence - do what you need to do?
- Get to know your landscaping. Some mulches and plants are poisonous to dogs. If you don't know off the top of your head and don't look into it, you will be making a trip to your veterinarian...maybe worse
- Does your yard have a place or places which have shade all or most of the day? If not, be aware of when you let pup spend time out back and limit direct sun exposure. Ambient temps can be reasonable but being stuck in direct sunlight can be quite brutal and unforgiving
- Pup's water bowl should be in one of those shaded areas

Well, it's feeding time - again!

So we have our sights on breeding Duck Creek's Two Gun Katmai, aka Mila (pronounced My-lah) the daughter of our Ember & Paxson. For now, Mila has passed all of her preliminary health screening, so we do not expect any surprises in that department. We have spent quite a bit of one on one time with her and she could pass a Public Access Test (PAT) used on Service Dogs. She really embodies her parents with equal parts of their personalities, temperaments and conformation. In the field, Mila is a diligent worker with strong pointing and retrieving instincts, and has a soft mouth as an added bonus. She lives in Cincinnati Ohio with her Guardian where she also enjoys regular trips to local hunting preserves, markets and hanging out in dog friendly public spaces where she regularly makes new friends.

Our intent is to take her to the Netherlands in the spring of 2020 after getting her full approval from the DPCNA to be bred to a stud listed with de Vereniging. We have set our critical eye on a couple amazing boys and will begin fleshing out those details and setting the arrangements in the near future. When we have set the arrangements and our plans are approved by the DPCNA we will then post a 2020 Litter page. As you should expect, we will be actively employing Raymond H. Oppenheimer's 20 Principles(+) when making our selections. The litter will be whelped and raised here in Spokane and we have been actively screening clients for this opportunity - if you are interested, don't delay in contacting us.