Gracie Playing with her pups

Short video of Gracie playing with her 3 week old puppies. Pups are from the Flintstones litter (Gracie x Colin). Lots of fun to watch, she is a GREAT Mom.

Debbie Peeks in on the pups

Debbie came to visit yesterday and Gracie loved all the attention. To help Gracie settle in at night and sleep (she can only sleep in a crate), Jane constructed a 'tent' above the whelping box. For now Gracie has all the privacy she wants in her little home.

Cocktails to Go

Lauren and Jim will be sending the cocktail litter home this weekend thus the phrase "Cocktails to Go". The puppies new owners will be coming to get their new family members over Labor Day. We are very pleased with the litter and hope that some of the girls will make their show debut at the New England Sporting Dog Shows March 2010. Lauren and Jim did a fantastic job raising the litter and I am sure it will seem a bit lonely without the puppies. But we know that Dasher will keep the tradition of muddy paws in the house and Zoey will have him to keep her company.

Welcome: The Flintstones Litter

Saturday August 29, 2009 -- Gracie whelped 7 beautiful puppies. 5 boys and 2 girls. This is our Flintstones litter, with pups in birth order: Fred, Barney, Bamm Bamm, Betty, Dino, Wilma and The Great Gazoo (Gazoo).

They are all healthy and doing well - weighing in between 12 oz and 14.5 oz. The girls have big beautiful blazes and all pups with 4 white feet, chests and little tail tips.

Congrats to proud parents: Gracie and Colin

Gracie - 2 Weeks to Go

This is Gracie - 2 weeks before her due date. She was bred to Colin (CH Westerlea's Bold Venture) at the end of June. She is getting big, slowing down and her belly fur is falling out. She does enjoying swimming to cool her down during the hot August days.

The Cocktail Litter: 2 Weeks Old

New Canine Candystripers

Left to right: Hope, Magic and Sadie

Hope and Magic yapping about their new titles while Sadie wonders "Did I really produce these 2 Jokers?".

All kidding aside, Jane qualified each dog with a TDI Certificate, enabling them, to work safely with people who have special needs, such as the developmentally or physically disabled.

To earn this advanced certificate, dogs must first possess their American Kennel Club (AKC) Canine Good Citizen certification which is the basis for the more advanced TDI certification test that allows dogs to become Therapy Dogs. Following Therapy Dog training, dogs take an exam administered by a certified TDI evaluator, where, upon successfully passing this test, the dog will receive their Therapy Dog certification.

Hope, Magic and Sadie are now qualified with TDI for Therapy Dog work. CONGRATS.

The Cocktail Litter: 13 Days Old

Left to right - Saki, Gibson, Margarita, Martini, Cosmo
Pups from Zoey x Riggs. Pictured here just shy of 2 weeks old -- the boy Gibson is second from the left - he's already over 3 lbs. Their eyes are starting to open and they like to army crawl around the whelping box. Zoey is a fantastic Mom and Dasher looks in on them too. What nice bunch of pups.

Seastar Spring 09 Field Achievements

From left to right people: Laurie, Jane, Lauren and Jim.
From left to right dogs: Gracie, Hope, Zoey and Dasher
Other: Decoys standing and sitting

This spring, Seastar participated in local Hunting Retriever Club field tests and we are proud to announce that Gracie, Zoey and Dasher all earned legs towards their Started titles.

Hope earned her SHR title in an amazing 4 for 4 tests! Way to go Hope. So fun to watch her leap into the water to get her duck.

Tests were challenging but fair. The weather held and was decent and the Seastar family enjoyed the days out in the field. The dogs loved the excitement of getting their birds.

Last post for the day ... even more Fundy pics

Chewing on driftwood!

Looking pretty at New River Beach

Mucking around at low tide

Very tired wet rat!

All done!!

Jan, Janet and Fundy!

More Fundy photos from Canada

Who taught you to carry a stick?!

That's better!

Swimming!

Searching for baby brook trout!

Fundy's Canada trip ... more pictures

Fundy scrambling on the rocks on the beach at low tide

Waiting for the tide and wind to blow her stick to shore! This was before she learned to swim!

Resting (yes, on the furniture!) after a busy day at the beach!

Fundy looking very tiny on the big beach at low tide... I think she was eating God knows what (some mussel shells or animal bone??) while I wasn't looking!

more to follow

Jasmine's Puppy Group 4

On Sunday, June 28 Seastar's Northern Jasmine, handled by Debbie Smith took a puppy group four placement from the Sporting Puppy group at the Wampanoag Kennel Club show held in Wrentham, Ma.

Fundy's first trip to Canada

Fundy on a rock below the falls

First time in over her head ... note the unretrieved stick in the water beyond her!

Boy, she sure looks like her Momma Gracie!

Fundy and her favorite playground ball!

Hi all,

Here are a few pics of Fundy's first trip to Janet's family's place in New Brunswick ... she had a BLAST!! Lots of room to chase balls, run in the field, poke her nose in the creek, swim on the rocky beach, and rest in the cool seaweed. Went swimming/retrieving (over her head!) for the first time ... it took me in my waders to lure her out there, but once she knew she could do it ... she loved it!

