The Queen Has Arrived!

Her Majesty The Queen Of The Valley Love Creeks Molly                                                        

                                                                 
              Again a chain of events put into motion by a previous decision was responsible for Molly's arrival in the Love Creek valley in August of 2003. I was curious about the female side of this type of Setter and a bit concerned about size and stamina in the field. I like to cover ground and being in good physical condition go at it pretty hard so to speak.
                                    I had a thousand miles to contemplate my criteria and reasoning for making my choice from this litter. I believe in experts and respected the breeders experience and opinion based on the performance of the other two dog's despite the unfortunate issue with Beau.
                                    Upon arrival at the kennel we spent some time talking and discussing dog's before turning out the litter for inspection. The pup's were beautiful as they milled around us watched by the adult dog's kenneled around the perimeter of the exercise yard. The breeder shared his recommendation which I watched for a time then noticed a female who had run off to find a rope toy and was parading back towards the group. She was a little bit larger than most of the pups with an exceptional head. I picked her up and she was agreeable to being inspected but when put down quickly was off to find the rope toy. I didn't have to hurry my decision as I was spending the night in town but other people were waiting pending my decision which I decided to sleep on and make the following morning.
                                      As I drove off thinking of the two pups I had focused on I played devils advocate with myself over the more independent pup versus the pup the breeder had brought my attention to first. Where I got to was independent and more aggressive I knew in females could be very desirable based on my experience with short hairs as I believe it translates to more prey drive. That was my thinking and before I went to sleep my mind was made up not only on the pup but on the name! Molly was headed for the Love Creek Valley!
                                     After we finished with the details I picked up Molly and began the journey back to Wisconsin. My orientation started immediately as we pulled out of the driveway. The howling was so intense from this little package of joy that I had to stop and let her out to see if holding her would quiet her down. She looked at me like what do you think you're doing picking me up and wiggled about so I put her down and kept driving hoping the protest would soften after a few miles but it kept up for quite some time. This was so different from the males that just sort of were" Hey just hold me and I'll be cool". Eventually the howling turned into pouting with periods of more civility but a" be careful before you touch me attitude". Holy shit!!
                                     By the time we had stopped, gassed up a few times, and took breaks  Molly became more accustomed to my touch but was clearly pissed understandably having been separated from Mom and her litter mates.

Beau and Mick awaiting the arrival of her Majesty the Queen!

                                    .After a long stressful drive for both of us we hit the driveway finally ready to welcome Molly to the Love Creek valley and her new partners Beau and Mick now 7 and 9 month's old. Molly should have been impressed with her accommodations. Big open spaces,a beautiful view and plenty of birds not to mention the good looking roommates!