Our best and congrats to all the show winners in the prior posts ... Jasmine, Lilly and Kelty ... they are all so beautiful!

Keep the posts coming ... we love to see and hear about Fundy's brother and sisters!

Jan and Janet

more pics to follow

Lilly Awarded Best of Breed

CH Seastar's Northern Lilly took the breed at the Middlesex County Kennel Club show with a very nice lineup of 15 Tollers including 6 very nice specials. Melissa Smith did a fabulous job of presenting her to the judge and their teamwork is awesome. We are very lucky to have the Smith girls on the Seastar team. This second BOB win has launched Lilly back to the Top 10 list.

Jasmine is a New Champion

Seastar's Northern Jasmine finished her Championship from the puppy class with her fourth major and all best of winners awards at the Topsfield shows with Deb Smith at the end of the lead. This great little Toller has won over noted specials all ready taking Best of Breed awards too! All at the age of 10 months. She's smokin'

Kelty's First Major

Seastar's Dark 'N Stormy Kelty Fife earned his first major from the puppy class over a nice line up of BBE and Open Dogs at the North Shore Kennel Club in Topsfield with Stephen Owens handling the young boy. They make a handsome team and we are proud of Kelty's accomplishments at such a young age. Thanks to Michele and Ed McGrath for cobreeding Kelty and the rest of the Rock Starz litter. Kelty is exactly what we had hoped for in a Toller. Beauty, brains and biddable.

Family Head Study

Family head study: from left to right: Dad Clipper, Daughter Jasmine and Mom Gracie

CH Seastar's Northern Jasmine

Last weekend, at the Topsfield Show, Jasmine finished her AKC Championship at 10.5 months of age. She finished with 4 majors, multiple BWs and even taking BOB over a Special. Jasmine is an absolute sweetheart - very affectionate and loveable. She is from Gracie's first litter with Clipper. She is taking a break from show ring to play for the summer.

Trini-- a star in the making!

Trinidad (aka Aurora from the GracieXClipper litter) has taking a liking to agility. Here is our girl in action! We go to agility classes twice a week, and have decided that she needs a professional agility handler, as Brad nor myself can keep up with her. The other days of the week we are working on field and obedience. She is a very active dog, we are enjoying her immensely!

Dasher Takes Winner's Dog and Best Puppy

Dasher's first show was at the 2009 NE Sporting Dog Show on
Saturday where he wowed the judges and took Best Puppy in Sweeps
and Winner's Dog earning his first 4 point major. He is very sweet
and has the overall type the judge's are looking for. I enjoyed
showing him in the Bred-By Class and will look forward to
our next time out.

Jasmine Snags Winner's Bitch, Best of Winners and Both Majors At NESGA

Jasmine and Deb made a big splash at the NESGA shows. On Saturday
and Sunday, at the young age of 7 months, Jasmine earned Winner's Bitch,
Best of Winners, a 4 point and a 3 point major. Jasmine also earned
Best Puppy in Sweeps on Sunday and showed like a pro with Deb. We
are proud of our youngest new star at Seastar Kennel.

Sadie is Best Gun Dog and Veteran

At age nine Sadie is still fine. She took Best Veteran in Sweeps both
days at the NESGA shows as well as Best Gun Dog on Sunday. Jane and
Sadie got the show lead out for their club and enjoyed showing
in the group ring as well.

Magic Takes Best of Opposite at NESGA

Kaila and Magic worked hard to earn Best of Opposite
in a nice line up of Tollers at the NESGA shows. It
was great to see the team in action again. They
looked great together and certainly attracted Judge
Hilderman's attention

Lilly Wins Best of Breed at NESGA

Melissa and Lilly wowed judge Hilderman and took Best of Breed
in a large lineup of Tollers at the Sunday NESGA shows. In a
flawless performance, Lilly maintained her tradition of winning
at this particular show.

Seastar Shines at The New England Sporting Group Shows

All the Seastar entries excelled at the NESGA shows. On Sunday Lilly took Best of Breed, Magic went Best of Opposite, Sadie took Best Gun Dog,and Jasmine took Best of Winners and Best Puppy in Sweeps. Jasmine earned 2 majors and on Saturday Dasher earned a major and went Best Puppy in Sweeps. Hope and Gracie made the cut for Best of Breed so all our dogs got recognized. We were quite pleased as this was the largest show in the northeast since the National Specialty in Syracuse.

Sisters: Jasmine and Bell

Sisters Jasmine and Bell @ 6.5 months old

This is Bell (formerly Cinderella).. isn't she a cutie?

Jasmine and Bell again.

Debbie & Jasmine Show Ring Debut

Debbie and Jasmine (6.5 months old) made their show debut at the Hartford Civic Center. They both looked to be enjoying themselves and Jasmine was super! She took reserve winner's bitch (RWB) and thoroughly loved the attention and she ran round the ring. Right behind her was sister Bell (formely Cinderella)... Jasmine placed 1st, Cinderella 2nd in their class of 3. Way to go!

Both pups showed no fear of the ring or all the dogs, smells, people and noise. We are so proud.

She's still a tiny girl!

Here's a pic of Fundy with her new friend Piper the Lab, down at the park .... she loves the snow and the other dogs!!

J and J